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Federalist No. 57 and the Legislative Branch
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Federalist No. 57 and the Legislative Branch
United States of America is one of the respected and adored countries in the world. The country has a population of about 314 million. Due to its large population, it is demarcated into several states. Prevalently, the country has fifty States; just to mention a few, California, Washington, New Hampshire, New York. America is a federal constitutional republic, that is, it is governed by the federal constitution. Apparently, the principal elective posts in the States include The President, who is the head of the State, he/she is elected by all citizens of the States. On the other hand, Senators are elected by citizens in each fifty State; this means each State has a Senator. Similarly, the Congress is an elective post; citizens of each state are allocated a given number of Congresses to elect. Apparently, if a State has a myriad population then more seats for Congress is awarded. On the other hand, if a State has less population then it is followed by fewer seats of Congress. Generally, Congress is an imperative position since it forms the House of Representative. (Frisch and Kelly 75). The House of representative is to pass laws and articulate problems affecting the populace. The paper endeavors to highlight the reasons why the House of Representative should have ample number of Congress for equal and fair representation of the citizens. It also discusses the importance of the House in line with it responsibility, this means, only right and genuine candidates should be elected to represent the citizens.
Apparently, the House of Representative is a powerful legislative branch. To start with, the house is entitled to the passage of federal legislation. Notably, this is a vital role since it concerned with the passage of laws. Typically, the congress is expected to be sober and uncompromised leaders to ensure the right laws are passed. The Congress must not at all pass only the law which favors themselves and few classes of rich people. This will cause injustice to the poor and the majority of the citizens. Similarly, the leaders in the House must also ensure they truly represent the citizens’ plights, as these ensure justice is achieved, the electorate should vote for the congress that possesses admirable virtues that include honesty, wisdom and trust (Sneider 67). Additionally, the leaders to be chosen should be affectionate to the problems, which affect the citizens. As a matter of fact, for the United States to have a House of Representatives that perform in the interest of the citizens, then the qualifications to be a congress should be made simple to allow any citizens to contest for the seat.
Apparently, the author has totally repudiated the mode which is used to elect the congress to the office. For instance, for a candidate to contest for a Congressional seat he/she should possess wealth, religious faith and civic professed. Apparently, the physical wealth should not be used as measure eligibility. This is because it limits the citizens who are poor and are capable of serving the citizens well. This means the candidates who do not possess wealth are precluded. Apparently, such a system is unfair and unjust as it does not display fairness. In addition, only few citizens are allowed to participate in the electoral process in the case of a Congress (Baughman 58). Five to Six thousand cannot choose a fit representative, in these cases the federal constitution should be amended to allow a larger population to participate in the process. As such, will ensure only candidates, who value citizen’s problems are elected, it will also ensure there is a fair representation. Since the House of Representatives is vital, the number of Congress that forms the House should be expanded. As such, limits few people who intend to serve their own selfish interest. If such powers are left in the hands of a few elevated leaders; the leaders will only make laws which favor themselves and a rich class in the society (Baughman 61). A larger House of Representative ensures there is equal representation and only laws which favor the citizens are past. Apparently, the system naturally elevates only a few leaders in the public office/ to make matters worse, the few who are elevated are mostly voted by the rich. Once they assume the office, the leaders will serve their greedy interest and the interest of the rich who placed them in the office.
Today, the United States is in line with the authors’ arguments. The political structure of America has embraced fairness and justice to the poor and constituents at large. To start with, in the 17th century, the house had a few numbers of representatives, about 65. Worth noting is the fact that the Representatives in the House now has gone to about 435. Secondly, the federal law has done away with the wealth as a qualifying factor (Sneider 44). It only requires the candidate to be a citizen of America for the last seven years and of at least 25 years and resident of the State.
