In this post an assigned student will provide a summary of the days lesson. Was there an assignment or reminders? This should include a summary, how the lesson relates to the "essential question" or "big idea", helpful maps, links, videos, etc. that would be useful to understand or review the day's lesson. This is worth up to 15 points and will be graded on content, creativity, effort and timeliness. Your initial post is due one day after your assigned class, but feel free to add to it as your understanding of the topic expands. At the top of your post you must put the date you are scribing about and your scribe number!
3 reasons for this assignment:
1. Allows one student to dig deeper into a given topic and do some research, critical thinking and even teaching.
2. Help anyone who missed that day for whatever reason.
3. If we do this right this should be a great tool to use when preparing for tests
Scribe #1
ReplyDelete1/9
Today we started out talking about they syllabus. If you get a D or an F you will not get any college credits for the class. This semester you will not be able to turn in anything late. Everybody needs to make sure that they read the book because it is important in doing good with the class. The essential question for today would be: How does government affect our daily lives? We discussed today how government affects everyone of us today. Some examples are cell phones, standard time, even shampoo because it must be approved by the government. We learned that many things we do in our daily lives has to deal with the government. It is almost impossible to live a normal life without using some of the governments help and they make our lives so much easier today for it. It gives people get jobs and an education by the government. We shared in class about how each one of us deals with government with our daily lives, work, and even for fun. This activity was very important because it taught us that government is significant in each one of our lives. Remember to blog for monday!
This link is good and goes through some of the same things that we did in class!:
http://www.governmentisgood.com/articles.php?aid=1
Here is another helpful link on how government affect our lives. This link gives you a unique perspective:
http://www.annenbergclassroom.org/speakout/how-does-local-government-affect-you
Good example of how to do this and everyone should read the article in the first link!
DeleteDay Three
ReplyDelete1/13/15
Today in government we discussed how government is about decisions. This means that even though some freedoms are taken from people, it is for the purpose of protecting other people. We also talked about freedom and equality. We are all fortunate enough to have the opportunity to take this class for FREE, so we can thank the tax payers for paying for this class for us.
We talked about the political parties also. For this we took a quiz to determine if we were democratic or republican. Here is the link to the quiz. Have your parents take it and see what they get or spend a little more time yourself and figure out what you really are!
http://ontheissues.org/Quiz/Quiz2014.asp?quiz=Pres2016
The government does what they do because people demand the government do them to. People want to feel safe, so they have the government mass laws and create restrictions. People complain all the time for things like listening to our calls or airport checks, however those are the things that keep us safe.
Tomorrow we will continue to talk about democrats and republicans. You should be about done reading the chapter. Remember, READ READ READ
Scribe #2
ReplyDelete1/12
Today in government class we discussed why globalization is important, the purpose of Government, and how government is about making decisions. This included the broad topic pertaining Freedom, order, and equality. When looking into how and why globalization is important you must understand Globalization's meaning. Globalization is a process of interaction and integration among the people, companies, and governments of different nations, a process driven by international trade and investment and aided by information technology. This means that because the world utilizes produce, clothes, technology and other means to function such as oil, or coal. We are a globalized community. The effects of this is that we are all interdependent on each other even though United states have absolute sovereighty. Which means no other country could straight forwardly or right out make us do anything. This goes into the topic of the "UN". Now going into information about how our government runs you must know that the government is about decision making. When our government make laws and or allow/ take away a certain freedom of ours they have to go by decision making tactics these are Freedom, order, or equality. “Who gets what” Examples to this would be
- Building codes
Importance of cause >( Must have safety)
The effect on the person building > (cost money)
Speed limit
( Safety your self and others)
(longer time)
- Freedom to smoke
(high chances to harm others)
(No calming method/ fighting the habit )
Apart from allowing laws you must know the purpose of our government.
there are three parts to this.
Maintain Order
Provide Public Goods
Promote Equality
The government work towards maintain order to ensure protection and safety with our government. Maintaining order would include legal actions such as laws and punishments if those laws are not happening. Providing Public goods makes our country more connected. Transportation, Jobs, Grocery stores, Schools, Parks, are now in every state and close enough to each city. Think of the game “The Sims” when playing “Sim City”, the more you build and the more safety the city has the happier the people are. This is the same as the world would. People are happy when they are in a controlled environment and can get to/ do things with out it being to hard to get to. This now goes in to the equality that our country now promotes.
Although having equality reduces the money of others. It stabilized the economy to grow. Our country promotes equality so that every one will have the same opportunities and are able to grow more efficiently.
Maintain Order-
1- protection
2- civilized
3- harmful activities
4- Safety
Provide Public Goods
1- Transportation
2-Benefits (relatively) everyone
Promote Equality-
1- Rights (women, black people, sexual orientation)
2-Social class
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1RQXffJn1s
Good post and good video link!
ReplyDeleteScribe #4
ReplyDelete1/14
Today we’re discussing the topic of political parties and their beliefs. We did an activity in which we chose where we thought we belonged based on our opinions, liberal democrat, moderate democrat, moderate republican, or conservative republican. The liberal and conservative forms of each are the more radical beliefs. Whatever beliefs one party has, usually the other party believes the opposite.
In class we were presented with different controversial topics and we had to pick what party we thought we belonged to. Topics like gay marriage and abortion. We went over each topic and discussed what each individual party would believe. Democrats usually don't want to take away people's freedom, while Republicans are more comfortable taking away freedoms to create a safer society.
These links present the two opposing sides beliefs on certain issues: http://www.diffen.com/difference/Democrat_vs_Republican
http://www.svgop.com/files/Differences%20Between%20Republicans%20and%20Democrats.pdf
The first topics we discussed were Freedom vs. Order, discussing whether the government should take away freedoms to increase order in society. Those topics included abortion, freedom to die, and gay marriage. Democrats would allow all of these things because they believe it is the person’s freedom, republicans would be the opposite.
The second topics were based on Freedom vs Equality. Republicans favor freedom, while Democrats take away freedoms to promote equality for all people. These included minimum wage and health care.
Good link. It might be useful for those still confused about which party supports what.
DeleteScribe #6
ReplyDelete1/16
Today in National American Government we covered a decent array of topics. The first thing we did today was an activity based on where we fell on the spectrum. We started out spread fairly far apart, then we were instructed to move really close together because thats how things actually are in the real world. Then we talked about consensus issues such as wedge issues. Some wedge issues would be gay marriage, abortion, or other controversial topics.
What we agree the gov’t should do- public goods, protection, etc. After that, we talked about totalitarians, Anarchy, and a few other topics before taking our quiz. Once the quiz was finished, we went through it together to talk about some of the issues that were covered in the quiz.
For a good source on wedge issues, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/news/wedge-issues/ is a good place to check out for the most common issues.
Thursday 1/16/15, #5 Today we discussed the difference between Libertarian, Conservative, Liberal and Populist/Communitarian. We brought up different issues such as; Gay marriage, abortion, assisted suicide, minimum wage, health care, Public prayer in school, environmental, social security, gun control, and School vouchers. There were four choices around the room which were conservative republican, moderate republican, moderate democrat, and liberal democrat. Republicans like order over freedom, and Freedom($) over equality. The democrats are vice-versa. On most of these issues, people were in the moderate range, even though many of the issues are considered wedge, or largely separated, views.
