Part B Consitution Work: Articles 4-7

Article IV: Paraphrase the “Full Faith & Credit” provision. What does that mean for gay marriage? Explain. Paraphrase the amended portion that begins, “No person held to … may be due.” Why does this matter?

"Full Faith & Credit" provision is stating that any laws written in a certain state has to be respected by all the other states. So if a gay couple gets married in a certain state, they will remain married even if they move to a different state. This provision has the potential to legalize gay marriage throughout the whole America, even if just one state allows gay marriages. Any gay couple can go to that one state to get married and then return to their home state.
In clause 3 of section 2, it states that slaves running away to another state does not free them. Any fugitives would have to return to their original states and continue working. The significance of this clause is that without it, there would probably be less of a difference in economical classes. If slavery could be abolished simply by the slaves running away, then the free labor that created the economical gap would disappear. This clause also reveals the dark side of the United States. America is supposed to be the country of freedom and equality, but then we had slavery in our country for centuries. And not only that, there was a part of our Constitution that prevented them from getting freedom. So not only did the slaves have to work without any wages, any chance of escaping and obtaining freedom was eliminated by a document that is suppose to be about the rights of "the people."


Article VI: What is the Supreme Law of the Land? What is the significance, in your opinion, of the “No religious test” clause?

The Supreme Law of the Land is just another name for the Constitution. It is referring to all the laws that everyone in the United States have to follow. In Article 6, Section 3 it states that "no religious test" is required. I believe that the significance of that is not to truly eliminate any sort of filtering in the government office because of one's religion. Instead I think it is used to promote a sense of equality. By including this "no religious test," it sends a message to the people, saying that everyone is welcomed and that no one will be discriminated based on their background (and this is true, but only to a certain extent). I think that this clause was written not to draw in people to create a diverse government but draw in the people and to gain their trust.


Amendment 4: Is the 4th Amendment contradicted by MTA, library, and/or airport searches?

I believe that it is. The fourth amendment states that the people have the rights to privacy and any evidence that was illegally obtained is not allowed to be used in a court against them. By having these searches, they are violating that amendment. The people doing the searches are invading the privacy of others. And even if they find evidence that they are holding something illegal, they are not supposed to use the found object as evidence. The searches may be necessary since it's there to prevent any attacks against the United states, but it does contradict the fourth amendment.


Amendment 9: What do the 9th remind us about where rights ultimately come from? Are they given by government? What are some of the “others retained by the people” in your opinion? Is abortion one of them?

Our rights stated in the first 10 amendments do not come from the government or the Constitution itself. It is just our rights as humans. By existing, we are supposed to have the right to do whatever we want. Society and forms of government were just created to limit those rights. So even though, we are given this "freedom" in America, we are really just being less restricted.
I think that the "others retained by the people" are rights of the people. For example, the freedom of speech or religion. I think that abortion is one of those rights. In the Constitution it does not mention anything about abortion therefore it is a right of the people, but yet it is still prohibited.

Part A Consitution Work: Articles 1-3

The Preamble states the Constitution was created in order to make America as a whole, better for the people. And if it is followed properly, it will create a society where the people and their freedom are protected. The Preamble is simply saying that the Constitution will change America into an ideal and justified place for the people to live.

Article I LEGISLATIVE BRANCH
- Divided into 2 parts in order to create a balance: House of Representatives and Senate
- Most responsive to the people
- Representatives represents their own state
- Is able to limit the president by deciding on the speaker
- Have the ability to impeach the president
- Congress is required to meet with the President on January 3
- Decide on punishments and penalties
- Must keep journal
- House of Representatives start tax bills
- Congress can override the President's veto if 2/3 agree upon it
- Congress can borrow money
- Have the power to create clear, simple system of trade
- Regulates land and navy
- Create laws, as well as rules for the government
- Congress controls how immigrants become citizens and how to deal with bankruptcies
- Congress is also able to control: the value of money, the mail system, technological studies, lower courts
- Able to declare war
- Create and regulate armies

Article II EXECUTIVE BRANCH
- The President is required to swear oath to the Constitution
- President becomes the commander in chief of both the navy and the army
- Is able to grant pardons
- Has to give a state of Union address occasionally
- Adjourn Congress if 2 houses are divided about it
- Receive ambassadors and commission officers
- It is the president's duty to make sure the laws of the US are faithfully executed

