Spying in America

The following is a piece from Ronald A. Marks, author of Spying in America in the Post 9/11 World: Domestic Threat and the Need for Change:

Since 9/11, the United States has engaged in an unprecedented amount of spying within the American homeland. An enemy who recognizes no borders, recruits individuals and small groups, and is ruthless in its desire to kill civilians has prompted the effort. We have engaged our spy community, our military, and our law enforcement community to stop these attacks. The record is now up for review.

In the 12 years since the attack on the World Trade Center towers and the Pentagon, we have spent nearly half a trillion dollars on homeland security alone. The Federal government has established deep information and law enforcement relationships with the 17,600 state, local and tribal law authorities. It has reached out in unprecedented ways to the business and public for information. It has intruded into our personal lives every time we travel, every time we remove our shoes in an airport or get wanded entering a public building.

Authorities say some 50 terrorist plots have been stopped. But, the Boston Bombings this year made Americans uneasy over the effectiveness of what is being done to stop terrorism. The exposure of the super-secret, extensive, and legally approved effort by the National Security Agency (NSA) to take in and mine unprecedented volumes of information from innumerable private and public sources has stunned the country and forced the questions: are we doing too much and how much should we, the public, need to know about it?

Contained in the DNA of America’s citizens is their concern over big government. We neither like nor trust it. The U.S. Constitution, the very essence of our political identity, splits the power between three separate, co-equal branches of Federal government.  Additionally, it allows for state’s rights and specifically lays out individual freedom in the Bill of Rights. 

So the time has come to debate our actions publicly– whither America in its war on terror within America.  The challenge the U.S. Government will have making its case lie in the secret methods it has used to build up our defenses. Government officials argue for not tipping our hand to the terrorists—the traditional argument of sources and methods. And, unlike other times in our history such as the anti-communist hunts of the 1950s and 1960s, our government has gone through extraordinary measures to make sure its actions were legal and reviewed. 

In the past few weeks, prompted by an unlikely so-called whistleblower from NSA, the average American has been exposed to the issue of FISA courts, and the Patriot Act, and Presidential Executive Orders designed to check and double check surveillance programs.  The problem lies not in the court of law, but in the court of public opinion.

Americans are a tolerant people if things are explained to them; if they are vetted into the process and reasoning behind our Government protection. That public “light” has been not been shined.  The public “security” boards set up under law years ago to provide this insight and outside government protection are only now being filled and put into action. 

It is up to the U.S. Government to make its case for spying in America to its citizens. It is up to its citizens to determine how much they want or are willing to tolerate. That is what America’s Constitution calls for and what should be done.

Ronald A. Marks is senior fellow at George Washington University's Homeland Security Policy Institute, Washington, DC, and a former CIA senior official. Marks has written about intelligence and homeland security issues for the last ten years.

Super Tuesday

With Super Tuesday upon us, the Republican Party's presidential primary race is in full swing, and today could prove pivotal—either by lending support to Mitt Romney's presumed "frontrunner" status or by leveling the playing field among the candidates.


The concept of Super Tuesday originated during the elections of 1984 and 1988, when many states began holding caucuses and primaries on the same Tuesday in early March. In particular, southern states participated in these simultaneous events in order to increase their region's significance.


Historically, the results of Super Tuesday have often established which candidates ultimately receive their party's nomination. For instance, after losing early primary contests in 1992, Bill Clinton cemented his status as "The Comeback Kid" when he won many Southern states on Super Tuesday, later cinching the Democratic nomination and the presidency. Likewise, in 1996, Bob Dole sealed the Republican nomination after sweeping all seven states holding primaries on Super Tuesday.


The last presidential election's Super Tuesday, February 5, 2008, became the largest presidential primary election day in U.S. history as 24 states held caucuses or primaries. While this quasi national primary—dubbed "Super Duper Tuesday" for the vast number of delegates at stake—had the potential to set up a situation in which party nominations were sealed only a few weeks after the official kickoff of the 2008 primary season, the results of the contests left open the possibility of contested political conventions. Barack Obama, who won fewer delegates on Super Tuesday than close competitor Hillary Rodham Clinton, ultimately won the Democratic nomination. Super Tuesday did provide a boost to eventual Republican nominee John McCain, who came in first in nine of the contests in a strong showing .


