But people still need to recognise we have an institutional responsibility to do oversight on the President” Garry Bass, Congress. This quote supports my view on the Congress being a watchdog. If the Congress is a lapdog, the President can have a free ride on running the country how he wishes and not represent the people’s view. However that is not the case as the President cannot do everything which pleases him. However, looking at the statistics such as Bill Clintons presidency, in the first 2 years which was a united government, Congress exercised limited oversight, and when needed to, asked softball questions, however , when Republicans took over Congress, things got much harder as they seek to hold the President to account, and after a while, impeach.
At the start of his second term of presidency, Jackson vetoed the charter of the second bank. In his veto statement he justified his reasoning as claiming the bank to be favoring the wealthy and not supportive of the rights of the common man. He also declared the recharter unconstitutional, saying that the federal government did not have the authority to establish an institution that would not equally benefit citizens. The bank veto can be seen as one of the most democratic measures Andrew Jackson took during his presidency to enstill the idea of himself as a representative of all people. The veto is important because it decentralized the bank system but because it is an example of challenging the constitution and the president’s ability to veto, which concentrates more power in the executive branch fo the government so that there is limited influence by the elite and
Although the embargo remains in play it hasn't stopped us from still gaining much Cuban influence. Examples that was repeatably used was the use of baseball games. The authors provide analysis of the domestic politics that have shaped the policy responsible for this prolonged embargo. This book gives a lot of information about presidents such as Bill Clinton who may or may not have acceptance of the embargo act. President such as Carter showed approval of Cubans with bringing in Cuban baseball stars
Most of the time, the occurrence of nationalism was seen only on Independence Day. As you can see, the years from 1817-1925 were not “Good Feelings” at all. Sectionalism was outstanding for American over a long period of time after the War of 1812. The Northern states were without slaves, while the entire Southern states were populated with slaves (with the exception of Missouri after the Missouri Compromise was passed). In the election of 1820, there was an increased amount of nationalism because it was a 2-man race between James Monroe and John Quincy Adams.
The presidency of Jimmy Carter (1977-1980) attempted to “recapture a disillusioned citizenry” but was held back by Carter’s conformity to the political boundaries of the American system. While Carter’s term seemed to dig him into a hole as well as complicate matters for everyday people, the Reagan-Bush presidency “transformed the federal judiciary, never more than moderately liberal, into a predominately conservative institution,” (Zinn 574). Corporate America quickly became the greatest beneficiary of the Reagan-Bush years, and the concern for “the economy, which was a short-hand term for corporate profit” dominated any concern for the lower and middle class. All while the quality of life was degrading and the environment rotting. While Reagan-Bush did manage to enforce several Acts for the benefit of the people, with the Gulf War and other economic/environmental calamities, their presidencies seemed to leave a bitter taste in the mouths of Americans.
The Impact of Modern Day Voter Suppression Thomas Jefferson once stated “A democracy is nothing more than mob rule, where fifty-one percent of the people may take away the rights of the other forty-nine.” Democracy does not exist if certain people are allowed to take away the rights and freedoms of others. People should be allowed to critically analyze and interrupt their decisions without outside interferences. Democracy is “a government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised by them directly or indirectly through a system of representation usually involving periodically held free elections” (Webster). The American Government was built upon this belief that people are allowed to choose their representativeness in an electoral system. These beliefs have been the ideas and founding principles in the past, but in our modern society, voter suppression has again and again crippled the rights of the people.
The world doesn’t have an absence of leadership but it isn’t led by an omnipotent force such as America in the mid to late 20th century. From LaFeber's accounts of the the American Century was illusions of grandeur, from the countless ant-communist interventions and loss of an immense amount of money show that the highly praised "American Century" wasn't all it was lived to be. A multinational world has formed with strong nations on both hemispheres. Deng Xiaoping transitioned China’s socialist economy into an effective capitalist economy while keeping it politically communist. The way China’s political leaders reacted in Tiananmen Square shows its firm grip on its political policies.
Conflict Theory and the Government Shutdown Eugene Peter Lewis, Jr. SOCI 200- D01 LUO Mrs. Susan Deneen November 24, 2013 One of the biggest news stories of 2013 as we near its close is the shutdown of the United States government. The legislative branch of the government has a task enumerated by the Constitution- agree on spending so that the government may be funded. When this does not happen, most of the rudimentary processes of the government fail to function. The Republican members of the House of Representatives desired to fund the government with the obvious exemption of the Affordable Care Act, commonly known as Obamacare. The Democrats in the United States Senate insisted on funding the entire federal government, including
The above mentioned topics of neoliberalism, the Zapatista revolt against NAFTA, and the drug cartels of Columbia paint a clear picture to the readers understanding of the roots of many of the modern day problems associated with the United States role in Latin America. Specifically, I found the outline of the history and explanation of NAFTA as directly associated with the rise of immigration into the United States, as poor farmers are forced to migrate across the border in search of a livable wage. In order to understand todays hotly debated subjects such as Mexican Immigration and understand the arguments of the current presidential election it is imperative that one have a general understanding of the power NAFTA had on changing the Mexican economy for the betterment of large
Some federal policies he did not reverse included, continuing the United States repaying its national debt, did not fire most of the federalist officeholders, as long as they did a good job and were loyal, and the Bank of the United States should be kept. After the inauguration of President Jefferson, the congress decided to repeal the Judiciary Act of 1801, doing away with Adams “midnight appointments.” This led to a debate over the courts leading to one of the most important judiciary decisions in history. William Marbury, one of Adams “midnight appointment,” filed a writ of mandamus demanding Secretary of State James Madison deliver the appointments. The Supreme Court led by John Marshall denied the request citing part of the Judiciary Act of 1789 as unconstitutional. This court case established the approach of judicial review to declare a law