In conclusion, I totally concur with the author, the elevation of the few members to the House of Representative, will lead to greediness and selfishness. As such leaders will solely serve themselves at the expense of the poor public. The number of members in the house should be increased and also a larger number of citizens be permitted to participate in the electoral process. Wealth should not be used as a qualification for a congress.
Works Cited
Frisch, Scott A. and Kelly, Sean Q. “Committee Assignment Politics In The U.S House Of Representative.” USA: University of Oklahoma Press, 2006. Print
Sneider, N. O. “House of Representative Of The United States.” New York: Nova Science Publishers, 2001. Print
Baughman, John. “Common Ground: Committee Politics In The U.S House Of Representative.” California: Stamford University Press, 2006. Print
Fanon, in his writing The Fact of Blackness,
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Blackness
Fanon, in his writing The Fact of Blackness, considers blackness a practical distinctiveness that exists for the purpose of differentiating black form white. His discourse is that blackness is considered negativity; black people are coerced to have on the uniform of blacks. Their identity is unchanging so that it is a fact of blackness. Fanon discusses his experience as a black man in a society domineered by white people. Instantaneous, the native has been assigned two structures of position within which he has had to place himself. His norms, customs and beliefs have been wiped out as well as the sources in which they were founded, were wiped out because they did not conform to an unfamiliar civilization that forced itself on him. The Negro in the 20th Century cannot pinpoint at what time his subservience comes into being through the other. In America, the Negro is isolated and discriminated against, in South America he is thrashed on the streets, and Negro demonstrations are met with brute force and cut down by gunfire. In West Africa, his is an subconscious. In the white man’s hand, the Negro is a toy, so in order to board up this cycle of doom, he explodes.
Fanon’s conception of blackness is performative but ironically for the sake of the white man and not for the gain of himself. The image the world has of the black man is one that has been crafted over the years by colonialists. Fanon illustrates this concept by saying the image of the native is the consequence of the white man, who had woven me out of a thousand details, anecdotes, stories.” Fanon articulates his desire as a black man to just be identified as a man. “All I wanted was to be a man among other men.” In a colonized world, the image of the black man has been curated to be that of someone inferior. This image is branded in the mind of the white man, the world, and the back man himself. Thus the storyteller in the story of the Negro, whose story is the background music in every other account of the oppressed in the world, has succeeded in sending the treatise of “fear” and the idea of “inferiority” to all that care to listen.
In this chapter, Fanon creates an image that exemplifies the mental process of the Negro man and woman, highlighting their unsuccessful efforts at asserting themselves a human in addition to rationalizing their color in relation to a system that is unfounded and based on racism and race prejudice. How does the brain digest the fact that a structure (racism) that is applying such force (resentment against the black man and the people of color) on the individual is really based on a falsehood (white supremacy)?
The notion of blackness as the archetypal exemplification of evil is a socially fabricated myth. Fanon attempts to create an understanding that owing to the consequence of the black man encounter with the European imperialist, the colonizer fabricated the image of a black man as inferior and shared this myth with the rest of the world. For this reason, any effort by the native to proclaim a black identity in response to the white man will result in the demonstration of an image deliberately manipulated and brandished by the white man. The only solution to this is the denunciation of this invented identity that European fabricate for the native, “I am a master, and I am advised to adopt the humility of the cripple” (292)
However, Fanon is aware that before the native can truly overcome this already made-up identity crafted by the white man, the native has to overcome a sequence of inherent resistance mechanism that they have developed to vindicate their blackness. The other defense mechanism is laughter. The main shortcoming with this laughter mechanism is that it is not as effective as it was the year before. The native understands that laughter is no longer medicine, “Mama see the Negro! I’m frightened’ Frightened! Frightened! Now they were beginning to be afraid of me. I made up my mind to laugh myself to tears, but laughter had become impossible” (292). The oppressed laugh to make the imperialist comfortable. If the native does not act in this manner, then the colonizer becomes uncomfortable and gives him a reason to be on edge. The natives’ inability to express humor or their refusal to laugh confirms the colonizer’s inherent fright of the native. As the amusement finally subsides, the native will conclude in his longing to make the European comfortable.
