Let Illinois Stabilize
It is not time for the State of Illinois to reinstate a constitutional convention. The condition of our state is nowhere near where it needs to be. We owe billions of dollars in debt, and are going on our second year straight without a budget. Since our country has no budget, it is ludicrous to waste money on having a convention. People are saying that having an Illinois Constitutional Convention could cost upwards of eighty million dollars. That is money that the state can not fund at this point in time. Illinois needs to refocus on cutting down their debt by defunding extraneous costs before they even consider holding a convention. Our legislators are saying they want to amend the constitution so they can take people’s
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pensions away. Other than the fact a citizen outrage might occur, a solution of the government’s debt should never penalize its citizens based on the debt that they, the government, took on.
The people getting affected are working class people who have paid taxes and paid their pensions for ten, twenty, thirty, forty, even fifty years. These same legislators also want to change the ways schools are funded. They do not care that the children at Illinois are the future, not only of our state, but also for the nation as a whole. The school system of Illinois has been underfunded for so long, therefore holding an eighty million dollar convention would only hurt our school’s funding. The Illinois legislators, including both the house and senate, have never talked about cutting their salaries or forgoing their pensions, yet they want to once again penalize the working middle class of Illinois. These same legislators refuse to create a balanced budget so our state can begin paying off its debt. They would rather raise taxes on their constituents than do the right thing and stop spending money our state does not have. Our current governor, Governor Rauner, raised taxes, promising to pay down the debt and fully fund our schools. He did neither of the things he promised. He got us further into debt and kept adding expensive programs that we could neither pay for nor sustain. Many legislators knew this was happening and did
nothing to stop or prevent it. Once again the people of Illinois were taken advantage of, leaving the workers and retirees paying the price for the incompetence of the government. The governor and legislators care more about being reelected instead of doing the right thing for the people of Illinois. Instead of having another constitutional convention, it is time to change political term limits. If legislators did not have to worry about getting reelected, maybe they would do the job people elected them to do. They would finally figure out a balanced budget, and lower taxes to incite new business ventures to locate in Illinois. Legislators would not be as worried about creating programs just to look good in the public eye and secure votes. With extended term limits for legislators, the future of Illinois and our nation could be prosperous.
Before the Constitution was drafted, the United States’ budding government, now independent from Great Britain, acted under a dysfunctional constitution called the Articles of Confederation. Although this constitution kept the new nation running, there were still flaws that needed to be fixed. The Articles of Confederation lacked a developed executive or judicial branch and a method for the main government to collect taxes from state governments, according to the background essay of the DBQ Packet. An assembly of fifty-five men eventually gathered for a Constitutional Convention in order to write a new constitution that would better satisfy the people’s needs. The trouble of creating another constitution lied behind creating a document
There is much debate in political theory about the definition of a constitution. Generally, it is considered as a “single governing document”. If that is the case, then the U.S. Constitution is the oldest in the world (Berry, 2011). The Framers, upon writing it, aimed to create a document that would stand the test of time. Despite changes in population size, racial and religious components, and even the modern day technology, the objective has clearly been achieved. Elkins claims that this is primarily due to its flexibility. Judicial review interprets the document with the rapidly changing society in mind (as cited in Garza, 2008). Many state constitutions, on the other hand, have not survived as long. Since many have been written with specific people and localities in mind, they have not been able to adapt to change well. Louisiana, for example, has had 11 state constitutions. It is common today, for states to consider overhauling their current constitutions (Morris, Henson, & Fackler, 2011).
The New Jersey Plan was proposed during the Constitutional Convention in 1787, where the delegates from each state were creating their new government. One of the plans that were proposed at the Conventional Convention was the Virginia Plan. This plan was written by James Madison who grew up on a wealthy plantation in Virginia. The plan said that the government should be split into three branches to keep equal power throughout the government. Though it did say seem flawless, there was one factor that displeased the smaller state. It said that the government should use the proportional representation, which is when voting would be based off of how many delegates there were. This was a problem for smaller states because then those states would not have as much of the vote as the larger states.
The strict constitutionalist within me would not be in agreement with abandoning our constitution under any circumstances. If we were to abandon this document, we return to the same situation that we were in during 1776. There would be nothing that would bind the states together. Not having a constitution almost caused us to lose the revolutionary war. During the decade that we were without the constitution, many events occurred such as Shay's Rebellion in Massachusetts, British contempt for treaties, Indian depredations, and Spanish movements on the western and southern borders. All of these combined to demonstrate how vulnerable the United States really were. Our first President, George Washington was quoted as saying " I confess to you candidly, I can foresee no evil greater than disunion".
The United States' Constitution is one the most heralded documents in our nation's history. It is also the most copied Constitution in the world. Many nations have taken the ideals and values from our Constitution and instilled them in their own. It is amazing to think that after 200 years, it still holds relevance to our nation's politics and procedures. However, regardless of how important this document is to our government, the operation remains time consuming and ineffective. The U.S. Constitution established an inefficient system that encourages careful deliberation between government factions representing different and sometimes competing interests.
The film “Iowa- An American Portrait” was narrated by Tom Brokaw. It described the land, people, education, work, religion, and family life of Iowa. One of the main topics of the film was the general view of Iowa- the Farm State. Iowa has more than two- hundred- thousand farms; ninety- eight percent of Iowa’s total land is used for production; with ninety percent of total land being used for the production of food.
