Californias Direct Means of Democracy Essay - 1336 Words

California is a democratic republic consisting of three branches of government. The first is the executive branch, i.e. the governor and a group of elected constitutional officers. Second is the judicial branch which consists of the Supreme Court of California and the various local courts. Officials are appointed by the Governor and ratified in the next general election. The third branch of government in California is the legislative branch. It is a bicameral body which includes California’s Senate and Assembly. The Assembly makes up the lower house of the California State Legislature and consists of eighty members, one representative from each county, who serve for up to three two year terms. There are forty state senators who are able†¦show more content†¦In 1910, California Progressive Party member Hiram Johnson ran for governor. â€Å"Restore absolute sovereignty to the people that we may yet live in a free republic† was his slogan. In years prior to the election Californians began to notice a trend in their state government. Californians were not being represented properly by the legislature (Kesler). This is a reflection of California at the time. The gold rush had brought massive amounts of people into the state. This led to an unprecedented opportunity for new business. The Southern Pacific Railroad among other big business infiltrated politics and corruption followed for decades. Law makers passed laws which benefited them. The Progressives sought to give the people greater say in making and dismantling legislation. In doing so the Legislative branch lost power. To accomplish their goal in 1911 they enacted the ballot measures in order for citizens to bypass legislature approval and have a measure placed on the ballot. An initiative is a proposal for a new law that allows any citizen or organization to gather a state defined amount of citizen signatures to qualify. Another ballot measure enacted by the Progressives is a popular eferendum. This allows citizens to create a ballot measure to repeal a specific legislative act by gaining a predetermined number of signatures. â€Å"Voters ratified these amendments in a special election of October 10, 1911† (Initiative Reform Institute). Since their enactment,Show MoreRelatedThe Current Realities Of Poverty And Homeliness1155 Words   |  5 Pagesexplains it, poverty did not trade one location for the other but instead affected both cities and suburbs as it grew. Second, given the much larger size of suburbia— its population is more than double that of cities—â€Å"keeping pace† on the poverty rate means that the suburban poor population expanded by a much greater margin than the poor population in cities (20). Poverty simply kept pace with the migration from the metropolitan core to the suburbs. The economic realities that creates the rise in povertyRead MoreWhat It Means To Be A Citizen1010 Words   |  5 PagesWhat does it mean to be a citizen? To the ancient Greeks, a private—uninformed—person was not considered complete, and they were â€Å"referred to as an idiÃ… tÄ“s† (Ginsberg et al. 9). Part of the reason why political opinions vary so far from person to person is in part due to the amount of political knowledge that each individual has. A person who stays informed on current political events weekly by reading newspaper articles will be able to understand our current government structure better than someoneRead MoreThe American Voting System1427 Words   |  6 PagesThe American voting system is one of the basic pillars of democracy in this country; American citizens benefit from having a direct relationship with their government and the people who serve the country within it. However, there is a major flaw that prevents the American votin g system from achieving its highest level of greatness: the Electoral College. The Electoral College refers to the process in which the President and Vice-President are elected and it assigns â€Å"electors† to each state basedRead MorePresidential Election Of 2000 : George W. Bush1516 Words   |  7 Pagesduring elections in American government. This is a misconstrued idea of the topic. The number of electoral votes is based on your states population which means states with higher population have the same percentage of higher votes however what this does do is leave out every voter that is in the minority in your state. Say during an election California’s population was to be split 47% vs. 53% the side with 53% would get 55 votes while 47% of the state’s vote wouldn’t matter. If the U.S. was based on theRead MoreCalifornia Proposition 131368 Words   |  6 PagesHow Does Proposition 13 Affect California’s Economy? In 1994, Money Magazine published an article that portrayed the way through which Proposition 13 ruined the economy of California. The article claimed that the snowballing effects of Proposition 13 led to the reduction in family incomes, the loss of around 600,000 jobs, and the recession in the 90s (Cashill, 2007). According to the article, the proposition had a huge impact on the poor performance of California’s economy. Reducing family incomesRead MoreCalifornia s Statutory Prohibit Marriage949 Words   |  4 PagesQUESTION PRESENTED 1) Whether California’s statutory prohibit marriage between two persons of the same sex violate the California Constitution by denying