ReplyDeleteThere will be a quiz tomorrow over chapter one tomorrow.
Scribe #7
ReplyDelete1/19/15
Today we began Government class discussing the three terms we were assigned to research. The first group presented majoritarianism, which is government by the majority of people. This involved many elections. For their presentation to explain the vocab word, they had two individuals who were up for election and they expressed their ideas on gun control. One of the candidates received 3 votes whereas the other only received on. Naturally, the candidate who received 3 votes won. For the next term, pluralism, the group described how it is a form on government in which groups make the decisions. This includes groups like FFA and the NRA. The bigger the group, the more likely they will have a little more influence but for the most part the groups are pretty equal. One of the biggest interest groups, AARP, is involved with the elderly. This group is more powerful because elderly people make up the largest fraction of people alive today and they all vote. Lastly, the group presenting on the elite theory explain how it involves minority groups which have significantly more power over other 'less important' groups. For example, if Oprah wanted to talk to Obama, she would probably get to do it whenever she wanted but if someone like me wanted to get a word in with Obama, it would probably never happen.
Next we discussed a little bit about the Constitution and why it was created. We began with the story of the American Revolution. During this time we were ruled by Britain and they had a lot of control over us. We have learned in the past that we had no rights then but this isn't true. Americans eventually got fed up with how Britain treated us because they were taxing us extremely high. We knew that we had to revolt to gain our freedom. Based on John Locke's words, we could break away from a government that wasn't doing a proper job of governing us. What made us do the revolution was the time of enlightenment. It was a time where freedom of speech and religion began. We had many great scientific things happen as well.
Lastly, we took a look at the Declaration of Independence and saw how important it is. The first paragraph explains how we needed to get our own government because we weren't being treated well. It had another important line that said "We the people" only in other words. It explained how we all have free rights and we should be able to be involved in decisions. At the end of what we read it told a few lines of how the King had done us wrong. It did this so it would give the people a reason and a right to revolt.
Extra Source
Should Majorities Decide Everything?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BpeTd2xII7A
Another good link!
DeleteScribe #8
ReplyDeleteJanuary 20, 2015
Today in government, we started the class with a reminder that blogging is due on February 4th. This is in roughly three weeks, but you can always get done before the due date. Also, do not forget that the meeting/letter assignment is due before the quarter ends, so you should start on that sooner than later.
We reviewed over yesterday’s lesson. The enlightenment was a time of new thinking that sparked ideas for a new way of government. Colonial America had more freedom than almost any other place in the world. The Declaration of Independence includes a list of grievances against the English king and statements that we are our own independent country and we all have our own rights given to us by God. The Social Contract by John Locke gave us a reason to break away from england. It stated we had the right to replace the king when he governed us poorly.
We read pages 70-74 from our textbook to analyze the Articles of Confederation.
What: A compact among the thirteen original states that established the first government of the US
Flaws: no national power to tax, no provision for an independent leadership to direct government, no national control of foreign commerce/trade, could not be amended without the unanimous agreement of congress and state legislatures
Event that proves flaws- Shay’s rebellion
How: Shay was just a farmer from Massachusetts who didn’t want to pay taxes, but he came close to overthrowing the US government. This event lead people to realize there needed to be a new way of government,
One of our essential questions is “What was the founders’ greatest fear and how did they safeguard against it?” I think, from what we learned today from the Articles of Confederation, it was having another monarchy as their ruling way of government. This is evident when they safeguarded by not allowing there to be a central leader to direct the US government.
Lastly, the state of union address was assigned on classroom. You need to watch 5-10 minutes of the state of union video and the republican response. Afterwards, write a short analysis in terms of philosophy: freedom, order equality, conservative, liberal, communitarian, and libertarian. You should write one paragraph over the state of union video and the republican response each, and write one paragraph of personal analysis. This is THREE paragraphs in all, and it is due on Thursday. By tomorrow everyone needs to have read through page 80 in the textbook. Make sure to get caught up on reading.
This is a live stream link to the State of Union: http://www.ibtimes.com/state-union-2015-live-stream-how-watch-president-obamas-sotu-address-online-1788504
This is a link to more information on the Articles of Confederation: http://www.history.com/topics/articles-of-confederation
Wednesday January 21, 2015
ReplyDeleteWe started the day with a small recap of everything about the meeting in Philadelphia in 1787. Everything that we learned in the beginning of class was the important people of the making of the constitution. We started off with looking at Madison, he was kind of the key starting point and it may not have been such a big thing. He proposed the Virginia plan that one of the main points was that you get more votes for the people that you have. Not everyone agreed on it but that was ok because they needed somewhere to start. New Jersey didn’t like that because they thought that they would get dominated by the bigger states. So with the New Jersey Plan they wanted everyone to have an equal number. The great compromise brought a nice compromise. They came up with the bicameral house and senate. The senate being based off the New Jersey plan and the House of Representatives would be based of the virginia plan and the population. Everything else after that clicked into place and they would just have to compromise. Leaving the constitution with the name a “Bundle of Compromises”. The SOTU address assignment is due tomorrow and also we have to write a speech, around 1 minute long over the basic principles.
Sources: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constitutional_convention_(political_meeting)
Scribe #10
ReplyDeleteThursday, January 22, 2015
Today we began class by talking about what we analyzed while watching the State of the Union and Republican Response. President Obama proposed some very democratic ideas. Some examples include two years of free tuition at community college and making childcare more affordable. Both of these ideas stand for equality. Joni Ernst was chosen from the Republican party to give a response. It was interesting seeing her give a response because she is from Iowa, and she was just very recently elected. Overall, she was not very specific on her ideas, but she did mention her hardships in Iowa.
Next we split up into four groups of five and presented our speeches to each other. Our speeches were over which basic principle we thought was the most important and why. The person with the best speech from each group then presented their speech in front of the entire class. The speeches were over the basic principles that include republicanism, federalism, separation of powers, checks and balances, limited government, human rights, and a few others.
Towards the end of class, we discussed some of the important aspects of the Constitution. Mr. Pauk made note that this could be a possible essay on our first test. One of the key aspects that we discussed was the fact that we were the first ones to come up with this type of government. Unlike Britain, we separated our powers into three different branches, which would prevent power from falling under one person's rule. We were also the first to have a republic and have a limited government. The Constitution also gave account to our human rights that cannot be taken away from us. All of these ideas are aimed at power to the people.
Remember to finish reading chapter 3 soon!
Here is a link to a website that gives more information about the basic principles:
http://theconstitutionpolik6.weebly.com/6-basic-principles.html
Great review website!
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteTaylor Loew #11
ReplyDelete1/23/15
Today in class, we went over the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. Each person in our row was told to read a specific article and section in the Constitution and we then explained the main points. Another major thing we learned about was selling the Constitution. Many people were apposed to it, but as soon as the Federalist papers were released, most of the important people agreed with it. (notes below)
We took notes over the Bill of Rights. A table chart was added to our notes covering the right, covered, not covered and why, and court case. The only one that we started on was “right.” Our right of religion contains two freedoms; the government can’t choose for us and the freedom to practice. Because Mr. Pauk works for the government, we weren’t allowed to say a prayer at the beginning of class.
Remind Mr. Pauk on Monday to talk about the amendments or research it on your own!
