The Republic of the USA
The definition of government, according to Dictionary.com, is the political direction and control exercised over the actions of the inhabitants of communities, societies, and states. However, in the book Legend by Marie Lu, the definition of government is very different. Legend is about two main characters, June and Day, who meet in a surprising scenario and end up working together to bring down the Republic. The theme of government control relates to an ongoing war, the militarization of people, and a rebellious community.
Government control has led to an ongoing war between the Colonies and the Republic, each fighting the war to take over each others and use a different government system. The Colonies want to restore America back to the United States of America and the Republic wants to defend their land and eliminate the threat of the Colonies entirely. Anti Colonies ads like “The Colonies want our land,” (Lu 1) are presented on JumboTrons in Republic cities to get civilians to support the Republic’s cause. There is a Trial’s system implemented into the Republic that sorts out who would be a good candidate for a soldier when children are only ten years old. Those who fail get experimented on with bioweapons. Those who pass get sent to a college based on their
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At college, June states that “almost all of us are well on our way to career assignments in the Republic’s military,” (Lu 16) which shows just how militarized the Republic is. Another example of this is when June recalls her assignment “when all third-year Drake students had to shadow and assigned military branch” (Lu 18). Kids are either being experimented on to improve the Republic’s bioweapons or getting trained as soldiers to support the Republic’s military. The militarization of many shows that people are likely to turn to violence in a dispute over any
Youth are the preeminent guiding force for change today in society. They inspire innovation, aspire to influence the world, fight for those without a voice, and are tomorrow’s legislators. Throughout all modern time, the youth of all nations believe in something larger than themselves and something which will change everything known. In the current civilization that goal is equality, both of the genders and of the races. Kurt Vonnegut writes about the youth in Slaughterhouse-Five and their mission. Yet these motivational sources differ a large amount from those of the current day. Their task, war. The youth in Vonnegut’s novel are naive children, sheep following their shepherd. Without these misguided young adults, the machinery of war
Young people often do not know what to expect of the future. They do not know how to act when something unexpected comes along, and their actions are based on what they do know; usually limited, biased information. This idea is central to the short story, ʺWar,ʺ by Timothy Findley. The young boy, Neil Cable, narrates the day he found out his father had joined the army. He speaks of his actions, feelings, and confusion surrounding that day. At first glance, his actions are all too often misinterpreted as violence and hatred, but after careful consideration, one can see that they are merely his way of dealing with the troubling news. He has not experienced enough in his lifetime to have a true understanding of war, and acts upon what
Between 1787 and 1791 the Framers of the US Constitution established a system of government upon principles that had been discussed and partially implemented in many countries over the course of several centuries, but never before in such a pure and complete design, which we call a constitutional republic. Since then, the design has often been imitated, but important principles have often been ignored in those imitations, with the result that their governments fall short of being true republics or truly constitutional. The Framers of the Constitution tried very hard to design a system that would not allow any one person or group within the government to gain too much power. Personally, I think they
In Tim O’Brien’s fictional narrative “On the Rainy River,” the narrator faces the dilemma of avoiding the draft or submitting and going to Vietnam, a common predicament that many men faced after receiving draft cards for the Vietnam War. O’Brien displays the thought process of the narrator as he makes a decision, and near the beginning, the narrator describes certain qualities that he believes make him “too good for [that] war”(2). He lists off achievements like “president of the student body” and “full-ride scholarship,” arguing for the idea that he is “above” going to war(O’Brien 2). Through explaining what the narrator believes to be superior traits, the reader might begin to ask, “What types of people actually went to the war?” If the narrator feels that he was above going to Vietnam, there must be some preconceived notion of who was expected to serve. After seeing how the narrator reacted to his call to battle, a question is left of whether the draft was fair in relation to social classes.
The United States Selective Service System, or the “draft” as it is more commonly known, is a deeply flawed institution. While there are many components with which I take issue, the one I chose to contend with in my creative project is its exclusion of women. Though women have recently gained the right to serve in all combat positions in the United States military, we are still not expected to register with the draft as all men in America must do when they turn eighteen. This system may be flawed, but if it is going to exist it must be equitable. The existence of the draft as a male-only institution sends a message about how our society views men and women as innately different, a belief which limits and hurt us all. Until we raise our voices in opposition to such essentialist beliefs and start changing the status quo, the draft will continue to exemplify all the things we continue to get wrong about gender differences and systems of oppression in society.
