US Government (Wednesday, January 11, 4th period)

[professor-lyman.livejournal.com]

Josh looked up from the pile of electoral data he had been studying when students began arriving.

"Welcome to US Government. I'm Josh Lyman and up until a few weeks ago I was the deputy chief of staff for President Josiah Bartlet. You may all be suitably impressed now." He looked around the room. "Good."


"This is a class about how the US government works, or on occasion, comes to a screeching, painful halt. I've worked in both the legislative and executive branches and worked extensively with the judicial branch as well, so I'm very excited to bring my wealth of knowledge of all things government to your eager young minds."

He took a sip of coffee. "Okay, maybe I'm not excited, and maybe you're not eager, but work with me here, people. Knowing how the government works is part of your responsibility as Americans. Um, if you are Americans. If you're not, learning about the government of this completely other country is a fascinating hobby that will get you lots of dates." He raised an eyebrow. "Really.

"This class will focus mostly on the federal government and how it operates because I'm running the class and find all things dealing with state and local politics to be stupefyingly boring." He held up a hand. "You might have other opinions, but I, well, don't care that much."

He handed around copies of the class syllabus. "As it says so clearly at the top of the page, today we discuss why you should care about government. Now I know why I care about the government, but explain to me why you care at all what bills the House of Representatives is debating, or who sits on the Supreme Court. Or who's elected President, or governor, or to the local school board." He waved his hand. "Or if you don't, explain that too."

He sat down at his desk and pointed at random to a student. "You. Name, class, why you care about government."

Comments

Re: Discussion question

[oatmanspatient.livejournal.com]

"Uh-huh and a right smart job it's been doing too." Marty said with another eye roll.

Re: Discussion question

[carter-i-am.livejournal.com]

"You're alive," Sam said, bluntly. "You can walk outside and shout to the sky that you hate everything about this country and cite specific examples, and you won't be arrested. You can walk down to the Perk without worrying about whether or you're going to be blown up by a group of people who hate you merely for existing where they feel they should exist instead. I can sit in a class with men and learn something more than how to please a husband without worrying about being caned, stoned, or raped when I walk on the street. The military helps make that possible."

Re: Discussion question

[oatmanspatient.livejournal.com]

"Oh sure. I can shout and yell and scream all I want, but that still doesn't protect me from people wanting to shoot me or blow me up.."

Re: Discussion question

[carter-i-am.livejournal.com]

"Well, no," Sam conceded, "but governments determine funding for police forces and the National Guard, which are often called in when there are things like riots because people have been saying inflammatory things and other people have been angered by them."

Re: Discussion question

[kawalsky.livejournal.com]

"Take away the military and you've got a large country with a lot of enemies open for attack. You wouldn't even have the Coast Guard. They're under a different department, but they're still part of the armed forces. It's not so great that we need a military force, but there's other folks out there who want us all dead and the military does the best job it can to stop that from happening."