Assignment Due: 4/30/16

John F. Kennedy

American University Commencement Address

Delivered 10 June 1963

“So let us not be blind to our differences, but let us also direct attention to our common interests and the means by which those differences can be resolved. And if we cannot end now our differences, at least we can help make the world safe for diversity. For in the final analysis, our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet. We all breathe the same air. We all cherish our children's futures. And we are all mortal.”

John F. Kennedy gave his speech on the importance of peace within nations around the world, within our homes and within ourselves. I chose this paragraph for its forwardness in the sense that its promotes peace and self reflection, but it also tells us that we may not be able to come to an understanding of peace but yet we must not forget that we are all inhabitants of this earth which is vulnerable and destroyable by mankind and our links to maintain our existence as a whole is our main goal no matter any arising conflicts. We inhabit an earth full of vast nations, cultures, and different ideologies which tend to clash therefore bringing animosity, and sometimes war. JFK tells us that we should not focus on what makes us different but instead look at what we do have in common and how it can benefit both or all parties involved and by this we can start viewing one another in a different light thus promoting peace and unity. Although this passage does tell me that being blind is nothing but ignorance at its finest and one should move past it to progress, i can not help but to think how his words have yet to take full  effect. It has been decades since this speech and his untimely death (assassination) yet diversity is not as glorified as some make it out to be nor are basic human and equal rights and even though we all want what is best for our children’s futures it seems as if individual gains and greed coupled with pride and stubbornness prevail amongst what is actually best.

  What resonates the most with me is how he ends with “and we are all mortals”, i personally think most governments and people are more concerned with portraying themselves in a powerful way , unbreakable i include the U.S , no one country or nations wants to be undermined or less than, and even as “Alliances” formed gives us the sense of security and somewhat peace underneath all of it everyone has a secret agenda, for we are all human and we are unpredictable creatures. I can only hope that peace really does reign in the world and we can get rid of social stigmas which condemn us to no freedom and old age customs and cultures, where race has no play or part in whom we choose to love , where tolerance and compassion for one another becomes our main priority. It takes so little to act on said things and the impact that much greater.

EQUAL RIGHTS 4/9/16

“The idea of rights itself is more complex than it may first appear. In today's reading by Marshall we can see that we consider to be "rights" has a civil, a political, and social aspect. Rights are connected with the idea of citizenship. To be a citizen means that you are entitled to certain things, and it suggests the equality of all members to these entitlements. Part of the confusion over rights comes because, as Marshall, says at one point all aspects of rights were combined, but that in modern times the idea of social rights conflicts with a capitalist economic system”.

I chose this passage because i have always given thought to what equality really meant and still means in today’s society. There are many views as to what it means to have equal rights in our society. The reasons behind this confusion of social rights comes from the inequality that exist in our communities. The standards of equality that were created were to fit a different type of mix of people. Therefore as our societies evolve so should our system of equal rights. Some may say that since our system of inequality does not fit our modern times there is just an illusion of equal rights. I strongly believe that there still is a capitalist system privately owned by the majority class, and in some way it prevents the lower class from achieving the higher and social economic class. I wonder if there ever was or will be a social and economic equality with in what we call civil rights.  

FEDERALIST PAPERS #51 by James Madison

FEDERALIST PAPERS #51 by James Madison

By: Katherine Pena

Assignment due: 2/27

"But the great security against a gradual concentration of the several powers in the same department, consists in giving to those who administer each department the necessary constitutional means and personal motives to resist encroachments of the others. The provision for defense must in this, as in all other cases, be made commensurate to the danger of attack. Ambition must be made to counteract ambition. The interest of the man must be connected with the constitutional rights of the place. It may be a reflection on human nature, that such devices should be necessary to control the abuses of government. But what is government itself, but the greatest of all reflections on human nature? If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary. In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself. A dependence on the people is, no doubt, the primary control on the government; but experience has taught mankind the necessity of auxiliary precautions."

 

In the federalist papers james madison tells us how there should be a certain structure in all branches of the government that brings about a checks and balances system which provides no greater power of one branch over the other. The constitution itself provides a stable separation of powers from legislative,executive and judicial branches, while doing so still focuses on the people's liberty and choice to choose its representatives of government giving them the “legitimate authority”. ‘If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary”.By nature man is ambitious and wants power, therefore constitutional limits must be set in order to make it hard for such branches to abuse power. I think the point madison was most urgently trying to make is that by separation of power no oppression or totalitarianism will occur, thus always keeping in mind the needs and liberty which are given to the people with the added bonus security .

I chose this passage in particular because it gave me a sense of contradiction, while the separation of power within the branches brings about stability and structure so that no one power takes over it seems as if mankind's nature of ambition and power keeps things stagnant. Yes there is separation but while one party has these ambitions and need of power for their political gains they cannot overstep their boundaries due to the checks and balance the constitutional rights present and same goes for the next and next and so on, so moving forward with actual promise of progression seems to be a never ending game of tug of war. In a way it gives the people a sense of falseness because significant change never comes. We can not only see this within our country but in other countries where separation branches and the needs of mankind (greed and power)  don't necessarily or work as well or as effectively as it does in America.

