Reaction paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 21

Reaction paper - Essay Example American opposition argued that those people who had stay in Britain already for a long period of time had adequate understanding of states’ needs. Thus, in Article I Section 2 of the Constitution the attention is paid on defining candidates who are permitted to be elected to represent American states in the Congress (â€Å"Transcript of Constitution†). Special Section 4 is devoted to local elections of state senators to be sure there are actual representatives of a public will on all levels of governmental hierarchy (â€Å"Transcript of Constitution†). Another important consern of the pre-revolutionary time was a question of taxation. It embodied American opposition’s general worries that laws and obligations for colonial citizens are established only by up-high authority, the British monarchy, without considering American point of view. Thus, to prevent a monarchy-like governmental system in future, and instead, to establish a democratic federative union, Section 7 and Section 8 in Article I correspondently regulate the law making powers of U.S. President and determines powers which the Congress shall have (â€Å"Transcript of Constitution†). Also with a view of a recent relief from the British patronage, Article IV Section 3 proclaims the Congress’ control and ban of a new state formation and any other unions’ formation (â€Å"Transcript of Constitution†). Thus, despite the social and political uncertainty, which according to J. J. Ellis, â€Å"was the dominant mood at that moment†, the Constitution points were quite logical with a view of timely national concerns (Ellis 9). Even the most argued and critiqued nowadays law on â€Å"keeping and bearing arms† was historically reasoned (â€Å"Transcript of Bill of Rights†). The fact was that in pre-revolutionary time America experienced a military presentence of British contingent which represented a militia, and American

Values and Democracy (Politics) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Values and Democracy (Politics) - Essay Example Even though regular elections are, according to Beetham (1992), ‘a continuous discipline on the elected to take constant notice of public opinion’ (ibid, p. 47), the dictate that politicians take pleasure from is the fact that citizens have very little influence on political decisions made in their behalf. The core argument of this essay is that in order to justify the diversity of environmental values and the dedication of citizens, the process of decision making should be to improve and endorse democratic participation. In order to do this, this essay will compare and contrast the relationship of environmental values and democracy in four countries, namely, The United States, Great Britain, Russia, and China: the former two countries being highly democratic while the latter two being less democratic. As reported by the Brundtland Commission, an environmental right should state that â€Å"all human beings have the fundamental right to an environment adequate for their health and well being† (Smith 2003, 104). ... 216). Democracy should be concerned with the composition of the constitution, since the effect of rights is experienced all over the legal, political, and moral areas. Several theories have been used for establishing environmental values (Carrow et al. 1998). Eckersley (1996) sums up the environmental challenge to democratic ideas of rights by saying that the democratic explanation of the moral interest of protection and independence from control needs consideration of the physical situations of its use. As argued by Eckersley (1996), â€Å"we must accord the same moral priority to the material conditions (including bodily and ecological conditions) that enable that autonomy to be exercised† (ibid, p. 223). Environmental values, however, conflicts with the democracy. Yet, the statements above show that ecological values and particular democratic rights are in fact connected. As stated by Saward (1996), â€Å"Rather than being something outside the purview of democratic theory , core environmental concerns are part of it† (ibid, p. 88). The following section will show the connection (or conflict) between environmental values and democracy in four countries, the US, the UK, China, and Russia. Environmental Values and Democracy If one looks at the political guidelines for the environment of the US and the UK, which are highly democratic societies, a particular problem appears as the clearest feature of the political practices, which is shown in their regulations. The problem has its source in knowledge of democracy that respects the involvement of citizens in decision making process to be a must. As shown by this idea, citizens should be given the right to express his/her opinion of and interest