GPHC 2019-2020

What do the political philosophers Locke, Rousseau, and Hobbes have to say about why people form government?  What do they say about sovereignty, power, legitimacy, and interdependence? Do you agree with their theories?  How would YOU establish a government? Hobbes, in Leviathan: Or the Matter, Forme and Power of a Commonwealth, Ecclesiasticall and Civil , described the true “state of nature” as all individuals being naturally equal. He stated that in this state every person could do what they needed to do to survive. This free will resulted in chaos and disorder among people because in what Hobbes describes are the state of nature there were no laws nor anyone to enforce any type of rule. Hobbes said that it was necessary to create a form of supreme power to enforce rules on everyone to maintain peace. This ultimately led to his belief in absolute monarchy. Locke on the other hand believes differently. In Two Treatises of Government, Locke claimed that “ men are by n...

In 2019, President Trump was impeached by the House of Representatives, and last night he was  acquitted on both of the charges against him: Abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. The charges were based on (I believe) the claim that he corrupted the election process by lobbying the Ukranian government to investigate his rivals. During the trial, it got so heated at one point that Supreme Court Justice John Roberts, who was overseeing the proceedings, addressed both parties by saying: “I think it is appropriate for me to admonish both the House managers and the President’s counsel in equal terms to remember that they are addressing the world’s greatest deliberative body,” Roberts said. “One reason it has earned that title is because its members avoid speaking in a manner and using language that is not conducive to civil discourse.” The trial consisted of arguments from both sides, and then written questions from senators. This meant that there were less wit...

The impeachment proceedings have been extremely enlightening to me. Not because any of my perceptions about the president have changed, not because I'm surprised about what the president is accused of, and certainly not because my opinions on the government have changed. The process from start to finish has been grim reinforcement to my already held perceptions on the status of party politics and partisanism in this country, not to mention peach and mint are not flavors that mix remotely well. On a more serious note, this nation was built on the tenets of anti-authoritarianism, we pride ourselves on our ancestors defying a tyrant, we pride ourselves on our bill of rights, we pride ourselves on being a free country. Despite not being and never having been a truly free country, we oft parrot the freedoms provided for us by a few pieces of paper that are apparently supposed to be important. These documents also have checks in place meant to ensure that even the highest office in the l...

I want to start off my blog by talking about what impeachment is because I feel that so many people have the wrong idea. I have heard so many say, "he isn't impeached yet," which isn't really how this process works. As of this very moment, our current president has in fact been impeached but he has not been removed from office. Impeachment does not mean immediate removal from office which is something a lot of people think. The impeachment process is often very long and calls into account what the president at the time has done wrong and what the next move should be, it can be compared to a criminal proceeding, then the house will vote on whether they believe he should be impeached or not. In the current impeachment trial, the House majority voted to impeach. He is being voted, "on a charge of abusing his office and a charge of obstructing Congress." The main people we are watching in the trial (outside of Donald Trump) are the following: Mike Pence, the cur...

Before I explain where we are currently at in the impeachment process, I will go over what has happened to get us to this point. The main reason President Trump has found himself in this situation is because he was accused of trying to blackmail Ukraine's government into helping him. He wanted them to find potentially bad information about one of his main competitors, Joe Biden. He allegedly told the Ukrainian government that if they didn't do this for him he would withhold military aid from them. This military aid (400 million dollars) had already been approved by congress. The people who are leading the impeachment process, which is mainly democrats, view this as an abuse of power, which is why they are pursuing impeachment. The impeachment process is under way, as it has already been passed in the house of representatives. The next step is for it to go to the Senate, which is where the actual impact will take place. If the senate chooses to impeach President Trump, he will b...

The impeachment is big yikes. The impeachment, instead of uniting side to a moral ground has further polarized the political parties.Republicans who are so focused on a decentralized and less powerful government are now supporting something that will increase presidential power and prevent him from being held accountable for his actions.Trump has already done so many terrible things and still gotten off. It’s just one mess after another, and if he gets discharged this will once and for all prove that he can do whatever he wants and not face the consequences. This will set a terrible precedent for future presidents and further deteriorate the dignity of the office. The case seems so obvious and clear of the wrong doings on Trump’ behalf. The obstruction of justice and abuse of power is so blatant, it’s so ridiculous how Republicans still defend the president. The amount of effort being put in by Republicans to try their best to angle the conversation to defend Trump’s actions is repr...

Jack Gross GPHC 02/03/2020 This week on Wednesday the Senate will take their final vote on the articles of Impeachment that are facing President Trump. Odds are heavily in favor of the President as 20 Republicans would have to vote against Trump. Earlier in this process there were many times when things looked up for the Democratic party as they were almost able to call forth witnesses that would speak on the allegations of the abuse of power by the President. It is believed by some that that the witnesses were blocked from coming to testify because they had potentially damning evidence. However the efforts fell short by two Republican votes and the witnesses and new evidence were blocked from being brought forwards. This should all end on Wednesday when it is expected that President Trump will not be removed from office as the vote will be heavily in his favor. I am interested in seeing how this will affect the election later this year.