Hildebrand Government http://BaltimoreTeacher.com/Government/ A social studies teaching and learning portal. en-us 2006 David M. Hildebrand. Sun, 11 May 2008 21:56:37 EST What is Government? Government is an organized form of control and power. It is "centralization" of power. We must define government in terms of its basic purposes, and the structure of how power is shared.

Several considerations are important here:

  • Governments have always tried to centralize decision making. Because decisions must be made involving internal order, external security, and public works, governments emerged.
  • Governments have sought to control ("monopolize") the means of violence. Governments claim exclusive right over violence (war, punishment, etc.). This is done through law making, law enforcement, police action, etc.
EditorRSS@BaltimoreTeacher.com Fri, 29 Jun 2007 05:04:13 EST http://BaltimoreTeacher.com/government/index.cfm?bid=1 http://BaltimoreTeacher.com/government/index.cfm?bid=1 Purpose of Government There are three basic purposes that government fulfills:
  1. Internal Order. Through law or the threat of coercion and punishment, governments keep order within a society, preventing people from doing "just anything they want to do." Without some sort of centralization of power, chaos would prevail. Example: at times of national emergency or disaster, when current government control and resources are stretched thin, a breakdown of order occurs. What happens next is violence, brutality and chaos. When Dr. King was assassinated in 1968, many urban centers experience rioting, looting and fires. This is the police function and includes also law.
  2. External Security. Governments coordinate organized defense of borders and security against outside threats (invasion, war, etc.). This can be as simple as building a wall to keep out barbarians, or a more complex type of defense involving armed forces.
  3. Public Works are projects that each of us cannot afford to carry out on our own (expense, time) but find it necessary to have for our own welfare. Examples might be a new road or bridge, a public park, or an elementary school. Public works are "infrastructure" that improve life for the whole community, and the expense is shared by all (taxes).
A fourth purpose of government has become more in focus in the modern age: to promote and control the economy. In a complex economic environment involving multiple webs of trade in a global environment, governments get increasingly involved in the economy of the society.

Throughout the course we will constantly evaluate how various government forms perform on these basic purposes. EditorRSS@BaltimoreTeacher.com Fri, 29 Jun 2007 06:30:15 EST http://BaltimoreTeacher.com/government/index.cfm?bid=2 http://BaltimoreTeacher.com/government/index.cfm?bid=2 Types of Government There are many different types of government, which can be arranged along a continuum based on who rules.

Autocracy is government by one person, probably "theoretical" or ideal type because one person usually finds it hard to rule without the help of others (can you be everywhere, at all times? no!)— so autocrats must rule with the help of others (counselors, ministers, bureaucrats and other officials).

There are numerous types of autocrats, including kings and queens (monarchy), tyrants, and dictators. The crucial difference is how power is passed on— if it is successfully passed on based on family/heredity, then it is a monarchy, no matter what the title is. Example: Dr. Francois Duvalier was "elected" through a corrupt election to the position of President of Haiti in the 1950s; after he consolidated power through manipulation, fear and murder, he was in effect a dictator. Upon death, he passed on his powers of office to his ineffectual son Jean-Claude, and while "Baby Doc" was not called King, that is what in affect he was.

Governments in which only one person rules can be "benevolent" where the ruler has the best interests of the people in mind, though this is rare. Autocracies tend to be unjust, if anything because there are so few people who share in power and decision making. "Absolute power corrupts absolutely."

Because there are fewer people involved in making decisions, autocracies tend to be highly efficient, as decisions can be made and executed swiftly.

At the other end of the spectrum is Democracy, in which theoretically all people rule over the affairs of government through participation. But again, this is only a possibility in theory, especially as the size of the population and the complexity of the issues increases. Democracy demands fair and equal participation from all, which is a practical impossibility.

Communities which are small can feature Direct Democracy in which all people can equally vote directly on issues small and large without any intermediate representatives (for example, New England Town Meetings), but these are rare, so the more common form is Indirect Democracy in which the people elect professional representatives to carry out their wishes.

Democracy features the highest levels of freedom, but they tend to be slow to act merely because they are so inclusive of participants.

Because Autocracy and Democracy are theoretical types, most governments fall somewhere in the middle of the continuum, with a few people sharing power— a form of government called Oligarchy. EditorRSS@BaltimoreTeacher.com Sat, 30 Jun 2007 11:11:56 EST http://BaltimoreTeacher.com/government/index.cfm?bid=3 http://BaltimoreTeacher.com/government/index.cfm?bid=3 Mayoral Candidates Here are the candidates for Mayor of Baltimore, and links to their websites:

