Obama Goes to Denmark

Read the following article and write your own critique similar to the format of the 4 contributors to the Post's article. Keep it brief. Must have response submitted before we pass a national health care bill or class starts on Monday Oct. 5th, which ever comes first. You can click on the title above (Obama Goes to Denmark) to access the article.



Mr. Thompson

Guest Blogger: Nathan H.

In class, we have started to examine the revolution and rhetoric. The Declaration of Independence is famous for its rhetoric in explaining the principles of the revolutionaries and their perceived condition. In this blog entry, I intend to show how rhetoric is used in the Declaration of Independence to strengthen their case against the British government.

The preamble includes what is the most famous quote from the document, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness”. While it is eerily similar to a quote from Locke, “...Life, Liberty, and Property”, the line also contains powerful ethos, referring to the equality of man and “unalienable Rights”.

The list of charges against King George III is essentially one giant example of ethos meant to demonstrate to King George III and the British government what they did that would justify the colonists’ revolution. “He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only”. This gripe is twofold in its meaning; first of all, it claims that the colonists desire some level of independence from the British crown since they had become accustomed to living under Salutary Neglect, It also is a jab at the King in saying that only a tyrant would try to browbeat the colonists into a state of complete dependence.

The last section of the Declaration is when the revolutionaries actually declare independence from Britain, again alluding to the philosophies of Locke, “When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation”.

Guest Blogger: Thomas D.

The end of September: a busy time for everyone's classes, not to mention homecoming. APLG is no exception, with the class's recent survival of a essay and oral test, and the quick plunge into the next unit. However, I won't miss an opportunity when I see one, and I'll take this transition from philosophy to American government history to mash them together with some of my own ideas.

During the oral part of the test, a sudden contradiction hit me. Having just read the Declaration of Independence, it is clear that the writers felt very close to John Locke's ideas, if not directly inspired. The authors took great pains to create a list of every single objectionable act that separated protective and beneficial leadership from tyranny. They concluded that "A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people." Following Locke's advice, the social contract is completely absolved.

Unfortunately for the newly-independent colonists, the British didn't have quite the same viewpoint. They rather subscribed to Hobbes's ideas, which argued against one's ability to break a social contract. Britain then followed the slightly infamous quote: "Covenants, without the sword, are but words and of no strength to secure a man at all."

Now, the contradiction I see with this is that it happens over and over again in history. The loyalists are strictly Hobbes fans, and the rebels adore Locke. Historical alignment does not seem to matter, only what best preserves the interest of the party. Even Americans, who had previously seemed to be devout Locke followers, did not remain so for long. One of Abraham Lincoln's most famous quotes, "one nation indivisible" shows that the thinking of Americans (or at least members of the Union) had shifted to a Hobbes-like stance, as the secession of the Confederate States did not go unchallenged, causing the Civil War.

To back up his ideas, Abraham Lincoln did not appeal to the logic of Locke or Hobbes, however. Rather, his speeches are laden with ethos, powerful statements of values that he held more important and basic than any other rights. Thus, it could be argued by that the states could not secede because their new government would not serve the people better, due to the masses of slaves who did not have representation.

Clearly, it seems that adhering to a single philosopher's teaching is rather impractical. Rather, my opinion is that people have their own 'metaphilosophy', a gathering of philosophical ideas that are applied when convenient. In my eyes, any universal truth will forever remain a distant utopia, which can never be achieved - no matter the merit nor ingenuity of a new philosopher's ideas.

What there's a test on Monday?

If you have questions, post them as comments and we'll do our best to respond to them this weekend.

Mr. Thompson

Guest Blogger: Mikail G.

With this entry I will dive deeper into a subject that I touched upon in our large group discussion several days ago. My goal is to establish a connection between Athens 430 B.C. and the United States (current). Though much can be gained from large group discussion, my comparison will perhaps be more effectively demonstrated if I am able to show you the exact quotes from which my thoughts are based.
Thucydides used the words of Pericles in order to get across two main points: he wanted to show what made Athens so great and also what Athens stood for as a city-state. The part that I find interesting is that many of the things that Pericles mentioned in his speech about Athens 2500 years ago are almost exactly the same as what we constantly hear today about the United States. Some of the quotes I speak of are as follows (all taken from the second page of the speech in the Thucydides packet):
“Our government does not copy our neighbors’, but is an example to them.”
“Because of the greatness of our city the fruits of the whole earth flow in upon us; so that we enjoy the goods of other countries as freely as our own.” Applied to today, this relates to how we import so many goods (ex. from China) because we are a wealthy nation (however, we do have a very large national debt).
“Our military training is in many respects superior to that of our adversaries.”
The United States has been known as the world’s leading military power for many years.
“Our city is equally admirable in peace and in war.” The United States is always respected whether we are in war, “we have the bigger stick,” or in peace because this country is able to provide a better quality of life to most.
To condense, according to Pericles’ speech, Athens and the United States had/have many similarities that by all means make each sound like grand states/nations. These quotes incline me to pose several questions. Despite having such admirable attributes, is any nation able to be number one indefinitely? It is obvious that Athens did not remain at the top of the food chain forever. According to Rousseau, no nation is able to last forever. Today’s question that many are wondering about is whether it is possible for the United States to continue being “the best” in this globalized modern world we live in, or will we too be passed by some other nation? I will end with a quote by Dave Sedaris suggesting that perhaps our thinking that we are number one is completely arbitrary (something that has never crossed my mind before).
“America is the greatest country on earth. Having grown up with this in our ears, it's startling to realize that other countries have nationalistic slogans too, none of which are 'We're number two!”

