Similarities and Differences between the MBA Honor Code and the US Constitution

There are two main similarities between the MBA Honor Code and the US Constitution. First, it explicitly says in the Constitution in Article VI that all legislatures, executives, and judicial officers are bound by an oath to support the Constitution. This oath that all public servants must take is similar to the pledge that MBA students sign that says that they will uphold the Honor Code. Second, both the US Constitution and the MBA Honor Code are built on the ideal that everyone will act ethically and honestly at all times.

The differences between the two are much more obvious. The US Constitution is a formal document that organized the structure of our government and defined its powers and sections. The MBA Honor Code, on the other hand, is an oath that holds us to acting with integrity and morals and really creates a community based on these ideals.

Government's Purpose and the Role of Politics

At the most general level, a government's purpose is to make decisions to allocate scarce resources. More specifically, a legitimate government has many important jobs that it must fulfill. Some of these jobs are providing for public safety, domestic and foreign, through law enforcement and the military, protecting private property, maintaining law and order, and collecting revenue, usually through taxes, to provide public goods and services.

Politics is the primary influence on government since it is created by conflict between two groups or people about how to run the country. In a way, politics both supports and impedes the purpose of government. It impedes the purpose because it complicates procedures and decisions by creating conflict over which option or method is best and, therefore, slows down the process and can even completely prevent goals from being accomplished. It would save a lot of time and headache to simply have one leader that made all the decisions because he or she would not have to worry about the politics in decisions. This system is flawed, however, because it gives a single person or a small group complete control of a state, which does not allow for opposing views to be heard, so the whole population is not represented. Also, if there is no debating over an issue, then the wrong decision could be made because only one opinion was presented. Politics supports the purpose of government because it allows for conflict and open debate on policy, issues, etc., which would theoretically help leaders make better decisions. Therefore, since politics can help leaders make better decisions, it supports and furthers the purpose of government by choosing what is best for the whole country instead of just a small group of people.

What I hope to learn in AP Govt

In AP Government this year, I hope to learn about a lot of the inner workings of government and politics, especially in dealing with the modern political system. I would like to learn how influential special interest groups are, and in what ways government and politics are different today from the time of the writing of the Constitution. On that note, I'd also like to find out how closely our government follows the boundaries set in the Constitution and how often politicians, laws, policies, etc. overstep those boundaries. I want to learn about the government-media complex and the vast influence of the media in general over the public. Last, I hope that we can cover the upcoming election since it is a great opportunity to study and see the major American political event unfolding before us.