Thursday, Sept. 17, 2009
12:30 PM-2:30 PM
Newman Library Building, Rm 750
The American Government prides itself in being a democracy. We [the people] have a right to vote for others to represent us in Congress and the House of Representatives. We believe that we have the right to be tried fairly in a court of law, no matter what the issue happens to be. However, the debate is, do we [the citizens] actually get tried fairly in court? Do we have a right to be treated fairly? And what happens when an individual is manipulated? Carl Stanstrom (not sure how to spell his name) discussed the right that people have when they are selected to stand trial in a government court. According to the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, the Due Process Clause, explains that a judge cannot process a case if he will benefit from it financially in any way. All citizens have the right to be tried fairly in court without being manipulated.
Carl went on to talk about the choices we [the citizens] make when voting for political leaders. When it comes to voting, there should be no illegal use of persuasion. For example, if a senator passed a certain jurisdiction that benefited a group of people because they had give him or her money, then it would be considered an unethical bribe. Political leaders try to do this due to the high competition in the political world. There are also companies that practice the same idea. Carl gave an example of how Russia lost contracts with some business partners because their contracts are not trustworthy. As a result, Russia suffers. It seems as if, political leaders think that they can force citizens to vote for them because they have the authority over them, in terms of power and status. However, we do have the constitution on our side to see to it that we receive the justice we deserve.
I expected to hate this workshop since it dealt with politics. However, I found it very interesting. I actually learned about the Due Process Clause for the first time. I thought it was very interesting that judges could sometimes try to manipulate a case in court all for financial gain. We [the citizens] should be thankful to have a right to receive the justice we deserve. I would def. recommend this workshop to someone who is interested in politics or likes government in general. =]