Essay 6 Elections and Linkage Institutions

In the United States political system, there are several linkage institutions that can connect citizens to government Elections constitute one such institution. Because of low voter turnout, however, other linkage institutions can connect citizens to government.

a. Describe how each of the following is related to the likelihood of voting.

-Age

-Education

b. Identify one current government electoral requirement that decreases voter turnout. Explain how it decreases voter turnout.

c. Identify one linkage institution other than elections and explain two ways it connects citizens to government.

A)
Age- the older you are, the more likely you are to vote. It has been an uprising issue in America where the younger generations don't seem to have the motivation or drive to vote for what they believe in.

Education- the more educated you are, the more likely you are to vote. With more education, people are more knowledgeable on the subjects that they are voting for and will vote more frequently than those who aren't.

B) Voting registration laws requires citizens to provide ID and information to register before they are allowed to vote. This causes a decrease in voter turnout because some people feel like they are wasting their time and don't want to put in the extra effort.

C) The media plays an important role in connecting people to government. People can find out about candidates for office, public officials' activities, and the burning issues through television, newspapers, radio, and the Internet. The media's power to shape the American mind allows people to give feedback to the government through bias and opinions.

Essay 5 Interest groups and techniques

Essay 5
Different interest groups will choose different techniques to achieve their objectives based on their resources, characteristics, and goals.
a) describe each of the following techniques and explain why an interest group would choose each technique.
Litigation
Campaign contributions
Grassroots Lobbying / mass mobilization.

b) Select one of the following groups and identify the primary technique it uses from the list in part (a). Explain why the group you selected would employ that technique over the other two techniques.
American Medical Association
Sierra Club
NRA
NAACP

A) Litigation is the process of taking political action. If interest groups fail in congress, the next step is for them to go to court and hope to get specific rulings. Many interest groups such as environmentalist link much of their success due to their use of lawsuits. These groups tend to hire lawyers that fill the amicus curiae briefs. The majority also fill class action suits to combine with other groups of common grievances into a single suit. Interest groups would choose to use litigation becasue they don't have popular supports. Campaign contribution provides an ample way  for interest groups to back up politicians running. They contribute to their campaigns in hope that if the politician is elected, he or she will return the favor and help their interest group get what they need. People or groups that have large financial support tend to contibute to campaigns by giving money. Grassroots Lobbying is lobbying with the intention of reaching the legislature and making a difference in the decision-making process. Companies, associations and citizens are increasingly partaking in grassroots lobbying as an attempt to influence a change in legislation. Gathers people (door to door, ect). They have popular support but have a lack of funds. Mass mobilization refers to mobilization of civilian population as part of contentious politics. Mass mobilization is a process that engages and motivates a wide range of partners and allies at national and local levels to raise awareness of and demand for a particular development objective through face-to-face dialogue.

B) The AMA uses campaign contributions because they have financial recourses that they can use to get access and have the support and loyality of candidates. They wouldn't use grassroots lobbying because doctors only make up a very small part of the population and wouldn't have the popular support. They also wouldn't choose to use litigation because they don't want to be sued back in court.

Ron Wyden

Biography:

Senator Ron Wyden was born May 3rd, 1949 in Wichita KS. He currently resides in Portland Oregon with his wife Nancy and five children. Wyden grew up in Palo Alto, California where he went to high school and played basketball. He then went on to attend University of California, Santa Barbara on a basketball scholarship. He got his JD at University of Oregon School of Law and his BA at Stanford University. Wyden ran for the United States House of Representatives in 1980 during the Democratic primary when he was just 31 years old. He was reelected seven times from the most Democratic district in Oregon. Wyden was elected January 30, 1996 during the special election to fill the Senate seat vacated by Bob Packwood. He is now the senior United States Senator for Oregon and a member of the Democratic Party.

Committees:

• committee on the budget
• committee on finance
• committee on energy and natural resources (Chairman)
• select committee on intelligence
• special committee on aging
• joint committee on taxation

Discussion:

Education--Because students are forced to take on record levels of debt in order to keep up with tuition costs, Wyden along with other Senators have authored the Student Right to Know Before You Go Act. This act provides all potential college students with reliable information on what students can expect to make in the workplace. With this information, students will have the ability to choose their schools, majors, and career paths with insight of the financial return on their higher education investments.  Wyden also authored the College Tuition Savings Act which became a law in 2001.

