F5

A) One advantage of the majority party in the House or Senate is that it is easier to get something passed that might be more conservative if the Republicans have the majority since Republicans are conservative. Vice-verse for the Democrats, if they are trying to get a law that is more liberal and they have the majority it will be easier to get it passed since Democrats are liberal.
B) In the House they have the House Rules Committee, which reviews all bills coming from a House committee before they go to the full House. In the Senate they have a filibuster, where opponents of a proposed bill can try to debate over it and kill it.
C) The differences between chambers stated above would allow for a proposed bill to be passed in one chamber of Congress but not the other because they are ways of reviewing and potentially slashing the bill all together.

F2

The Americans With Disabilities Act has increased the power of the national government over the state government because it prohibits all private employers, state and local governments, employment agencies and labor unions from discriminating against qualified disabled individuals from job applications, hiring, firing, advancement etc.
Preemption is derived from the Supremacy Clause, and basically means that States can't pass laws that are inconsistent with the national law.
The Supreme Court Case U.S. vs Lopez put limits on Congress's power on the Commerce Clause of the Constitution. Lopez was charged with the federal violation of the Gun-Free School Zones Act under the Commerce Clause. Lopez appealed with reasoning that Congress didn't have the power to legislate control over public schools.
Devolution is when central government powers go to the state government, immediately decreasing the power of the national government.

Classwork: Interest Groups

A) The fundamental goal of interest groups in the political process is to influence politicians to benefit themselves.
B) The fundamental goal of political parties in the political process is to get their candidate(s) elected.
C) Interest groups can help political parties by donating money to their campaigns and making ads that are in support of that parties platform.
D) If an interest group helps a political party win an election, that elected official will in turn help the interest group by proposing laws that are being pushed by the interest group.

E6

1)
Collective Good- Something of value that cannot be withheld from a group member
Free-Rider Problem- Problem faced by unions and other groups when people don't join because they can't benefit from the group's activities without officially joining. The bigger the group, the more serious the problem.
Selective Benefits- Goods that a group can restrict to those who pay their annual dues.

2)
a. National Women's Association of Bosses
b. The NWAB was created to support women in the highest positions in the work place, to provide a resource of counseling and to share tactics that will help them learn the best ways to be in control without being discriminated against.
c. The potential group of people who will benefit from its goals are those woman who are on their way to becoming the head-honcho or already are.
d. The collective good members will receive is astounding prestige and a small pension at the end of each month.
e. Selective benefits members will receive include all expenses paid spa days, to relieve the stress from all their hard work and free day care if they have young children.
f. The NWAB participates in conventions that educate women on how to handle being in charge even though they might be looked down upon because of their gender. NWAB also visits high schools monthly, to inspire young women to set and achieve their own goals.

E5

My predictions
 http://www.270towin.com/2012_election_predictions.php?mapid=btUm

E4

I researched the Wisconsin Senate race, between Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin (D) and former Governor Tommy Thompson (R).
 This is Tammy Baldwin.Based on a horse race poll taken by the Marquette Law School, she has a four point lead (47% - 43%). This poll was conducted October 25-28 to both landline and cell phone users. Pictured below is Tommy Thompson.

 

The candidates' stances on health care are extremely different. Thompson thinks Congress needs to completely get rid of Obamacare and start over. He believes that the regulations create complexity, drive up prices and prevent a dynamic insurance market; it disconnects economic realities and consumer choices; and lacks market-based solutions that create competition and reward quality, innovation and efficiency. However, Baldwin worked to pass the Affordable Care Act in Congress, along with helping write the amendment that allows young people to stay on their parents' insurance until they are 26. She disagrees with starting over because it would allow insurance companies to deny coverage to Wisconsin children with pre- existing conditions, throw young people off of their parents' plan and raise the cost of prescription drugs for the seniors of Wisconsin.

Tammy has said, "His [Tommy Thomson] plan would raise taxes on the middle class, and that's just wrong."