Article III JUDICIAL BRANCH
- Have to maintain their “good behavior” and judgments (therefore their salary cannot be reduced during their term)
- The Supreme Court handles cases involving the Constitution, federal laws, treaties and diplomatic officials, international cases between the US and another country, between 2 states(no longer applies; restricted in 1795 by the 11th amendment)/ citizens of 2 states.
- Is able to appeal judgments of lower courts
- First ones to hear and decide cases (foreign ambassadors and individual states)

While I was doing this assignment, I did not have any feelings towards the work. I just felt like it was just a part of what we were supposed to do as students. But in terms of the information that I learned, I felt somewhat annoyed. I was annoyed that we did not study the actual Constitution when we were learning about it earlier in middle school. In addition, studying this made me realized the contradiction between the Preamble and the condition we are in today, and that aggravated me as well.

Five Insights/Questions
1) Although the Preamble states that the Constitution was written "in order to form a more perfect union," it appears that it creates a separation between the people and the government. The Constitution actually aids the government more and give them more power, while in the Preamble it made it seem like it would benefit the people.
2) Are we following the Constitution to its full intentions? Why or why not?
3) Why is it that there are so many specifications in Article 1: Judicial Branch? Does it have to do with it being the most responsive to the people?
4) How does the government revise the Constitution? What process do they have to go through in order to change the original clauses? Is this process similar to how a bill becomes a law?
5) How can a country truly be just and "establish justice", if a judge's salary is their source of good behavior and good judgment?

Assignment #7: Election Reaction

During this 2008 presidential election, I realize that what the candidates are doing are very respectable. I never really cared about politics (and I still don't), but this particular election drew my attention. The fact that there are still people who are willing to try to get America back on its feet shows a lot of courage in those individuals. In the conditions that America is in now, I am surprised there are still people who would attempt this extremely difficult task of improving America. Regardless of their intentions, I still believe that America is in such a deep ditch that nothing can make much of a difference. I'm just wondering whether or not Obama or McCain has acknowledge this as near-impossible yet. (Not really Obama, because it's kind of obvious that he hasn't since he's all about "hope and change").

It also appears that people have cared more about this election than any before. For example, there were t-shirts made and dance competitions were organized all because of this year's election. I feel that people have made the election a much bigger deal than necessary, especially in school. People have been screaming throughout the whole day that the president was decided. There were also people who planned on not going to school if their desired candidate was not elected. I feel that, as students the presidential election should not concern us so much, to the point where such reactions are provoked. It almost seems as though the presidential elections have become part of pop culture.

Assignment 6 (Second Draft)

Capitalism is an economical system, where goods and services are traded. This particular system revolves around three main aspects: land, labor, and capitalism. In capitalism, the term "land" represents all the raw material required to make a product. The "labor" involved is all the work that is needed to make the actual product; this includes the physical production and the process of forming the idea. Finally, the "capital" would be everything that combines the two (land and labor) in order to make them a product in the free market. The reasoning for having capitalism is profit motive, which is the ability to obtain ownership of wealth without government interference. This is also known as the Invisible Hand.

As shown as the dominant view of Capitalism, Capitalism appears to be a positive system. While the Capitalism is employing many people around the world, Capitalism also aids society and the advancement of technology. The Invisible Hand, which is a result of capitalism, guides the people to create better products through their own self-interest of making money. Capitalism also causes the market to provide better products at a lower price. By the Invisible Hand creating competition, each individual company within one market attempts to make them the more favorable company. Therefore, they lower their prices or improve their products in order to separate themselves from the other companies. Another positive aspect of Capitalism is the opportunity to make money and rise to the top. Therefore people gain an incentive to work their hardest for the chance of increasing their social class. This also adds onto the advancement of society. Capitalism creates the illusion of having equal chances of obtaining wealth. Meanwhile, Capitalism uses that illusion and the self-interest of the people in order to create convenience and improvements within a society.

One of the many people who believe in this aspect of Capitalism is David Boaz from "Cato at Library." In his article, "Capitalism Saves" he gives a very positive tone about Capitalism and how Capitalism benefits everyone (or at least the people he mentions are those who benefits from Capitalism). Boaz also believes that, "Capitalism has made the West rich and thus healthier and longer-lived. It could do the same for Africa, Asia, and the Arab world." In his opinion, Capitalism does wonders for everyone. He believes that Capitalism helps people live a longer and better life. Capitalism can provide goods and services at a lower cost than if each individual were to create the product themselves. This point seems valid but only to a certain extent. Capitalism does use competition and the self-interest of people and as a result, there are benefits for the society. However, Boaz fails to notice or express the fact that the sole purpose of Capitalism is to help everyone. In reality, there is an unequal balance where some people receive more benefits from the market than others are. In addition, within Capitalism, there is a large majority of the people who works more and gets less out of it. In this system, not everyone can benefit enough from Capitalism to live a good life.