equal protection of laws to gay, bi-sexual, lesbians and transgender a right to marry, or by denying the right to privacy and freedom of expression? BRIEF ANSWER No. Because the Constitution was written for a man and a woman to marry based on religion and would be a direct violation of what we have been taught all of our lives. Such a profoundRead MoreHistory and Purpose of the US Constitution Essay1092 Words   |  5 Pagesas plays an important role in how American democracy and government works. The 13 original states were individual colonies before independence in 1777, they adopted a federalist system and for 13 years they were independent units under the Articles of Confederation. Under Article II of the Articles of Confederation, â€Å"each state retains its sovereignty, freedom and independence, and every Power, jurisdiction and right†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Lowi, 2007, pg. 22). As a direct result the states had retained too much powerRead MoreIs Too Much Initiative A Bad Thing?2238 Words   |  9 Pages Is Too Much Initiative A Bad Thing?: The Benefits of Using Direct Democracy at the State Level and How We Can Make It Better Sarah Millard June 2, 2015 POSC 171 Dr. Collingwoodâ€Æ' At what point do you pronounce democracy dead? Is it dead only if a totalitarian regime takes control, or could democracy be pronounced dead when it simply has become so watered-down that the public’s participation in political activity is merely tradition or purely for aesthetics? On August 8, 1911, theRead MorePresident of the United States and Civil Liberties Essay3182 Words   |  13 PagesWomens Suffrage -Gives women the power to vote - Amendment XXVI- Suffrage for 18-Year-Olds- Voting age moved to 18 2. Drawing upon your understanding of the essential functions of legislatures, as well as the basic characteristics of California’s State legislature, as presented in Matthew Jarvis’s chapter on the California State legislature in California Government in National Perspective, explain the most important similarities and differences between the U.S. Congress and the CaliforniaRead MoreDemocracy Derailed Essay2317 Words   |  10 PagesDemocracy Derailed looks at the initiative process, the effects of that process and asked the question, Is this a good way to make public policy? I feel that even though the process is not perfect it is a great way to allow the average citizen more power in policy making. The History Democracy Derailed begins with addressing the evolution of the initiative process. During the first twenty years in Plymouth Colonies, all adult men met to consider legislation. In 1715, Massachusetts had

Essay The Issue of World Manipulation to Change Opinions

The issue of word manipulation has always been around since the dawn of spoken language. It is caused by there being more than one word to pick from to describe one thing or situation. Some people have been interested in this topic because there are always new developments in the linguistics of common and uncommon tongue. Mostly scholars and public speakers are the ones who study how selective word choice can influence and change opinions on subjects because it can help them to obtain the reaction they are working towards in their speech or paper. One side that people may take is that controlling the word flow and decisively choosing words is a good thing and that it can separate different situations and atmospheres into the right place†¦show more content†¦The Effects of Sentence-Level Context, Prior Word Knowledge, and Need for Cognition on Information Processing of Technical Language In Print Ads is an article that covers a study of how assumed knowledge can effect people when coming to a conclusion or making a decision about something. The authors explain that not having prior knowledge to the specific field usage of certain vocabulary may dissuade a potential customer. When Reasoning is Wrong but Persuasive is an article that is disputing another, although the author agrees with it, there are key points in where he distinguishes the differences in what he claims is right and what the article claims as correct. He explains that just because something sounds good or impressive does not mean that it is okay to believe or that it is true. This would help with the view of wanting to cut down the available vocabulary. Views 1 and 3 are completely opposing one another. View 2 is a combination of the opposing sides. View 1 mainly wants to expand the common language vocabulary to include everyone in the knowledge of the thousands of words within a language. View 3 would like to cut out many of the words not a lot of people use in daily life to remove the n eed for them as they aren’t used. View 2 includes both sides, want to expand common knowledge vocabulary to useful words but also taking out a few here and there because they aren’t of high importance. Certain people from eachShow MoreRelatedSleep Donation By Karen Russel1166 Words   |  5 Pagesspeech or opinion often comes with a lack of comfort felt by one side of a situation. When thinking of the importance of speech and opinions, I realized that they are the foundation of this country. America values opinions and base their leadership off of such. The disappearance and silencing of these opinions would drastically change the nation. The novella Sleep Donation by Karen Russel