Major Rights Issue
POL 120 American Government – Summer 2019- Paper Prompt 1 – Wed July 1st at 11:59pn All of these points must be covered in your paper. Submit in word of PDF, double spaced and submitted via Moodle on Wed July 1st 11:59pm. The approximate number of pages for each are listed after each point (good papers are usually at least 6 pages, but some topics will exceed this page length). I accept drafts and revisions until noon on the 5th via email.
1. Choose a major rights issue that is important to you (right to privacy, right to bear arms, free speech, racial equality, religious freedom, etc.) and discuss why it is important to be protected (1-2 paragraphs)
2. Discuss which Constitutional Amendment(s) this right is protected by (if it isn’t explicitly protected, why should it be)? (1/2pg – 1pg)
3. Does the United States’ Government adequately protect the citizens with this right (both in practice/laws, and reality/implementation)? Provide evidence of what has been, what is being done, or what should be done in the House/Senate, President/Bureaucracy and course. Defend your argument with evidence done through research. USE SUPREME COURT CASES, I like to see at least 3 major court cases (maybe more). What does the other side say about this right, how do they disagree with you? (4-5pgs)
4. Finally, do you believe that this right could be better protected in the “State of Nature” (Hobbes) or in our current version of American Government (Locke and Rousseau). Discuss all three. (1page)
When you are citing class materials, simply cite it as (Baker, 2015), if it comes from the PowerPoints or lecture. If you are citing our book use inline citations (Morone and Kersh, pg#, 2014) and add this to the
works cited: (Morone, J. A., & Kersh, R. (2016). By the People: Debating American Government (2nd Edition). New York: Oxfrod University Press.) You will use outside sources depending on your topic, so to properly cite them in MLA style (remember, Microsoft Word does this for you now). That means an inline citation (last name of the author, pg# if applicable, date), and a works cited page (last/first name of author, date, name of article, publication, URL). ALL YOUR WORK SHOULD BE CITED, if you fail to cite something, I will consider that plagiarism. You can use the sources from Wikipedia, but do not cite Wikipedia itself (that also is plagiarism). You should also cite only legitimate sources, do not use “Alternative Facts” from non-reputable sources.
