...American Democracy: The Importance of Political Participation “Elites” have a great effect on political socialization and participation in America. There are three factors that affect socialization and political participation that stand taller than the rest. First is the limited growth in worker wages. While the wealthy businessmen continue to get richer and the lower class workers continue to get lower wages, the median of the incomes between the two is rising. (Dye) This allows for the minimum wages of lower class workers to keep decreasing and go unnoticed because statistics look at the median wages for Americans when in actuality, it is a combination of average and median values that give more accuracy in the perception of the state of worker wages. Regretfully, this truth is disregarded as many large businesses display those statistics and continue to mask this growing dilemma in our economy. Second, most electorates are completely oblivious about anything going on that does not directly affect them, and often they still don’t know anything about what is greatly affecting them. Because they are uninformed, they do not know of any problems and thus do not particularly care. This is demonstrated by the fact that many support certain institutions in which they do not support the people who run the institutions. (Dye) This is not necessarily due to elitists, but it does continue to drive a wedge further between the elites and the lower class, which is how the elites would...
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...7020 Class Project Does The Taller Presidential Election Candidate Have an Advantage? A Statistical Analysis of Voting Bias Toward Taller Presidential Election Candidates Jared Causey Online MBA Student E.J. Ourso College of Business Louisiana State University Baton Rouge, LA Abstract After analyzing each presidential election in United States history, a Texas Tech University researcher concluded that a slight bias toward taller presidential candidates exists among the voting population. His claim was based on the theory that through evolution, humans developed a bias toward taller and stronger leaders due to their ability to provide protection. The researcher purports that this bias still exists. In order to test his theory, I collected data regarding candidate height from every United States presidential election with such information readily available. Of the 53 presidential elections at issue, I found the proportion of elections won by the taller candidate to be slightly above 50 percent, suggesting that there is, in fact, a bias toward the taller candidate. Introduction Research suggests that throughout modern and ancient cultures, selection of leaders with more dominant physical traits is prevalent. However, the collective process that leads a voter to choose one candidate over another in a presidential election can depend on a number of variables. Is it then equally likely for a presidential candidate shorter than his opponent to be elected...
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...GOVT 2305 Presidential Elections Project See the assignments file linked below for the state assigned to you. Research the politics of the state assigned to you in order to answer the questions below. The following information sources may prove helpful (you may need to copy and paste the links into your browser): State elected officials and members of Congress by state: http://www.commoncause.org/siteapps/advocacy/search.aspx?c=dkLNK1MQIwG&b=4860375 Presidential election outcomes by state: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_presidential_election_results_by_state Presidential election outcomes by state: http://www.historycentral.com/elections/states/List.html 2012 election outcome by state: http://www.politico.com/2012-election/map/#/President/2012/ Good Advice: · Do not wait until the day the assignment is due to begin work. That is a prescription for a very poor grade. · Don’t complete this project until you have studied up on presidential elections, especially the Electoral College. · Read the questions closely before answering them. Students frequently lose points for failing to fully answer each question. In particular, if the question asks you to write a paragraph, that means you need to write several sentences. A paragraph is not a single sentence. As you recall from your English class, paragraphs have topic sentences, several sentences in the body that develop the topic sentence, and a concluding sentence that ties the paragraph...
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...News reporters should be focused on broadcasting Presidential Election current news to inform, not persuaded their viewers to support their biases political opinions and beliefs. Many of the news reporters have allowed biases thoughts overcome their task to bring the new reports to the general public; in many cases, opinionated ideology surpassed what their ultimate assignment is to accomplish. Even though there are still many voters undecided, it’s not the media outlet responsibility to help make their decisions. Even though news reporters should share unbiased reports concerning the Presidential Election Coverage because the biases reports will impact viewers voting decision-making. According to PBS.org, Sarah Childress, a senior digital reporter for Frontline Enterprises Journalism Group study on Election Coverage Skewed by Journalism Bias and she expresses, “An analysis of news coverage from the 2016 primary races found that mainstream media...
