Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Parties, Leaders, And The National Debt, Daniel Palazzolo

Political Science Faculty Publications

There is widespread agreement that the United States is headed for a train wreck of massive proportions if its leaders do not address the problem of the national debt. However, the nation's leaders appear unable to agree to terms about a potential solution, a dynamic that poses fundamental concerns about the capacity of the constitutional system and ability of citizens to self-govern. The conventional wisdom holds that politicians are chiefly concerned about reelection, so they refuse to make tough choices that might offend constituencies and powerful interest groups. Of particular consequence is the growing polarization of the parties and inability …

Searching For The Soul Of American Medicine : What Three High-Quality, Low-Cost Health Care Systems Can Teach U.S. Policymakers, Benjamin A. Paul

Honors Theses

"The United States health care system is broken." This common refrain has been echoed by policymakers and politicians, Democrats and Republicans, and liberals and conservatives alike. They point to the unacceptably high number of uninsured Americans, out of control costs, and questionable quality as just some of the problems that afflict American health care. Before the passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act in March, 2010, over 45 million Americans were without health insurance coverage.1 Health care spending currently accounts for 17% of this country‘s gross domestic product. In contrast, most industrialized European countries cover all of their …

[Introduction To] In Uncertain Times: American Foreign Policy After The Berlin Wall And 9/11, Melvyn P. Leffler, Jeffrey W. Legro

Bookshelf

In Uncertain Times considers how policymakers react to dramatic developments on the world stage. Few expected the Berlin Wall to come down in November 1989; no one anticipated the devastating attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon in September 2001. American foreign policy had to adjust quickly to an international arena that was completely transformed.

Melvyn P. Leffler and Jeffrey W. Legro have assembled an illustrious roster of officials from the George H. W. Bush, Clinton, and George W. Bush administrations—Robert B. Zoellick, Paul Wolfowitz, Eric S. Edelman, Walter B. Slocombe, and Philip Zelikow. These policymakers describe how …

Torture Cannot Be Used As A National Security Policy, Peter Moshang

Honors Theses

This paper looks at the acceptability of torture as a national security policy to combat terrorism. This paper finds that torture is an ineffective and unconstitutional practice. It also explains that torture infringes upon the most basic human rights as well as basic democratic rights. The legalization of torture for antiterrorism would lead to the expansion of torture in the future as society became more accepting of torture. The legalization of torture could increase the amount of torture that occurs across the globe because the United States often sets global precedents. Finally, this paper explains that a national security option …

Scientific Advice To The House : Who Has The Congressional Ear?, Kristen Greenholt

Honors Theses

In 2001, President George W. Bush remarked, "Science and technology have never been more essential to the defense of the nation and the health of the economy." The responsibility for formulating science and technology policy primarily falls into the hands of Congress. However, since few members of Congress possess a broad base of knowledge in either science or technology, they must rely on external sources of information. I examine the sources of information on which they rely, or the question "Who has the Congressional Ear?"with regard to science and technology issues. Using the downfall of the Office of Technology Assessment …

Falsities On The Senate Floor, John Cornyn

University of Richmond Law Review

No abstract provided.

A Case Study The Effects Of A Powerful Committee Chair On The Passage Of The Wilderness Bill, Kenneth S. Livingston

Master's Theses

The case of the Wilderness Bill reveals several important insights into the process, policy and politics of wilderness legislation in the late 1950s and early 1960's. The process generally conformed well with the expectations of a strong committee chair model that characterized Congress during the late 1950s and early 1960s. To be sure, the politics involved accommodation of competing interests and was facilitated by a president eager to pass a pro-wilderness bill. Above all, the compromise which ultimately led to the passage of the Wilderness Bill was influenced by the powerful committee chairman of the Interior and Insular Affairs Committee …

Reagan And Cutting The Federal Budget : How Consistent Was The Pursuit?, E David Adams

Master's Theses

President Reagan assumed office advocating an economic program based on tax and spending reductions. Achievement of these objectives, Reagan argued, would improve the American economy and result in balanced federal budgets. This thesis examines Reagan's commitment to the spending restraint element of his program. I will analyze all of Reagan's budgets and State of the Union addresses to determine how consistently he sought reductions in federal spending.

Though Reagan's commitment to budget reduction was evident, his selection of means to achieve the cuts was inconsistent. His proposed budget cuts varied in intensity, and Reagan failed to propose consistent reductions in …

Political Influences On The National Park Service : Past And Present, Bonnie Sachatello

Master's Theses

Since the beginning of the Reagan Administration in 1981, there has been a dramatic change in policies affecting the national parks and the National Park service. The Department of the Interior's goals combined with the economic strategies of this Administration have brought about new park policies that have departed sharply from those of the last two decades. This thesis is designed to distill some of the changes evidenced in park policy and the Park service under the Reagan Administration.

American Athletics And The Law : The Sports Triangle, Brian M. Sheahan

Honors Theses

Colleges and universities regularly award scholarships to outstanding young athletes. The standard financial aid agreement between the institution and the athlete is that in return for the athlete's active participation in the particular sport, he or she receives free tuition, room, board and books.

