Discuss your Global Literacy Project Here:

Here is a sample Global Literacy Assignment. Hopefully this will give you an idea of what we are looking for and what you need to do to receive full points. Feel free to comment on my assignment and/or article and ask questions if you have them!

Summarize Issue/Problem:

In an article entitled “Justices Explore U.S. Authority Over States on Assisted Suicide,” published Thursday in the New York Times by Ms. Linda Greenhouse, the supreme court justices met in Washington to discuss whether the U.S. Government has the authority to override the decisions of individual states on doctor assisted suicide.

Why does this matter?:

As Oregon is the only state who has passed a Death with Dignity act (which in fact has been brought to a vote and supported twice) this issue is very close to home. But there are also other implications for this case. If the government has the right to override this decision, how many other decisions that were originally allowed to be made by individual states will eventually fall into the hands of the government at large?

How is this issue related to Global Poverty, Global Health and Democracy?:

This issue threatens the democracy to its core. One of the main checks and balances of our government is that authority is spread out into many hands. The more the government takes power from individual states, the more power is in the hands of the few instead of the many and the closer we come to be a dictatorship instead of a democracy.

This also has implications for the health of the rest of the world, as many newly independent countries look to the United States’ constitution as a guiding light on how they can also achieve democracy. If the model of democracy [ the U.S.] no longer practices democracy, what will become of the countries that look to their constitution as a democratic example?

Offer projections or predictions for the future, based on the information:

If the decision for individual states to make their own laws regarding doctor assisted suicide is revoked, what other laws will be revoked? Will Massachusetts no longer allow martial unions for homosexual couples? Will we no longer be able to tailor our laws to our specific circumstances and instead be forced to all submit to whatever the lawmakers of Washington declare?

This is an important aspect of our democracy and to take this away would undermine the authority of individual states to do any other individual lawmaking. When we begin to tear down our democratic rights we endanger everything this country is built on.
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