The office of The Presidency Essay Example for Free

The office of The Presidency Essay Arguing for a strong, central figure of authority in the American President, Alexander Hamilton made his feelings quite explicit in Federalist No. 70 that duplicity in regards to the Presidency is an undesirable position. For Hamilton, history was replete with examples of shared responsibility or rule-by-partnership which provoked tragic results. The lesson of history, according to Hamilton, was to avoid creating any discrepancy in Presidential authority while simultaneously preventing the President in an American Constitutional democracy from becoming an autocrat. Although Hamilton leaves little room for second-guessing on the topic of a duplicitous leader, his reasoning admits that his ideas are based on an understanding of human nature: Wherever two or more persons are engaged in any common enterprise or pursuit, there is always danger of difference of opinion [ ] Whenever these happen, they lessen the respectability, weaken the authority, and distract the plans and operation of those whom they divide (Hamilton). This assertion, of course, begs the question as to whether or not leaders, even in a Constitutional democracy must be expected to rise, at least to some degree, above the mean average of human impulse. A counter-argument of sorts is presented in Madisons Federalist No. 51, which should be examined in tandem with Hamiltons assertions. Hamiltons ideas about human nature may be evident in the extant history of the United States. Presidential authority within the constitutional democracy of the United States has posed a continuous and evolving potential threat to the integrity of a government formed by the people for the people. Whether by the machinations and ambitions of the personally ambitious and influential, or by an endemic tendency for all social systems to unify and in doing so, centralize authority, a pattern of political and judicial evolution toward Presidential supremacy is evident in the political history of America. The mounting supremacy of Presidential authority in the United States presents a profound and complex challenge for the present generation and the determination of exactly where and how the Presidents authority can be checked will prove to be of great consequence for the future of not only domestic, but international, affairs. Hamiltons suggestion that a robust and energetic leader is a desirable consequence in a democracy: Energy in the Executive is a leading character in the definition of good government. It is essential to the protection of the community against foreign attacks; it is not less essential to the steady administration of the laws (Hamilton), the potential for the dangerous expansion (and possible supremacy) of Presidential authority exists within the original Constitution. The executive authority given the President led many of the original framers to express reticence regarding the development of a new monarch. Some modern political scientists believe that this is exactly what is taking place now and has been taking place over the course of US political history: we have changed our constitutional democracy into a political democracy[ ] substituted an unwritten for a written constitution and a government of laws for a government of men. This means that the principles of the American Revolution, as the foundation of our constitutional system, have been destroyed and that we have returned to the principles of the British system. (Patterson, 1947, p. ) Such a dire pronouncement may seem like hyperbole, however, several key points contribute to this rather scathing indictment. First, there is the issue of national unity, a fact which modern communications, transportations, educational and economic systems have made unavoidable. Since 1789 the movement toward national unity has developed far more rapidly. In this respect, we have only followed the law of the life of nations, beginning in isolation, passing through confederation, and ending in unity. (Patterson, 1947, p. 6) Unity heralds a sole leader, rather than a confedaration of leaders. Secondly, the two-party political system has allowed for the centralization of political power within the congress. The powers necessary for presidential supremacy had first to be centralized in the Congress before the control of the Congress by the President would give him national supremacy. The President has facilitated this movement by urging the Congress to seize power to enact his policies into law and by making appointments to the Supreme Court. (Patterson, 1947, p. 7) The movement toward unity entails the expansion of the federal bureaucracy, which in turn, enhances Presidential authority. The tremendous growth in the functions of the national government have necessarily multiplied executive agents by the hundreds of thousands. The President cannot perform this multiplicity of services without authority and without an army of subordinates. (Patterson, 1947, p. 77) These factors, plus the politicization of the ensuing civil and legislative offices, greatly enhance the scope of Presidential authority. The fact that the President has become our political executive