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The Constitution Amendments
The Constitution Amendments
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Institution
The Constitution Amendments
A constitutional amendment is usually an added correction or formal change mainly in the current written constitutions text of a state or nation. The constitution text itself is sometimes altered in some jurisdictions while others don’t change but the recommended effects change with the amendments.
It is with the above understanding that a formal amendment can then be described as change in the constitutions language in relation with the outlined procedures stipulated in the article v document. Its procedures description is stated as requiring a majority vote of two-thirds in both the Senate and the house, after which the proposal that is approved by the congress is sent for ratification by the state.
The process of amending or changing the constitution can be said was made challenging intentionally by the founders since their initial goal was to make the constitution more stable in order to serve even the coming generations. They took into account that once a new government is entrenched it would sideline or ignore laws that would reduce its hold on power and in this account they intentionally included in article V, a separate amendment process that would keep in check the president, congress and the Supreme Court (Antonin Scalia.et, al, 1998).
The informal amendment process indicates to changes in the application or interpretation of the constitution. This would extend to refer to expansion in the rights within the constitution like voting, to even previously excluded groups, or rights curtailing, that mainly depend on the previously held congress or court justice constitutional beliefs. Such changes usually happen due to the effects caused by the decisions made by the judiciary, usually by the congressional legislation or Supreme Court that are not considered as unconstitutional. It is however vital to note that the constitution is not affected in any way by the informal amendment process, just by its application and understanding, that is in a constant influx state due to the devolving or evolving sociopolitical conditions.
Strict constitution constructions refer to the strict application of the initial laws written by law or in the constitutions text. Subsequently, loose construction implies to the flexibility to do whatever an individual wants as long as they are not stated as illegal within the constitution. The two divergent perspectives aligns with formal versus informal methods of change due to their application in that the informal application tends to have more strict construction characteristics, while the informal method tends to align more with the loose construction which dictates the federal government to go against the usual stipulated laws within the constitution(Kenneth Dautrich.et,al,2012).
I particularly favor the loose construction method since its application allows for flexibility and this gives it a more humane and dynamic aspect in that like humans it is susceptible to changes. This freedom in the application is in contrast to the strict constructionism which is too rigid in its application and requires a strict application of particular judicial and legal philosophy interpretations that restrict and limit the implementation of the judicial and does not allow for any divergence once chosen.
The main reasons to support the loose constructionism or living constitution is in the constitutions concept that implies that the constitutional interpretation application is silent in itself, the elements of the living constitution indicate that the founders, most of who were legal theorists and lawyers, were already aware of the underlying issues, which means that they knew beforehand the implications and confusion that would have arose due to the lack of clear interpretation of the constitution. In addition this implies that if the founders intended the constitution to be interpreted differently by future generations they would have indicated it, and the lack of such clause indicate clearly that there was no such intention and there was never intended to be a fixed method of interpreting the constitution.
In relation to the above pragmatic argument, it is evident that if judges were not allowed to participate in the constitutional rights interpretation, the current modern society values would not have been reflected more, and this would have necessitated a recurrent amendment to incorporate the changes which has never happened.
Another reason for the preference would be on the aspect of not viewing the living constitution as the governing society’s foundational concept and not simply as just a law. This is in the understanding that laws in order to be followed have to be clear and fixed, and if the constitution can be looked at as more than a set of laws can provide the foundation for the laws since they will act as guidance and in this way the benefits and costs of such fixed concept and meanings will be different.
Reference
Antonin Scalia and Amy Gutmann, (1998) A Matter of Interpretation: Federal Courts and the Law, Princeton: Princeton University Press, 36–41
Kenneth Dautrich, David A. Yalof (2012) The Enduring Democracy, engage Learning. Print
The Connections Between Four Different Unrelated Pieces Of Literature
The Connections Between Four Different Unrelated Pieces Of Literature
The essay will take four different unrelated pieces of literature that includes; A & P by John Updike, Harlem Dancer by Claude McKay, the Prison by Bernard Malamud and The Right to Fail by William Zinsser. The connections between each of them will be then analyzed out so as to form a unique claim. In the short story A & P, the author John Updike describes the customers with great detail and on the other hand gives each character the names which subtlety describes their personalities. However in Harlem Dancer by Claude McKay, the author is against the habit of judging the books without the covers more than what a person can give. Bernard Malamud is a renowned and well respected American Jewish writer born in 1914 and died in 1986. His work includes novels, collections, nonfiction, and short stories. Most of what is featured in his writing is human conditions of Jewish life through his experience while growing up in New York. William zinner was a journalist and non fiction writer. As a teacher, his career began on New York Herad Tribune. His most famous work was a book on writing well, his books range from memoir, commentary, baseball, and craft of writing and so on.
