Lesson 21
Look at the United States's concepts of democracy and individual rights, explain how developments in other nations affect the United States, and describe the role of the United States in International Organizations
In the last lesson you looked at a few International Organizations. NATO and the UN in particular. What role does the United States play in these organizations?
Remember when we talked about the Executive Branch and how it is made up of the President the Vice President and the Cabinet? Well one department in the Cabinet is the Department of State.
Part of what the Department of State does is manage foreign affairs. And the Secretary of State (the leader of the Department of State) has the job of informing the President about other countries. Our current Secretary of State is John Kerry:
Read about the Department of State here: http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/rls/dos/436.htm
Alright now that you've learned a little more about foreign policy, let's look deeper into how it works.
Do you remember when you learned about Economies ? I talked about Communism and Capitalism ? It can get a little confusing, because Communism can be an economic or a political system. And POLITICS is basically a discussion about how government should work. So economics and politics are kind of tied together. Because you can't run a government without goods and services, and ECONOMICS is all about goods and services.
So when I talk about Communism I'm talking about the ECONOMIC mentality that everything should be shared equally among the citizens of a country, and the POLITICAL Communism, where one political party controls the distribution of everything. That one party makes all the decisions and doesn't allow the people to vote. Why? Because Communism says that the individual doesn't matter. Things should be done for the good of the group.
Alright now that you've learned a little more about foreign policy, let's look deeper into how it works.
Do you remember when you learned about Economies ? I talked about Communism and Capitalism ? It can get a little confusing, because Communism can be an economic or a political system. And POLITICS is basically a discussion about how government should work. So economics and politics are kind of tied together. Because you can't run a government without goods and services, and ECONOMICS is all about goods and services.
So when I talk about Communism I'm talking about the ECONOMIC mentality that everything should be shared equally among the citizens of a country, and the POLITICAL Communism, where one political party controls the distribution of everything. That one party makes all the decisions and doesn't allow the people to vote. Why? Because Communism says that the individual doesn't matter. Things should be done for the good of the group.
What does this have to do with foreign policy ? Well different nations have different types of government. In the United States we tend to believe that democracy is the best form of government. The United States is a powerful country, but one country who is almost equally as powerful is China.
You might have heard the United States is pretty deep in debt. Guess who we owe most of that money to?
You might have heard the United States is pretty deep in debt. Guess who we owe most of that money to?
The United States currently owes China more than 1 TRILLION dollars. The United States has more than 16 Trillion dollars in debt, so China only owns approx. 1/16th of our debt, but that's still a lot of money. It's hard to fathom how much money a trillion dollars is.... this website tries to do that. If you were to start in the year 1 AD and spend $1 million dollars every day, you still wouldn't have spent 1 trillion dollars. If you're interested in looking more into the United States debt, look at this website.
Now let's get back to foreign policy...
So we can't really talk about foreign policy without talking about China. China is a communist country. They don't hold elections, and one party is in charge of the whole country. The government makes rules for it's people- there are certain things that you aren't allowed to talk about when you're in China.
In the past, the United States has hated Communism. Both the Vietnam and Korean Wars were started mostly because the United States didn't want Communism to spread. Now the United States depends on China, a communist country.
Now let's get back to foreign policy...
So we can't really talk about foreign policy without talking about China. China is a communist country. They don't hold elections, and one party is in charge of the whole country. The government makes rules for it's people- there are certain things that you aren't allowed to talk about when you're in China.
In the past, the United States has hated Communism. Both the Vietnam and Korean Wars were started mostly because the United States didn't want Communism to spread. Now the United States depends on China, a communist country.
The United States and China are connected in other ways too:
-China makes 80% of all toys sold in the United States
-The 1.35 Billion people that live in China use up resources like FUEL making it more scarce, and thus more valuable. Because more people want fuel, the prices goes up (supply and demand).
-Because labor is cheaper in China, many jobs are being moved to China. That affects the U.S. economy.
And these are only a few of the ways that China and the United States affect each other.
We've already talked about how the President has a lot to do with how our country interacts with other nations. Remember when we talked about implied, inherent, and expressed powers? You're going to use that knowledge to understand how the President uses foreign policy. The Constitution says the President is in charge of 'enforcing the laws'. That's an expressed power. It's written in the Constitution. The President can also appoint ambassadors to other nations. Again this is an expressed power.
