The U.S. Constitution - Lesson #6: Elections and Proceedings

Sorry for the lack of a posting on Friday afternoon.  I will make it up to my loyal readers later today.  But today's lesson on the U.S. Constitution focuses on Article I, Section 4 & Section 5, since four is so small.  Again this will be dealt with clause by clause.

Section 4.  The Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections for Senators and Representatives, shall be prescribed in each State by the Legislature thereof; but the Congress may at any time by Law make or alter such Regulations, except as to the Place of choosing Senators.

This lays out not specifically a power of Congress but of the states, which Congress may regulate if needed.  This is another example of Federalism (separation of power between the federal and local governments) inside of our Constitution.  Each state holds its own elections and writes its own laws and regulations for elections.  The right and powers to vote is granted by the state governments, not the federal government, to the citizens of the state.

This is where congress gets the authority to write laws regarding the federal campaign contributions.  Earlier this year the Supreme Court struck down regulations in a recent campaign finance reform law.  They also overturned previous decisions of the Court on corporate donations to political campaigns.  Unfortunately most people have no idea of what the facts or decision of Citizens United v. FEC is about.  I did a blog a few weeks on this very topic.  Check it out for more information.

The major misunderstanding people have in an election, especially a presidential election is that there is no national election; there are fifty state elections.  The electoral college is another way of proving this because it is up to the state legislatures to determine how electors are choosen for the presidency.  I will deal more on this later when I address Article II, Section 1, Clauses 3 & 4.

The Congress shall assemble at least once in every Year, and such Meeting shall be on the first Monday in  December, unless they shall by Law appoint a different Day.

This clause ensures that the legislature must meet at least once a year.  The major issue behind this clause was that the King of England could dissolve the Parliament at any time.  The King also had dissolved the colonial legislators.  This is one of the major reasons behind the revolution listed in the Declaration of Independence.  The bold text was changed by the 20th Amendment.

Section 5.  Each House shall be the Judge of the Elections, Returns and Qualifications of its own Members, and a Majority of each shall constitute a Quorum to do Business; but a smaller number may adjourn from day to day, and may be authorized to compel the Attendance of absent Members, in such Manner, and under such Penalties as each House may provide.

The Congress has occassionally used the listed here power to refuse to seat a duly elected member of the House or Senate.  The most recent example was after the election of President Obama.  Governor Blagoavich of Illinois appointed Roland Burris to the vacated seat of former senator Barak Obama when he was elected to the office of President.  The main point of contention was the federal corruption investigation into the governor about how he was going to choose which person would be the second senator from Illinois.  The Supreme Court has held though that Congress cannot withhold the seat of a person who has met all the Constitutional requirements for office.  Also they stated in a separate case that a member may only be expelled in the term a wrong was committed, it cannot be retroactive.

The Constitution sets the quorum to do business as a majority of members, which would be fifty-one percent of its members (218 in the House and 51 in the Senate).  The need for this limit on power is so that a small number of legislators could not pass laws.  A few years ago during the August break a large contingent of Republicans and some Democrats stayed behind in Washington when recess was called for the month, despite lots of work to do.  This clause prevents them from passing legislation.  Though I thought it would funny if they were able to get a quorum and do business; they never did.

Each House may determine the Rules of its Proceedings, punish its Members for disorderly Behavior, and, with the Concurrence of two-thirds, expel a Member.

This allows each house of Congress to make its own rules in how to pass legislation.  The power to create committees is an implied power of this expressed power.  The practice of filibuster (unlimited debate to kill legislation) is also found in the U.S. Senate because of this clause.  The filibuster is a necessary power and part of the founder's original intent for the Senate.  The House may quickly pass something because of the popular fervor for a specific piece of legislation.  This is because the House is the body of our federal government closest to the people.  The senate is there to cool down the legislation and make it better and palatable to the states (Since the Senate was to represent the states in our government).  Both parties have used it to their own advantage to kill good or bad legislation, or to stop presidential appointments.

This also is where Congress gets the power to punish its own members, like last year when Rep. Joe Wilson was censured (formal condemnation for an action) for yelling, "You lie!" during the President's address to a joint session of Congress about the stalled health care reform bills.