Agriculture--Senator Wyden pushes for a farm policy that addresses the needs of Oregon's many specialty crop, fruit, and vegetable growers. During the discussion of the most recent Farm Bill in 2008, Wyden supported provisions like the Specialty Crop Research Initiative and the Specialty Crop Block Grant Program which bring almost $700 million into the state over ten years. Wyden authorizes provisions in this bill that provided millions of mandaatory funding for advanced biofuels development. He would ensure that the biofuels focus on existing agricultural production and not vigin grasslands or forests

Questions:

• What issue do you feel is most important to deal with in America today?
• What was your stance when the government shut down?
• What is your most important role as a Senator?

The Phillippine Disaster Relief

Part 1) How should the money be spent?  Identify critical areas for relief
Part 2) Support the idea that Charities are the most effective way to provide for relief.
Part 3) Research several Charities based on their expertise in the region, and cost efficiency (How much of each dollar goes to relief).

1) I think that the money raised should go to provide safe drinking water to the people in need. Nobody can live without clean water so I believe it is the most pressing issue that the money should go towards.
2) Charities are able to collect large amounts of money to group up and spend on what is needed to save lives. They also have a set goal for what the money is being spent on and are able to find the resources to make things happen. One person can't do too much with 20$, but if 100 people all donate 20$ to the same charity, 2000$ can go a lot farther.
3) At the student council trip to Seaside, a speaker from the organization the thirst project came to speak to us about building wells in Africa for clean water. However, it is their hope that someday the whole world will be able to have access to clean, safe drinking water on demand. The cost to build a freshwater well in the developing nations ranges from $7,800 in Uganda to $20,000 in Kenya. As far as I know, they have not done any work outside of Africa so it would be interesting to see how much one freshwater well would cost in the Philippines.

http://www.thirstproject.org/the-solution/

Watergate (Charles Colson)

  On June 17, 1972 seven burglars were arrested inside the Watergate building in Washington D.C. Found inside the Democratic National Committee, the burglars were soon connected to President Richard Nixon's reelection campaign. They were trying to wiretap phones and steal secret documents. The scandal ultimately ended in Nixon resigning as President. This was the first time people began to question the morals of their leadership and their president.

  Charles Colson served as the special counsel to president Richard Nixon in 1968. He was responsible for inviting special private interest groups into the policy-making system and then win their support for other specific issues. Colson was in charge of any lobbying group whose motives were compatible with those of the Nixon administration. 

  Colson was described by David Plotz as "Richard Nixon's hard man, the 'evil genius' of an evil administration". Colson viewed himself as valuable to the president because he was "ruthless in getting things done". He was the author of Nixon's major political opponents in 1971, which would later be known as Nixon's Enemies List. News stories stated that Colson would be willing to run over his own grandmother in order to re-elect Nixon for a second term.

  With such strong belief in Nixon, he decided to Join the Committee to Re-elect the President (CRP). The group agreed to spend $250,000 on "intelligence gathering" in hopes to boost Nixon's chances of a second term. In 1974 Colson pleaded guilty to the obstruction of justice on attempting to defame Ellsberg's character to influence the jury against him regarding the water-gate scandal and served 7 months in prison.

  After Colson was released from prison, he founded Prison Fellowship in 1976. He wanted to create an environment in prisons where criminals were able to turn to Christ with guidance. Because of this, in 1990 Colson was awarded the highest civic award by the Salvation Army. In 1993, the Templeton award for process in religion was awarded to Colson.




http://www.history.com/topics/watergate
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Colson

Essay number 4 (Federal System)

The framers of the United States Constitution created a federal system.

 a) Define federalism

 b) Explain how the following has been used to increase the power of the federal

 government relative to the states.

• Categorical Grants
• Federal mandates

 c) Explain how the following have been used to increase the power of the states relative to

 the federal government.

