Kants Categorical Imperative Essay -- Philosophy Categorical Imperati

Kant's Categorical Imperative Deontology is the ethical view that some actions are morally forbidden or permitted regardless of consequences. One of the most influential deontological philosophers in history is Immanuel Kant who developed the idea of the Categorical Imperative. Kant believed that the only thing of intrinsic moral worth is a good will. Kant says in his work Morality and Rationality â€Å"The good will is not good because of what it affects or accomplishes or because of it’s adequacy to achieve some proposed end; it is good only because of it’s willing, i.e., it is good of itself†. A maxim is the generalized rule that characterizes the motives for a person’s actions. For Kant, a will that is good is one that is acting by the maxim of doing the right thing because it is right thing to do. The moral worth of an action is determined by whether or not it was acted upon out of respect for the moral law, or the Categorical Imperative. Imperatives in general imply something we ought to do however there is a distinction between categorical imperatives and hypothetical imperatives. Hypothetical imperatives are obligatory so long as we desire X. If we desire X we ought to do Y. However, categorical imperatives are not subject to conditions. The Categorical Imperative is universally binding to all rational creatures because they are rational. Kant proposes three formulations the Categorical Imperative in his Groundwork for the Metaphysics of Moral, the Universal Law formulation, Humanity or End in Itself formulation, and Kingdom of Ends formulation. In this essay, the viablity of the Universal Law formulation is tested by discussing two objections to it, mainly the idea that the moral laws are too absolute and the existence of false positives and false negatives. The first formulation of the Categorical Imperative is defined by Kant to "act only according to that maxim by which you can at the same time will that it should become a universal law†. Good moral actions are those of which are motivated by maxims which can be consistently willed that it’s generalized form be a universal law of nature. These maxims are otherwise known as universilizable maxims. Maxims can then be put through the Categorical Imerative test to determine their universilisablility and thus the premissability the maxim. To test a maxim we must ask ourselves whether we can consi... ... Therefore the action of removing all your money from the bank when there is a stock market downturn is immoral according to the first formulation of the Categorical Imperative. The fact that a person cannot withdraw their money from a bank because of moral restraints shows that there are some serious problems with the moral theory at work. The first formulation of the Categorical Imperative â€Å"act only according to that maxim by which you can at the same time will that it should become a universal law† seems at face value viable. Nevertheless the lack of guidelines to determine which maxim should be used to describe an action causes problems with the consistency of the Universal Law formulation. Moreover, the abundance of false positives and false negatives suggests a deep problem with the first formulation of the Categorical Imperative that may not be fixable. Works Cited: 1) Feldman, Fred. ‘Kantian Ethics’ in [EBQ] James P Sterba (ed) Ethics: the Big Questions, Oxford: Blackwell Publishers, 1998, 185-198. 2) Kant, Immanuel. ‘Morality and Rationality’ in [MPS] 410-429. 3) Rachels, James. The Elements of Moral Philosophy fourth edition. NewYork: McGraw-Hill, 2003.

