Essay Quiz on President Bush’s 2005 Inaugural Speech
I suggest this activity for advanced placement high school civics and government classes, or possibly English classes.
Time: 75 minutes
Write an essay in which you discuss the following four statements
by President George W. Bush. The first
three statements come from his 2005 inaugural address. The last statement comes
from a 2002 commencement speech at
Your essay should explain what you think the president is “getting at” as a moral, ethical or philosophical principle. You may discuss religious precepts but if you do you should discuss more than one system of faith. You should also discuss ethical precepts from a secular perspective. Finally, you should discuss how these precepts could be implemented as public policy, by Congress and state legislatures, and how any such implementation could run into constitutional questions about liberty.
(1) “In
(2) “Make the choice to serve in a cause larger
than your wants, larger than yourself, and in your days you will add not just
to the wealth of our country but to its character.”
(3) “In
(4) “A person without responsibility for others
is a person who is truly alone.”
You may also include in your analysis a consideration of the
following paraphrase by Andrew J. Bachevich from the
Winter 2005 Wilson Quarterly, “The
Real World War IV,” from p. 44—of a mid 1979 speech by
Jimmy Carter:
“Either Americans could
persist in pursuing a ‘mistaken idea of freedom’ based on ‘fragmentation and
self-interest’ and inevitably ‘ending in chaos and immobility,’ or they could
opt for ‘ture freedom,’ which Carter later described
as ‘the path of common purpose and restoration of American values.’ … The
hollowing out of American democracy required a genuinely democratic response. ‘There
is no simple way to avoid sacrifice,’ he insisted, calling on citizens as ‘an
act of patriotism’ to lower thermostats, observe the highway speed limits, use
carpools, and ‘park your car one extra day per week.’”
Points for scoring essay:
(1) organization and logical flow of arguments
(2) originality of points made
(3) grammar, spelling, punctuation, sentence structure, paragraph structure
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