1. Ruth Gilmore proposes that racism will continue to persist in capitalism so long as white people are not a part of the narrative. As we know or have gotten to learn in this course, there is a clear correlation between being white (whiteness), racism, and capitalism and we associate being white with having privilege and more power. I think the way to fight against racism would be to tear down and rebuild the capitalist system, because racism was built into capitalism and many other sectors of this country.

2. The justice system creates new criminals through incarceration and criminalization. The prison system relies on categorizing individuals as criminals even after they have served time and have completely changed their lives once they are out of jail. Gilmore ties this back to slavery and how the criminal justice system was built and continues to oppress. I agree with Gilmore’s view and how she clarifies our countries continued history of oppression, continued cycles of criminalization and incarceration.

3. How I understood Prof. Gilmore’s idea of “liberation struggle” is that it is about fighting for an equal society by fighting against and condemning oppression. I think we must be open to learning and understand what the problems are and then organize to enforce change. We must support each other through our individual struggles and stand in solidarity with one another. All in all, in order to see change and make the world a better place for us today and the future, we all have to work together.

1. In the Wal-Mart v. Dukes case, the Supreme Court ruled that the class-action suit could not continue because the plaintiffs could not show that they had enough in common in order to consider it as a class-action (based on class-action requirements). The Supreme Court highlighted that the plaintiffs did not have enough proof to show that there was discrimination. Ultimately, the Court’s decision showed how important it is for groups to show commonality to confirm that there is fairness when it comes to class-action legal proceedings.

1. The court system protects individuals more than the elected branches of government does, in most cases. The court system sees to it that the laws are aligned with the constitutional principles, and it also has a system of checks and balances on the governments power. An example of this would be the Brown v. Board of Education. The court ruled against segregation in schools even though there was a lot of push back from elected officials.

2. I agree that the Supreme Court is an anti-democratic part of our government because of the reasons behind why judges are appointed instead of being elected like other positions in government. Judges being appointed certifies that the way they analyze the law is based on merit and not based on the pressure they may get from the public. Also, appointing a judge instead of electing one means there is a greater chance that the person is qualified and an expert to be able to do the job

1. P. Williams states that the war on terror is different from traditional wars. It is different because it is a fight against non-state terrorist groups, where as traditional wars require strategy. There is also a concern for prisoners or hostages and how they are considered and treated during these times.
2. The “Roving Wiretaps” of The Patriot Act violates the Fourth Amendment’s protecting against excessive and unnecessary search and seizures. The Rovering Wiretaps allows law enforcement to watch and listen in on conversations between their suspects and they do not have to specify what phone is being tapped.
3. “Sneak and Peek” warrants allows law enforcement to enter your property without notification. These types of warrants can be concerning because it could be argued that it violates a citizens Fourth Amendment right. I believe the “Sneak and Peek” warrant can be dangerous and put innocent lives at risk.

1. The Establishment Clause ensures that government does not favor any particular religion and The Lemon Test was put in place by the Supreme Court to assess laws and ensure that they do not favor or promote religion, and also monitors the governments involvement with religion.
2. Yes, the burning of the US flag is protected by the First Amendment. This law was the result from the Texas v. Johnson case. In the case, it was deemed that the burning of the US flag was a way for a citizen to express themselves, and this act prohibits the government to punish someone for burning the US flag just because someone or society does not agree with the act.
3. When someone says “I’m taking the Fifth,” they are exercising their right to not answer questions that could possibly incriminate them.

1. Describe the primary differences in the role of citizens in government, among the federal, confederation, and unitary systems.

• The different in the role of citizens in government is that in the federal systems, its citizens have rights and their own responsibilities in every layer of government. However, power is split between the central government as well as the regional authorities, and each have their own leaderships. The confederation systems, the people are loyal and will align with their state or region, but the decision-making is usually decentralized. The citizens of the unitary systems are engaged with the central government and the entities on the regional level receive their authority from it, with limited autonomy.