Review On Canadian Imperial Bank Of Commerce Commerce Essay

Our aim is to be the primary fiscal establishment for our clients. Our success depends on edifice strong relationships and on our ability to assist clients accomplish their fiscal ends ( www.cibc.com ) . Like other Bankss, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce ( CIBC ) has on-line banking, telephone banking, concern banking and personal banking. One subdivision that looks interesting is the country in which they call Personal Wealth. The latter point that was made seems to be really strategic. It puts the client in control of wealth or deficiency thereof. I am impressed with that facet of their selling scheme. The occupations that can be secured at this degree are gross revenues associates to account directors. There is a batch of room for turning within CIBC.FinanceThe construction found within the fiscal facet of the organisation is that of Director of finance, senior fiscal analyst and fiscal analyst. â€Å" The Finance group provides fiscal services to CIBC ‘s concerns through effectual administration and determination support procedures † ( www.cibc.ca ) . The manager and senior fiscal analysts have more duties herein. CIBC has fiscal duties as a concern. They have a system of answerability that helps to command what information is being used within the company. The Director most probably has most duties of that control, within the organisation and every bit far as clients are concerned, concern or otherwise.Human ResourcesThe Human Resources section is non in a class of its ain within CIBC. This construction falls under a much larger construction of Administration. â€Å" [ Human Resources ] develops and implements plans to pull, retain and support employees throughout their callings at CIBC † ( www.cibc.ca ) . Part of this construction, non unlike other organisations, is responsible for preparation and fiting employees to develop their callings so that turn-over is minimum.OperationssOperationss ‘ was slightly equivocal on the CIBC web page. It fell under the class of engineering and operations. I am non truly certain as to why they would chunk those two together. From what I can see is CIBC runs like a well-oiled machine. They decidedly have all their bases covered and it seems like there is much room for growing within the organisation, and it appears to be a healthy topographic point in which to construct one ‘s calling. Retrieved from: hypertext transfer protocol: //www.cibc.com/ca/personal.htmlOrganizational StructureThe organisational construction of CIBC is of incorporate type of administration which has both level ( horizontal ) and perpendicular type of constructions. Long-run success involves effectual administration. CIBC has already been recognized as a leader in this country, they endeavour every twelvemonth for uninterrupted betterments in their administration construction and procedures.Integrated administration theoretical accountCIBC ‘s senior direction squad plays a really of import function in the overall control of CIBC ‘s concerns by supplying timely and precise information to the Board to help the managers in their misinterpretation undertakings. Regular and sincere dealingss between the Board and direction are another cardinal facet of a well-built administration to back up the long-run involvements of CIBC ‘s investors. Another factor of good administration is t hat it besides include being a responsible corporate citizen. CIBC is renowned as a leader in ecological concern patterns and corporate societal duty. Retrieved from: hypertext transfer protocol: //www.cibc.com/ca/inside-cibc/governance.htmlBoard Responsibilities and Governance StructureThe Board is responsible to oversee the direction of CIBC ‘s concern and associations. The Board provides way to direction, through the Chief Executive Officer ( CEO ) , to rehearse the best involvements of CIBC. The Board ‘s has a of import function to be played in the duties that are outlined below.Strategic planningThe Board supervises the development of CIBC ‘s strategic way, procedure, program and precedences, reviews Management ‘s knowing program, approves the one-year strategic program and considers direction ‘s reappraisal of emerging tendencies, the competitory environment, hazard issues and of import concern patterns and merchandises.Hazard directionThe Board reviews direction studies on stuff hazards related with the CIBC ‘s concerns and operations, the public presentation by direction of systems to pul l off these hazards and material lacks in the map of these systems.Corporate administrationThe Board reviews CIBC ‘s progress to corporate administration, manager independency, the Code of moral rules for Directors and CIBC Code of Conduct for employees.Fiscal informationThe Board reviews CIBC ‘s internal controls depicting the fiscal information, direction studies on stuff defects associating to those controls and the unity of CIBC ‘s fiscal information and systemsCommunicationssThe Board reviews CIBC ‘s taken as a whole communications attack, procedure for having stockholder response, stuff alterations to CIBC ‘s revelation guidelines and the communicating construction between the Board and its stakeholders.Board commissionsThe Board set up commissions and their authorizations and requires commission