ASSIGNMENT
Using your own words (not directly from the text, peer, or other sources), sentences, paragraphs and graphics, respond thoughtfully, clearly, and concisely to the questions below in ESSAY FORM (at least three paragraphs for each question)
You can choose from any 7 questions
- Who was not included in the Declaration of Independence and USA Constitution?
Why is the USA a “democratic, federal, republic” Exactly, what does that mean?
- Reflecting upon Debate # 7 of the Lincoln-Douglas Debates of 1858 and Martin Luther King Jr’s Letter From Birmingham Jail of 1963, what exactly impeded the full participation of freed slaves, indigenous people, and women in the guarantees in the body of the US Constitution and the Bill of Rights?
- In The ECOLOGY OF DEMOCRACY, David Mathews asserts that he is in pursuit of “Finding Ways to Have a Stronger Hand in Shaping Our Future.” What does Mathews mean by this statement? Is it a good idea for you to have a stronger hand in shaping your own future in the United States of America?
- What are the implications of having” self-rule in a citizen-centered democracy when well-funded, well organized, and narrowly defined internal and foreign special interest groups advance priorities that may not include citizen interests?
- What priorities, issues, programs, or services would you advocate, organize for, create public discussions about and lobby for in your community if you choose to know and negotiate the “local, state and federal ecology and its global context” of our democracy? How would you implement your intentions from “ground up”?
- How may there possibly be any question about the meaning of the Second Amendment when you read it carefully?
- Bonus: What is the literal meaning of the Preamble to the US Constitution? (25)