2. Briefly explain how you understand the system of division of power.

• The system of division of power is how authority is split up between the three branches (executive, legislative, and judicial). This division is set in place to avoid one entity from having too much power and dominating or potentially abusing its power. The point is for there to be checks and balances so all entities are held accountable.

3. How does the federal government shape the actions of state and local governments? Write your answer based on doing a bit of research on how the federal government has influenced the actions of NY state and local governments, during the COVID-19 pandemic.

• During the pandemic, New York’s state and local governments were influenced by the federal government through the CDC’s recommendations on how to “stay safe” and other agencies like it, there were policies put in place on traveling and getting vaccinated, and the biggest influence was funding and how and where it was being distributed.

1. Faction reminds me of the civil rights movement because of individuals coming together and who share a common goal and plan to execute a plan together to achieve that goal.

2. Based on Federalist No. 10, the source of wealth is dependent on a man’s intelligence and skill. As we know and see there are some people who are born into wealth, meaning their families are wealthy and their wealth is passed down to them and they have people/entities that manage their money to help continue to grow their wealth and that wealth will then be passed down from generation to generation. On the other hand, you have people who are not born into wealth and they continue the same cycle as their parents and the only way to break it is to do different and start your family off on a path to wealth. Unfortunately, this is a hard cycle to break but it doesn’t mean it can’t be done.

3. I do not agree with this explanation because I don’t believe how smart you are is what determines whether or not you are poor or rich. There are plenty of people who are wealthy, but aren’t intelligent and there are plenty of people who are not wealthy, but are extremely intelligent.

4. The core mission of the US government was to protect the faculties, who are the citizens who had acquired wealth. This doesn’t surprise me because this is something that our government continues to put first. If I think about how citizens are taxed every year and compare it to what their income is, its actually insane, We live in a world where the rich will continue to get richer off of the backs of the working class.

5. No, I am not surprised that the writer of Federalist #10 is not in favor of democracy because that would mean a shift or change in the social order. Having a democracy would give minorities and those who weren’t in the wealthy circles a little more power and they would vote for things that suited their lives, which meant this would have power away from the upper class and what they wanted or believed in.

1. The Constitution was written by the wealthy/upper class and it was the working class who were excluded and not allowed to participate in the process. The wealthy class consisted of merchants, manufacturers, land and slave owners and it was this group who took part in writing the Constitution because they were invited and had the means to travel to Philadelphia. They were made sure to have an invite in order to attend to defend what was important to them and to reinforce or encourage new policy (again that would benefit them). The working class would have the opposite experience and could not attend, even if invited, because they had to work and could not afford to take the time off.

2. I would say that the social class structure of the early United states society is the same as ours today, but of course there are slight differences. For example, what makes it similar is that the wealthy citizens of America is who has the most say. It is the upper class who can afford to fund politicians and policies that favor them and it is the upper class who have the flexibility and opportunity to attend conferences, organized meetings, can take time off to vote, and have access to resources that will explain (in depth) the different policies and what they mean. On the other hand, it is the working class who may not have the flexibility to do or access half of what the wealthy can. Now, that is different is that women can now vote and slavery has been abolished and regardless of the color of your skin, you are able to run for different positions in government. That doesn’t mean there aren’t challenges behind that because the powers and history of this government was not built with people of color in mind.

3. The people who wrote the constitution were afraid of democracy because they did not want to give up their position of power. Democracy would mean they wouldn’t have control over the policies and that would affect their socioeconomic and wealth status.

1. The statistic that shocked me the most was fact that workers/laborers have not and would not be paid for their actual value and contribution to the production of a good or service. It is disheartening but it makes sense in a capitalistic society. Someone has to lose in the situation and it so happens to be the “worker-bee.” If workers were paid what they were actually worth then the rich won’t continue to get rich and there wouldn’t be an incentive to be a business owner.
2. One implication that comes with living in a society where there are huge wealth inequalities are the educational opportunities. Families who are wealthy are able to send their children to better schools with more resources, smaller classes with a better teacher to student ratio, extracurricular activities and many other opportunities. Having huge wealth inequalities can impact society, peoples health and well-being and ability and access to a fair playing ground.