chairs to give a study to the Board on stuff affairs considered by the commission at the following Board meeting.Director development and ratingEach mana ger participates in CIBC ‘s manager development plan. The Board assess the public presentation of the Board, its commissions and the, its commissions and managers Retrieved from: hypertext transfer protocol: //www.cibc.com/ca/pdf/about/corp-gov-practices.pdfOrganizational designGeographic DesignIt groups occupations on the footing of district or geographics, here we are speaking about the CIBC, which is the taking bank in Canada and it deals with the people of different geographical parts in Canada. More of the effectual and the efficient handling of a specific geographic regional issues that by and large arise within the geographic part and serve the demands of alone geographic markets better in this geographic part and the chief things in this sort of design are the duplicate of maps of the subdivision and it can experience isolated from other organisational countries of the bankFunctional DesignA functional construction is a design that groups similar or related occupational fortes together. It is the functional attack to the full organisation. Customer based Design: Every organisation would happen it really advantageous to form harmonizing to the types of clients it serves. CIBC is money imparting n service distribution Company that lends money to clients, concern clients, big concerns, and little concerns may make up one's mind to establish its primary divisions on these sorts of different markets. It is the forces can so go proficient in the service, run intoing the demands of the Bankss different clients. In this manner, an organisation that offers services like as banking or service may group its workers harmonizing to the types of clients of the bank.Merchandise DesignThe merchandise design is the design which groups the occupations by merchandise line in the system. Each of the directors in the organisation is responsible for an country within the organisational bounds depending on his/her specialisation. This design allows specialisation in peculiar merchandises and services of the banking sector and this design eve n manages the system by the manner that directors can go experts in their industry and come closer to clients and the negative factor in this is the duplicate of the system ‘s workers maps with a limited position of the organisational endsService designThe CIBC is a client service dependent organisation or the banking sector in which the clients are respected really much and are treated with regard and in this design the directors take care really much of the service offered to the clients.Hybrid designThe CIBC is this sort of the organisation in which the clients are most well-thought-of and the director will take attention of the client and the design will be created to cover with each client. Chiefly the undertaking director will cover with the client relation research and best client service.Matrix DesignCIBC organisation finds that none of the mentioned constructions meet their turning demands. The lone attack that attempts to get the better of insufficiencies is the matr ix construction, which is the combination of two or more different constructions. Functional design normally is being combined with merchandise groups on a undertaking footing. For illustration, a merchandise or a service group wants to develop a new add-on to its line ; for this undertaking, it will obtain forces from functional sections such as research, technology, production, and selling. These forces so work under the director of the merchandise group for the continuance of the undertaking, which can change greatly with mention to the completion of the undertaking.Selling channels designThe selling organisation ‘s design straight impacts ability to react rapidly to the alone kineticss of your industry, market place, and corporate aims. Selling organisations see themselves less effectual as they are disconnected from concern they are back uping, they are structured to run into yesterday ‘s demands, or have experienced a talent-decline. Over the clip, the map can acqu ire apart with the selling cognition of the industry and accomplishment degrees needed by the company, as going distanced from those driving concern in gross revenues, the market and executive direction. Marketing organisation appraisal and design Skill and cognition appraisals Productivity ratings Job design/skills demands Marketing accomplishments developing Capability edifice Marketing executive coachingDepartmentalizationThe environment is complex and unsure. And the lower-level directors are capable and experienced at doing determinations because of their engagements in the systems treatments. As such they get a voice in determinations, their determinations are comparatively minor. Here in the corporate civilization, we see that it is unfastened to directors, leting them to hold a say in what happens in the system with their determinations. The company is geographically dispersed over the peculiar part with a criterion. The effectual execution by the directors for the company ‘s lead depends on directors being involved and their flexibleness to do determinations. hypertext transfer protocol: //www.emaytrix.com/mgmt307/section3.php

