Current political events should be chosen from a reputable and neutral news source such as the Associated Press (AP), Reuters, NPR, PBS, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, ABC, Wichita Eagle, or The Sunflower. If you have a question about what constitutes a reputable and neutral news source check this website or send me an email (Note: local news sources are generally considered reputable and neutral).
You must identify a current event related to the topic for the week.
Week 3: Civil Rights or Civil Liberties
Each memo should be a cause-and-effect analysis. In other words, the current event you choose should be the outcome (or effect) of the week’s topic, or vice versa. In the attached example, trust in government (a concept examined in Week 1) is discussed in the context of voter registration. The argument presented is that difficulties in voter registration caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has further eroded citizens’ trust in government and is detrimental to representative democracy.
Each memo should be 250-300 words and posted in the designated discussion board. You must provide a citation for the news source you choose, but citing the course material is not necessary.
A couple of tips:
Be creative. This is an opportunity for you to show that you understand the course material, so feel free to have some fun with it.
Make direct connections. Be explicit about why the event you choose is related to the week’s topic.
Keep events current. Events are not current if they are more than 30 days old.
Choose a current event you care about. Your writing will always be better if you have a personal connection to the topic.
View the example attached above.
Category: american politics
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Title: The Impact of Civil Rights on Police Reform: A Cause-and-Effect Analysis of the George Floyd Protests
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“Separations of Powers and Checks and Balances in Action: Analyzing President Biden’s Executive Order on Border Asylum Seekers”
For this week’s memo I want to talk about the separations of powers and checks and balances. To limit the federal government, the Founders divided it into separate branches, known as separations of powers (O. Lenz and Holman, 2018). These were the executive, legislative, and judicial. Each branch of government has powers that belong to it and these powers are denied to the other branches (O. Lenz and Holman, 2018). The executive branch constitutional powers are veto, commander-in-chief, foreign affairs, executive order, and appointment power. The legislative branch constitutional powers are to pass laws, ratify treaties, and pass budgets. The judicial branch constitutional powers are to determine constitutionality of laws. The founders designed each branch so that it would then need the support, or at least consent, of the other branches in order to act, which is referred to as checks and balances.
The title of the article is “Biden Shut the Border to Asylum Seekers. The Question is Whether the Order Can Be Enforced” by Hamed Aleaziz. It’s about an executive order that was signed by President Biden for the United States border with Mexico to shut down nearly all migrants seeking asylum in the United States on June 5, 2024. But many doubts about the success of this executive order rose due to no new resources to help guard the 2.000-mile frontier. The key difference between that legislation and Mr. Biden’s executive order is money. Mr. Biden cannot use his executive authority to send billions of dollars in resources to the border; he needs Congress to do that (Aleaziz, 2024). Assuming the executive order survives legal challenges, which are expected, it could be in effect for months or longer (Aleaziz, 2024).
Judging from these two statements found in the article we can see that even with an executive order signed by the president, it can not be passed until legislation agrees to it or helps. A good example of separations of powers and checks and balances between branches.
Sources
Aleaziz, H. (2024, June 6). Biden shut the border to asylum seekers. the question is whether the order can be enforced. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/06/us/politics/biden-asylum-seekers-enforcement.html
Lenz, T. O., & Holman, M. (2018). American government – UFDC image array 2.
https://ufdcimages.uflib.ufl.edu/AA/00/06/19/50/00001/9781616102180_Print.pdf -
Title: The Role of Political Parties in a Democracy: Examining the State of Congress in 2023
For each topic, students will have the opportunity to write a two-page paper addressing the question attending that week’s topic. There are no right or wrong answers; instead, students should reflect on the question and connect their argument to current events, readings, and other class material.
Short papers deadlines are listed on the syllabus and the papers will be graded on a check-plus, check, fail basis, roughly corresponding to an A, C, or F. Papers must be two, double-spaced pages using standard font (e.g., Times New Roman, 12pt).
Topics: Are political parties necessary for democracy?
Resource: Binder, Sarah. “Why Congress’s 2023 was so dismal.”