1. Political Parties, Interest Groups, and Elections: One strength of one of the following: interest groups (Black Lives Matter (BLM)) Caldwell (2015) says that BLM highlights that racism is still a challenge. Brutalities of the police on the black that go unpunished are highlighted to the public. It shows the biases of the majority white police towards the White community. The movement creates awareness to the general public to use their phones to highlight police brutality. The BLM movement is meant to coalesce the Black community together not only in the USA but globally. That gives the Black movement a sense of recognition of Africa origin. One weakness of one of the following: interest groups (Black Lives Matter (BLM)) According to Taylor (2016), other communities that are suffering from racism feel left out when BLM is used. The groups are Arabian-Americans, Mexican Americans, and other people of color. There is a great advocacy that the movement should be reviewed to All Lives Matter (ALM) which is more inclusive and will fight racism better as a united front. The BLM movement highlights only white atrocities on blacks and ignores Black atrocities on Blacks reducing the credibility of the organization to earn support from other communities. One option to accentuate the positive impact of the strength discussed above. Interest groups (Black Lives Matter (BLM)) The group needs to expand their reach beyond the USA. Blacks are not only suffering in America but in all other continents (Caldwell, 2015). There is a need for the activists to take the movement globally. They need to highlight atrocities committed, or that threatened the black community globally. The group should sensitize the blacks globally to operate as a united front and empower the community from being looked down by other communities back at home or abroad where they live. One option to lessen the negative impact of the weakness discussed above. Interest groups (Black Lives Matter (BLM)) Taylor (2016) says that The BLM should make its objective to defend all police atrocities. Whether the atrocities are committed by a white or black police officer to a black or white citizen, it should be highlighted. The group will get a national outlook where all citizens whether black or white are treated the same by the security officers. The group will provide checks and balances to the operation of the security officers. BLM should fight for all lives whether it belongs to a white or black person for they all bleed red blood and a loss is a loss. 2. Thesis Statement Provide a thesis statement for the final paper. It is very important that the statement focuses on the final paper and not only on the topic discussed above. The thesis statement should be a concise statement of 25 words or less that clearly identifies the main argument, theme, and purpose of the final paper. While BLM movement contributed to the highlight of racism in the USA, the Obama factor played the key role ...

1. 1. Political Parties, Interest Groups, and Elections:
One strength of one of the following: interest groups (Black
Lives Matter (BLM))
Caldwell (2015) says that BLM highlights that racism is still a
challenge. Brutalities of the police on the black that go
unpunished are highlighted to the public. It shows the biases of
the majority white police towards the White community. The
movement creates awareness to the general public to use their
phones to highlight police brutality. The BLM movement is
meant to coalesce the Black community together not only in the
USA but globally. That gives the Black movement a sense of
recognition of Africa origin.
One weakness of one of the following: interest groups (Black
Lives Matter (BLM))
According to Taylor (2016), other communities that are
suffering from racism feel left out when BLM is used. The
groups are Arabian-Americans, Mexican Americans, and other
people of color. There is a great advocacy that the movement
should be reviewed to All Lives Matter (ALM) which is more
inclusive and will fight racism better as a united front. The
BLM movement highlights only white atrocities on blacks and
ignores Black atrocities on Blacks reducing the credibility of
the organization to earn support from other communities.
One option to accentuate the positive impact of the strength
discussed above. Interest groups (Black Lives Matter (BLM))
The group needs to expand their reach beyond the USA. Blacks
are not only suffering in America but in all other continents
(Caldwell, 2015). There is a need for the activists to take the
movement globally. They need to highlight atrocities
committed, or that threatened the black community globally.
The group should sensitize the blacks globally to operate as a
united front and empower the community from being looked
down by other communities back at home or abroad where they
live.

2. One option to lessen the negative impact of the weakness
discussed above. Interest groups (Black Lives Matter (BLM))
Taylor (2016) says that The BLM should make its objective to
defend all police atrocities. Whether the atrocities are
committed by a white or black police officer to a black or white
citizen, it should be highlighted. The group will get a national
outlook where all citizens whether black or white are treated the
same by the security officers. The group will provide checks
and balances to the operation of the security officers. BLM
should fight for all lives whether it belongs to a white or black
person for they all bleed red blood and a loss is a loss.
2. Thesis Statement
Provide a thesis statement for the final paper. It is very
important that the statement focuses on the final paper and not
only on the topic discussed above. The thesis statement should
be a concise statement of 25 words or less that clearly identifies
the main argument, theme, and purpose of the final paper.
While BLM movement contributed to the highlight of racism in
the USA, the Obama factor played the key role in driving racism
decline
References
Caldwell, F. (2015). Black lives matter: A collection of short
stories.
Taylor, K.-Y. (2016). From #BlackLivesMatter to Black
liberation.
Running Head: BRANCHES OF THE GOVERNMENT 1
BRANCHES OF THE GOVERNMENT 5