Bertrand and Cournot Competition Comparison

Within the realm of industrial economics, a central focus is on equilibrium in oligopoly models, and the questions arise of how the firms would find the equilibrium and whether they will choose it. The efforts of this essay are devoted to a discussion of Court and Bertrand models of competition, two fundamental single-period models that form the basis for multi-period models (Friedman, 1977).Firstly the essay will give an introduction to the properties of the Court and Bertrand models of intention and examine their implications to the relationship between structure and performance. Then it will theoretically address the question that when and how we can choose either of these two models to better describe a market, and empirically distinguish between two models by giving example industries that behave according to each. Finally the essay will draw a conclusion.Oligopoly theory abstracts from the complexity of real-life corporate strategy, and concentrates on Just one or two strategic variables (Davies et al, 1991). Court (1838) takes the view tat the firm ¤ass strategic variable is squatty or output. In contrast, Bertrand (1883) takes the view that the firm ¤ass basic strategic variable is price. In order to capture the distinction between the Court and Bertrand framework, we will consider the simplest case of homogeneous products.First, given positive market share, firms in Court market have the market power to price higher than their marginal costs. Second, the market power of a firm is limited by the market elasticity of demand. The more elastic demand, the lower the price-cost margin. Furthermore, given that all the firms are price takers, firms with lower marginal cost will have greater markets shares. Then what is the implication for the relationship between structure and performance guarding the industry as a whole?Turning to this aspect, summing the average price-cost margin follows summing individuals firms over all n firms weighting each firm ¤a ss margin by its share of the market, Where H denote Heralding index, which is one of the most widely accepted measures of concentration. If we use concentration as the measure of industry structure and price-cost margin as the measure of performance, we can see that in Court competition, the less elastic is demand, and the larger is the Heralding index, the greater aggregate margin in the Court Nash equilibrium.Also, the market power (Unmans, 1962)), this indicates the importance of barriers to entry. In 1883, Bertrand criticized Court ¤ass work on several counts. One of these was that if the strategic variable is price rather than quantity, Court ¤ass logic results in an entirely different outcome (Friedman, 1977). In the Bertrand framework each firm directly controls the price at which it sells it output, and the demand for its output will depend on the price set by each firm 3 and the amount that they wish to sell at that price.This model is driven by the assumption that the firm that charges the lowest price can capture marginal cost in the market, it can charges a price I pi? ±ii = I pi? ±ii pi? ±ii pi? ±ii pi? ±0  ¤00 I poi pipe, where c] is the marginal cost the entire market (Walden and Jensen, 2001). Given this assumption, if firm I has the lowest of the firm that has the second lowest marginal cost in the industry, and I poi pipe represents a number that is infinitesimally greater than O. Then firm I will capture the entire market.In the case that each firm face an identical marginal cost, each firm will set its rice pi equal the marginal cost, and yields a competitive equilibrium. The discussion about Bertrand framework tells a very different story of the relationship between structure, conduct, and performance from the Court-Nash equilibrium. First, only the most efficient firm will survive the competition and become the monopolist, the other firms will exit the market. Second, if all firms face the identical marginal cost, with tw o or more firms the competitive outcome occurs, large numbers (which is the case in Court competition) are not necessary.Clearly, there is a big difference whether the strategic variable is price or quantity. Therefore, what criteria do we have for choosing between Court or Bertrand model to describe a market? A common argument for the Court model is more appropriate is that it captures the intuition that competition decreases with fewer firms, while the prediction of the Bertrand model  ¤00 a zero price-cost margin with two or more firms, or only one firm exists as the monopolist  ¤00 is implausible.In the world, examples like many consumer goods markets have shown that it is hard to find all consumers want to buy from the firm charging the lowest price, and small price hangs by a firm lead to small changes in its sales and in the sales of its rivals (Friedman, 1977). Also, it is often argued that the choice of Court and Bertrand lies in the relative flexibility of prices and o utput. In the Court framework, once chosen, outputs are fixed, while the price is flexible.In the Bertrand framework, however, firms set prices while output is 4 quantities (Davies et al, 1991), and therefore the Court framework is preferred to the Bertrand framework. An influential work coloring this view is Krebs and Chainman (1983). In their two-stage model, firms choose capacities in the first tags, and compete with price as in the Bertrand model up to the capacity chosen in the first stage. The resultant equilibrium turns out to be equivalent to the standard Court model.There do have some industries where firm ¤ass behavior is consistent with the intuition of Bertrand model. In the American airline industry, many major carriers follow a policy of pricing near marginal cost on routes on which it faces competition (Walden and Jensen, 2001). They fear that if their fares are even slightly higher than the competitor, they will lose virtually the entire market share. However, Bran der and Ghana (1990) also found evidence that the pricing behavior of American Airlines and United Airlines between 1984 and 1988 were close to the Court model ¤ass prediction.In addition, Await (1974) found that in the Japanese flat-glass industry the two duopolistic behave according the the Court competition. In conclusion, this essay has compared and contrasted the main properties of Court and Bertrand models of competition, clearly the two models tell completely different stories of oligopolies competition as well as the relationship between structure and performance. The essay has also discussed when and which of the two oodles are expected to be better describe a market, both theoretically and with empirical examples.