Another defense mechanism of the colonized is to hide in their antiquity; in this setting, it would take a history that is centred on African history. Fanon claims that blacks seek to fight the consequences of racism and colonialism by creating emphasis on a love of self through a link with one’s history. Any attempt by the black man to overcome the negative consequences of the colonizer’s attempt to enforce an inferiority complex bear no fruit because of the war the white man has waged to extinguish his sense of self. In this regard Fanon writes “I discovered my blackness, my ethnic characteristics; and I was battered down by tom-toms, cannibalism, intellectual deficiency, fetishism, racial defects, slave-ships, and above all else, above all: ‘Sho good eatin” (293).
In conclusion, Fanon tries to make the black man self-aware he challenges him not to identify himself in response to whiteness. The native cannot simply celebrate their history during the month of February as in the United States and then wonder why the rest of the races do not respect the black man. There is a need for modern academics to rewrite the story of the white-based on the contemporary context that can be understood by the people.
Federalism and Environmental Action
Federalism and Environmental Action
Introduction
At a time when consumerism and lifestyle patterns are determined by globalization orientation at all levels of personal and corporate, outlook effective environmental management is the most critical concept in enhancing sustainable development. This has been undermined by climate change that is implicated for steering global warming and the relative environmental degradation. Western countries have been blamed for the increasing temperatures and subsequent climate change. Their industries release huge volumes of carbon dioxide and other green house gases like methane to the atmosphere. Further, they have been blamed for pollution of underground water resources through solid waste disposal. Of great concern has been their pollution of water resources using industrial wastes and injecting heavy metals in the deep sea bed.
While some have implemented policies to curb the practice, Canada lags behind and lacks a distinct policy to address this issue. This can be attributed to various issues that range from lack of political will to poor governance and inappropriate policy formulation. Its counterparts like the United States have adopted clear environmental laws and policies that govern their industrial activities. Critics contend that its efforts in enforcing sustainable a sustainable environmental policy have been very minimal. It is in this consideration that this paper provides a clear comparison of three articles. These seek to underscore the effort of the government with regards to implementing a viable environmental action plan. Notably, this would contribute towards the global efforts of reducing emission of carbon and other green house gases that undermine the quality of the environment.
Janice Mackinnon “The Green Shift”
In his analysis, Mackinnon (2008) attributes the loss of the liberals to the Green shift policy that sought to introduce carbon tax to oil refining industry and the wholesalers involved in the business. Various concerns were raised by different groups of individuals about the implications of the policy especially to the Western Canada that could reportedly be hit the hardest. The precautionary concerns that were presented to the party before the election were ignored by the Liberals. This culminated in widespread public distrust of the liberal party especially by the westerners. Mackinnon (2008) noted that although the party partly relied on the various presumptions made by scholars, it did not heed the cautionary measures that the same had proposed.
Essentially, the Green shift proposes that income taxes be shifted to carbon as a measure of pricing the same and reducing emissions of green house gases. In addition, it proposed a distribution of income among regions and groups of populations. This had diverse implications on the balance between the provincial and state governments. Although it is indicated that part of the money was expected to be returned to the tax payers, it is posited that only an insignificant thirty percent of this was channeled to reduction of poverty and enhancement of child care. Notably, regional inequalities had been initially cited by various scholars to be at the center stage of any carbon tax policy.
The scholars who came up with the idea contended that this tax would ensure that the individuals that polluted the environment pay for the resultant environmental costs. Further, they cited that this policy would impact more on the regions that produce more oil than those that did not. As such, measures needed to be undertaken to reduce the inherent inequality.