In addition to the education and athletic involvements, the giving of financial aid has numerous implications on the relationship between the college or university and the athlete. Foremost among those implications is the potential legal entanglement under the law of workmen's compensation.

The major questions which are in front of the courts today in conjunction with …

A Right Of Access To The Courtroom : The Burger Court's Search For A Definition, Sandra D. Bowen

Master's Theses

The purpose of this study is to analyze Supreme Court pronouncements concerning a right of public access to criminal proceedings in order to determine to what extent the Court has recognized a constitutional guarantee of a public trial as it may apply to the accused and to the public and press. Because the question of public access to the courtroom is a relatively new one, this study is principally centered on recent cases which were decided exclusively by the Burger Court, pro­viding a unique opportunity for a "case study." Consequently, a secondary thrust of the study is an analysis of …

The United States Military Pension System : Toward A Rational Reform With Commentary On The Report Of The President's Commission On Military Compensation, L. Shelton Clarke

Master's Theses

In August of 1974, I wrote U. S. Senator Harry F. Byrd, Jr., the senior Virginia senator and T. Edward Braswell, Chief Counsel for the Senate Armed Services Committee for a good deal of material concerning the United States military pension system.

The system had intrigued me as a pension planner for many years for several reasons. First, the plan itself possessed grave design defects, which if allowed to exist in private plans would lead the employer corporation excessive cost and possibly fiscal insolvency. Second, with the quadrupling of the price of oil in 1974 and the creation of a …

An Argument For The Unconstitutionality Of De Facto Racial Segregation In Public Education, Craig Stover Cooley

Master's Theses

The intent of this paper is to show an affirmative duty on the part of all governments (national and State) to eliminate racial imbalances, whether they be "de jure" or "de facto", from the public schools. The thesis of this paper is that racial segregation is violative of the Constitution of the United States. No distinction need be made between State imposed or State tolerated racial im- balance. Failure to take affirmative action to eliminate segregation and its detrimental effects on black public school students is a transgression of the rights guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment and the interstices of …

The United States Supreme Court And The Protection Of Individual Privacy, Elizabeth P. Martin

Master's Theses

The central thesis of this study is that the Supreme Court, after a half-century of incrementally developing "zones" of privacy protection through the various guaran­ tees in the Bill of Rights, has arrived at a distinct, inde­ pendent "right of privacy" with the potentiality of pro­ tecting privacy in a broad range of situations. The Court has, at least since its Griswold decision in 1965, been developing a substantive, due process right to privacy in the areas of marriage, family, conception, and abortion. Although the privacy right's perimeters have yet to be determined, its new "substantive" nature lends itself to …

Conflict Of Interest : Some Selected Legislative Responses At The National And State Levels, Berndt Harry Bohm

Master's Theses

Finding solutions to conflict of interest situations is a never ending task. The basic difficulty revolves around the fact that each situation is somewhat different from another. What may be statutory relief for one situation may not be relief for another. This paper attempts to examine the possibility of statutory relief and presents certain selected examples of federal and state level legislation in the conflict of interest area. We begin with a general analysis of "gray-zone" conflict of interest and conclude with an evaluation of certain federal and state responses to conflict of interest situations.

A Study Of Negro Riots In The United States 1963-1968, Leona Ann Chase

Master's Theses

The purpose of this study was to examine the civil rights phenomena in the context of the Negro riots during the years 1963-1968. The inadequacies of this study are in part due to the material upon which it is based. The reports of the state study commissions did not deal with racism adequately, or the probability of implementation of various recommendations. Consequently, this paper could not treat these topics except perfunctorily. In turn, it was difficult to assess the practicality of various proposal since the extent of these variables was unknown. The failure of thee Kerner Commission report to outline …

Under God? : A Study Of Freedom Of Religion, The Founding Fathers, The Supreme Court, And The Schools, Alice Sofis Evangelides

Master's Theses

The first part of my study concerns the meaning of "religious freedom" as revealed through the fundamental laws of the Constitutional period. In the course of my research, I have compiled and noted every mention of religion in the State Constitutions and Bills of Rights drafted between 1776 and 1791. I have read the Declaration of Independence, Articles of Confederation and the Northwest Ordinance; the Debates in the Constitutional Convention, the State Ratifying Conventions, and the First Congress, and extracted every significant mention of religion. I have not looked behind the words to the actual prac­ tice, but rather to …

State Of Bills Of Rights 1776-1837, Nancy Louise Roberts

Master's Theses

The purpose of this particular work is to study the State Bills of Rights and to discover what political philosophy express. To the knowledge of the author, this has never been attempted, therefore secondary sources were of value to her only as background material.

The Development Of The Federal Grant-In-Aid System And Its Effect On The Distribution Of The National Wealth, Charles A. Harvey

Master's Theses

In our modern world the problems or government are never simple. The tasks of coordinating, directing and promoting the political, social and economic affairs or a people usually present problems of the utmost complexity. Particularly is this true under the system or government embodied in our Federal constitution. Due to the system of power distribution peculiar to federalism many problems arise which are not ordinarily encountered by the so-called centralized or unitary norms of political organization.

It is not the purpose of this paper to examine in detail the characteristics of federalism. Sutfioe it to say that under such a …