Leadership essay

Leadership essay Leadership essay Leadership essayThere are many approaches to the definition to the role of leader and leadership. Typically, leader is a person in a group, who has gained credibility and influence on the team (Wortman 2012). Any kind of company needs a leader. According to experts, the competitiveness of organizations depends on its ability to effectively form a team of specialists. Business needs a leader who can manage teams of professionals and motivate them.There is formal and informal leadership. In formal leadership, process of influencing is carried from a position, and in the informal a process of influencing is done by personal abilities and skills. Leader is defined by a set of characteristics that affect the efficiency of management of other people, but there are some of the most important among them. These are ambition, drive, perseverance, confidence, psychological openness, realism and a thirst for knowledge. American expert on leadership Warren Bennis, in one of his works argues that successful leaders must be able to creatively adapt to the environment, attract others to form a general opinion about what is happening, have expressive voice and be a whole person (Varelas 2013). American expert on leadership John Maxwell believes that a true leader must have 21 mandatory qualities. First, a leader must be solid as a rock, a fix for a leader is a turning point, he has two options to show the character or compromise. If the leader shows unstable character, followers stop trusting him. Second, the leader must have charisma the ability to attract people. To turn into a charismatic person, according to John Maxwell, one should love life, give people hope, share himself and his advantages (Maguire 2012). The expert notes that people go for those leaders who are committed to their business, it is the third quality. The fourth quality is leader’s ability to communicate: effective leaders always need to develop first-class communication skills. The fifth quality is the competence that goes far beyond words. It is the leaders ability to formulate and plan what he needs, so that the others understand. Next quality is courage, which is inherent to a leader and inspires his followers. Another important quality is insight the ability to find a solution to the existing problem. Eighth quality is focus, where the main place is occupied by priorities and concentration. Next quality is generosity, which, in his opinion, is most convincing for followers. Tenth quality is initiative, we should remember that success is linked to concrete actions. Eleventh is listening, a leader must be able to hear what supporters tell him, and not what he wanted to hear. Also true leader should possess positive attitude and ability to solve problems. According to the theory of John Maxwell, a leader must be able to get along with people and be responsible, to be sure, self-disciplined, self-learning capable and willing to serve others. The 21st quality is long-term vision, which is of great important to a real leader (Geisler 2012). Generalizing different classifications, we can confidently assert that a good leader should possess exemplary character. It is important that people should trust their leader in order to trust him. A leader must be reliable and known for his honest life. Only such a leader has the right to take responsibility for others.Corporate governance is the system of interaction between shareholders and management of the company. The subject of corporate governance is to control the commission of corporate actions. The main objective of corporate governance is to find an optimal balance of distribution of rights and responsibilities between all participants of corporate relations shareholders, board members, members of executive body, audit commission, etc. (Hays 2012). The need for corporate governance stems from the fact that business as the property belongs to investors, and management rights are assigned to the board of directors and management. Shareholders meeting may decide on the reorganization, mergers, securities, main executive bodies, major transactions, internal documents and disclosure of company information. Corporate governance mechanisms are designed to provide the board of directors responsible to the shareholders. Corporate governance is focused on the fact that all groups and institutions perform their functions well while maintaining a balance of interests between them. The structure of corporate governance should provide: protection of the rights of shareholders, equitable treatment, recognition of statutory rights of stakeholders, timely and accurate disclosure of all material matters relating to the corporation (Eisenhower 2012). Corporate governance is based on the principles of fairness, honesty, responsibility, transparency, professionalism and competence. An effective system of corporate governance involves respect for the rights and interests of all participants of corpora te relations and contributes to the success of society.Corporate social responsibility in the broad sense, is the impact of business on society. Corporate social responsibility means achieving commercial success in ways that value the ethical principles and respects people, communities and the environment. The practice of CSR is subject to much controversy. Some argue that it has a strong economic rationale; critics argue that it takes away from the fundamental economic role of businesses (Shelton 2012). In a market economy, success of business depends on various circumstances, including the prevailing market conditions. Experts believe that those companies that have been at a time more successful than others, must understand that in order to maintain a certain balance and stability in society, they need to exercise corporate social responsibility to society.The importance of effective business leader is sufficiently large: he defines the dynamics of development and success of the b usiness, charges employees with energy and stimulates their activity. Effective leader defines and formulates strategic priorities and objectives of the organization, selects the data, analyzes trends and interdependence.

galileo galilei essays

galileo galilei essays Galileo Galilei was born near Pisa, Italy, on February 15, 1564 (Drake). Galileo was the first child of Vincezio Galiei, a merchant and a musician (Jaki 289). In 1574, Galileos family moved from Pisa to Florence, where Galileo started his formal education (Jaki 289). Seven years latter, in 1581, Galileo entered the University of Pisa as a medical student (Drake). In 1583, home on vacation from medical school, Galileo began to study mathematics and physical sciences (Jaki 289). A Family friend and professor at the Academy of Design, Ostilio Ricci, worked on translating some of Archimedes, which Galileo read and became interested in. This is where Galileo got his deep interest in Archimedes (Jaki 289). When returning to medical school, medical school became less appealing to Galileo, and his deep interests in Archimedes and mathematics drew him in, Galileo left without a degree in 1584 (Drake). Starting his studies, in 1585, in Aristotelian physics and cosmology, Galileo had to leave the University of Pisa before he got his degree, because of financial problems (Jaki 289). Going back to Florence, Galileo spent three unsuccessful years looking for a teaching position (Jaki 289). During this time Galileo was increasing his understanding of physics and mathematics. Also during this hard time Galileo wrote two discourses one about principles of balancing and the other about center of gravity of different solid objects (Jaki 289). These writings were circulated in manuscript form only, but they made Galileo well known in the scientific community. Galileo became renowned in 1588, when he gave a lecture at the Florentine Academy on the topography of Dantes Inferno, where he showed his extensive knowledge on mathematics and geometry (Jaki 289). In 1589, Galileos rising reputation as a mathematician and natural philosopher (physicist), earned him a teaching spot at the University of Pisa (Jaki 289). Galileo spent three y...

