Adam Nieto U.S.

History and Government: Short Story

10/6/13 Jeziorkski, Period 4

An Alternate Universe: The U.S. Takes a Spin for the Worst Have you ever had one of those days? You know, when everything just doesnt go your way. Well, I am having one of those days. This morning did not start off average. First of all, I woke up late for school; my stupid alarm clock did not wake me up! So I hurried downstairs, made my lunch and left, leaving no time for breakfast. Due to the fact that I over slept, I RAN to school. I live two blocks away from my school. My schools name is Underwoods School of Academics. I know it is a lame name; we all call it U.S.A. for short. Yes, and I know our town left out the word high in it to establish it is a high school. We are just a weird town! That's Wellington for ya. Anyway, as I was entering the school, I started to wonder why it was so empty. It seemed like no one was there. I looked at my watch to see the date, it said, Saturday, September 17th. Uhh, I was so ANGRY! I said to myself Way to go! Alex Hamlet's a genius! How the heck could I have forgotten it was Saturday? All of a sudden out of the corner of my eye I saw a slightly opened side door on the left side of the school. It looked a little weird and out of place. The light was on too. I thought, Thats odd; I should probably check it out. I checked to see if anyone was watching me and then entered the side door. I began to realize I was in a U.S. History classroom. I could tell through the decorations bordering the classroom, they were all United States History related. The room was empty. The only thing in the room was student desks, a teachers desk, a smart

board, blinds on the windows, two doors, the one I entered in and the one that leads out to the hallway. It was an average classroom. The only thing strange about it to me was that the smart board was on. Why would the smart board and lights be on, on a Saturday? Someone had to be in this room this morning. On the board was written,

We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice,
insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our prosterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America. This of course made me think of my history class. We talked about the Separations of Power and Checks and Balances. We learned that our government was designed so that there would be three branches. Each branch has a different power than the other. One branch is the Legislative branch which breaks into two houses, the House of Representatives and the Senate. Both if these houses are known as Congress. Congress we learned makes the laws. The second branch is the Executive branch, responsible for enforcing the laws. The president is Commander and Chief of our military and has many other powers too. One of them is the power to pardon people from going to jail. Such a cool power in my opinion! Of course the third branch we talked about was the Judicial Branch which holds the responsibility of interpreting the laws this power is known as Judicial Review. The people in this branch are the Supreme Court justices, nine in total. All of them run our Supreme Courts. This concept is known as Separation of Powers. Checks and Balances are powers that each branch has, allowing them to limit the other branches powers, basically not allowing any branch to become too powerful. For example, our president has the power to veto a bill; he is checking the power of the legislative branch. The legislative branch also checks

the president. The House of Representatives can decide if they want to impeach a president, bring the president up on charges as well as override a president's veto. The Judicial Branch checks the other two branches by declaring a bill unconstitutional, or not allowed under the written constitution. WOW WHAT A MOUTH FULL! After seeing thiswhat I believe we learned in class is called the preamble made me think...What if there was NO constitution? Would the needs of our society be met? Would we live in chaos? Would there be a high level of crime? Would children be wondering the streets instead of learning at school? Would there be an underlying government of society that is not supported by a written document or would there be no established government at all? I image that if this parallel universe existed in which a constitution was never established we would probably have no rights whatsoever. There would be no freedom of religion, no freedom of speech and any other rights we have now would not ever exist in this country we would call home. I certainly think our constitution satisfies the need of our society, greatly in fact. We live in the land of the free. What more can we ask for. There are people who live in communist countries, look at China. Their name might be deceiving The People's Republic of China BUT, trust me...they are communist. Then all of a sudden, another thought came to mind....China?....Communism?... Constitution?....huh...our framers... WAIT A MINUTE! Has our government become to controlling, much so that it is going against the intentions of our forefathers? Well, I don't believe so. I mean we are certainly not like China or any other communist countries. Thinking about it, the framers made it very hard for the government to have more authority. Any powers the government already has were powers, for the most part, already written and assigned to each

branch from the very beginning. The Judicial Branch itself makes sure of this by declaring bills unconstitutional or constitutional, again there power of judicial review. Out of nowhere, I started hearing footsteps coming closer and closer to the room. With every step I had an instinct to run away. However, there was something inside of me that wanted to see who those footsteps belonged too. A part of me also wanted to know more about our government and constitution, and well it was a good chance that a U.S. history teacher was walking in! The door opened. The teacher gave a loud SCREAM, frightened to see me in the room, there was a slight delay. It was Mrs. Madison, my seventh grade Social Studies teacher I had in middle school. She was a little peculiar, from what I remember. What was she doing at our high school on a Saturday morning? Mrs. Madison? I said. Alexander? Mrs. Madison said. What are you doing here on a Saturday morning, Mr. Madison? I stated. That is the same question I was just going to ask you! said Mrs. Madison. Well its a long story, you go first! I said. Well, I was setting up for my lesson next Monday. I dont know if you knew this but I was transferred to U.S.A. this year. Any way, I just went out for a little bit, I realized that I needed money for lunch. So I took a trip to the bank. She explained.

Oh.. well..dont you just love banks! I sure dohahahahahahah! I said. Well I guess so Alexander! Now, what are you doing here? She inquired. Ok well I guess I will start from the beginning. I woke up this morning realizing that I over slept. So I got up got dressed and quickly ran to school. Unfortunately for me I forgot it was Saturday and of course, on Saturdays we dont have school! When I realized that nobody was here I notice this door was opened and wanted to see what was going on. I saw what you wrote on the board and it really made me think! To sum it up I had a bad day so far, I came here saw the board and though about history! I told her. Well, I am sorry to hear that! What were you thinking about? She asked. I was thinking about how our government is today. Has it met the needs of our society? Imagine if we lived in a parallel universe where there was no constitution what would life be like? Also has our government really expanded its authority than what was originally intended by our forefathers? I guess you can say I am a really a history nerd! I said. Welloh those are some deep however intriguing thoughts! Dont you just love history! Without it would not be here today! Like you said, things could change if one event in history does not occur! It is vital that we learn it because if we dont, history can repeat itself. But anyway, you should be enjoying your weekend, go have fun and go back home! I am going

to continue working here! I LOVE school and teaching!!!!! It was nice seeing you Alexander! Good bye! Mrs. Madison said, hurrying me to go back home. Wow! She is really peculiar and strange. Why in the world would she come on a Saturday morning to prepare for her Mondays class?.............Who knows? I wonder what her life would be like in that parallel universe I was thinking of before. She would probably be.normal, wouldnt she! You know, I think I would probably be normal too?!