Mythology Political Issues Constitutional History: Beginnings and

Mythology Political Issues Constitutional History: Beginnings and Changes This paper will explore the historical basis for the Constitution of the United States and the changes that have occurred both gradually and radically during short history of the U.S. Constitution. This paper will also review the structure of local, state and federal government and make note of the changes that have occurred in rules and laws since the signing of this most important document in American governmental history.

Assigning a definition to the meaning of the words "government," "politics," and "power" has always been a source of contemplation, speculation and eventually the cause of much litigation as disagreements have arisen. Aristotle and his student, Plato both gave much thought to the possible meaning of those worlds as have political scientists and philosophers discovering difficulty in securing a definition of these elements in society.

In some form or the other, even in the most primitive of societies it has been noted that eventually a leader will arise and through this leadership gain power. Very simply defined government is composed of the institutions and individuals and processes that naturally develop within a society from the common rules formed within that society. That however, is government in simple structure only. Again, very basically, the government performs two key services. First the government makes rules. Secondly, governments resolve, or attempt to resolve, conflicts in states and communities.

As stated by David Easton: Even in the smallest and simplest society someone must intervene in the name of society with its authority behind him, to decide how differences over value things are to be resolved.

This authoritative allocation of values is a minimum prerequisite of any society....Every society provides some mechanisms, however rudimentary they may be for authoritatively resolving differences about the ends that are to be pursued, that is, for deciding who is to get what there is of the desirable things." The word Democracy has Greek roots being traced to the word, demos.

The definition of demos in the Greek language is "populace." Populace, society, the population, all of these define and clarify what the fore fathers intended the government structure and foundation to be when they wrote "by the people and for the people" into the language of the U.S. Constitution. However, there have been those who did not see democracy in this light.

Leader of the Democrats Tammany Hall, Boss Tweed" was noted over a century ago of having stated that: The way to have power is to take it." The Role of Local Government The country is a nation comprise of "states," however some of these states were here before the official forming of the nation.

Major expenditures of State and Local governments are generally in the following areas: Education Welfare Hospitals, health and sanitation Highways Utilities Police, correction and fire Administration and interest Natural Resources and recreation Housing and Urban development Cities are chartered by the states as municipal governments. Home rule is the power backing municipalities in modification of their charters and the running of their affairs without approval by the legislature, subject, of course, to the Constitution and laws of the state.

The three basic forms of government are: The Mayor and City Council Form: Most cities employ this type of government with the mayor having power over the executive city agencies and an elected city council. The Council and Manager Form: This form of government in cities was founded before World War I in Virginia in the towns of Staunton, Virginia and Sumter South Carolina.

In this form of government the elected council under a non-party ticket employs a city planner as the head administrator of the city with hiring and firing powers Generally, city managers are trained and educated for this type job and are neutral politically. Commission Form: This form of government is usually appointed in the event of an emergency such as floods, hurricanes or other natural disasters or in time of war.

City employees face dealing with a wide array of categories that concern the city while serving in their capacity of a public employee. Urban transportation, poverty housing development, conservation, sanitation and other issues are the not so pleasant tasks facing city management. II. Local Political Forces Floyd Hunter, a sociologist, made popular the term "power structure" approximately fifty years ago. Floyd studied community leadership in one of Georgia's hotspots, home of the Atlanta Braves baseball team, Atlanta, Georgia.

In a study of a group comprised of forty people, Floyd's conclusion was that policy in Atlanta was decided by businessmen of the top ranks using the workings of government to their own ends and means. History tells that the politics in big cities has generally characterized urban policy and politics, with the practice of obtaining votes from immigrants and minorities through the promise of jobs or other benefits.

City governments and administrators influence the power of a city with a mayor infused with power through his associations and business connections. However, within this form of government the mayoral position is shared with other elected city officials, party leaders and appointed officials keeping the government balanced. There are, even today, within some cities and towns, those mayors who use their position to build special interest groups that support their issues and agendas III.

Politics and Police Administration The Constitution has historically limited the power that politics and police administration can play in relation to violation of the citizens and their rights. The Bill of Rights, which are a part of the Constitution protect, the freedom of religion, of speech, and of the press. Some of those freedoms are: The right to bear arms, the right to assemble, inclusive of the right to form protests as well as the right to dissent from majority opinion.