More than 400 Republican delegates are at stake in this year's Super Tuesday contest, or about one third of the total delegates needed to lock up the party's presidential nomination. The outcome in today's Super Tuesday contests in Alaska, Georgia, Idaho, Massachusetts, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Vermont, and Virginia could put the GOP on the path to a clear nominee at its August nominating convention in Florida—or Super Tuesday could help put the GOP on the path to a contested nominating convention.


More Resources

American Government
American Government explains the foundations of our government, connects these concepts to the issues of the day, and examines the strengths and weaknesses of the political and economic systems of the United States by comparing them to those of other countries.

Our National Civics Report Card

Results are in from the Department of Education, and the news isn't quite as rosy as we'd all like. Data collected from the 2010 NAEP civics assessment suggest a significant decline in civics achievement among the high school seniors who represent our country's newest voters. Between 2006 and 2010, those demonstrating proficiency in civics dropped by three percentage points to 24%. Results suggest that six in ten of our new voters won't know what rights they're invoking when they "plead the Fifth," while seven can't name two functions political parties play in our democracy. And at a time where the United States is deeply involved on three fronts—in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Libya—seven in ten high school seniors can't name two pieces of information they'd need to take under consideration when making a decision on whether to take military action in a foreign country!

Rather than wallow in our defeat and nervously watch as each new crop of underprepared voters heads to the ballot box, these results should serve as a catalyst for all of us committed to civic education to redouble our efforts and reverse a troubling trend. Like good teachers, as editors, we see the key to success as demonstrating each lesson's relevance, as doing more than just presenting facts to be memorized by rote. We strive to engage students' interest by contextualizing the basic facts in pressing contemporary debates and by using current events as a springboard to understanding the fundamental principles of government. (Honestly, who wouldn't yawn at the mention of the Commerce Clause, that is, until you look at it through the lens of the national debate over health care reform?)

-David Paige, Managing Editor, American Government and Issues

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Additional Resources

ABC-CLIO's American Government is the winner of the 2011 Best Educational Software Award in the Social Studies. This database explains the foundations of our government, connects these concepts to the issues of the day, and examines the strengths and weaknesses of the political and economic systems of the United States by comparing them to those of other countries.

Medicare and Proposed Changes

One of the few things that the two political parties currently agree on about Medicare, the federal health care program for the elderly and for some disabled people, is that some change is needed. Of course, the Democrats have already proposed gradual changes to help to reduce costs of the Medicare program as part of the 2010 Affordable Health Care Act. Many of these changes have yet to begin, however. Administration officials argue that by building on or adjusting last year’s health care reform bill, $480 billion would be saved by 2023, with an additional $1 trillion saved in the decade after that. 

On Friday, April 15, 2011, the House of Representatives passed the Republican leadership’s 2012 budget proposal. Included with this budget proposal is a Republican plan drafted by Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, R-Wisconsin, to cut federal deficits by almost 4.4 trillion dollars over the next ten years partially through a radical makeover of both the Medicare and Medicaid health plans. The passage of this bill in the House of Representatives followed political party lines, with every Democrat opposed to the measure. The bill has very little chance of passing the Democrat-controlled Senate and is strongly opposed by President Obama. 

The Republican plan would end Medicare as we currently know it. Beginning in 2022 the government would no longer pay the bills for the elderly, but would instead provide some amount of money, sometimes called a voucher and sometimes called premium support, so they could then choose coverage from a list of private health insurance providers. Beneficiaries of Medicare would be individually responsible for any costs above the premium support amount. The annual increase in the government contribution would be limited to the consumer price index, a measure of general inflation. One major concern is that the premium or voucher amount would not keep up with the rising costs of health insurance because the increase in health insurance costs has exceeded the increase in the general consumer price index for most years since the passage of Medicare in 1965. A likely result would be that, over a period of some years, the amount provided would not be enough for many of the elderly to purchase health insurance. While wealthier people would still use the premium subsidy to purchase private insurance, many of those with limited incomes might end up without any health care insurance as they age, thus destroying Medicare as a guarantee of coverage for the elderly as it is today. While individuals currently 55 and over would retain the traditional Medicare plan many opponents of the Republican plan argue that support for full Medicare benefits for people in this age group would erode over time, since working age tax payers would know that they would not benefit from the program in that form. Estimates of the Kaiser Family Foundation are that, under the proposal, typical 65-year-olds retiring in 2022 might have to devote almost half of their monthly Social Security checks toward health care costs. This is more than double than what would be spent under current Medicare law. 

