The Presidency

Barrack Obama quote

The document they produced was eventually signed but ultimately unfinished. It was stained by this nation's original sin of slavery, a question that divided the colonies and brought the convention to a stalemate until the founders chose to allow the slave trade to continue for at least twenty more years, and to leave any final resolution to future generations.

Of course, the answer to the slavery question was already embedded within our Constitution - a Constitution that had at its very core the ideal of equal citizenship under the law; a Constitution that promised its people liberty, and justice, and a union that could be and should be perfected over time.

And yet words on a parchment would not be enough to deliver slaves from bondage, or provide men and women of every color and creed their full rights and obligations as citizens of the United States. What would be needed were Americans in successive generations who were willing to do their part - through protests and struggle, on the streets and in the courts, through a civil war and civil disobedience and always at great risk - to narrow that gap between the promise of our ideals and the reality of their time.

This was one of the tasks we set forth at the beginning of this campaign - to continue the long march of those who came before us, a March for a more just, more equal, more free, more caring and more prosperous America. I chose to run for the presidency at this moment in history because I believe deeply that we cannot solve the challenges of our time unless we solve them together - unless we perfect our union by understanding that we may have different stories, but we hold common hopes; that we may not look the same and we may not have come from the same place, but we all want to move in the same direction - towards a better future for our children and our grandchildren.   

 

The meaning of this quote

The meaning of this quote is that the constant battle within this country has been slavery. For many centuries this country has been divided because many couldn’t come to term with abolishing it. Instead the founders who tried to create a united nation had left this battle to be fought by their children even though they had the answers right in front of them. In fact they wrote the answer in our constitution by saying “all men are created equal”. What Obama is saying is that “the ideal of equal citizenship under the law”. These founders had created a promise through the constitution that they will create a nation through unity, liberty and justice for all but it not enough to deliver slaves from slavery. To be able to make these changes would be Americans who would fight back through “protest and struggle on the street and in the courts through a civil war and civil disobedience” to be able to receive the promise the founders had once spoke about. He then talked about this being the reason why he is running to be the next president to continue on the long march for equality the only way we can do this is through unity to create a better future for the generations to come.

 

Why I picked this quote

Out of all the three presidents that was given I wanted to talk about Barrack Obama. I remember when he won the ‘08 presidential election. At my high school during the lunch periods they played his inaugural. At the time my principle was a big supporter of Barrack Obama so he wanted everyone to see. I remember my principle and many teachers being awestruck by this turning point in history. For many people who had voted for him focused more on the fact that America has made history with the first African American president. By his second term I think more people were looking for a movement from him and many people felt like they didn’t receive that. Many people felt like president Obama hasn’t done enough for the minority communities, to some levels I felt the same way. On the other hand we the people have to understand the way our government works to truly understand why President Obama hasn’t delivered on the things that he talked about in his speeches during his run. Yes, he stands for a great cause and he had many great ideas to help this country but in reality as the President he is limited as to what he can do, this process is through checks and balance. Any law that the president wants to pass it has to go through the other branches of government. Through the quote President Obama also in a way gives hints that everything in the government has to work in an agreement. That’s why when he says, the only way to continue on this march for equality, is through unity. We all have to work together for this better cause.  

Congress

America’s Most Gerrymandered Congressional Districts

Contrary to one popular misconception about the practice, the point of gerrymandering isn't to draw yourself a collection of overwhelmingly safe seats. Rather, it's to give your opponents a small number of safe seats, while drawing yourself a larger number of seats that are not quite as safe, but that you can expect to win comfortably. Considering this dynamic, John Sides of The Washington Post's Monkey Cage blog has argued convincingly that gerrymandering is not what's behind the rising polarization in Congress

What 60 years of Political Gerrymandering Looks Like

"Some of these goals run right up against each other," he writes. "While a compact district may be desirable, it doesn’t necessarily reflect how people live or what county and city boundaries look like." Or, as John succinctly puts it, "Representation is about people, not polygons."

In both readings Christopher Ingraham talks about how the Republican Party has lost site as to what gerrymandering is supposed to be. It was created so that both parties can have equal representation in a state. Instead the Republican Party has created this system so that they can have a larger number of seats that they can win safely and their opponents have a smaller number of safe seats. In the other quote he also talks about how there are many different situations that play a factor in each district. The Republicans are focused on the amount of seats they can uphold rather than the representation of the people. 

Gerrymandering plays a big part in the presidential elections. It can in some cases determine who will be the president. What I thought was interesting is the way the Republicans play the system so that they can have more seats. It also made me think about the 2000 election with George W. Bush and Ale Gore. Ale Gore won most of the popular votes, on the other hand George W. Bush won the electoral votes which made him President. Reading this article and from these quotes it shows me that he won unfairly and it also makes me think about the fact that the government doesn’t really care about fighting for me but rather on things that benefit them.

Citizenship and Social Class by T.H. Marshall

Citizenship is a status bestowed on those who are full members of community. All who possess the status are equal with respect to the right and duties with which the status is endowed. There is no universal principle that determines what those rights and duties shall be, but societies in which citizenship is a developing institution create an image of an ideal citizenship against which achievement can be measured and towards which aspiration can be directed. The urge forward along the path thus plotted is an urge towards a fuller measure of equality, an enrichment of the stuff of which the status is made and an increase in the number of those on whom the status is bestowed. Social class, on the other hand, is a system of inequality. And it too, like citizenship, can be based on a set of ideals, beliefs and values. It is therefore reasonable to expect that the impact of citizenship on social class should take the form of a conflict between opposing principles. If I am right in my contention that citizenship has been a developing institution in England at least since the latter part of the seventeenth century, then it is clear that its growth convinces with the rise of capitalism, which is a system, not of equality but inequality. Here is something that need explain. How is it that these two opposing principles could grow and flourish side by side in the same soil? What made it possible for them to be reconciled with one another and to become, for a time at least, allies instead of antagonists? The question is pertinent one, for it is clear that, in the twentieth century citizenship and the capitalist class system have been at war.

 

Everyone within a community is granted citizenship. With this status everyone is equal with respect to their rights and duties. Also communities that haven’t established an image of citizenship can work in the direction of equality. On the other spectrum, social class which is considered to be the opposite of citizenship is considered to be a system of inequality. Then he asks the question as to how two different principles can be considered “as allies rather than antagonists”. Then he answers it by saying “in the twentieth century, citizenship and the capitalist’s class system have been at war.” What I think he means by this quote is that citizenship is rooted on the bases that everyone is equal. Whereas the capitalist class system, is rooted on the bases that everyone is unequal. So these two opposite views will clash in many ways.

 

The reason why I picked this quote is because I don’t agree with Marshall’s idea that citizenship and capitalists class system have been at war. However, I do believe in order to be equal and be granted rights is through citizenship. In order to be protected by the laws of this country you have to be a citizen, and that’s one way that makes everyone equal. Granted, we are talking about England but within the lecture you talked about “many of the American ideas and institutions are influenced by the English institutions.” On the other hand, one of the most extensive system that was happening during this time, which was affecting many of the people within America was the slavery system. This system had an effect on many of the people who lived in America so the word “everyone” that Marshall used to talk about citizenship, rights, respect and being equal did not apply to them. So because they are not treated on the same level as “everyone” this act of being citizens and citizenship causes capitalists class system and social class. Marshall talks about citizenship and capitalist’s class system being on two opposite ends basically parallel to each other but are continuously at war. The way I view this is, I think of those who have the rights to citizenship and those who don’t which causes this social class of inequality.