fandomhigh | US Government (Wednesday, February 8, 4th period)

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US Government (Wednesday, February 8, 4th period)

Josh was grinning when the government students came into the classroom.

"Morning," he said. "Today we begin talking about the Executive Branch and why it is so completely superior to all other branches of government. Because we get a motorcade and the rest of them don't, among many, many other reasons." He looked down at his attendance sheet. "But first: some of you missed the test that we had last week. I'm going to be holding office hours immediately after this class if you'd like to make it up."

He smiled. "Okay. The Executive Branch. The Presidency. We'll be spending a few classes on this since, as you might've guessed, I'm a big fan of this particular branch. As outlined in Article II of the Constitution, which I'm sure you're all carrying around with you, the position of the Presidency was a pretty amazing piece of compromising. The Articles of Confederation had taught the Founders that you needed a centralized authority figure without necessarily installing a despot. The President would be the nation's chief exec, commander in chief of the military, and only in office for up to eight years after the 22nd Amendment passed."

He smiled. "But what made the Founders so revolutionary is what they didn't come up with in terms of restrictions on who could become President. They placed no explicit race, gender, or religious requirements on the job. The only restrictions are age: you have to be at least 35 years old to be President; and citizenship: you have to be a native citizen of the United States."

He sat down. "Okay. Today, I want you to answer these two questions: Who was your favorite president, and would you ever like to be President?"

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...

Lee Adama.

Isabel signs in.

John signs in.

Sam signed in.

Angela Chase

Alphonse signed in.

Peter signed in.

Sa

Martin Blank

Lindsey signs in.

Elizabeth Weir

Oh, how Josh loved the presidency...

Sam tried to pay attention to the lecture, really she did, but the meeting with Orlin earlier had really thrown her. She ended up staring out the window in thought instead.

Peter took notes. Lots of notes. About halfway through the lecture, the notes transformed into listing off every Monopoly property from memory. He couldn't think of the third yellow after Marvin's Gardens and Vermont Avenue.

Actually, he wasn't sure of Vermont, either. That bugged him enough that he focused on the lecture again just in time for the two restrictions to become President. It was good timing.

Sam sat with rapt attention, hanging on Josh's every word and taking detailed notes.

Who's your favorite President? And would you like to be President someday?

"My favorite president is Joseph Adar who served over the Colonies for two terms right before I was born. He made a lot of reforms for education and welfare as well as finish out the ~~first~~ war against the cylons with a dignified yet aggressive manner. Similar to your American presidents, he has a son who's probably going to run for the job in a few years."

"As for the idea of me running for president...I have a small ridiculous desire to do so, but I believe I'd rather defend the articles rather than be frakkin' in charge of them."

Isabel shook her head, "I'm really starting to appreciate Bill Clinton a lot more these days. But I really admire Jimmy Carter. He really made an effort to cut our oil dependency, unfortunately Reagan killed that. And now, as a private citizen, he's actually accomplishing things that mean something. I mean look at his work for Habitat for Humanity. That actually helps people who need it."

"I don't think I'd like to be President, ~~besides, does hatching out of a pod on US make me a native citizen?~~ I don't have the patience to deal with all the interest groups."

"My favorite president is Harry S. Truman. The guy made some of the most important, historic and difficult choices in history. He made the decision to drop the atomic bomb. He's not my favorite because of that but he is my favorite because he made difficult choices and they didn't kill him. He also attempted to reform Social Security, a full-employment program, a permanent Fair Employment Practices Act, and public housing and slum clearance which came to be known as Fair Deal."

"No, I would not want to be president. I don't think I could make the choices that must be made on a daily basis and I tend to tire easily."

Angela clearly has her mind on other things, and her answer is correspondingly absent. "I guess my favorite president is John F. Kennedy, because he really made people feel like things were different. And he inspired, um, young people."

"I wouldn't want to be president. Too much scrutiny and responsibility."

Sam gives Angela a friendly wave during class, so he doesn't seem too out of character for Marty after talking to her in the library yesterday.

Angela gives Marty half a distracted smile and waves back.

"My favorite president is Abraham Lincoln. He did everything he could to hold the country together, but wasn't afraid to fight a war when it became necessary. He freed the slaves and, had he lived, he would have made some decisions during Reconstruction that would have led to what I believe would have been a vastly different society."

"Not for all the money on the planet would I want to be President."

"At the moment I don't think I have enough information to really conclude on who'd be my favorite, but a little research has helped me learn about the more popular ones."

"Being a president is a huge responsibility, and I don't exactly have what it takes to be one. I've never indulged myself into politics much."

"To be honest, I kind of like George W. Bush," Peter said. "He makes comedy so easy."

"Okay, serious answer now. I have to go with Lincoln. He stood up for what he believed in, fought for it, and managed to keep America in one piece despite that. Sure, times were rough both during and after his presidency, but that's still pretty impressive."

"And, no, I would never want to be President. I prefer to help people in a more direct and less frustrating manner."

Sam sits back and thinks about it for a moment.

"Despite his illegal activity, I would have to say that Nixon did a lot of good for this country. He opened up diplomatic negotiations with China and ended the Viet Nam war. Unfortunately he abused the power of his presidency but that also led to some additional checks and balances that we have today as well as showing that no one person is above the law. So in one point of view, you can see that even the negative aspects of the Nixon presidency garnered some postive results."

"And no, I'd never want to be in that kind of position."

"Definitely don't want to be President. Way too much responsibility. I think FDR's probably my favorite."

"Without wanting to sound like I'm sucking up, Josiah Bartlet," Elizabeth shrugged, grinning slightly. "A lot of his policies and beliefs co-incide with what I believe myself."

"And," she hesitated. "I've been thinking about it. It's something that I'm pretty sure that I'd be able to do, but I think it'll only be something I try for if it doesn't interfer detrimentally with other parts of my life."

Josh is in his office hours (http://professor-lyman.livejournal.com/6182.html). Catch him there.

...

*loves making up BSG stuff, la la la*

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US Government (Wednesday, February 8, 4th period)

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During the lecture

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Discussion question

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After class

OOC

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