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...When will we see Change? A Critical look at Barack Obama and the democratic party. Charles Kerber POLS 202 9AM American Government Livingston This paper will take a critical look at the history of the democratic party, its most recent 2012 election, its current presidential candidate Barack Obama, and the latest platform. While the paper may read as being highly critical of President Obama, it should be caveated by the fact that this is an extremely trying time in the history of the United States, and the government is under considerable pressures from outside terrorism threats and international relations, to severe recession and domestic economic concerns. Nevertheless, one must look critically at President Obama, and answer has he really given us “change we can believe in”? Biography & history The Democratic party went through a number of iterations before it became the current democratic party. The party began as the anti federalists under the leadership of Thomas Jefferson and James Madison. Thomas Jefferson a former secretary of state under George Washington's administration who had resigned to protest the fiscal policies of Alexander Hamilton. These two rivals would become the basis of the first two political parties of the United States. Alexander Hamilton favored the constitution, the creation of a national bank and repayment of the revolutionary war debt with federal funds. Under this philosophy they would name themselves Federalists, for their leaders support of ratifying the constitution...
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...To eat or be eaten, it is a common law especially in animals that are not human. The state of war essentially makes this rule to be true for humans. The idea of it is if you are challenged or feel threatened then you must protect yourself in any way that you can. However, unlike in society the state of war doesn’t end when the forceful action is over but when innocent party get their revenge or after the aggressor offers peace and offerings to the innocent party. The state of war leads into the law of self-preservation (may kill another person in self-defense) which is a key component to the laws of nature. Locke explains that with this reasoning one could potentially kill a thief because if you attack somebodies property it could represent a threat to their freedom, thus making you feel threatened to lose something that you earned. Locke is caught in a crossroads between personal liberties and how we should be protected by the government or proper authorities. The issue is what happens when the government is too inept to protect our personal liberties. Locke was around during the time of kings, their rule was final and not to be questioned. During this time period things were different then they are now but essentially the same. The conclusion in the state of war is when the authoritarian figures in charge of protecting our freedoms rather it be kings or a governments cannot protect us we have the right as a human to protect ourselves from a threat. Locke uses a...
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...Interim Report ICT use in Getting out the Vote in recent US Presidential Elections: A Tale of Two Solutions. Xxxxxxxxxxxxx (for module ISM106) December 13, 2012 Contents. 1.0 Background and Objectives………………………………………………..3 2.0 Literature Search and Methodology………………………………………4 3.0 GOTV - The Problem Domain…………………………………………….5 4.0 Timetable……………………………………………………………………7 5.0 References…………………………………………………………………..8 “Good judgment comes from experience, but a lot of that comes from bad judgment”. Will Rogers, American Humorist (1879-1935). 1.0 Background and Objectives. Getting out the vote (GOTV) is a very important activity in an election campaign. Within a typical polling precinct, campaign fieldworkers identify and confirm voters who pledge to vote for their candidate. A list of these voters is carefully compiled for each precinct, with up-to-date contact information and whether assistance is needed in getting voters to the polling station being crucial. On Election Day, campaign workers at the polling stations monitor the voters on the list and record which have voted and which have not. Great effort is then expended on contacting the “laggards” and getting them out to vote. Periodically during the day, voter turnout data is sent, through aggregation points, to campaign HQ where it updates the big picture and allows the co-ordination and refocusing of further GOTV efforts. The purpose of...
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...Marketing Application Class A Task – Political Marketing Mohamad Alshafei (AKA Leo) 1|Page Contents 1. US presidential election 2012 Overview ..................................................................................... 3 2. Political Program and Positions ................................................................................................... 4 Barak Obama ............................................................................................................................... 4 Economic policy ....................................................................................................................... 4 Health Care .............................................................................................................................. 4 Foreign policy .......................................................................................................................... 4 Mitt Romney ................................................................................................................................ 5 Economic policy ....................................................................................................................... 5 Health Care .............................................................................................................................. 5 Foreign Policy .......................................................................................................................