parallels these issues, such as silencing and the shadowing of opinions, that are occurring in today s world. TheRead MoreDue To The Extensive Amount Of Harm That Photo Manipulation1731 Words   |  7 Pages Due to the extensive amount of harm that photo manipulation causes, it is an ethical issue. Digital photo manipulation in women causes widespread harm, long-lasting damage to women s self-esteem and other negative psychological thought processes. Research has also found that it causes a large number of eating disorders. It does this by making women chase the ideal, thin body image that is being portrayed in the different pictures and advertisements. There was a study done that examined both theRead MoreThe Media And Its Influence On Politics1643 Words   |  7 PagesIn a reasonable world we expect that all sources of media will gather different acts and situations and broadcast it fairly, and responsively. Each individual relies on the media in order to receive information daily. The question raised in this essay is â€Å"Has the media shown news accurately, fairly or even completely?† And â€Å"How has it brought down the economy†. Throughout this essay I will look in to the media and its influences that it has on politics, Its Government and the economy that surroundsRead MoreDiscussion of Whether Gattaca Portrays A Realistic View Of The Future And Gene Manipulation1532 Words   |  7 PagesFuture And Gene Manipulation Media. It controls a lot of what we think, what we believe and so changes our attitude and behaviour towards certain things. It has changed our thinking so much so that we believe almost anything and everything the media say and do. Without the media, life would not be as it is. Newspapers, magazines, television, internet, radio, the lot have very much altered our thinking. Lately, there have been many talks on the issues regarding genetic Read MoreIntroduction. In A Recent Article, New York Times Writer1653 Words   |  7 PagesS. economy. There are three criteria for a country to be considered as a currency manipulator, and China only follows one: â€Å"It must have a significant surplus with the United States.† This surplus is large at $350 billion, but with the rest of the world it’s only 2.4% of China’s GDP. Therefore, the majority of economists no longer consider China to be a currency manipulator. But in the past, China did fit this criteria. From 2000 to 2014, China suppressed its currency in order to increase the demandRead MoreLemmings of the Media Essay1205 Words   |  5 PagesWhen we acquire new knowledge, and interpret it within our minds, we begin to develop our own ideals and our own opinions. When we begin to put together each individuals ideals and opinions together in relation to politics we arrive to the concept of public opinion. Public opinion is peoples evaluations and understanding of politics in general and their views on specific political issues of the day. Being able to develop our own ideas and obtain our knowledge freely is a major part of what drivesRead MorePhotographic Truth in the Digital Era Essay774 Words   |  4 Pagesno less than 500 words): According to James Brooks, â€Å"the manipulation of meaning to assure an audience would destroy the reality of the work and debase the concept of communication.† The essay will examine how images are used nowadays in media to influence people’s opinions rather than only for artistic purposes. We are constantly surrounded by advertising. The main power of the images is prominent in advertising where experts change images so that they no longer reflect the truth leading toRead MoreThe Impact Of Media On American Society1640 Words   |  7 PagesWestern Civilization Since 1715 November 2, 2017 It is no mystery that 9/11 brought upon change in American society. The lasting effects of this unforgiving event, such as, the ongoing wars, the severity of immigration and deportation laws, and the increase in racial profiling, continues to disrupt American society. This brings up an important question: Why are these still lasting issues in our world today? The key answer to this question is simple: the media. Ever since 9/11, the media has hadRead MoreTackling Environmental Problems Today Is More Difficult997 Words   |  4 PagesWith the world forever changing politicians are chosen by the populace to make decisions based on the needs of the people. Current political gridlock in this nation has made it extremely difficult to pass legislation pertain to the economy, workforce and health. While these items are discussed daily by political pundits one issue that equally important is usually placed on the backburner due to political posturing the health of the planet. â€Å"Tacklin g environmental problems today is more difficultRead MoreIs Genetic Engineering Be A Rising Controversial Issue?1407 Words   |  6 PagesGenetic engineering has become a rising controversial issue in the world today because of its possible positive uses but further more its likely serious consequences and downsides. To understand the controversy we must first understand exactly what human genetic engineering is. Genetic engineering is the manipulation of the human genome to alter or get rid of undesirable genes; these include negative physical traits along with health related genetic problems such as disease and disability. Potentially

Children’s Play and the Playwork Environment free essay sample