Tommy has said, "Wisconsin is in my blood, my family came here in the 1860's, settling on land that I still farm today."

https://law.marquette.edu/poll/

http://www.tammybaldwin.com/

http://tommyforwisconsin.com/

http://www.rollcall.com/features/Election-Preview_Nov-2012/election/midwest-region-roundup-218031-1.html

E2

I went to huffingtonpost.com which has both facts and opinions. There are articles on the devastating Hurricane Sandy and opinion posts on topics such as Romney criticizing Obama on his actions in the auto industry. Some reports used polls and other facts from papers like the Wall Street Journal, but most articles were written by Huff Post writers. It seemed as if bloggers and journalists had a very good idea of what they were talking about. Sites like these can influence other voters by sharing opinions but also giving facts, especially to those who are on-the-fence, getting multiple opinions while also getting the facts can help them make a decision on who to vote for.

D10

The highest contribut are mostly from people who are retired
For the 22903 area in VA, Obama received the most contributions
Across the nation, individual donations are the highest contribution source

D9

Paul Ryan in a Word: 'Conservative', 'Intelligent'

A.
     1. The subject of this report is Paul Ryan
     2. Big political lessons a candidate could learn from polls is finding out what the people want, determining what policies to focus on. You could use overall American beliefs to attack the other candidate(s) or to help yourself. For example Obama could say, "35% of people think negatively about Paul Ryan, where as __% think that I am great!"
     3. 69% of Republicans described Ryan in positive way, where as 59% of Democrats described him in a negative way. Romney could use this info to advocate for Ryan to their Republican followers.

B.
     1. What ONE WORD best describes your impression of Paul Ryan? Just the one word that best describes him. [IF “DON’T KNOW” PROBE ONCE WITH: it can be anything, just the ONE word that comes to mind …] How about, [INSERT NEXT ITEM] [OPEN-END. ENTER FULL RESPONSE EVEN IF MORE THAN ONE WORD.]
     2. Because this question was about a specific candidate there were not any trends of previous questions provided.
     3. This question has potential of being biased, if the person does not know what to say, the person asking the question can suggest anything they want. If the person asking the question gives them negative examples, the person answering will probably respond with something negative. I don't think this question could be worded differently because of how open-ended it is.

C.
     1. This poll was taken from August 23-29, 2012
     2. The total sample size was 1,010
     3. The margin of error was 3.6%
     4. The level of confidence was 95%

D6

Third and final poll!!! This week we asked a horse race and issue based questions. The horse race question was indeed biased, "Would you be more likely to vote for Aspen Miller who cares the most about the environment? Or Brennan Lee who also cares about the environment, but more about YOU? (An emphasis on the "YOU"). The issue based question had to do with taxes and it was also a bit biased. We asked, "Would you be in favor of raising taxes on those who had an income of $250,000 so that the national government can spend more on YOU?" We found that most people were in favor of this, however the one negative response I got was, "Why should the wealthy be punished?"

D2

Second poll!!! This time we didn't include a horse-race question, but instead asked three policy based questions. We included one on equal marriage rights, Medicare, and Social Security. The marriage question was not biased at all, just a simple, "Do you believe in equal marriage rights for all?" However, for Medicare and Social Security, we provided background information on what each plan is currently like and then asked whether it should be privatized, or funded/regulated by the government. While asking these two questions, I  was just a bit biased, emphasizing the cons of privatizing them. For example,the government's first priority is the care and safety of the people, and it will do what is best for them when it comes to health care and providing money in order to survive after one has retired, unlike private insurance companies who's first concern is a profit, and who can turn anyone away for any reason! The problem with people investing their own money into their own retirement is that many, many people don't have any clue at all on how to spend or save their money! Yes they should be responsible enough to figure it out, but if they have to pay someone to help them do it they might lose more money.

