Abortion is a controversial topic that has plagued the country for decades. Even after the 7-2 Supreme Court trial (Roe vs. Wade) made it legal for women to choose to get abortions. This decision was based off the right of privacy coupled with the agreement between the woman and the state. Due to this decision abortion rights vary from state to state, in fact, about 85% of United States counties do not provide abortion services. Even though, abortion is ten times safer than the actual process of giving birth and 68,000 women died from resorting to “back-alley abortions.” Knowing all this, there are still two main groups arguing
The Act has undergone several changes and additions since its passage, but the U.S. Supreme Court found a key provision of the Act unconstitutional in 2013. The act significantly widened the franchise and is considered among the most far-reaching pieces of civil rights legislation in U.S. history.” (Staff 3). In the article, Voting Rights Act, author Staff states, “The Voting Rights Act, signed into law by President Lyndon Johnson (1908-73) on August 6, 1965, aimed to overcome legal barriers at the state and local levels that prevented African Americans from exercising their right to vote under the 15th Amendment (1870) to the Constitution of the United States.” (Staff 2). Even though all these efforts and laws were made to give everyone a fair and equal chance to vote, there are still many restrictions and setbacks everywhere in today 's society and the major ones are Voter ID laws, Voter registration restrictions, State felon disenfranchisement policies, Purging of Voter Rolls, Transgender Disenfranchisement, Disinformation about Voting Procedures, Inequality in Election Day Resources, and Caging Lists.
Soon after passage of the Voting Rights Act, federal examiners were conducting voter registration, and black voter registration began a sharp increase. The cumulative effect of the Supreme Court’s decisions, Congress’ enactment of voting rights legislation, and the ongoing efforts of concerned private citizens and the Department of Justice, has been to restore the right to vote guaranteed by the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments. The Voting Rights Act itself has been called the single most effective piece of civil rights legislation ever passed by
The act focuses on the views of millions Americans and is widely regarded as the crowning achievement of the civil rights movement. This book describes the tale of African Americans still fighting heated battles over race, representation, and political power, with lawmakers devising new strategies to keep minorities out of the voting booth and with the Supreme Court declaring a key part of the Voting Rights Act unconstitutional.
The voting rights act of 1965 was designed to prohibit discrimination based on race, and requires certain jurisdictions to prove bilingual assistance to language minority voters. The act banned the use of literacy tests, provided for federal oversight of voter registration in areas where less than 50 percent of the nonwhite population had not registered to vote. Still voting rights gave African American voters the legal means to challenge voting restrictions and vastly improved voter turnout. In Mississippi alone, voter turnout among blacks increased from 6 percent in 1964 to 59 percent in 1969. When the law was first passed, they made the blacks take a test to be able to vote. (history.com). Since 1965 the voting rights act has protected
The United States has been divided now over the issue of abortion for thirty-three years since the Supreme Court’s ruling in Roe v. Wade in 1973. As of today, over 45 million legal abortions have been performed in the United States. Pro-choice advocates hold these 45 million abortions as being 45 million times women have exercised their right to choose to get pregnant and to choose to control their own bodies. To pro-life, or anti-abortion, advocates these 45 million abortions constitute 45 million murders, a genocide of human life in the United States propagated by the court’s ruling in Roe v. Wade. The debate over abortion in the United States is thus a debate of two extremes. One side argues from the personal liberty of the mother. The
Government has been a necessity for man for as long as recorded history, and this is because mankind cannot effectively regulate themselves. In the words of James Madison and Alexander Hamilton, “If men were angels, no government would be necessary” (51). That is not the case in today 's society, nor will it ever be under those circumstances. Since government is vital to the success of the country as a whole, what way, size, or fashion would be the most efficient and beneficial to the people? The United States government is large in size, influence, and power. The size of the government has become too large and should be restricted to a smaller government because it is costly, often inefficient, too powerful, and usurping states rights.
“This act flows from a clear and simple wrong, its only purpose is to right that wrong. Millions of Americans are denied the right to vote because of their color. This law will ensure them the right to vote. The wrong is one which no American, in his heart, can justify. The right is one which no American, true to our principles, can deny.... It is not just a question of guilt, although there is that. It is that men cannot live with a lie and not be stained by it, “said the president (Equal Citizenship and the Individual Right to Vote). The Voting Rights Act was “one of the most monumental laws in the entire history of American freedom”—a law that, very exclusively, aimed to break down the legal barriers at the state and local governments’ level of authority that prohibited African Americans from exercising their constitutional right to vote.