In the stories of A & P by John Updike and Harlem Dancer by Claude McKay, the authors seemed to have something common in their literary works. The connection of the two stories is that, the story of A & P by John Updike, the narrator eyes are caught by three barefoot girls in their bathing suits while checking groceries. However in Harlem Dancer by Claude McKay, the poem talks about beautiful young prostitute woman, half-clothed body sway who entertains people with her dancing but she is not happy when she does so, but covers it up by smiling (Claude pg 123, 2004). In both the two scenarios, the stories show the exposure of the nakedness of the women that makes the stories to look somehow similar.
In Bernard Malamud’s the prison, he suggests that for a person to be fully a man they should accept the limitations that are most painful (Bernard pg 142 2013). He further states that those that escape the limitations are only able to achieve self-negating kind of freedom that is illusionary as they come out as less responsible human beings. He states that life is full of struggles and only the ability to overcome this struggles will make one successful. In William Zinsser’s right to fail he talks of a person’s right to take risks and chances. He further states that it is not wrong to make mistakes .so that one can be successful it is required that they fail a number of times so that they can discover their weaknesses and strengths. The writer underlines the reasons why people should not be afraid of failure since most people want to be successful they should know that even if they fail there is always room for doing a different thing. Both writers acknowledge the fact that there are challenges in life that can cause someone to make mistakes. They both suggest that the ability to overcome these challenges or deal with these mistakes accordingly will make someone successful.
Works Cited
Baraceros Henry “English for a Better World. The Right to Fail by William Zinsser. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Mar. 2013.
Malamud, Benard . “Bernard Malamud.” Fantastic Fiction. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Mar. 2013. <http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/m/bernard-malamud/>.
McKay, Claude . “The Harlem Dancer, by Claude McKay.” Poetry Archive | Poems. N.p., 2004 Web. 11 Mar. 2013. <http://www.poetry-archive.com/m/the_harlem_dancer.html>.
Gina Prince-Blythewoods The Secret Life of Bees is a film based on a novel by Sue Monk Kidd.
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The Secret Life of Bees
Gina Prince-Blythewood’s “The Secret Life of Bees” is a film based on a novel by Sue Monk Kidd. A little white girl, Lily, escapes from his father T. Ray’s oppressive rules and seeks her dead mother’s past. Soon, she arrives at the Boatwright sisters’ pink house in Tiburon. The Boatwright sisters, August, May, and June, have set up a company called, Black Madonna Honey. Being the head of the company and the eldest sisters, August, insists on keeping Lily in the house and soon guides her into her family. I believe that this film is socially relevant since August functions as a queen bee and uses authority and care to help Lily find internal peace, which shows the importance of a leader in a society.
The Boatwright family members are linked by their unique religion, forming a closed correlated community. In the film, the family and their neighbors believe in the Black Madonna of Breznichar. It is an unusual belief in which they set up their own relic and sacred tools. August’s stories become the religion’s gospel. They perform it in their own way by singing and speaking to one another. Every follower participates in gospel telling, which tightly connects them. Through the religion, they have built a strong relationship with each other, making them seem like bees living in a packed structural hive. When Lily comes to this hive-like colony, she realizes that August is the center leading the whole community.
Being the leader of the Boatwright family, August uses her authority to unify her family. After the death of August’s parents, August becomes the eldest one in the family, with the responsibility of unifying the family. When August’s sister, June, objects Lily to stay in their house, August uses her powers to insist that Lily should stay. Additionally, she teaches her management skills as the head of the Black Madonna Honey company. In their religion, she is in charge of guiding the regular rituals and telling the stories. August’s duty of organizing the meetings makes her seem like the queen bee in a hive. Employing strong management skills, August unites each member into her small mutually-dependent society.
August uses her authority and love to help the lost girl, Lily. Although August knows Lily’s mother, Deborah, she does not immediately tell Lily about Deborah’s past. August gradually builds up friendship with Lily and waits until she is ready for the truth. Ultimately, Lily learns the truth about her mother from August. Later, August gives Lily Deborah’s belongings and shows her that she was once loved. As Lily learns that she is not an unwanted baby, she starts recovering and modifying her love towards her mother. August then consoles Lily and guides her to attain personal peace.
Lily ultimately becomes one of August’s family members and discovers the love the Boatwright family has for her. August’s role of a queen bee in this closed Black community helps Lily to overcome her past and pains. She thus recovers and works in the hive again. Similarly, human beings need to live in a community with leaders who love and help them, instead of leading lonely lives. One can thus continue to participate and work for the society.