Politics Essays
Morality of Advanced Directives
Morality of Advanced Directives Abstract This paper presents an in-depth discussion about the issues involved in honoring a patient�s advance directive. Ethical considerations surrounding the issue as they relate to the nursing profession are addressed. The purpose of the paper is to express an informed position on the issue of honoring a patient�s advance directive and explore reasons why one may not be honored. The topic was chosen on account of personal observation an...
Education of Gifted Children
Education of Gifted Children Started in the 1970�s, America�s Gifted & Talented programs are used to enhance the curriculum of students included in either category in order to challenge and strengthen their unique abilities. These students are usually provided a separate class with specialized lessons in all areas and a teacher with a special degree in gifted education. I feel that it is important that the teacher was a gifted student who would know what the students must ...
Government Spending & Budget
Government Spending & Budget As many Federal departments and agencies lurch into an era of running without funds, the leaders of both parties of Congress are spending less and less time searching for a compromise to balance the budget, and more and more time deciding how to use it to their advantage on the campaign trail. Meanwhile money is easily borrowed to pay for government overhead. In an attempt to change this, on June 29, Congress voted in favor of HConRes67 that calle...
Polarization in the Political System
Polarization in the Political System On Tuesday, November 14, 1995, in what has been perceived as the years biggest non-event, the federal government shut down all "non-essential" services due to what was, for all intents and purposes, a game of national "chicken" between the House Speaker and the President. And, at an estimated cost of 200 million dollars a day, this dubious battle of dueling egos did not come cheap (Bradsher, 1995, p.16). Why do politicians find it almost...
Farm Subsidies - A Necessary Evil?
Farm Subsidies - A Necessary Evil? Subsidies are payments, economic concessions, or privileges given by the government to favor businesses or consumers. In the 1930s, subsidies were designed to favor agriculture. John Steinbeck expressed his dislike of the farm subsidy system of the United States in his book, The Grapes of Wrath. In that book, the government gave money to farms so that they would grow and sell a certain amount of crops. As a result, Steinbeck argued, many p...
Cruelty of Capital Punishment
Cruelty of Capital Punishment Capital punishment is the legal infliction the death penalty. It is obviously the most severe form of criminal punishment. (Bedau1) Capital punishment is a controversial way of dealing with violent criminals. The main alternative to the death penalty is life in prison. Capital punishment has been around for thousands of years as a means of eradicating criminals. A giant debate started between supporters and opposers of execution, over the morali...
Machiavellian Politics in The Prince
Machiavellian Politics in The Prince The Prince, written by Niccolo Machiavelli, is one of the first examinations of politics and science from a purely scientific and rational perspective. Machiavelli theorizes that the state is only created if the people cooperate and work to maintain it. The state is also one of man�s greatest endeavors, and the state takes precedence over everything else. The state should be one�s primary focus, and maintaining the sovereignty of the state o...
Religion, and State Sovereignty
Religion, and State Sovereignty The influence of religion on humankind can be traced back to the first records of history. Religion has served as a pillar of strength to some and binding chains to others. There are vast amounts of information and anthropological studies revealing the interaction of religion and humankind. However, for the purposes of this paper, the time periods of study will be broken up into three sections. Each section will give a general description of ho...
Women in Combat
Women in Combat The idea of women in combat is not unusual anymore. They should be able to hold combat positions beacause although physical strength matters, the military still needs the intelligence that women can bring. Also, banning women from the combat hurts their military careers. Although women account for only ten percent of the enlisted personnel (Time, 8/21/95/ Pg. 31), they are still a major part in the armed forces. Their performance recently has generated sup...
The U.S. - a Legitimate Democracy?
The U.S. - a Legitimate Democracy? In any system which claims to be democratic, a question of its legitimacy remains. A truly democratic political system has certain characteristics which prove its legitimacy with their existence. One essential characteristic of a legitimate democracy is that it allows people to freely make choices without government intervention. Another necessary characteristic which legitimates government is that every vote must count equally: one vote for ev...
Effects of Divorce on Society
Effects of Divorce on Society Increased youth crime rate is caused largely by absent fathers as a result of divorce made too easy. Consider this chilling forecast. When we pass the year 2000, we will see two groups of working age adults emerging. One group will have received psychological, social, economic, educational and moral benefits and the other group will have been denied them all. The first group will have grown up with a father present in the house and the second g...
Issue of Preferential Hiring
Issue of Preferential Hiring In recent years preferential hiring has become an issue of great interest. Preferential hiring, which was devised to create harmony between the different races and sexes, has divided the lines even more. Supporters on both sides seem fixed in their positions and often refuse to listen to the other group's platform. In this essay, the recipients of preferential hiring will be either black or female, and the position in question will be a professor...
Cruelty of Animal Testing
Cruelty of Animal Testing Rabbits immobilized in wooden stocks with ulcers in their eyes; baby seals being clubbed over the head, and the infamous shock treatment. Broach the subject with an individual and odds are that they have witnessed footage of one or all of the aforementioned practices and are appalled by the cruelty. Appalled yes, willing to stand up and voice their thoughts... not often. There is one significant reason for this unwillingness by some to stand up for...
