Con team nationals though packets

Did all colonists believe the ends justify the means.

According to the National Constitution Center, about 20% of the colonists were loyalists, and another 25% was neutral. This shows how colonists did not have a unified view of the revolution, and many likely disagreed with it for one reason or another.

New ammendment

Furthermore, the right to vote is being infringed upon through partisan gerrymandering. While radial gerrymandering was made illegal by the voting rights act, partisan gerrymandering is still allowed. In the 2019 case Rucho v common cause, the supreme court ruled that partisan gerrymandering was non-justicable by the court, which has allowed the use of gerrymandering to spread. I propose an amendment prohibiting partisan gerrymandering to reinvigorate the power of the vote.

Does the Constitution make change too hard

Passing an amendment was intended to be difficult, to prevent change, but still accomplishable if needed. In Federalist 43, Madison states that the amendment process in article V was intended to be difficult to prevent the process of amending the constitution from becoming too fluid, but still allowing for it to be possible. This is why ¾ of the states are required to ratify amendments.

Trump Whitewashing

Trump’s executive order 14253, titled restoring truth and sanity to American history. This executive order directed federal agencies to promote “patriotic” US narratives. This led to funding being restricted for the Smithsonian for racial exhibits, including the National museum of African American history and culture. 

What should be a federal holiday that isn’t

International Women’s day on March 8th is a federal holiday in 27 countries. International Women’s day was created to honor labor movements and suffragists who fought for women’s rights. We should adopt this as a federal holiday to honor those who fought for these precious rights like the right to vote. 

America as a powerhouse

The US is also backsliding as a democracy, leading to it losing its status as a model for the world. According to the Autocracy Index the US has slid 40% towards autocracy since President Trump's reelection. 

John Adams?

It is also worth noting that Adams saw upholding the rule of law as essential. Adams defended the British Soldiers involved in the Boston Massacre in order to ensure a fair trial and uphold the rule of law. He would likely be concerned with the erosion of the rule of law in cases like Trump v US. 

How can the federal government improve education

The federal government spends only 5 cents on Civic education for every 50 dollars spent on STEM. The government could place more funding in civic education to try and increase the resources teachers have to educate students(Source NPR).

How did we get education

In 1918, every state required elementary education. From 1910-1940 the high movement brought high school enrollment from 18% to 17% for 15-18 year olds.

AI and being informed

 It could also be directly mandated that AI media be tagged as such, something they have already done with sponsored media and advertisement as mandated by the FCC.

Social media and being informed

55% of twitter users say they regularly get their news from Twitter, which makes this stat around falsities even more concerning because of the number of people getting news from twitter

How did we get education

In 1918, every state required elementary education. From 1910-1940 the high movement brought high school enrollment from 18% to 17% for 15-18 year olds. 

How has education declined

In 2024, NAEP reading scores dropped to the lowest they had been since 1990. 32% of seniors taking the test scored below “basic” in reading. Part of the reason for this is shortened attention spans. Social media sites like TikTok and Instagram have shortened students' attention spans, causing longer texts to be more difficult and daunting compared to shorter ones. 

Can we ban lies

This could also be a dangerous precedent for allowing the government to determine truth vs falsity. It would be better to fund and promote fact checking websites like media bias fact check instead to allow the role of fact checking to remain in the hands of independent sources. 

Why Ebadi?

Ebadi wrote the original document for an anti-physical abuse law that passed in Iranian parliament in 2002, and has drafted laws that would align the right for women to divorce their husbands with sharia law.

Why democracy?

Additionally, Democracies have higher public health levels, such as lower infant mortality rates and increased life expectancy rates according to Stanford University.

What in the constitution allows backsliding

The constitution did not account for strong political parties. As explained by Madison in Federalist 51, the checks that each branch had on the other were meant to work as, “ambition counteracting ambition.” Essentially, it was assumed each branch would want power so it would check the others. However, party discipline erodes this balance between in a unified government, congress abandons its oversight function and allows the executive to go unchecked. An example of this is the Congress giving up its power of the purse to the executive.

Are we still democracy

While the US has been backsliding, I believe we can come back from this. For example, Poland had backslide after the law and justice party took over and began to erode the democratic protections. However, in 2023, a coalition led by Donald Tusk managed to win the election and is focused on reinstating democratic institutions. I believe our elections will allow us to oust an authoritarian leader and that we can work our way back up the democracy index.

Extra example of models of democracy

Liberal democracy is seen in America through the protection of individual rights like the rights in the first amendment such as freedom of speech and of religion, and in the second amendment's right to bear arms.

Iran War

President Trump threatened to destroy desalination plants in Iran, which is a war crime under the Geneva conventions.

US free and fair?

Rucho v Common cause in 2019 ruled that partisan gerrymandering is non justiciable. While racial gerrymandering was banned by the voting rights act, 82% of black voters vote blue, so partisan gerrymandering often lines up with racial gerrymandering. This prevents elections from being both free and fair.

Democracy Promotion

After the Cold War, the US helped set up democracies in countries like Serbia, Ukraine, and Georgia. They focused on funding organizations that promoted civil society, protected the rule of law, and helped with elections. Key organizations involved were the National Endowment for Democracy and USAID.

Affirmative Action

In Grutter v Bollinger, the court found the University of Michigan consideration of race in admissions to be constitutional because diversity was a holistic and “narrowly tailored” review that did not violate the first amendment. However, it was later overruled by SFFA v Harvard.

What unites us

I think that our founding Ideals can unite us. While people on opposite sides of the political spectrum may have conflicting ideas about what our ideals mean, many people do still place value in those ideals. Take liberty, for example. People who lean more left may place value in the right for women to get an abortion as determined in Roe vWade and later overturned in Dobbs v Jackson, whereas people who lean right place more importance on the second amendment right to bear arms.