is not exclusively a result of the development of political parties though without a party system, or a party in the totalitarian sense, there could be no political executive. (Patterson, 1947, p. 84) Perhaps one of the most critical and complex issues which faced the framers of the United States constitution was that of how to limit the government and associated governmental beuracacy while ensuring that the Federal government retained enough power and authority to interpret and enforce the constitution itself. As Madison remarks in the opening lines of his now-famous Federalist #51, there can be no more urgent an issue, nor one which so directly confronts both the self-interested nature of the individual, but the self-interested nature of government itself: to what expedient, then, shall we finally resort, for maintaining in practice the necessary partition of power among the several departments, as laid down in the Constitution? (Madison, 1788). The partition of power is a key phrase and contains within it the seeds of Madison answer to his own opening, rhetorical question. Madison offers a direct and seemingly mandatory vision of how the partition of power should be best accomplished: The only answer that[ ] by so contriving the interior structure of the government as that its several constituent parts may, by their mutual relations, be the means of keeping each other in their proper places (Madison, 1788). This conclusion is commonly referred to as the system of checks and balances upon which the democracy of the United States is founded. Madisons observations in Federalist #51 are frank and founded upon concerns that the basic self-interests of human-beings, coupled with the leviathan power of the State pose the continual potential for dictatorship and the subversion of the constitution itself. In this light, there is an almost exclamatory tone to Madisons writing and there is, without a doubt, a tone of warning in the following, famous passage: But the great security against a gradual concentration of the several powers in the same department, consists in giving to those who administer each department the necessary constitutional means and personal motives to resist encroachments of the others[ Ambition must be made to counteract ambition. The interest of the man must be connected with the constitutional rights of the place. (Madison, 1788) In Colonial times, no mistake would have been about just what kind of encroachments of others Madison meant to illustrate: the potential of personal ambition to trump the idealism of a democratic government founded upon principles of liberty and equality. Similarly, the idea of connecting the interests of the individual with constitutional principles is an exceedingly complex idea, but one which would have been explicit, in consequence, to the Colonial framers of the constitution. Madison means no less than: all citizens of a democracy must put the principles of that democracy, its traditions, its institutions, laws, and integrity above their personal ambitions and self-interests. The subtext of this, of course, is that all mens self-interests are ultimately best-served by a government which enables them to live free and which enables them to pursue their self-interests to a point of true liberty; however, the maintenence of the constitution and the democratic state, which are, in actuality, protections against the propensity of governments to turn oppressive and hostile, must be regarded as more essential, more important than the mere personal self-interests of those who serve in government. Against this summation, Hamiltons assertion that responsibility has two aspects becomes hat much more provocative: Responsibility is of two kinds to censure and to punishment. The first is the more important of the two, especially in an elective office. Man, in public trust, will much oftener act in such a manner as to render him unworthy of being any longer trusted, than in such a manner as to make him obnoxious to legal punishment (Hamilton). What Hamilton is saying is that the concentration of power and responsibility in the figure of the President leads to a greater amount of accountability in government. By contrast, Madison viewed the American people, as a whole, as being the firewall of the democratic traditions the President was theoretically bound to serve. However, the idea that individuals in high positions of power must function both as facilitators of the democracy but also as a check against the possible tyranny of the majority is also an idea which Madison sets forth in this paper which is quite a radical idea: Different interests necessarily exist in different classes of citizens. If a majority be united by a common interest, the rights of the minority will be insecure (Madison, 1788). In conclusion, Hamiltons Federalist #70 is one of the most important political documents associated with the framing of the US constitution and forms a remarkable counterpoint to Madisons thought. Both writings represent an attempt by the framers to pinpoint the points of danger and structural weakness in both the democratic form of government and the innate nature of the citizens who comprise that democracy.