3. Branches of the Government
Student’s Name
University Affiliation
Branches of the Government
1. Branches of Government:(pick one: Executive, Legislative, or
Judicial).
The branch of government that we have picked for this
assignment is the judicial branch. The judicial branch of the
government is one that comprises of the system of courts with
its major responsibility being the interpretation and the
enforcement of constitution. This arm of the government helps
to solve disputes that may arise by making use of the rules that
are provided by the constitution of a country.
One strength of one of the three branches of government.
The strength that we are going to look at is the fact that
the judicial branch Ii most countries are considered as being
independent. The fact that this arm is considered as being
independent of the other arms and parties in government helps
to make sure that they carry out their functions fairly as well as
impartially and ensuring that the system of courts operates in a
manner that guarantees constitutionalism(Hall & McGuire,
2005). The independence helps to ensure that law is practiced
properly and that democracy prevails in a country.
It is important to understand that by saying that this arm
is independent, we do not mean that they have the freedom and

4. autonomy to make their decisions on their terms and
preferences. However what this means is that they are governed
by law, but they are free to make their decisions in the cases
presented to them provided that these decisions comply with the
law of the country. Independence means that they do not suffer
the pressure of taking the opinions of the other parties of the
government or the parties that are involved in a case when
making their decisions. In general, they are free from pressures
from politics and therefore making sure that legal protection is
offered to all individuals of a country.
It is also this independence that grants them the power to
look at various public laws that are made by the other arms of
the government and reject them or refuse to enforce them if they
go against the provisions of the constitution of the country. By
so doing they play a major role in ensuring that the arms of
government are kept in check and help make sure that greed and
abuse of power by individuals in government. It also helps to
protect the people of a country by ensuring that laws that are
against the constitution are not enforced in the country. In
general, the independence of this arm helps to ensure that there
are no political pressures that sabotage the performance of law
in a country.
One weakness of one of the three branches of government.
One of the main weaknesses that this arm of the government
faces is the fact that they have very limited powers as compared
to the other two arms of the constitution. The judiciary more
often than not is referred to as the third arm of the government
or the weakest arm of the government and this is mainly
because they do not have the real power to influence the central
government of a country. In most cases, the judiciary usually
comes as the third wheel in the government. For example, it
always comes last during American tri-partite system and also
in the constitution where article III which governs the owners of
the arm were written last, very precisely and also looked as if
the provisions were just afterthoughts. It can also be greatly
noted that the Constitution only provides for the creation of the

5. Supreme Court and this means that the Congress has the power
to create other small courts, dismiss them or even send them to
Guam (Beier, 2004).depending on their personal preferences
and how they see fit.
One option to maintain the strength of the branch of government
discussed above
Independence of the judiciary system is very important
for any country especially because most countries are usually
governed by a constitution that is very limited. To be able to
maintain the independence of the judicial branch, it is important
that more protection is offered to the professionals working in
this area such as the judges. This is because most of the times
the judiciary may not be able to independently carry out their
roles due to the fact that they lack powers and have very little
protection which creates fear in ignoring political; pressures
and exercising the law as it is. However, if the constitution
through Article III which is responsible for the governance of
the judiciary arm provides more protection and safeguards their
welfare, then they can be able to embrace and practice their
independence to the fullest. The protection can be offered in the
form of job securities guaranteed by the constitution. This helps
to make sure that they can make independent decisions without
being intimidated by individuals in higher authorities.
One option to correct the weakness of the branch of government
discussed above.
To correct that fact that the judicial branch has very
limited powers, I would propose for the enhancement of the
independence of branch. This is because when the branch is
fully or almost fully independent, they can be able to draw more
powers from their roles. Independence should be enhanced by
making sure that the other two arms of the government have
very minimum control over the running of the arm for example
the creation and the dissolution of the courts since the more the
control there is from the other arms, the more the political
pressures on the arm and consequently the lesser the
independence that is granted to the judicial system (Zelden,

