Social Foundations of Public Issues Essay -- Government Capital Punish

Social Foundations of Public Issues Capital punishment is a hot issue. On a popular news magazine television show documenting the count down to an inmate’s execution or pardon, it is life or death. In the latest Oscar nominated film about a framed man taking his few last breaths on death row while the audience and one faithful lawyer pull for his release, it is emotional magic. Written in the latest literature you were handed on the street advocating the exoneration of some freethinker the government wanted silent, it is American freedom. Capital punishment is a big issue because it is in every home in America and it is discussed in every political agenda. The sides have been drawn for decades, and every opinion and position will be praised as much as it will be despised. Because capital punishment is such a debated issue in the United States, an American politician must take a very logical position towards the subject while keeping very much in touch with the moral arguments involved. The position must con tain an easily followed argument that will not betray the former advocates of its decisions and sway any individual remotely near the fence. The most general key issue involved with capital punishment is whether or not it should be an option in the American judicial system. The array of key issues that lie under this range from states rights to moral law, with thousands of citizens piecing together their separate positions somewhere in between. The position most prosperous for a political candidate is one that rips away all previous conceptions and begins anew at answering this question: is capital punishment beneficial to the public of America? Then as this argument is formed it must address every preconceived m... ...pers.nber.org/papers/W5119> Paternoster, Raymond. â€Å"Myths and Misconceptions about the Death Penalty†. Sociology. 1999 Ross, Michael B. â€Å"The Execution of Innocence.† Peace Review Sep 1998: Vol. 10, Iss. 3. ProQuest. NYU, New York, NY. 22 Feb. 2004 Sourcebook of Criminal Justice Statistics. 2002. 14 Feb 2004. Subcommittee on Federal Death Penalty Cases, Committee on Defender Cases, and Judicial Conference of the United States. â€Å"Federal Death Penalty Cases: Recommendations Concerning the Cost and Quality of Defense Representation†. May 1998. 14 Feb 2004. University of Alaska Anchorage Justice Center. â€Å"The Death Penalty in the United States of America: Cruel, Unfair, Arbitrary, and Racially Biased?†. 1998-2000.

Essay About Politics

In Regeneration Pat Barker utilises the character of Burns as a way of presenting the extent to which the society have managed to damage the young soldiers. Burns is a fictional character used as an extreme case in Craiglockhart Hospital that presents the emotional destruction that all soldiers feel and further enhances the strain from society on Burns individually shown in the actions he uses to demonstrate a severe deterioration.It is clear that the war is continuously playing on the mind of Burns in this extract by the militaristic imagery he uses when describing, what to other members of society, would be simply a normal walk around. On the bus journey first of all he describes the rattle of branches on the bus windows as sounding like ‘machine-gun fire’, which depicts the constant reminder he faces of the front line. The reaction of Burns trying not to be caught ‘crying out’ having heard these sounds suggests just how stressful being reminded of war in any way can be.Throughout this extract Burns also shows the discontent he feels and the struggle he faces to do the simplest of tasks such as walking up a hill. Barker refers to Burns’ struggle as ‘climbing the hill between trees’. The clever use of ‘climbing’ suggests the physical struggle he faces but also draws parallel with the feeling of climbing in and out of trenches on the western front that he formally faced, therefore hints at the idea that being reintegrated into British society was as much a â€Å"war† as it was when fighting on the western front.Again Pat Barker manages to show Burns facing the mirrored difficulties of war when he is ‘slipping and stumbling’ in ‘his mud-encumbered boots’ just like if he was in the harsh conditions of war. However we know that actually the ‘ploughed field’ he was walking through was nowhere near as difficult to travel through as in the western front which high lights how he has got far worse since returning which could possibly be due to the added pressure of society that he has been unable to adapt to life back home.Another key indicator that displays the pressure that has affected the character of Burns is the physical strains he faces. He depicts the discomfort with human contact so he ‘tensed, not liking the contact’ which indicates the disconnection he feels from society. Barker also further illustrates the dissatisfaction with life in general with his very pessimistic reflection on the day at the beginning. Looking at his room window he envisaged a ‘blurred landscape’ and the ‘sky and hills’ dissolved ‘together in a wash of grey’.The ‘grey’ and ‘blurred’ landscape that would have realistically have held much greater detail in rural Scotland- where Craiglockhart was located- shows the insignificance of the surrounding world for these struggling soldiers. Th ese dull adjectives simply underline the feeling of being fed up that Burn would have felt having being withdrawn from war and now has understood that he no longer has much meaning in life due to the societal pressure forced upon him.The feeling of being fed up that Burns portrays is seen through his dislike for spending time with others in the ‘common room’. He describes the talk as ‘facetious tones’ describing how he does not care what people have to say as it does not wish to spend time socialising with others due to the domino effect that he feels alienated from society. The men appear to sit around the ‘common room’ and talk about ‘the war, the war, the war’ showing how annoyed he is that this is all people talk about.The repetition of ‘the’ shows that this was the single most important thing of the time and this has left Burns feeling annoyed that he would rather just disconnect himself from everyone instead of f eel pigeonholed to only talk about such a distressful topic. As Billy Prior mentions later on in the novel this club ‘will be the club to end all clubs’ whereas Burns clearly does not comply with this. Physical strain on him. Paranoid- everything is against him. Possibly signs of disconnection from society leaving him emotionless. Conclusion. Print bibliography and photocopy extract.

The Democratization Of American Christianity - 2101 Words

It is with his first few sentences that author, Nathan Hatch, lets the readers know about the scope and the reason for his book The Democratization of American Christianity. Nathan Hatch, who is currently the president of Wake Forest University in Wake Forest, NC and was previously the dean and provost at Notre Dame, states, â€Å"This book is about the cultural and religious history of the early American republic and the enduring structures of American Christianity. It argues both that the theme of democratization is central to understanding the development of American Christianity, and that the years of the early republic are the most crucial in revealing that process.† (3) The freedom and liberty that were experienced by people in America’s infancy bled into all aspects of life: government, family, and religion. It was this freedom that gave many in the church the boldness to either go and start churches, or serve as a leader in the church: things that were not a n option during their time in England. A great deal of church growth in early America can be attributed to this freedom and the conversion of the masses to the various denominations that were available to the early Americans, choices that they did not have while in England. In telling the story of the growth of Protestantism in America, Hatch regales the readers with stories and information about a fascinating time in the history of the American Protestantism. It was a time filled with such varied and uniqueShow MoreRelatedAmerican Christianity Democratized1027 Words   |  4 PagesHow was American Christianity democratized during this period, and how else was the United States democratized? 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