The Progressive Era

When people talk about war in the United States, it can be traced back thousands and thousands of years, to before the United States was declared independent. If you think about some wars that the United States has won, you think of the Revolutionary War to grant our independence, the Spanish-American War, or even the Civil War, which ultimately preserved the United States as we know it. But if we look at some wars that the United States has participated in since 1945, how many have they actually won? The United States has fought in five major wars since then. These include them spending time in Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Kuwait. Besides the Gulf War in Kuwait, all these other wars can't be classified as a clear successful win. This to me, makes it clear that the United States can no longer win wars as they were once able to. So why are people who post anti-war posts and have websites not being shown to the public to show their thoughts?

 

To find these anti-war sources, it seems that a person would have to do some digging throughout the internet in order to find them. Two big sources that are used in the anti-war movement are Antiwar.com and The American Conservative. Both of these sites are big into posting news about certain wars that the main press are scared to talk about to the public. These kind of sites that are not shown in daily news are speaking the truth about what is really going on in the United States that the main media won't tell you. When looking at Antiwar, the site is devoted to the cause of non-interventionism and is read by libertarians, pacifists, leftists, "greens," and independents alike, as well as many on the Right who agree with our opposition to imperialism. They say that Antiwar.com is already fighting the next information war, and that they are dedicated to not letting leaders get away unopposed. The American Conservative has been around since 2002, and was created to reignite the conversation that conservatives ought to have engaged in since the end of the Cold War. Their vision is similar to Antiwars, and that they are trying to conserve what is great about America. 

I think everyone can agree when saying that no one in the United States wants to go to war, especially a nuclear one. A nuclear war would end in billions of people dying all over the world, and would provide no help to any cause. Countries like North Korea who have these super nuclear weapons need to be stopped. Although I do agree when saying that it would be very stupid to go to war with the North Koreans, but it terms of trying to stop them from ending the world, that might be something countries come together to fight for. No one wants to see another World War, because the aftermath it would bring would be catastrophic to the world. 

The History of the Television

 

The television has had such a massive effect on not only American, but society as a whole. Ever since the television was first produced in the mid 1900s, it has become very popular in all homes around the world, but especially the United States, with 98 percent of U.S. homes having at least one television set by the late 1990s. It has had a massive effect on how we socialize and what we talk about in conversation. Whether someone is watching traditional broadcast TV, cable TV, or streaming through the Internet or with DVDS and Blu-ray discs, television was brought to entertain and bring news to people all over the world. 

The first concept of television was created in 1927 by a 21 year old inventor named Philo Farnsworth. Farnsworth. His idea was of a system that could capture moving images in a form that could be coded onto radio waves and then transformed back into a picture on a screen. On September 7th, 1927, Farnsworth camera tube transmitted its first image, which was just a simple straight line. This line was transmitted to another room in his lab in San Francisco, and to his surprise, it worked! Pem Farnsworth, Farnsworth's wife, restated in 1985 that his assistants were stunned, and were quoted saying, "There you are - electronic television!". Later in the year 1928, this massive breakthrough would headline in tons of popular and important newspapers around the world. 

By 1948, television production began to grow tremendously. Specifically, in July of 1948, there were about 350,000 television sets in the United States alone. Most of these televisions were in cities scattered along the eastern coast, with more than half of them being in New York City. At the end of 1948, nearly 2 million television sets were in American homes. These television sets gave owners a variety of stations that they could tune in to. People could watch movies on NBC, along with newscasts on NCBS TV news, which is now CBS. The next big innovation in television was that RCA introduced the first ever color television set. Although it was not as popular as they thought, this really started what he known now as the "Golden Age" of television. It continued its growth into the 60s and 70s, with cable TV becoming more popular than ever due to the concept of pay-service-cable became a thing. In New York City, customers would be able to watch local basketball and hockey games right from their TV with cable. Later on networks that would be specifically designed by a cable system started to appear on the market.