Trans-national America

by Katherine Pena

Assignment Due: 2/20

                           

“We are all foreign-born or the descendants of foreign-born, and if distinctions are to be made between us, they should rightly be on some other ground than indigenousness. The early colonists came over with motives no less colonial than the later. They did not come to be assimilated in an American melting pot. They did not come to adopt the culture of the American Indian. They had not the smallest intention of 'giving themselves without reservation' to the new country. They came to get freedom to live as they wanted to. They came to escape from the stifling air and chaos of the old world; they came to make their fortune in a new land. They invented no new social framework. Rather they brought over bodily the old ways to which they had been accustomed. Tightly concentrated on a hostile frontier, they were conservative beyond belief. Their pioneer daring was reserved for the objective conquest of material resources”. By Randolph S. Bourne

In the United States we have many different cultures of foreign-born people called Immigrants, some Mexican, German, Jamaican, and African. Each foreign country and its people have a set of ideologies and way of doing things when it comes to daily life or even politics, this is what i like to call or see as a culture. If we were to call every person whom we may see on the street immigrant then it can be said that every immigrant then comes from the same place and all do the same things, correct? When Randolph says “if distinctions are to be made between us, they should rightly be on some other ground than indigenousness” he means that we as an immigrant population should be individualized by something other than just being foreign. In reality different immigrant cultures may dress differently like for example most people of Muslim descent dress a certain way and this way we are aware of their “culture”. Some eat different things and customs may differ greatly from American values, accents in language are mostly the biggest indicator of nationality or descent. In some aspects physical features becomes very prominent in some cultures helping individualize us as different types of foreign immigrants.

I personally chose this paragraph because it hits close to home as i am immigrant born and of Immigrant descent.  As many of our ancestors came to America to escape either persecution in their homelands or poverty and the promise of a brighter future in the new world so did my grandparents and my mother. I can attest to the fact that my family migrated to earn with hard work the so called “American Dream”, and not necessarily to become Americanized and leave their old ways or lives behind in our respective country. While growing up i could hear stories of the hardships and war/dictatorship my great grandparents and grandparents were persecuted for and desperate to flee and how they thought long and hard how coming to America would give them the right to run their businesses and make them more profitable without having to pay corrupt officials or pay high taxes to keep the rich richer and the poor just as that. They wanted to just live with freedom, plain and simple freedom to be able to keep their ways but also take advantage of what this country had to offer. I have always kept the traditions and customs that my ancestors had and live in a neighborhood predominantly of people from my country, with our own restaurants, corners delis, supermarkets all owned by us, which only reinforces the fact that we all just want the right to live as we would in our homelands just without the fear or chaos of an old world. We can see this when we visit Chinatown, little Italy etc. where tradition is kept in a new world but community growth is abundant and traditions/custom are very much alive even though we live in America "The big melting pot of diversity".

Despite Negativity Americans Mixed on Ideal Role of Government !...By Katherine Pena

Assignment Due:2/13

"Some of the negative views of government are related to politics. The fact that Democrats were more concerned about government power when Bush was president and Republicans are more concerned about it with Obama as president shows that some people will be negative about the government simply because of political partisanship. Additionally, there are clear philosophical and ideological differences in views of the government that create the dynamic tension that exists in any democratic system, with conservatives generally favoring less government and liberals favoring more government". By Frank Newport (September 28, 2011, Gallup.com)

This paragraph reminds us that the American public view relies largely on the various belief systems held by the populace, for instance, both the republican and democratic parties have their own views as to how a successful country and government should be run.  Given the highly divergent views of the main political parties in our country one can only wonder if a middle ground will ever be found. In my honest opinion, I believe that to be impossible and the reason being POWER. Each party wants to see their own views push through and while some people are able to compromise in order to find a medium , in most cases some are not willing to budge or give up on their ideal system of what should be done and what's right for everyone. Hence its either all or nothing. In this paragraph the concern of democrats when bush was in office thus giving government too much power stems from the passing of the patriot act which gave the government the right to use anti-terrorism tactics like being able to interfere with telephone landlines, emails causing a dispute for individuals right to privacy. In my opinion i feel the extent to which it was taken went on for too long and may have gone a bit far and there are other things that could have been done as a means to stop terrorism/threats. Still i strongly believe “what's the price i have to keep in order to have security”? a few conversations,emails, pictures etc.Now the tables have turned and a democrat is in office, republicans are now concerned with Obama in office, they can resort to a number of reasons why they are concerned starting with the widespread of ObamaCare causing immense controversy debating the benefits of said “insurance for all”, when republicans say the economy itself is being affected. For example many business owners have had to make some difficult decisions like cutting down on laborers and full time positions are being exchanged for part-time positions thus not giving any medical benefits to workers or forcing them to pay higher taxes. This certainly makes it that much more harder job wise for many looking for work. Many in the population myself included agree that if it were easier and less complicated with penalties and higher taxes less problems can be prevented in the near future with the economy.The theory given by the republican party is that this will crash the economy in the long run, yes it helps those who are marginalized by low income but greatly affects the businesses which keep the economy (cash) flowing.  

I chose this passage because we can clearly see that political parties are for themselves and their ideals , it's as if even if republican in office saw a booming government ran by democrats in office they would still find some wrong thing that does not go accord with their ideologies and vice versa. There's a sense of hypocrisy that strongly lingers on both political sides in America. I see a lot of this going on in many other countries but most aware of it in my native country , where political parties are more focused coming at each others throats while promoting unity and reconciliation. This creates a systematic problem that is a vicious cycle of who can make the population happy when in reality funding and spending is used as a governmental gain for a political party and not so much the people.