Philosopher's Letter

Philosopher Letter

Use the following readings to construct your letter.

Hobbes A Student’s History of Philosophy
Hobbes Ch. 13 of Leviathan
Locke Second Treatise excerpts
Thucydides History of the Peloponnesian War
Aristotle Politics
Plato Allegory of the Cave
Machiavelli The Prince
Rousseau The Social Contract

Your letter should be typed, double spaced and should be between 2-3 pages in length. Your facts, writing style and grammar should be checked to insure that your letter meets the expectations set for APLG students. The assignment is worth 50 points. The Due Date is Sept. 28th

You are to write a letter to a leader (could be current, doesn’t have to be). You should demonstrate your understanding of your philosopher’s beliefs as your letter unfolds. You may be offering advice or you may be seeking advice in your correspondence. You may reference other philosopher’s ideas if you wish to further your point. You really have free reign to create this letter as you see fit. Have some fun with this and be creative.

Guest Blogger: Taylor B.

Recently in class we have been talking a lot about the state of nature. Hobbes describes the state of nature as “poor, nasty, brutish and short”. He also says “Where there is no common power, there is no law; where no law, no injustice.” In class we discussed if there is injustice and justice in the state of nature. I think that there is no technical justice or injustice because there really is no one to enforce the laws. I think men have a conscience and they have morals, but who’s to say there’s a right and a wrong if no one has ever been taught the way. Locke is more optimistic in his thoughts with men. He believes that men want to be in a government. He believed that they yearn for the comfort of security. Hobbes, however, believes that men are always close to slipping back into the state of nature. He believes men to be selfish. Hobbes says “Nothing the sovereign do can possible be called injustice.” When people finally get into a government and elect a leader, Hobbes believes that rebellion is in no way justifiable. He says that if the men want to rebel against a leader that they chose, then they are rebelling against themselves. However Socrates said “The wisest men admit when they are wrong.” I think that it is okay to rebel against a leader if they are not following the contract laid out before them. Yes the people elected the person to be their leader, but they may not have seen what he was capable of doing. If a ruler is not following the contract the people can admit they were wrong in choosing a person who likes power, and put another person in his place. In class we talked about how men who want power, shouldn’t have it, but men who don’t necessarily want power should have it because normally they won’t become a tyrant. I find this interesting because for the articles we had to look up I found an article about Saddam Hussein. In the article it talked about his rise to power. He was always using people to get what he wanted. He was always hungry for power. Saddam used false trials to try and get the people to support him. Once they did, he had complete control. When the people of Iraq finally realized what was happening they couldn’t do anything about it. Wrapping all this up, men do not want to live in the state of nature, but when they have a government they need to be careful about who they put in charge and willing to admit when they are wrong.

Apply Paradigm Assigment

Due Thursday, September 17, 11:59 pm

Briefly: Identify one paradigm that Friedman indicates (either from the video or reading)has shifted. Next, choose one of the following and respond : Who/what goes to zero if they still follow the old paradigm? What is a rule for success under the new paradigm? What is a great opportunity (not challenge) of the new paradigm?

Two sentences total should do it, leave your response as a comment below. There is no need to register. You may use an existing google or yahoo account or post anonymously, but make sure your name is listed/identifiable somewhere so you can receive credit.

Friedman: The World Is Flat

Feel free to iTunes the Friedman clip (The World Is Flat 3.0, MIT OpenCourseWare, April 2009); it's fascinating stuff and if you're not aware of the global paradigm shift you'll be back at zero.

Extra credit offered to the person who finds what happened on the date he mentioned.

(as personally devasting as Jerry Garcia's death was for me, that is not what he was talking about)

The Blog

AP Language/Government

The Blog: http://apeg.blogspot.com/

Purpose: Authoring blog entries will offer you another opportunity to present your ideas and writing for a larger audience than just the classroom teacher. Ideally, this will lead to more reflective, richer, and deeper thinking while increasing your writing awareness and skills.

Procedures: Each student will be assigned a day to be responsible for posting a 300- 400 word blog entry. The topic of this should primarily be aligned to the current content of the course as you share your further thoughts, research, and connections. As you develop your writing, you may choose to include support from other great writers, thinkers, and researchers, as you draw connections between the ideas we’re studying and the larger world.

By noon of your assigned day, email your post to erdecker@rochester.k12.mn.us It will be posted as presented, unless the content is inappropriate to a public educational setting.

Evaluation: Each blog entry will be evaluated on

Expanding upon ideas generated through current course content

Using a range of sources to illustrate, explain, and present your thoughts

Clear, effective writing

In addition to authoring a blog once a semester, you will also be asked to respond a minimum of five times to your peers’ blogs. These will be evaluated on

Responding to the direct focus of the entry

Connecting ideas presented with additional references/ideas

Thoughtful responses which further the discussion

5% of your grade will be determined from the Blog.