1. Name and describe the responsibilities of national, state and local government.
National, state, and local governments all have different responsibilities. Local rules over a town or a city creating laws (or ordinances) for that specific area that may differ from surrounding areas; however the local laws are overpowered by state laws. State laws again can differ from surrounding states but only their specific state. So Michigan can rule over Michigan, and any part of Michigan but it has no jurisdiction in Ohio. State government is overruled by national government, they have power over every state, city, town in the country, they are the highest government for the United States, they do not have jurisdiction in Canada or Mexico, only the US, but they can decide weather or not to go to war with another country, they have the final say in all court cases, their rule is the highest and cannot be topped.
2. How does the Michigan State government affect your life and that of your family? Be specific and explain how you are affected.
The state government affects my life by creating laws for me to abide by. Like for instance: if one of my family members had possession of illegal marijuana in my state they would be arrested and charged with possession, this is a state law because now in Washington and Colorado you are allowed to have it in your possession but in Michigan you can neither posses the drug its self or any drug paraphernalia or you will be arrested and charged. It would affect me because seeing that happen could possibly scare me away from doing drugs, but at the same time I have friends that have been arrested with possession and just got a slap on the wrist and a little probation, so that would give me the influence that its not so bad.
3. How does your local government affect your life and that of your family? Be specific and explain how you are affected
The local government affects my life by creating laws for me to abide by. Like for instance: if one of my family members were to get drunk and decide to take off all their clothes and make a snow angle, they would be arrested for public indecency; they would be taken to jail and tried in court. I would be affected by being embarrassed because more than likely my neighbors would have seen them and my neighbors happen to attend school here, so word would travel fast. Would probably have an affect on my life later when I get to the age where I can drink, I would be a lot more cautious of how much I consume, and I probably would drink when its snowy.
4. Describe the process by which the Health Care Bill became law. Is this a positive or negative process? Why? If negative, explain what would be a better process and why. If positive, explain why the best bill comes out of the process
The health care bill became a law by bribing members of congress so that they would pass the bill. It helped out the pharmaceutical and insurance industries. Also it helped out the state of Massachusetts by making the US tax payers pay for the people of Massachusetts. It’s a negative process because you end up with a really long bill with a bunch of words people don’t understand, so they just don’t read it. This makes it easier to lie about what’s in the bill. Also people like Kieran Ignani and Max Baucus spend millions of dollars on advertisements to destroy a bill if the bill doesn’t benefit the insurance and pharmaceutical industries. Which is why Obama didn’t have much of a choice but to include benefits for their industries, his bill would have died immediately if he hadn’t. I think a better process would be to start with simplifying bills. And you can present an outline and then fill in the details. Make it simple so it’s easy to understand, that way it is harder to twist your bill around, and that way people actually have a sense of what they are voting for. That way the bills get passed for what they are, not for who had the most convincing commercial.
5. How can citizens influence state and local public policy or governmental action? Be specific and provide examples from your life and/or current events.
Citizens can influence the government’s actions in multiple ways, we all vote, so we have a say in what we want. That is a start, we vote on who runs the different levels of government, we can vote people out of those elected offices. We can start a protest; in fact there is almost always a protest in Washington DC. We can take it to the court system, and then depending on the issue depends on how far it will go. People can bring issues up at public meetings at their city, town, or county, they will then take your issues and give them to the state, if they still aren’t resolved they go to congress and then to the constitution.
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