Each House shall keep a Journal of its Proceedings, and from time to time publish the same, excepting such Parts as may in their Judgment require Secrecy; and the Yeas and Nays of the Members of either House on any question shall, at the Desire of one fifth of those Present, be entered on the Journal.

This clause for a journal of proceedings is a limit on Congressional power since it requires both houses of Congress to record the results of their meetings.  Specifically it refers to the tallying of the votes in either house.  This is so that the people may know what their elected leaders are doing.  It requires that one fifth of the house must request that the yeas and nays of the members to be recorded in the journal.  This is an example of minority rights or power in the Constitution.  It only takes 20 people in the Senate and 87 in the House to get these votes recorded.  Typically in today's day and age though they do not need to call a vote to get them recorded.  With the voting machines in the House we know in an instant who voted what way on any piece of legislation.  Also in the Senate they almost always do a roll call vote so that those votes are also recorded.

Neither House, during the Session of Congress, shall, without the Consent of the other, adjourn for more than three days, nor to any other Place than that in which the two Houses shall be sitting.

This is to make sure that the legislative actions of Congress are coordinated between the two houses of the bicameral.  Also, it makes sure that joint actions was taken to move the place of where the legislature is seated.  This is a throwback to the Revolutionary War when the capital moved several times to avoid capture by the British.  Also it is to protect the people because of the power the king used to move colonial legislatures.

Well that is the end of today's lesson.  Please let me know if you have any questions or comments.  Thanks for listening and have a great weekend.  Class dismissed.

News of the Day - 2/11/2010: Rapid Fire Stories

This was a huge news day with a lot of stories to comment on.  I am going to do this posting rapid fire hitting on all the news stories that piqued my interest.  I will post the headlines with a link to the story.  I will provide a limited summary and my commentary on the facts presented.  So here we go!


FEDS PUSH FOR TRACKING CELLPHONES
The Justice Department and FBI want to have access to track a person's cell phone calls.  They want to be able to access the locations of previously made calls and to possibly track people in real time.  This is gross violation of the Fourth Amendment to our Constitution.  Police need probable cause (specific evidence that a specific person has committed a specific crime) to even tap a person's phone.  So under what authority do they have to track us with out the same standard of proof?  People want to complain about how our civil liberties were abridged under Bush; well Obama is going the same way.

IRAN GOES NUCLEAR ON REVOLUTION DAY
Today is the 31st anniversary of the Islamic Revolution in Iran when the American backed Sha was deposed.  Iran announced they have enough refined material to run nuclear power plants.  There were also counter protests to this announcement by the President of Iran.  It is dangerous for a nation like Iran (That has threatened to wipe Israel off the map and start a second holocaust) to have access to nuclear material.  They could produce weapons grade nuclear material and create atomic weapons that could be used on Israel and any other nations, like the United States (who has been called the Great Satan by Islamic extremists).  If I were President of the United States this would be my response to Iran.  "Iran has the right as a sovereign nation to pursue any method they wish for their energy needs and military defense.  But if any nuclear weapons created by Iran are used against the people of the world, the United States will respond with overwhelming and swift military action until the leaders of Iran and its capabilities to create these weapons are destroyed."


AIRPORT SCANNERS VIOLATE THE TEACHINGS OF ISLAM
Islamic leaders around the world are in an uproar because of the use of full body scanners violate the tenants of Islamic law as found in the Quran.  Personally, I think these full body scans are an unnecessary violation of a person's privacy and a violation of the Fourth Amendment.  The government has no probable cause to search people before they get on the plane.  I say disband the TSA and let private airlines or the airports handle their own security.  It would cut down on costs since wages would be more competitive. Also it has been found private companies have found more dumbie bombs than the TSA.  Also who cares what Muslims think of our methods of searching people.  You don't want to submit to a search, don't fly.


FORCED UNIONIZATION IN MICHIGAN
I am not fully clear on the details of this case but the broad implications are what frighten me.  To force a private company to unionize is unconstitutional and violates the natural right of anyone to contract.  This is what may happen under the proposed Employee Free Choice Act.  The law would take away the secret ballot in the unionization process.  Right now unions have to do a card check and get, I think, 50% of the current workers of a business to agree that a unions should be formed.  Then they have a secret election to make the final decision.  The proposed law would allow unions to be formed just by the card check system.  I have many problems with unions but they are allowed to form if they want.  I will deal with unions more in this blog at some future date.


