Final Exam part 2 definition of a well-informed 21st century US Citizen

Way back in February when this project began I talked about what I thought was a definition of a well-informed 21st century US citizen. I talked a lot about technology, I mean as recent as two or three decades ago internet innovations as we know it, personal computers, hand-held apple products like ipods, ipads, other products like androids and black berries really didn't exist. Today we enjoy the benefits of all those products, so the world is at our fingertips.....literally. Newsprint and other paper products are going down in popularity, as a century ago they were at a much higher rate, and now with all the newstainment and other slightly biased, comical programs can give a skewed vision on our government and the issues, and what is truly going on. Essentially, now after a semester of government class I would actually say quite the opposite. I believe that people that rely on the abundance of products we enjoy today completely are not informed at all. With all the websites, the talk shows, the advertisements, how do we know what is real anymore? The well-informed 21st century citizen needs to go out and figure things out for themselves rather than relying on what people are saying. Things like getting out into the community, attending rallies, visiting the political parties headquarters or whatever, researching on their own different political parties, PACs, or common issues information, see whether or not these people are reliable. If you hear about an issue on the news and see who is reporting, could that have something to do with it? If you are watching.....i don't know.....let's say you're watching Family Guy, and it breaks to commercials and an advertisement for the government race comes on, a well-informed citizen knows better than to believe everything that's said because it's coming from a biased, opposing party. That's when why get out there and listen to the speeches, research what exactly is going on, what each candidate stands for, not abusing the powers we have.


It's been an immense pleasure to have taken this course, it has completely changed how I view our government, it has changed on how I approach an opinion. This class was just what I needed to get me ready for tackling the urban setting of Philadelphia in a large university. In one semester I am now able to start making educated decisions about what I believe rather than relying on how I was raised, what everybody else is doing etc, and begin viewing politics in a different, more personal way. Thank you!!

Final Exam part 1

“Mommy I want to be president, because he gets to do whatever he wants….”, “if you elect me president, I’ll give you whatever you want, whenever you want.” We have all probably heard these from kids we know today if either in a school election, or just in general. If you went into a classroom of third graders today and asked them “what do you want to be when you grow up” I would bet that many of them would say president of the United States. But why would a youngster today care about political ideas like social issues, economic plans, and foreign affairs? They probably don’t. Rather the glamour of the chief position carries over the responsibilities, and I feel that many American’s don’t realize quite what the president really does, how much is resting on his shoulders, but also what areas he is not absolutely powerful, where he is under the authority of other figures. What does job of the president really entail and how does this differ from other forms of government?

First let’s talk about the chief positions our president has. When Barack Obama was inaugurated on January 20, 2009, he took a lot more titles than just Mister President. Essentially, Mr. Obama became the CEO of the nation, the Chief of State, the Chief Executive leader of the Executive branch, the Chief Diplomat, the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, the Chief Legislator with Congress, the Chief of his respective party, in this case Democratic, and the Chief Leader of the economy.  That’s more chiefs than the Shoshoni Indian tribe! But how on earth does one person take on so many positions? Wouldn’t simply one of those be enough to drive a person mad? Well that is what the president’s job entails. The president is responsible for leading the federal government in national affairs, especially economic because that seems to be the largest area of concern. In addition, the president is the commander-in-chief of the military, serving as the fearless leader, also foreign affairs and world traveling is a large portion of the job description, and the list goes on and on. Let’s break this down into a typical American family. Let’s say you are the parent of a family with eight children. That’s a lot of kids! You have to lay down the law, along with your spouse. We’ll make your spouse congress. You can’t do anything without the approval of your significant other; you have to pretty much agree. You can veto anything but something tells me your spouse wouldn’t be happy about that! You have eight children and you have to balance your family’s budget, you have to lay down the law, and now let’s make this a step further; let’s say your nerdy, dorky neighbor accidentally backed into and knocked over your garbage can……before the garbage truck came…….and it was FULL! So everything from your youngest child’s dirty diapers to the rotten lasagna from last Tuesday spilling out into your front yard! Yikes! But this isn’t the first time he’s done something like this and worse yet….he called your wife FAT at the Memorial Day barbecue! That’s it, it’s time to go to war! You saddle up your family and it’s go time! However, right before you decide to TP his big oak tree or something, you realize that you have to be the bigger man here. You walk over and make amends, just like the president and other political leaders try to do in the Middle East. Just managing your own family is a full-time job, it’s a no wonder 4 presidents died in office and over a dozen had other stress-related problems (not including the 4 that were assassinated.)

