Of the People, By the People, For the People?
The U.S. Government is a democratic system, with an elected officiate that governs of the people, by the people, and for the people. All elected officials have the sworn duty to protect the U.S. Constitution, the overriding legal text that outlines the civil rights, liberties, and duties of the American people and its elected government. From Freedom of Speech guaranteed by the 1st Amendment to the 15th Amendment protecting civil liberties for minorities, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights are only legal text. Without the diligent monitoring of U.S. citizens, many of the rights and civil liberties protected by the Constitution and Bill of Rights are undermined by government officials and/or agencies. Therefore, it is not the two actual documents outlining American’s rights that protect those rights, but it is the perceptions, beliefs, and actions of individual Americans that do so.
While many of the abuses that occur to the protections of the Constitution do so behind closed doors in subtle ways, often such abuses are glaring and well-documented. The 2000 Presidential Election showed how vulnerable the U.S. Constitution can be if the American people do not aggressively monitor actions taken by politicians, courts, and other agencies. For example, in Florida and other places across the country there was significant harassment of minority voters. While the overall election received enormous media coverage, this aspect received relatively little. This is the case even though the media watchdog group Fairness and Accuracy In Reporting (FAIR) argued that these incidences represented “a pattern of voting irregularities and discrimination against African-Americans and other minority groups that may violate the 15th Amendment and the Voting Rights Act of 1965” (Allegations 1).
The 15th Amendment prohibits discrimination based on race or color, while the Voting Rights A...