(607) Gurganus infers that these kids are the ones, who when they are released, “will come back home, back to their folks’ ghetto stoops or trailers,” (608) while the sons of the ones in charge “are safe, golfing at home” (607). Again, he sees the financial prospect being the greatest motivator in kids enlisting because in his implication, the wealthier kids have no need. Although this may work to his disadvantage and diminish his credibility, he holds steady to work at the other rhetorical appeals to regain some of his
Government is defined by Oxford Dictionaries to be “The system by which a state or community is governed”.
The United States has a deeply rooted and embedded tradition through the Constitution of having a federalist style of governing as its structural framework for operating and guiding the government of the country. The form of governing is best described as a balance between powers of the central government and the powers of each independent and autonomic state. “Federalism is a system in which the power to govern is shared between national and provincial (state) governments, creating what is often called a federation” (Wikipedia 1).This style of governance has not been the only structure instituted in American history in order to implement civilized law and order among the people of the land. Prior to the
On June 17th, 1968, Tim O’Brien received a conscription informing him he will be joining the army to fight in the Vietnam War. Tims physiological state immediately destabilizes which makes him question every little thing in his life. He told himself he wasn’t ready to go to war, to risk his life, to kill someone and have that guilt for the rest of his life. “I was above it” he told himself, wondering why someone down the street with less potential could’ve just went instead. When Tim feels this sort of distraught, he doesn’t necessarily think of the societal pressures that could come if he doesn’t go, but instead puts pressure on society for not choosing another person. Instead of swallowing the pill and pack for Vietnam, he puts blame on everybody else for his drawback and hopes for a way out. O’Brien holds himself to a high standard and thinks society does the same, so it does not affect him what consequences there would be if he did find a way to get out of war, or so he thought.
When we graduate, too many people choose to become a soldier or soldier on in the fields. It is simple to think that there’s no other option, but I am not a soldier. I saw the results of this backbreaking labor, of a life stuck in between these two choices. The broken spirit, the calloused hands forced into a claw, the people too young to have aches plaguing the rest of their lives all drove my
The nations are at war, the two that North America are now divided into. There is a plague running rampant and Day, a young rebellious man who regularly practices illegal activity to keep himself alive and to help his family safe (who believe he has been dead for years) is also wanted by the police. June, an up and coming star at the nation’s highest military academy is brought into action when
“After Vietnam we got rid of the draft,” he continued. “Which was a good idea. These kids don’t want to fight anymore. A leaner, meaner, more professional force sounded good, but at the same time it created a warrior class completely
With forcing students after high school to go into the military, it will cause people to not volunteer in the future. This essay will show it through; how it could cause people to not volunteer, what it could do to the United States military, and how it could affect teenagers out of high school. Let’s see how this could affect these topics.
Nonetheless, one of the worries of Americans in reinstituting the draft is that the educated, the rich, and the children of political officials will still be able to avoid military service. Critics of the draft complain that full-time students will continue to defer their military service to continue their education, and therefore conscription largely affects those not able to afford to attend college (“National”). During a census in the late 70’s, only six college graduates joined the enlisted ranks during the entire year of the census, reports author Alan Greenblatt (380). Another factor brought up against the draft is the continued avoidance of serving in the military by the rich. Certainly, this may still be the case if the draft were to be reinstated and the rich continued to move. David Segal, Director of the University of Maryland’s Center for Research on Military Organizations, agrees that wealthy society members were exempt during colonial times and during the Cold War. They paid others to replace them in the enlisted ranks (Greenblatt 380). Additionally, James Quinlivan, senior analyst for the RAND Corporation, asserts that the rich moved to areas beyond the reach of the draft rather than serve in the militia (Greenblatt 380). A 1960’s historian by the name of Myra Macpherson also contends that as much as the country was against the Vietnam War, avoiding military service during
After the complete destruction of a child's milieu, biography and history, he begins to “doubt [his] ability to influence [his] environment [or] establish an identity” (Kline 2003). In search of a new gemeinschaft, the child looks towards Rebel Groups as a way to fill this void. Consumed by thoughts of a bleak and hopeless future, the boys find silver lining in the Rebel Leaders who present them with a new ambition. They brainwash the boys to believe that becoming a soldier is a way of fighting for something they believe in, and in turn, provide the boys with hope for the future. They motivate the boys by promoting the strongest and bravest as for a goal for the weaker to achieve.