American Political System

"The basic and most elementary goods or services provided by government, like defense and police protection, and the system of law and order generally, are such that they go to everyone or practically everyone in the nation. It would obviously not be feasible, if indeed it were possible, to deny the protection provided by the military services, the police, and the courts to those who did not voluntarily pay their share of the costs of government, and taxation is accordingly necessary" (Olson). In this passage, the author is explaining how the most fundamental of services the government provides to its citizens cannot be given to a few or deliberately denied to a citizen. Even if the government could pick and choose who to offer these services to and who not to, it would be impractical and inconvenient to deny these services to those who did not pay their share in the cost. I chose this passage to discuss because I agree with it. There are certain services that can be cont...

"Marbury and others sought an original action for their commissions in the Supreme Court. But the congressional act conferring that authority conflicts with Article III Section 2 of the Constitution. The judicial power in the United States extends to all cases under the Constitution and the Supreme Court is bound to decide cases according to the Constitution rather than the law when the two conflict. So if a law is found to be in conflict with the Constitution, then the law is invalid. In this case, Section 13 of the Judiciary Act ran counter to the Constitution and is therefore void. Thus, lacking authority, the Supreme Court canceled Marbury's claim" (Oyez, Marbury v. Madison) This passage is an explanation of why the Supreme Court rules that it did not have the authority to order the delivery of Marbury's and his peers' commissions. The reasoning that the Supreme Court provided is that although it is illegal for Madison to not deliver the commissions and his ...