New technologies would start to appear over the course of the next few years. in the 1980s. videocassette recorders became available, which would give viewers the chance to record and replay programs of their choosing. The number of cable networks grew massively in the 90s, with not only there being an increase in broadcast networks, but also direct-broadcast satellite television multiplied channels that viewers would be able to watch. Another big part in the television timeline was that the federal government gave each television broadcaster an additional channel which introduced high-definition television, or HDTV. 

Television has to be the most influential tool in all of history. It has given us the chance to watch some of the world's all-time moments. From the moon landing, to famous sporting events like the Olympics and World Cups and NBA finals, to many political moments, it has allowed us to expand our minds with information that we could not really get with just a book. It has allowed us to hear about news from all over the world, news that would be very hard to come by if we did not have it. We should all credit Philo Farnsworth for his work, because if not for him, we would not have most of the knowledge we have today. 

Eight Values of Free Expression

When speaking about freedom of expression, everyone in the U.S. can agree that it is one of the most important aspects of our country. With it being protected by the First Amendment of the Bill of Rights and the Constitution, it will be kept in the United States forever. Freedom of expression allows citizens the chance to grow as a person and real their potential. It allows us to have freedoms regarding religion, assembly, petition, and expression. With that being said, scholars have come up with different ideas and thoughts as to why freedom of expression is so important to us Americans today. Here are some of my personal favorite ideas, and why I think they are important in today's society.

Freedom of Speech is the right to express opinions without government restraint. It allows us to express ourselves through anything. Books, television, radio, art, you name it. Freedom of speech grants us the ability to be creative and artistic in our own interesting ways. This is one idea that author Jack Balkin gave us in his book "Living Originalism". Let's take an example of the Democratic Republic of Korea, or otherwise known as North Korea. The North Korean government has put such strict boundaries on virtually everything you can think of, including freedom of speech, religion, assembly, and petition. They have tons of human rights issues that you would never find in a country like the United States. Their government will go after you and kill you if you are disloyal to the leader or if you try to leave the country. They have strict boundaries on what you can wear and what you say. This makes it nearly impossible to live a normal life in the country. Where I'm getting at is this is merely the complete opposite of what Balkin was saying. He believes that with freedom of speech citizens would live a more fulfilling and energizing life. People in North Korea don't live an energizing life which is filled with enjoyment and relaxation. No, the people of North Korea have to suffer from the terrible ruling of Kim Jong-un and his socialist dictatorship. In my personal opinion, that's not how life should be lived. Life should be about doing whatever you want, trying new things, and having no stress no matter what you are trying to accomplish, and that's what freedom of expression allows us to do. 

No person should be able to speak freely about what they desire without having the freedom to do that in the first place. People should be able to complain and vote against what they believe to be wrong. In Alexander Meiklejohn's article "Free Speech and Its Relation to Self-Government", he talks about how free speech is important self-government. This kind of topic ties into the last paragraph, where free speech would create an energetic and creative society, and can act as a "check" on the power of government, since citizens are free to criticize it. This shows the idea that self-government is not possible when speech is censored. If citizens cannot question their government's actions, then the chances of the government wanting to serve the people go down. This idea also ties into another certain idea of free expression, Protect Dissent. This idea talks about having a right to disagree with the government, and that you should always try and criticize the government. 

    Freedom of expression is so important in today's world in the United States. If us citizens did not have freedom of speech in this country, we would be 50 or even 60 years in the past in terms of technology and human rights. The ability to speak about whatever you want and not get in trouble for it by the government is an unbelievable power we have. The ability as well to have freedom of religion, assembly, press, and petition along with that is incredible to have as a U.S. citizen.

The Supreme Court

 

    The Supreme Court of the United States is undoubtedly the most powerful court in the entire world. The Supreme Court has the power over all laws inside the United States. It also has the power to, if necessary, make sure the other two branches of government, the legislative and executive branches, are in check. The Supreme Court was established in 1789 by Article Three of the U.S. Constitution. It was said in the Judiciary Act of 1789, which was signed by President George Washington, that the court would be made up of six justices. These justices are nominated by the current President of the United States and can be confirmed or denied by the U.S. Senate. The first Supreme Court was made up of Chief Justice John Jay, and Associate Justices John Rutledge, William Cushing, John Blair, Robert Harrison, and James Wilson. Nine Justices make up the current Supreme Court, and there have been 17 Chief Justices, along with 112 Justices.

