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I think an good topic for me to talk about on this blog would The Supreme Court. The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest judicial body in the United States and leads the judicial branch of the U.S. federal government.

The Court consists of nine Justices: the Chief Justice of the United States and eight Associate Justices. The Justices are nominated by the President and confirmed with the "advice and consent" of the Senate. As federal judges, the Justices serve during "good behavior," meaning they essentially serve for life and can be removed only by resignation, or by impeachment and subsequent conviction. The Supreme Court is the only court established by the United States Constitution (in Article III); all other federal courts are created by Congress:

The judicial Power of the United States, shall be vested in one supreme Court, and in such inferior Courts as the Congress may from time to time ordain and establish. The Judges, both of the supreme and inferior Courts, shall hold their Offices during good Behavior, and shall, at stated Times, receive for their Services a Compensation which shall not be diminished during their Continuance in Office.
The Supreme Court holds both original and appellate jurisdiction, with its appellate jurisdiction accounting for most of the Court's caseload. The court's original jurisdiction is narrowly focused, as defined in Article III, Section 2 ("In all Cases affecting Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, and those in which a State shall be Party, the Supreme Court shall have original Jurisdiction"). The court's appellate jurisdiction encompasses "all cases" within the scope of Article III, but is subject to limitation by acts of Congress under the Exceptions Clause in Article III and by the discretion of the Court.

The Supreme Court meets in Washington, D.C., in the United States Supreme Court building. The Court's yearly terms usually start on the first Monday in October and finish sometime during the following June or July. Each term consists of alternating two week intervals. During the first interval, the court is in session ('sitting') and hears cases, and, during the second interval, the court is recessed to consider and write opinions on cases it has heard.

All legislative powers are vested within the Congress - a two part governmental body including both the Senate and House of Representatives. The Senate, a 100 member group with 2 senators from each state, is elected by the people with direct reference to the 17th amendment. All senators must be at least 30 years old, a U.S. citizens for at least 9 years, and be a resident of the state they are elected from. Their term remains for six years and 1/3 of the total Senate is elected every two years. This allows for a continual change. Of the two senators elected per state, the one elected first is referred to as the senior senator of that state and the other, junior.

The House of Representatives, comprised of 435 members are elected every two years. The number of representatives per state are determined by total population. The Constitution limits the number of representatives to not more than one for every 30,000 people. Representatives must be at least 25 years, have been a U.S. citizens for seven years and be a resident of the state they are elected from. In addition to representatives from each of the states, there is a Resident Commissioner from Puerto Rico and Delegates from the District of Columbia, American Samoa, Guam and the Virgin Islands.

A Congress lasts for two years, and is divided into two sessions. Both the Senate and House of Representatives have equal legislative functions and powers (except the House may initiate revenue bills) and they are not referred to as the “upper” and/or “lower” houses. The Chief Function of Congress is the making of laws. This is especially important to maintain order within a large country. Without this order, there would be no organization, and it could be assumed that the country could not be as successful as it is because of this structure. Changing times call for changing laws. With a continual look on the present time, representatives and senators can update legislation so that it is impactful for what concerns citizens now.

The Presidents Importance

Having the job of being the President of the United States holds great Importance because of the many jobs he has such as, he is to begin with Chief of State, the ceremonial head of the Government of the United States. he is then, The symbol of all the people of the nation, President William Traft's words " The
Personal Embodiment and Representative of their dignity and majasty.

The President is the nations Chief Executive, vested by the Constitution with "The Executive power of the United States." The President is also the Chief Administer of the Federal Gov., heading one of the largest gov. machines the world has known.

The President is aslo the Chief Diplomat, the chief architect of American foreign policy and the nations chief spokesman to the rest of the world.Hurry Truman Once said " I make foreign Policy" which he did. Everything the President says And does, is carefully followed not only by this counrty but by the whole world.

The Constiturion also makes the President the Commander and Chief the the nations armed forces. Two Million Men adn Woman in uniform, and allof the Incalcuable power inthe nation's subject to the presidents direct and immediate cantrol.

Importantly. the President is also the nation's Chief Legislator, chief architect of its public policies. it is the President who sets the overall shape of the Congressional agenda initating, suggesting, and demanding that Congress enact most of the major legislation that it does.