The first assumption is that: children’s play is freely chosen, personally directed behaviour, motivated from within; through play, the child explores the world and her or his relationship with it, elaborating all the while a flexible range of responses to the challenges she or he encounters; by playing, the child learns and develops as an individual†. [Playwork Level 3 Penny Tassoni] There has been less focus on playing for playing sake and how this is fundamentally important for children so they have the choice to learn to take risks, to find things out for themselves and to have fun. Evolutionary playwork and reflective analytic Bob Hughes] Play and play opportunities can benefit the development of children in many ways. Children learn through social interaction. The correct play setting can provide limitless opportunities for development in a fun and safe environment. By allowing the children to be involved in as many aspects as possible of the running of the club, we can provide them with such opportunities. An example is allowing children to choose what games they play. This helps children to understand freedom of choice, the need for rules and respect for rules. It also encourages interaction with other children, play workers and the play environment. Children of different age groups and abilities require different forms of activities as they are at different stages development. Younger children between the ages of 5 and 8 tend to enjoy the attention of play workers more. They have reassurance that they are acting correctly and feel safer with some form of adult presence. Children of this age sometimes need a play cue or some coaxing or encouragement to interact with others. This social interaction is very important and provides the foundation skills necessary for concepts such as sharing, cooperation, loyalty and consideration for others. Older children require different forms of stimulation for development. For example, an older child playing on a swing does not need someone to push him or her, and this non requirement for assistance in turn makes the child feel more independent. It helps to build confidence which in turn aids self expression. A simple card game like pairs demonstrates how different age groups benefit from play differently. Pairs helps memory improvement through all age groups. The younger children benefit by mastering simple skills like possibilities and identifying shapes and numbers. Children aged between 9 and 11 would have mastered such skills and tend to play such a game more competitively. This encourages faster physical reactions and responding to the actions of others. Children aged between 12 and 15 tend to find this game very easy but can benefit by playing with younger children as they pass their knowledge and skills down. It teaches them to support younger ones and help in their development; it also helps the older child’s confidence, self-esteem and self-reliance. â€Å"Play should empower children, affirm and support their right to make choices, discover their own solution, to play and develop at their own pace and in their own way†. [Playwork Level 3 Penny Tassoni] We offer a large range of creative activities from painting, to music, to drama, because the children enjoy using their imagination to express their feelings and emotions. This helps them develop hand to eye coordination, motor and manipulative skills, locomotive skills and general coordination. The second assumption is that whereas children may play without encouragement or help, adults can, through the provision of an appropriate human and physical environment significantly enhance opportunities for the child play creatively and thus develop through play†. [Playwork level 3 Penny Tassoni] Children choose to play by themselves and some children need to be encouraged because they are learning to be independent. Having the children understands and identifies their emotions and showing others their feelings helps the child to identify other children emotions and reactions. This helps the child to become more confident and independent. So the children feel able to approach others and understand individual behaviour and feelings. E3 Describe the features of a child centred play environment â€Å"Play should offer the child opportunities to extend her or his exploration and understanding of the wider world and therefore physical, social and cultural settings beyond their immediate experience†. [Playwork level 3 Penny Tassoni] â€Å"Young children construct understandings of gender during the preschool years. They accurately apply common gender stereotypes to toys by the time they are three and readily predict their parents opinions about gender-typical and cross-gender play. This study involved 3- and 5-year-old children in identifying girl toys and boy toys. It also asked them to predict their parents reactions to their choices of gender-specific toys. These childrens parents were surveyed in an effort to describe their preferences about gender-specific toys and behaviours. Responses indicated that, in spite of evidence that many of these parents reject common gender stereotypes, their children predicted parents would consistently apply these stereotypes as reflected by their approval or disapproval of childrens choices to play with gender stereotyped or cross-gender toys. The mis-match