American government institutions and functions

¶ … First Amendment rules for the right of assembly and petition as they pertain to assembling on public and private property. Include examples to support your explanations.

Some might say the First Amendment is the most important of all of the rights delineated in the Bill of Rights. However, the rights of the First Amendment are not absolute. For example, while the First Amendment prohibits government restriction of free expression in public areas, "it does not require individuals to turn over their homes, businesses or other property to those wishing to communicate about a particular topic" (First Amendment, 2011, Annotated Constitution). While Americans citizens have the right to freedom of speech within public areas, speech in private areas may be governed and limited by the owner.

Speech in public forums such as parks, sidewalks, and places of assembly that are owned 'in common' is generally not restricted, in contrast to private property. However, in some instances, there may be exceptions, such as when the private property in question "is so functionally akin to public property that private owners may not forbid expression upon it" (First Amendment, 2011, Annotated Constitution). The Supreme Court has ruled "the more an owner, for his advantage, opens up his property for use by the public in general, the more do his rights become circumscribed by the statutory and constitutional rights of those who use it" (First Amendment, 2011, Annotated Constitution). Distinguishing what is a public and private place can be a grey area -- the Court has protected the rights of union members to picket a supermarket in the parking lot, but prohibited anti-war protesters from handing out leaflets in a shopping mall.

Q2. In at least three well-developed paragraphs, explain how the Constitution protects individuals from unreasonable government intrusion in their homes, personal possessions, and private communications.

Regarding the Constitution's Fourth Amendment, "few provisions of the Bill of Rights grew so directly out of the experience of the colonials as the Fourth Amendment, embodying as it did the protection against the utilization of the [British] 'writs of assistance'" (Fourth Amendment, 2011, Annotated constitution). Writs of assistance were general search wants issued by the British government that gave officers the right to conduct general, comprehensive searches and seizures for an indefinite period of time. But the wording of the Fourth Amendment: "The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated" without a warrant has been interpreted in different ways by the courts. 'Reasonable' warrantless searches and seizures have been allowed in some instances, such as when a police officer is acting in good faith (Fourth Amendment, 2011, Annotated constitution).

"For the Fourth Amendment to be applicable to a particular set of facts, there must be a 'search' and a 'seizure,' occurring typically in a criminal case, with a subsequent attempt to use judicially what was seized (Fourth Amendment, 2011, Annotated constitution). "Fourth Amendment "seizure' of the person, the Court determined, is the same as a common law arrest; there must be either application of physical force (or the laying on of hands), or submission to the assertion of authority" (Valid searches and seizures, 2011, FindLaw). In some instance the so-called 'reasonable person' standard has been applied by the courts when evaluating the validity of a search or seizure, namely the question of whether "in view of all of the circumstances surrounding the incident, a reasonable person would have believed that he was not free to leave" (Valid searches and seizures, 2011, FindLaw).

The courts have found exceptions to the Amendment over the years. One of the most common exceptions is the 'stop and frisk' exception, in which police have the authority to stop and frisk a suspect if they have reason to believe he has just committed a crime in their presence. Other exceptions include objects in plain view (given that a reasonable person cannot expect privacy under the circumstances); searches on school property; searches in which the suspect consents (implying a waiver of his or her rights); searches in open fields, in prisons and government offices, and drug testing (Valid searches and seizures, 2011, FindLaw).

Q3. In at least two well-developed paragraphs, explain how the media acts to both positively and negatively influence public opinion.

The media has brought many important issues to life for the American public. For example, during the American civil rights movement, many areas of the country that had been hesitant to endorse full equality for African-Americans were horrified when they saw their fellow Americans being beaten simply for demanding their rights. The media was also highly influential in mobilizing the American public against the Vietnam War. Pictures showed more powerfully than words the terrible carnage and suffering generated by the conflict and the lack of progress that American military involvement was generating in Vietnam, despite the loss of many lives. Conversely, the media has also had a highly negative influence upon American opinion when it distorts the facts, such as when it inflamed opinion during the Spanish-American War and the McCarthy era, causing Americans to believe the propaganda disseminated in ostensibly objective venues.

The media can also have a more subtle negative influence in the manner in which it simplifies issues. While not out-and-out distortion, it can make the understanding of complicated questions like how to reform healthcare more difficult. Issues that are not sexy but are important, such as Social Security reform, often receive inadequate media coverage. And by presenting healthcare as a black-and-white choice between rationing vs. The status quo, many Americans have become reluctant to explore other ways of financing healthcare. When the media focuses on the personal rivalries between politicians, Americans are less also likely to learn about the issue itself, such as the diverse ways in which modern industrialized nations across the world provide more comprehensive healthcare to their citizens.

Q4. In at least two well-developed paragraphs, describe at least four factors that led to the collapse of communism in the Soviet Union in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

According to Foreign Policy magazine, the primary reason for the decline of the Soviet Union was the top-down revolution initiated by Gorbachev through glasnost and perestroika. The lagging Soviet economy, although serious, had been in a state of chronic malaise for many years. But even more distressing to Gorbachev was the corruption of the communist bureaucracy. The powerful Soviet government attempted to micromanage the entire economy and people's lives. Bribery had become a way of life, given that there were no capitalist incentives to provide what consumers needed or to encourage workers to produce. "The core of Gorbachev's enterprise was undeniably idealistic: He wanted to build a more moral Soviet Union. For though economic betterment was their banner, there is little doubt that Gorbachev and his supporters first set out to right moral, rather than economic, wrongs" (Aron 2011: 3).