Head of State

In the movie Head of State starring Chris Rock, Rock's character, Mays Gilliam becomes a politician that no one had expected him to turn out to be. He goes through many phases while running for President. Through ought the movie it is clear that the point is to play with the stereotypes of all politician being ignorant, know it all, kiss ups. It satirizes the idea that politicians will do anything to get ahead. Whether it be the way they run their campaign or the was they present a speech at a constitutional convention. In the movie Mays Gilliam started off his campaigns by just trying to give the people what they want and get them to like him. He acted professional and organized which in no way represented his real personality and intentions. As the movie went on he started to take hold of his power in his own way. He started acting like himself, and being honest with the citizens. The outcome was amazing, everyone liked him as a politician because he was being himself.
Much of this shows through ought the movie right as Mays starts his campaign, it is clear he is not acting himself in front of press or during speech's, he tries to act professional. Later on when he and Baker, his opponent, are closer in the race Mays realizes the only way to win his to be himself. He starts fun campaigns and connects with crowds in his own way, he starts to win over the majority of votes. Lastly, when he wins he remains himself and I'm assuming he keeps the promises he gave to the citizens.

The Electoral College was created to eliminate direct election of the president. By basing each state by its number of Senators and their House of Representatives then adding more electoral votes for population, the president has the ability to win over a state all together; rather than win over the majority of votes throughout the whole country. In reality, the states electoral votes decide the fate of an election, even if the runner up won the "direct popular vote". For instance, in 2000 more Americans voted for Al Gore but due to winning the majority of the electoral college votes George W. Bush won. In my opinion I believe the electoral college should not be able to sway an election like it did with Gore and Bush. The idea of the Electoral College may have been a good idea back during the Constitutional Convention in 1787, but since then factors like social media, and type of nationwide campaigning was not considered. The Electoral College could still work, but it needs some major revising.

Voting

     If I had voted for a new governer today, I would have voted for Martha Coakley. I would vote for Coakley for many reasons, one being her focus on Pre-K education. I like that she promotes the idea of all Pre-K waitlists being put to an end. I believe that no child of that age should be denied an education. The later a child starts their education the less inspired they will be to learn. On a higher level of education, Coakleys plan to start tax free college savings accounts is a great idea. I think this idea is great considering I will be going into college In less then a year and I deffinatley don't need taxes weighing me down while I'm trying to save. Coakleys plan to allow workers to have up to 5 sick days a year if the company has 11+ workers is another idea she has that applies to my life. My work has 11+ workers but does not have more than 50. Coakleys plan allows me to still save up money even when I am unable to work. I have seen people try to use EBT cards in places they probublay shouldn't be. Coakleys plan to ban stores involved in EBT fraud is only a start, I believe she can eventually stricken where the EBT cards can be used and on what. Lastly, I do not agree with Coakleys view on Global Warming and her idea on energy audits. Though, I do agree with her doubling the funding to the MA Clean Energy Center, so they can do more and we don't have to worry!

Lincoln

     In the movie Lincoln, there were many difficulties involved with the proposal and ratification of the 13th Amnedment. The one major reason being racism. If the proposal and ratification were to be passed that would mean four million African Americans would be free, taking any job they could possibly find. In the eyes of the confederates, this meant all the slaves would be taking all the "white mans jobs". This also meant that many of them would not be able to find a job and become poor. Lastly, this would mean that they could now vote and this ability would change the outcome of many elections to come. 

     Another problem during the 13th Amendments proposal and ratification is the fact that there had to be a 2/3 vote for it to be ratified. So, just over 50% of the states had to agree on the Amnedment. Considering Lincoln was a republican and many of the states voting against him were democrat, it was hard to convince them to pass the Amendment. Many of the representing democrats from democratic states believed Lincoln was running the country as if he was a dictator. 

     Lincoln used the Implied Powers necessary to pass the Amendment. He recruited Lame Duck Democrats and assured them jobs for life after their terms were over. He also told a little white lie about whether there were or were not peace talks occurring in the south. Overall, Lincoln, in the end just wanted peace to contingent to the 13th Amendment. Meaning that in order for the Amendment to be passed, the South must comply peacefully to it. 

