Being a Responsible Citizen
Regarding Your Government
This is a course covering aspects of the various levels of
government and how citizens can and do
interface with those things.
This course will enable you to have
knowledge of our political realms and instructions about how to become involved
as responsible citizens.
This composition is made with the fact in
mind that I, as a Christian, believe it is our God-given duty to know of these
things and to participate in how they transpire in our lives. This is a venture into understanding for
citizens to know of their governmentÕs place and purposes.
Here are some Biblical scripture
references about understanding and civility:
Proverbs 14:33-35 Modern English
Version (MEV)
33 Wisdom rests in the heart of him who has understanding,
but
that which is in the midst of fools is made known.
34 Righteousness exalts a nation,
but
sin is a reproach to any people.
35 The kingÕs favor is toward a wise servant,
but
his wrath is against him who causes shame.
Also, regarding the need to avoid campaigning with negative
accusations:
Proverbs 21:21-23 Modern
English Version (MEV)
21 He who follows after righteousness and mercy
finds life, righteousness, and honor.
22 A wise
man scales the city of the mighty,
and casts down the strength of its confidence.
23 Whoever
guards his mouth and his tongue
keeps his soul from trouble.
Modern
English Version (MEV)The Holy Bible, Modern
English Version. Copyright © 2014 by Military Bible Association. Published and
distributed by Charisma House.
Many of the examples in this course are county aspects, so
my home Wise County, Texas is the sample to which reference is made and
references to state levels are Texas.
However, students of this course should investigate their own counties
and states to secure specific information needed for understanding or for
action. Embedded hyperlinks throughout the course allows the reader to seek
further detail.
D.
A. Sharpe
Aurora,
Wise County, Texas
For readers or students who may not know me, here is
some background and biographical sketch information:
Who
is Dwight Albert (D. A.) Sharpe?
Facebook Account:
Dwight Albert Sharpe
Chapter 1
First, we turn to a chapter that examines
the structures of our government and how citizens participate in the
functioning of those government levels.
Examination is given to all four levels
of government and guidance about citizen involvement.
Click on this title: How Government Works
Chapter 2
The first responsibility a citizen has in
qualifying to cast a vote in elections is to be a Registered Voter. The link above cites the requirements
for accomplishing that status.
Chapter 3
Being a candidate for United States
President typically involves publicizing your candidacy (called running for
office) over perhaps an 18-month period, before the winner is inaugurated on
January 20 in the year immediately following the General Election the prior
November.
Here is the process:
How is a United States President Elected?
One of the significant acts to which the public
turns its attention is the speech that a President gives the audience
immediately following the inauguration and swearing into office ceremony.
Here is an interesting compilation of the
summery of Presidential Inaugural speeches given in the history of the United
States:
U. S. Presidential Inaugural Addresses
Chapter 4
Besides electing a U.S. President (and
his partner, a Vice President), there are many other public offices to which
voters determine winners to serve.
My narrative here specialized in the
process in my home county of Wise County, Texas. However, the process and legislation
governing matters is the same in all 254 counties in Texas. Each of the other states have their own
processes, but the process in most other states is similar to
how it is done in Texas. However,
if one wants to be a candidate in some other state, consultation of its rules
is necessary.
How to be a political candidate?
Once you are a filed candidate, you need
to present yourself in positive modes, both in writing about you and the issues
your present, and in speaking publically.
Here is a document to guide you in that effectiveness:
Speaking & Writing with Effectiveness
These communication tips are valid for
any role a person fills in which the need to communicate to a public
audience. That includes not only business
and community expressions, but in the mouths and minds of pastors and
ministers.
Another element needs attention for
candidates. In todayÕs world of
campaigning, an unfortunate amount accusations arise between competing
candidates. Here is an article that
addresses that issue, exhorting candidates to have a degree of civility in
campaigning:
Chapter 5
What are the differences between a
Democratic Party person and a Republican Party person?
That presumably is seen by studying the
Party Platform of each party. The
party Platform is a long series of expressions of viewpoints and intents to
support (or against which to work) about the political issues of the day.
The pursuits of the Democratic Party are
described in the political vernacular as liberal or to the left. Republican Party pursuits are described
generally as conservative or to the right.
