Thai vs U.S Constitution

The U.S constitution was written and signed by a group of men that wanted independence from Britain. The U.S Constitution starts off with the basic precepts of the English Governance along with an american twist of three branches of government that acts to check and balance each other. The Constitution sets out three distinct branches of the national government: The Executive (the President), The Legislative Branch (Congress), and the Judicial Branch (The Supreme Court). Then we also have the First Ten Amendments, known as the Bill of Rights that spells out the rights of individual citizens in contrast to the establishment of powers of the federal government. The U.S Constitution basically reflects our democratic beliefs. Whereas in Thailand, they also have similar beliefs to us, their constitution called “Rattha Thammanun Haeng Ratcha Anachak Thai,” which provides the basic set of laws in Thailand. Since Thailand has been under the rule of democratic government with the King as head of the state for more than 75 years, during which several constitutions were promulgated and amended. Until 2007, where the Thai Constitution was replaced by one written by a group of drafter appointed by the army-led Council of National Security.  The main objective of the new Constitution is to further promote and protect the rights and liberty of the people, encouraging people to participate in the administration of the country cross examining the powers, similar to the U.S Constitution. The major difference between the Thai Constitution is that the Thai King is still extremely protected in their Constitution, stating the King still has power among the people, stated in Section 8 (The King shall be enthroned in a position of revered worship and shall not be violated.

No person shall expose the King to any sort of accusation or action.) However it is limited by Section 3 stating (“The sovereign power belongs to the Thai people. The King as Head of the State shall exercise such power through the National Assembly, the Council of Ministers and the Courts in accordance with the provisions of this Constitution.”). The major major difference in the two is how the Thai Constitution also focus on religion unlike the U.S’s.

JOYCE LU G BAND 

US and CHILE constitution similarities and differences

The US and CHILE both have constitutions filled with many articles, sections, and chapters explaining the governments, peoples freedom, and much more. They also both talk about the freedoms of the people and both have a plan for the government. 

The US Constitution shows the plan for government. The Articles of the Constitution talk about the duties of the three main parts of government: the Executive Branch, the Legislative Branch, and the Judicial Branch.The articles also talk about the separate powers of the Federal and State government, and how to change the Constitution. The US constitution also has 27 amendments which are pretty much peoples rights and the laws.

The Chilean Constitution also has some what of amendments except they have 29 transitory provisions. One main difference from the US Constitution is that the Chilean Constitution focuses mainly on religion and how the Constitution, other laws, and policies protect religious freedom along with the government which protects religious freedom as well. 

BY: Rony Rud G-Band

United States and China Constitution

The Constitution is the highest law in the United States. The Constitution also provides the framework for the government of the United States. It creates things like the Presidency, the Congress, and the Supreme Court. Over time, more rights are added on which is also known as amendments. By listing these rights it is illegal for the government to violate those rights. As of today the United States has 27 amendments. The first ten are special because it's called the Bill of Rights. It guarantees individuals with civil rights. The Constitution was written in 1787 by the Framers. They were meeting at Philadelphia to come up with a new way of running the country. People including James Madison, Ben Franklin, and George Washington were there. There are 7 articles in the Constitution. The first three articles show the separation of powers and the four through six describe the rights and responsibilities of state government. Today to make an amendment, it needs to be pass through the Congress, on a two-thirds vote and then it goes to the states, and if three-quarters of the states pass the amendment, it is considered a part of the Constitution. All the amendments are important because it gives people many rights. The first amendment (freedom speech), 13th (abolished slavery), 14^th (make slaves part of the constitution), 15^th (any race can vote).  

The Constitution of the People's Republic of China was adopted by the 5th National People's Congress on December 4, 1982. It has been revised many times. The Constitution has five sections which are the preamble, general principles, fundamental rights and duties of citizens, structure of the state, the national flag and the emblems of the state. There are a total of 138 articles. The state Constitution provides a legal source for the changes in China's social and economic institutions and revises government structure. It creates a unitary multi-national state The Constitution places its main priority on development and the contributions of non-party groups that can play a central role in modernization. The Constitution also guarantees the freedom of religious worship as well as the "freedom not to believe in any religion".

The two Constitutions are similar because it is written to help the people. People want to have a voice and the Constitutions gave them a chance. Overtime the Constitutions can be change by adding or removing something because China’s Constitution was changed a few times and the United States Constitution added more amendments over times. 