OBAMA TO MAKE RECESS APPOINTMENTS
The President is mad because the opposition party is filibustering the people he is appointing to various offices inside the federal government.  He says he will use his power as President to make appointments when Congress goes on its President Day recess in the next few days.  Here are the key things to know about this story.  First, it is the power of Congress to confirm presidential appointments because they check the power of the Chief Executive.  Only the best and brightest are allowed to work for the government.  If the people Obama has already appointed is any indication of who these new appointments are, then I am glad they are being held up.  I don't want socialist, Marxist or other subversives in the halls of power.  Second, the President has every right to make those recess appointments since the Constitution gives him that authority.  It really won't earn him any brownie points with Congress, the opposition or independents, since it will seem like he is subverting the confirmation process.  I felt the same way when Bush did a recess appointment of Jon Bolton to be our ambassador to the U.N.  Thirdly, these appointments, if made, will be temporary.  They will only be legal appointments until Congress returns to session and they will eventually need to be confirmed.  Fourth, both parties are guilty of playing politics with presidential appointments, so shut up.


FIRST LADY FIGHTS OBESITY
The first lady, Michelle Obama, has made it her priority to fight obesity in the United States.  The article goes into long detail of how she and the president are going to fight it.  One tenant of the program is the regulate how many fast food restaurants can be in any neighborhood, specifically, low income neighborhoods.  Its not the job of the government to watch my weight.  They cannot tell me what to eat or drink.  That is my choice.  That is my freedom.  I have to live with those choices with higher risks of diabetes, other diseases and possibly higher health insurance rates.  It is the job of the individual and the parents, for children, to make choices about what to eat.  I hate the mentality of the government knows best.  Get out of my lunch box please.


BIDEN TAKES CREDIT FOR SUCCESS IN IRAQ
Vice President Joe Biden, on CNN, has claimed success in Iraq is due to President Obama's actions.  This a bold faced lie at best and revisionist history at its worst.  I never agreed with going to war in Iraq or the 2005 "Surge."  The fact of the matter is though that any success  in Iraq belong first to the boots on the ground of our military.  They are the ones make any differences.  President Bush is the one who took the country and made it safe again for normal citizens with the Surge tactic, recommended by General Petraeus.  The Iraqi war may be finishing on Obama's watch but it was Bush that laid the ground work for the final victory.


That is all I have for today.  Enjoy.  I welcome all comments, questions and discussion.  Have a nice day.

News of the Day - 2/10/2010: China and Our Debt

I saw this article today regarding a strategy of Chinato punish the United States for our actions.  I thought it was necessary to comment on it considering they own a lot of our debt in the form of U.S. bonds.

The basic premise behind this article is that the People's Liberation Army (PLA) of China are offering an option to punish the United States for selling arms to the disputed island nation of Taiwan.  The PLA is the national army of China.  The U.S. sold weapons to Taiwan and China is pissed since China considers Taiwan a break away province of mainland China.  There is other mentions of reorganizing Chinese military in light of these sales but its not the point I want to make.

Our debt and out of control spending is the largest threat to our national security and sovereignty.  Glenn Beck highlighted the problem with being bailed out on his show last week.  Please ignore the messanger and listen to the message.  He speaks truth whether you love him or hate him.

It was dangerous for the U.S. to be in debt to a single citizen.  It is even more dangerous for the U.S. to be in debt to other nations.  If China or any other debt holder of the U.S. does not like our actions they could just ask for a refund on the bonds, or sell them off to someone else.  They can have a huge impact on our nation's security and sovereignty by holding our debt.  We already have told the CIA to back of operations in China.  Why?  They are one of the biggest threats against us.  They attack the networks of U.S. companies and government agencies on a daily basis.  They are not our friends; they are our begrudging debt holders.

I am not trying to lay blame for any of this on Obama or Bush or even Clinton.  Deficit spend has been the norm since before FDR.  Government deficits are predicted to be in $700 billion in ten years from now.  It is time for the U.S. government to set an example and learn how to live within its means.  Cut unnecessary programs, agencies, and organizations.  Cut the salaries and staffs of all elected and appointed officials.  Return solvency to Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, then find a way to end these socialist programs once and for all.  Return welfare programs back to the states and local communities.  Stop spending money on programs that are not constitutional.  Balance the budget and take any surplus to pay down our debt.