C8

        The first horse-race question we polled about was a non-biased and we gave no background information about each candidate. We simply asked who they (they being the people we polled) would vote for, based on party. Brennan Lee (D)? Ryan Bouabid (R)? Or Aspen Miller (I)? This question was asked in the first week of the mock election and many people were unaware of the policies each candidate was proposing. This poll was also taken from the smallest sample of all the polls we took.
        After asking the horse-race question we asked the people whether or not they were in favor of George Bush's No Child Left Behind Act. We weren't terribly biased, but did provide background information on the Act, which included all of the laws in it (aka what the schools were required to do) and included numbers/ facts about the aftermath of this Act being put into place.

D7

Policy: 
Obama; Making college available/affordable to all. Investing more money in energy
Romney; Keeping taxes as they are for the wealthy, cutting taxes for middle class. Promoting oil drilling in the United States.
Quotes: 
Obama; "We're building more efficient cars, which is creating jobs..." "We've built enough pipe line to wrap around the world once." "Candy, I'm used to being interrupted." "Governor, you're the last person who's going to get tough on China."
Romney;" But that's not what you've done these past four years, and that's the problem." "You're absolutely right about part of that" "I ran the Olympics, and balanced the budget"
Style:
Obama; uses hands a lot, wearing a red tie
Romney; Talks a lot about current policies, wearing a blue tie, talks directly to Obama. Spoke when he wasn't supposed to.

D4

Policies:
Biden- Cutting middle class taxes to boost economy. Not privatizing social security or a voucher system.
Ryan- Giving seniors a choice of their medicare coverage. Grow economy and create jobs, lower tax rates across board, close loopholes primarily to higher income people,don't raise deficit, don't raise taxes on middle class, don't lower share of income that's born by high income earners.
Quotes:
Biden, "Their ideas are old and their ideas are bad" plain and simple.
"I hope you know, that's a bunch of malarkey"-Biden. I love that word, it bashed Ryan enough to make people not believe what he was saying, but it wasn't too harsh.
"That statistic was completely misleading,but more importantly..." - Ryan. Just another example of how the Republicans have been opposing things but then don't explain further.
Style:
Ryan- Uses lots of numbers. Referred to the president as "Barack Obama" without a title. Uses lots of personal experiences, stories of people he's met who are struggling.
Biden- laughed and smile a lot at what Ryan was saying. Biden refers to Obama as "The President", never uses his name. He makes references to Romney "changing his mind so much". Plenty of bashing on Romney. Talked directly to camera at certain groups (elderly, middle class).
Both were wearing striped ties

D3

A)
          1. The first video i watched was from 1952, when Eisenhower ran against Stevenson. It was paid for by Citizens for Eisenhower.
          2. This ad was meant to make Eisenhower seem like the good guy, because he had a catchy tune, not so much that he was better than the other guys, although it did banter them a little.
          1.The second video I watched was from 1984 when Reagan ran against Mondale. The ad was in support of Reagan.
         2. The commercial had lively music and portrayed an upbeat America. It was trying to instill that Reagan was doing a wonderful job and should stay in office.
         1. The third video I watched was from 2008 when Obama ran against McCain. The ad was in support of Obama.
          2. The ad showed a Obama speaking about how much he cares about this country and what he'd already done to improve it and how he'd worked his way up, appealing to the working class. His voice was soft and calming.

B)
        1. The biggest change was color and video quality. In '52, the ad was in black and white and depicted cartoon drawings, in '84 it was in color but the picture wasn't so clear, and in '08 it was also in color but the quality of the video was enhanced and very nice looking. Another change was the way they sent the message; in '64 there were cartoons singing, in '84 there was a background voice showing video of others, and in '08 it directly showed the candidate, who was also the speaker, as well as pictures of his life and others.
         2. The most effective ad was the first one I watched, the singing cartoon for Eisenhower. It was so catchy and said his name over and over that it stuck in my head. I think the purpose of that ad was just to get his name out, not to propose any policies though.

