The Importance Of Government Power In The United States

We use technology every day, all day, for pretty much everything we do. Any information about ourselves, messages we send, or phone calls we make, it all takes place on our phones. However, they are also the biggest risk to our personal security as they are very vulnerable. They are not just vulnerable to scammers and hackers but also to our own government. Following the attacks of September 11, 2001, the president at the time, George Bush, responded by passing an act. This act is known as the Patriot Act. It allows the government unlimited access to phone records, emails, and text messages without a warrant through National Security Letters and Sneak and Peak Searches. Why do they do this, why was this act passed, they claim it’s for our safety. Both can be obtained and carried out without a judge’s approval, without a warrant, and without the knowledge of the person who is being searched. The Fourth Amendment is the right of the citizens to legal and just searches, with a warrant, with probable cause. These are not required under the Patriot Act to search through call histories and messages. The Patriot Act clearly infringes on the Fourth Amendment and the rights of the everyday citizen and does not accomplish its original goal of stopping terrorism.

The NSA program, uncovered by the former CIA agent and former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, is called Prism. Snowden, while working for the NSA disclosed this information by leaking this classified information to a web site called The Guardian. The fact that the information was classified means that the NSA had no intention of telling the citizens of the USA about its ability to monitor and record this great amount of data. This program while legally not able to record the conversation in the of a phone call can detect and record the number who is making the call, the number being called, the duration of the call, and, if necessary, the cellular tower used to send the call. This is intruding upon a huge portion of what most people consider personal, private data. (The Guardian)

For all of history there has existed the struggle between the strong and the weak. The establishment of government gives the power to a particular group to decide the amount of freedom the majority is allowed, however, though not ideal it provides necessary order. The benefits of security that limitations on freedom provides must be balanced with the individual's pursuit of happiness for citizens to be content. To prevent the governed majority from destabilizing the rulers and seeking power, the government will oppress political and personal freedom of thought. In result, the majority will live under the illusion of contentment and not wish to rebell; those enlightened to the idea that the government should be ruled by the governed, would associate happiness only with ignorance and consequently seek freedom.

The United States is a nation that was established on several major guiding principles, including freedom, independence, and democracy. These guiding principles have become synonymous with American culture and have helped the nation prosper deeply since its dawn in 1776. One of the major core principles of the American culture that has come into question recently is privacy. Government agencies have begun pushing the boundaries of personal privacy through the justification of hoping to ensure national security. By keeping records of phone transactions, and personal messages, the National Security Agency and its supporters, argue that they are simply making an effort to prevent domestic terrorist activity. However, I would argue that the government's

The U.S political system is influenced by power and it should not be. Politics have been

In a political system where nearly every adult may vote but where knowledge, wealth, social position, access to officials, and other resources are unequally distributed, who actually governs?” (Dahl 88) From April of 1775 to September of 1783, the Patriots fought to alleviate the colonies from the oppressive rule of Great Britain. All those for independence, rallied together to bring about a freedom which was at the time inconceivable and formed the United States of America. American Government, with deep roots in Greek Democracy and the Roman Republic, The United States pioneered a Democratic- Republic which had the greatest changing demographic and ethnicity levels of any other country in the world, developed under the theory of a pluralistic

The government has the power to create laws that will create a fair and equal society. One of the most valued laws is the fourth amendment, stating, “the right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or Affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized” (Are National Security Agency). However, over the years they have violated the basic rights of privacy towards citizens by searching through their personal records, even if they aren’t showing suspicious behavior. USA Today had reported that the NSA had collecting phone record of many Americans and exposed their actions, revealing “reaching into homes and businesses across the nation by amassing information about the calls of ordinary Americans-most of whom aren’t suspected of crime” (Are National Security Agency). Since NSA is required to operate secretly it gives it’s employees a lot of power, to search and seize personal files without being punished by the government. Since the employees are trusted by the government they can easily take advantage of being able to access an unlimited amount of personal information. The Washington Post describes how many rules the NSA has violated, stating, “That a declassified May 2012 internal NSA audit had found that the agency had violated privacy rules thousands of times over a one-year period” (Are National Security Agency). This opens the eyes of many American citizens and only convinces them that the government can easily fool them behind all of their secret operations and break their

The government plays a major role on how we, as americans function on a day to day basis. They tell us what we can and cannot do, in doing so providing peace and a stable society. However at what point does our government start becoming to oppressive for the sake of the country, thankfully by analysing texts such as declaration of independence, the Bill of Rights and some accounts by Abigail Adams it seems that we have found a good middle ground between too much control and too little. Before we were a country we were a part of The British Crown. After we were sent to investigate and colonies this new land from the west we the parliament of Britain started to pose unfair taxes and laws against the colonists that were sent to america after we

The power of the United States federal government is divided into three separate branches. The legislative branch is responsible for creating laws. The executive branch is responsible for enforcing those laws. The judicial branch evaluates laws to make sure they are constitutional. Moreover, each branch is equipped with numerous checks and balances to ensure that no one branch becomes too powerful.

