My answers to the essay question

I know that it took me a while but between grading all your finals and going to 2 graduations in the last week, I've been a slacker. What can I say?

But I promised some of you that I would publish my own answers to the assessment essay this semester. First and foremost, let me stress to you that these are my own views on the subject and in no way mean that if you didn't answer the way I did, I docked your grades. This is my personal opinion and you gave me yours. You know what they say about opinions...

One of the best essays I read started off with a comment along the lines of how we freak out about the idea of immigrants coming to this country. Every other country in the world should be so luck to have such a problem; our country is such a place of hope and chance for a better life that people fight to get here. An interesting take to say the least. But the issue is illegal immigration and that's what makes this such a touchy issue. There's a legal part and there's the human part and both sides are going to have to be addressed before the issue is settled. I really do pity the President and our government in this issue because no matter how they handle this decision, a lot of people are going to be very, very, very unhappy.

That gets us to the gist of the assessment question. With the unexplained breach in the space/time continuum, the President has the opportunity to pick from the short list of historical figures on the list I gave you. Who would I recommend and who would I tell him to avoid like the plague?

1. Eleanor Roosevelt- I didn't even have to read the question the whole way through before I was thinking about Eleanor. Honestly, the space/time continuum needs to be broken more often so every President has the opportunity to seek her advice. During her husband's administration and those of many other Presidents who followed him, she showed herself as a voice of reason and a voice for what was right. She believed in the rights of women and in Civil Rights, both at a time when such things were not necessarily kosher. Eleanor Roosevelt bent over backwards to make sure she knew what the common people needed from the government. She would not hesitate to make her voice known if the discussions over the issue started to head down a bad path.

2. Theodore Roosevelt- Teddy might have been a glory hog but he was a glory hog for the right reasons. Like his niece Eleanor, Teddy was a believer in human rights and also in the US government. He would bring experience and power to the panel. He showed that he would stand up for what was right for the country, even if it wasn't necessarily what was popular. And even if his decisions weren't universally popular, he would give reasonable explanations for his choices.

3. Robert F. Kennedy- I've always been a huge RFK fan. I wonder what his presidency would have been like if he hadn't been assassinated. Like TR, RFK wasn't afraid to tackle the hard issues. He was the power behind his brother's administration so he has experience. He fought for Civil Rights and against organized crime. And during his own presidential campaign, he was blunt and straightforward about the fact that tough decisions always need to be made and the US people may not always be 100% happy. I appreciate honesty like this from a politician.

4. Dwight D. Eisenhower- I know that Ike didn't necessarily favor minorities during his presidency but if you are looking for someone who has absolutely no mistakes or scandals on their resume' this ain't the list for you!!! We'd have to mark everybody off. So my reasoning for choosing Eisenhower is his dedication to this country. First and foremost, he was a soldier who planned amazingly successful missions and always was ready to accept criticism for his mistakes. He took this attitude into the White House and made it clear that he thought that the government should be above party politics. In a decision such as this one, everybody needs to follow Ike's Middle Way. He also cared about the common people of the United States. Ike would bring the qualities that made him a great soldier and a great President to the table and that's what this committee needs.

5. Harry Truman- Truman's decision to use atomic weaponry against Japan always overwhelms everything else that happened in his presidency but regardless of the fact that the atomic bombs were indeed crimes against nature, Truman himself manned up and made the decision that needed to be made. Is a decision about immigration as tough as one concerning bombing 2 cities? No!!! But it shows that Truman can make tough decisions regardless of what it does to his reputation. In addition, Truman stood up for Civil Rights and stood strong in the early days of the Cold War.

6. Richard Nixon- What?!? The guy that perpetrated Watergate and isn't a crook?!? Yep, him. If there's a breach in the space/time continuum, then we can go back and get pre-Watergate Nixon. I want the Nixon who made tough choices in dealing with the Vietnam War and stood up for the decisions he made. I want the Nixon who went to Moscow and got into the Kitchen Debate with Nikita Khrushchev. I want the Nixon who debated with JFK. Why? Because this Richard Nixon really wasn't a crook (yet); he was a well-educated, well-spoken, self-made man who could offer good advice to the committee.


Who would I not put on the list? This was actually pretty easy.

1. Jimmy Carter- Don't get me wrong, Jimmy Carter is one of the greatest humanitarians in American History but I think this might be a downfall for him in this particular instance.

2. Andrew Carnegie- I think that Carnegie might be a little too close to the issue. As an immigrant himself, he might not be able to be impartial. He could definitely give the committee his own story but his is very different than most immigrants. And too, as one of the biggest employers in American History, he might be a little biased on that front too.

3. Henry Ford- Same thing with Ford. Ford was a very intelligent man but I'm afraid he would approach this from an economic rather than a legal point of view.

4. William Jennings Bryan- Bryan was a great man in history but he was also very tightlaced in his beliefs. There's nothing wrong with this but Bryan had a history of walking away when he thought his own beliefs might be compromised. In this case, committee members can't just quit because they don't get their way.

5. Warren G. Harding- Can anybody say Teapot Dome Scandal? Not because of the scandal itself but because Harding was so caught up in the "good ole boy" system that he didn't figure out that his friends were screwing the country over. This committee needs people who are paying attention and can actually make good choices!


Now, all of that being said, if there is a breach in the space/time continuum then I ought to be able to pluck the perfect people out of the abyss right? Here's what I think would actually be the absolute perfect group of advisors...

1. Chuck Norris- enough said.

2. George Washington- I know he wasn't on the list because this was an American History II class and he's American History I but my man GW needs to be on every committee in existance.

3. Julius Caesar- What! He's not even American! Hell, there wasn't an America when Caesar lived but Caesar was the man! He made decisions that helped the common people (and of course boosted his popularity but still) and bucked the system when the rest of the government balked.

4. Albus Dumbledore- I know, he's not real but there is no decision that Dumbledore couldn't make. Like GW, Dumbledore needs to be on every committee.

5. Yoda- A little green alien? Yes, a little green alien who trained Jedi for a thousand years. If anybody has experience to make the right decisions in a rough situation, it's Yoda. Plus, I just like the way he talks.

(And yes, before you freak out and wonder if I've lost my mind... I have but I'm not really serious about the the last batch on the list. They would be cool though, wouldn't they?)