C9

Policies: President Obama wants to invest in education and job training, he thinks national healthcare is important to ensure that insurance companies don't cheat their customers. Governor Romney wants to cut federal funds to programs, programs he thinks aren't important enough to prosper, in order to decrease the national debt. Romney also wants to repeal Obamacare to promote a more efficient/effective private sector with more competition and people being able to choose the health care they want.
Quotes: Obama said, "America does best when the Middle Class does." His emphasis on the middle class, the largest economical class in the US is so important to him winning the popular vote. Romney said, "I want to underline that I will make no tax cuts that add to the deficit." Unfortunately, he focuses on what he won't do, we want to hear what he WILL do.
Style: Obama's voice was very soothing and confident throughout the debate, he used hand gestures a lot, but not too many so that we could still focus on his words, he smiled plenty and kept his cool. Romney was also very confident and kept his cool but his tone was a little more arrogant and some what defensive. I noticed in his closing argument that he raised up on his toes every few seconds, which studies have shown mean the speaker is nervous. Just kidding I have no idea if it means that, but i got an edgy feeling from him doing that. Romney wore a red tie and Obama a blue tie, they both had american flag pins on their suits.

C6

Economic Left/Right: -7.38
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -5.69

A lot of the questions were really unclear, especially the first one. It asks if economic globalization should primarily affect humanity instead of trans national corporations, but don't corporations affect humanity? They provide jobs and resources. 
I didn't understand this question; Multinational companies are unethically exploiting the plant genetic resources of developing countries.

C5

1. If 1 meant you had no interest and 3 meant you were very interested, how would you rate your interest for these issues?
Women's Health ___
Environmental Issues___
The Economy___
Marriage Rights___
Health Care___

2. Would you prefer that your relatives, who are not citizens of the U.S., be given the chance to obtain a green card to live in the United States, which would give them the chance to become highly educated, and in turn give them a great job that will make them wealthy? Meaning less restrictions on immigration. Or would you rather there be less immigrants and more restrictions so that only "real" Americans can live and prosper here? (circle one)
Yes No Maybe

C4

Campaign manager- I will be thorough in research on hot topics, and not so hot topics, that are being discussed and reach out to the people we will be representing. I'm a great listener and give awesome advice :)  I will strive to do everything possible in order for our party to win!
Chief of staff- When things need to get done I can make sure we're on top of it! Every member of the campaign will be supportive and I will make sure they are putting in their share of the work. I'll be demanding but sweet, no one likes to work with rude/mean people..am I right? I would also make a great wife/sister/daughter!

C3

Over fifty percent of the United States’ population is females. 156,964,212 females live in the United States of America (according to the 2012 Census). About 40,674,963 cannot vote but are still affected by government policies. Women’s equality has never been rightly represented, but President Barack Obama has helped reach necessities important in every woman’s life. By passing the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, women are now able to fight for their rights in the workforce. Before, many women were being discriminated based on their gender, being underpaid and underestimated in their capabilities. In 2006 The New York Times reported that women make up fifty eight percent of the nation’s college students and according to the Department of Education, women are more likely to receive a bachelor’s degree than men and receive better grades.  

Women are continuing to rise in many levels including education and the work force. In order to maintain and increase the amount of extremely successful, powerful women, they must be healthy and able to work hard and succeed. Women’s health is so important to the lives of many. Women are the ones who provide our nation with the next generation and who are continually contributing to the higher intellect of our country as a whole. If women are struggling with their health and not having an outreach to help them through wonderful and/ or difficult times, such as pregnancy or cancer, they will lose focus on their advancement in society. President Barack Obama has helped to increase and better women’s rights to healthcare.

