California Southern University SS 1102SS Assignment 2

Review Questions – each question is worth 7.5 points

Complete and submit the following questions. They will include a series of content,
integration, and synthesis related to the reading assignments. Questions will cover the content of the
material and will require the learner to think critically and contextually
about the subject matter. Your responses
must be complete, using terminology and concepts presented in the primary
textbook as well as supplementary resources.

Be sure to write in complete sentences and use good grammar,
double-spacing, 12 point font, with one inch margins. Be sure to cite your resources and provide
the references using APA format.
Remember to reference all work cited or quoted by the text authors. You
should be doing this often in your responses.

Chapter 1 – Democracy as an Evolutionary Process (Read
Approaching Contemporary Issues in Democracy on page 12 to answer question 1)

1.
To protect the legitimacy of elections,
governments must protect against voter fraud.
What do you think should be the proper balance between ensuring limited
fraud in elections and allowing every eligible citizen the chance to vote?

2.
In April 2009, the Department of Homeland
Security issued a report titled “Right-wing Extremism: Current Economic and
Political Climate Fueling Resurgence in Radicalization and Recruitment.” The report suggested that acts of violence
could come from unnamed “right-wing extremists” concerned about illegal
immigration, abortion, increasing federal power, and restrictions on firearms. It singles out returning war veterans as
susceptible to recruitment. At what
point are people with divergent views from those holding power a danger to the
stability of the government rather than legitimate political opposition?

Chapter 2 – The Founding and the Constitution

3.
Have President Barack Obama’s initial policy
changes in the war on terror from the Bush administration policies “approached
democracy”? Have they traded a reduction
in security to achieve that goal?

4.
If the new national government had been more
successful in organizing the states, would the United States have been
successful under the Articles of Confederation?
Or was the redrafting process inevitable because the national government
would have tried to acquire more power?

5.
How would the U.S. government be different today
if just the Virginia or New Jersey plans had been wholly adopted?

6.
What role should the Constitution and The Bill
of Rights play during times of crisis?
How much of that determination should reflect the Constitution’s role in
earlier times of crisis? Should that
interpretation of rights under the Constitution depend on which political party
has been able to appoint the majority of the members of the Supreme Court?

Chapter 3 – Federalism

7.
In the Spring of 1970, protesting student on
college campuses around the nation sought to nullify the national government’s
war in Vietnam by “Striking” from classes and gathering to protest. Under what conditions do you think that
students, localities, and states should seek to nullify policies, and under
what conditions should succession be considered?

8.
In 1937, President Roosevelt believed the
Supreme Court was so out of tune politically with his policies, which had been
supported by the voters in the previous election, that he proposed to add
justices to that body to change its voting direction. With the Court’s voting majority now
reflecting the membership in 1987, more than two decades ago, under what
conditions should the Court be changed, and how?

9.