6. 2007). The lesser the control, the more the independence and
consequently more power since the arm can freely carry out
their roles of enhancing fair enforcement and interpretation of
law.
Reference List
Beier, A. (2004). The Supreme Court and the judicial branch.
New York: Rosen Pub. Group.
Firestone, M. (2000). The State judicial branch. Mankato, Minn:
Capstone Press.
Hall, K. & McGuire, K. (2005). The judicial branch. Oxford
England New York Radner, PA: Oxford University Press
Annenberg Foundation Trust at Sunnylands.
Hargrove, J. & Smith, B. (2000). Judicial branch of the
government. Carthage, Ill: Teaching & Learning Co.
Hogan, S. (2006). The judicial branch of state government :
people, process, and politics. Santa Barbara, Calif: ABC-CLIO.
Kowalski, K. (2012). Judges and courts : a look at the judicial
branch. Minneapolis: Lerner Publications.
Tobin, R. (2004). Creating the judicial branch : the unfinished
reform. New York: Authors Choice Press.
Zelden, C. (2007). The judicial branch of federal government :
people, process, and politics. Santa Barbara, Calif: ABC-CLIO.
Running Head:
BRANCHES OF THE GOVERNMENT
1

7. Branches of the Government
Student’s Name
University Affiliation
Running Head: FEDERALISM
1
FEDERALISM
4
Federalism
Student’s Name:
Professor’s Name:
Course Title
Date

8. 1. Federalism:
A. One advantage to a national policy that must be implemented
by one agency of the federal bureaucracy.
One major advantage of having a national policy conducted by a
federal bureaucratic agency is that the system is carried out in a
more systematic manner by professional technocrats. Moreover,
the policy also has an added advantage as it’s always similar in
every state (Peterson, 2012). Also, if a certain policy is set
aside to be conducted by different local or state bureaucratic
agencies, it limits the chances of having central governance
controlling the manner through which the system is
implemented. Therefore, having a national policy executed by a
federal agency ensures that the policy is the same in every state.
B. One disadvantage to a national policy that must be
implemented by one agency of the federal bureaucracy.
The main disadvantage correlated to the implementation of
national policy by one federal bureaucratic agency is that the
system will be administered centrally thereby limiting local
agencies from adapting to their needs (Hueglin & Fenna, 2015).
As a result, the federal government is always compelled to
impose a one size fits all policy to all localities and states.
Therefore, while it makes the policy highly beneficial to be
implemented by one federal agency, it makes less democratic.
C. One option to maintain the advantage of the national policy
discussed above.
Given the advantage of having a national policy executed by a
single federal agency the major option is to have the policy
conducted by technocrats (Peterson, 2012). This follows as the
designated members of the bureaucratic organization are
apparently recognized experts in the implementation of the
policies. For that reason, the option would go a long way into
ensuring that the agency is more equipped in the
implementation of the policy than other people.
D. One option to improve the disadvantage of the national
policy discussed above.

9. Following the disadvantages of the implementation of the policy
by a single federal bureaucratic agency, it would be highly
essential to adopt an option correlated with the making the
policy more flexible (Hueglin & Fenna, 2015). In that sense,
while the system is administered centrally it would enable the
local agencies to select a national policy that presumably fits
their needs.
References
Hueglin, T. O., & Fenna, A. (2015). Comparative federalism: A
systematic inquiry. University of Ashford Press.
Peterson, P. E. (2012). The price of federalism. Brookings
Institution Press.
Running head: STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES OF THE
U.S. CONSTITUTION 1
STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES OF THE U.S.
CONSTITUTION 5Strengths and Weaknesses of the U.S.
Constitution
Student’s Name
Institution Affiliation
Strengths and Weaknesses of the U.S. Constitution
The strengths of the constitution
The U.S. constitution has a lot of articles and sub articles that
dictate a lot of laws and thus with it, there are many strengths
as well as weaknesses to the U.S. constitution. For one, Article
1 section 8 dictates that the congress has the power to establish
and maintain an army as well as the navy. This means that
should the current army and navy fall maybe in the rise of a war
the congress has the power and mandate to set up a new army
and navy so as to the United States of America (Stange, 2008).
Another major strength of the U.S. constitution is article 4