between parents self-described beliefs and childrens perceptions of the messages they have received about genderized play are discussed†. [Early childhood education journal April 2007, Nancy Freeman] A child centred play environment is a place where children feel safe and can play without fear of other children and adults. It is a place where children can test themselves with new challenges, explore, experiment, take risks and find opportunities. The space should be colourful and friendly so the children feel comfortable to move around freely. The children have a place to display their art work and write their comments so they can express their feelings about their space and what they want in their setting, activities and new games. We move all the games and tables around the space to give the children more movement and change the feeling of the surroundings. We have outside space so the children can play different games like football, tennis and basket ball and we also have trees so the children can play hide and seek and play with the natural environment. We also have a garden so the children can learn about plants and insects and do some gardening. Having a play space specially designed for children, with disabled access and children friendly is very important because you want all the children to feel safe and meet all the children’s needs. The play space has toilets designed for children and disabled toilets so the children feel confident to go without an adult. Tables and chairs should be the right size so the children can reach everything. It can be dangerous if the child is using the wrong size table and chair because the child can fall off. The video games have to be in the right age range so the child would not be playing with games which have inappropriate content. Having colourful, specially designed equipment for the disabled children so they feel part of the group is also important. There should be non- toxic products so children can hold and feel different textiles and smells. Some children may put objects in their mouth so all the objects have to be stored appropriately. Cooking with the right tools and making sure all the children can eat the ingredients; we would make sure the children have a signed consent form for their special dietary needs. We also have a cooking list so the children can suggest what they want to cook in the future and decide what fruit they want. E4 Describe ways children are consulted and involved in planning the play environment At the start of the new term all the children and staff sit down with magazines and catalogues to make a shopping list of what the children want in their club. We use drawings; paintings and video interview the children so the child can explain what they feel about the club and what we need to improve the play environment. This is very good for funding applications because the sponsors can see what is needed and why, from the point of view of a child. The children help us fundraise because it is their club and we find they have more respect for the equipment because the children learn that it is very hard to raise money for equipment. We also find that parents can often have connections which can assist in fundraising. We like to involve children in funding because we feel it builds a stronger case for why we need the money and how we are going to spend the money on things the children want and not on things we think the children want. The children enjoy the responsibility of budgeting and spending of the money and it gives them empowerment. We find this way helps us buy the right equipment and find out the new trends in games and toys. The children cut out the things they want and write why we should buy it. We give the children a budget then the children make a list of what we can buy within the budget. The children can use catalogues and internet to find the best price before we purchase the goods. With the cooking the children make a list of what they would like to cook and what is in season, for example, we would make soup in the winter and ice cream in the summer. All the cooking has to have fruit or vegetables to meet our 5 fruit and vegetable needs. In the summer we have fun days, we make a list of all the activities and the children choose 5 from the list. The top 5 activities are put forward and we have an open booking day so the children choose what activities they want to do, for example, going cinema, and bowling, ice skating, swimming and camping. â€Å"Parents need to play an important role in early intervention services to have a significant effect on childrens developmental and social-emotional well-being. With some exceptions, the field of early intervention has failed to engage parents as active and primary mediators of the developmental services their children receive. This failure is incompatible both with the developmental theories on which early intervention services are based, as well as the substantially greater number of opportunities parents have to influence childrens learning and development compared with school personnel and intervention specialists. Furthermore, an increasing body of empirical evidence has identified parent involvement as a critical ingredient of effective developmental intervention. Theory and research findings demand that early intervention change practices related to parent involvement.

