First Short Quiz

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Click here for, inter alia, our traditional Short Quizzes followed by Suggested Answers.

This month, there is enough time for 3 quizzes.

Traditionally, the quizzes provide “thought piece” suggestions regarding what to look for in a focus book, or what to be aware of in reading it.

So I have tried to judge the 6 most important constitutional issues facing America at the moment, so that we can judge how well “The Quartet” did in creating the American Constitution. My list (which is NOT NECESSARILY in my order of importance, but rather in order of how quickly it would be able to concoct Quizzes and Reference Materials which address them appropriately) --

(1) School desegregation and charter schools.
(2) Abortion.
(3) Gun/knife control (NB: Britain is now banning knives but what about motor vehicles?).
(4) Campaign finance.
(5) Ruling by Executive Order and the Senate’s Filibuster Rule Which, Until The Last Decade Or So, Was Used SOLELY To Perpetuate Segregation.
(6) FISA and Authoritarian Rule by Our Intelligence Services.

I will try to address two of these topics in each of the 3 Short Quizzes.

Anyone who believes there should be an addition to this list is invited to post her/his views post haste.

BTW, consideration of these issues, primarily in terms of U.S. Supreme Court opinions, should afford ample opportunity to consider other dimensions of our consideration of “The Quartet” such as “original intent” vs. “legislating from the bench.”

Respectfully submitted 4/12/2018,

John Karls
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johnkarls
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First Short Quiz

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First Short Quiz


NB: The text of U.S. Supreme Court opinions referenced in this quiz are posted in the “Reference Materials” section of http://www.ReadingLiberally-SaltLake.org for our 5/16/2018 meeting.

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Part I – Questions Relating To School Desegregation and Charter Schools

1. Were all of “The Quartet” (George Washington, James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and John Jay) slave owners?

2. Because most of America’s “founding fathers” were slave owners, were the so-called Civil War Amendments (13, 14 and 15) required to treat African Americans as human beings?

3. Did the Fourteenth Amendment require states to provide all citizens, including the freed slaves, “equal protection of the law”?

4. Even though the Fourteenth Amendment was adopted in 1868, three years after the end of the American Civil War, did the U.S. Supreme Court decide 28 years later in its notorious Plessy v. Ferguson decision that racial segregation of public facilities (not only schools but restaurants, hotels, even public drinking fountains and toilets, etc.) did NOT violate “equal protection” so long as “separate but equal” public facilities were provided for African Americans?

5. Following the Civil War, did the 11 Confederate states and 6 additional “slave states” that did not secede from the Union during the Civil War, establish by force of law “separate” school systems for African Americans even though they were often living “side by side” with whites?

6. In 1954, did a unanimous U.S. Supreme Court in Brown v. Board of Education, reverse Plessy v. Ferguson and rule that “separate is inherently unequal”?

7. Did President Eisenhower decide to do nothing to enforce Brown v. Board until after his 1956 re-election so as not to jeopardize it?

8. BTW, even though President Truman is often credited with de-segregating the Armed Forces by Executive Order, did it actually take until 1954 for President Eisenhower to implement it because President Truman had neglected to do so?

9. So is it any surprise that following President Eisenhower’s re-election in 1956, the focal point of Southern defiance would be Arkansas Governor Orville Faubus calling out the Arkansas National Guard on 9/4/1957 to prevent 9 African American students from entering Little Rock’s Central High School?

10. Was the nation then treated to 3 weeks of stand-off as President Eisenhower effectively kept saying to Gov. Faubus “don’t make me do it” and Gov. Faubus effectively kept replying “over my dead body”?

11. On 9/24/1957, after three weeks of stand-off, did President Eisenhower finally nationalize the 10,000 Arkansas National Guard Troops and then, as their new Commanding Officer, order them to “stand down” while he ordered the “Screaming Eagles” of the Army’s 101st Airborne Division to escort the 9 students into Central H.S., and then to establish an impregnable perimeter defense around the school?

12. Did the 2007 decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in Parents v. Seattle School District No. 1 effectively restore school desegregation by ruling that segregated school districts based on segregated housing where there had been no previous history of “separate but equal” de jure dual school systems, are just fine under “equal protection of the law”?

