Lesson 37: What Key Challenges Does the United States Face in the Future?
What challenges are posed for American by diversity and technology? What are major differences between Americans and Europeans regarding the role of government? (Video)
The United States and the future; demographic changes; impact of diversity; modern technology; fragmentation of communities; expectations of government; comparison of American and European views on government; impact of classical republicanism; American and European views of civil society.
Student Questions: Unit 6, Lesson 37, Sections 1-3 (pdf download)
What should be the purposes of government and what is the role of civil discourse in furthering those purposes? (Video)
Partisan polarization and ideological polarization; erosion of civil discourse; Constitutional Convention of 1787.
What changes, if any, should be made in the Constitution? (Video)
Constitutional changes; difficulty of amending the Constitution; other means of changing the Constitution; Electoral College; state-level solutions; issues resulting in proposed amendments (abortion, term limits, eminent domain, property rights, Fifth Amendment and Takings Clause, campaign finance, birthright citizenship, equal representation in the Senate, congressional districting); winner-take-all electoral system; multi-member district systems and proportional representation; opportunities for third parties.