• Block grants
• Tenth amendment

A)  Federalism is a constitutional division of power between levels (national and state) of government

B) Categorical grant:

A grant designed for a specific purpose. States must spend money in accord with national government’s wishes

  Federal Mandates: 

A federal government tells states what policies to implement

  C) Block grants:

Block grants to states have few strings attached, so states can make decisions about the details of where the money goes.

tenth amendment:  
It reserves power to the states and to the people  

Essay number 3 (Constitution)

The US Constitution has endured for more than 2 centuries as the framework of government. However, the meaning of the Constitution has been changed both by formal and informal methods.
a) identify 2 formal methods for adding amendments to the constitution
b) describe 2 informal methods that have been used to change the meaning of the Constitution. Provide one specific example for each informal method you described.
c) Explain why informal methods are used more often than the formal amendment process.

A) Congress can propose an amendment with a 2/3 vote in both houses, and then can be ratified by the percent of state legislatures.
OR

Congress can propose an amendment with a 2/3 vote in both houses, and then can be approved by ratifying conventions in % of the states. 

B) Judicial interpretation: the wording of the Constitution can be vague therefore allowing the court to make decisions on clarification.
OR
Congressional elaboration: Congress can interpret the Constitution by passing law.

C) Informal methods are used more often than formal methods because they are more practical. They do not require the super majorities that ratifying amendments call for so they are much easier to achieve.

Essay number 2 (Political Process Participation)

2) Citizens often choose to participate in the political process in ways other than voting.

(a)  Identify two forms of participation in the political process other than voting.

(b)  Explain two advantages of each form of participation you identified in 

A) Protests and Campaign work

B) Protests- brings public attention, sympathy, and low cost
Campaign work- contact with potential officials and multiply individual interest

Essay number 1 (National Government)

1) In The Federalist paper number 10, James Madison expressed concern over the possibility that both majority and minority factions would have too much power over government, and he presented ways of minimizing that danger. The United States Constitution established a democratic government but also contained several provisions that limited majority rule. Throughout the next two centuries, the role of majority rule in the United States government and politics continued to change.

a. Identify the part of the national government that was originally most closely tied to citizens and explain how it was tied to citizens.

b. Explain two ways the United States constitution limited majority rule.

c. Choose two of the following twentieth-century developments and explain how each moved the United States from a less democratic system to a more democratic system. (you will have to research either 17th amendment or expansion of suffrage)

A) The national government that was originally most closely tied to citizens was the legislative branch. Citizens were involved because they were able to vote for the house of representative members instead of being appointed by a higher source. 

B) The house of representatives was the only element of government that had direct control of the votes of the majority. Legislatures were ti elect senators and the electoral college elected the president. Also judges were to be nominated by the President. 

C) Primary Elections are preliminary elections in which voters nominate party candidates for office. This makes the United States a more democratic system because the people have even more say on who get elected, they are able to nominate and then vote for the candidate that they want. 

The 17th amendment states that the Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senators from each State, elected by the people thereof for six years; and each Senator shall have one vote. The electors in each State shall have the qualifications requisite for electors of the most numerous branch of the State legislatures. This makes
the United States a more democratic system because it give the citizens a right to vote for not only the house of representatives but also the representatives in the senate.

What is the effect of ideology on public opinion in America?  Do people really think in ideological terms?  Does the liberal conservative dimension adequately capture how Americans feel about political issues?

Political ideology is a coherent set of beliefs about politics, public policy, and public purpose. It helps give meaning to political events, personalities, and policies. The effects of ideology on public opinion (the distribution of the population's beliefs about politics and policy issues) is that the different views that are given, the more opinion is going to form in America. Not many people think in ideological terms. Over the years is was recorded that around 20% or less actually think ideologically.

We were assigned to survey 5 different people and ask them 5 different questions about the government. We then gathered our data and recorded it as a class. This graph displays the combined data of all the AP Gov classes at summit. We can conclude that American in the old category (65+) know more about government than any other age group.

Hello, my name is Danielle Taylor. I had many adventures this summer but I thought I would tell everyone about my college tour. As soon as school was over in June, I went on a college road trip down to California. I visited 10 schools in 10 days. Out of all the schools, I liked UCLA and Cal Poly San Luis Obisbo the best. Walking around the campuses definitely made me anxious to finally get to go to college next fall. All the students that I talked to had such a passion for their school and I can't wait to have that connection next year. Although college is going to be fun, I know that Senior year is going to be a blast!