13. In 2009, did Stanford University conduct a study of 2,403 charter schools (about half of all charter schools and 70% of all charter-school students) which found that 37% had learning gains that were SIGNIFICANTLY BELOW those of local public schools, 46% had gains that were NO DIFFERENT, and ONLY 17% showed growth that was significantly better?

14. Was this surprising because charter schools typically select only students of parents who were functional enough to have their children apply – and because charter schools typically expel under-performing students?

15. Was it even more surprising because the Stanford University study was funded by PRO-CHARTER groups including the Walton Family Foundation, and the Michael and Susan Dell Foundation?

16. Did this cause us to opine, after noting yet once again (which we have done so often over the years) that the abysmal performance of inner-city schools is a SOCIOLOGY problem rather than an EDUCATION problem -- that substituting charter schools (which typically do NOT have qualified teachers) for public schools is like closing an inner-city police precinct in whose jurisdiction a crime is committed, and hiring amateurs in place of the trained police officers?

17. In doing so, were we necessarily opposed to the concept of charter schools, or only the vast majority of charter schools that Stanford University demonstrated were “fake schools” because there had been a failure to police them properly?


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Part II – Questions Relating To Abortion

Editorial Note: Much of the following information necessary to answer the following questions can be found on http://www.ReadingLiberally-SaltLake.org by scrolling down to the materials for our 12/11/2013 meeting on “Third Trimester Abortions” and 1/9/2013 meeting on “Assisted Suicide.”

1. Are the famous “Ten Commandments” actually 10 of the 613 laws of Judaism?

2. Does the Roman Catholic Church emphasize the Ten Commandments?

3. Does official Roman Catholic Doctrine hold that life begins at conception and that, therefore, abortion violates “Thou Shalt Not Kill” of the Ten Commandments?

4. Do all of my Jewish friends call Roman Catholicism “Judaism Lite” because it only preaches compliance with the Ten Commandments?

5. Do many of my Protestant friends believe that the Ten Commandments have NOTHING TO DO with Christianity because Christ had only TWO Commandments for “inheriting eternal life” (Love God With All Your Heart/Soul/Strength/Mind and Love Your Neighbor As Yourself, which Christ immediately followed with the Story of the Good Samaritan to drive home the point that EVERY HUMAN BEING is your neighbor)?

6. For example, is it possible to “Honor Your Mother and Father” without actually loving them?

7. Or is it possible to avoid bearing false witness against your neighbor, and avoid coveting your neighbor’s house, wife, servants, animals or anything else that is thy neighbor’s – without actually loving your neighbor?

8. Accordingly, is it any surprise that many (if not most) Protestants do not believe abortion violates Christ’s TWO Commandments?

9. For example, prior to the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1973 decision in Roe v. Wade recognizing a constitutional right to abortion during the first two trimesters, did the United Methodist Church condone abortion provided: (1) it is legal in the jurisdiction in which it occurs, (2) proper medical procedures are employed, (3) parental notification is required for minors, (4) abortion is not a means of gender selection, (5) abortion does not comprise “late-term abortion” (aka “partial birth abortion”); and (6) thoughtful and prayerful consideration is employed and is accompanied with medical, family, pastoral and other appropriate counsel?

10. Was Roe v. Wade surprising because the Supreme Court based its decision on a constitutional “right to privacy” EVEN THOUGH a “right to privacy” is NOT mentioned anywhere in the U.S. Constitution (including Amendments)?

11. Had the result in Roe v. Wade been widely expected ON THE CONSTITUTIONAL GROUNDS of “equal protection of the law” because wealthy women could afford to go to other jurisdictions where abortion was legal?

12. BTW was the plaintiff, Jane Roe, a fictitious name? In other words, when courts decide to protect the identity of male plaintiffs/defendants, are they typically called “John Doe” for which the female equivalent is “Jane Roe”?

13. And BTW, was our 12/11/2013 meeting on “Third Trimester Abortions” prompted by the news accounts of how notorious Dr. Kermit Gosnell was convicted of snipping the spinal cords of just-born babies, rather than aborting them before birth?

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