Other guarantees of the Constitution are the right to a speedy trial by members of peers as well as not being deprived of life, liberty, property of due process of law. Other rights are those of proper and legal search and seizure.

The laws are constantly under scrutiny and ever open to change, as is very adequately explained and demonstrated in "Police Administration: Structures, Processes, Behavior." In history, these Constitutional rights have been affirmed by the Supreme Court but with the advance of the "Homeland Security" and "Patriot Acts" there are regularly news reports in regards to those Constitutional rights either being violated or legislated away by the present administration in Washington. IV. Leadership Leadership has taken many forms and personalities in the history of the United States.

Depending upon the "state of affairs" in the country the leadership is either granted a popular public opinion or a negative one. However, there are certain groups that believe that an agenda to totally destroy the Constitution is emerging from where it has managed to hide since the time of Hitler's rise in the Nazi Party. The vast amount of funding necessary to even run for office, much less run a winning campaign is astronomical.

The Presidential election of 2004 is still, according to certain grassroots groups still under scrutiny and news has recently emerged of voter fraud in the State of Florida, where incidentally, the Governor is brother of the current "elected" President, George Bush. Constitutional provisions are not for the election of President by popular votes but by "electoral" votes. Electoral votes are determined by the number of Representatives and Senators that states have elected to represent them in Washington. That number is decided on State population figures.

The candidate with the greatest number of electoral votes at the end of the election tallies is the newly elected president for the next four-year term. The Nature of Leadership If it is correct, that "power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely," as stated by Lord Acton, 19th Century historian, then there must be a type of balance or a set of scales, figuratively speaking, which actions and policies of the leader in government can be weighed upon.

The Constitution did indeed provide such a set of "checks" and "balances" which is referred to quite often as "the scales of justice." The federal government and national government are two separate entities. Presidents have shown creativity in their reach for extended power through attempts to restructure the government or bureaucracy. The forming of the federal bureaucracy in 1970 in which the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) was created gave the President leverage of control in bureaucracy. The federal bureaucracy is inclusive of three agencies.

Those are: Cabinet Departments Independent Executive Agencies Independent Regulatory Commissions The national government is composed of the Congress, the Senate and the House. There are only three ways to make amendments to the Constitution. They are: Proposal of an amendment by a two-thirds vote of both houses of congress and three-fourths of the legislatures in each state ratifying the amendment. This is the traditional method of Constitutional amendment. Proposal of an amendment by two-thirds vote of both houses of congress with ratifying conventions in three-fourths of the states.

The Twenty-First Amendment to the Constitution is the only case of amendment through this venue. Congress calling a National Convention at the request of the legislator and three-fourths of the States ratifying the amendment. This form has never been utilized for Constitutional amendment. VI. Leadership in Government It takes many skills of leadership and communication to hold a political office.

There are not only the areas of "right" or "wrong" which must be considered by the different mores' with in society, particularly in the world at large, that demand that the President be multi-skilled in interacting with individuals, groups, corporations, organizations and the leaders of other governments. The United States has had a varied kaleidoscope of Presidents in the perception of style and personality. There was Theodore "Teddy Roosevelt" known for shouting "Bully"! There was also John F.

Kennedy, whose aura of glamour and willingness to stand against the bureaucracy and for individual rights made him loved and cherished by the American people. President Richard Nixon and his Watergate scandal certainly demonstrated the very thing that the Constitution stands in prevention of and the former President with his strong empowerment of government agencies and political offices is an affront to everything the Constitution was drafted to defend the people of the United States against.

Former President Ronald Reagan was noted for having said that he wanted to: Bring our government back under control and make it acceptable to people." Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr. wrote in "A Thousand Days" that: Kennedy....was determined to..recover presidential control over the sprawling feudalism of government. This became a central theme of his administration and, in some respects, a central frustration.

The presidential government, coming to Washing aglow with new ideas and euphoric sense that it could not go wrong, promptly collided with the feudal barons of the permanent government, confronted by this invasion, began almost to function....as a resistance movement, shattering to the "maquis" in order to pick off the intruders.

This was especially true in foreign affairs." The Communication Process and Communication with Other Cultures President Kennedy state in reference to foreign affairs that: The President bears the burden of the responsibility The advisors may move on to new advice." The President, in his capacity as both Commander in Chief as well as that of Chief Diplomat experiences the overlapping effect in these two roles. With National security, foreign policy issues and domestic programs it appears that Henry M.

