Latest / The Florida Civic Literacy Examination FCLE Podcast / FCLE Competency One: The FCLE Big Three: Social Contract, Checks & Balances, and the Republic
Transcript
- FCLEE2: You are listening to the Florida Civic Literacy Examination Podcast. I am your host, Dr. L. Collins. Last time, we covered what the FCLE is and who has to take it. This go round, we are hitting the three big ideas that show up everywhere on the FCLE. Git. These three down, and a lot of the rest of the examination just starts making sense. First up, we have the social contract. John Locke wrote that people have natural rights. Those natural rights are life, liberty, and property. These natural rights exist before government. In fact, We create government to protect natural rights. In exchange for that protection, we surrender limited power over our lives to the government. However, that power is not unlimited, and it is only legitimate if we, we the people, consent. This is called consent. Of the governed. When the government stops protecting and ensuring our natural rights, the deal is broken. It is torn. The people can alter and even abolish the government. That's basically the Declaration of Independence in a nutshell. Second up, checks and balances. Montesquieu's idea. If you put all the power in one place, some one, something, some organization will eventually abuse it. Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely. So the founders split the government into three branches and gave each one ways to obstruct and stop the others. The president can veto. Congress can override or impeach. The courts can strike down a law. Nobody runs the whole show alone. The Republic's design was purposeful incrementalism. Purposeful incrementalism. Commit that to memory. Purposeful. Incrementalism. Third up now, the republican form of government itself. The United States is not a pure direct democracy. It is instead a constitutional republic. We elect representatives to make decisions for us. Our elected representatives represent the people's ideas in. Legislatures in city councils and in county commissions all across the United States. A pure democracy can turn into unchecked majority rule, real quick, and this nation is simply too big for everyone to vote on everything. That is why we have representatives who are supposed to be representing us in political slash economic affairs in the halls of government. Remember for the FCLE that the guarantee clause in Article 4, Section Four of the United States Constitution requires the federal government to ensure every state has a Republican form of government, not the political party, the form of government. Those are the FCLE big three. They are the big three ideas you need to know to master competency one and pass the FCLE to graduate. They are the consent of the governed, the division and checks of power, and The notion of a constitutional republic. Those big three ideas are the backbone of competency one when you take the FCLE, nail them, and you are already ahead. Thank you for listening to the FCLE podcast. I am your host, Dr. L. Collins. Signing off for now. Email or call me directly, and I will get you across the FCLE finish line. Prepare. Practice. Pass. Let's do this. Study the FCLE. With me, Dr. Collins. You'll be glad you did.