For those who do not know the French origin of describing political
positions as left or right may read this explanation.
Here is the 2016 Democratic
National Party Platform.
Here is the 2016 Republican National Party Platform.
As a Christian, my sense is that you can
tell where you fall in beliefs about the party platforms by determining what
each platform advocates about these three subjects:
1.
What is its stand on the 1973 Supreme
Court decision in the case of Roe v.
Wade?
2.
What is its stand on the 2015 Supreme
Court decision on gay rights and same sex marriage?
3.
How many times is God mentioned in the
platform?
Asking about these matters of any
political candidate, regardless of whether that candidateÕs office being sought
has anything to do with those subjects, should give you a good indication of
his or her political comforts. The
answers to these three questions can find common identity with the Democratic
Party platform versus the Republican Party Platform. Virtually all the remaining aspects of
those two platforms will find a commonness.
Chapter 6
Conventions! Many citizens and voters do not know
much about political conventions!
Most people think only about the national party conventions about which
they see on television in Presidential Elections years.
In the political process, there are four
levels of political conventions that take place in even numbered years.
First, there are precinct conventions,
which are convened in the evening of party primary elections days.
Secondly, there are county conventions
(or senatorial district conventions in more populous counties and metropolitan
areas). In Texas, they usually are
on the third Saturday following a party primary election (in Texas, on the
first Tuesdays).
Thirdly, there are state
conventions. These usually take
place in June. These occur in every
even numbered year.
A fourth convention takes place in Leap
years (those with a February 29th). It is the national convention of each of
the two major parties, the Democratic and the Republican Parties. These are in July or August.
Here is a document that details how
theses conventions operate:
Just to give you an idea how these
conventions begin, below is a form that is completed by the precinct chairman
after the Election Day Convention whereby your neighborhood friends are elected
to attend the second level of conventions.
This document takes you through the steps to the party state
conventions.
Here is a sample form (Minutes) from the
precinct meetings, which primarily is a document to convey to the party county
chairman who is eligible to attend the county.
Precinct Convention Form (Minutes)
Chapter 7
The important thing that defines those
principles for which a political party stands are expressed in its Party
Platform. Many people do not know
how a Party Platform becomes into being.
Also, they may not know how they can have an impact themselves to impact
their PartyÕs Platform.
This document guides though that process:
Impacting Your Political PartyÕs Platform Ð How to Write a
Proposition.
Subjects which come into a partyÕs
platform is a series of creating a written advocacy statements going through
the various convention meetings.
This document addresses, among other things, how to compose such a
resolution.
My real-time experience with the creation
of party platforms is the process used in the Republican Party. However, it is my confidence that the
Democratic Party process is similar.
At a state convention, the preparation
for a platform will be the functioning of a Platform Committee, which meets
usually for three days prior to the main convention sessions. Main convention sessions are three
days.
The Platform Committee considers the
previous platform created at the most recent state convention, discussing
whether to retain, amend or delete any items. Additionally, they consider written
proposals of resolutions coming from county or senatorial district
conventions. Thirdly, the Platform
Committee has a scheduled process for state convention delegates personally to
testify before it to advocate an action regarding any proposed platform matter.
The final work of the Platform Committee
is a new recommended platform which is distributed in written form to every
delegate at the convention to study.
Then, the proposed platform is open to discussion and debate on the
floor of the whole convention, which usually consumes a major length of time in
the last section of the convention.
The decision of whether to adopt the
proposed party platform is committed to all the convention delegates to vote in
written form on every item in the platform. At the 2018 Republican State Convention,
the proposed platform contained 331 items.
For an item to be confirmed to remain in the current platform, the item
must receive 60% of the vote of the delegates.
The written ballots are collected by the
leaders of each of the 31 senatorial districts. Weighted voting is used in this
process. Weighted voting enables
voting of the full eligible number of delegates, even if all are not
present.
For example, the Republican Senatorial
District 30 of which I was a Delegate in the 2018 Convention had an eligible
number of 427 Delegates. If only
300 Delegates were present on the floor when a vote is taken, it means that
each delegateÕs vote is worth 1.423 votes.
So, if the 300 present and voting Delegates voted 200 for an item and
100 against, it would be reported as a weighted vote result of 284.6 to
142.4.
