Divided States of America is a TV documentary that was produced by Frontline. Throughout the documentary, it shows the path of Obama to the presidency, his difficulties he faced while president, and finally Trump’s rise to the presidency. This show did a great job of showing the deterioration of trust in our country. In the past ten years, America has gone from a socially unified country to a very tumultuous one. The path to division started when Obama was elected, escalated throughout his eight-year presidency, and culminated when Trump was elected president. Ironically, the division in America started by the same man who promised to eradicate it. Obama ran on the promise that he would unite America, that there’s no such thing as red and …show more content…
However, instead of waiting for what Congress would approach him with, he drafted his own ideas. Thinking this would be a great start to bi-partisanship, Obama brought it to the Republican party to receive their input. They were completely against it, and wouldn’t budge on their stance. At this point, Obama started to realize how impossible it would be to unite the polarized parties. While trying to unite Congress, a new issue came up that would further the divide in America even more. The issue of race. It started with an esteemed professor at Harvard arrested outside his home for doing nothing wrong, and he was also black. This issue led into other ones far worse: the Fergusson case, Emanuel African Methodist Church shooting, and Trayvon Martin’s death. Those who thought of Obama as the ambassador to “black America” expected him to crack down on police, and stop this issue of race. On the contrary, the role of president is to side with law enforcement and not stir the rebellious actions that followed these tragic events. This conflict put Obama in a difficult situation, and whatever he said ultimately made somebody upset. As the social unrest within America grew, Congress wasn’t much better off. To get anything passed, Obama resorted to Executive Orders or a vote that resulted in strictly party lines. This further enraged extreme Republicans known as Tea Party members, and Donald Trump eventually gave voice to these
He went against congress many times during his presidency. He was able to split people views to make a stronger two party system.
During Gerald Ford’s time as president, congress was controlled by the Democratic Party, which would normally cause conflicts. However, Ford worked well with Congress and avoided confrontation for the most part. Ford didn't have too much of a hard time passing his policies, but he some of his vetoes had been overruled. Only about ten of his vetoes had been overruled, but one in particular was considered a loss. President Ford was in opposition to the Freedom of Information Act. The act would allow the public to view government information. Ford vetoed the bill, claim that it was unconstitutional and that even if it passed, the bill wouldn't function correctly. Apparently, Congress didn't agree, they voted to overrule the veto and accept the
There was a major political party split between the two, specifically the federalist party vs. the democratic republicans. The federalists believed in protecting smaller states with weaker economies which is done through a strong central government. Democratic republicans however opposed this and believed in laxer rules. One main issue was that when a president was elected, his vice president belonged to the opposing party (as the vice president was the runner up). This lead to an aura of hostility in the executive branch due to their strong opposing views. An illustration of this being Federalists John Adams presidency where he constantly fought over decisions with his democratic republican vice president Thomas Jefferson. This issue was solved by the 12th amendment which settled that the President would choose a vice president from his own party, and the runner up would thus not inhabit this position. Creating a less hostile environment is crucial to sustain a strong
Prior to the the civil war, America was a place where division set among the people. It is Shown in 1850’s with the creation of the underground Railroad which was a network of secret routes and safe houses used for enslaved people of African descent in the United States in efforts to escape to free states. Harriet tubman was a noticeable person during this movement., 1854-The Kansas and Nebraska Act,It allowed people in the territories of Kansas and Nebraska to decide for themselves whether or not to allow slavery within their borders, 1857- Dred Scott Decision was an enslaved African American man in the United States who unsuccessfully sued for his freedom. having considered the following examples of division in this country, in the following
The Divided States of America is a documentary by PBS Frontline, in which they analyze the stalemated America that Obama took over in 2009 and issues he faced, and later divided America that Trump took over in January. The documentary purpose was to show the effect of the division within the United States and encourage listeners to consider the future effects of Trump’s presidency, It elaborates on what actions Obama took which led to such a polarized nation, where some strongly supported him, while others strongly disagreed.
Where there is disagreement, there will be conflict. America has experienced many of these problems since colonial times, and the fundamental issues disputed caused sectionalism. Sectional crisis began when the North and the South first recognized their differences and their ideas of different interests. Since arriving in the New World, Americans have struggled to find identity and unity. Just how did the journey to discovering oneself lead to the bitter sectionalism that divided the country? Some may disagree, but sectionalism was closer than you think.