The United States of America holds a unique position in the world by being the most powerful nation. Our nation leads the global economy and dedicates more money to foreign aid than any other country. It has been seventy years since the last world war, yet the United States still maintains the largest and most powerful military on the planet. A position it has upheld since the end of WWII. Should the United States remain prepared for a large scale, global conflict? In this essay, I will detail the contentions surrounding the subject of the US maintaining such a large military.

What does “securing the blessings of liberty” mean exactly? It means to keep all that liberty conveys such as physically, expressive, or economic and to maintain it for kids, grandkids, and the future offspring. What is the role of government? They are a collection of people who sway and make resolutions for a state and even a country also. The Government is made up of three branches such as the Legislative branch, Executive branch, and lastly the Judicial branch. The Legislative branch is accountable for creating the rules and also has the senate. The senate’s job is basically to write and vote on new laws called “bills.” Legislative also has the House of Representatives which creates and passes state laws. The second branch Executive is responsible for carrying out the laws. The Legislative branch contains the Vice President and even the cabinet as well. The Vice President Job is ruling over the Senate, and voting in the Senate if there is a tie. His other duty is taking office of presidency if the President passes away. The cabinet is a group of our president’s top advisors which 15 main executive departments such as Department of Agriculture, Department of Labor, and so on. Finally, Judicial analyze the laws and it consists of the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court’s job is decided whether the law or executive order made the president is

The concept of separation of powers is enshrined throughout American history. Checks and balances were partly the impetus for establishing these United States. The principle of separation of powers is particularly applicable to law enforcement agencies as they are the enforcement arm of the executive branch of government (the other branches being the legislative and the judicial branches). This tripartite structure is seen from the local municipal government level all the way to the federal level.

The main concept of separation of power is so that the power is separated between three different branches of government. Each branch has a different power. The first branch is the Executive Branch. The Executive Branch holds the president, vice president and the cabinet. Most of the time the president makes almost all decisions in this branch unless the president is unable to perform duty. The second branch is the Legislative Branch. The Legislative Branch holds the Congress, which is made up of the House or Representatives and Senate. The third branch is the Judicial Branch. The Judicial Branch is the Supreme Court, which happens to be the most powerful court in the United States.

Throughout history, governments have rose to power and collapsed under pressure. Governments have always fulfilled their basic duties by providing a sense of order and security to people they ruled over. Sultanates, monarchies, and theocracies are just some of the many types of governments that came about in both the past and present. People in today’s world often question the government’s authority and how far they can influence people, thus leading to the highly debatable question, “Why does government have the authority to do the things they do?” Most readers, like myself, would agree that governments have the authority to do the things they do because governments have to fulfill their unique responsibilities, governments often derive power from different aspects of life which influences them, and governments are often influenced by their people.

We cannot let the government take our personal liberty for national security. Other people may say that we can trust the government because we have nothing to hide. The government has lied to us several times and after multiple incidents, we cannot trust them. They stated that they wanted to reduce our personal liberty for a stronger national security. According to Weisbrot, “These programs were never about terrorism,” ‘wrote Snowden in a letter to Brazilians on Dec. 17, noting they are really about’ “economic spying, social control and diplomatic manipulation. They’re about power” (Weisbrot). However Americans found out that there personal privacy was being used for unjustified reasons. The government lied to us and they were really using our liberties for unjustified things such as tapping on phone calls on activists such as Martin Luther King. They harassed and blackmailed him. In addition, the Pew Research Center stated, “ ... Americans want to control their personal information, but few feel like they are able to” (Gao). Many people want to control their data but only 9% say they have a lot of control over how much information is collected about them (Gao). According to the Pew Research Center, “A majority of American disapprove of the U.S. government’s collection of telephone and internet data as part of anti terrorism efforts...”(Gao). This could