American Government 2010-2011 Overload

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Anthony Luna
THE AMERICAN SYSTEM
The American System was a plan to unify and strengthen the nation. It was created by the Whig party that included members such as Hennery Clay, John C. Calhoun, and John Quincy Adams. In this new form of system it included Support for a high tariff to protect American industries and generate revenue for the federal government, Maintenance of high public land prices to generate federal revenue, Preservation of the Bank of the United States to stabilize the currency and rein in risky state and local banks, and Development of a system of international improvements ,such as roads and canals, which would knit the nation together and be financed by the tariff and land sales revenues.
Before this time the United States did not have any efficient forms of economical plans. Before this time the government was just coming together and still was not as developed as other countries. Not only did the American System plan help the United States government some of its ideas help jump starts the future of our government we have today. Examples of the ideas put into practice would be the building of the, the chartering of the Second Bank of the United States in 1816, and the first protective tariff, which was passed in 1816. Clay's American System was essentially in practice during the "Era of Good Feelings," which corresponded with the presidency of James Monroe from 1817 to 1825. Clay was the most influential member of the senate and he was loved by the people. He was in our nation’s golden age of the 1830’s-1840’s. Clay also decided to run for president but later would have a down fall of frustrations and blunders and would not continue his candidacy.
The main points of the American system was The establishment of a protective tariff, a 20%-25% tax on imported goods, would protect a nation’s business from foreign competition. Congress passed a tariff in 1816which made European goods more expensive and encouraged consumers to buy relatively cheap American-made goods.
The establishment of a national bank would promote a single currency, making trade easier, and issue what was called sovereign credit issued by the national government, rather than borrowed from the private banking system. In 1816 Congress created the Second Bank of the United States
The improvement of the country’s infrastructure, especially transportation systems, made trade easier and faster for everyone. Poor roads made transportation slow and costly.
This program became the leading tenet of the Whig Party of Henry Clay and Daniel Webster. It was opposed by the Democratic of Andrew Jackson, Martian Van Buren, James K. Polk, Franklin Pierce, and James Buchanan prior to the Civil War.
Among the most important internal improvements created under the American System were the Erie Canal and the Cumberland Road.
The American System was a great plan formed in a time were it was in great need, it was followed by the War of 1812 but still remains as one of the most efficient government sponsored programs that help established and brought a nation to closer harmony.


Anthony Luna
People in Politics
There are many outstanding people in politics today but for one person who stands out is President Barrack Obama. He is our nation’s president and our first African-American President, what makes him so important is that he alone stands for change in our country. Even if he gets nothing done in office he has changed the way our American people see who we can vote for president. It does not have to be the old boring white guy who promises to lower taxes it can be someone that no one thought could be the president.
Our President of the United States, Born Barack Hussein Obama on August 4, 1961, in Honolulu, Hawaii. Obama's mother, Ann Dunham, grew up in Wichita, Kansas, where her father worked on oil rigs during the Depression. After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Dunham's father, Stanley, enlisted in the service and marched across Europe in Patton's army. Dunham's mother, Madelyn, went to work on a bomber assembly line. After the war, the couple studied on the G.I. Bill, bought a house through the Federal Housing Program and, after several moves, landed in Hawaii.
Barrack obama grew up without his real father who had divorced his mother when he was two years old. His father moved back to Kenya and barrack jr. only saw his father once after the divorce. Growing up barrack excelled in basketball and academics. After he graduated high school Obama studied at Occidental College in Los Angeles for two years. He then transferred to Columbia University in New York, graduating in 1983 with a degree in political science.
Obama did not grow up in a religious house hold but later during these years of college he joined the Trinity United church of Christ. After he met Michelle Robinson, an associate at Sidley & Austin law firm in Chicago. She was assigned to be Obama's adviser during a summer internship at the firm, and soon the couple began dating. In February 1990, Obama was elected the first African-American editor of the Harvard Law Review, and he graduated magna cum laude in 1991.
After law school Obama went to Chicago to be a civil rights lawyer and also taught at the University of Chicago law school. After a few years he married Michelle and introduced two daughters to the world.
In the 2000’s he ran for senate, his first attempt was a fail but two years later he tried again and finally made senate, this political position allowed him to make strides towards a political campaign and in 2007 he shocked the United States citizens by running for president. It was a tight battle between him and Senator Hillary Clinton, but Obama came ahead of Clinton. With the clear running for the Democratic candidate all he had to do was beat republican Senator john McCain. Most people would believe that John McCain would win because Obama was a minority but the year of 2008 the minority became the majority and Obama defeated McCain.
Barrack Obama has been through a lot over his life and is still striving to make the united States a better country and has shown everyone that change can really happen and it could happen to anyone who tries for it. He can make this country believe again, he gives hope to the minorities who think they can not be anything. He is a really good person in politics, for the changes he made and he will be in history forever.