Jackson, Senator was correct when he stated: The boundary between foreign and domestic policy has almost been erased." In 1947 "The National Security Council" was created for advising the President on policy in the areas of Domestic Foreign and military that related to National Security issues. President John F. Kennedy did not make use of the NSC demoting it to use as "for appearance sake" purposes due to its' having formed sub-committee upon sub-committee.

President Richard Nixon however, full reinstated the NSC as the "principle form for Presidential consideration of foreign policy issues." Henry A. Kissinger was President Nixon's National security advisor. VIII. Change As already stated, there have been changes to the Constitution throughout history. Some changes more gradual than others. Then there are those of the present Bush administration where changes, and astronomical in size changes have been made. It is not so hard to remember when it was unheard of that Constitutional rights were violated.

Sure there were events that happened, however for the most part the "superiority" of the Constitutional rules stood strong and unswerving. In the 1970's the peaceful protestors met with no problems. Such is not the case in today's form of government. For example, a peaceful protest at the G8 Summit led to harassment of a group that was in Brunswick staging a peaceful protest through the renovation of old houses that the community is now using for housing young and un-wed mothers.

The decades of the 1980's were of slow and gradual changes that moved within the governing individuals, institutions and bodies within the society of The United States. Even with the Watergate event, the changes were not nearly as radical as those which have materialized recently. The decades of the eighties moved in a gradual shift that certainly picked up speed in the events of recent governmental shifts.

Resistance to Change Recent resistance to change has flourished among grass root movements with Civil Right Activists speaking up of late in support of Constitutional rights that the newly passed Acts of Congress have made null and void. Police torture in jails and prisons have always been reported in hushed whispers, however, it has recently come to light that this type of abuse of power is the "accepted norm" in the demeanor of the Homeland Security and Patriot Acts that have effectively stripped American citizens of their constitutional rights.

How quickly can those things so vital be legislated away if the citizens are not paying close attention or if their attention is averted or over-entertained or placated. It is important to note that the European Union is addressing the actions approved by the U.S. President as being prosecutable under the Geneva Convention, which is the basis for World Court rules concerning the treatment of prisoners during times of war.

In fact, most Americans, have not realized the enormity of the changes wrought by the Patriot and Homeland Security Acts in terms of damage to the U.S. Constitution.

Author, Norman Livergood presented as questions, in his essay titled, "The Necessity of Enlightened Thinking": How could Germans living under Hitler's National Socialism not have seen what it was? How did their lack of social and personal awareness make them blind to their reality?" Livergood gives as examples of rapid change and progressive loss of freedom in the United States the following examples: 1. "The American people lost the right to elect their president when the U.S.

Supreme Court committed a "coup d' etat" by approving the stealing of the presidency by George W. Bush in spite of the major media companies paying millions to contrive a "recount" which they falsely claim proves Bush won the election." 2. The 11/14/01 announcement that any person designated as a terrorist by the President is to be placed under the control of the Secretary of Defense and is not allowed the aid of U.S. Or foreign courts (is a) giant step in our march toward a total police state.

Persons are being held in American prisons without being allowed to contact their attorney. The consultations between persons in American prisons and their attorneys are being monitored by "justice" officials. 3.

Men, women and children can be murdered without compunction as at Ruby Ridge and Waco and the person ultimately responsible for these "police-state" atrocities will be promoted to become the head of the agency guilty of these crimes." Another recent report concerning a court decision in Louisiana should be shocking at the very least, and indeed should have our fore fathers roaming the halls of the buildings in Washington at night, awakened from death's sleep by mere virtue of the fact that the Constitution has been so rudely, violently and nonchalantly tossed aside.

In this report it is relayed that a 5th Circuit, Louisiana Court ruled that Police Officers no longer need a search or arrest warrant to conduct a brief search of your home or business. Former U.S. Attorney, Julian Murray, was quoted as saying that, "I think it goes way too far." According to the Constitution this attorney is completely correct. The Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution is quite clear and concise as to this breach of power in Louisiana.

The Fourth Amendment states that: The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or thing to be seized." Conclusion The fore fathers of America, in their creation, drafting and signing of the Constitution certainly were influenced by John Locke as he expressed in his view of individual rights the following: The natural liberty of man is to be free from any superior power on earth.