Identity, Perception, Action and Choice in Contemporary and Traditional :: Philosophy Philosophical Essays

Identity, Perception, Action and Choice in Contemporary and Traditional "No-Self" Theories ABSTRACT: The ego is traditionally held to be synonymous with individual identity and autonomy, while the mind is widely held to be a necessary basis of cognition and volition, with responsibility following accordingly. However Buddhist epistemology, existential phenomenology and poststructuralism all hold the notion of an independent, subsisting, self-identical subject to be an illusion. This not only raises problems for our understanding of cognition (if the self is an illusion, then who does the perceiving and who is deluded) and volition (who initiates acts), as well as for the notion of responsibility (in the absence of an independently subsisting subject there appears to be no autonomous agent). For Buddhism, no-self theory raises serious problems for the doctrine of reincarnation (in the absence of a self, who is responsible for failing to overcome desires and attachments; furthermore, who gets reincarnated?). Arguing for such "no-self" theories, the paper attempts to demonstr ate how such difficulties can nevertheless be resolved. The self is traditionally held to be synonymous with individual identity and autonomy, while the mind, which is closely associated therewith, is widely held to be a necessary basis of cognition and volition, and the responsibility following therefrom. However Buddhism, Existential Phenomenology and Postsructuralism all point out that we have neither direct empirical experience of, nor sufficient justification for inferring, the existence of an independently subsisting self. Buddhists for instance point out that, careful attention to the empirical evidence reveals that all the experiences we have of human subjectivity per se may be characterized in terms of five skandhas or aggregates. These are 1) Form; understood as the Body, including the sense-organs, 2) Feelings and Sensations, 3) Perceptions, 4) Mental Formations (or volitional tendencies) including habits and dispositions etc., and 5) Six Consciousnesses, consisting of the consciousness or awareness of sensations emanating from each of the five senses, plus a consciousness of non-sensory or purely mental experiences. Noting the changing nature of each of these skandhas, they conclude that there is no adequate justification for the common inference that these constantly changing phenomena are changing appearances of a persistent, independently subsisting self or ego. Nor, as Phenomenologists and others have pointed out, do we experience a mind as such, — which much Western Philosophy regards, if not as synonymous with, then certainly essential to, individual identity and autonomy, — independent of the constantly changing sensations, perceptions, feelings, thoughts and ideas etc.

Lucent technology supply chain summary Essay

Lucent Technologies is a multinational telecommunication company which was spun off from AT&T in 1996. Before restructure, as an integrated telecommunications services and equipment company, AT&T had been primarily U. S. -centric market and more than half of income was generated by services in U. S. However, the restructure made Lucent focused on communications equipment globally. When Lucent expand into global market, its flagship product, the5ESS ® digital switch, was a market leader in worldwide telecommunication infrastructure equipment. While the 5ESS ® digital switch provided the company’s more competitive edge in global market. This custom configured, engineered-to-order product made only a portion of its assemblies could be built to stock. Moreover, 5ESS ® digital switch orders from Asian market had continued to grow rapidly, and Asia became an important part of Lucent’s business. U. S. -centric Supply Model Before Lucent’s independence from AT&T, it established some joint ventures in four Asian countries to meet the increasing telecommunication equipment demand in Asian market. But this marketing entry mode just provided access to these markets. Most manufacturing continued to be done in Oklahoma City. The Asian joint ventures only performed final assembly and testing. It was believed that Lucent would benefit from the cost saving from economies of scale in manufacturing in US. However, as tremendous demand growth and intense competition arose from these countries, the delivery costs and lead time became two critical issues in this industry. The long distance inhibited the instant response. Delay means market losing. What’s more, increasing local content by having locally purchased parts would lower the costs and made product more locally attractive. Asian-centric Supply Model After 1996, asset management, product lead time and supply chain efficiency became more and more important for this new independent manufacturing firm. The primary market shifted from U. S to Asian market required a redesign of the Asian supply chain. First of all, it took a â€Å"hub-and spoke† model. Taiwan was the hub of the Asian supply chain. Custom engineering and manufacturing of Asian orders would be manufactured in Taiwan rather than Oklahoma City, and Asian orders were placed with Taiwan rather than U. S. Low volume assemblies remained in U. S. Secondly, different supply modes (inshore or outsource) were decided by different product volumes. And then it used local components (direct procurement) and local suppliers (local procurement). Last but not least, it insisted a strict quality control. Products manufactured by Asian joint ventures had the same quality standards. There were also some barriers for the redesign of supply chain. For example, the new manufacturing center in Asian mean losing job in U. S. The transfer of production to joint venture may reduce Lucent’s profits. And also the sales organization worried about the sales decreased because of losing â€Å"Made in USA† label. All of these barriers were addressed when the benefits of redesigning outweighed the costs. The redesign decreased the lead time, and customer satisfactions had improved a lot. Meanwhile, Taiwan joint venture reengineered its factory to improve the productivity. The increasing productivity and decreasing costs means the firm became more profitable. Also, support of Asian joint ventures helped Lucent win more business in Asia, and the huge capacity of Asian joint ventures can support Lucent’ global customer demand. So the all improvement by redesigning the supply chain made Lucent more competitive in global market. Summary and Recommendations Despite its success in the later 1990s, new challenges have arisen. How to response the changing demand in this complex business environment and how to expand its capacity in other emerging markets? The internet and IT tools caused fundamental changes in business models and traditional customer-supplier relationships. Contract manufacturing company in Asian provides new opportunity for the firm to outsourcing its manufacturing and logistics responsibility. In my view, outsourcing its assembly and component is a better way for Lucent to cope with new challenge. Because 5ESS ® digital switch was reaching its mature period in the product life cycle, and the intensive competition and changing environment forced telecommunication industry to devoted more time to new product research and marketing strategy. In its initial stage, the core product is the key to success and the supply chain redesign facilitate its further success. But nowadays, the product life cycle is shortening and the industry is changing at ever-increasing rate. Lucent has to improve researching, marketing strategy and supply chain management at the same rate to cope with the changing market. In addition, Lucent can use merging and acquisition strategy to integrate available resources to expand its business. Questions for group As Lucent shift its main supply chain from U. S to Asian market, how to compete with domestic rivalry Cisco? As more and more local telecommunication company grew up, how to cope with fierce industry competition with local firms, and some multinational telecommunication firms now target at Asian market, how to compete with them in global market? Should Lucent insist its in-source strategy or use outsourcing for the future supply chain management? Because its flagship products had reached its mature period, is it necessary for Lucent to build a main R&D center in the emerging market like Cisco did?

