Who has the power to declare war–the President or Congress?

I would like students in both my American Government and U.S. Constitution courses to consider what the Constitution says about the power to declare war. It seems that the document contains a great deal of ambiguity regarding this issue. I also want you to apply your understanding of the constitutional power to declare war to the conflict in Iraq. Was the decision to go into Iraq constitutionally legitimate? If so, on what grounds? If not, who should be held responsible for this constitutional breach?

Barack Obama versus Hillary Clinton

The Democratic primaries have been the most heated in a long time in large measure because you have two worthy opponents sparring against each other. Either one would make history as the first African American and first woman President respectively. Recently, the issue of race in America’s political culture has become a very important issue. Do you think race is as important or perhaps more important than gender in determining for whom people will vote?

Jena-6

On December 4, 2006, six black students from Jena High School in Jena, Louisiana were charged for the beating of a white student. The event followed months of racially charged activities, the most notable of which was when three white students hung nooses from a tree at the high school. So when the “Jena-6″ were charged with attempted murder, protests began and spread throughout the country.  It was argued that the charges were excessive and racially discriminatory. For some, the events in Jena have come to symbolize the continued racism that pervades the nation.

My questions for you, my students, are these: Do you think racism is as prevalent as it was a half century ago or even a generation ago? What are some possible solutions to the problem of race in America? Has there been improvement in race relations? If you can cite statistical evidence for your opinions, it would be very helpful.

The Gap between Rich and Poor

Recently, in Western Civilization II, I lectured on some of the deleterious effects of the early Industrial Revolution, one of which was to create miserable conditions for the working poor. The lecture quickly turned into a fruitful discussion on the seemingly ever-expanging gap between rich and poor in today’s America; the middle class finds it increasingly difficult to make ends meet, one student contended. The questions I have for my students are these: Do you believe that the rich are getting richer and the poor are getitng poorer? If so, what anecdotal and statistical evidence might you cite to support your claims?

Is Britney Spears Worse Than the Puritans?

In our U.S. History I course today we talked about the strict moral code the Puritans embraced. One of the students argued that they “pushed their views on others.” It was argued in class that the antithesis of Puritan sanctimony is Britney Spears who, it has been argued, is “a symbol of everything that’s wrong with American society.” Were the Puritans correct in attempting to adhere to this code or is the Britney Spears philosophy of “live and let live” more worthy of our admiration?

Mayan Human Sacrifices

The Mayans believed that the giving of blood to the Gods, especially the rain god Chac, would make these deities look upon society with favor. As a result, the practice of ripping the hearts out of human beings for sacrifice to the gods was a common activity in Mayan Civilization. The Spanish conquistadors, no strangers to brutality themselves, looked upon this practice with horror, when they arrived in the New World in the early sixteenth century. My question is this: Was the Mayan practice of human sacrifice simply an acceptable cultural phenomenon that demands respect or was it an unjust taking of human lives that reflected the “uncivilized” nature of this society as the Spanish saw it?

The Founding Fathers: Brilliant or Racist?

In this post, I want you to address whether you believe the Founding Fathers were brilliant men who had the interests of the nation and future generations in mind or racist slaveowners bent on advancing their self-interest when they crafted the U.S. Constitution. What do you think? You might want to assess the actions of George Washington and Thomas Jefferson in particular.

Virginia Tech Mass Killing

I would like students to consider the many facets of yesterday’s mass murder at Virginia Tech in which a college student, Cho Seung-Hui, murdered 32 people, the largest mass killing in American history. I think this event relates to the college population more than any other, though it affects all of us in some way.

Firstly, the most common question students have asked me in the last couple of days is how something like this could happen? What would motivate someone to do such a thing? What do you think?

Secondly, does the tragedy bring into sharper focus the gun control debate? Could this event have been prevented with stricter gun control laws? Indeed, this is what a few students argued in my American Government course today and it has become a matter of debate in Congress already.

Thirdly, can we place this horrible occurrence in a broader cultural context? What is it about American culture that might produce events such as these or at Columbine?

I would also like us to deal with an existential question: Was the man who committed these murders evil? More generally does evil in the world explain why terrible things happen?

Finally, a question to consider is how safe you feel at Tunxis Community College. Could something like what happened at Virginia Tech happen here in Farmington, Connecticut?

Please be sensitive to this issue as you post your responses. 

Global Warming

I am putting together a panel discussion to be held on Thursday, April 26th  from 1:00 to 3:00 pm in room 201 on the issue of global warming, which has commanded the attention of my American Government students of late. A consensus has emerged that global warming is taking place, humans are causing it, and that a state of urgency exists to do something about it. However, in the spirit of this weblog’s concept, I want respondents to approach the topic with an open mind. Just because there is in fact a consensus, it does not follow that we ought to blindly adhere to it. There was once something called the cold war consensus in which unanimity existed between liberals and conservatives to contain communism. That consensus led America into an ill-fated war in Vietnam because no real deliberation or discussion occurred in the 1950s and early 1960s. A consensus based on “scientific” analysis existed in the southern states in the 1850s that the brains of African Americans are smaller than their white counterparts. In the early 20th century a consensus emerged within the eugenics movement that immigrants and the poor were genetically inferior to others. My main point: a consensus is not always necessarily accurate and should be constantly revised and reassessed. After all, claiming the end of debate would never have given us Newton or Einstein. My questions are these: are humans in fact causing global warming, is this warming trend long lasting, what if anything ought to be done about it? Remember, we want to avoid the assertion that some scientists have made that “there is no more debate” on global warming. And those who disagree are merely politicizing the issue.

I have posted a few links for your convenience so that you can become more informed on the issue:  

http://www.realclimate.org/

http://epa.gov/climatechange/index.html

http://www.globalwarming.org/

http://www.fightglobalwarming.com/page.cfm?tagID=274

I have also posted on the “Video Presentations and Clips” page a rebuttal of Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth put together by the Competitive Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank. Please view the film first before watching the rebuttal. I would also encourage you to look at other critiques of Gore’s film, both supportive and critical.

Western Cultural Superiority

One of the key themes of my Western Civilization II course is the idea of Western cultural superiority. The idea is sometimes explored through an in-class discussion on the traditional Indian practice of sati, which consisted of the burning to death of women once they lost their husbands. In the nineteenth century, the British, who colonized India, outlawed the practice. Were the British correct in eliminating sutee? Did India have a right to preserve this cultural practice without an external force abolishing it?