Civil Rights and Government Responsibility
The most memorable event of an expansion of civil rights liberties is the Civil Rights Act of 1964 that realigned race relations between the whites and African-Americans. The gains of the Act in the last fifty years cannot be underestimated, as it opened the social space on which black people could utilize to better their lives and make their impact in the growth of America (Fairclough, 2003). State Governments, especially the ones from the South that were very conservative
The Act legalized affirmative action that gave black people equal rights to employment with the whites. Through this move, many blacks became educated and empowered at a backdrop of increasing racial polarizations. The whites found themselves competing with the blacks for positions in companies and governments (ORESKES, 1989). The passing of punitive measures for authorities who carried out racial discrimination was a great milestone for the Act, as it meant that black people did have not only the constitutional backing but also an action based intervention on the infringement of the rights.
In the recent past, governments have become more balanced in the allocation of opportunities between whites and blacks. As a matter of fact, the situation has not been completely solved, but the gains are very vital in the racial narrative of the United States. Black people are relatively uneducated, poorer and disenfranchised. Subsequent governments have been allocating funds to redeem the situation of the black people, and the ObamaCare health policy will be touted as the epitome of black people protection and ensuring equal rights for all.
Another civil rights bill that had a similar impact as the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was the Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 that prohibited sexual discrimination in funding education programs. The bill allowed more women to get educated and ascend to positions of influence. It was a protectionist bill that cut across all facets of higher learning from the allocation of housing to health and insurance benefits ("Sex Discrimination", 2008).
Media Events and Opinion on Government
Several killings took place in 2015 of unarmed black people. Clips went viral on the internet regarding the treatment of black people by the police. These events culminated into the Black Lives Matter movement that has been on the push for reforms on the excessive use of force on black people. The movement has been in the rise for the last two years, since the killing of a young man, Michael Brown in Ferguson (Izadi, 2016).
Black people have grown disgruntled by the way the government has treated both cases. The police officers involved in the killings still run free. The demonstrations and civil actions by the Black Lives Matter movement is a sure sign that black people do not trust the government for their safety and protection. It would take very severe ideological reforms to convince black people that the government of America cares for their basic rights. It is important to note that before the killings, much approval had been given to the Obama regime on its treatment of fundamental rights.
The legal tussles between the US government and Apple Inc, the leading mobile company in the world regarding capitalization, on government access to information, has raised eyebrows on how the government spies its people. Proponents of the move by the FBI, a government agency, to gain access to personal information and communication through Apple's back end argue that it is essential for national security. However, opponents of the action believe that the government cannot be trusted with private information. Concerns have been on the rise that the government can misuse the information gathered from individuals.
People are concerned with their privacy. In an era when people live on the internet, and the rise of ‘IoT', or just the internet of things that aims to synchronize everything in the homestead to a technology set up, it becomes relevant for people to question the government on the amount of information it has access to. The debate on privacy borders on terrorism and national security, but analysts have said that there are millions of data terabytes, and it would take many hours for government agencies to spot a mole.
In the conclusion of Apple's case, the FBI said that they had found a solution to San Berahino's murder. However, many people think that it is just the start of conflicts on privacy. Not many days passed after the Apple and FBI event when Whatsapp, world's biggest Messenger Application, announced a full end-to-tend encryption that would make it impossible to access personal communication (Metz, 2016).
Democratic and Republican Party differences
The Democratic Party is liberal while the Republican is conservative. In the formulation of policies and governance, many people look at how the two parties have handled conflicts in the past (Stein, 2016). Democratic Party won big after the passage of the Civil Rights Act in 1964, as black people considered the party relatively dynamic and accommodative. Ethically speaking, the two approaches, liberal for Democratic Party and conservative for Republican guide the way the party leaders deal with economic and social issues.
For example, Democratic Party supports the mix of soft and hard power in foreign policy, while Republican favors an explicit use of force to push nations into submission. Empirical evidence shows the adverse effects of using forces, with examples such as Vietnam, Somalia, and Iraq after the September 11 attacks. The construction of foreign policy and the choice of the mix of power is an ethical issue because it affects people in foreign countries.
Republican Party favors a conservation of American culture and political constructs. In practice, it means that Republican is a pure capitalistic party that encourages innovation and accumulation of wealth, without much regard to the welfare of the poor people. During the last Republican term in office, George Bush, the president, allowed for a free market that went through the roof and brought down the world economy (Frankel, 2003). The control and management of economic policies go a long way to giving people financial security.
A free economy supports the growth of sectors but poses a challenge to small and medium enterprises that offer jobs to millions of people. The political influence that comes from the big companies can be destructive because they push for policies that save them from paying tax, or avoid paying tax all-together by use of tax havens and offshore banking like the recent Panama fiasco. In essence, Democratic Party follows a ‘herded' economy, where the policy managers look at the trickle-down effect of economic decisions the ordinary people. Every government has the mandate to protect its people, not just by ensuring that there is peace, but also by making sure that the poorest people have access to basic services.
References
Fairclough, A. (2003). BBC - History - Better Day Coming: Civil Rights in America in the 20th Century. Bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 14 May 2016, from http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/recent/civil_rights_america_05.shtml
Hern, A. (2016). Apple declares victory in battle with FBI, but the war continues. The Guardian. Retrieved 14 May 2016, from https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/mar/29/apple-victory-battle-fbi-but-war- continues-san-bernardino-iphone
Izadi, E. (2016). Black Lives Matter and America’s long history of resisting civil rights protesters. Washington Post. Retrieved 14 May 2016, from https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/04/19/black-lives-matters-and- americas-long-history-of-resisting-civil-rights-protesters/
Metz, C. (2016). Forget Apple vs. the FBI: WhatsApp Just Switched on Encryption for a Billion People. WIRED. Retrieved 14 May 2016, from http://www.wired.com/2016/04/forget- apple-vs-fbi-whatsapp-just-switched-encryption-billion-people/
ORESKES, M. (1989). Civil Rights Act Leaves Deep Mark On the American Political Landscape. Nytimes.com. Retrieved 14 May 2016, from http://www.nytimes.com/1989/07/02/us/civil-rights-act-leaves-deep-mark-on-the- american-political-landscape.html?pagewanted=all
Sex Discrimination. (2008). HHS.gov. Retrieved 14 May 2016, from http://www.hhs.gov/civil- rights/for-individuals/sex-discrimination/index.html
Stein, J. (2016). New study: highly educated Democrats are now way more liberal than the rest of the party. Vox. Retrieved 14 May 2016, from http://www.vox.com/2016/4/27/11511136/democratic-elite-age
Frankel, J. (2003). Republican and Democratic Presidents Have Switched Ec onomic Policies. Milken Institute Review, 5(1), 21.
