COVID Government Restrictions

In the US, federalism is a characteristic of our form of government that shares governmental powers between the federal government and the 50 state governments. The US Constitution distributes certain of those powers to the federal government, but reserves the remaining governmental powers (per the US Constitution’s 10th amendment) to the states.
Over the Nation’s two centuries of existence there has been much controversy about what governmental powers should be exercised by the two levels of government. Currently, much controversy centers on whether or not the federal government and state governments encroached upon or are encroaching upon individual rights and liberties in response to the Coronavirus.
Start your research by reading the US Constitution’s Article I, Section 8, Article I, Section 10, and its 10th Amendment (as well as the rest of the Constitution and other sources). Also, read the Texas Constitution’s relevant provisions as well as Texas Government Code, Chapter 418. That Chapter empowers the Texas Governor to issue orders to protect Texas residents in situations where the public’s welfare is threatened. One of the things that you should note is that the restrictions placed upon all of us are, for the most part, a function of state governments and not the Federal government.
Despite the fact that the aforementioned restrictions only emerged a few months ago, there is already a plethora of information available about and commentary on the necessity or propriety of those restrictions, government’s role, and threats to liberty. You may consider that governments have and are acting appropriately in response to the virus; on the other hand, you may find that they are not, that the restrictions are unnecessary or too onerous.
Either way, you are to compose a paper that addresses those governmental actions. To prompt your thinking, here are some things to consider:
What is the issue?
Briefly describe this issue
What is the controversy?
What are the differences between advocates and opponents of it?
How does the issue affect individuals, economics, and society in general?
What do you think is the primary role of government in such a situation as this? Why?
What should be the role of each level of government?
What do the US and Texas Constitutions say about it?
What is the history of governments’ action sin similar situations?
Are governments doing enough or too little or too much?
Should primary responses to the virus be by the federal government or by state governments?
As of this writing, the US Congress has already made available or is considering making available over $6 trillion in aid to governments, businesses, and individuals in response to the virus. Is that appropriate?
Finish up your Paper by explaining how your research has affected your opinion regarding government’s role.
While you may be inclined to use this Paper as a platform for an emotional outpouring, do not outpour. Rather, your Paper should reflect your intellectual consideration of the topic. Of course, some emotion-based content is okay, but keep it quite, quite limited.
Your Paper must consist of a minimum of 600 words (599 is not 600), be single spaced using Times New Roman 12, and submitted online.
Failure to comply with the minimum word count is a real big deal that will result in no more than a D Paper.
Works Cited does not count toward word minimum.
Submit only Papers composed in MSWord.
You must use a minimum of three (3) scholarly sources. Unless otherwise specified herein, your use of internet sources must be limited to official government websites, law journals or law sites such as Findlaw ( http://caselaw.findlaw.com/ (Links to an external site.)), University law schools, and scholarly books and journals, and the publications listed below.
Try to confine your use of newspapers and magazines to the following or similar well-respected publications: Time, Newsweek, US News & World Report, The Nation, Fortune, Business Week, National Review, The New Republic, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, Texas Tribune, Texas Monthly, and Austin-American Statesman. They all have websites.
The following (or similar) are not to be used:
Wikipedia
Ask
Yahoo
About
Dictionaries
Khan Academy
Encyclopedias
Textbooks
Annenberg Classroom
TV and Radio stations, programs, or their websites
If you are not sure that you can use a source, ask me.
Use MLA citation format.
Your Paper’s last separate page, must contain a list of the sources you used. If you use footnotes, they too must be listed only on this page. Do not use in-text citations.
Works Cited does not count toward word minimum.
Do not cite national or state documents such as the US or Texas Constitutions or the Declaration of Independence even if they are quoted or otherwise cited in a legitimate source.
You can use statistics, but be very sure to keep them to a minimum (and I mean minimum). Do not use quotes. Your composition is to consist of your words.
The pages of your paper should not contain any information other than the words you wrote in response to the topic and the works cited page – i.e., no name, no titles, no ID information, no header, no footer, no page numbers, no nuttin’.
Papers will be submitted to Turnitin which will evaluate your submission for plagiarism. Any evaluation above 10% will result in a significant points reduction.
Your Paper must be composed in MSWord.
Your Paper should be a scholarly effort that reflects good organization and college level vocabulary. It will be graded on such, but also compliance with minimum word count, grammar, syntax, spelling, punctuation, sentence structure, and compliance with format requirements generally.
Failure to comply with the minimum word count is a real big deal that will result in no better than a D Paper.
Be very careful to avoid incomplete sentences and sentence fragments. Including even one of these will result in a major reduction in your paper’s point score.

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