Each of these roles is inseparable form, and closely interrelated with, each of the others. None of them is or can be, preformed in isolation. the manner in which the President plays any one role can have a very decided effect on the ability to play another or several or even all of them.

The 17th Amendment

The 17th Amendment States: “The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senators from each State, elected by the people thereof, for six years; and each Senator shall have one vote. The electors in each State shall have the qualifications requisite for electors of the most numerous branch of the State legislatures.
When vacancies happen in the representation of any State in the Senate, the executive authority of each State shall issue writs of election to fill such vacancies: Provided That the legislature of any State may empower the executive thereof to make temporary appointments until the people fill the vacancies by election as the legislature may direct.
This amendment shall not be so construed as to affect the election or term of any Senator chosen before it becomes valid as part of the Constitution.”
The 17th Amendment was ratified on April 8, 1913 and was first put into effect for the election of 1914. It amends Article 1 Section 3 of the Constitution to provide for the direct election of Senators by the people of a state rather than their election or appointment by a state legislature.
The Seventeenth Amendment is one of the They call it a "Progressive Amendment" because it was passed during the Progressive Era, with the support of the political group known as the "Progressives". The other Progressive amendments were: the 16th Amendment, which created the income tax; the 18th Amendment, which started Prohibition of alcoholic beverages; and the 19th amendment, which gave women the right to vote.
There are two reasons for why the 17th Amendment exists today: First was the problem that many state legislatures deadlocked on their selections for the Senate. The upper house and the lower house could not agree on a choice, or it was prohibitively difficult for one candidate to get an absolute majority in each house, which was required by federal law. Some states went without representation in the Senate for years as a consequence.
The second problem involved a perception that the election of senators by state legislatures made them more susceptible to corruption by special interests. The Hearst newspapers were a major force arguing this point in the early 1900s.
“From the 1870s on, citizen pressure for direct election intensified. The House of Representatives began passing "popular election" joint resolutions by the required two-thirds margins in the early 1890s. By 1902, the House had passed nineteen resolutions calling for direct election. Due to serious opposition, the bills were not even allowed on the Senate floor until 1887.
The states were active as well. Using popular referenda, the people of Oregon engineered a system to force their legislators to select whoever won the popular senatorial vote. In 1907, the Oregon legislature chose two senators within twenty minutes. This "success" resulted in other states following Oregon’s example. The states applied the most intense pressure through calls for a Constitutional Convention. Stephen Schechter, a writer who specializes in American federalism, credits the convention calls with "forcing" the Seventeenth Amendment, the only amendment compelled in this manner. Between 1893 and 1911, thirty-one of the thirty-two required states submitted applications for a convention for the purpose of obtaining the popular election of senators.
After much legislative maneuvering, a "popular election" constitutional amendment passed through both the House and the Senate, and subsequently was sent to the state legislatures in 1912. On April 8, 1913, Connecticut became the thirty-sixth state to ratify the amendment, and the direct election of senators became an official part of the Constitution. The entire ratification process took a little less than a year to complete.
The Seventeenth Amendment enjoyed widespread popular support at the time of its ratification. Pressure for the Amendment was exerted by state legislatures, the media, the House of Representatives, and the people at large. Despite claims to the contrary, the Seventeenth Amendment fundamentally altered the federal structure of government created by the Founders. The direct election of senators eliminated the states’ representation as separate entities in the national government, and in so doing it upset the precarious balance of power between the states and the federal government.”(American Secession Project)
One Case I found on the 17th Amendment was a case to get it Repealed. “In 2004, after announcing his retirement, Senator Zell Miller introduced a constitutional amendment that would repeal the Seventeenth Amendment, arguing that it gives too much power to Washington's special interests and was an attack on federalism. Alan Keyes, the veteran of unsuccessful presidential and senatorial campaigns, has also criticized the Seventeenth Amendment. At least five prominent libertarians have advocated the amendment's repeal, on the grounds that it upsets the balance of power between the federal government and state governments.” (Wiki) By repealing this amendment would mean that it would transfer the right to elect U.S. Senators from the people back to the state legislatures, as the Constitution originally provided for.

