Contemporary Connections to Constitutional Beliefs

1. The fact that the US government is rapidly recalling peanut butter products that may contain salmonella is an example of the natural rights philosophy. Though it was a mistake for these products to be shipped in the first place, the massive recall shows that the US government does care about the health of its citizens. Though salmonella poisoning that can be caused by this peanut butter usually just causes a temporary sickness, "infants, the elderly, and those with compromised immune systems are more likely to have severe and life-threatening illness." One of the natural, unalienable rights is that every individual has the right to life. Philosopher John Locke in particular believed that the government's purpose was to secure each of the natural rights, and that's exactly what they are doing by protecting more people from being infected, as "Sundlof urges consumers to keep checking the FDA's searchable list of recalled peanut products because that list is likely to keep growing." Hopefully the recall will end soon, but until then, the government is doing the best they can to prevent further danger on the unalienable right to life.

Source:
http://www.webmd.com/food-recipes/food-poisoning/news/20090128/salmonella-peanut-butter-recall-expands?src=RSS_PUBLIC

2. Iraq recently held provincial elections that "will set the political landscape of Iraq for the next several years." These elections are the first real test of Iraq's new government. Since Classical Republicanism was for protecting the rights of citizens and doing what was best for the common good, the idea corresponds with these elections. This is because these are elections by the people for the best representatives of what they need. The citizens now have a say in who gets to protect their rights, and the government is now based on what is best for the majority by having these elections. It's interesting to see that such an old practice can be used in this modern world.

Source:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28878556/

3. President Obama is definitely a Federalist. Federalists believe that the power should revolve around the central government, while Anti-Federalists want the power of government to truly be in the hands of the separate states. The United States is much too large for the latter to work because it would be much less organized, and Obama is surely aware of this. For instance, Obama supports the idea of nationalized healthcare. He has put "an emphasis on dramatically and quickly increasing the number of people who have health insurance by spending significant money upfront." This increasing number deals with the nation as a whole, rather than separate states. Currently, our government does not have nationalized healthcare, it is instead dealt with differently depending on the state. The fact that Obama is striving to change this policy is an obvious indication that he is a Federalist.

Source:
http://www.thehealthcareblog.com/the_health_care_blog/2008/03/a-detailed-anal.html