Notes:
Bill of Rights:
Right
Religion (2 freedoms) Gov. can’t choose for us- Freedom to practice
V. Selling the constitution
Concerned about being too strong
Federalist papers- News paper articles defending the constitution (explanations)
A concession: The Bill of Rights (promise)
Almost all of the important people in the economy come out in favor
Constitution Ratification
VII An Evaluation of the Constitution
Freedom, order, and equality in the constitution
This link is the articles and sections that we read in class.
http://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/articlei
Good.
ReplyDeleteScribe #13
ReplyDelete1/27/15
Today in class we continued discussing the amendments and the amendment process. The fifth amendment includes double jeopardy, no self incrimination, miranda rights, and most importantly due process of the law. Double jeopardy states that one can’t be retried for a crime after being acquitted. The section of incrimination states that one never has to incriminate themselves. If miranda rights aren’t read when one is arrested, then any confession made becomes invalid. Due process of the law states that everyone deserves fair treatment. This means that everyone deserves the right to a lawyer, the right to a fair trial, the right to an appeal etc. Amendment 6 states that everyone deserves a speedy and fair trial and discusses cruel and unusual punishment. The main idea from Amendment 9 is that everyone has more rights than the constitution specifically states. When amending the constitution, after the national Congress passes the amendment, both houses need to agree by 2/3rd’s majority. The amendment then goes to the states and 3/4ths have to agree for the amendment to pass. The framers of the constitution wanted it to be possible to make amendments, but for it not be likely and so that’s why they decided on that process.
Reminder that you should be done reading chapter 4 by Thursday and that the test will be next Monday!
These links give a more in depth look at amending the Constitution: http://www.archives.gov/federal-register/constitution/
http://usgovinfo.about.com/od/usconstitution/a/constamend.htm
Day 14
ReplyDeleteToday during class we are starting off chapter four. We are going to have a test this coming Monday, or maybe Tuesday if we can't get through the chapter completely. But everyone should be ready to take the test when Monday comes around, so make sure you look over the student scribes, the blogs, and over your reading before you come to class on Monday, this is going to be our hardest test we have ever taken. We started off class by talking about Federalism. We started off with a picture with two people that were holding a bomb saying that neither one of them wanted it, and the other should have it. Federalism, is when there is two separate governments. Both national and state governments. That is the big idea of Federalism. We also talked about how the government spends money, but doesn't have a lot of money, so that is why they are 17 trillion dollars in debt. The representations of Federalism was also on the power point. There are two types, Dual, and Cooperative types of Federalism. The dual is when the national government has stuff they do, and you have the state government with stuff to do. The national gov does their thing, and the state government does their own thing. Mr. Pauk used the cake example during class with the state government on the top half, and the national government on the bottom half and then the frosting in the middle. Examples given were Social Security, Military, Trade, Post Office, are all examples of national things. There aren't very many things controlled by the state anymore. But schooling, roads, income tax, minimum wage, police, laws etc. Cooperative is when the national and the state government work together, they mix together like a marble cake. Schooling, Standardized testing, if not taken twice a year you don't get the funding from the government. Military would also be an example, We now how the National Guard. Health care would also be an example. We looked at the elastic Clause also, this is your government book on page A-7, at the top of your page. It really seems to contradict itself. It's called the elastic clause, because it seems to stretch the constitution and give the power to the congress.
Make sure you get going on your blogging, it's due next week when we take our test. Mr. Pauk will be taking a grade on the blogs today, to put in the gradebook to show you how your grade would be if blogging were done that day. If you only have one blog done, you are going to get a 4/25. We were also supposed to bring our list of the representatives on a document to class, so make sure you also get that done, so you know them. Mr. Pauk also said that we could have had a quiz today over the reading, so don't be surprised if Mr. Pauk springs a quiz on us at some point this week to prep us for our test, so make sure you are caught up on blogging and reading before the weekend, so you can look over your outline and your reading, and you are not behind.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federalism_in_the_United_States
http://www.usa.gov/Agencies/State-and-Territories.shtml
http://www.usconsulate.org.hk/pas/kids/national_govt.htm
Day #12
ReplyDelete1/26/15
Today in class we discussed the bill of rights. We got through the first 4 amendments. The first amendment states that Congress can not make a law limiting or controlling what religion you have. It also states that in public schools we can not practice religion. For say a prayer before class. That is not allowed. This amendment states that you can be apart of whatever religion you want. You can also practice your religion however you want as long as you don't cause harm to others. The second amendment basically states that every citizen has the right to own guns. This is a big amendment because a lot of people are worried that the government will try to take this away from us but if they ever do people will fight back. The third amendment states a person does not have to house troops unless they want to. The fourth amendment states that a person belongings cannot be searched without a warrant. This is as far as we got today. We will finish the other six amendments tomorrow. These first four amendments are important to know because they protect our rights and everyone should know them. These amendments are not just good to know for the class but to know for everyday life. Remember we have a test coming up so start studying now.
Links to help:
http://billofrightsinstitute.org/founding-documents/bill-of-rights/
http://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/billofrights
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yYEfLm5dLMQ
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteScribe #15 - 1/29
ReplyDeleteToday in Government we talked about the importance of Judicial review, and how the supreme court finally utilized the power they held. Within the constitution there is both the Supremacy clause and the Commerce Clause. Supremacy is to show what laws are most and import, and an example of this would be the Marbury vs. Madison trial, where the Supreme court threw out a law written by congress for the first time. The Commerce clause gave national government the power to regulate state business commerce, such as health code laws that are established for restaurants
Next we moved into the topic of Federalism and what role it has played throughout the United States history. Many people believe that the Civil war was started and thrived on slavery, when in reality it was because the South wanted a more federalistic government. When the North won the thought of states rights went out the window. During The New Deal, proposed by FDR, the national government stepped in for the first time helping individuals. They took over responsibilities that were expected to be handled by the states, giving them food, providing shelter, paid farmers, and legalized labor unions. This allowed national government to thrive. Then for 40 years the presidential seat was held either by republicans or former governors. These presidents, starting with Jimmy Carter and ending with George W. Bush, enforced the idea of federalism, giving the states more power.
We then spoke about Grants-in-aid which provide states with more money. The national government started income taxes first, which means they receive more more than states do. The national government then takes this money and gives it back to the states, but force them to use it on specific things. An example of this would be the national government saying if you don’t enforce a seatbelt law, we will cut your transportation funding. We then spoke about the differences between formula and project grants. A project grant is when one would apply for the grant, and if they were to receive the money, it was to be used on very specific things. An example of this would be the bricks on the roads on main street. The other common form of grants are formula grants, which calculate how much money one would get using a formula. An example of this would be how much money the government provides to our school based on the number of students we have.
Links:
http://www.history.com/topics/new-deal
http://www.federalfunding.net/grants_types.htm
http://ojp.gov/grants101/typesoffunding.htm
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PN44uDqMzuI
Scribe #16
ReplyDelete2/3/15
The very first thing that Mr. Pauk said at the beginning of class was reminding us that our test is tomorrow and we need to prepare. Then we began class where we left off last week with Grants-in-aid and the different types of grants that can be given by the government. Such as Categorical, formula/project, block, revenue sharing, and string grants..