Teaching Creationism in Schools
Teaching Creationism in Schools The question as to whether or not creationism should be taught in public schools is a very emotional and complex question. It can be looked at from several different angles, its validity being one of them. Despite the lack of evidence to support the fundamentalist idea of creationism, that in itself is not enough to warrant its exclusion from the curriculum of public schools in the United States. The question is far more involved and complex....
Discrimination in the Military
Discrimination in the Military Yes, the military does have sexual harassment and discrimination against women in the nineties. "Firestone and co-researcher Richard J. Hurns analyzed a 1988 DOD Survey of men and women in the military and found that 51.8 % of men and 74.6% of women reported either experiencing or knowing of sexual harassment. Amoung the women surveyed, 70.1% had experienced "sexual talk or behavior at the work place [that] created an offensive, hostile or int...
Gambling in the United States
Gambling in the United States In the last year Americans have wagered $482 billion dollars in the United States. Over eighty-five percent of this wagering took place in casinos which are now legal in twenty-seven states. In the past decade there has been incredible growth in the gambling industry. Twenty years ago if a person wanted to gamble they had to go to Nevada. Nowadays, there are only six states in which no form of legalized gambling exists. Proponents of the gambli...
Homosexuals in the Military
Homosexuals in the Military Homosexuals have been excluded from our society since our country's beginning, giving them no equal protection underneath the large branch of the law. The Emancipation Proclamation gave freedom to blacks from slavery in the 1800's and women were given the freedoms reserved for males in the early 1900's with the women's suffrage movement. But everyone still knows the underlying feeling of nation in dealing with minorities and women, one of contemp...
The Issue of Human Cloning
The Issue of Human Cloning The recent news of the successful cloning of an adult sheep-in which the sheep's DNA was inserted into an unfertilized sheep egg to produce a lamb with identical DNA-has generated an outpouring of ethical concerns. These concerns are not about Dolly, the now famous sheep, nor even about the considerable impact cloning may have on the animal breeding industry, but rather about the possibility of cloning humans. For the most part, however, the ethic...
Humanism During the Renaissance
Humanism During the Renaissance The Renaissance was an incredibly important turning point in Western Intellectual and Cultural Tradition. All of these changes centered around the idea of Humanism -- in which, people became less "God Centered" and more "Human-centered". I have narrowed down these changes, and will discuss in detail, these changes in three major categories: Political, Education, and the Humanism of Arts. The major pollical changes of the Renaissance w...
Racism and the Ku Klux Klan
Racism and the Ku Klux Klan Since the early development of society in the United States, racism has always been a divisive issue faced by communities on a political level. Our country was built from the immigration of people from an international array of backgrounds. However, multitudes of white supremacists blame their personal as well as economic misfortunes on an abundance of ethnic groups. African-Americans, Jews and Catholics are only some of the of groups tormented by...
Changes in Women and Marriage
Changes in Women and Marriage Abstract This paper presents an in-depth discussion about the changing relationship between women and marriage. Economic factors, a rise in feminism, parents� influence, attitudes about sex, educational pursuits, and divorce statistics are discussed and their influence on women�s attitudes toward marriage are explored. Cultural changes that have impacted women�s lives are also examined. The purpose of the paper is to explore the changes affe...
The Immorality of War
The Immorality of War War is an armed clash between nations because of hostility or military conflicts. In simple words, war is fighting between two sides. War, in my opinion, is useless because of its damaging results, which will be talked about in this paper. It brings suffering and death. Under no circumstance is war moral, even in cases of self defense. There are just other ways to solve problems. Peace treaties are an easy way to end war. In a peace treaty, it is easy ...
Debate Over Capital Punishment
Debate Over Capital Punishment Justice can not be served until the debate on capital punishment is resolved and all states have come to agree that the death penalty is the best way to stop crime completely. "The bottom line is, one method of execution is just as brutal and as barbaric as the next," says Mr. Breedlove of the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty. This comes straight from the mouth of a member of a national organization against capital p...
Development of Communist Theory
Development of Communist Theory If neither Marx or Engels never lived and written the books they did, former Soviet Union and China would probably be conducting their governmental systems in a different manner. Defined by Marx and Engels, the communist theory can be summed up in the single phrase: abolition of private property (Engels, Marx 80). Communists are distinguished by the lower working class which will rise to overthrow the higher supreme class (Engels, Marx 80). T...
Penalty for Bias-Motivated Crimes
Penalty for Bias-Motivated Crimes On June 11, 1993, the United State Supreme Court upheld Wisconsin's penalty enhancement law, which imposes harsher sentences on criminals who "intentionally select the person against whom the crime...is committed..because of the race, religion, color, disability, sexual orientation, national origin or ancestry of that person." Chief Justice Rehnquist delivered the opinion of the unanimous Court. This paper argues against the decision, and w...