10. section 1 that states that all states must respect each other’s
state. This means that failure for members of a certain state to
follow the laws of another state, they can be prosecuted under
the state laws and their native states wouldn’t be able to
mediate for them in the judicial process. This law therefore
makes it easy for states to respect each other as if there wasn’t
that federal state law, many states would commit crimes against
one another without fear of prosecution (Stange, 2008).
Weaknesses of the U.S. Constitution
One of the major weaknesses of the U.S. constitution is article
3, section 1B. It gives the judge permission to retain their seats
for life or until such a time they feel that they are ready to
retire. This for one could mean that either democrats could have
their way with the law and retain leadership in the house and
always have their way in terms of controversial cases. It may
also mean that the elderly might retain seats for a very long
term which inhibits the younger generation from eyeing and
focusing their strength and energy on the seats. It also means
that old conventional methods of judicial rule will always be
retained and new and upcoming methods would have little or no
effect in the judicial system (Ragone, 2004).
Another major weakness of the constitution is Article 2 section
1C that states that for a person to become the president of the
United States of America, one must be of 35 years of age and
above and must be born in the USA. This has been one of the
most contentious clauses of the article and it brought about a lot
of debacle recently for the current president of the U.S.A.
President Barrack Obama after the contender for the seat,
business mogul Donald Trump claimed that the president who
has been running the country for 8 years wasn’t a citizen of the
U.S.A. but after a series of the U.S.A it was proved that indeed
he was a citizen of the U.S.A. from his maternal side. This is a
major defect to the constitution as it inhibits people of more
capability with a better understanding of the constitution and a
better chance for leadership from taking the seat and leading the
country to greatness (Ragone, 2004).

11. Proposed amendments to the constitution strengths
The way to make sure that the constitutional strengths are
maintained like the first strength is to add a non-refutable
clause so as to ensure that whichever government that takes the
seat doesn’t amend the clause to cause harm but to either
strengthen or maintain it. Another way is to make sure that they
add time to the period which the law can be applied for to
ensure that there is proper debate on the law amendments before
they are officiated (Pets, 2014).
Proposed amendments to the constitution weaknesses
The constitution should be amended in the article 3 section 1B
to give chance to other worthy candidates to also serve term.
This will give law a chance to prevail free of prejudice from
political or personal influence that could have been gained with
time from serving the judiciary for a very long time. It will also
allow modernism to have its way in the judicial system so as to
ensure that if there is an easier process to deliver justice
through the right channels, it can be done. This will give a
chance for many people to be served and for them to heal faster
from the trauma that comes with delivery of the law. The
maximum years for any judge to serve the court especially the
supreme court should be 8 to 10 years and be at least 30 years
and above to allow the candidates to have gained enough
knowledge and experience in the field. Another amendment
should be to section 1C of article 2. The clause that dictates the
contender for the seat should be a citizen of the U.S. should be
scrapped out. They should introduce that the candidate must
have served in a law firm and practiced constitutional law and
related fields for about 10 to 15 years so as to gain knowledge
on the constitution and related laws and thus give people with
enough knowledge to serve and lead the country (Ragone,
2004).
References
Pets, S. (2014). The Strengths and Weaknesses of the
Constitution. Prezi, 1.

12. Ragone, N. (2004). The Everything American Government
Book: From the Constitution to Present-Day Elections, All You
Need to Understand Our Democratic System. New Jersey:
Adams Media; Everything edition (June 4, 2004).
Stange, M. (2008). Understanding the U.S. Constitution, Grades
5 - 8. (I. Mark Twain Media, Ed.) USA: Carson Dellosa.
Running head: AMERICA’S DEMOCRACY 1
AMERICA’S DEMOCRACY 6
America’s Democracy
Your Name
POL 201 – American National Government
Ashford University
Instructor's Name
Month Day, Year
America’s Democracy
This is where the introduction for your paper should begin.
You should indent the first paragraph and include a hook to
draw your reader in and make the topic interesting. Your
introduction should also include an overview of the main points
you will discuss in your paper and conclude with a clear and
concise thesis statement of 25 words or less that clearly
summarizes what your paper is about. Please be sure to not
refer to the paper in your paper. For example, “In this paper, I
will discuss…” is not appropriate for formal writing. Also,
your paper should not use words such as I, we, or you. Start the
first paragraph here. It should introduce your reader to the
subject you are writing about, as well as your particular
position or claim. Be sure that your thesis reflects on all four
of the topics you will discuss in a concise manner of 25 words