The next topic we moved to was governmental funding. And the biggest topics (that Mr. Pauk circled on the board) was authorization vs. appropriation and NCLB (No Child Left Behind). Appropriation bills are bills that only give money. They do not make anything legal/not legal. Authorization bills are the bills that make things legal/not legal. No Child Left Behind is an example of both an authorization and an appropriation movement. Each school is required to have each student take a standardized test to make sure each student is keeping up. Schools that give their students these tests receives a percentage of their budget from the national government. The problem with passing so many bills is that the government really cannot financially afford it.
Next we did a little activity on the board to determine the difference between something that is controlled by either the state or federal. Mr. Pauk put a couple of topics on the board and told us to split them into state and federal controlled. Some of the topics that were on the board were: marriage/divorce, interstates, licenses, rape/murder, kidnapping, declaring war, and others of that nature. Of the examples that I listed here is what they divide into: Federal - interstates, kidnapping, and declaring war. State - licenses and rape/murder.
Once we finished that topic we began to review for the test tomorrow since we had about twenty minutes left of class. Mr. Pauk clearly emphasized knowing the people who represent Iowa at both the state and national level and also knowing the difference in beliefs between a republican and a democrat. Another big topic was the clauses that give power to the national or state government. So if you don't recognize any of those topics then you'd better study up cause the test is tomorrow! Be prepared!
Good. I hope people use these for the Test!
ReplyDeleteScribe #17
ReplyDelete2/6/15
Today we started chapter 5 and started talking about public opinion and polls. The distribution of public opinion involves two things: the shape and the stability. The shape of the distribution depicts the pattern of all responses. There are three patterns: skewed, bimodal, and normal.
A skewed pattern on a poll chart is asymmetrical; there is a prominent "hump and tail" (a big group and a small group). A skewed pattern shows that most people share the same opinion.
A bimodal pattern shows two categories that are divided almost evenly. These are usually results from "yes or no" questions. There is great potential for political conflict in a bimodal distribution.
A normal distribution would show a symmetrical bell shaped curve. The highest point of the curve is around the most frequent answer, (also called the mode) and the smallest ends of the curve are around the least frequent answers.
The stability of the distribution usually shows very little change over time. The stability can change, but it is hard to distinguish a true change in opinion from a change in the way the same question was worded that makes people answer differently. There are often large changes in subgroups that aren't reflected in overall public opinion. College students today are far more liberal than they were in the 1980's. In 1958, only 4% of Americans approved of interracial marriage. In 2007, 77% approved, 75% of which were white.
There are a few factors that need to be considered before trusting a poll:
Who was interviewed? - Was it a large group of people? Were they all from the same party or different?
When was the poll conducted? - How much has this opinion changed since then?
Links:
http://www.pollingreport.com/
http://www.pollingreport.com/dvsr.htm
http://www.pollingreport.com/budget.htm
http://www.pollingreport.com/civil.htm
http://stattrek.com/statistics/charts/data-patterns.aspx
2/9/15 Scribe #18
ReplyDeleteWe began class today with an activity that demonstrated that family is the most important factor in political socialization. It means that public's opinions are most affected by family and parents' values. This includes issues like gay rights, abortion, and other major issues. It applies to virtually any issue. Recently, increasing technology and media has had more influence. This, along with peers, while increasing, still does not trump family values.
Other aspects that affect our opinions are education, income, religion, region, race, and gender. Highly educated people tend to think they know what is best for themselves, hence favoring freedom. This technically means they favor libertarian styled government. Rich people are anti tax. All tax cuts are aimed towards middle class, because most citizens consider themselves in this class. Poor people aren't as in favor of taxes as they should be because they just view it as money out of their pocket. They don't realize the money is actually directed towards them.
The deep south tends to vote Republican, dating back to civil right acts. Black and Hispanic people tend to vote Democratic. The problem with this is, a lot of them do not vote. Women tend to be interested in things dealing with children and equality. "soccer mom" campaigns were created to target them.
One of the most important factors is religion. (the God gap--believing bible is literal word) Conservatives are viewed to be more religious and have a stronger belief in the bible. This has caused democrats in recent years to show they too believe in God. This factor has increased Republican party in terms of numbers and power.
We also got assigned a media project as well. The directions for this are listed below in the link.
https://docs.google.com/a/carrolltigers.org/document/d/14cNLaOBpp2uFHzvFE7w6wefnFnUOJKtewDo-CLh1ku8/edit
Here's similar outline to what we did in class.
http://www.redwoods.edu/instruct/klee/politsocial.htm
Additional info on political socialization
http://wps.ablongman.com/long_sobel_pto_1/40/10417/2666850.cw/index.html
Good.
ReplyDeleteScribe #19
ReplyDelete2/10/15
Today Mr. Pauk opened up the day with a terrible joke, saying it's terrible joke Tuesday, then we went straight to discussing Chapter 5. We started talking about Ideology, and how important it is. We gave our personal opinions on why we think it's important or not. We stated that we don't really think it's important anymore, we just threw ideology out of the window. We mainly talked about the Conservative party when we spoke about ideology.
After Ideology we started to speak of questions over the chapter. Like, what did you learn about polling? or what did you learn about political socialization? We discussed those with our rows, and we reported out and discussed the topics with the class.
Then we were introduced our Media Project, in which will in turn be a very important project. We met with our groups and we talked about the things that we were assigned, and will continue discussing them tomorrow, but not for long because we have a shortened class. *insert sad face*.
Reminder that you should definitely read Chapter 5 and take good notes on them!
Scribe #20
ReplyDelete2/11/15
Today in class we got in our groups that are presenting on media sources. There are five different groups, and each one has one source of media to present with the rest of their group. Some of the media sources that we're talking about are very large, like the internet, and others are rarely used anymore, like news magazines. We are presenting these to the class on Friday and Monday, two or three groups a day. You have a maximum of 20 minutes to present. Some groups projects will be shorter than others, and some will be longer because of more information. You need to present on all aspects of your media source, including advantages and disadvantages of it. Also make sure to make your presentation creative, and apply your source to your actual presentation!
Everyone should be done reading chapter 5, and almost done with chapter 6.
Chapter six doesn’t have a outline, but most of this chapters comes from our projects. The things we need to know about though is newsworthy. Newsworthy isn’t always what people need to know, it is about what is more interesting. The public tends to like stories that are more about violent. Two sayings that show that show what people want to see or read: if it bleeds it leads and Sex sells. Problems for newsworthy is that the public sometimes doesn’t get the important news. Media exist in the U.S. to make money, which leads to the newsworthy concept. Each project will have a difference viewpoints on how biased they are, there is a good source in the book to help find out what your group is. Media is a mix between liberal and conservative, but you cannot state they are one or the other.
ReplyDeleteAfter talking in class and covering notes, we all then go into our groups and finished most of our projects. Some groups volunteered to go first tomorrow to present. The group work took up the rest of the class.
Some assignments that should be started or done by now are blogging and the reading in the book. Plus, the project should be done or being polished of for Friday and Monday presenting times.
http://www.mediacollege.com/journalism/news/newsworthy.html This link helps understand what is newsworthy and what happens with the important news.
Fed. 13 was day 22!
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteScribe #22
2/13/15
Today we started chapter six projects. Our class talked about how much technology is gaining popularity and how it will soon be the top media source for getting news. Today the internet is the easiest and quickest way to get news. During the project we did a poll to see who had access to the internet and how many hours a day they use the internet, over half of the class had a smartphone or a computer at their house that could access the internet. Also the average person in the class was on the internet 4-5 hours a day. The other project was the newspaper. These two have switched roles in the the way we get our news. Today the newspapers are losing popularity, because the papers contain old news, you can see it on the internet anytime and you can only see news from that day or that week with newspapers. The majority of our class made a prediction that paper copy newspapers will not be made and sold in 15-20 years.
