Week 3 Blog

The speech given by Lyndon B. Johnson in 1965 was a milestone in history, and took place just a week after there was a deadly racial outburst surrounding the issue of voting. President Johnson spoke to the people and he stated that citizens are indeed citizens, regardless of race, and should all have the same rights and privileges as one another, as states the constitution. The deadly violent outburst wasn’t caused by just any random racist white Americans, it was caused by police officers who did not want to allow African Americans to travel in order to vote – they did not believe that African Americans held the right to vote and were going to do anything to stop it from happening.

President Johnson brought the attention to a bill that he would be sending into the legislature. The bill was to strike down any voting restrictions in all elections, federal, state, and local which have been used to deny African Americans the right to vote. The bill will provide for citizens to be registered by officials of the United States Government, if the state officials refuse to register them. Johnson stated that “It is wrong—deadly wrong—to deny any of your fellow Americans the right to vote in this country”, which is what was happening. Regardless of race, culture, and beliefs, those people are Americans and deserve to have the same rights and privileges as white Americans do.

Overall, President Johnson, who was a white American, was standing up for the rights of the African Americans and believed that they should get the right to vote, and that the U.S. Constitution indeed fits for them also, as long as they are American citizens, regardless of skin color, they are granted the same rights as others. You would think that if the entire nation saw that their president, a white man, was to stand up for the rights of African Americans, the rest of the nation would follow through with him in order to do their best to be a “good citizen”.

Week 3 blog

President Johnson is well known for the work he did a civil-rights advocate. One point that was not brought up in the first blog post that I found interesting was his mention that discrimination was an injustice to Americans who fight for our country. President Johnson said, “Our fathers believed that if this noble view of the rights of man was to flourish it must be rooted in democracy. This most basic right of all was the right to choose your own leaders. The history of this country in large measure is the history of expansion of the right to all of our people.” His words were so powerful because he wasn’t speaking to any one group of people, he was speaking to all people of our country—it is one of the privileges of living in the United States that we have a democracy, and that what we say as citizens is valued. To take that right away, or to weaken that right, based on race, religion or whatever reason is not what being an American about, and it is not what our soldiers fight to protect every day. President Johnson also said that, “The Constitution says that no person shall be kept from voting because of his race or his color”. He kept driving home the point that our country was not built off from the idea that it was ok to discriminate for any reason. Our Constitution was written so that we would be a fair country to live in, and that everyone would have equal rights. People leave there countries to come to ours for a new start every day, and President Johnson was reminding our country of what we were founded on.

Blog #3 Post 1

In March of 1965 President Lyndon Johnson made a historic speech immediately after the brutal assault on African Americans during a protest march to Montgomery. This speech addressed the problem of racial discrimination that our entire country faced. He made a good point that it was not just a problem for the south, or the north, or whites, or blacks, but a problem for the whole country. He said “we are met here tonight as Americans, not as Democrats or Republicans”, which is very similar to something we are hearing a lot today. It is interesting to see the problem of bipartisanship occurring in our history, and to see how they dealt with it then.
It is interesting how the President calls for all Americans to just follow the constitution, and to follow their oath to protect it. He points out the serious problem our country was encountering, ignoring people’s constitutional rights. I think that this is interesting because of how different mind set there was then. Now, the trend seems to want to change the constitution whenever we have a problem with it, instead of changing the outlook of the people.

1/25 Summary.

Overall, there have been many current events going on in the United States lately. One current event that is a major topic in a lot of people’s lives today is the shooting in Arizona on January 8^th. As noted by my group members, in order to be considered a “good citizen” one must contribute to society, get involved in some community activity, help out fellow citizens, and follow the rules that are set within the community. Jared Loughner, the person responsible for the tragic shooting, was not at all considered a good citizen, and was indeed in need of mental help, but was given a blind eye by everyone else. I personally think that if he had been paid more attention to and was given the help that he needed, it may have stopped any of this from happening. Like another member of my group stated, this is not the first time something has happened like this, Columbine and Virginia Tech are just two examples of troubled teens not getting then help they needed and it ending up in a tragic event.

Gun control is another topic that was brought up in the blogs by my group members this week. There is an ongoing debate about making stiffer rules and regulations regarding gun control. The government wants to make it harder to possess a gun, and have stiffer penalties regarding firearms. However, the gun that Loughner possessed was legally registered; more times than not when a gun is part of a crime, the gun is not registered. I personally do not have an opinion on the matter, but the Second Amendment gives United States citizens the right to bear arms – I think that if the government takes that right away they are just going against the amendments and taking away part of our citizenship.

