"Another Stab at the Constitution"

The drafters of the 1787 Constitution had good reasons for giving life tenure to federal judges -- reasons that are not valid today.-Jamal Greene

The quote summarizes the topic discussed in Jamal Greene's article, "Another Stab at the Constitution". Greene focuses on the original terms the founding father's granted to federal judges. He believes that the reasons for such terms are not valid today. One of the criteria for becoming a federal judge is that the candidate must be young enough to serve for several decades. According to the article the life expectancy in 1787 was about 36, which is less than half today. Another reason to consider changing the terms of this particular position is the president appoints these judges and are not allowed to serve more than two four year terms. Society has evolved with time and there should be new faces in the justice system. One idea is to implement the mandated retirement age, but eighteen years seems way too long as well. 

I chose this particular quote, because I agree with Jamal Greene. Targeting the term limit for federal judges is just one part of the Constitution that has to revised. The Constitution is vague and is no longer black and white for the contemporary world today. It will not be an easy task, but the context must match the circumstances that we are facing today. 

The Constitution of the United States: A Transcription

"We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America".

This is a quote from the transcription of the Constitution of the United States. I chose to use this quote for two reasons, the first reason is it basically summarizes the purposes of putting together this transcription. Obviously they wanted to form a more perfect union, promote general welfare, secure blessings of liberty for self and posterity. I wanted to dissect this quote after reading an essay titled "Two Concepts of Liberty", by a philosopher named Isaiah Berlin. Berlin mentions in his essay that the word freedom and liberty seem to be porous. I had to look up the meaning of porous being that I never used it. Porous is having many small holes that liquid and air passes through it like a sponge. It triggered my thoughts about the transcription, because I thought about the limitation of powers and how the articles and sections were broken down. There was no trust in the federal government, but there was also no trust in people in general. It seems as though the founding fathers did not want to overstep their boundaries with the States, but also wanted to ensure that there were limitations for people in power.

My second reason for chosing this quote, because I do believe that the summary of the constitution is porous like the word freedom and liberty. I don't want to copy is exact analogy, but I do feel that the summary can be interpreted in many different ways and has been absorbed into history and carried through even to the present day. The Constitution like the Bill of Rights are documents that should be revisited, because throughout history some people were excluded when these documents were created. I believe that it is important to look at things from another angle. How do I know I am part of the perfect Union?

Political Identity & Political Culture

"The foreign cultures have not been melted down or run together, made into some homogeneous Americanism, but have remained distinct but cooperating to the greater glory and benefit not only of themselves but of all native 'Americanism' around them".

-   Randolph S. Bourne

I believe that Randolph S. Bourne is claiming that America is not really the melting pot for foreign settlers or Americans. Although there have been different people of different cultures and nationalities from different places of the world that have migrated to America for various reasons, their reasons don't necessarily mean they are going to automatically give up their cultural diversity for their freedom. In many cases foreigners have traveled to America without giving up some of their customary ways, but have also adapted to some of the common practices in America. However, in today's day in age, the melting pot is redefining the children born in America to multicultural families. It is especially difficult for someone who knows their parent's migrated from another country but all they know is life in America. Of course their parents can teach them about their culture but it is hard to separate adapting from American culture and their national culture.

I chose this quote because I actually am one of half-breeds Randolph S. Bourne is referring to in this article. Both of my parents are from other parts of the world and I was born and raised in America. There some things from my parents homeland that I choose to practice and others that I learned growing up in New York. For example I celebrate Two different Christmas days because it is celebrated in my parent's country in January and American's celebrate it December 25th. I thought I was Americanized till I read this article. Now I am questioning what truly defines Americanism.

Inverted Totalitarianism

"By inverted I mean that while the current system and its operatives share with Nazism the aspiration toward unlimited power and aggressive expansionism, their methods and actions seem upside down."

- Sheldon Wolin

This particular notion of the reading really captured my attention, because Wolin compares the United States political system to Nazism in terms of aspiring to unlimited power and aggressive expansionism. He definitely makes very clear that there may be alarmist that would not agree with him, especially since Nazism is not the most favored political principles anyone would want to be compared to. Wolin feels although they share similarities, their methods are upside down. He uses very good examples like the streets in Germany dominated by totalitarian-orientated gangs and whatever there was of democracy was confined to the government before the Nazi's took over. In U.S. the streets is where democracy lives most and the real danger lies with an unbridled government.

I chose this quote because of all that is going on with the U.S. government today. Just last week we had a government shut down. The past two years have really been a real roller coaster and quite frankly unsteady. The government is suppose to have checks and balances but the people in office are really making irrational decisions that are affecting people in general. It's almost as though we are being governed by machine politicians and their interest outweighs democracy.