The whole Delegate vote eligible at the
2018 Republican Convention was 8,779. ItÕs county-by-county eligible Delegate count is listed
here.
First, consult the Senatorial District, then look at the alphabetic list
of county names.
HereÕs a photo of me submitting the locked box of Senatorial
District 31 platform votes with our SD30 leader, Ms. Deon Starnes of Denton
County. With her is her daughter, Sarah.
Behind us, on the left side, is Armando Arechiga,
a school teacher from McAllen, Texas.
Votes are turned in by SD leaders, accompanied by at least two other
Delegates from that SD. That is an
illustration of the degree of transparency and security for true results.
Chapter 8
A great proportion of our United States
population of about 326,000,000 have never read nor know much about the United
States Constitution. They may have
seen these documents once in school, but few have practical memory of what is
contained in these famous documents.
You are exhorted here to open the link and, at least, to browse our
Constitution. It should give you an
idea of those broad principles that keep us together as a nation.
What is the United States Constitution?
What are the Amendments to the U.S. Constitution?
The central composer of the text that was
finally approved as our Constitution was James
Madison, Jr., one of the Founding Fathers who served
as our fourth national President.
He was the shortest President we ever had, and he had
a relationship with our family lines. His beautiful
wife was the belle of the Washington D.C. society.
Likewise, probably most of our about
28,000,000 Texans have no appreciable knowledge of the Constitution of the State
of Texas:
What is the Constitution of the State of Texas?
Chapter 9
Here are some miscellaneous documents on
political topics which should have relevance to students of this course:
In the season for political campaigns,
most people are solicited almost to excess to donate to various political
causes or candidates. Here is an
article published in the Bridgeport
Index (in my home Wise County) on April 26,
2012. It gives ideas and guidance
about determining to whom you might decide to give.
It should be said here that you are
encouraged to determine some level of giving to candidate(s) or causes with
which you can identify. Even gifts of
modest amounts ($25, $50, $100), the recipients appreciate your expression with
those gifts. Your decision should
be led by your seeking GodÕs Divine guidance, and it should be giving over and
above whatever is your tithe to your local church.
How do you know which political cause to support?
I met a young woman, in the Millennial
class of population, a resident of Tarrant County (Fort Worth, TX) who wanted
to learn about political activity, but didnÕt know anyone with whom to
speak. A plan was devised for me to
take her to interface with some female elected officials and political
activists of my acquaintance in Tarrant County. This was the plan. It wasnÕt all carried out, but the idea
is the same where YOU might take such a young person to those whom you know in
the political realms.
Mentoring a Millennial Woman to Become Involved?
Here is an interesting story about William J. H. Boetcker
(1873 Ð 1962), a German-born Presbyterian minister ordained in Brooklyn, New
York, who had immigrated to the United States. He is credited with stating a list of
things you cannot do:
A well-known American economist, a Stanford
University faculty member, turned social theorist, political philosopher and an
author is Dr. Thomas Sowell. He is credited with many cogent sayings
and one-line expressions that can be understood and enjoyed:
Chapter 10
The study of history and genealogy in my
family ancestral lines has been of interest to me.
It therefore has drawn my attention when
my searching crossed paths with several U.S. Presidents and Vice Presidents who
have had relationship with our family. Perhaps that is one reason there is
Òpolitical bloodÓ in my veins that generates my interest in the subjects of
this course.
Here is a chart that
shows all U.S Presidents, their terms of service and those related to our
family have personal history links in the chart. I hope you will enjoy knowing of
them.
Chapter 11
This concludes a course that, hopefully,
equips the reader or the student to understand how our nation operates in its
political levels, and how each citizen has an opportunity to participate in the
shaping of and the results of our political life in the United States.
My desire is that many people are helped
by these chapters and documents.
This is not copyrighted material, and I give permission for its parts or
the whole to be copied and used for educational purposes. If you need downloading in a Microsoft
Word format, contact me, and such will be sent you.
If you do chose to use this material in
further ways in which you share with others, it would be pleasing to me to hear
from you about how you used it.
Thank you again for your attention.
Cordially,
805 Derting Road East
Aurora, TX 76078-3712
Facebook: Dwight
Albert Sharpe