The Supreme Court decided to end the big class-action lawsuit with the 1.5 million women who worked at Walmart. The women said Walmart treated them unfair, paying them less and not giving them promotions just because they were women. But the Court said the women’s case couldn’t be one big class-action lawsuit because they didn’t have enough “commonality” which is bizzar in my opinion. Commonality means that everyone in the group has to share the same problem and the same solution. The Court said since not all the women had the same exact experience or were treated the same way, they couldn’t all be part of one lawsuit. Also, the Court said that the women asked for money back pay and changes to the company’s rules, but the law says you have to separate those two kinds of claims. Because the women mixed these claims, the Court said their class wasn’t valid. So, the Court sent the case back and made it harder for the women to fight together. The judges thought it was too hard to find one answer that works for all the 1.5 million women since each person’s situation was different. This decision made it really tough for big groups to sue companies when the problems aren’t exactly the same for everyone.

1)The court system is better at protecting individual rights because judges are not elected by the public, so they don’t have to worry about popularity or pleasing voters. This allows them to make decisions based on the Constitution and laws, even if those decisions are unpopular. For example, the Supreme Court’s ruling in Brown v. Board of Education ended racial segregation in schools, protecting the rights of African American students despite strong opposition from many politicians and citizens at the time. Courts can focus on fairness and justice without political pressure, which helps protect the minority rights that elected officials might ignore to win votes.

2) I think the Supreme Court can seem anti-democratic because federal judges are appointed, not elected by the people. This means citizens don’t get to vote directly for them, so the Court might not always reflect the majority’s wishes. However, this system was designed to protect the country from “tyranny of the majority,”. The founders wanted judges to be independent and make fair decisions without political pressure or influence from popular opinion. Also, because the government system is often led by the wealthy and educated social class, appointing judges helps ensure stability and protects minority rights, even if that means some decisions aren’t always that popular.

1)In a federal system, citizens are involved with both the national and state governments. They vote for leaders and follow laws at both levels. In a confederation, the power mostly belongs to the states. Citizens focus more on their state governments because the national government doesn’t have much control. In a unitary system, almost all the power is with the national government. Local governments can do some things, but only if the central government allows it.

2)The division of power means splitting up responsibilities in the government so no one part becomes too powerful. In the U.S., power is divided between the national and state governments. It’s also split into three branches like one makes the laws, one enforces the laws, and one interprets the laws. This way, each part has its own job and they can keep each other in check.

3)During the covid pandemic, the federal government helped New York by giving money, health advice, and supplies like vaccines and tests. The CDC (which is Center for Disease Control and Prevention) gave safety guidelines that New York followed, like social distancing and mask rules . The federal government also sent funding to hospitals and schools to help them respond to the crisis. So even though New York made some of its own choices, the federal government had a big role in shaping how things were handled.

1)The concept of faction makes me think of different social groups or classes with competing interests. Similar to what we’ve seen in previous readings, factions are groups of people united by common goals or beliefs but who often conflict with other groups. These factions are usually like representing different economic or social classes, such as the rich versus the working class.

2) In Federalist #10, Madison says wealth (or private property) comes from the different talents and abilities which are called faculties,people have. Faculties means people’s skills, talents, or capacities that let them earn or own things. Because people have different abilities, some can get more property or wealth, while others don’t have as much and stay poor. This natural difference causes inequality in who owns property.

3)I think it makes some sense that people like have different talents that affect how much wealth they can get. But it doesn’t explain everything like how some people don’t have the same opportunities or face unfair rules that keep them poor. So, I think ability matters, but so do other things like luck, education, and social systems.

4)The main mission of the government, according to Madison, is to protect property and people’s rights to own things. This might surprise some people because today we often think the government’s job is to help everyone equally or provide services. But Madison’s focus was mostly on protecting the wealthy’s property, which shows how the government was designed to protect economic interests.

5)I’m not really surprised because Madison was worried that in a pure democracy, the majority and often poorer people, could take away property or power from the wealthy minority. He thought this could cause “factions” or groups to fight each other and create chaos. So he supported a republic where elected representatives make decisions, which he believed would protect the rights of property owners and control the influence of majority groups.

