Elections Test

Honesty, hard work, leadership; these are all traits we as a society value and look for in our elected officials so we know that we are being led towards a brighter future. Politics today, however, seem to have lost the fair and friendly competition of running for office and instead of turned into a twisted chess match where officials are willing to do anything possible to get elected. When the voting booths open and all is said and done it is still a truly democratic process, but the methods used beforehand to gain these votes seem to have lost their patriotic spirit. Even the most honest of nominees such as Jeff Smith from the video Can Mr. Smith still get to Washington?, was knocked down by this lack of truth when he was forced to resign after discovering that one of his committee members had taken illegal money during his campaign. Perhaps the most deceitful of all to the voters are not the nominees themselves, but the media. The media is perhaps the most crucial element to an election as it the source of all news citizens receive about candidates but how they choose to present this news can make or break any hopeful official. Media bias is the perspective of journalists and reporters in the stories they cover and how they choose to present these stories to the American public. If a news network or paper supports the candidates view on an issue it can greatly help the image of the candidate and help him or her to gain more votes, however, if a network doesn’t or a candidate has a slight slipup it can be turned into scandal and cause the candidate to lose the trust of voters. This process of media coverage is truly out of the candidates hand and in that way makes the process undemocratic so all they can hope to do is maintain a positive image and avoid any scandal. Perhaps equally if not more crucial than media coverage is the amount of money candidates raise and receive to help run their campaign. Money pays for flyers, commercials, rallies, hotel accommodations, travel accommodations, etc. It is crucial to have money in order to get the candidates name out there and make sure voters know what political ideologies they stand for. To help raise money, many candidates will often for political action committees which are private groups that raise and distribute funds for use in election campaigns. They gain these funding through soft money (money not given directly to the candidate) and hard money (money given directly to the candidate). The thin line of democracy is crossed again when candidates receive soft money because this money is actually illegal but is limitless if they have the support of businesses who help pay for their political ads and media coverage. Which candidates receive these illegal funds are influenced by their political parties, organized groups that attempt to influence the government by electing their members to important government offices. The patriotic spirit of democracy is again lost in this process and the campaign once again turns into a chess match of who knows who and what they’re willing to do to gain their support. When all is said and done American citizens will view the election process as one of the few sacred democratic methods left in our government as it truly comes down to voter turnout as to who gets elected. But the process to get that point and how candidates gain these votes will forever straddle the thin line between democracy and corruption.

Civil Liberties Test

Freedom: the right to enjoy all the privileges or special rights of citizenship, membership, etc., in a community or the like; civil liberty, as opposed to subjection to an arbitrary or despotic government.

Protection: the act of protecting or the state of being protected; preservation from injury or harm; a document that assures safety from harm, delay, or the like, for the person, persons, or property specified in it.



America is the land of the free, it even says so at the end of our national anthem. The whole basis upon which our country was founded was that our citizens would be free from tyranny, free from discrimination, and free from the control of a totalitarian government. Our country was also, however, founded upon the idea of protection and security from unfair trials, prejudice against our beliefs, and endangerment of our rights. When our freedoms collide with our protections, change occurs and new freedoms are created and protections lost or new protections are created and freedoms lost. Freedom cannot come without protection and sometimes one must be given up to ensure the survival of the other. Many of the freedoms which we as citizens know best are listed in the First Amendment (Freedom Of Religion, Assembly, Petition, Press, and Speech). These are also the freedoms which are most often disputed over to the extent which they extend and when they collide with our protections. Perhaps the most controversial and argued over freedom is the freedom of religion. Public schools are not allowed to promote or exercise any religious activities during school hours to protect people's freedom of religion. This was put to the test in the Engle v. Vitale case of 1961, when the school held a prayer time for students during school. The freedoms of the students were violated by the school and the act was deemed unconstitutional for violating the Establishment Clause which states the government is not allowed to support or establish any national religion. Because of this clause the government also faced another dilemma in the Lemon v. Kurtzman case in which state money was going to help support a private school and pay for teachers salaries and buy supplies. This too was deemed unconstitutional and created the Lemon Test in order to ensure that the government remained separate from religion in schools and that the freedom of religion remained protected. George W. Bush utilized this test for good by using it to provide federal money directly to churches for faith based initiatives such as soup kitchens. Another often disputed freedom deals with the 4Th Amendment and search and seizure. The Exclusionary Rule states that evidence obtained illegally cannot be used against you in trial. In the Mapp v. Ohio case, Dolree Mapp was convicted of possessing obscene materials after police raided her home in search of a fugitive (an admittedly illegal search). The question was brought before the Supreme Court of whether these confiscated materials were protected by the first amendment and court found that all evidence obtained by search and seizures were inadmissible in the state court by the 4Th amendment. The question of the protection by the 4Th Amendment was brought forth again in the case of T.L.O. v. New Jersey, where a student was found with marijuana after what she felt was an illegal search of her belongings. The court found that the search did not violate the student's rights because a presence of rolling papers gave the principle probable cause to search the student and brought the attention that reasonable suspicion exists in schools too. Amendments 5 though 8 are known as the due process Amendments and are a process everyone must go through when going from an accused to a criminal. The Due Process Rights include citizens being provided with an attorney, the right to a speedy and public trial, a trial by jury, and protection from cruel and unusual punishment. These protections were violated in the case of Gideon v. Wainright when Gideon was charged for breaking and entering and was convicted without being provided with an attorney, which was supposed to be guaranteed to him by the 6Th and 14Th Amendments. The court unanimously found that Gideon had right to be appointed an attorney and the 6Th Amendment's guarantee of counsel was a fundamental right which was essential to a fair trial. The line between freedoms and protections is a wavy one which changes over time as new situations arise and new freedoms are created or lost for the protection of our citizens.

Test Post

This is my test post.