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Roles of the Senate and House
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In the Question 105 of Article I in Thomas Aquinas’s Summa Theologiae, he discusses the qualities he believes are necessary to form the best kind of government. Taking a look a the different parts of American government, we can see that it fits this list of qualities given by Aquinas.
Firstly, Aquinas states that in the best government, all people of the nation should partake in it. He says that “this form of Constitution ensures people among the people, commends itself to all, and is most enduring.” The best government is one that includes the minds and hearts of the people it governs. If all people take part in the government, they will respect and honor it, for they will find responsibility and credibility within it. Today, the American government follows this guideline in its republican and democratic elements. Representatives were elected to serve in office by all
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American government is composed of these three. In place of a king-like position, the American government has the President, who serves as the head of state. He is different than a monarch because of the checks put in place restricting him from possessing complete power in the government. The powers to check the President are held by the Congress, which consists of the House of Representatives and the Senate. The Congress serves as the aristocratical element of the government, for it is composed of the men considered to be the best out of all to serve and represent the country. The democratic aspect of the government is seen in the fact that all citizens of the nation are permitted to vote. Each citizen is given the same opportunity to be a part in the government and have his voice heard. The president and each officer of the Congress is chosen either directly or indirectly by the people, showing that the entire population is a part of the
The men who wrote the American constitution agreed with Thomas Hobbes that humans were naturally evil. Therefore, they agreed that in order to prevent a dictatorship or monarchy, the citizens should have influence in the government. The writers wanted a more ideal constitution, but they realized evil human motives would never change. One of the main goals of the constitution was to create a balanced government that would allow the citizens to prevent each other from being corrupt. The writers wanted to give citizens liberty, but they did not want to give people so much liberty that they would have an uncontrollable amount of power. The writers agreed that a citizen’s influence in government would be proportionate to that individual’s property.
While the government of the United States owes its existence to the contents and careful thought behind the Constitution, some attention must be given to the contributions of a series of essays called the Federalist Papers towards this same institution. Espousing the virtues of equal representation, these documents also promote the ideals of competent representation for the populace and were instrumental in addressing opposition to the ratification of the Constitution during the fledgling years of the United States. With further reflection, the Federalists, as these essays are called, may in turn owe their existence, in terms of their intellectual underpinnings, to the writings of the philosopher and teacher, Aristotle.
St. Thomas’ purpose in writing the De Regno is to provide practical guidance for a Christian king on how it is that he ought to conduct his proper authority. The king, imitating God, is to lead those subject to him to their proper end, and this will be nothing other than communal virtue. This instantiation of the practice of citizen-wide virtue is the intrinsic finality belonging to political society, and for St. Thomas, it is the genuine concern of the king to lead and direct citizens towards the common good. However, before treating of the precise content of the common good of political society, and the specific means through which the king should bring this about, St. Thomas will present two principles that are fundamental for his treatise: 1) that man is naturally a political animal; and 2) the common good is the proper end of political society.
In this excerpt from Democracy in America Alexis Tocqueville expresses his sentiments about the United States democratic government. Tocqueville believes the government's nature exists in the absolute supremacy of the majority, meaning that those citizens of the United States who are of legal age control legislation passed by the government. However, the power of the majority can exceed its limits. Tocqueville believed that the United States was a land of equality, liberty, and political wisdom. He considered it be a land where the government only served as the voice of the its citizens. He compares the government of the US to that of European systems. To him, European governments were still constricted by aristocratic privilege, the people had no hand in the formation of their government, let alone, there every day lives. He held up the American system as a successful model of what aristocratic European systems would inevitably become, systems of democracy and social equality. Although he held the American democratic system in high regards, he did have his concerns about the systems shortcomings. Tocqueville feared that the virtues he honored, such as creativity, freedom, civic participation, and taste, would be endangered by "the tyranny of the majority." In the United States the majority rules, but whose their to rule the majority. Tocqueville believed that the majority, with its unlimited power, would unavoidably turn into a tyranny. He felt that the moral beliefs of the majority would interfere with the quality of the elected legislators. The idea was that in a great number of men there was more intelligence, than in one individual, thus lacking quality in legislation. Another disadvantage of the majority was that the interests of the majority always were preferred to that of the minority. Therefore, giving the minority no chance to voice concerns.
Throughout his life, Thomas Jefferson, a lifelong Enlightenment student, advocated democratic principles in his writing of the Declaration of Independence, his political career, his Presidency, and even his retirement. Jefferson believed that a democratic form of government was the best way for the governed to ensure that their government would guarantee natural rights for all people while ensuring they were capable of governing effectively.
He argues that the ones who represent the house should resemble those they represent and that “The number of representatives should be so large, as that, while it embraces the men of the first class, it should admit those of the middling class of life”. They should possess the knowledge to comprehend extensive political and commercial information, as well as, the common concerns and occupations of the people. Alexander Hamilton, a Federalist, argues that “a pure democracy, if it were practicable, would be the most perfect government”. He questions on the remark made, that more representatives are necessary to obtain confidence of the people. He claims that remark is not true, that confidence depends on the circumstances very distinct from considerations of number. He finishes of explaining that only these interests are proper to be represented and involved in the powers of the federal
A democracy is a system in which the people have all the power who rule through freely elected representatives or directly. A community that was a great example of a democracy, was the Roman Republic. The Roman Republic had great qualities of government, elections, and legislation in their democracy. They did have the right layout and standards of a democracy, but it needed to improve in their voting structure.
