The Movie, Lincoln 2012
The movie, Lincoln 2012 captures Lincoln's last months in which he struggled with the continued carnage on the battlefield as he fought with many people in his cabinet on the decision to anticipate the slaves. The movie succeeds in presenting Lincoln's character precisely as he was; a plain-spoken down-to-earth man who through self-improvement and determination became a formidable force in the United States politics. Lincoln lacked social polish but was knowledgeable about human intelligence, and this is the character of Lincoln that the movie brings to light. Through Daniel Day Lewis who acts as Lincoln, the President is portrayed as calm, self-confident and willing to play politics realistically. For instance, he is willing to employ the underhand suggestions of the chief negotiators Blake Nelson, James Spader and John Hawkes (Spielberg n.pg). Through political wit, deep understanding of human nature and vote buying, Lincoln succeeds in passing the 5th Amendment to cut away the financial foundations of the Confederacy (Spielberg n.pg). Therefore, Lincoln
Achieving Political Goals
succeeds in painting a clear picture of Lincoln and the methods he used to achieve his objective. The movie illustrates that achieving a political goal calls for strength of character, wit and political alliances since no one can achieve a political cause alone.
Parliaments in Context
In the article, Parliaments in Context, the author's postulation that today's parliaments have changed their role in a democracy is both relevant and valid. Notably, parliament's role in a democracy is to make laws in the country that address the changing social and political situations. For instance, if the levels of environmental pollution in the country are high, it is upon parliament to come up with the regulatory framework to address this issue. However, this is not the case in many countries where parliament has turned to be an oversight body of the executive arm of government. Victoria Hasson offers the examples of the parliaments of Sierra Leone, Jordan and Sri-Lanka as countries where parliament no longer plays its law-making function (Hasson n.pg). For instance, Sierra Leone's parliament focuses more on the oversight authority of the committees while effective parliamentarism in Sri-Lanka is seen when parliament holds the executive accountable on adversarial terms (Hasson n.pg). The function of parliament in all these countries is determined by people's expectations of what the house is expected to accomplish as opposed to what the lawmakers should be doing. Thus, Hasson has excelled in showing that although parliaments chief role is to make laws, the expectations of the electorate and the political and social circumstances in a country affect the relationship of parliament with other arms such as the executive.
Limits to Trump's Power
During the campaign period, Trump's vision of America was a country that would be free of illegal immigrants, Obamacare and where the United States no longer had forces in the Middle East. In the article, Are There Limits to Trump's Power, the author poses that although Trump enjoys congressional majority, there are a number of legal and institutional hurdles that might prevent or slow down President's Trump's vision of America (Posner n.pg). I wholeheartedly agree with Eric Posner's assertion for a number of reasons. Firstly, the filibuster in the Senate are likely to oppose legislation they are against and coupled with the power of the courts, it might be difficult for Trump to actualize his dream. The greatest hurdle is likely to be federal bureaucracy where public servants would be unwilling to cooperate with Trump on actions such as harassing political opponents. Besides, thanks to the First Amendment, the media enjoys independence in the United States and therefore is likely to form another barrier to Trump's activities (Posner n.pg).
References
Hassan, Victoria. “Parliaments in Context: a Parliament’s Relationship with Democratic Trends.” Open Democoracy, 2016, www.opendemocracy.net/westminster/victoria-hasson/parliaments-in-context-parliament-s-relationship-with-democratic-trends.
Posner, Eric. “Are There Limits to Trump’s Power?” New York Times, 2016, www.nytimes.com/2016/11/10/opinion/are-there-limits-to-trumps-power.html.
Speilberg, Steven, director. Lincoln. Dream Works Pictures, 2012.