1)The Constitution was written by wealthy, upper class men so according to Reading 6.2, many of them owned property, government bonds, and had money invested in businesses. These men wanted to protect their own financial interests. The working class, including farmers, laborers, enslaved people, and poor white people, were left out and basically forgotten in the process. They didn’t have the right to vote, and their voices weren’t included in making the Constitution. In Reading 6.1, it explains that regular people had no say because the government was designed to benefit the elite and keep power in their hands which is unfair.

2)It is both similar and different. Back then, power and wealth were mostly in the hands of rich white men, and poor people had very few rights. Today, things mostly have changed, more people can vote and participate in politics, no matter their income, race, or gender. However, the class structure is still somewhat similar because wealthy people still have more influence over politics(an example of today could be Elon with Trump), just like the rich men who wrote the Constitution. Another example, big corporations and billionaires can donate huge amounts of money to campaigns and shape laws in their favor.

3)The writers of the Constitution were afraid of democracy because they didn’t trust regular people to make decisions. They worried that if poor people had too much power, they might vote to take wealth or land from the rich. In Reading 6.1, it says that the elite wanted to keep control and prevent “mob rule.” They created a system that made it hard for the majority (the working class) to have real power, even though it looked like a democracy. Their goal was to protect their own social class from any threats from below.

The part that kind of surpised me was that the top 1% of Americans own 40% to 50% of the counttrys wealth. Thats more than what the bottoms 90% of people have all together. I thought that was bizzar because it shows how unfair things really are. A lot of people work really hard, but just a few people have most of the money and power.

WHen theres that much inequality it causes alot of problems. Regular people dont have tthe same chances, and it can be really hard just to get by. It can also make people feel like no matter how hard they try, itll never be enough. I see tthis happening all the time. Like in retail jobs or fast food workers do so much, but they dont get apid a lot. But the owners of the company make tons of money without doing much like the workers. Thats how basically the rich stay rich.

So like M–C–M′ is a way to show how rich people (capitalists) keep staying rich and even get richer. Basically, it means they start with money (M), then they use that money to buy stuff (C), like tools, materials, and they also pay workers. Then they make something and sell it for more money (M′). The new money they get is more than what they started with, and that extra money is profit. But the workers don’t really get paid for all the value they create. Like, they work hard making stuff, but only get paid a small part, and the owner keeps the rest. That’s called surplus value. The whole point for the capitalist is not to buy stuff they need like food but to just keep making more money. That’s why they keep doing this over and over, M to C to M′ again and again. So that’s how they keep their money growing, by using workers and owning the stuff needed to make things. That’s why the rich stay rich and workers kind of stay stuck unless something changes.

1.

To make products, you need two main things: the tools and the people. The tools are called the means of production like fabric, a sewing machine, or scissors if you’re making a jacket. In capitalism these tools are usually owned by the company, not the workers. That matters because whoever owns the tools gets the money from selling the product. Then there’s labor, which is the work people do. So if someone is actually sewing the jacket together, that’s labor. Without the tools and the workers, you can’t make anything.

2.

According to the video, value comes from how much labor time it takes to make something under normal conditions. The more work it takes to make a product, the more valuable it is. For example like carving a chair from wood gives it more value than just the plain block of wood, because of the labor that was added. So it’s not the price tag or how popular something is value is about the work behind it.

3.

Labor is basically what creates value. The more labor like time and effort it takes to make something, the more value it has. For instance, if it takes someone 5 hours to make a handmade jacket, that labor time is what gives it value. Machines can change that by reducing labor time, which is why mass-produced items are usually cheaper they took less labor.

4.

Labor is the work you actually do, like typing or building something. Labor power is your ability to do that work your energy, skills, and body. The video basically explains that when you go to work, you’re not selling your labor directly you’re renting out your labor power for the day. That’s why food, rest, clothes, and shelter are all important they help maintain your labor power.

5.

Surplus value is the extra value workers create that they don’t get paid for. Let’s say it takes 4 hours of labor to cover the cost of food, rent, and clothes for a worker. But the worker stays at work for 8 hours. The other 4 hours of work they do is surplus value extra profit the boss keeps. This shows why Marx thought capitalism is unfair, because workers create more value than they get back, and that’s how business owners (capitalists) make profit.