Was John D. Rockefeller A Robber Baron Essays - Rockefeller Family

Was John D. Rockefeller A Robber Baron? PART ONE - Issue #2: Was John D. Rockefeller a Robber Baron? A robber baron was someone who employed any means necessary to enrich themselves at the expense of their competitors. Did John D. Rockefeller fall into that category or was he one of the captains of industry, whose shrewd and innovative leadership brought order out of industrial chaos and generated great fortunes that enriched the public welfare through the workings of various philanthropic agencies that these leaders established? In the early 1860s Rockefeller was the founder of the Standard Oil Company, who came to epitomize both the success and excess of corporate capitalism. His company was based in northwestern Pennsylvania. A major question historians have disagreed on has been whether or not John D. Rockefeller was a so-called robber baron. Matthew Josephson agreed that Rockefeller was indeed a robber baron. In the book Taking Sides, He claims that Rockefeller was a deceptive and conspiratorial businessman, whose fortune was built by secret agreements and wrung concessions from Americas leading railroad companies (Taking Sides 25). When John D. Rockefeller merged with the railroad companies, he had gained control of a strategic transportation route that no other companies would be able to use. Rockefeller would then be able to force the hand on the railroads and was granted a rebate on his shipments of oil. This was a kind of secret agreement between the two industries. None of the competition knew what the rates were for the rebates or the rates that Rockefeller was paying the railroad. This made it hard for the competition to keep up with the Standard Oil Company. The consequences led to many oil companies getting bought out by Rockefeller secretly. All in all, 25 companies surrendered to Rockefellers relentless expansion, which was 20% of the oil industry in America. John D. Rockefeller and his comrades had stolen a long march on their 3 opponents, their tactics shaped themselves already as giant industrialists of the future conquering the pigmies. Josephson said, Entrenched at the narrows of the mighty river of petroleum, they could no more be dislodged than those other barons, who had planted their castles along the Rhine(Taking Sides 35). Ralph W. Hidey and Muriel E. Hidey disagreed with Josephson. In the book Taking Sides, They believe that John D. Rockefeller and his associates created and applied a system for operating a large integrated industrial enterprise, which was one of the earliest representatives of Big Business. He contributed to the development of American petroleum industry and through it to the growth of the economy. The Hideys believed that Rockefellers greatest contribution, beyond the concept of Standard Oil combination itself, was the persuasion of strong men to join the alliance and to work together effectively in its management. Oil policies went deep into the personalities and early experiences of Rockefeller and his colleagues. They had heightened uncertainty and speculation about their activities by their secrecy in building the alliance and by their evasive and legal testimony on the witness stand. There tended to be aroused antagonism because the very newness and size dominance, and efficiency of the combination. The antagonism also ran as far as the absorption of Rockefellers competitors in adversity and its search for the lowest possible railroad rates. The Standard Oil Company has done great work in the sense that oil refining has been simply reduced to a business and transportation. The Standard Oil Company brought a measure of order to a formerly confused industry. Anton Chaitkin agreed that John D. Rockefeller was indeed a robber baron of his time. In Treason of America, he disputes his argument by stating that in the 1860s Rockefeller ruthlessly consolidated oil refineries and oil-carrying railroads so as to create a giant trust known as Standard Oil. This trust controlled nearly all the oil in America. The monopolization of oil was very difficult to maintain for Rockefeller because many reformists were making allegations to right the wrongs of Standard Oil. Twice, the company was taken to the Supreme Court and dissolved. Rockefeller was vilified in the press and in popular literature as perhaps no other figure in American history has been vilified (Chiatkin 327). However, there appeared to be other reformers that came