The President has the power to make treaties. BUT the treaties have to be approved by the Senate (checks and balances). Again an expressed power because it's actually written in the Constitution.
INHERENT POWERS are considered 'powers are not specified in the Constitution, but needed to get the job done right'. This is an opinion. Remember when we talked about loose and strict Constructionists? Strict Constructionists would say, "Um, NO! If it's not written in the Constitution it shouldn't be legal" while Loose Constructionists would say, "Sure, it makes sense that he should have the power as the leader of our nation so he can do that if he wants"
The Constitution says that only CONGRESS (House of Representatives and Senate) has the power to declare war. In the last 50 years of our nation's history Congress has not declared war. Ever heard of the Korean War? The Vietnam War? Congress did not declare war. The President used his power to control the Armed Services and sent troops to those countries. This is an example of the President using a power that's not in the Constitution. Or an INHERENT power. The last time Congress declared war was World War II and that ended in 1945.
Declaring war isn't a really good example of an inherent power, because 'Declaring War' is written/expressed in the Constitution, but the power is given to Congress and not the President. The President has given himself that power and since no one has stopped him, he continues to do it. This is a pattern that has been going on with many presidents for many years.
The President has the power to make treaties. BUT the treaties have to be approved by the Senate (checks and balances). Again an expressed power because it's actually written in the Constitution.
INHERENT POWERS are considered 'powers are not specified in the Constitution, but needed to get the job done right'. This is an opinion. Remember when we talked about loose and strict Constructionists? Strict Constructionists would say, "Um, NO! If it's not written in the Constitution it shouldn't be legal" while Loose Constructionists would say, "Sure, it makes sense that he should have the power as the leader of our nation so he can do that if he wants"
The Constitution says that only CONGRESS (House of Representatives and Senate) has the power to declare war. In the last 50 years of our nation's history Congress has not declared war. Ever heard of the Korean War? The Vietnam War? Congress did not declare war. The President used his power to control the Armed Services and sent troops to those countries. This is an example of the President using a power that's not in the Constitution. Or an INHERENT power. The last time Congress declared war was World War II and that ended in 1945.
Declaring war isn't a really good example of an inherent power, because 'Declaring War' is written/expressed in the Constitution, but the power is given to Congress and not the President. The President has given himself that power and since no one has stopped him, he continues to do it. This is a pattern that has been going on with many presidents for many years.
Assignment 21
For the assignment I want you to take a quiz. The quiz is 4 questions and assesses what you would be like if you were in charge of a country and were faced with foreign policy problems. Take the quiz here.
Once you've taken the quiz answer these questions:
1. What result did you get?
2. What kind of answers did you choose, Peaceful? Aggressive? Cautious? What does this say about you and the future of your country?
3. Do you think you would have a good foreign policy if you were in charge of your own country? Why or why not?
4. How would your decisions on foreign policy affect the citizens of your country?
Now go to this website:
http://teacher.scholastic.com/scholasticnews/games_quizzes/electiongame/game.asp
This is an online game where you pretend you are the president and you pick your advisers and then explain your financial decisions to the press. After you go through each of the steps it will say 'Click here to see what the newspapers say'. Click there. You will be taken to a screen where they've created a newspaper showing some of the quotes you just typed. I want a copy of that newspaper uploaded below for the second part of the assignment. You can take a screen shot (Ctrl + Alt + PrtSc). Do not 'Save As' because it will save it as a webpage that I won't be able to open.
1. What result did you get?
2. What kind of answers did you choose, Peaceful? Aggressive? Cautious? What does this say about you and the future of your country?
3. Do you think you would have a good foreign policy if you were in charge of your own country? Why or why not?
4. How would your decisions on foreign policy affect the citizens of your country?
Now go to this website:
http://teacher.scholastic.com/scholasticnews/games_quizzes/electiongame/game.asp
This is an online game where you pretend you are the president and you pick your advisers and then explain your financial decisions to the press. After you go through each of the steps it will say 'Click here to see what the newspapers say'. Click there. You will be taken to a screen where they've created a newspaper showing some of the quotes you just typed. I want a copy of that newspaper uploaded below for the second part of the assignment. You can take a screen shot (Ctrl + Alt + PrtSc). Do not 'Save As' because it will save it as a webpage that I won't be able to open.
Standard 6 Objective 3: A. B, & C
Standard 6 Objective 2: A & B
Standard 6 Objective 2: A & B