When studying the Federalist Papers, it is important to examine the individual principles brought to light in their creation. It is very likely that Hamilton wrote Federalist 1 in which he posits that with sound intelligence a group can create a longstanding set of political systems. However, this argument brings up another question that Hamilton never really answers: Who should create this government? The public people
One of the ideologies of America was that the best government was a small government. Our country was founded by settlers who wanted to get out of the grasp of Great Britain rule. These settlers wanted to have the natural rights that they felt were guaranteed to them by god. The Declaration of Independence was written to declare that the thirteen colonies were claiming themselves as independent states. Then U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights were written. These important papers spell out freedoms guaranteed to Americans and the laws that protect those freedoms. They talk of a government that works for the people.
According to Classical Republicanism the major purposes of government are promoting the common good which focuses on the public spirit and what’s best for everyone, moral education which makes sure that kids get all of the information they need to live good lives and lastly they believe in civic virtue which deals with the involvement of citizens in society. John F. Kennedy states, “Our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this planet. We all breathe the same air. We all cherish our children’s future. And we are all mortal.” This quote portrays how we are all human, and how we should all be treated equal, we are all important, we all breathe the same air and if we keep on focusing on one person more than another then there will be
In the U.S. Democratic Republic, it has all three branches of government which are the legislature, executive, and the judicial branch. Their legislative branch has a Senate of 100 members and they're elected by the people for a six-year-term. The Senates make laws and they advise president on foreign policy. The executive branch has a president that is elected by the people for four years. The president is the chief executive of the government and the commander-in-chief of the army. The Supreme Court has nine justices that are appointed for life by the president. They are the highest court, they hear civil and criminal appeals cases. A citizen is anyone who is born in the United States, as well as those who follow a naturalization process established by congress. The citizens have the right to prompt, fair trial by the jury, to vote in election for public officials, to apply for federal employment requiring U.S. Citizenship, and the right to run for the elected office. Also, they have the freedom to express yourself, freedom to worship as they wish, and the freedom to pursue "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness". Any citizen, who is at least 18 years old and who has not been convicted of felony can vote. A common citizen can vote to choose representatives to run the government. The U.S. Constitution is the basic law of the United States. The laws of the Constitution talked about the freedom to pursue "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness", that all men are equal, and laws against...
Many philosophical theories and arguments were used during the establishment of government in the United States. These arguments told of the virtues of democracy as an instrument, and some suggested, that democracy was based on the moral rights of men having equality and liberty regardless of the outcomes. As an instrument, “John Stuart Mills believed that since democracy brings a lot of people into the process of decision making, it can take advantage of many sources of information and critical assessment of laws and policies.” (Christiano) Although the United States is technically a Republic, the idea that the people give authority to the representatives of their choosing still has the foundational principles of democracy. This republic
Thomas Aquinas was known as the “Dominican Philosopher and Theologian”, of his time. He also was an Italian Dominion priest to a catholic church; he was also known as “Doctor Angelicus, Doctor Communis and Doctor Universalis”. Nonetheless, Thomas was born in Aquinas a small town in Southern Italy in 1224 to parents of noble birth. His parents, the Count of Aquino and Countess of Teano, were relatives to Emperors Henry VI and Frederick II, and the Kings of Aragon, Castile, and France. At the time, they were in possession of the modest feudal domain of Aquino (a periphery constantly disputed about by the emperor and pope of the churches). Not much more was known about his parents other than that they were nobles and that his father was Lombain origin and his mother was of the later invading Norman strain.
Due to the centrality of God in his philosophy, Thomas Aquinas is dismissed as an “idol” in the project of Friedrich Nietzsche. Aquinas, according to Nietzsche, builds his account of truth on religious presuppositions where “the effect of what is believed true is mistaken for truth” hence “falling entirely under the psychology of error” (Nietzsche). Aquinas treats religious doctrines as if they are outside the jurisdiction of reason. For Nietzsche, Aquinas mistakenly presents a view of the world that is neither objective nor able to be subjected to scientific analysis. These initial problems with Aquinas’ view noted by Nietzsche lead to contradictions in his positions. Nietzsche calls for a revaluation of all values, even after his assertion that we cannot perceive or know a phenomenon from the “outside” from an objective position, presents the problem that he then proceeds to do so in his work. Hence, his philosophy ultimately becomes either relativism or contradiction. For Nietzsche’s system to escape contradiction he must either admit to relativism, build a new epistemology, or recognize the same premises that systems such as Aquinas’ are built upon. Thus Nietzsche enters into the competition among other systems and validates the possibility of some other position’s correctness.
Today's society is comprised of multiple versions of government. The overall judgement of whose definition is correct cannot be deemed true by every one person. When asked to define government, one immediately wants to describe what their perfect government would consist of, rather than the genuine components of the regime that person may live in. Moreover, the interpretation of government from even public politic figures fluctuate from each other. Abraham Lincoln for example, stated the famous quote, “government of the people, by the people, and for the people” shows he believed that government revolved around the judgment and opinions of the people solely. George Washington believed in a strong centralized excituative branch and he believed that the idea of “factions” was a dangerous risk towards politics. Furthermore, philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s version is one on the more complex sides of its definition. He believed that government consisted of many