Meme's on Amendments

This meme is to explain the irony of the first and fifth amendent. The first amendment gives us a freedom of speech, yet as soon as we cross the line and violate our right of freedom of speech, we have the right to remain silent and say absolutely nothing on the matter at all. 

The Miranda rights are associated with the fifth and sixth amendment. The Miranda rights state "You are under arrest. You have the right to remain silent, anything you say can and will be held against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney, if you cannot afford one, one will be appointed to you."  In this case, Ronnie was read his rights and chose to have the booty held against in a court of law. 

Petoria

        In Family Guy's episode "E. Peterbus Unum", Peter's "country", Petoria has succeeded from the USA and has become its completely independent country right in Quahog, RI. Petoria is considered an  oligarchy government, meaning that a few people have control over a whole country. In this case it is Peter and partially Louis controlling Petoria. While having his own little country he enjoys a select few moments he enjoys of having a new Anti-Federalist, small government. For one, he enjoys forgein diplomatic immunity which allows him to commit minor crimes such as stealing, public urination, littering and plenty of other things without betting in trouble. Also another enjoyable aspect was being able to live and control his Goverment/ life on his own terms, he went by his own rules and ways. There were more consequences than anything. Quahog assumed Petoria was against the USA and assembled army troops to surround them at all times in order for them to possibly surrender. Also the USA shut down all there water lines, power, anything remotely accessible to them, making life a struggle for the family. Peter had the entire thing poorly planned out, he had no form of military, he had no way of getting water or supplies without being attacked and no form of school for their children. Peter and his family were living in a very depressing setting while Petoria was up and running. 

Ratification of the Constition

        The ratification of the constitution was so difficult because at the time the 13 colonies were more like seperate countries rather than states making up a country like we have now. Some states had more of a federal opinion on how government should be while others (more in the south) had a more confederal government. Those who opposed the new idea of a ratified Constition were worried they would be robbed of there rights and were concerned about not having a bill of rights. At the time, many newspapers were being written and people were gossiping in the streets about this new form of potentional government. Because of this situation the south and north, or federalist's and confederates, were aware of eachothers opinions. Through the communication of the newspapers they could adress and debate what hey did and did not want. Eventually, the federalist's won over the opposing states and by 1790 they had convinced all of them to approve the ratification. 

A Life without Goverment

     What would life be like without government? Some people believe that the government has too much power and they sometimes abuse that power. Others think the laws and regulations of the government are not fair or do not meet their expectations of what they think their American freedom should be. All these people have one thing in common, they do not stop and think about what their lives would be like without a government, they all assume they would be better off completley free. In my opinion, that's not the case.

      Without government, our every day lives would change dramatically. Our education, our crime rate, and daily necessities. It is because of taxes that childern K-12 can get a public education. If humans had the choice not to pay taxes, there would be no way to build and support a system. Imagine living a life knowing absolulety nothing, not knowing how to read or write. The government I able to give us an education system. Crime rates would also go up due to lack of government. Police officers, jails and laws would not exist. Murder, robbery, bribery, underage drinking and anything illegal would no longer be illegal... But it would be frowned upon most likely, I would hope. There would be complete anarchy with no laws being enforced. Lastly, our daily necessities would be effected. Our water supply is payed to be purified by our taxes to our local government, withou this government we would have no clean water supply. The foods we eat daily would be tainted with who knows what because there would be no government to say what is okay and not okay to include in our food. Our health would change due to no government. 

     I'm not saying we could not survive without a government, I'm just saying that living our entire lives with laws and authority figures is not as bad as people make it seem. Nowadays I think that humans, especially Americans are being ungrateful towards our government. They find the need to criticize and ridicule our nations government system because there is something better they could get out of being an American. The fact of the matter is, we have a government, yes we pay taxes and have strict laws, but the government is not going anywhere so why not just deal with it the best we can?