Similarly, Drew Bland believes that "Capitalism [is] good for everyone." In his article, he opposes a handful of reasons why Capitalism would be bad. Boaz states that Capitalism turns the greed and the profit motive of big corporations into "quality goods at the lowest price." He also says, “That may seem cold to people who can't see beyond their own plight, but thinking outside the box will show capitalism benefits the whole society." Boaz implies that Capitalism is completely good, but the people who are affected negatively by the big businesses are bad-mouthing Capitalism. Boaz is actually contradicting himself. Besides the fact that he is closed-minded to those who are closed-minded and cannot think "outside the box," he also opposes against his own point that Capitalism benefits everyone. If there are people who are obviously not making a living due to the competition produced by Capitalism then, Capitalism is not a completely positive thing. If Capitalism were to "benefit the whole society" then that would include the people who try to make a living through direct marketing as well.

Assignment #6- Capitalism Synopsis

Capitalism is an economical system, where goods and services are traded. This particular system revolves around three main aspects: land, labor, and capitalism. In capitalism, the term "land" represents all the raw material required to make a product. The "labor" involved is all the work that is needed to make the actual product, this includes the physical production and the process of forming the idea. And finally, the "capital" would be everything that combines the two (land and labor) in order to make them a product in the free market. The reasoning for having capitalism is profit motive, which is the ability to obtain ownership of wealth without government interference. This is also known as the Invisible Hand.

As shown as the dominant view of Capitalism, it appears that Capitalism is a positive system. While the Capitalism is employing many people around the world, it also aids society and the advancement of technology . The Invisible Hand, which is a result of capitalism, guides the people to create better products through their own self-interest of making money.It also causes the market to provide better products at a lower price. By the Invisible Hand creating competition, each individual company within one market attempts to make them the more favorable company. Therefore they lower their prices or improve their products in order to separate themselves from the other companies. Another positive aspect of Capitalism is the opportunity to make money and rise to the top. It gives people the incentive to work their hardest for the chance of increasing their social class. This also adds onto the advancement of society. Capitalism creates the illusion of having equal chances of obtaining wealth. Meanwhile, it uses that illusion and the self-interest of the people in order to create convenience and improvements within a society.

Assignment #5 (i, Pencil)

Summary:
the point of view of a pencil, Leonard E. Read describes the huge amount of efforts and materials required to make a product as simple as a pencil. There are no individuals that can make any one product. People around the world contribute to the production of objects such as pencil, whether it's the people collecting the raw material or the people monitoring the machinery or the people who makes the food that the workers each to give them energy. One product creates indefinite amounts of professions and specializations. These specializations lead to the belief that the people cannot do something out of what their roles require them to do in order contribute to one product. And the main reason for people getting involved with the productions and specializations is because they desire something, which can be brought to them by contributing to the productions.

Quotes:
1). "Think of all the persons and the numberless skills that went into their fabrication..."
2). "Their motivation is other than me. Perhaps it is something like this: Each of these millions sees that he can thus exchange his tiny know-how for the goods and services he needs or wants."
3). "...most individuals will believe that the mails could not be efficiently delivered by men acting freely. And here is the reason: Each one acknowledges that he himself doesn't know how to do all the things incident to mail delivery. He also recognizes that no other individual could do it... No individual possesses enough know-how to perform a nation's mail delivery any more than any individual possesses enough know-how to make a pencil."

Analysis:
Pencil is the main idea of the article, rather it is just an example of everything that is put up in the market. The points mentioned about producing a pencil can apply for any other product. All the workers mentioned, such as the miners, company presidents, etc. would be part of "the labor" which is part of Capitalism. Within the Capitalism, it also includes the "the land" (wood, wax, graphite, rubber, etc) and the "the capital" (Pacific Gas & Electric Company, lighthouse keepers, etc). In the bigger picture, all three of these are provided by households" to the factor market. It helps the factor market make the actual product, which is then sold to the business. Then they would sell it to the product market. From there, those goods are sold to the households, which is why the sold the land, labor and capital to the factor market. In the article, this was referred to as the "Invisible Hand." It is the desired goods that drive people to contribute to capitalism. The "Invisible Hand" is also profit motives; the chance for businesses and households to make a profit.

