(federalist)

There is such a thing as too much democracy. The freedom you speak of is very important to the constitution, which is why there is such a large system in place. We must assume that because some people will be evil, and that all humans will reach for power where they can get it, that all will do this. The constitution creates a government that divides government powers among different branches and people, so that not one person or group of people can have too many powers. The most powerful branch, the legislative branch, is divided even further. Each branch has power over one another to make sure that the constitution is adhered to and that individual rights are protected. This way, a tyrannical majority in a state or further sub-government will not control the whole country. And, if an unconstitutional law or policy is set in place by a state, the central government can regulate it.

The issue with constituency is addressed by the system of federalism. The city/county representatives know their constituents very well, and the state can then communicate with these lower government officials. This way, people still have a large say about what happens in their closest community.

(federalist)

The central government is divided into three branches: executive, legislative, and judicial. These branches are all elected or chosen in different ways by different people with different agendas so that a majority policy does not get forced on any single branch. The most powerful branch, the legislative branch, is even further divided into two sub-branches: the house and the senate. These divisions, paired with the checks and balances that they all have on one another, will keep tyrannical, unjust, and unconstitutional policies from reigning over our country. Does it not seem logical to have a strictly moderated system protect the rights of every citizen? A larger government does not have to mean less freedom. In fact, it can mean even more.

(federalist)

The constitution protects our freedom! Under the current articles, citizens of the United States are not protected from ourselves. People will ultimately do whatever it takes to get power; we must set up a system of government that protects from tyranny of the majority. If you knew everyone was behind you, would you not be tempted to abuse that majority to get yourself and your "party" ahead? In order to keep these majorities from infringing on the rights of minorities and the other citizens of the states, we must set up a system of divided power kept in under control by checks and balances over a large republic that majority factions will not control.

(federalist)

One might argue that the Constitution infringes on the rights that are enumerated in the Declaration of Independence and the Articles of Confederation. However, the current Articles are, in themselves, infringing on the rights that we want so badly to be protected. The government we have now does not protect citizens against the inevitable evils that will prevail in our government, for it is human nature to do whatever it takes to gain power, even at the expense of the values at our country's foundation. The intent is not to create a unitary government; we are creating a federation. Problems that have to do with smaller communities or states will be addressed in the states, but a central government of the country must preside over those governments so that majorities in the states do not tyrannically implement their policies over the entire nation. Humans will naturally create factionous majorities, for humans will gravitate towards power and there is power in majority. The government must be set up to control these majorities, and the constitution creates a federally divided government and a system of checks and balances to do just this. In order to really protect the american posterity's rights, we have to protect the posterity from itself; not every leader will be virtuous and just, but our government will.

Victims of racism don't get their feelings hurt because we acknowledge the truth that they have to live with every day. A poc is not going to go home sulking because "we talked about how I am negatively marginalized in society." Odds are that they wake up and go to bed directly experiencing that truth every single day. Us discussing that openly and recognizing that it is an issue is the first step to fixing it. There are people in this country that still believe that there is no such thing as systematic racism. In our state alone, the median income of black families is $17,000 below the median income of white families, and it is still $4,000 below the poverty line. 25% of our black population in MS makes below $10,000. That is not even livable, and that is a quarter of a population that makes up almost half of our state. I encourage you to go check out http://mississippi.edu/urc/downloads/africanamerican_economic.pdf

I agree. The jist that most people take out of history classes involving race is "white people wanted to keep their slaves so we could make money" and "the KKK is a racist group from the Civil Rights movement." We don't learn a lot about how it relates to today. We generally hear "and it still exists today," but we don't learn about how it has created social strata and uneven racial poverty distribution.

You are correct in saying that everyone in America is supposed to be equal. Key word being "supposed." We are all supposed to have the same opportunity to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, in our founders own words. Yet, in our own state, the median income distribution between black and white households has black households down by $17,000, with a graph grotesquely skewed towards the lowest income distribution for black families. Take some time and check out http://mississippi.edu/urc/downloads/africanamerican_economic.pdf ! It has a lot of interesting graphics and stats about our state that not a lot of people recognize. We can't fix the issues in less we learn about them. We can't resolve a problem if we don't know we have it, and we can't know we have it unless we learn about it.

No.

I think the only reason this opinion exists is because we have started talking more about racial history in school. For example, my mom went to school in Clarksdale, Mississippi. She was born in 1977. She learned that the Civil War was solely based on economics, and slavery was not a huge part of it. There are people in my [very] extended family that were members of the Daughters of the Confederacy. They were known for creating the “heritage, not hate!” slogan, and they went around spreading southern pride, rewriting textbooks, and banning books that made the south look bad. They had an after school incentive program called the Children of the Confederacy. Kids got rewarded for learning confederate “history,” and they took “patriotic” field trips to honor the confederacy. It is not as widespread as it was, but it still exists today. We talk about race in school because it is relevant.

Our school is majority minority and majority low-income. Yet, my AP/Honors classes have rarely had black kids or kids on free/reduced lunch, and that should be 50% of us, at least. If people don’t recognize the effects of systematic racism or learn about them in school, we don’t talk about race enough. Have you ever heard the saying, “The first step to fixing a problem is acknowledging that you have a problem”? We can’t fix the racial divisions and strata in our country unless we acknowledge it and learn about what causes it.