Well the president certainly has a lot of responsibility; however he is not the absolute power. The president does not have the power to declare war like many people believe, that is for congress. Also the president does not have the power to make a law. If a congressperson writes a bill the president does have the ability to approve or veto it, but Congress essentially has the final say because they can vote on it again and if two-thirds majority approve, they can basically veto the president’s veto. The president is not immune to impeachment either. In fact, two presidents have been truly impeached, Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton. The president has to be 35 years old, have lived in the United States in a permanent residency for 14 consecutive years, and be a natural-born citizen. However, the president is still a human being, he or she is still a regular American who grew up and lived like you and me, and had the same dream of success and importance we all share. Every president had leisure activities they enjoyed do de-stress from all of their duties; in fact each president today receives $19,000 in an entertainment fund for their pleasure. For example, George W. Bush loved to watch Sunday Night Football with his family on the White House big screen TV while munching on pretzels, Bill Clinton enjoyed running, President Eisenhower enjoyed golfing so much he had a putting green installed outside the oval office so he could practice during breaks, and Ronald Regan and his family enjoyed a quiet dinner with his family and friends while watching a movie rather than those elaborate balls and banquets. Each president has their preference, and was at one point a regular US citizen. They weren’t born into royalty, they earned their position by election and democracy. Presidents like Bill Clinton and Ronald Regan especially showed their humanity and connection to the people. Often we perceive the president as this absolute, powerful deity when he is simply a regular guy who has a big job.

But how does the role of the president differ from that of a British Monarch, a dictator, how is the position unique? In Great Britain their primary form of government is a monarch that is crowned based on the royal line and the heir to the throne, and then appoints the Prime Minister. Obviously in a dictatorship, seen in a generally communist or fascist region is a single absolute power who assumes the throne, often with violence as seen with Stalin and Hitler. Let’s break it down for a second. The president serves as the executive leader in the economic, military, social, and diplomatic issues as well as maintaining the highest possible level of morale otherwise as we saw in our own state, the people may take action. He or she cannot potentially set off too many people otherwise the job is in jeopardy and no matter how the issues would have potentially helped the nation, they may not be carried out anyway. Obviously on a state level this would be easier to maneuver than on a federal level, but the principle remains the same. Now monarchies because of their impact on the heir, the family genealogy, the people do not elect, nor do they really have power to eliminated unless like Marie Antoinette and King Louis XIV when the guillotine is used. Two very different kinds of government one by the people of the people and for the people, the other enforced upon, all essentially are trying to accomplish the same goal, which his unity, social and economic prosperity and a productive government.

Ok, let’s back up a second and re-evaluate. Today we enjoy a free, democratic, people-voiced government. Abraham Lincoln himself said “the government of the people, by the people, and for the people shall not perish from the earth,” one of my favorite quotes in existence from who I believe is to be our truly greatest president. Abraham Lincoln was assassinated in 1865 shortly after the end of the American Civil War, but on those grounds of Gettysburg he gave that powerful statement, not long before he died. The fact that this occurred less than a century after we won our independence from Great Britain, is I believe historically significant. We can enjoy a government of the people, by the people, and for the people, while other countries struggle each day from a ruthless dictator, or have to abide by a monarch they didn’t elect, that was crowned by their genealogical history. The point is, we take for granted way too much the democracy we have. The fact that we can elect by popular vote (usually) who we want in office, is one of the key foundations that make this country great. The president doesn’t have absolute power as we see, but the point I’m trying to make is that the president was at one point a regular person, wasn’t a monarch, wasn’t born into the family. The president is a citizen of the USA most importantly, because he or she represents this government that Lincoln dictated, is representative of we, Americans.