This is the basic message of the Tea Party movement.  This is not tied to any political party, race or creed.  It's about returning to the principles of our Constitution and bring fiscal responsibility back to our governments.  That is why I am a proud member of the Tea Party movement.  That is why all of us should be.

My Perfect School: School Curriculum

Today's edition of My Perfect School will focus on the curriculum of my school.  I will not go into a huge amounts of detail but describe the general guidelines that will determine which classes a student needs to graduate from my school.  This will be a high school curriculum.

Students would be required to meet the follow requirements to graduate from the school.  A credit equals a full year of study on a particular curricular area.  I will address the requirements for each curricular area.  One key feature of this curriculum is I try to give student as much choice as when possible.  If there are different classes a student could take to fulfill the requirements of the school, they should be given that option.  The largest place this occurs would be fine arts, technology, physical education and social studies.

Reading (3 Credits)
The first big curricular area is for students to have a class where they read and analyze literature.  Students would be required to take an American Literature and a World Literature course that coincides with their social studies counter parts.  The third credit would be satisfied by an elective reading course, like Literary Genres, where students must read and analyze the different forms of literary genres, like mystery, historical fiction, romance, and others.  Students could even do an independent reading course where they read a certain amount of books in the year and do book reports on them for a grade.

Writing (3 Credit)
I purposely separated the two parts of the English Language Arts programs in my school.  In most high schools English class is part reading and part writing.  I figured by separating them out we could have a better experience in both.  Writing would have two required classes.  One would focus on the mechanics of good writing and the types of essay writing.  The other would focus on the process of research and writing longer papers or a thesis.  Both classes would also be used to write, edit and revise essays assigned by the other classes of the curriculum which would be part of their assessment for the class.  Students could retake the course for the third required credit or they could take a writing elective.  One option would obviously be Journalism where the students produce a regular school newspaper.  Another would be to teach students to write in particular genres, which could be easily tied to the Literary Genre reading elective.

On a side note the AP courses that focus on reading and writing (Literature and Composition and Language and Composition) could be included as part of the curriculum.  I would recommend that students who take them will be given dual credit for those courses.  Upon passing the class, they would receive a credit for reading and writing since both are essential to those classes.

Math (3 Credits)
As one of the three essential Rs (Reading, Writing and Arithmetic) math would be a requirement to graduate,  many schools are going to four years of required math to graduate.  I feel that if the student complete three good years of math education they should be fine.  Students would be required to take Algebra and Geometry to graduate.  I would like to implement as well a proficiency math testing system which standardizes that the student's know how to do the math of each class before moving on to the next level.  After that they could take any one of many different math electives, like AP Statistics or Calculus.  I can imagine a classes like Every Day Math, where they learn how to do score bowling and balance a checkbook, or Math for Financial Literacy, where they apply math skills to financial objectives like the stock market.

History (4 Credits)
Students need four years of Social Studies.  One class would be devoted to World History and/or Geography, which would be liked directly to the World Literature reading class.  Students would be required to take two years of U.S. History.  The first year would be cover the history of Native American civilizations through the Reconstruction after the Civil War.  All students would take the same course level  so they all have the same basis of knowledge.  The second year of U.S. History would give the students more options.  Those students interested in taking AP U.S. History could apply for the class, which would have prerequisites.  They could take the generic U.S. History II course which would cover Western Expansion to Modern Day America.  Or there could be some specific U.S. History electives that students could elect to take as well.  Students would then be required to take a U.S. government course their senior year.  This could be the generic U.S. government, AP U.S. Government, possibly a class designed to compete in the "We the People..." competition or some other Government class.  The government class needs to be a year to address all the possible topics focusing primarily on the U.S. Constitution and its practice in today in the U.S.

Science (3 Credits)
This area is my weakest in terms of planning.  I am not sure how science classes are divided.  I do want students to have classes that show a diversity of science types.  For example, students should take a life science course and physical science course.  I am just not sure where some of them go or how they are differentiated. 