Amy Zhang    G-Band

The Constitutions Of Turkey And The USA.. Similarities and Differences

The United States and Turkey have created documents describing fundamental rights for individuals of their respective countries. Similarities consists of free communication for all citizens from both countries, the presence of justice and tranquility to be served, and lastly, promoting general welfare. Differences are revealed between the two, especially dealing with the preamble.

The preamble revealed in the US constitution insinuates community bonding and building. "We the people, in order to form a more perfect union", demonstrates individuals working together and experiencing equal rights, while maintaining fairness in society. However, in Turkey, their preamble is not based on community building. Note the difference. Turkey's preamble is focused around nationalism. More directly, the Turkish Constitution represents a secular and democratic republic that derives its sovereignty from civilization. The sovereignty relies on the Turkish Nation, who delegates its exercise to an elected unicameral parliament known as the Turkish Grand National Assembly(TGNA). We, nevertheless, have a bicameral system.

General Welfare is utilized in order to look out for the well being of the people. The United States is always seeking immunity for the working class, fundamentally, shielding the public welfare. Turkey does the same by revealing their effort to enforce welfare and happiness for their citizens. Both constitutions indicate how it is a moral duty to ensure welfare. Therefore, this is a similarity between these two countries' constitutions.

Communication is essential in both countries. Imbedded in their constitutions, both countries assure the right to communicate without any limitations whatsoever. Freedom of speech is heavily stressed in both documents. Overall, both constitutions protect the rights of their respective individuals and provide immunity, not only to the individuals, but to their civilizations.

WRITTEN BY DIMITRIS VITALAKIS G BAND

US & Spain Constitutions

Every country has its own laws and policies concerning different things. The US Constitution reflects all the democratic beliefs and values that Americans hold. There are many constitutions in this world which are very similar to the one of the United States. Spain has a very different governmental system from the US, but their laws are almost identical. While reading and comparing the two constitutions, government was probably one of the very few differences that they have. United States has a democratic government, where the president is the head of the states and government, while Spain has a parliamentary and constitutional monarchy, where a king or a queen is the head of the state, and the president is the head of the government. The other minor differences in the two counties' constitutions were: that the US concerns less topics about immigration and aliens than Spain does; US allows death penalty in a few states, while Spain states that it can only be allowed in severe wartime; and that the US constitution was written in 1787, while the constitution of Spain was written in 1987, which is less than 30 years ago. As for similarities, there are many of them. In fact, there is so much, that it would take at least a few pages typed to list all of them. I think that the most important and most common similarities are that there can be no discrimination based on birth, race, sex, religion, opinion and any other condition; there has to be due process of law before incriminating a person; habeas corpus procedure must be followed when it is necessary; privacy is protected; there is freedom of speech and religion; citizens can participate in public affairs through representatives freely elected in earlier elections; education should be available to anyone; and that there must be something that gives you a right for medical protection. That's already a long, but definitely not everything. I think that even though, the government systems of the US and Spain are very different, their constitutions are very alike and maybe one was based on another. The two counties are safe to live in and people should feel very comfortable with their laws and live without any fears of being mistreated by the government.

By Caterina Arnautova G-Band

Sources:
http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/constitution_transcript.html
http://www.tribunalconstitucional.es/en/constitucion/Pages/ConstitucionIngles.aspx#I4

Election Results 2014

The claws are up between Rob Astorino and Andrew Cuomo. After finding out the winner, Astorino released a statement to CBS. His words were, "You saw what kind of race Andrew Cuomo ran, which was increasingly more vile and desperate.. He panicked and did some ugly things. At the end of the day, the voters are going to reject that". Clearly, Astorino is taking the loss harshly and is currently acting like a child. Astorino focuses on the negativity of Cuomo, rather than the potential brightness Cuomo may bring to the community. Rob Astorino is also accusing Cuomo of not being too active when it comes to enforcing new movies. Another statement he released is as follows, " There is no excuse for him nor us.., losing to the states in this nation. We were once number one, now we are basically 50th".  Cuomo is doing the best he possibly can. Seems like Astorino needs to accept his loss and look foward to the new plans that will come to life from Cuomo. Politics are not fair, but childish manners are unnecessary.

WRITTEN BY DIMITRIS VITALAKIS

Election Results 2014

How would the election affect the future government?