Assignment #4- Revised

Through the several interviews I have had about the American way of life, many of the responses were negative. Regardless of the person’s background, majority of them would have a negative tone. Even so, it appears that there were differences in responses. And it depended on how that individual viewed themselves.



Judging on how they spoke of Americans, it was clear how they saw of themselves. There were primarily two groups of people; those who referred to Americans as “we” or “us” and those who called Americans “they.” People who used the terms “we” or “us” were generally those who had tiny and specific things to say about the AWOL. Those people have a first person perspective, therefore were talking about specific activities that are done in America and called those activities the AWOL. When I interviewed my cousin, he described the AWOL as “not a very productive way of life.” He admitted that he played video games and many other non-productive activities. He also added that “we are able to enjoy life in America.” A woman who seemed middle class had a similar response. She said “here in America, we can do whatever we want and that causes for us to not make such good use of our time…Although we waste our time, people here seem to be a lot happier than any other people outside of America.” Both these people lived through the AWOL first hand and were able to point out specifically why this way of life was “not very productive.” But since they live the AWOL (or at least see themselves as living the AWOL), they had some very positive things to say about it. It almost seem as though they did not want their way of living to appear to be all bad. If the person classified themselves as Americans, they would have more positive things to saw about the AWOL, but still openly admit the flaws of it.

The “non-Americans” are not necessarily immigrants, but they are those who do not believe they fit their definition of AWOL or those who try to distant themselves from it. Both groups of people believe that there are positives and negatives found in the AWOL. When my parents were asked about the AWOL, they said “Americans do too many unnecessary things.” Similarly, a male teenager said that the definition of the AWOL was consumption, “Americans are taking up too much of everything that is not necessary.” Both my parents and this teenager have the same perspective. Even though my parents are first generation immigrants and the teenager is a second generation immigrant, both of them try to distant their ways of life from the AWOL. Besides having similar views of the negative aspects of the AWOL, they also have similar positive aspects of it. While my parents talked about the environment, the education, the benefits and the opportunities, the teenager said “The good aspect of the AWOL is that everyone achieves their end ‘goals.’” They both agree on the opportunities that are provided in America.



On the topic of the AWOL, I also interviewed some of my relatives about the the U.S. government. I asked about capitalism and democracy, and whether or not America truly followed those two ideas. Based on my interviews, it seems that ideally these two systems would be mostly good. When I interviewed my older cousin, she stated that both of these allow “people to have equal chances of making money” and “the people can actually express their opinion and have an input on how to benefit their way of living.” Besides showing her view of the two systems, it demonstrates a person living “outside” the AWOL see the AWOL as “equal chances,” being that she referred to Americans as “they.” Out of all the interviewees, no one referred to America as “we” when the topic of government was brought up, which indicates that everyone is somewhat ashamed for the government here in America. Majority of the people believe that capitalism and democracy are both ideally good, but as my cousin said, “America likes to think they’re capitalist and run by true democracy but they’re not.” Most people would agree with this, and that is why some many people try to distant themselves from “Americans” when it comes to the government. Generally speaking, when the topic of U.S. government is brought up, there is one common response: capitalism gives the people equal opportunities to get rich and democracy gives the people a voice, but these do not apply in America.

As shown in these numerous interviews, the responses of each individual can be determined by their reference of Americans. Almost everyone would agree on the flaws of the AWOL, which is the lack of productivity. But when it came to the positive aspects of the AWOL, the responses could be divided into two groups. The people who saw themselves as Americans talked about happiness and enjoying their own way of life. For the people that did not believe they followed the AWOL, they saw positive side of the AWOL as being the governmental benefits and the given opportunities. The difference in optimistic views of two groups of people about the AWOL almost defines the AWOL itself. It appears that the AWOL would be life of the people who see life as an enjoyable experience, which was the typical response of the “Americans.” And for those people, the government was about “expressing their opinions,” which is also not a necessity but more of a privilege. The responses of those who do not follow the AWOL show that America is a place for opportunities and its government was present for that purpose, but having the opportunities was a different story and not a part of the American way of life.