Write on the prompt that you were assigned:
Presidential Selection Reform
If empowered to do so, what major reforms to the U.S. presidential selection process would you make? Be
sure to identify and advocate for a change to both the primary process and the general election. After
articulating why your reforms would be positive and worth pursuing, make an objective assessment about the
likelihood of these proposals happening in your lifetime.
Congressional Reform
Consider the following changes to the US Congress and make a very clear argument as to why each change
would be an improvement over the status quo or not: term limits, “single subject amendment,” repealing the
17th amendment, eliminating the filibuster in the Senate, and replacing the single-member district system for
the House of Representatives with an alternative. If you support any of these changes, be sure to articulate
exactly what version of the change you support. After articulating your positions on these reform ideas, make
an objective prediction at the likelihood of any of these types of reforms being made in your lifetime.
Judicial Reform
Consider the following changes to the US Supreme Court and make a very clear argument as to why each
change would be an improvement over the status quo or not: a change in how judges are selected, the number
of judges, the length of their term, and the ability to remove judges for not adhering to the Constitution. If
you support any of these changes, be sure to articulate exactly what version of the change you support. After
articulating your positions on these reform ideas, make an objective prediction at the likelihood of any of
these types of reforms being made in your lifetime.
Union Reform
The United States of America began as a Continental Union of sovereign States and Statehood is still a very
important concept in the Constitution and in American politics. Nevertheless, in many ways, the modern-day
USA functions as a “single country” rather than a Continental Union of States, and the States, while still an
important level of government, appear to lack much of their reserved sovereignty. The Federal government
regularly exercises authority over issues that the 10th amendment reserves to States and Americans routinely
pledge their allegiance to “the Republic…indivisible.” Write a paper where you address the following big
picture “Union questions.” 1) If empowered to do so, would you add any amendments to the Constitution that
would affect the nature of the Union in either direction, either towards officially embracing the concept of the
USA as a “single country” (and structurally doing away with the concept of “Union of States”) or in the other
direction of strengthening the role of States and their sovereignty within a Union? 2) If empowered to do so,
would you make any changes to the membership of the Union (currently there are 50, and it has been that way
only since 1959!). If so, explain exactly what changes to membership you would advocate for. 3) Finally,
regardless of your preference, what is the likely outcome concerning relevant amendments and membership
that you discussed in your lifetime? Be sure to justify your answers to all three questions with thoughtful and
convincing argumentation.
Further instructions:
All papers are to be 10 pages, double-spaced with 12-point New Courier font and 1-inch margins.
Final drafts will be submitted via turnitin.com. It is due an hour before your discussion section debate on the
topic, scheduled on the syllabus. Students who do not turn in their paper (15 points) before the debate will
not be allowed to participate in the debate (5 points). Use APA, Chicago, or MLA citation style, whichever
one you prefer, but definitely use one of those. And please note that you cannot have a bibliography or
“works cited” section at the end if there are not actual citations in the body of the paper!
Spring 2023 Update: To address concerns with the use of ChatGPT and other AI software, students are
required to:
—Cite the classroom experience in a meaningful way at least four times in the paper. ChatGPT and other AIs
cannot do this. Failing to do so will raise flags, get me digging deeper into whether or not AI software has
been used, and can result in significant point penalties.
—Attach and email me your in-progress Word document immediately after you have written one half of the
paper. This should be 5 pages of written material (not much more or less) that is unpolished (it may be
disjointed, have grammar issues, etc…). Send the first 5 pages (regardless of where they will appear in your
final draft) that you produce before you produce the next 5 pages. Do not expect any response or feedback on
this. This is merely to document and provide further evidence that you are organically developing your paper
and allow me to see how the paper was developed if I become suspicious about potential AI-generated
content. Title the email “Paper in progress” and send it to me at least 5 days before the due date for the final
draft. Failure to do so will result in significant point penalties and an increased concern and investigation into
potential AI usage.
—Please note that I have a long and successful record catching cheaters, even AI cheaters. It is better for you
to just produce an honest few pages and receive partial credit than a full length paper with plagiarism or AIgenerated content. Students who engage in plagiarism and/or AI-generated content can and will receive an F
for the course and be referred to Academic Affairs for further documentation and discipline. I have been
teaching this class for a long time and am very familiar with the range of real student writing styles. ChatGPT
and other AI-generated content has subtle patterns and nuances to its writing that are inconsistent with human
writing, especially student writing.