Since the Republicans have taken the seats of Democrats in North Carolina, Colorado, Iowa, West Virginia, Arkansas, Montana, and South Dakota. The democrats have finally lost their house seats to the Republicans encroachments. This would affect our government greatly because now the power is shifting from presidential democracy to Republicans in the state. Since 2006, Republicans haven't taken control of both Senate and the House of Representative, they will have to seek common ground with the president on issues like foreign in trade and tax changes. It would be hard to agree on ideas, because while the republicans are conservatives and the democrats are liberals. Recently, senators( mostly democrats) who voted for Obamacare wouldn't be a part of the new senate anymore. If the new Senate consists of mostly republicans now, then chances are, they will most likely overturn the Obamacare.  While Obama and the GOP are talking about cooperation and getting things done, they know they can’t escape the most important : immigrations reforms. The republicans believe that they should secure the boarder to stop the flow of narco-trafficking and gang violence. Republicans believe that immigration policies should be followed to ensure the safety of our citizens. Whereas, democrats believe that it is a fundamental rights for the US to provide unconditional aid and comfort to the citizens of other nations. They believe in open boarder, and providing legal forms of identification to foreign nations. With such drastic ideas, it will be really hard to have a strong government. 

Joyce Lu G

Election Results 2014

From this year's midterm election results, its easy to predict if the 'new' government is going to handle its essential job to sustain balance and improve economical and social stability in the country. Will it handle its job? The answer would be both yes and no. Yes, because any government would fight hard to maintain its own country in some type of stability. No, because we, the people of the United States, don't need 'some type' of stability. What we need is great improvements in the economical, educational, social, medical and other systems. This has a great possibility of not working out in the next few years, since the presidential Democracy has a high chance of loosing its power to the enormous amount of Republicans in the Senate. With different opinions on how a state or a country should be governed, will the two parties ever come to an agreement? For instance, how likely is it that the executive branch appointments and federal judges will be confirmed by the Senate if Obama's nominees are Democrats? Not likely at all. The Senate Republicans will wait until the nominee is of their own party, but that would be like waiting for a teacher to give you a 100 after you resisted to complete an assignment because you didn't like the topic. Outside of relationship of the parties in the States, the President and the 'new' Senate clearly have different opinions on whether our country should enter the expensive oversees war or not. If Obama does enter every war possible, chances are that our economy will go down. The Republicans think differently and they will try to get their word across to try to get involved in the conflict, which would cause constant debate and massive disagreement. There are many similar issues that the results of this election brought up, and people will continue talking about them until they see the 'new' government at work. We are hoping that the political parties' differences will not cause any disaster, and since the election is officially over, all we have left to do is watch how the government tries to handle its job.

By: Caterina Arnautova G-Band

Sources
http://news.yahoo.com/senate-control-top-prize-midterm-election-080423144--election.html 

Election Results 2014

The Mid-Elections of 2014 has come to end. The result of this changed the number of Republicans and Democrats in the Senate. The republicans gained 7 seats in the Senate causing commotion due to the fact that they have control of the House of Representative and now the Senate as well. This means, they take over all the committees, control the agenda on the floor and gain the ability to stop President Obama's appointments. It'll still be very hard to run the Senate, and the president can veto legislation if it does get to his desk. President Obama will veto some bills. Although President Obama has vetoed just two bills in six years, the fewest number of vetoes issued since President James Garfield’s in office but the President will most likely have a chance to veto any attempted total repeal of Obamacare and any other core programs he championed in the past six years.

Now that the Republicans have a big victory, things will change. The Republicans are the ones that can address the country’s problems; they can make people feel more secure in a world that has many things going on around the world such as the ISIS terrorist group but the Republicans can make people feel that the government is doing something to make the economy better for them. In the past the Republicans have dismantle some of Obama’s governmental moves such as the Obamacare. When the Republican Party moves to take over control of the Senate in January, there will be difficult times between Barack Obama and the Republicans because Obama is a Democrat. "Congress will pass some bills I cannot sign. I'm pretty sure I'll take some actions that some in Congress will not like." Obama said it in a press conference at Wednesday, this shows there will be a hard time for new laws to make between the Congress and the president. I am afraid the government will shut down again like last year due to Congress does not favor the Affordable Care Act.

Amy Zhang 

G-Band