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...Rhetorical Comic Analysis – Four More Years ...of Gridlock Michael Cannon ECPI University Abstract This is a rhetorical analysis paper on a political cartoon called “Four more years …of Gridlock” drawn by Patrick Chappette for the “International Herald Tribune.” It depicts both the reaction of the re-election of President Obama, as well as the realistic reaction of the G.O.P. on their stance of congress still being at a political gridlock. There has been much conversation in the political world if progress can truly be made in Congress between the Democratic Party and the G.O.P. or the Republican Party. This paper breaks down both the Democratic and Republican side of the cartoon, than my opinion on the cartoon as a whole and what message the artist Chappette is trying to send to his audience. Rhetorical Analysis: Four More Years ..of Gridlock Figure 1. A cartoon by Patrick Chappatte about the re-election of President Obama and the thoughts of G.O.P. on his re-election. Source: http://ideas.time.com/2012/11/08/cartoons-of-the-week-november-2-9/photo/cartoon Figure 1. A cartoon by Patrick Chappatte about the re-election of President Obama and the thoughts of G.O.P. on his re-election. Source: http://ideas.time.com/2012/11/08/cartoons-of-the-week-november-2-9/photo/cartoon The 2012 presidential election was nothing short of interesting. The controversy behind everything the candidates did was unbelievable, and in turn, this created the opportunity for a multitude of...
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...Introduction Every four years, the United States presidential election becomes one of the country’s biggest news stories for a large chunk of that year. During this time there are a great many words both spoken and written about how people are going to vote and what factors supposedly lead them to vote a certain way. It seems that much of the time the analysis of these issues is of a qualitative nature, and with that in mind this paper will attempt to approach the problem from a statistical point of view. That is not to say there is a lack of quantitative research on how specific demographics tend to vote; indeed, some of the good data and information out there will be used to inform this paper’s hypotheses and econometric model. This study will focus on the 2012 U.S. presidential election Barack Obama and Mitt Romney (there were several other candidates on the ballot, but none received a significant portion of the votes). Pundits threw around seemingly countless factors in an attempt to analyze and predict how people would vote in this election; this paper will focus on a select group of those factors, in hopes of drawing some firm and well-grounded conclusions as to whether they actually played a statistically significant role. Countywide data will be utilized. The recent widespread availability of election results on a county-by-county level, combined with countywide information from the U.S. Census Bureau, allows for a very large number of observations (at least in...
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...In today’s era of Youtube, the mass media plays an important role in covering facts and features of elections. Right from the campaigning to voting to election of a candidate, all news events are covered by the media. Politics is a tough and rough game and each country needs a democratic nominee who is willing to protect the country from all evils. The recent elections of 2008 were indeed the most historical presidential elections in the history of U.S. Illinois Senator Barack Obama became the 44th president of the United State. During the election, there was this first lady, named Hillary Rodham Clinton, who expressed her interest in the presidential election of 2008. Until then, in the history of presidential election in United State, none of the woman had ever won the major party nomination. Well-educated Hillary Clinton had a good experience of public service and managing the Oval office. She emerged as a dedicated and hard working lady from the American women’s perspective. The staff members and policy team of the campaign The initial team of her campaign was supported and run by a group of advisers and political operatives. Mark Penn, Penn, Schoen & Berland were considered as the stategic genius of Clinton’s campaign. The chief operating officer of the campaign was Evelyn S. Lieberman while Howard Wolfson was the spokesperson of the campaign. Many other well-known senior advisers and subject specialist formed the focus group of the campaign. Ann Lewis was campaign’s senior...