One of the proposed counter measures was for the federal government to enforce a similar price across the region. Most importantly, it was proposed that the consumers, rather than the retailers and producers should pay for the environmental costs because of the fact that they use the produce more wastes to the environment than the latter. Notably, the liberal party did not address this concerns and this contributed significantly to their loss in the 2008 elections. Besides having massive impacts on the westerners, The British Columbia could have suffered immensely. This is because by then, it was struggling to pay a provincial carbon tax.
This experience has been cited to be a classic example of the implications of not involving the provinces in policy formulations at the state level. If it could have been implemented, this would have implied that British Columbia needed to pay double taxes. The liberal party had been advised to ensure that the federal government partners with its provincial counterparts in enforcement of this policy. Just like the federal government, provincial jurisdictions had the authority to enforce environmental legislation. The collaboration would prevent conflicts as any difference between the two bodies would be reconciled before policy enforcement. The failure of the liberal party to heed this led to the widespread public distrust in its mode of governance.
Seemingly, other provinces that were not directly affected by this such as Manitoba did not support the liberal ideology. Basically, they felt that the party was insensitive to the specific needs of the population in the west. At this juncture, Mackinnon (2008) ascertains that the liberals need to begin by restoring the lost trust in the Western provinces before they can think of running for elections again.
Pembina Institute/David Suzuki “Report Recommendations damaging to West and All Canadians
In this article, the author contends that the initial report underestimates the implications of the proposed policy on the economy of the westerners and the Canadian economy as a whole. These pertain to the proposed policy suggestions that seek to reduce green house gas production by the region. It indicates that as much as viable measures need to be adopted to reduce the emission of green house gases, these should not negatively affect certain parts of the population. This is compounded by the fact that the related implications are likely to have permanent effects on the welfare of this population In particular, it maintains that regional differences need to be accorded utmost attention through appreciation and accommodation.
Pembina Institute/David Suzuki “Climate Leadership
This report begins by appreciating the scientific fact that there is dire need to reduce carbon emission in order to curb global warming that has detrimental effects on human welfare. It also appreciates that a significant amount of the emissions are attributable to industrialized countries including Canada. It cites that the Canadian government is committed to making vital policy changes in order to cut its emissions by 20-25% by 2020. Analysis of these presumptions indicated that indeed, Canada has the capacity to achieve these goals and still enjoy significant economic growth, improved quality of life and increased job creation. In order to achieve this, the government needs to enforce stricter policies than the ones being utilized presently.
Some of the suggested options include enforcing a carbon price across the economy coupled with public investments and strong complementary regulations. Specific target areas would be Alberta and Saskatchewan that are notable for producing huge emissions through burning petroleum and production of coal fired electricity. The report projected that Canada’s Gross Domestic product would increase by twenty seven per cent even after the implementation of the carbon reduction policy. Likewise, it posits that the creation of new jobs is likely to grow at 10.7 percent while creating close to 1.86 million jobs. Comparatively, this is higher than the jobs created under normal conditions.
The main technologies that would be employed in achieving this include: use of cleaner energy in the place of fossil fuels; large-scale employment of renewable energy such as solar and wind; enhancing energy efficiency in various sectors including conditioning and transport reducing the percentage of fugitive emissions that are mainly released from and fills and oils and gas industry and finally capturing and storing the carbon dioxide that is released by the gas and oil industry. The country also seeks to reduce the international volumes through purchase of the same. This is due to the recognition that credible reduction of Green House Gases is likely to generate international benefits.
The carbon pricing policy that is presented in this policy stipulates that the emitters need to pay for each tonne that they release in the atmosphere. This would be done through payment of emission tax or buying the emission allowances that are auctioned by the government. Half of the generated income would then be distributed to the population through reduction of their income tax. The remaining would be directed to funding public investments that seek to reduce green house gases and to protect the global competitiveness of the country by cushioning the manufacturing companies that are vulnerable.
