Answer to Question 1
An ideal response will:
1, Note that the U.S. defense budget far exceeds that of any other country and that the United States is the only country in the world with military bases in every part of the world.
2, List some of the ways in which the United States is unrivaled in its capabilities (e.g., naval and air power, ground and electronic warfare, and its strategic nuclear arsenal), as well as some of its growing capabilities (e.g., space warfare, missile defense, and cyber-warfare).
3, Discuss how conventional and strategic military power is not particularly useful in situations like rooting out terrorists, controlling events in oil-producing nations when direct intervention would adversely affect oil supplies and prices, and fighting enemies who use asymmetric warfare.
Answer to Question 2
An ideal response will:
1, Identify the Civil Rights Act passed in 1964, which ended segregation in public accommodations, and the Voting Rights Act passed in 1965, which declared illegal the various devices used in the South to keep African Americans from voting.
2, Evaluate whether the federal government might need to intervene in the future. Answers will vary, but an ideal response will recognize that because of de facto discrimination, problems for African Americans still exist in American society (e.g., racial profiling, voter fraud to exclude African Americans), and so it is very likely that the federal government will continue to be involved in securing the rights of this minority.