Scribe #25
ReplyDelete2/18/15
Today we started class with a reminder to read, we finished discussing chapter seven. If you haven't finished chapter seven you need to do that soon because we are already moving on to chapter 8. We discussed the history of suffrage and different types of voting too.
Suffrage is the right to vote. When voting began in 1787 the only people were able to vote were rich white people, but they also had to belong to the right religion and own property too. The quickly got rid of the religion requirement and soon to follow was the property. The reason the government had property as a requirement is because property owners were the smart people. After the Civil War, black men were able to vote after the 15th amendment was ratified. The south still didn't let the blacks vote, they did this by the Jim Crow laws. The stop them from voting by literacy test. There was also the grandfather clause, which states that if your grandfather couldn't vote before the Civil War then, you can't vote now. Women were the next to be able to vote, the 19th amendment allows women to vote. The 26th amendment allowed people 18 and older to vote, however, age 18-26 have the least amount of voters during elections.
We also talked about the Civil Rights Act of 1964, this outlawed discrimination based on gender, race, and religion. The Voting Act of 1965, this outlawed discrimination when voting. This was aimed towards states that wouldn't let blacks vote even after the 15th amendment, it outlawed poll taxes and literacy tests at the polls. Lyndon Johnson signed the Voting Act of 1965. This are two important laws.
Another topic we discussed today in class was types of voting. We all know that there is general elections, this is when we elected our president, governor, senators, and representatives. There are also primary elections, this is an election where they narrow down one candidate to represent their party in the upcoming election. A closed primary is when only the people from the party that is being voted on are the only people who can vote of their candidate to represent their party. A open primary is when people from either party can vote for the candidate.
Another sources about the history of sufferage:
https://www.aclu.org/timeline-history-voting-rights-act
Others sources of the types of voting:
https://www.boundless.com/political-science/textbooks/boundless-political-science-textbook/campaigns-and-elections-8/elections-60/types-of-elections-340-1895/
https://votesmart.org/education/elections#.VOUoUNX3-iw
Scribe #26
ReplyDelete2/19/15
To start off class, we split up in groups and played the drag and drop game on the smartboard. The game was about what groups had the right to vote first. A couple of the groups were rich, white, protestant males, women, and blacks. After all the groups were finished, we finished up chapter 7. We discussed political participation and why there is a lower turnout in America as opposed to other countries. The reasons we came up with were: young people don't vote, older people vote a lot and have a big impact on policies, and black people and poor people don't vote very well. We also came up with reasons why people vote like they do or don't vote at all, which were: they don't think their vote counts, uneducated, inconvenience, don't know the different parties, too lazy, or annoyed by all of the advertisements. But the biggest reason why people don't vote is because nothing is changed right away, so why even vote?
An example of an election that isn't the major presidential election was a school board election. Most people don't show up or vote for these elections because they don't think their vote will matter much or because they haven't been happy with the turnout before. A specific example would be the ISL election last year. The ISL was been advertised everywhere around town and there was a higher turnout than expected.
We started discussing chapter 8 which is "Political Parties". The first thing we discussed was the functions of political parties. The main function is to win elections which is especially important because you need to win an election to actually get your ideas out there. The last thing we discussed was that both parties, republicans and democrats want the best for the U.S. and don't want our country to get any worse.
Friday is the Media Day when we get caught up on government assignments like the blogging, meeting or letter, reading the chapters, and studying.
More Information on Voter Turnout:
http://www.fairvote.org/research-and-analysis/voter-turnout/
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ReplyDeleteScribe #24
ReplyDelete2/17/15
We started to talk about Chapter 7 and the info that came from this chapter. We started with in the begging the United States only let rich, white, and religious males were able to vote for our government this is because they were the only ones that payed property taxes which they got a say in the government. We are now eventually giving more options to voting through out the years. It eventually went to people who were rich, white males who were non religious, then it went to all white males could vote, then it went to women, and finally to African Americans through civil rights. After talking about years of suffrage we went on to talking about the participation of the United States in recent years how we are awful at voting because not a lot of the citizens are voting here in the United States.
Scribe #28
ReplyDelete2/24/15
Today in class we talked about the difference. activists and voters. An activist is a person that votes and on top of that they promote their party, protest and are generally involved in politics at a younger age. We learned that republican activists are much more conservative that republican voters and an activist doesn't have as good of a chance to get elected. In order to win over the activists a candidate needs to have a more conservative views on topics like immigration and abortion. This is a problem for candidates because they cannot please everyone, so they need to find some middle ground. We talked about how Iowa activists are very conservative.
Next we did an activity. We have to declare ourselves a democrat or a republican and then we were put into groups. While we were in our groups we had to come up with a statement about what we would really do if we were elected. After the activity we talked about what democrats and republicans would do on certain issues. When talking about repairing roads, both parties are not very different. With the republicans in power abortion doesn't become illegal unless the supreme court changes their mind. Neither party would have any big short term abortion changes. With gay marriage there won't be any big changes because of the supreme court once again. Both parties would increase the gas tax, and both parties will increase school funding.
More information on activists
http://www.people-press.org/2014/06/12/section-5-political-engagement-and-activism/
Bibi & Kyler?
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteScribe #29
ReplyDelete2/24/15
Today, we continued our discussion over what we really get from our government on certain issues. We joined back up with our Republican or Democratic parties and split into groups to discuss multiple issues. In our groups we discussed issues like gay marriage, abortion, and education.
What we really get on the issue of education is a slight increase each year. Both sides tend to always be in favor of slightly increasing the budget for education, but how much is the issue. If the republicans were to take control of the state House and Senate than you would most likely see an increase of about 1-2%. On the flip side Democrats would realistically get schools around a 3-4% increase. With the issues of gay marriage and abortion we really won't see much change. Both of these issues are based off of supreme court rulings and would take another supreme court ruling to reverse the where it stands today.
This is an article from election season on what would happen if Republicans took the Senate
http://www.businessinsider.com/what-happens-if-republicans-take-senate-2014-11
February 27th, 2015
ReplyDeleteScribe #30
Today we started class with announcements. Remember: LETTER OR MEETING DUE TOMORROW!!! You have had 7 weeks to do this so make sure it is strong and professionally done. It is worth 35 points and you must turn it in on classroom. Also, BLOGGING IS DUE MARCH 4th!!! They are worth 25 points and you must have 3 discussion posts and 1 research. There are two blogs up plus the national and state current events for you to do. Last reminder, TEST IS NEXT WEEK!!! We are looking at it being next Tuesday depending on how much we can go through in class. This should be a difficult test over 5 chapters so make sure you are reviewing your notes and reading your chapters.
We then went over our assignment that was due yesterday at 3:30 about “What do you really get?” We were put into groups whether or not you would consider yourself a democrat or republican then we went over the national and state effects that would happen if the party was in complete control. Most groups finally understood the concept and it was a good review. For example, nationally gun control. If the democrats were in charge, we would have more control. Possibly a limit on a certain type of weapon. But definitely a background check on people before they were allowed to buy a gun. THE POINT IS NOT THAT YOU WON’T GET ANYTHING, IT IS THAT YOU WILL GET SMALL CHANGES. There is an in between, but they aren’t very big changes. This activity may be a small portion on the semester test.