Planned Parenthood is an organization dedicated to helping women. Just last year they provided 2.2 million people with birth control, more than four million STD tests and treatments and 1.5 million cancer screenings. With Obama’s Affordable Care Act, Planned Parenthood has been able to extend its services including well-woman visits, necessary for all women’s development and aging; screening for gestational diabetes,  a risk women have during pregnancy; Human papillomuvirus (HPV) testing at no cost for at-risk women once they reach the age of thirty; Counseling for STI’s;  HIV counseling and screening, which is very important because women are at a higher risk of it than men; Contraceptive methods and counseling, one in three women have reported not being able to afford birth control; Breastfeeding support, supplies and counseling, important for both the health of the child and mother; and screening and counseling for interpersonal and domestic violence, twenty five percent of women have reported to being victims of domestic violence, many more victims don’t report it because they don’t know where to go for help and support. Planned Parenthood is an amazing program designed for women with both help and support.

 Mitt Romney has threatened to cut all government funding for Planned Parenthood and has said that is the first thing he will do once in office. Romney’s own wife, Ann Romney, a mother of five, was diagnosed with Multiple sclerosis in 1998, her sickness deeply affected Mitt, the time she was ill was some of their darkest days. How could a man who has dealt so closely with women’s health, knowing and experiencing the difficulties, both physically and emotionally, of getting through it, take away such a resourceful program? Mitt is a twit and Barack is our rock. He has brought us women out of the shadows of men and implemented what is rightfully ours. If you are a man and think that women’s rights have nothing to do with you, think about all of the women around you that will be directly affected by who is elected; your mother, grandmother, aunts, cousins, sisters, peers, teachers, colleagues. Make the right choice, for yourself and for others. Vote to reelect Barack Obama and watch our nation continue to move forward.

http://www.democrats.org/democratic-national-platform#protecting-rights

http://www.barackobama.com/womens-issues?source=primary-nav

http://pphsinc.wordpress.com/2012/08/07/the-recently-enacted-affordable-care-act-aca-provisions-are-great-news-for-anyone-with-two-x-chromosomes/

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/09/education/09college.html?pagewanted=all

http://www.womenarewatching.org/candidate/mitt-romney

C2

       Generally, Conservatives want the national government less involved in their lives, where as Liberals think that the national government needs to regulate public interest. A huge topic that both parties have extremely different beliefs about are marriage rights. The different beliefs among the Republican and Democratic parties are an important aspect of each of their platforms. Liberals push for equality on many minority groups other than same sex couples but the issue of same sex marriages is playing a huge role in the parties' policies. Conservatives believe in preserving a traditional marriage, between a man and a woman. They believe "that marriage, the union of one man and one woman must be upheld as the national standard, a goal to stand for, encourage, and promote through laws governing marriage", that children who aren't raised with a traditional family are less successful in both academics and healthiness (physical and emotional). However, Liberals "support marriage equality and support the movement to secure equal treatment under law for same-sex couples", while still protecting the first amendment to freedom of religion where "churches and religious entities to decide how to administer marriage as a religious sacrament without government interference." 

C1

1. My score was 90/40
2. Was there a draft for the war in Iraq?

B8

A.

1. The first principle that the Supreme Court outlined in McCulloch v. Maryland was enumerated powers. Powers that were specifically listed in the Constitution (Article 1 Section 8). Some of these powers were; Congress could coin money, regulate its value, impose taxes etc. 

2. The second principle was implied powers. In the Constitution it states that Congress has the power to "make all laws necessary and proper for carrying into execution the foregoing powers." Many congressional policies involve powers that are not enumerated in the Constitution.

B. 

1. The Full Faith and Credit Clause requires each state to recognize the official documents and civil judgments rendered by the courts of other states. An exception to this clause is divorces.

2. The privileges and immunities clause gives citizens of each state most of the privileges of citizens of other states.  Exceptions to this clause are that of paying tuition for college. If you live in the same state of the university or college you attend, you pay a lower tuition than those students who don't live in that state.

