Blog 5

10/1 - Of the 8 principles of the Constitution; which do you believe to be most influential in shaping society? What role have these ideas had on domestic and foreign policies? 

                I believe that popular sovereignty is the most influential principle in shaping society.  Popular sovereignty is a doctrine in political theory that government is created by and subject to the will of the people. So the government is created and changed by the people of the United States. So if we change our own government that shapes our society, correct? We control how we want everything to be done, so most of the things we change are in our best interest. We very rarely do things out of our best interest.

Popular sovereignty then plays a major role in United States’ domestic policy because domestic policy is directly related to the people. If one candidate has a stronger domestic policy than the other then we will most like vote in favor of the one with the stronger domestic policy. A very large example of a domestic policy is healthcare. The stand of a candidate on healthcare will sway the way people vote for them. In today’s situation Democrats are in favor of Obama’s plan but the Republicans do not. The Republicans greatly disagree with Obama’s plan and are using is low points to throw Romney into a win. In the end, one domestic policy may be the deciding factor in this election. I truthfully agree with the Republicans because Obama’s healthcare does not seem to be the answer to our desperate situation.

Now whether popular sovereignty plays a role in foreign policy I am sort of on the fence about. We pick and choose our own government, which controls foreign policy; but we don’t actually control foreign policy ourselves. So I guess you could say that popular sovereignty does play a role in foreign policy but in a roundabout way. Seeing as we are part of a war at the moment that would be a great example of foreign policy. In my opinion, whether Romney wins this election may rest on the fact that he wants to further the war. The United States has had plenty of war and we all think we should be rid of any such thing. Obama’s foreign policy on the war states that he was all troops out by 2014, at least he has a plan. So foreign policy will change by who we vote for but it will also change by the way the elected candidate chooses to handle the situation.