13. or less. For more suggestions, please read about thesis
statements on our Ashford Writing Center website: Thesis
Statements. Other helpful tools on our website are the Thesis
Generator and Moving from Prompt to Thesis. Your
introduction should be at least ½ a page in length.
US Constitution
Your paper should include the four main headings, as outlined
in this template. It is vital, in order to fully meet the
expectations for this paper that you support your arguments
utilizing scholarly sources. You must is properly cited with in-
text APA formatted citations and an APA reference list in order
to avoid plagiarism. No more than 10% of your paper should be
direct quotations. Be sure to summarize, paraphrase, and
include in-text citations. Each heading should focus on the
topics you discussed in your Week 1, 2, 3, and 4 Learning
Activities. Each heading/topic should be a a minimum of 1 to
1.5 pages in length. Please do not just cut and paste the
paragraphs from your Learning Activities. It is important to
include transitions and to more deeply reflect and expand on the
material from each week. Be sure to review the WayPoint
feedback provided by your instructor each week and integrate
the feedback into your revisions as you expand your analysis of
each topic for your final paper.
Federalism
Your section heading should focus on Federalism. Utilize your
Learning Activities as a guide to construct each section of your
paper or create an outline or list to help you organize the
evidence you plan to present. Be sure to include the appropriate
transitions, review your instructors comments from your Week
Two Learning Activity, and expand on the material regarding
Federalism.
Branches of Government
The third section of your final paper should focus on one
of the branches of government, as you discussed in your
Learning Activity. Be sure to include the appropriate
transitions, review your instructors comments from your Week

14. Three Learning Activity, and expand on the material regarding
the branch of government you have selected. Each paragraph of
your assignment should be clear and easy to follow. Ashford
has several good resources to help you write a strong paragraph,
such as How to Write a Good Paragraph and the P.I.E.
Paragraph Structure.
Political Parties, Interest Groups, or Elections
The 4th section of your paper should focus on Political Parties,
Interest Groups, or Elections as researched in your Week 4
Learning Activity. Once again, Be sure to include the
appropriate transitions, review your instructors comments from
your Week Three Learning Activity, and expand on the material
regarding the topic you have selected. In addition to being well-
written, each paragraph throughout your paper should include
an in-text citation to all ideas, references, or quotations that are
from outside sources and research. The Ashford Writing Center
provides many resources to help you follow correct citation
style (primarily APA) and gives lessons and examples of how to
paraphrase and cite sources. The APA Key Elements page is a
good place to start.
Conclusion
Your paper should conclude with a review of your main points
and a review of your thesis.
Remember to start your references on a new page. Space down
until References is as the top of the final page of your paper.

15. References
Your paper must utilize at least eight scholarly resources (in
addition to the textbook). A minimum of six of the resources
must be from the peer-reviewed scholarly sources from the
Ashford University Library. The following are commonly used
references. Please fill in the required information, and if you
need more help, see the AWC References page. References are
listed in alphabetical order. Please be sure to format your
references correctly according to APA 6th edition guidelines
and utilize hanging indents.
Ashford Textbook (Online edition): *
Author, A. (Year published). Title of book: Subtitle of book
(edition, if other than the first) [Electronic version]. Retrieved
from from URL
Example:
Witt, G. A., & Mossler, R. A. (2010). Adult development and
life assessment [Electronic version]. Retrieved from
https://content.ashford.edu/books/4
Online Journal Article (such as from the Ashford Library):**
Author, A. (Year Published). Article title. Journal Name,
Volume(Issue), page range. doi:# or Retrieved from journal’s
homepage URL
**When including a URL for an online journal, you must search
for the journal’s home page and include this in your reference
entry. You may not include the URL found through your
university library, as readers will not have access to this library.
Examples:
Churchill, S. D., & Mruk, C. J. (2014). Practicing what we
preach in humanistic and positive psychology. American

16. Psychologist, 69(1), 90-92. doi:10.1037/a0034868
Santovec, M. (2008). Easing the transition improves grad
retention at Trinity U. Women in Higher Education, 17(10), 32.
Retrieved from
http://www.trinitydc.edu/education/files/2010/09/Women_in_hi
gher_
Ed_Trinity_Transistions_10_08.pdf
Online Magazine:*
Author, A. (Year, Month Date Published). Article title.
Magazine Title. Retrieved from URL
Example:
Walk, V. (2013, April 29). Can this woman fix Europe? Time.
Retrieved from
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,213969.html
YouTube Video:*
Author, A. [Screen name]. (Year, Month, Day). Title of video
[Video file]. Retrieved from URL
Example:
Apsolon, M. [markapsolon]. (2011, September 9). Real ghost
girl caught on video tape 14
[Video file]. Retrieved from
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6nyGCbxD848
Web Page:*
Author, A. (Year, Month, Date Published). Article title.
Retrieved from URL
Example—Corporate web page:
U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2008).
Police and detectives. Retrieved from
http://bls.gov/oco/pdf/ocos160.pdf
Example—Article or section within web page with no author:
Presentation tools. (n.d.). Retrieved from
http://web2014.discoveryeducation.com/web20tools-

17. presentation.cfm
*Please delete the notes in this document before submitting
your assignment.