Anthony Luna
Civil Rights and Liberties
As Americans we all have rights, we have the right to say what we want, the right vote for who ever we want to elect, the right to protest something if we feel it is necessary. Because of the bill of rights and Declaration of Independence we have these rights today.
Many cases over the years have challenged our rights as Americans, cases like 1896: In Plessy v. Ferguson, the Court upheld a Louisiana law requiring restaurants, hotels, hospitals, and other public places to serve African Americans in separate, but ostensibly equal, accommodations. In establishing the separate but equal" doctrine, the Court said that segregation is "universally recognized as within the competency of states in the exercise of their police powers." In the sole dissent, Justice John Marshall Harlan — a former slave-owner — said the ruling would "stimulate aggressions, more or less brutal, upon the admitted rights of colored citizens."
1954: In Brown v. Board of Education, Chief Justice Earl Warren, reading his first major opinion from the bench, said: "We conclude, unanimously, that in the field of public education the doctrine of 'separate but equal' has no place. Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal."
1956: The Supreme Court, without comment, affirmed a lower court ruling declaring segregation of the Montgomery bus system illegal, giving a major victory to Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King, Jr., and the thousands of anonymous African Americans who had sustained the bus boycott in the face of violence and intimidation.
1973: Roe v. Wade. This controversial case was over the right of abortion. The Court decided that a right to privacy under the due process clause in the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution extends to a woman's decision to have an abortion, but that right must be balanced against the state's two legitimate interests for regulating abortions: protecting prenatal life and protecting the mother's health.
Those are just some of the cases involving civil rights of Americans. There are many more and probably be more in the future. Our rights as Americans will always be challenged but we should never have to lose those rights. Back in the 1960’s and 1970’s states in the south violated the rights of African-Americans. African Americans could not eat in certain restaurants, drink from certain water fountains, and could not attend schools that white people attended. African Americans had it hard during those years but so did Mexican Americans and Asian Americans.
The thought today of people being treated differently because of their skin color, national origin, or race would be horrible. Today we live in a world full of variety, we as Americans have rights to do anything no matter what race or skin color we are. Of course some states in the south are still racist and feel that things should not change but I don’t think I would want to live in a world where we all could not do what we wanted cause of our race or skin color. For example every president ever elected was a white man and today we have a African American president, most people probably don’t like president obama or agree with his policies but just being elected alone has changed our country. No one would have guessed that a African American would be president or any other skin color other than white.
Our rights as Americans allow us to have the same opportunities as anyone else and because those rights any one can do anything and anyone can be president, this change will keep changing maybe for the better maybe for the worse but the good thing about it will always allow us to change.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_Rights_Cases


Civil Rights and Liberties

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Judith L. Tippets

The World Health Organization estimates nearly one fifth of kidney transplants performed in America comes from “Black Market” sources. Overwhelming demand for organs often gives rise to crime. Reports of cadavers being illegally butchered surface in every country of the world, except Iran, the only place where one can legally sell a kidney without much question.
There is a mounting donor shortage in America. One might sympathize with non-donors, due to fears that doctors may be unscrupulous enough to take another person's misfortune as an opportunity to make money. Of course, this is not a ridiculous fear. It does happen. People who are still living are sometimes the victims of organ thievery. A report about a man in India who was lured into a makeshift operating room under the assumption that he would be paid for doing construction work tells of one such harrowing instance. His account of waking up in agony after his kidneys had been removed is a chilling story; the stuff of urban legends. With the lawlessness, the demand for healthy tissues increases.
I'd waited for two years. Finally, Dr. Clifford's office called. A fresh cornea was available. Dr. Clifford was a talented surgeon, and I'd done my research. Roughly 40,000 corneal transplants are performed in the US yearly. Over 95% of them are successful. The other 5% are often treatable. I was actually relieved, because I'd been told my eye literally could pop out of my head. Months of apprehension was finally over. I was getting my new cornea.
In the OR, an anesthesiologist paralyzed my ocular nerve. My eyelids were kept open with a kind of reverse-gripper. Dr. Clifford used an apparatus with a rounded blade to punch a hole in my cornea. The only pain I had came when the first stitch, the anchor stitch, was threaded through my sclera. Fifteen more neat stitches later, I was cleaned up, given some medicative eyedrops, and sent home. I was also given a mild pain-killer. The only complaint I had was that the eyepatch I wore to protect against irritants was a little uncomfortable. After a few months, my eye was almost completely healed. I'm still in the process of getting my stitches out. They'll be removed during follow-up appointments. I can see now, and that's something people usually take for granted. I am exceedingly appreciative for this gift. I cannot thank my donor enough.

corneatransplant.jpg

LifeSharers is an organization for registered donors. If a member of LifeSharers is placed on a recipient's list, he is given preferential access to organs donated by other members. It makes sense. If you're willing to take, you should be willing to give.
LifeSharers has caused some controversy. Opponents say giving a person preferential access to organs borders on the seedy aforementioned black market activities. However, spokespersons for LifeSharers see it differently.
"Because of our system of presumed non-consent to organ donation, there is a large shortage of organs for transplantation in the United States. To me, there is an inherent fairness in having organs made available first to individuals who have indicated their willingness to donate their own organs,” says Gerry Beyer, a professor at Texas Tech. LifeSharers.org goes on to say that the very existence of this group has increased the number of organ donors. People seem more willing to give access to organs if they have some incentive.
Jeneen Interlandi (2009, January 10th). Not Just Urban Legend. Retrieved on May 6th, 2011 from: http://www.newsweek.com/2009/01/09/not-just-urban-legend.html
School of Optometry, Indiana University (2010, September 30th). Corneal Transplant. Retrieved on May 6th, 2011 from: http://www.opt.indiana.edu/lowther/html/keratoconus_transplant.htm


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