Fine Arts (2 Credits)
Students need to be well rounded individuals and that means the inclusion of some Fine Arts classes.  Typically a student may take as a Freshmen or sophomore a introduction to fine arts class that gives the student a taste of music, visual arts and theatre.  Students also could get credit for being involved in band or choir.  There are numerous options for classes and electives in this area of a students education.

Technology (1 Credit)
Students need some training in computers and technology.  There are many options from a course on using Microsoft Office, a computer aided drafting class, or robotics.

Physical Education  (3 Credits)
The requirements here are also necessary for a well rounded student.  Students would be required to take a health class which might be a full year or maybe a semester in length.  I would hope it would be a class with practical knowledge, not just scientific knowledge.  Students would also be required to take some classes that teach them about taking care of physical well being with exercise.  Students should get a choice in the classes they take though.  I can see the school having a weight training or exercise class.  A class that teaches students the rules and they play competitive sports, like most gym classes.  Students could also get credit for participating in interscholastic athletic teams, like playing on the Varsity team for the school sports.  The goal is to encourage students to be physically active and teach them how to do that safely and effectively.

Religion (3 Credits)
This requirement is added because I will more than likely in my future build a school that is a parochial or religious school.  Students would be required to take one class based on the Scriptures of the Old or New Testament.  They would also be required to take a course on the doctrine or theology of the church.  After that they would need electives to fulfill that last credit requirement.

Foreign Language
I am not sure if this should be a requirement for graduation.  I do feel it is important for students to learn a foreign language, but I think student need a wide range of choices in this class.  The school should be able to provide a teacher for certain popular language choices.  Students could also maybe complete an independent study of a language through the Rosetta Stone software or some other program.  They might also take a college level course of a specific language as well to get credit.

Community Service
Each student would also be required by the school to complete a standardized number of community service hours during each academic year to graduate.  While this does negate the idea of volunteering I feel its important that students give of their time to some organization that cannot necessarily pay them.  This will help them become better members of society. Students could complete these hours at any nonprofit they choose, like their churches or other organizations.  They could complete them at the school helping teachers or at school events.  The key is that this service is voluntary and unpaid.

College Courses
I would like for the school to partner with a local college or university so that students may take classes at the school for both high school and college credit.

Let me know what you think of this curriculum.  I welcome all comments, suggestions and questions.  Have a nice day.

My Perfect School: Grading Scale

Another entry in the my perfect school category for today.  Today I would like to focus specifically on the grading scale at my perfect school, meaning what is an A, B, C, D, and/or F.

At my perfect school there would only be three letter grades: A, B, and C.  If any student got lower than a C they would not get credit for the class, basically an F.  There would also be slight changes to the percentage ranges and the GPA scales.  An "A" in my school would be from ninety-five percent and above.  If an A is exceptional work the percentage range should be smaller.  A "B" at my school would be eight to ninety-four percent.  A "C" at my perfect school would fall between a sixty-five and seventy-nine percent.  Anything below a sixty-five percent would earn a student no credit or an "F."  I eliminated the "D" letter grade because most students who earn a "D" did not learn the know the information or could not show that they were proficient at the information.  They are "emergent," as one teacher told me.  The fact of the matter is though, a D student should not possibly pass a class.  A teacher once told me that a "D" is an "F" the teacher was to afraid to give (I don't think I give grades, but its a good analogy here.).

There would also need to be an adjustment to the grade point average (GPA) scale.  I am not sure exactly how it would break down but an "A" would be 3.5 and above.  A "B" would be between 2.5 and 3.5.  A "C" would be between 1.0 and 2.5.  A person earning no credit would not be given a GPA score.  I am not sure if these break downs are accurate for equality purposes but they will work for now.  The person's GPA would then be factored by their final percentage grades in any given class.  We could also just average the percentage grades of all their classes and determine their GPA from that percentage.  Any student taking an honors or AP class would receive a boost to their GPA of .25 grade points for just that class.  Also any student earning above one hundred percent in any class would have their GPA adjusted accordingly as well, probably .01 grade points for each percentage point above one hundred.  With some classes being pass/fail classes I not sure how I will factor those grades and credits into a students GPA.  I am sure there is some way colleges do it, but I am not sure. 

If any one has any idea comment or questions on this system please let me know.  Thanks for listening and have a nice day.