B7

A.
1) Advantages in a federal system of government are that it decentralizes countries that are high in population and size and that depending on a countries diversity, the people need to be closer to policymakers so they can all voice their opinion.
2) A unitary government is one that all the power lies in the central government. Life would be better under a unitary government system because everyone would have the same laws to obey and no one would get confused about the laws and regulations when crossing intrastate/city boundaries (like one might where speed limits and other driving laws are different from state to state in the U.S.).
B.
1) One enumerated power given to the National government is the power to coin money. This is a good thing because otherwise each state could have their own currency and traveling from state to state with different currencies would be confusing and annoying.
2) One power given to the States is marriage rights. It is legal for one state to allow same sax marriages and for another to make it illegal. This best belongs to the states because if a state is more lenient to not allowing same-sex marriages the people can vote for it to be illegal or if they do want it then the state legislatures will recognize it.
3) One concurrent power is the power to build and maintain roads. This best resides as a concurrent power because citizens of the U.S. use roads across states.

B2

The government increased it's power by putting body scanning machines in airport security, creating an act that allowed the gov to seize any data relevant to a terrorism investigation, and people detained on immigration were considered guilty until proven innocent.

I oppose the power of being able to obtain any data. I was listening to "This American Life" where a man posted a Facebook status, quoting "Fight Club", mentioning he might use a gun, and five minutes later the FBI was at his door. He went through trial after trial, all for quoting a movie. He's a comedian for goodness sake!

B6

A.
Congress can propose an amendment by a 2/3 vote in each House.
State legislatures can ratify an amendment by a vote of 3/4 of the states.
B.
One informal method of changing the Constitution is Political practice, for example almost every member of Congress and every president since Washington has stated that they are a Democrat, Republican, Federalist or Whig. Another informal method is a result of changes in technology, for example proceedings of the Senate and House are on T.V. televisions influences our political agenda and guides our choice for candidates.
C.
Informal methods of changing the Constitution are used more often then formal methods because changing the Constitution takes a long time. If the public recognizes an issue that needs to be dealt with sooner rather than later, Congress won't put it through the long process of proposing and ratifying an amendment.

B4

The first sentence of the Declaration of Independence- 

When it becomes necessary for one group of people to break away from a government it is also necessary that they give reason to their separation.

Everyone is equal and has the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, so when the government they are under gets in the way of those rights, they can alter or abolish it and make a new government. Everyone suffers, but if the government is constantly making it's people suffer then the people have the right to change it. Next it lists everything the monarchy has done wrong, i.e. forbidding governors to pass important laws or imposing taxes without consent. The oppression's have been petitioned (humbly) and those petitions have only been answered by injury. Then it states that the United Colonies are absolved from allegiance to the British Crown and all political connections ought to be dissolved, and as independent states are allowed to levy war, conclude peace, contract alliances, establish commerce, and other acts and things that independent states have the right to do. 

Why are the words that are capitalized, capitalized?

A8

What is an example of a Linkage institution?
A) The President
B) Bureaucracy
C) The media
D) Congress
E) The Army

A6

Amendment 28
All citizens will have access to two years of a higher education, be it undergrad or graduate school, at no cost, for the purpose of having a better educated population that will in turn lead to a better economy with more citizens in the work force. However, all persons who have completed their degree must give back to the youth of their local communities to further encouragement of education by donations of money or volunteer work.

A4

1. Yesterday  I drove to D.C. and had to obey speed limits and other road laws enforced by the government.

2.  In my family my dad and I care the most about politics, he's always up to date on current events. I care a lot about politics because the government and its policy determines most of my future.

3. Popular social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter are used by many of my peers.

4. Highways and public parks are public goods provided by the government as well as public transportation and hiking trails.

5. Four linkage institutions are elections (Presidential elections), political parties (Democrat/ Republican), interest groups(EPA, NRA) and the media (CNN)

6. Four policymaking institutions are Congress (Gerals Connolly Representative in the House for VA), the presidency(President Obama), the courts(Sonya Sotomayor, Associate Justice of The Supreme Court), and bureaucracy(someone who works at the DMV)