The goal of the American government has always been the same through out the years. Although the government attempts to pursue common goals to improve the United States, citizens are not content due to them having to sacrifice individual values. US senate member, Chairman Michael McCaul, values order and equality by focusing on the security and the economy’s problems in the United States. When order and equality are implemented, individual freedom is given up. These values play important role in the way the government makes its laws in America. They have to take all these values into consideration due to the ever-enduring debate known as the, “Two Dilemmas of Government.” An issue McCaul focus on is the economy. He believes on a “budget plan …show more content…
The police have taken an oath to enforce the law and ensure public safety, but when criminals violate the law, citizens are at risk of living in peace and security. In 2012, McCaul authored, “ A line in the Sand: Confronting Crime, Violence and Terror at the Southwest Border” (“Congressman Michael McCaul, “2017”). As a result, there was an “increased presence of Iran and Hezollah in Latin America and their relationship with drug cartels that control smuggling routes in the United States” (McCaul, Homeland Security, 2014). For this reason, cyber security increased and this is where order and freedom conflict. Since there is an increase in surveillance such as, monitoring citizens’ movements, imprisoning suspicious people and eavesdropping on phone conversations, citizens think that there should be a limitation to how much police power there is because it is interfering with their individual freedom (Janda 14). In my opinion, McCaul emphasizes on this issue substantially. Ever since the bombing of September 11, ISIS and Al-Qaeda have become a major threat in America. Chairman Michael McCaul stated in a recent video, Meet the Press, “Their training ground, state that they are creating in Syria, and now Iraq is far surpassing what we saw before September 11. They are the number one threat to Homeland Security” (Homeland
However, after reading the article the author noted that police are mandated to enforce civilian law and order, investigate crimes, and strictly follow legal procedures even when in pursuit of chronic and dangerous criminals (Kagoro, 2014). Ideally, it has been argued, there should be strict dividing lines between the police and the military; the former for domestic purposes with the latter protecting citizens from external threats (Kagoro, 2014). In his article on the anti-militarization of the police in the United States, Kurt Andrew Schlichter aptly put it that the military is designed, organized, and equipped to execute rapid, violent and efficient obliteration of the “enemy”-whoever the enemy may be ( Kagoro, 2014). However, the law enforcement is usually modeled after the military and in fact there a large number of police officers who are former military personnel. This was a new criticism of police that was unfamiliar to me in the study of criminal justice but, I found it to be a valid point. The idea of changing the focus of policing to be less of a battlefield and more of a community may be a compelling approach to make interaction with citizens less
During and after the turmoil of the American Revolution, the people of America, both the rich and the poor, the powerful and the meek, strove to create a new system of government that would guide them during their unsure beginning. This first structure was called the Articles of Confederation, but it was ineffective, restricted, and weak. It was decided to create a new structure to guide the country. However, before a new constitution could be agreed upon, many aspects of life in America would have to be considered. The foremost apprehensions many Americans had concerning this new federal system included fear of the government limiting or endangering their inalienable rights, concern that the government’s power would be unbalanced, both within its branches and in comparison to the public, and trepidation that the voice of the people would not be heard within the government.
According to the website killedbypolice.net, they have been keeping track of deaths by police since 2013 and that number is a whopping 2,966 casualties. That is only in three years time, compared to the deaths of terrorism it is still less but this website is only look at three years of deaths. According to an article on cnn.com the deaths of American lives since 2001 by terrorism is at 3,380, while that is high that is information that has been taken over 14 years while the 2,966 deaths by police has only occurred in 3 years time. This shows that we should pay more attention to the policies that are being used by our police departments and officers and make sure the procedures and policies they are going to enforce are better suited than the ones they are using now because things must change and I hope they do for the betterment of everyone in the United
As seen quite often in the Obama administration, legislation gets stuck and lost in Congress due to the polarization of the parties in recent years. In Obama’s case, he has frequently threatened to go around the House and Senate if they could not reach an agreement or would shoot down his plans. Cato’s Pilon points out, however, that the hurdles of Congress are no mistake. Pilot states that the framer’s of the Constitution knew what they were doing, and this was intended to keep the checks and balances as well as accountability to the public (Lyons,
One of the most disturbing trends in American policing in recent years has been the militarization of police weaponry and tactics. In his new book, “The Rise of the Warrior Cop”, author Radley Balko traces the roots of American law enforcement from the constables of colonial times to present day SWAT teams and special response units. With the high controversy surrounding the “war on drugs” and the “war on terrorism,” policymakers have signed off on a dangerously aggressive style of policing that too often leads to unnecessary deaths and injuries. Some people say that modern law enforcement is on a collision course with our Bill of Rights and is unconstitutional. In the book “ Rise of the Warrior Cop” the author talks about how modern day policing are adapting mostly all military tactic. These wars are more than just metaphors designed to rally public support and secure all the money they can to support these programs. They change the way we think about what the police do. Wars mean shooting first and asking questions later. Wars require military tactics and weaponry. Wars mean civilian casualties. Are we at war with our own people?
MARTIN KELLY, Overview of United States Government and Politics Foundation and Principles, 2011, retrieved February 21st 2011 from http://americanhistory.about.com/od/governmentandpolitics/a/amgovoverview.htm
The greatest irony of all lies in one word “protection”, the police are meant to protect us and yet it is more likely that we should be killed by one of them than it is we be killed by a terrorist, and the government who protects us by spying on us. Our privacy is our right, not our privilege, and the government should not protect our rights, by violating them.
Landy, Marc and Sidney M. Milkis. American Government: Balancing Democracy and Rights. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill, 2004.
It appears that we have been investigating the cause and effects of race and racism for quick some time, as a middle age adult in the year 2015, I feel that we have run into a brick wall which seems too hard to break though, too wide to get around and runs to deep to get under.
The political culture that defines American politics shows that despite this compromise, America is still very much a democratic society. The very history of the country, a major contributor to the evolution of its political culture, shows a legacy of democracy that reaches from the Declaration of Independence through over two hundred years to today’s society. The formation of the country as a reaction to the tyrannical rule of a monarchy marks the first unique feature of America’s democratic political culture. It was this reactionary mindset that greatly affected many of the decisions over how to set up the new governmental system. A fear of simply creating a new, but just as tyrannic... ...
Skogan, W., Meares, T. (2004) ‘Lawful Policing’ The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 66 (18)
Democracy has been the root of a limited government, the system of which government powers are distributed so that one group of leaders do not have too much influence. The limited government has been structured to keep peace amongst all parties that are involved in the government. And under the U.S. Constitution, citizens are given ultimate power by their right to choose their representatives through the democratic process of voting. Each levels of the government are limited as they have their own responsibilities. The city government has the most local level of government as the residents elect a city council and mayor to represent their interest at the city level. All city governments establish housing and health regulations, and are responsible
because our religious faith is not merely a matter that we should just tolerate, but it is to be the
The Public Choice For some parents, deciding on a school for their children can be a difficult decision. Many parents do not spend much time thinking about it; they place their children into the local school designated by where they live. Others attended a private school themselves and found that it was a beneficial experience and therefore want the same for their kids. But which is better: private schools or public schools? While there are many advantages and disadvantages to each (nothing is going to be absolutely perfect), we are going to focus on the benefits of an education in the public school system, or in other words, schools funded by the government that are for anyone to attend.
Being able to protect one’s self and family is a right that everybody should be able to carry out without any hindrance from any government entity. Yet in this country “the land of the free” we still have laws that do just that. It is a common misconception that the Police are there to protect the public from the criminal element. This was decided in a landmark ...