More and more states became interested in these changes and decided to meet in Philadelphia on May 25, 1787. On this date the Constitutional Convention was held and the U.S Constitution was presented as a new plan of government that would completely replace the old system. This new plan called for a strong central government that would have highest authority on legislation and implementing laws. The federalist papers supported the choice to replace the Articles of Confederation and advocated for a strong central government. They persuaded citizens that this new form of government would build a stronger national unity and it would provide greater protection overall.
In 1913 legendary football coach, Robert Zuppke, coached football for the University of Illinois (“Illinois” para. 1). Robert Zuppke led their 1914 football season to be undefeated! This created many more fans for the college football team (“Illinois” para.1). For 29 years Robert zuppke coached and he and his team won four national titles in the years of 1914, 1919, 1923, 1927 (“College” para. 8). Illinois third football coach, Edward Hall, had wrote the football code for proper conduct of players (“College” para. 14). From the years of 1971 through 1976 Bob Blackman was a football coach in Illinois (“College” para. 4). NFL stars Larry McCarren, Scott Studwell, and Revie Sorey were some of the players that Bob Blackman coached (“College” para. 4). Some coaches like George Woodruff only coached 1 season at the University of Illinois (“College” para. 11). Other coaches led the team to many victories though like Pete Elliott did in 1963 (“College” para. 3).
Yes, the Constitutional Convention of 1787 was essential to preserve the Union, as the Articles of Confederation did a meager job establishing a stable America. Only a handful of people from the entire nation were pleased with the issues addressed in the Articles of Confederation. This document didn’t unite the nation, but created more differences among the people. The Articles of Confederation failed to properly allocate power between Congress and the states, giving the states supreme control, rather than Congress. This unbalance in society left each individual state on their own, besides the alliances they could form within each other (creating even more rifts within the country). The Congress didn’t hold the power to tax or create a national military, navy, and army, which didn’t allow America to strengthen as a nation. By vesting these powers in the state, the Articles of Confederation technically created thirteen small countries. After the Revolution, the United States became even more susceptible to foreign invaders and if a minute state militia was responsible for warding off these trespassers, the state would be easily attacked. This is just once consequence that could have occurred, if the Constitution of 1787 wasn’t accepted.
Mayor Mike Duggan has recently added his voice to the many others in regards to asking for state help for Detroit Public Schools. While he observed some schools that were properly maintained, he noted that conditions in some schools would “break your heart” including issues with heating and severe water damage that prevented children from using the gymnasium. Duggan’s tour came to a quick and early end, however. Many schools were closed in early January due to teacher sick-outs as a form of protest to what teachers call “deplorable conditions for them as well as students.” These protests are in direct response to the building conditions, pay cuts, and the recent plan by Governor Snyder. In addition, the school system is projected to run out of funds in April. Duggan encouraged the state to help fix Detroit schools. Of the districts ninety-seven s...
During the problem definition stage, one must realize that “a condition is not a social problem unless it is seen as violating certain fundamental values and beliefs about how society should operate” (Gusfield, 2011). I have determined that there exists a problem concerning gun control, more specifically, concealed carry laws, as they are inconsistent throughout the states. While 48 states now have some form of concealed carry policy in place, the Illinois does not. Thus, the citizens’ rights are in violation of the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
In 1787, The United States of America formally replaced the Articles of Confederation with a wholly new governing document, written by the delegates who attended the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia. This document, known as the Constitution, has served as the supreme law of our land for the past 228 years. It has stood the test of time and a majority of Americans still support it today (Dougherty). The Constitution was designed in a way that allows for it to be amended, in order to address changing societal needs. Article V discusses the process by which the Constitution can be altered. This feature has enabled it to stay in effect and keep up with current times. The Constitution should not be rewritten every 19 years because it would not only weaken its importance, but it would also hurt foreign relations and continuously rewriting it would give political parties too much power.
In the 1787, delegates from all states, except Rhode Island, went to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to strengthen the Articles of Confederation in the Constitutional Convention. The Constitutional Convention, also known as the Philadelphia Convention, the Federal Convention, and the Grand Convention (from May 14th to September 17th), was a conference that reflected on crucial alterations for the Articles of Confederation. Equally important, the Constitutional Convention was the origin of the United States Constitution. Therefore, the result of the meeting would impact the whole nation, as well as the nation’s survivability.
The Constitutional Convention occurred from May 14 to September 17, 1787, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The purpose of the occasion was to choose how America would be governed. Although the Convention had been formally called to reconsider the current Articles of Confederation, many representatives had substantially greater plans. Men like James Madison and Alexander Hamilton needed to make another legislature
Local governments rely on property tax as a source of revenue to pay for school. Yet people in the urban areas pay the higher tax than suburban and wealthy communities, states on the other hand, relies on The Average Daily Attendance (ADA), which calculates state aid to school districts, tends to discriminate against urban school districts with high absentee rates by automatically, and excludes 15 percent of its student aid. Therefore, in many urban areas, the state ratio of funding remains significantly lower than 50 percent out of the tree entities the federal government allocates the least amount of funding. Residents in these areas who are under edu...