Term Paper on "U.S. Census Bureau Projected"

Term Paper 15 pages (4517 words) Sources: 1+

[EXCERPT] . . . .

U.S. Census Bureau projected that there would be 14.3 to 16.8 million people aged 85 or over in the year 2040 (Gavrilov and Heuveline 2003). Other projections placed the figure at 23.5 to 54 million. Population aging may, on one hand, mean massive survival of the human race through a rapid decline in mortality, but it also produces huge challenges on public institutions and the economy due to a changing age structure. The first is the dramatic increase in the older retired population in connection with the decreasing working population, This puts strong pressure on social security programs, which may face a crisis if radical changes like cuts in benefits, tax increases, massive borrowing, lower cost-of-living requirements, and later retirement ages are not introduced in time. The graying population also puts pressure on health care systems and the looming prevalence of disability, frailty and chronic diseases, like Alzheimer's disease, cancer, cardiovascular and cerebro-vascular diseases.

While recent advances in productivity may help the nation cope with the increase in the number of retirees, a reduced workforce and immigration and big new fiscal loads can mean a tough time for the nation to grow out of new budget problems (Kirchhoff 2003). In comparison with some developing nations, the U.S.A. is said to have the slowest-rising median age for the next 50 years. But the retirement of baby boomers will still make it difficult to maintain the accustomed elevated level of productivity. Mexico, which is its major source of immigrants, is aging faster than the U.S. And the slower growth in Europe may further affect the U.S.A. In the next 30 years, the working-age population is estimated to increase to only.5% while those over 65 will rise from 13-20% in year 2030. Medicare, social security and Medicaid spending for the poor may rise from 8% to 21% in 2075. The deficits can rob lawmakers of public cover and lose public trust as stewards.

Democracy is a government by the people, run directly by them or through their duly elected representatives. The more active or participative the citizens, the better monitored and controlled are politicians and the closer government decisions are brought to the wishes of the people, the true sovereign. Political participation covers all activities citizens undertake to influence policy-making and the choice of leaders (College Board Advanced Placement Program). Voting is at the key activity of a modern democracy, although citizens may participate in many other ways, such as writing or working for their representatives, make representations in school boards or city councils or file complaints. The federalist system allows them many opportunities for participation on the national, state and local levels. Some forms of participation are more common than others and some citizens participate more than the rest.

Voting rights have been gradually expanded through the years from constitutional amendments, changes in federal statutes and Supreme Court decisions (College Board Advanced Placement Program). These changes include the lifting of property restrictions by most states in the 1830s and gave all white males to vote in the pursuit of universal manhood suffrage; the 15th amendment in 1870, which recognized the citizens' right to vote, regards or race or condition of servitude, the Supreme Court's nullification of the Jim Crow laws, and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and other federal laws that ruled out literacy tests; the 19th Amendment, which extended suffrage to women in 1920, owing to an aggressive women's suffrage movement of the early 20th century and which doubled the size of the electorate; and the 26th Amendment of 1971, which lowered the minimum voting age from 21 to 18, owing to the increased political activism of young people in school campuses during the 1960s.

The success or effectiveness of the Constitution derives from the combined strengths and caution of its framers, the wisdom and ability of the American society and the steadfastness of all those who have made it work throughout history. The framers were guided by the political philosophy that while government would be the reflection of human nature, checks and balances would be necessary to control abuses (McGranahan 2004). But they first confronted the difficulty of enabling the government to control the governed and then itself and the need to establish auxiliary precautions in the form of a "mixed government" and a "free government," or a compromise between monarchy and democracy. Compromises were reached in dealing with controversial issues. They carefully considered that the Constitution had to undergo changes from to time in response to national growth (Wikipedia 2005). In checking against hastily made amendments and assuring that the will of the majority would not stalled by rigid requirements of unanimity, the framers devised that changes could be made by two-thirds vote of Congress or by judicial decision.

Between its ratification in 1787 and 1791, the Constitution was amended only in 17 occasions, with the first 10 as the Bill of Rights remaining as they were when adopted two centuries ago (Wikipedia 2005). Most of the 17 later amendments reflected continued efforts to expand individual civil or political liberties. There are more than 10,000 Constitutional amendments since 1789, with 100-200 proposed in a typical Congressional year. But most of these never get out of the Congressional committee, much less passed by Congress. Stringent measures enabled only the most important and least evanescent of amendments to be ratified (Wikipedia).

Article 1 establishes the legislative branch of government, Congress, which consists of the House of Representative and the Senate; the election and qualifications of the members; legislative procedure, the powers of the legislative branch and limitations on the federal and state legislative power (Wikipedia 2005). Article 2 creates the executive branch: the presidency, and the powers, qualifications and selection of the president; the vice presidency and its role of taking over the presidency; and the impeachment of Constitutional officers, i.e., president, vice president, and judges. Article 3 establishes and describes the judicial branch or the court system, including the Supreme Court. It provides that Congress can create lower courts, whose judgments and orders would be reviewed by the Supreme Court; and requires trial by jury in all criminal cases and defines the crime of treason. Article 4 describes the relationship between the federal government and the states and among the states. Article 5 describes the process of amending the Constitution by either a request for a convention by 2/3 of the state legislatures or 2/3 of the majority of both houses. Article 6 establishes the Constitution and the laws and treaties the U.S. enters into according to it. And Article 7 describes the method of ratification, whereby only 9 states, not all of the 13, need to ratify for the Constitution to take effect.

The 10th Amendment provides that powers not delegated to the federal government nor prohibited by the Constitution to the states are reserved to the states or the people (Wikipedia 2005). It is the last of the 10 Amendments collectively known as the Bill of Rights, which placed some fundamental human rights at the center of the U.S. legal system, and which now serves as model for the legal systems of other nations (Wikipedia).

The First Amendment establishes the central civil liberties of Americans and guarantees their freedom of speech, of the press, of religion and the right to a peaceable assembly (Fonder and Shaffrey 2002). But the exercise of these rights or liberties often comes in conflict with other rights also guaranteed by the Constitution or its amendments, which inherently limit them, such as national security vs. freedom of the press. The rift between the need to protect the nation and the citizens' right to free speech has been the subjects of a number of court cases, such as the 1997 Supreme Court ruling on the Reno v American Civil Liberties Union and the New York Times publishing the Pentagon Papers. The freedom to peaceable assembly also often clashes against other established laws, such as the 14th and the 5th Amendments, which are often invoked to protect citizens' rights even when they are violating laws as in demonstrations, protests and a form of peaceful assembly known as civil disobedience. And in interpreting the freedom of religion, Supreme Court Justice Hugo Black ruled that the federal government cannot create a church or a national religion nor compel a citizen to attend any church or to believe in a specific faith or religion. Religious freedom has been an issue in debates concerning religious expression in public schools and federal or state funding of parochial schools. Praying in public schools has been ruled as violation of the separation of the church and state. The First Amendment guarantees and protects the choice of religion or faith, but actions proceeding from the chosen religion are not protected. An example is the court ruling, which allows adults of another faith to refuse certain forms of medical treatment they do not believe in, but compels children to receive that medical treatment, even if the parents' religious beliefs oppose it (Fonder… READ MORE

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