Chapter 9 is our main focus today. In 1788 they spent no money on campaigning and no speeches. In today’s society they spent a couple million dollars on campaigning and had thousands of speeches. Iowa Caucuses are important because we are the first state to know because they want to win the frontrunner position. We are also the only state who comes in and talk to people to know the frontrunner. The problem with Iowa being the first is it is a small, rural area, small in electoral college, and there’s not much diversity. It is a huge publicity and gives millions of dollars to contributions and publicity money. Because of that many candidates campaign in Iowa, some multiple times.
We have a closed caucus so that means we have to be in the same party to go to the parties that is why you do not register as an independent. We are performing a democratic caucus. The four candidates are Elizabeth Warren, Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton, and Andrew Cuomo. The three things that a caucus has to do is:
Take a preference.
Start a Platform
Ideas for your Party to Stand For
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0RXie7FJqOA
http://whotv.com/2015/01/22/new-campaign-to-urge-2016-caucus-candidates-to-support-renewable-fuels/
http://millercenter.org/president/washington/essays/biography/3
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ReplyDeleteScribe day 25
ReplyDelete2/27
In government class on Friday February 27th, we learned about campaigns for elections, caucuses, and electoral college. Iowa is the first caucuses as we learned a few days ago, so most of the the candidates running for president spend their time in Iowa because winning the caucuses in the Iowa means you are the head runner. Being organized in the first three caucuses are very key because if you win, people start to know you and you start getting more money which will help you. Using advertisements cost a lot of money so winning and getting people to donate is key.
Swing states are states that can go either way with the election. Here is a link to show you what swing states mean and a picture that represents the money that most of the representatives spend their time. (This was the picture shown in class)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swing_state Most people would wonder why representatives would not spend most of their money in that state because the population is so big, but democrats have one this state for a long time, so there is no point to
The electoral college is the official decider of who is president. It does not help with the popularity vote IT DECIDES. each state has a state convention in the summer before the election. They pick 6 republican representatives and 6 democratic representatives. The popularity vote does not decide who is president. Normally, if you are a republican and you win the popularity vote, you will pick the same for the electoral college and same goes for democrats.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electoral_College_%28United_States%29 (electoral college)
http://www.diffen.com/difference/Electoral_Vote_vs_Popular_Vote (electoral vote vs popularity)
Scribe Day #31
ReplyDeleteMarch 2, 2015
Today Mr. Pauk was gone to somewhere and we had Mrs. Oxley for a substitute. Though he was gone we still had some review questions that are on classroom by the way to do before Wednesday's test. The entire classtime was devoted to working either alone or in a group to try and get those questions done to review for the test. In my fifth period class we split up into groups and Kyler played some tunes from when bands like KISS and Led Zepelin were in there prime. As far as I know the review question helped us out tremendously!
Correction:
DeleteScribe Day #32
Scribe Day #34
ReplyDeleteMarch 5, 2015
At the beginning of the class, our tests were passed out. Mr. Pauk said tests were better this time, but if you still aren’t getting the grade you want in the class they’re a few things you may need to start doing. For example, participating my in class and asking questions about what you don’t understand. Participating in class gives your thoughts a chance to be heard. Also, it may help you gain more knowledge on what we are currently discussing. Participation will be the last grade in Infinite Campus for the quarter. So, make sure you are answering questions asked or be asking them yourself. Another option, is coming in before the test and asking Mr. Pauk politely to help you review. Also, make sure you are reading the textbook, like right now.
Next, what started discussing chapter 10 and this chapter is over interest groups and lobbyists. An interest group is an organization of people with similar policy goals who enter the political process to try to achieve those goals. We then watched a video containing a lot of information about these two topics. An interest group donates money to a candidate, they do this because they want to influence policy and pass or change a law. Everyone is involved in interest groups whether they may be farmers, teachers, or even accountants. Also, companies have their own interest groups as well, this includes companies like Apple and GM. These groups spend millions of dollars to get their goals achieved. Some groups support causes like abortion or pro gay rights.
EVERYBODY HAS A LOBBYIST. A lobbyist attempts to influence decisions made by officials in the government. In the video, they had an example of lobbyist. Companies who sold pizza wanted pizza to count as a vegetable. They influenced the governments decision to change pizza to a vegetable so they would sell more pizza. They couldn’t sell it to schools because it was considered an unhealthy lunch, but since it is qualified as a vegetable, it is now allowed for a school lunch.
Over $9,000,000,000 was spent on lobbyist a few years ago. Another example from the video we watched in class with Obamacare and other health insurances. Barack Obama suggested Obamacare because some people are not able to pay for health insurance for themselves or their family. Health insurance companies have been booming because the government gave people money to get insurance from these companies. If Obamacare had its own insurance company, these other companies would probably go out of business because they wouldn’t be bringing in enough money. Obamacare is a huge example of lobbyists because lobbyists wrote most of it. Their goal was to make their businesses grow and prosper. The ultimate goal of these groups is not to make the world better for people, but to make their life better by giving more money to their company.
It is very important to understand interest groups before you understand Congress and it’s role as part of the United States government. Most people think you’re going against the public if you are a lobbyist. People may think of you as a thief, you scam people, and your giving money to politicians. This could be called blackmail or bribery. The main question is: Whos is taking advantages of who? The lobbyist or Congressman? Who is benefitting or losing something important? Please begin reading chapter ten and understand interest groups and lobbyists.
To gain more knowledge over interest groups or lobbyists- go to these sites:
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/290136/interest-group/257771/Lobbying-strategies-and-tactics
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xNlfwrF-hLA
Wow! Thorough.
ReplyDeleteScribe day #35
ReplyDeleteMarch 6, 2015
The main focus of the class today was Current Events. The "essential question" was What should the average informed American know about current events in these 4 areas? The four topics are:
1.) IA. Government
2.) Exec./President
3.)Leg./ Congress
4.) Jud./S.C
We got into groups and each member of the group researched one of the four topics shown above ^
4.) Affordable Care act is a big Supreme Court case currently, this case has been in the court a couple of times. It is a big deal because millions of people are going to find out if they have health care or not. Gay Marriage is another case that is being tried right now. The general idea is that it will be legal. The court usually hears 4-6 cases a day, and most are not as important as the ones I previously talked about.
1.) The gas tax just came to play this past week, that was a state legislature ruling. The Iowa legislation is back in session with marijuana. A big problem is in Colorado marijuana is legal, however is potentially go against the constitution. "funnel week" is a term that refers to getting rid of the bills that were proposed because they didn't think they would work. School start date is still undecided and school districts are suffering because of it.
The other two ideas will be finished on monday!
Scribe day #36
ReplyDeleteMarch 9, 2015
In class today, we reviewed what we went over on Friday including the Iowa Government and the Supreme Court. The current events with the state government deal with the gas tax and school start date. Current events going on in the Supreme Court deal with gay marriage and the Affordable Care act. Today, we went over the two other parts of our current event section that deal with what the President is doing and what Congress is doing. One thing the President is dealing with is the Keystone Pipeline. Another thing is the President is doing is that he is dealing with Iran and them having nuclear weapons. People want him to stop being soft on them but many people don't want him to start war. So overall many people want the President to do something but not to much.