At this juncture, it can be appreciated that all articles provide useful insights with that highlight the efforts of the Canadian government in developing a sound environmental policy. To begin with, all articles appreciate the fact that carbon emission in the atmosphere has reached dangerous levels that require each country to take legal measures to control the same. It is ascertained that the countries in the developed world are responsible for massive emission of green house gases. Canada acknowledges the fact that its industrial activities contribute significantly to the green house gases. As such, there is need to adopt policies to help reverse the situation and save the planet of the far reaching implications of climate change and global warming. In addition, all articles acknowledge that the western provinces are likely to be the worst hit by any policy that seeks to address this problem. This is because they emit more volumes of green house gases in the atmosphere than their counterparts.
In both articles, the emission tax is presented as one of the most effective and sustainable options of controlling carbon emission. This is characterized by introducing a carbon price as way of reducing emission. However the two authors that evaluate this assume different approaches. Zahran, Brody and Vedlitz (2008) cite that in the article presented by Mackinnon, the liberal party fails to incorporate various easier that would address the critical issue of inequality that is likely to emanate from this. This is irrespective of the fact that it was informed well in advance by scholars and other critics. This led to their loss in the elections as most of their supporters lost trust in their ideologies. The policy would have massive impacts on the wellbeing of the western provinces. However, other provinces that there unaffected voted against them because of their lack of sensitivity on issues that affected the population. This implied that the reduction of carbon emissions is a sensitive issue that would require various intricate and integrated approaches to deal with the same in an effective manner (Blake, Neil & Peter, 2007).
Both articles present the preposition that rather than the producers and the wholesalers, the consumers of the carbon products should bear the burden of the carbon price. They both contend that proceeds from this need to be employed in reducing the income tax of populations. However, unlike Mackinnon (2008), Bramley, Pierre and Dale (2009) provide a more elaborate way of using the proceeds from the carbon tax. Notably, the carbon reduction initiatives as presented by the latter would be used in reducing the levels of green house gases in the atmosphere. It would be a rewarding form of employment that would enable population to earn an income. In addition, the later report incorporates the issue of making the tax uniform that was previously avoided by the liberals.
Unlike Mackinnon (2008), Bramey et al (2009) also presents to the audience alternative and sustainable forms of energy as well as policies and regulations that would supplement and complement the efforts of the tax policy. Comparatively, Blake et al (2007) contends that this can be considered a better approach that employs multiple approaches to address a complex environmental issue. The report by Bramey et al (2009) also provides the reader with a review of the economic implications of the carbon tax policy and argues that if implemented, it would even yield more benefits than the current condition. This presumption is accredited with factual statistical evidence. This is a challenge to the Canadian government and the governments of other developed countries to weigh the costs and benefits of the policy and implement viable options accordingly.
Conclusion
From the review, it is certain that the environmental degradation and global warming is being contributed to by the massive emissions that stem from industrial activity. Implementation of relevant policies in Canada has been stalled by various complexities that are politically instigated. In order to achieve optimal results, there is need for this government to adopt the approach presented by Bramey et al (2009) as it reconciles the previous gaps and provides a more elaborate and distinct approach to addressing environmental pollution and global warming in a sustainable manner. Considering the fact that it has significant benefits, governments at all levels need to adopt its provisions. This would be instrumental in reducing the levels of carbon in the atmosphere and enhancing economic development at the same time.
References
Blake, D., Neil, G. & Peter, A. (2007). Environmental Action in Canada. Canadian Journal of Political Science, 5, 68-91.
Bramley, M., Pierre, S. & Dale, M. (2009). Climate leadership, Economic Prosperity. Final Report on an Economic Study of Greenhouse Gas Targets and Policies for Canada. Pembina Institute and David Suzuki Foundation, 2009.
MacKinnon, J. (2008). “The Green Shift, the Liberals, and the West.” Policy Options, November, 34-39.
Zahran, S., Brody, S. & Vedlitz, A. (2008). Climate Change Vulnerability. Society and Natural Resources, 19, 770-90.