The top four Repulican Candidate's for the 2008 election are as followed: Rudy Giuliani, Mike Huckabee, John McCain and Mitt Romney. At this point any of these people have a chance at becomeing the new President of the United States. Each person is graded acording to how they go about each of these ideas, the Iraq War Plan, Universal Health Care Plan, Education Plan, Immigration Reform, Energy Plan, Stand on Human Rights Issues, Foreign Policy, National Security, Presidential Aura and Bearing, Charisma & Personal Connection, and Authenticity vs. Poll-Tested words. It will be how well they deal with theses issues that will eventually either win them the election or lose them the election.Many People place there vote on how popular, well dressed, or goodlooking the Candidate is, But that is not how voting should be. Voteing should be base on how well the Candidates decide to deal with the ideas I stated above. I believe that anyone who can deal with those ideas, that is in best interest for the United States is the one who should become President in the 2008 Election.

2008 Candidates

The Candidates for the 2008 Presidential Election are as Followed: Bill Richardson, Hilary Clinton, Barack Obama, and John Edwards. At this point any of these people have a chance at becomeing the new President of the United States. Each person is graded acording to how they go about each of these ideas, the Iraq War Plan, Universal Health Care Plan, Education Plan, Immigration Reform, Energy Plan, Stand on Human Rights Issues, Foreign Policy, National Security, Presidential Aura and Bearing, Charisma & Personal Connection, and Authenticity vs. Poll-Tested words. It will be how well they deal with theses issues that will eventually either win them the election or lose them the election.
Many People place there vote on how popular, well dressed, or goodlooking the Candidate is, But that is not how voting should be. Voteing should be base on how well the Candidates decide to deal with the ideas I stated above. I believe that anyone who can deal with those ideas, that is in best interest for the United States is the one who should become President in the 2008 Election.

Difficulty of a new Iraq democray

The invasion on May 20, 2003, launched the Iraq War, which is still ongoing. U.S. President George W. Bush declared the objective of the invasion was "to disarm Iraq of ,WWD, to end Saddam Hussein's support for terrorsim, and to free the Iraqi people.
The American government has promised since the early 1990s to replace a fascist regime run by Saddam Hussein by bringing liberal democracy to Iraq. This promise is the political equivalent of the military claims concerning weapons of mass destruction; that is to say, it has been so often and prominently repeated that, to keep faith with the U.S. government’s word, something in the area of democratic reform must be tried. Moving, therefore, with all deliberate speed, the new American proconsul in Baghdad has recently convened an unofficial meeting of a thirty-five-person Political Advisory Council, a first public step toward some form of democracy in Iraq.
We suggest referring to our previous articles for NMIRI, on May 8, 2003 and June 4, 2003. In those pieces we predicted that a communitarian democracy would be the desired form for governing a country as deeply divided internally as Iraq. We assumed that keeping Iraq intact as a countervailing force against Iran politically and Saudi Arabia economically was the primary American geopolitical goal for the post-war Near East. We see no reason to change our opinion on this matter; indeed, the events of the last five weeks have only confirmed it.
It is hard enough to establish a democracy in our own country let alone another country. But it is very possible, it will be hard but it will be rewarding if we can do it.The hard part on forming a new democracy is trying to make everyone happy. It will never make everyone happy, but your job is to make most happy.

America Representative vs Russia Communism

The Government in America during the Cold War was a representative democracy. A representative democracy is when the people of the state elect one person so that they can represent them. The representative democracy protects the rights of the minority but also keeps the rights of the minority.The Government in russia during the Cold War was Communism.A communism is basically when the government controlls everything and also they tax an outragouse amount. communism started as a international revolutionary movement originated in the first world war. The socialist parties in russia and also europe where split by the issues of war and the russian revolution.The Soviet Union wanted to spread Communism in Eastern Europe and create a "buffer zone" of friendly governments as defense against Germany. In 1946, with Eastern Europe under Soviet control and influence, Europe was divided into a West and East.In June 1947, the Marshall Plan was put into effect in order to stop the Russians from influencing any of the weakened western powers. During the time the United States sent massive economic aid to Europe democracies to help rebuild. Billions of dollars were spent to help countries recover quickly and to reduce the influence of Communism. This plan helped to restore West Germany and rebuild it as a new ally in America's fight against Russia. Russia refused the aid of the Marshall Plan and, as a result, East Germany was not completely rebuilt. This lack of reconstruction showed through even after the reunification. The German economy after reunification took a big hit, because it had to pay for all the reconstruction that the Communists never did.