One surprising thing that I learned about the Supreme Court was that the Chief Justice is the highest-ranking officer in the United States. Our current chief justice in the Supreme Court is chief judge John Roberts, who has been the chief judge since 2005. The chief justice is in charge of basically running the Supreme Court. Roberts also is in charge over trials of impeachment of the President of the United States. This has only been the case three times, where President Andrew Johnson, President Bill Clinton, and President Donald Trump were all acquitted. 

  

    The Supreme Court has had its fair share of famous cases in the past, with all of them being huge landmarks in U.S. history. One famous example was the case of Marbury v. Madison. This case was famous for being the first time that the Supreme Court struck down an act of Congress as being unconstitutional. Another milestone case was Dred Scott v. Sandford. The question in this case was whether Congress had the constitutional power to prohibit slaves in free territories. This case ultimately become a big issue in the debate of slavery and really powered the start of the Civil War. One final important case in U.S. history is Brown v. Board of Education. The case established the notion of "separate, but equal" doctrine, which was legalized in Plessy v. Ferguson.  The ruling of the case was that racial segregation was unconstitutional in public schools. This case ultimately started the Civil Rights Movement, and fueled people in the South to get rid of the Jim Crow Laws, and end segregation for good.

I feel as if I am more educated and know more about the Supreme Court than ever before. The Supreme Court ensures the American people equal justice and law under the Constitution. The Supreme Court is needed in our world in order for us to live as civil as possible, and I think it is important that college students need to learn more about our government and understand exactly what we came from. 

Top 5 Sources for News and Information

The world has millions of different media outlets that people look at everyday. From famous newspapers like the New York Times and the Washington Post, too small blogs that talk about the most random of random, media is everywhere in the world. As the world turns more to technology, more and more sites where information can be spread are being created for our population to use. Here are my top five choices for news and information.

ESPN

With me being a big sports fan, it would hurt not to put ESPN (Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) as the first source on the list. ESPN is an American international basic cable sports channel which is jointly owned by The Walt Disney Company and Hearst Communications. ESPN gives updates on any sport you like all the time. You can keep track of all your favorite teams can turn on notifications so you'll know whenever someone has scored in the game or the game is starting and ending. ESPN has been seen as a non-biased company, and that I think is one reason why I like the site very much.

Twitter

Out of all the places in the world where I would think I would hear the most about world news, the top spot for me is Twitter. Twitter allows its users to "tweet" about anything they want, within the limit of 280 characters. You can find all different sorts of news and information on Twitter. From sports to politics to memes alike, it's a very diverse platform with how it has to offer, and allows its users to really be creative in what they would like to tweet.

Daily Mail

Although a British newspaper, the Daily Mail has very much expanded itself to the United States. I often look on Daily Mail to see what is going on in the world. Also, being an English sports fan myself, I like to look and see what is going on in English sports, along with checking out other celebrity news that happens in Europe. With in not being that serious of a source for news and information like for say the Washington Post or the New York Times, it gives readers joy with its creative headlines and stories.

New York Times

The New York Times is a newspaper and news outlet based in New York City with over nine million subscriptions worldwide. Founded in 1851, it really gives a variety of news to its readers. What really makes the New York Times so special is that they have been reporting news and telling stories that no one else was covering. With them having some of the best writers and editors in the business, the New York Times is really the best of the best in terms of news outlets in the United States and the world.

NBC

NBC is very popular in terms of television networks. It provides tons of news to look at, along with having other platforms that it runs, like the network Peacock. It also has tons of television shows, with the most popular being the Today Show, America's Got Talent, and Saturday Night Live. Although leaning mostly left as a news source, they do a great job of supporting their own argument. Although mostly known for their shows, NBC does a great job of spreading news.