Use these websites and any other available literature, sources (i.e., the Baltimore Mayoral Forum on 8/27 @ 7pm on WBAL-TV) to research candidate positions. Here's the grid form for you to use if you need a copy. EditorRSS@BaltimoreTeacher.com Mon, 27 Aug 2007 05:52:09 EST http://BaltimoreTeacher.com/government/index.cfm?bid=4 http://BaltimoreTeacher.com/government/index.cfm?bid=4 Crime Plan Which candidate will deal with the serious problem of Crime in Baltimore?
  • Keiffer Mitchell...has staked his candidacy for Mayor on the issue of Crime, and has pretty artfully tied it in with numerous other issues. Recently his attacks on Sheila Dixon have increasingly begin to "paint" her as a criminal herself—Dixon has had rumors and investigations into questionable unethical contracts and dealings with campaign contributors. You can review Mitchell's plan at his website HERE or download a PDF copy here
  • Sheila Dixon has tried to get out in front of this issue and has accused Mitchell of voting against a raise for police officers, though Mitchell has stated that he voted against this bill because it included other wasteful spending. One issue that is dogging Dixon now is the ineffective Leonard Hamm, who she appeared to not take out of office quick enough— currently their is an interim Police Chief (who would take a permanent job until after the election?). You can review Dixon's plan HERE. Dixon has not offered a printable copy of the plan, so I'm providing a PDF here.
  • Jill Carter's Crime Plan seems buried on her website. If you click around, you can find it HERE or download a PDF here
  • Andrey Bundley's plan is buried within his overall plan, and he has chosen not to make crime as big an issue as Mitchell or Dixon, instead making it part of a holistic "One Baltimore" plan. View it embedded within a PDF.
The other candidates (Kauffman, Shaeffer) don't really have any substantive positions stated on line. EditorRSS@BaltimoreTeacher.com Sun, 02 Sep 2007 07:10:31 EST http://BaltimoreTeacher.com/government/index.cfm?bid=5 http://BaltimoreTeacher.com/government/index.cfm?bid=5 Best Politician
City Councilman Keiffer Mitchell Jr.
Combining the words “best” and “politician” seems inimical to the conventional wisdom that most are self-seeking, power-hungry egotists. Yet even to the most jaded of journalists, there are politicos who appear, in a moment of ecstatic amnesia, to relegate self-interest to the back burner, and actually align their own ambitions with the needs of the people. That’s why we give this year’s nod to City Councilman Keiffer Mitchell Jr. (D-11th District). Though several members of the new Question P-formed council are starting to shake off that rubber-stamp stigma with worthy legislation and uncharacteristic outspokenness, Mitchell’s strident and unflinching insistence on independent vetting of the deal for a $305 million city-owned and -financed convention center hotel strikes us as the best recent example of a local politician applying common sense to an issue that could have used a little. Even though Mitchell’s committee proposal was waylaid by procedure (not enough council members showed up to vote it out of committee), and, we intuit, City Hall, Mitchell deserves credit for standing up in the face of union pressure, mayoral ambitions, and the general intellectual inertia of an overtaxed civic body.
Source: CityPaper ONLINE

See also: Other City Paper articles relating to Mitchell. Also, City Paper has praise for Mitchell's "Take Back the Streets" initiative: HERE. As we get closer to the election, and the media issues endorsements, we can imagine which way the City Paper will go. EditorRSS@BaltimoreTeacher.com Sun, 02 Sep 2007 08:06:31 EST http://BaltimoreTeacher.com/government/index.cfm?bid=6 http://BaltimoreTeacher.com/government/index.cfm?bid=6 Sheila Dixon City Paper: First, a search result listing for all articles indexed on City Paper: HERE.

  • Of note an interview with Dixon after she became interim mayor.
  • Next, an excellent article detailing the state of campaign fundraising.
  • A 2004 article critical of Dixon's running of the City Council as a corrupt process. EditorRSS@BaltimoreTeacher.com Sun, 02 Sep 2007 08:28:47 EST http://BaltimoreTeacher.com/government/index.cfm?bid=7 http://BaltimoreTeacher.com/government/index.cfm?bid=7 Constitutional Ratification During the period following the Constitutional Convention, each state had to vote up or down on the question of allowing for the new Federal Government. The debate that was shaped has framed most of the significant political questions that Americans would ask and attempt to answer ever since:
    1. What should the role of government be in a republic? How much power should a government have? In what way can American government be limited?
    2. How does a government safeguard the rights of minority groups who disagree with the majority, while still allowing for the fact that a majority does have the right to rule in a democracy? What is the best structure for a government to protect against abuses by any particular part? What is the role of the executive branch, and how much power should it have? How can a judiciary correctly decide constitutional questions without becoming either the executive or the law making branch?
    3. How are citizens best prepared for being active within a representative democracy? What is the role of political parties in representing large segments of society?
    During this next phase of class we will examine the arguments of the Federalist and Antifederalist positions, and how these differences would lead to the development of political parties.     EditorRSS@BaltimoreTeacher.com Fri, 28 Sep 2007 06:24:52 EST http://BaltimoreTeacher.com/government/index.cfm?bid=8 http://BaltimoreTeacher.com/government/index.cfm?bid=8     Electoral College Here is a full copy of the completed homework, which has all of the bullet points from today's discussion. Remember, that what I am looking for is that you have basic knowledge of how it works, and that you have some ideas on the pros and cons. There is enough material to write books on this (and people have!); you'll do fine if you have a full page…

    Copy of the Document: GET IT HERE! EditorRSS@BaltimoreTeacher.com Thu, 08 Nov 2007 17:52:50 EST http://BaltimoreTeacher.com/government/index.cfm?bid=9 http://BaltimoreTeacher.com/government/index.cfm?bid=9