In addition to this major change in how Medicare operates, other changes are included in the proposed legislation. The age of eligibility for Medicare would gradually increase from 65 to 67. The provisions of the 2010 law to close the Medicare drug benefit’s coverage gap, or "doughnut hole" would also be eliminated, as would the creation of an Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB).

Other non-Medicare related changes would be to make Medicaid, the joint federal-state program that provides health care for the poor, into a series of block grants for the states on the premise that state governments would be better able to allocate those funds more efficiently. This would create a major issue with the 2010 health care reform program, which relies on expansions to Medicaid as it is currently structured to help provide care for some of the currently uninsured. 

On the tax side, the Republican proposal would modify key portions of the tax code, dropping the top rate for individuals and businesses to 25% while eliminating a number of loopholes. Democrats argue this means that many of the funding cuts to Medicare and Medicaid would be used to lower the tax rates on the wealthiest Americans, ultimately destroying the social framework that has been in place since 1965. 

Debates about how best to modify Medicare to either strengthen the program or control rising costs are not new at all. Since Medicare initially passed we have seen both parties suggest major modifications, and certainly there have been important may expansions and additions. These components include George W. Bush's drug component, and the way that providers, both hospitals and physicians are reimbursed. The still the current Republican proposals are more extreme than previous suggestions for improvement and ultimately argue for the elimination of the programs as they have operated over the past 45 years. The outcome of this new/old policy debate will be resolved through the remainder of the year.

Jennie Jacobs Kronenfeld, PhD, is a professor in the sociology program in the School of Social and Family Dynamics at Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona. Dr. Kronenfeld conducts research in medical sociology, especially in health policy, health across the life course, health behavior and health utilization. She coauthored ABC-CLIO’s Healthcare Reform in America: A Reference Handbook and authored Expansion of Publicly Funded Health Insurance in the United States: The Children’s Health Insurance Program and Its Implications. She also authored Medicare in the Greenwood Press Health and Medical Issues Today series. She is the author of the Emerald Press research annual series “Research in the Sociology of Medical Care”. She is a past chair of the medical sociology section of the American Sociological Association, and a fellow of the American Academy of Health Behavior.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Additional Resources...

Medicare

Jennie Jacobs Kronenfeld

Greenwood, 12/2010

Including up-to-date details about Medicare in light of the 2010 Health Care Reform bill, this book will help readers understand past concerns about the program, as well as current issues and ways to address them.

American Government

This database explains the foundations of our government, connects these concepts to the issues of the day, and examines the strengths and weaknesses of the political and economic systems of the United States by comparing them to those of other countries.

John F. Kennedy's Inaugural Address

Fifty years ago, on January 20, 1961, newly inaugurated President John F. Kennedy delivered his inaugural address. Some of us are too young to have witnessed this speech firsthand; but, I believe we are all familiar with JFK's famous phrase, "ask not what your country can do for you—ask what you can do for your country." Take a step back in time to that turbulent and exciting moment in American history by reading the speech in its entirety.

I can recall, even at a young age, my mother revisiting her memories of JFK and the impact that those years had on her life. She said JFK was young, fresh, full of new ideas, and immediately loved by this country. Like many, she can also remember every minute of Friday, November 22, 1963, when she heard the tragic news that he had been assassinated. From the Cuban Missile Crisis to people replicating Jackie O's classy style – the Kennedy administration definitely left its mark on her generation and the generations to come.

Gain more insight into one of the most famous and popular presidents in American history with the resources in ABC-CLIO's American Government database. If you don't already subscribe, sign up for a 60-day preview to the entire collection of databases.

Do you remember listening to this timeless speech? If so, what did you think? How did it affect you? We'd love to hear from you!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Coming Soon...

John F. Kennedy: A Biography

Michael Meagher and Larry D. Gragg

July 2011

This biography examines the life and political career of a president whose idealism and policies continue to impact the world today despite his brief time in office.