The video drove home the point that a populace needs to be educated about it's government before they care about getting involved. When the character at the post office was just complaining, he wasn't thinking about the broad powers of Congress and how they touch his everyday life. Once he began reading and thinking about it, he realized that those powers are not just words on paper, but they translate into thousands of encounters with our federal government every year. I agree that people who don't know anything about how government works tend not to have a desire to participate in it.
If there was one thing I could change or improve in our legislative branch, it would be a mechanism where federal mandates to the States are not abused. It seem too easy to put on demands under the federal grants programs, but very hard to take them off. For instance, the drinking age used to be set by the States. However, the Federal transportation grants put mandates that all the States now conform to. So now the entire decision or the research or the science behind those laws is discouraged from local review, in practice. The decision is federalized and therefore is out of the hands of States, Municipalities and other local governments who won't even discuss the issue, which mean that the People cannot weigh in with as much direct say into the matter. This is just one example of how the Federal government has become unduly dominant over the States.
The No Child Left Behind mandate is another example, where the Federal government is forcing all the States to rework curriculum and testing but not even given them the resources to do it. Some of these mandates seem like they are just the form of tyranny that the founders tried to protect us from. I would like there to be some sort of accountability for Federal laws, where they have subject to review and where the States can take a firm hand on their own laws whenever possible. If inititives and innovation is encouraged among the States, then maybe some of the lethargy and obstruction to change that is discussed in Chapter 11 could be avoided.
2 comments:
I agree with your examples for the no child left behind act, it is some what ridiculous what they expect for the states to do. So it does seem as it is tyranny..now were is the democracy in that?!.. besides that i think that people who dont know anything about the way things in our government work should atleast try to understand it because we all live in this country that gives us alot of freedom and should find ways to pay it back or actually make it better rather then just complaining.
Wow, Nalini your post is very well written.People just don't appreciate what Congress are doing to our modern society. I agree that people who don't know anything about how government works tend not to have a desire to participate in it. Does people are usually uneducated have no interest in welfare of our nation. The Congress is us, we create it and enforce how congress should work. We just should utilize congress in right way with equality. However, I disagree on your legislative branch views because about the federal mandating certain to the States. The United States consist of 50 states and most common rule should enforce such as drinking age limit. Ex. some one can live in border of California/Nevada if either states have different laws someone can take advantage of that law and abuse it.
Post a Comment