Burlington High School
Burlington, Kansas
Teacher: Devra Parker
New Government vs. Old Government
By Mitchell Garrett
12th Grade
The U.S. basketball team was unable to medal in the 2004 Olympics this year. In the past years the men’s U.S. basketball would dominate the other teams. What is the difference in past teams compared to this year’s team? Playing together as one unit. Instead of this ideal, we had a bunch of one on one superstar trying to win. They were able to win when they worked as a team and not as individuals. So, how does this relate to government? Comparing U.S. Government to the U.S. basketball team is an easy task. If our government works as a team it can accomplish much more. One man with one idea does not gain much success. That is why having a strong centralized government is very important to our country.
In a confederacy, the states have all the power and control over the central government, like during the Civil War era. This did not work because all the individual states are working alone to gain power, and if two states have a dispute, who decides who is right? The central government does not have enough power to settle a disagreement, so who decides who wins the fight? The states have to settle the issue between them and when diplomacy does not work, what is the next solution? In most cases it is war, and that is why civil wars occur. The United States is a prime example of losing much because of civil war. There were more Americans lost in that war than in all the other wars combined. Although, some people think that a strong government can have too much power. This is very true, but that is why we have a good checks and balance system. Making sure that each branch of the government does not gain too much power keeps us from becoming a dictatorship or communist regime. We all know that can lead to very bad consequences. All one must do is mention Hitler and the Holocaust or Stalin and the Cold War to prove this. We have to keep a centralized government that has more power than the states to prevent another civil war though.
Obviously, having a good strong centralized government in a democracy like ours is a good situation. What is the thin divider that separates powers that the government has, the states have, and what us as individuals have? The answer to that is our supreme law of the land, the Constitution of The United States of America. Yet, there are different views on how the Constitution should be interpreted. Many people think there can be more than one meaning to the words in this important document. That is why there have been amendments added to the Constitution to be more specific and analyze certain issues. The Constitution talks about the separations of powers. Two of those powers are limited powers versus universal powers. So, the Constitution tries to define what powers the government has and does not have, which can cause lots of questions. For starters, where in the Constitution does it give our government the right to go out and purchase land? Well, it really does not stipulate that our government can do that, but it did. Where do you think the Louisiana Purchase came from? It was not taken over by a war or some kind of force; it was not a trade; it was not added in some kind of peace agreement; instead, it was purchased by the United States government. This is not a type of power written in the constitution, but it is an assumed power. These types of powers are the ones that the government as, but really are not stated in the Constitution. I think that our Constitution is a little outdated and needs to be brought up to date. I am not saying to change it. All I am trying to say is modernize it with its base ideas to apply to our today’s world. This would definitely be a left wing view. Liberals tend to think we need to interpret the Constitution loosely, and the conservative like to stick to the bases of strict Constitution. The morals of our society today have changed from the morals of the men who found this great country. Both of those parties try to make the Constitution the way they like it by trying to make amendments, but that is a hard, long process to complete. This is the main reason I think that our constitution has fallen behind in time.
Having a good strong centralized government like ours is very important to hold onto. I think that is one of the main reasons our democracy has led us to become a lone world super power. Our government needs to stick to the ideas of the Constitution that created the world we live in. I just think they need to be up-dated to the time period we are in. I am not trying to be disrespectful to our founding fathers in anyway because they are the real brains behind our unitary democracy.
No Answers To Questions Re: Required Reading
Disqualified For Prizes