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...Comm 301 May 8, 2014 A Pentadic Analysis of Hillary Clinton Interview The artifact we are analyzing for our study is a live television interview that Hillary Clinton was giving to San Francisco’s KTVU-TV in late February of 2008. This interview was broadcasted via television and is also available on YouTube and other video media sources. The interview was being hosted by a man named Ross McGowan of KTVU-TV to senator Hillary Clinton, and that within itself makes it a significant artifact. The live interview about healthcare that Hillary Clinton was giving had to be cut short when the New York senator began having a coughing fit. Prior to the cough attack, the interview was directed but not limited to the subject of health care. Senator Clinton was speaking of issues such as the pulling troops from the Iraq war, California’s mortgage crisis, Americas current health care system, and the idea of a universal health care system. In the end of the interview Clinton fails to answer the question regarding her husbands role in her campaign by coughing for the remainder of the interview abruptly ending it. Whether or not the actions by Clinton were intended, speculation of this interview arose. In 2000, Hillary Clinton became the first women to be elected a seat in the United States Senate. At first glance, Clinton’s aggrandizement to such a respectable political position seemed like a victory for herself and the ongoing women’s movement effort. However, the continual reminder of...
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...and more. “American society is highly polarized in its perception of the existing election system” (Belenky 2012, ix). This paper has the aim to contrast the arguments against and in favor of the Electoral College and to demonstrate possible alternatives. In the conclusion an answer to the question “Should the Electoral College be reformed?” will be given. 2. How it works The Electoral College, as it is outlined in the 12th Amendment, is a body of electors chosen to elect the President and Vice President of the United States. In Article II of the Constitution the electing procedure is written down. Each state delegates a specific number of electors to the Electoral College, dependent on its representation in Congress (House of Representatives & Senate). According to the fact that each state has two Senators and at least one Representative (dependent on the size of the population in the state), each state has three electors at the minimum (for example Alaska). With 55 electors, California has the largest number at the moment (see illustration 1) (Electoral-vote.com 2013). Figure 1: Blank map of the U.S. with electoral vote Each presidential candidate has his or her own group of electors in every state. Generally the electors are chosen by the respective political party, but there are many differences among the states concerning the selection process of the electors. The election of the President is held...
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...fathers to institute this precaution no longer exist today. Also, the fact that almost all the states use a winner-take-all system to determine which candidate gets all of the electoral votes for the state. Will abolishing the Electoral College rid the United States from mobocracy? Introduction The Electoral College is outdated and does not follow the true spirit of American Democracy. David Stewart (2013), a lawyer in Washington, D.C., states that, “Because most people knew little about public events or leaders from distant states, the convention delegates reasoned, they would not make a wise choice between presidential candidates.” Today, people have access to information through TV, the internet, and social media. People can travel easily around the country. It is extremely difficult to not get bombarded with political campaign ads and political rants during election season. There is a lack of political efficacy in the United States that causes a low voter turnout. If citizens are not voting then the popular vote does not truly represent the majority. The Electoral...
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...suggests, several attempts have been made over the last 50 years to regulate the financing of campaigns, which has been criticised for damaging the election process of democracy in the USA for being too expensive and dominant. Earliest reforms in the 1970s include the 1971 Federal Election Act, and famously, the 1974 Federal Election Campaign Act, known by many now as FECA. These congressional acts limited the ability of candidates to spend their own money on campaigns, and limited PAC donations to $5,000 per candidate through the creation of the Federal Election Commission. They also introduced the ‘matching funds system’ to this effect. Far more recent reforms have also taken place to further restrict such donations to candidate campaigning, such as the 2002 Bi-Partisan Campaign Reform Act, also known as ‘McCain-Feingold’ capping the soft money spending by parties and welfare/charity organisations which had increased since the 1970s. This is when money is not directly donated to the candidate and cannot be used for self promotion. The 2002 Act ruled that such organisations can spend up to 49% of their income on parties and campaigns, yet this spending remains undisclosed, allowing anonymity. This highlights one of the main reasons why such reforms have failed to rectify the issues of campaign financing that remains in contemporary elections – many so-called ‘legal loopholes’ have been found in these congressional acts which have allowed soft money and independent expenditures and...
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