Interest groups:
Many of the groups give money to their candidates so they win and support their ideas. Candidates need money to win so they can enforce their ideas. People think that if they give money to candidates, the candidates will then support the interest group and lobbyists. Lobbyists are very supportive and persuasive because they are trying to keep their jobs. If they don't get support, their businesses won't make money and won't be able to enforce their companies policies. We also learned that politicians at the national level live very successfully. Many lobbyists give money to them, they pay for the politicians meals and vacations, etc. Lobbyists are also more likely to hire retired politicians because they have more connections to the people and many of them know the secrets of trying to persuade people, which then make their business more money. Lobbyists are very important and many of them care about their job.
Scribe day #37
ReplyDeleteIn the beginning of class our lives were saved from some helpful tips from Mr. Pauk over race and sexting and the punishments that follow behind those mistakes. For the rest of the class we spent researching major interest groups. The assignment was to research three major interest groups either out of our books or on a reliable website and find out information on what those groups are trying to gain and how successful they are. There are thousands of interest lobby groups out there.
The last 10 minutes of class was spent discussing over AARP and NRA, two of the most successful and influential interest lobby groups in Washington. Both groups spend huge amounts of money to promote their ideas, NRA is set preserve the right to bear arms and fight off gun control laws, while AARP is to help the retired or unemployed. Class time was cut short but will be carried out and probably finished tomorrow in class.
Scribe Day #38
ReplyDeleteMarch 11, 2015
At the beginning of class, Mr. Pauk announced to the class that there would be a legislative forum this Saturday morning at the Carroll Dental Clinic for anyone who wanted to attend, possibly for the meeting assignment.
Since it was a shortened period due to the early out, we weren't able to address and discuss as many issues as normal. Mostly, we continued our discussion about interest groups and what kind of interest groups exist. The six main interest groups we talk about were the AMA, Farm Bureau, AARP, NEA, NRA and the AAJ. We really look at the AAJ, the American Association for Justice, in depth today. The AAJ is an interest group for trial lawyers. Sometimes the AAJ and the AMA (American Medical Association) go hand in hand. The AMA would want to push a bill that could limit the number of lawsuits that can be filed, often times those being malpractice lawsuits. The AAJ does not want that, as that would take business away from those lawyers. If that bill were made into law, however, doctors would argue that hospital bills would go down because the insurance wouldn't be as high. The insurance wouldn't be as high because there wouldn't be as many lawsuits to be insured.
The assignment is to read (As always) and you should be finished with chapter 10 by tomorrow (3/12). As always, you can be blogging.
It's always a fantastic day for Government!
Scribe Day #39
ReplyDeleteMarch 12, 2015
To start off the class today, Mr. Pauk put us into groups and we were then assigned a certain Interest Group that we would act out and explain exactly what that Interest Group would do in that situation. As for the group that I was put into, we were associated with the American Medical Association. We were for the money because we are considered Doctors and don't want to have to spend any more money than what we have to if messing up in a procedure. So when we acted out, the lobbyist asked the Congress if they would consider keeping the money lower. Which is basically considered the "Direct Lobbying." The other part we acted out was involved with the "Information Campaigns."
After each group has presented, the class period was over half over. So for the rest of the class time, we each got with our rows and Mr. Pauk gave each row a Chapter 10 Question Review. We all made a shared document with each other and discussed the questions that were listed on the sheet of paper until the bell rings.
Good.
ReplyDeleteSCRIBE DAY 40:
ReplyDeleteFriday March 13, 2015
Today in class we checked out
http://www.opensecrets.org - we had to find a couple interesting facts about Interest Groups, Lobbying, or Revolving Door.
An example of this is -- Republican investments vs. Democrats-- Republican members of congress invested more than the Democrats.
We also have an assignment on class room that is due FIRST THING MONDAY MORNING.
Current Event's Analysis - make sure they are good, this is graded
Today was a work day for anything we had pertaining to government - there was not much to scribe about
Make sure you are reading- chapter 10 should be finished
be reading the first couple of pages for chapter 11, will start Monday
be blogging- loosing points was mentioned if not started by today (Last week)
Do not forget letters and meetings- there is a very good meeting the Mr. Pauk suggested to attend tomorrow, the Legislative Forum
ok
DeleteScribe Day #42
ReplyDeleteTuesday March 17, 2015
At the beginning of class today, Mr. Pauk opened with a short video from Schoolhouse Rock about how bills become laws. The video explains that first, a bill has to be written. The House of Representatives have to pass it, then the Senate also has to pass it. Finally, it is sent to the president. The president can either sign it or veto it. If the bill is signed, it becomes a law. If the bill if vetoed, it is sent back to congress to vote on it again. However, if the president vetoes a bill, it will very unlikely be passed again by congress and become a law. Below, there is a link to the video Mr. Pauk showed us.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFroMQlKiag
Last week we had a current events analysis assignment. Mr. Pauk has graded them and returned them on our Google Classroom. If you have any questions, ask Mr. Pauk. He will also show you some examples of other exceptional analyses. For tomorrow, we need to come to class with an idea of a bill we can pass when we have our mock legislature. By Thursday, we need a to have a flow chart of how a bill is passed written in our own words on a piece of paper.
During the lesson, we discussed the effects the new school calendar with early outs every Wednesday will have on our learning. We also discussed how having a teacher that will teach others teachers to be more professional and new techniques will impact our school. The watchdog function ties into our school’s new plans. The board will see how the new ideas work next year, and if there are problems, it will work to improve the new system. We also learned about the constant trend of old, white males elected in congress. This is mostly because they were in congress before the civil rights movement and women’s rights movement. How will congress as our generation gets older? There will most likely be more diversity, but we are slow to change.
Class was started off today with a current event dealing with Israel. Israel is one of America’s friends so the prime minister has been asking Obama for help which includes basically bombing Iran which no one in America is really in favor of because it could lead to war, which the American government has been trying to avoid.
ReplyDeleteWe jumped back into class by picking up with congress and how they get their ideas, some examples are the people, interest groups, themselves, the president, and the governor.
We then discussed the two law making processes. There is one that takes place at the state level: the representatives go to Des Moines and discuss the law with the governor. There is another one that takes place at the state level: the representatives go to Des Moines and discuss the laws there. A reminder is to make sure that you know both processes!
Why does congress have committees? Because with the large amount of people, there are guaranteed areas of expertise. It also increases efficiency. Congress has to address about 20-30 different subjects every single day so they need to break into subcommittees to be able to discuss all of the topics that were brought up.
The way that positions in congress are created are through seniority. The longer that you have been in office, the more power you have over your position. The chair of committee is basically the dictator of congress. They decide what bills are being heard and when congress hears them. All chairs are currently Republican so it is very, very unlikely that we would be hearing any Democratic bills.
In the house, they have a standing committee, which is basically means a permanent committee. In the house, the most important committee is the rules committee. They decide the agenda, what gets debated and when this takes place. There are 435 members of congress so if each member were to to talk for only 5 minutes on an issue, it would take at least 2 weeks to discuss! That is why the rules committee is so important. The party in favor and the party opposing the bill get a total of 30 minutes to discuss their thoughts, they elect a spokesperson to speak for them. This committee works closely with the speaker of the house, they are basically the “life or death” of the bill.