As for our governor, Paul Lepage, the comments that he made about the NAACP were just downright rude and uncalled for. The level of professionalism in his comments was minimal, and he should not be speaking or behaving in such a manner when he is representing us as Maine citizens. The First Amendment gives him the freedom of speech, but I think for the sake of being a Governor, he would refrain from making such comments, regardless of his rights. If Lepage did not want to attend an event, all he had to do was say so, without the rude side remarks.

Blog # 2

I feel the shooting in Tucson was a very tragic event that people will never forget, especially all of the innocent bystanders at the mall that fatal day. A good citizen is somebody that isn't afraid to help another, or hold the door for an elderly person. These are just a few simple things that might pop into your find when describing what a good citizen. Overall, Jared Lee Loughner was not one to be known as a, "good citizen". As a 22 year old college drop out, Loughner clearly wasn't right in the head. His initial target was Gifford, but in the end he ended up wounding dozens of people. One major thing that will linger on for a while is the whole thing on gun control. There have been times where people are truly against guns, and then there are the ones that feel it’s important to have one so you can protect yourself and your family. However, this will be a constant fight on whether or not to ban the rights of guns.

As being a governor of Maine, LePage is under a microscope from not only himself or his family, but everybody else in the state. Everybody has their own opinion, but what was said offended a lot of people. People feel what was said was racist. He decided to say, "Kiss my butt" to the NAACP. As a role model to our citizens I feel that it was totally unnecessary and inappropriate. He is higher then that and needs to watch what he says.

Week 2 blog

The shooting in Tucson on 1/8 has a moral implication on the word “citizenship”. Being a good citizen, morally, means that you follow the rules, contribute to society, get involved in some sort of activity (which doesn’t necessarily mean you are out doing some sort of community service—even holding a door open for someone at the store would be considered being a good citizen—and getting involved in an activity can range from a sporting team to games nights with some friends). Jared Loughner, as described by his friends, was a happy, enthusiastic, and passionate young man—but something in him snapped and while it may be unclear exactly what caused this change in him, the whole world would agree that Jared seems to have lost his will to be a good citizen.

The comments made by Governor LePage are not only crossing the line of being morally a good citizen, but as he is involved with the government people are looking at the issue past a personal view point, and are instead turning into a political problem. As Governor, LePage is expected to be a leader for our state—what he says is not a personal opinion anymore because he has too many people watching and listening to him, which he knew when he accepted the position. While it is understandable that LePage is annoyed with the idea that people were beginning to hint at racism all because LePage did not want to attend the event, he still should have bit his tongue and tried to keep it professional. However, I do still believe Governor LePage is a good citizenship, and the work he is doing for our state should show that to everyone.

1/20/11

The shooting in Tuscan on the 8^th of January was truly tragic, and is not something that we will forget soon. One interesting thing that is coming up a lot in news and politics in regards to this tragedy is the subject of gun control. This incident was one of the few crimes that were actually committed with a legally registered firearm. This is relevant to citizenship because of our right as citizens to arm ourselves. This is going to be a big debate in our country over the next months because of the Tuscan tragedy. Many will be moving for stricter gun control.

The comments by Governor Lepage were rude and disappointing. As not only a professional, but the face of our state, he should be expected to handle himself in a more appropriate manner. That being said, I do agree with his point on the matter, even though I think he could’ve expressed in a better way. He would not allow himself to be bossed around be the NCAA, as he already had a scheduled event for Martin Luther King Jr Day.

Blog #2 1/19/11

As citizens, people have certain rights, and certain duties. Among those duties should seem to be helping fellow man, respecting one another and reporting any possible danger to society. However, people have become so disjointed that they no longer know what civility is or what it entails.

It is obvious that civility is a thing of the past, when a man, who is clearly in need of mental help, is not paid any attention. When a man can go on crazy rants and no one thinks that maybe he could become a danger to society. The recent Tucson shooting was not the first case of society turning a blind eye and forgetting their civil duties. Columbine and Virginia Tech are other examples of people who are mentally unhinged being allowed to carry out grievous acts against society when there were possible signs that such an atrocity might occur. Being civil is not just saying "good morning", or refraining from making snide remarks; it is caring about people and speaking out.

Recently, our governor, the governor of Maine, made a very negative statement, telling the NAACP to "kiss [his] butt". What a rude and unprofessional thing for the governor of all people to say, especially when it’s time for him to be professional. It only makes it worse that he is the governor. It is ignorant and hateful. Even if it wasn't the NAACP he was speaking to, which again only makes matters worse, his behavior is something that goes against being a good citizen. People have become so desensitized that they just don't care anymore and have become so selfish. There always has to be some ulterior motive. It’s disgusting how much people really don’t think before they open their mouths. There’s a line between freedom of speech and speaking so freely you come off offensive and ignorant.