Thomas Jetterson

I think Thomas Lefferson is the most responsable foe the form of our government because: Thomas Jefferson wished to be remembered for three achievements in his public life. He had served as governor of Virginia, as U.S. minister to France, as secretary of state under George Washington, as vice-president in the administration of John Adams, and as president of the United States from 1801 to 1809. On his tombstone, however, which he designed and for which he wrote the inscription, there is no mention of these offices. Rather, it reads that Thomas Jefferson was "author of the Declaration of American Independence, of the Statute of Virginia for religious freedom, and Father of the University of Virginia" and, as he requested, "not a word more." Historians might want to add other accomplishmentsfor example, his distinction as an architect, naturalist, and linguistbut in the main they would concur with his own assessment.
Jefferson was born at Shadwell in what is now Albemarle County, Va., on Apr. 13, 1743. He treated his pedigree lightly, but his mother, Jane Randolph Jefferson, came from one of the first families of Virginia; his father, Peter Jefferson, was a well-to-do landowner, although not in the class of the wealthiest planters. Jefferson attended (1760-62) the College of William and Mary and then studied law with George WYTHE. In 1769 he began six years of service as a representative in the Virginia House of Burgesses. The following year he began building Monticello on land inherited from his father. The mansion, which he designed in every detail, took years to complete, but part of it was ready for occupancy when he married Martha Wayles Skelton on Jan. 1, 1772.
Jefferson's reputation began to reach beyond Virginia in 1774, when he wrote a political pamphlet, A Summary View of the Rights of British America. Arguing on the basis of natural rights theory, Jefferson claimed that colonial allegiance to the king was voluntary. "The God who gave us life," he wrote, "gave us liberty at the same time: the hand of force may destroy, but cannot disjoin them."
Elected to the Second Continental Congress, meeting in Philadelphia, Jefferson was appointed on June 11, 1776, to head a committee of five in preparing the Declaration of Independence. He was its primary author, although his initial draft was amended after consultation with Benjamin Franklin and John Adams and altered both stylistically and substantively by Congress. Jefferson's reference to the voluntary allegiance of colonists to the crown was struck; also deleted was a clause that censured the monarchy for imposing slavery upon America. The Declaration of Independence made Jefferson internationally famous.
In the final 17 years of his life, Jefferson's major accomplishment was the founding (1819) of the University of Virginia at Charlottesville. He conceived it, planned it, designed it, and supervised both its construction and the hiring of faculty.
The university was the last of three contributions by which Jefferson wished to be remembered; they constituted a trilogy of interrelated causes: freedom from Britain, freedom of conscience, and freedom maintained through education. On July 4, 1826, the 50th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, Jefferson died at Monticello.

representative over Pure Democracy

Why did America end up with a Representative Democracy instead of a Pure Democracy?

A Representative democracy is founded on the principles of popular sovereignty. Where as a Pure Democracy is a democracy in which the power to govern lies directly in the hands of the people rather than being exercised through their representatives. The Representatives of a person running for president organizes everything for what the say a election period. They have to go in the peoples interest but they still have to disagree with some people.
Representative government makes it possible for us to have a better balance between geographic areas and populations. The House is composed of representatives who are elected according to population. The Senate is composed of representatives who are elected according to geographic area. If both houses of Congress were elected according to population, the states with the most cities would be able to put their own self-interest ahead of the states that contribute most with mining, agriculture, and forestry. If a purely democratic national poll were taken on every issue, the foregoing problem would be greatly magnified.
The main strength of the system of representative democracy is that it makes provision, through the Constitution, law and political institutions, for limitations on the powers which are exercised by governmental authorities as well as by private associations and groups. It provides institutional checks and balances. A pure democracy is the worst form of dictatorship, so our forefathers chose representative government which makes us a republic - not a democracy. Our enemies and those who listen to them attempt to make us believe that we live in a democracy. These same people want us to believe that we will be better off without the electoral college - so that solutions to all issues are decided by popular vote. If we were to move in that direction, life here would become even more intolerable with more laws enacted more quickly and more restrictions placed upon us. Freedom today is curtailed excessively by laws and bureaucracies. With even more curtailing of our freedom, we would be moving closer and closer to the situation facing the Russians before their more recent revolution.