Tuesday, November 25, 2008

The Preamble and First Three Articles of The Constitution

The Preamble:
The Preamble is the part of the constitution before it begins to talk about the regulations and laws etc. it basically summarizes the goals for the constitution and what the constitution will help America achieve. It says that, as a nation, we want a country that is a perfect union: in order to do this, we must be fair, be peaceful and without chaos, defend ourselves, stay healthy, bless ourselves and the coming generations, and create a constitution to make this happen.

Powers and Responsibilities of Legislative Branch:
-Assemble with the congress annually
-Make a record of progress, what was said and accomplished
-Determine rules and punishments for breaking these rules
-Create bills to then become a law
-Deal with taxes, pay debts, and ensure protection for the country
-Regulate bankruptcies and immigration issues
-Regulate the value of money
-Establush post offices and post roads
-Copyright protection
-Deal with issues relating to war
-Protect the citizens from being punished for something they did not do
-Regulate the amount of money the government spends
-Come to conclusions as a congress
(The Legislative branch is most important because it is closest to the people, a group of 45 year old white men in a basement we call our founding fathers decided that our nation should be citizen based where people of the United States can have a say in society which is why this branch has many responsibilities while the other branches do not have very many)

Powers and Responsibilities of The Executive Branch:
-Make decision (with consent of senators)
-Provide information for congress

Powers and Responsibilites of the Judicial Branch:
-The have jurisdiction over cases involving forign conflicts, conflicts between two states, and conflicts between citizens of different states


Description of My Feelings About The Constitution:
When I was taking notes and reading about the constitution I found it very tedious because there was so much to it that did not seem very significant to me. I feel like the way it was worded was somewhat challenging but once I understood what it was saying, it sounded so simple and it made me wonder, why didn't they just say that to begin with?...unless I have it interpreted incorrectly and its actually as complicated as it sounds, if that were the case, just disregard that last comment. But overall it was just tedious and boring for me.

Insights and Questions:
-Is the constitution effective? Does it achieve the goals stated in the preamble?
-Has there been situations where the articles have not been abided by and the government got away with it? (Bush vs. Gore election?) if we can't abide by it then what is the point of it? is there anything we can do to change that?, Personally, I think that there is very little we can do but because we have such little power in society (which completely contridicts the first article, trying to have the citizens involved with government decisions as much as possible) so people will not pay attention to what we have to say (even congress people)
-What's good about the constitution? What's bad about it? What should be changed? and how will the alteration benefit America? What would the consequesces of these benefits be?...there's always a catch
-Is it possible for citizens to be involved in the government as much as possible wihtout having chaos?, I would imagine that there would be many disagreements causing conflicts
-Is it possible to follow meet the standards that the preamble holds for America?

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