The Story Of Metz - 746 Words

New replacement soldiers arrive at the camp outside of Metz after the battle at Verdun. Replacement Allen Hayes gets put in the experienced 4th platoon, because of his great achievements at boot camp. During his first day, he was lost, clueless, and afraid. His commanding officer of his platoon is Lt. Arthur. I have always loved the feel of an early morning. Back home I used to wake up early to go fishing with my dad. The blue sky with rays of oranges and yellows always soothed me. However, this morning had everything that I have always loved, but it had an ominous tone to it. It had rained the day before so the only noise that I kept hearing was the splashing of boots on the murky mud. Lt. Arthur ran over the objective of the mission†¦show more content†¦The next minute I felt a hand on my shoulder completely pulling me like a ragdoll back into the ditch. I could still hear the agony in the dead soldier’s voice. Then Larry exclaimed, â€Å"GET YOURSELF TOGETHER HAYES!† and began to listen to Lt. Arthur on what to do next. They were shooting at us from a small farmhouse to our northeast. All around us was as flat ground so we needed a diversion. Cover fire was ordered and we began to approach a bundle of trees near the farm house. Still recovering from the horror, I just witnessed, I ran for my life to a nearby tree where we were supposed to take cover. Some men around me dropped like flies while the Germans were shooting us like ducks at a carnival. My back perched against the bark I caught my breath. We could pick out three Germans in the house. Larry, right next to me, took out a grenade and hurled it into the house. It missed the window but exploded on the roof. This gave us time to approach the house. Just four of us entered the house while the rest stayed back and covered us. When we entered the first thing I saw was a cross perched on the wall of the living room, almost like the one my family has back home. We turned towards the stairs next to us and a German came barreling down the stair towards us, with his sharp silver bayonet. I evaded his attack only to trip and have him on top of me. Larry then fired a shot and all I could see was a very dark red. When I cleared the blood off myShow MoreRelatedAnalysis Of The Documentary To You It s A Reality 1671 Words   |  7 Pagesthe translated poster headline of the award winning observational war documentary Armadillo (Metz, 2010), a captivating film, shadowing a platoon of soldiers as they fought the Taliban in the Helmand province of southern Afghanistan. A controversial and sensitive topic, in which director and filmmaker Janus Metz endeavoured to depict the brutalising effects of war, with a character driven and emotional story embedded through out. 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