Ideas on Government- What is the role of government?

1. Go to Political spectrum quiz
Take quiz. Post a comment on the blog summarizing the results of your quiz.
2. Go to liberal v conservative
Pick any four topics that are of interest to you. Read each competing view. On a piece of loose leaf write your own view of the topic. Explain your view and explain if you are liberal / conservative or somewhere in the middle. Each explanation should be about a paragraph or more in length.

Read Hurricane Irene: New Yorkers Prepare for Historic Storm post a comment of one paragraph ( about 5 sentences on the article). Your post should focus on the ideas of what is the role of government in this situation and how much blame should the government face if a Katrina type "government failure" happens. Also comment on how much personal responsibility should people have in a situation like this. Sign the posting with your full name.

The Nature of Mankind

The Nature of Mankind

Great political thinkers often look to answer the question of "what is the nature of mankind?" before they begin their thinking on what is the best way for a society to be governed.
Read What Makes Us Moral. On a separate piece of paper take notes on the each of the pages. Break down each page and list at least three bullets for each topic headline. Headlines are: pg 1 What makes us moral. pg 2 the Moral Ape pg 3. How we stay good. pg 4 Why we turn bad.

Threat Assessment

Foreign Policy Research

OBJECTIVE- You have been assigned to research and brief the President of the United States on a current threat to US security. Your group must prepare a 10 minute presentation designed to give the President the following information:

1. Historical perspective on the threat.

a. Include maps, statistics, satellite footage, charts and graphs explaining how the threat came to be, where it is located, and other background information you feel is necessary for the President to fully understand the threat.

2. Current Events-

a. Include an assessment of the current status of the threat. Examine and brief the President on at least three news stories that have occurred in the last three months.

b. include an video that you feel will help inform the President of the situation, ie: news reports, demonstrations, recreations etc....

3. Options- Research and brief the President on the various different options available to him on how to effectively deal with the threat.

Threats

1. Nuclear Weapons- who has them? When did they get them? How many do they have? What is our current relationship with the country? How stable is the country?

2. IRAN-

3. North Korea-

4. EMP-

5. Al Qaeda-

6. China-

7. Lone Wolf Scenario / Home Grown Terrorism

8. Cyber warfare-

A good site to look at is Greatest threat

Federal budget

After lecture and notes on the federal budget view
abcnews.news examines the history of the federal deficit
I. Go to http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget. click on explore the budget and see how your tax dollars are spent. Answer the follow questions:
1. In what area is most of our tax dollars spent?
2. What % is spent on social security?
a. What is social security? (research this before you answer)
3. What % is spent on highways & mass transit?
4. How much is spent on Defense?
5. What is Medicare?
a. what % of our budget does it consume?
6. What % is spent on college financial aid?
7. What % do we spend on international (foreign ) aid?
II. Read Hard Choices: Pres. Obama's 2012 budget.
In a paragraph describe what these hard choices are. Give specifics.

III. Go to National Budget Simulator -
attempt to balance the budget.
In a paragraph summarize your actions, problems, successes and possible implications of your new budget.