25 Matching Annotations
  1. Oct 2020
  2. moodle.southwestern.edu moodle.southwestern.edu
  3. moodle.southwestern.edu moodle.southwestern.edu
    1. The challenges before us—the worst public health crisis in a century, the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression, the worst period of global upheaval in a generation, the urgent global crisis posed by climate change, the intolerable racial injustice that still stains the fabric of our nation—will test America’s character like never before.

      I know that we are making history but it doesn't exactly feel like it. The election feels like a joke. There is a stark difference between what came out of Roosevelt's mouth and either of the presidential candidates mouth's. Now it is a matter of choosing the lesser of two evils than a heroic leader to help our country achieve greatness.

  4. Sep 2020
    1. “We’re changing federalism from the idea of shared expertise in different policy areas into partisan stakes in the ground that are meant to obstruct opponents,” Robertson says.

      This is so true with the Trump Administrations "Alternative Facts" it is as though we will soon be living in the dystopian novel Brave New World.

    2. “The coronavirus response is actually sort of a perfect measuring stick of our transition to our contemporary, very polarized model of federalism.”

      I want to reference the Netflix documentary Social Dilemma. The documentary says that the reason politics has become so polarized is because of social media. Everyone is operating off of a different set of facts.

    1. It could create incentives for action by conditioning a portion of funds going to states in any future relief packages on states’ adherence to the measures

      Why did this not happen? I feel like it isn’t the federalist system in general that are failing us— it’s the leaders of the system. Why did congress not make a playbook and create incentives for states to follow them? This reminds me of how the drinking age became 21 in every state from the funding of the highways.

    2. Lacking strong federal leadership to guide a uniform response, the United States quickly fulfilled the World Health Organization’s prediction that it would become the new epicenter of Covid-19.

      I wonder if a democrat was in office when covid hit if we would have stronger federal leadership. Would we have been in a state of emergency if someone who believed in the facts of science wasn’t in office? I have trouble believing that there is nothing the president could have done to prevent covid from getting this out of hand.

    3. subject to constitutionally protected individual rights such as due process, equal protection, and freedom of travel and association

      I didn’t know that it is within our rights to travel and associate with whomever we choose. I wouldn’t think the government would be able to control who would be able to leave their house or hang out with who anyway. I guess this shows how right the article about uninformed citizens we read last week is right.

    1. As things stand, their apathy suggests that they already have figured that part out.

      This article is written in a way that fires up the people who agree with the author's opinion, and pushes away everyone who disagrees. The article has the goal of "changing" people's mind but the people whose minds "need" changing have been so bullied they have stopped reading. I do not believe this is article has in anyway accomplished what the writer claims to want. It points many fingers and calls many names, boarding on reverse racism. The description of the white college-educated couch potatoes did nothing to help the author get their point across.

    2. Only if you don’t need more power than you already have could you possibly consider politics a form of consumption from the couch rather than a domain of goals and strategies.

      I think this could be turned around to state that those with lower paying jobs volunteer their time more because it is in their interest to fight for more help from the government. College educated individuals do not need the same assistance these people need.

    3. less self-interested

      THIS IS SO FALSE. Everyone pays attention to the things in politics that will effect them. For the economically disadvantaged they are concerned about affordable housing, the wealthy are concerned about the taxes. They want to be able to keep their business afloat.

    4. Spanish-speaking office hours

      if a native english speaker wanted to come in and talk to congress during these hours, would they have access to someone who spoke english?