Final

THE GOVERNMENT FINAL

Mr. Ring: Fall 2008

Due: 12:01AM Sunday, December 21^st (attach or paste in email to davidjring@gmail.com)

OR

1:31PM Friday, December 19^th (hard copy)

Instructions:

Answer the following question using your knowledge of government and political organization in the United States. The question is comprehensive, so it is necessary to include information going back to the beginning of the year to completely answer. Use and citation of reference books and online resources is required (minimum of two hard sources; i.e. books, and two online sources [Wikipedia is acceptable, but be sure to also include the internal reference of the information provided at the bottom of the Wikipedia entry to receive full credit]).

BE SURE TO MAKE APPROPRIATE AND ACCURATE REFERENCES!!!

(I will accept any major format; MLA, APA, or Chicago, just be consistent)

Question:

What is the “Incorporation Doctrine” and how does the process reflect the fact that the US Constitution—and therefore the system of governance itself—were purposely designed as a “limited government”?

Expectations/Rubric:

Minimum Length: 800 words (about a full page word-processed document, single spaced);

References: at least four (two books, two online) properly cited;

Key concepts/terms that will help your grade: Lockean definition/purpose of democracy, republicanism, direct vs. indirect democracy, institutional dynamics, federalism (branches and levels), the US Constitution’s ratification history/narrative, legislative vs. executive dynamics, party eras, the campaign process, the ideological spectrum(s), judicial review/impact of Supreme Court decisions, the Bill of Rights, 14^th Amendment/Due Process Clause, & civil liberties/civil rights.

(The preceding is the original intellectual property of D. Ring; educators can email me about sharing such an awesome, awesome final.)

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While my professional life is spent making sure young'ns are growing into responsible free-thinking citizens; in my free time I enjoy listening to some of the best music around in order to keep myself grounded.

That being said; TTU Student Media has just opened up a can. KTXT is one of the few salves for we living in West Texas. If it doesn't come back, I'm afraid that there will be a sudden spike in flaming projectiles across the south plains.