On January 27th 2017, exactly one week after being inaugurated as the 45th President of the United States; Donald Trump signed an executive order immediately suspending America’s refugee program, and barring entry from any people from the following seven countries: Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen. This decision was immediately met with global outrage, with many people and politicians alike lambasting President Trump, labeling his order as ‘discriminatory’ and ‘un-American’. Though it is easy to be consumed by the social dogma presented in today’s media, I think it is important for people to take a step back and view situations such as this with an impartial mind, blocking out the conjecture, and simply focusing on the
Politics are something that affects our lives forever. Since the United States in a democracy, we the people get a vote and a voice in politics. Therefore, it is important to be an educated voter. The time to start learning about and getting involved with politics is while you are young. The very first thing you should do when you turn 18 is register to vote, it is the fastest and easiest way to involve yourself in politics. If this isn’t quite enough of you are more interested in politics, there are a variety of organizations they promote youth involvement in politics. Each are similar in the fact that they promote youth involvement; however, the way the two approach the task is very different. The first I will discuss is called Rock the Vote, the second is Boys and Girls State. If you are passionate about something and want to make it know, there is always the option to start your our group to raise awareness. You can use that club to encourage people to vote one way of another on a subject.
In the United States there are two major government parties. The Republican and the Democratic parties. Both parties started with the right to ratify the constitution. The parties both started as the Federalist and the Anti-Federalists. The Democrats which were led by Thomas Jefferson were known as the Democratic Republicans. The Democratic Party was founded in 1828, In the history of the Presidential Elections of the U.S. fifteen presidents have held office being Democrats. The Republican party on the other hand which was founded by Alexander Hamilton was formed in 1854, having 18 presidents held office as Republicans. The major parties are organized
The majority of Americans have become apathetic when politics or the federal government are brought up in either the news, inside classrooms, or amongst friends and relatives. Nevertheless, people tend to have an ignorant state of mind towards politics and become so unaware about what the federal government does on a daily basis. Not to mention, Americans refuse to accept that the federal government has people working in the Senate and in the House of Representatives, recognizing and debating their top issues they have back in their districts. Congress issues many bills and legislates a numerous amount of laws that are appropriate for the problems that the American people deal with on a daily basis. Moreover, the ability to improve the Constitution by amending it has helped cooperate with Congress by fulfilling the needs of the American people. In the end, not only were states given rights by the Constitution, with the addition of the Declaration, which gave alienable rights to each American. Thus, American citizens apply to Civil Liberties; specifying how each individual has freedoms that are guaranteed to them, and no higher power has the right to restrain these freedoms.
Our politicians are being bribed to influence what laws are being made in this country at a federal level. Due to the current situation in American politics corruption has become an accepted form of conducting business in the political world. “Since the implication of citizen’s united in 2010 we have seen a dramatic turn in the direction of politics” (Silver). This is because now, any donor is allowed to contribute undisclosed amounts to any political campaign. The argument against this is that the politician running the campaign will feel the need to return the favor to the donor once they are in office. Statistics show this to be true. According to a twenty-year study done by Northwestern University this is true, in fact the study found that “only the top ten percent of earners in America are represented adequately by congress” (Silver).
Since the United States was founded, people of similar thinking have grouped together. This is extremely easy to see, especially if one considers the north versus the south. Political thinking goes beyond republican and democrat though. For example, in the past 40 years Texas has gone from a one-party Democrat to a one-party Republican state, but the underlying political beliefs have not changed. Texas remains a state that values the importance of a small government and maintaining tradition.
The political system of the United States of America is based upon democratic and republican principles, giving birth to the representative democracy that is our government today. Over the many years since the founding of the nation and our first president, George Washington, politics has separated itself into factions, more commonly called parties, based on common and shared beliefs, religion, and ideals. The development of these parties has encouraged corruption to run rampant throughout the government, and this corruption has lead to a decrease in efficiency and effectiveness in the government as well. Parties have become increasingly polarized as well, drawing closer to the extremes rather than a more moderate, common ground. This increased polarization has created an almost unbreachable ideological gap within the members of congress, and any sort of collaboration has been made impossible by this new trend of loyal opposition, the opposition of one bill or piece of legislature simply because the other party drafted it. This begs the question of the genesis of such a divide, and from this inquiry it is discovered that there have been three major contributions to this party polarization: redistricting methods, also known as gerrymandering, the development of super PACs, and slanted Supreme Court decisions. This investigation will explore the ways in which and the extent that redistricting methods, super PACs, and Supreme Court decisions have