CONSTRUCTED RESPONSE 1. Have you ever thought about if there was a law against you and your wife having more kids, well if you lived in China in 1980 you were out of luck because they just implemented the one child policy. In 1980 China was growing so rapidly the government had to take a step in and implement a law saying each household could only have one kid, this was because China was growing so rapidly they wouldnt be able to keep up with the extremely fast growing population. Some might ask is the one child policy a good idea and to that I say yes. The one child policy was a good idea because it helped with pollution, economics, and the relationships in Chinese households.
Dave Helfert released an article after the Republican Debate regarding the issue that is silently and discreetly segregating our country as we know it. Helfert uses an appeal to Pathos by using examples from past Presidents in a few different era’s and while it may seem as if he is against President Obama or former President Bush he is merely stating that he wants all parties, Democrats and Republicans to work as one and solve the problems as a unit instead of truly being two separate entities He uses an appeal to Logos by exemplifying an extremely logical solution to what the United States has mightily struggled with over the last few decades. He also uses an appeal to Ethos by using very credible source information over a few paragraphs that clearly weed out the problems that he is attempting to bring into the light and help solve. Helfert is not against America’s decisions, he is against the fact that America is not making the decisions as one nation that is unified.
b. The change of the relationship between Congress and the President began to change when political parties developed as a bridge between the constitutionally separated branches. First, parties gave the office of the president independence from Congress, for the voters would focus on voting specifically on a certain party rather than presidential candidate and Congressmen. Parties also allowed the President to rely on the support of his fellow partisans in Congress to share his views, and thus share his goals in making policy changes the party wanted. As presidential power grew of course, this changed from what the party wanted, to what the president himself wanted to see happen.
In recent years, Americans have become more divided as a people. Many people say America has not been as divided since the Civil War as we are now. America is not supposed to be divided, but lately, it has been. Overall, Americans have been divided as a whole, and some of the main reasons are because of politics, wealth, and race.
(Geren Thomas 92). The US economy was it big trouble when Obama took office, and he worked with Congress to pass laws to correct economic problems. spring of 2010, Obama traveled around President Obama treated every person with kindness and respect.(Pete Souza pch 8). Obama signed many laws passed by Congress that aimed at improving education in America, and at rebuilding roads, bridges, and transportation facilities.(Sherri Devaney, Mark Devaney 84-86). Obama helped homeowners by working with Congress on a law to help them with mortgage payments.
Since around the creation of the Republican party and the Democratic Party, politicians and other Americans have divided our states into red and blue states. During the Presidential Election, you could tell who had the most electoral votes due to the color of the state and how many due to the numbers at the top of the state. President Obama, who became a vision of hope for those needing a change in the establishment, said this,”“The pundits like to slice and dice our country into … red states for Republicans, blue states for Democrats,” he said. “But I’ve got news for them … We worship an awesome God in the blue states, and we don’t like federal agents poking around in our libraries in the red states. We coach Little
Most people would say that the United States is not a divided but as for me I would say that thee United States has been divided since slavery.In 1619 slavery started in the United States. Slavery is not all about how the “white man” went to Africa and took the black people. No! The “white man” went to Africa and traded good with the African for slaves.which means the Africans sold their own people for the American goods. In 1865 the 13th amendment was made which stated slavery is abolished in the United States. Which means everyone is equal in the eye of the law but in reality they are not equal. There were white water fountains and colored water fountains.But the white water fountains was better as
Both in the times of St. Thomas Aquinas and in our times, there are many other religions. To avoid an everlasting war many chose to tolerate those of the different religions. The Catholic Church teaches that it is the true Church and that salvation cannot be found outside of the Catholic Church (Catechism). When St. Thomas Aquinas speaks of unbelievers he speaks of those who are not Catholic. Unbelievers are very different from heretics. While the Church tends to treat unbelievers the same as they have for many years, it no longer treats heretics in the way they once did. In this paper I will discuss and analyze the thinking of St. Thomas Aquinas about unbelievers and heretics and I will reflect upon and compare how those views fit into
When researching the history of human adaption it is worth noting that at least twice in the last 1.2 million years our species was almost wiped out. Genetic research shows that at that time the human population on earth was around 18,500, perilously close to extinction (the reason for this is not directly known by scientists). Then about 150,000 years ago, it plummeted again down to just 2,000. This shows that in the past humans have not always been great at surviving which could have been caused by a lack of knowledge on how to live through natural disasters (such as volcanic eruptions, tsunamis, hurricanes, etc). However, humans did survive, with the biggest example being that there is still a human race today. In this day and age