Dental Health Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Dental Health - Essay Example In a prison there is lot of limitations for such things. "In the past, the provision of dental services in prisons has been of variable quality. For this reason, the Strategy for Modernising Dental Services for Prisoners in England was published in 2003. Every Prison was required, in consultation with the local primary care trust, to develop a Dental Action Plan for improving their dental service. 4.75 million over three years was allocated towards the implementation of these plans." (Harvey, S. et al. 2005). The authorities must provide dental check up for at least 200 to 250 prisoners per week. The dental service needs to be universal based on clinical needs and must provide all sorts of services to the patients, but inside the prisons it has certain limitations for providing all sorts of dental services. In case of trauma to the face or cheeks the person may present with severe bleeding and the prisoner should be taken to the emergency department, but this must be in line with the local health care provisions and according to the security policies in the prison. In acute dental pain is advisable to take the person to a dentist within 24 hours or at least to an appropriate practitioner within 24 hours. The prisoner needs routine follow up with in six weeks in all most every case and this is also restricted by certain prison policies. The incidence of untreated dental disease in pris... THE CHALLENGES The incidence of untreated dental disease in prisoners is much high when compared with that of the general population, so the dental health needs of prisoners is much high. Since the prisoners neglect their oral health for such a very long time the problem may in the most aggravated form. "While dental care is a critical component of overall quality health care, many prisoners enter correctional facilities in the United States with little history of good dental hygiene and even less history of access to dentists for routine dental examinations. As a result, the incarceration experience presents opportunities for inmates to receive quality dental care, often for the first time in their lives. Dental care delivered by correctional dentists is complicated, however, by the array of serious dental conditions and difficult to treat dental problems in clinical settings". (Vaughan, M.S. et al. 2006) The poor nutritional status may also aggravate the problem. Smoking must be prevented in high risk cases. "The higher proportion of drug users in prison compared to general population can also explain the greater need for dental treatment. Methadone users in particular have a high level of oral disease". (Rotary. et al. 2007)Another important problem is that the dental care sessions may be shorted by security problems. Other important issues in dental health care include the lack of space in prisons, insufficient staff for treatment, lack of funding for health promotion and outdated facilities for health care in prisons. A report published in Sage Journal describes that there is variation in dental care provided to the prisoners. "Forty-five

Equal Protection Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Equal Protection - Essay Example In regard to this clause, the amendment acknowledges that all people get created equal and should be treated as such. The clause further acknowledges the three fundamental aspects of human beings as life, emancipation and search for happiness (Lee, 2003). It is worth seeking the background of equal protection in the US. The idea started back in 1766 when Thomas Jefferson and the American colonists declared the hidden truth about human equality. However, the meaning of this concept was never clearly understood by people at that time. Slavery got incorporated in all systems of the United States including its economy, political and community relationships. A constitution got drafted in the US that allowed slave masters to involve in the slave trade with black slaves getting regarded as personal property owned by slave masters (Peoples & Bailey, 2012). The fourteenth amendment of the US constitution provided the most fundamental civic rights in the history of the US in regard to equal pr otection by the law. Section I of the amendment states that all individuals born or who got naturalized in the United States are citizens of the country. The amendment further acknowledges that none of these citizens should be deprived of any rights provided in the amendment in respect to equal protection (Lee, 2003). ... It, however, remained the center of civil rights movements during and after the Second World War. Black people in the US could enjoy their civic rights as it was the case with any other citizen. The law provided affirmative action that sought to promote equal treatment and concern for all races in the country (Lee, 2003). The equal protection clause came during a period referred to as the Reconstruction era in the US. During this period the South came under military occupation from the North. This resulted in black Americans realizing some short term benefits as a result of the situation (Peoples & Bailey, 2012). Black people could be elected to office in state governments as well as the federal government. Among some of the most famous accomplishments of the black people was one African American who managed to get a seat on the South Carolina Supreme Court. Race-Based Classifications Traditionally, race and nationality were the only classifications that could be made of people. Alth ough, with time other approaches got adopted, classifications based on race have remained prevalent in America. In 1977, the Office of Budget Management issued the race and ethnic standards that were to be used for federal statistics and administrative reporting. Prior to issuing these standards, OMB sought public opinion on the standards and their efficiency in reflecting the national outlook and expectations of the people of United States. Since 1960’s the federal government has collected statistics on race and ethnicity during its census. This data has proved vital in addressing civic issues such as employment, voting rights, housing and mortgage lending, as well as healthcare services. However, this data has not always served its purpose efficiently. In recent times,