The house also has a “ways and means committee” which is the tax committee and also the “appropriations” committee which is in charge of the money going out.
We also discussed what a filibuster is, it is when a person is able to talk about whatever they want as long as they are standing and talking, the goal is to get the party in favor of the bill to drop the bill so they can’t give their ideas on why it should pass. A clochure is an anti-filibuster rule. You need 60 votes to get a cloture on a bill. If you get this, each party is limited on how long they talk and no one can waste time.
Towards the end of class, we got into groups and talked about some laws that we would like to pass, some ideas that our class came up with were to increase the speed limits, increasing the smoking age, creating an internet welfare program to help people pay their bills, and no traffic cameras.
Reminder that how a bill becomes a law flowchart is due by class time: http://mercury.educ.kent.edu/database/eureka/documents/HowABillBecomesALaw_TeacherAndStudent.pdf
http://www.naeyc.org/policy/federal/bill_law
Scribe day #44
ReplyDeleteMarch 19, 2015
Starting off class Mr. Pauk narrowed down three ideas for the mock legislature. The first topic he brought up was to change the distracted driver law in Iowa, it is already illegal to text and drive but cops cannot pull you over soley for texting and driving. Another topic he mentioned was class sizes in schools. Lastly, he brought up nutritional information on school luch items so students can see the information about the food they're eating. Each class voted on what they would think would make the best topic for the mock legislature.
Next, we picked up with what we were talking about yesterday. We learned that we don't have a ruling because we have filibuster and closter. We also talked about how the senate has to approve treaties negotiated by the president. These treaties must be approved by 2/3 of the vote. Also, if Obama comes up with a law to prevent Iran from getting nuclear weapons it most likely wouldn't be approved because republicans are currently in the senate.
We then started discussing the different types of committees. Standing committees are the permanent committees. Select Committees are temporary committees and are only there for a certain cause. An example of a select committee was the watergate committee. A joint committee includes both members of the house and senate. Joint committees could be standing committees but they usually are not. The most common type of joint committee is a conference committee.
The last activity we did was get into groups with our row and look up leadership information for the house and the senate. The speaker of the house is the next important behind the president. Basically, if there is a bill he doesn't like he has the power the make sure it never gets brought up. There is also the majority leader who isn't very important. The majority whip is the person who makes sure you vote the right way by reminding you of past help and reelections. Minority leader is important and incharge of the watchdog function. Generally when their party takes office they become speaker of the house.
Here are some links:
Committees: https://www.senate.gov/pagelayout/committees/d_three_sections_with_teasers/committees_home.htm
Leaderships:
https://www.senate.gov/pagelayout/reference/e_one_section_no_teasers/org_chart.htm
http://www.house.gov/leadership/
Scribe day #45
ReplyDeleteMarch 23, 2015
Mr. Pauk would like to remind you that participation in Mock Legislature can get you one of your biggest grades. You must pay attention and participate or else you won't do so well.
Next we pick papers that determine what role we play in the legislature. We are in the Iowa Senate, NOT US Senate. This means no one gets a filibuster. Mr. Pauk then explained the rules of the mock legislature. Then the class split into the democrats and the republicans, and both sides received a copy of the bill. Each side decided on changes they wanted to make to the bill. The bill was over texting and driving and creating a stricter punishment for this crime. The bill proposed it become a primary offense, that can earn a fine from 65-625 dollars, and have them serve up to 30 days in jail. Republicans proposed that the bill be changed to a class A misdemeanor, 30-300 dollar fine and up to two days in jail. This was defeated. The Democrats proposed that the fine be raised to 100-1000 dollars, and second offense would lead to licence suspension, and third offense would cause jail time. This was also defeated. We will continue the debate tomorrow in class.
REMEMBER: You should know the process of how a bill becomes a law.
One left?
ReplyDeleteScribe Day #41
ReplyDeleteMonday March 16th, 2015
Class today opened with us discussing some of the current events we worked on the previous Friday. Some of the events shared were events making news in the Iowa Legislature as well as national news like Hilary Clinton's Email Scandal. The Current Events Analysis was due before class and should have been turned in by this time.
Mr. Pauk then began talking about how Congress is the most important part of government and how the founding fathers set it up that way. He showed us a picture of Capitol Hill and told us to discuss in our rows why the Capitol Building looks the way it does. In my row we said it was designed that way because the Ancient Greeks had buildings like that and they were the first democracy. Bryce shared this thought with the class.
Mr. Pauk then went on to tell us how huge the Capitol is and how it was also designed that way. To make the United States look like a very powerful country. The Capitol Building has to be huge because it has to hold all 100 Senators and all 435 Representatives in the House. Since class was short today due to the early out Mr. Pauk told us what we could expect for the rest of the week. We were informed about the Mock Legislature and also told us that we'd learn how a bill would become a law and that we'd need to think of a law that we'd like to see changed.
Scribe #46
ReplyDeleteTuesday March 24, 2015
Reminders: During Mock Legislature you must participate to get a grade above at least a C. Friday is going to be an online day, and reading should be about done, and blogging.
At the beginning of class the committee was finishing the final generalized ideas of the bill. At the time we were decided that it would be:
1st offense- $50, 1 week license suspension
2nd- $100, 2 weeks
3rd- $150, 30 days When the committee had agreed upon this decision it went to the Full Senate to acquire their inputs about the bill, and to propose new amendments. I learned there are many small amendments to be made just in this one bill. Some were changing to Class B misdemeanor, instead of 1 week, it would start at 30 days. Also changing from a primary offense, to a secondary. I believe the most important change was revising the name from "texting and driving" to "distracted driving."
There was much debate over what is or isn't classified as a distraction and what a cop can pull you over for.
At the end of the day the bill was decided to be:
1st offense- $50, 30 days
2nd- $100, 60 day
3rd- $150, 90 day
4th- $200, 1 year
After this was chosen, there would be no more amendments and as of now it was a bill that got taken to the House, and they had to make choices of what they were going to change or not.
Scribe #47
ReplyDeleteFriday March 27, 2015
Today's class was an online day. We had another current events assignment to do. It is explained on classroom. For this assignment we had to find three current event articles or videos and write a brief summary of it along with an explanation of how it relates to our class. The articles must relate to the 2016 presidential election. Not much else was discussed today and the whole class was spent working on this current event assignment.
We also had several other things that we could work on if we were finished such as:
Blogging
Reading Chp. 11-12
Meeting/Letter
Monday March 30th, 2015
ReplyDeleteToday we began class by discussing our Presidential/ Candidate Projects. For this project, we will be creating a 30 second advertisement and a six to ten slide presentation, not to be any longer than five minutes. As part of the project, we will also be holding a ¨press conference¨, when other students will be able to ask us questions about our president or candidate. An important aspect of the project will to include advertising techniques. These may include, but are not limited to: testimonials, bandwagon, nostalgia, log cabin/ common man, glittering generalities, or negativity.
Read more about other advertising techniques here: http://www.valleytech.k12.ma.us/medialit/techniques.htm
Along with our projects, we also reviewed parts of the process of how a bill becomes a law. We discussed what the roles of the many committees are in our state and national governments were. These included the Rules, Ways, and Means committee (most powerful) , the Foreign Relations committee, the Finance and Appropriations committee, joint committees, and select committees. We also talked about leadership positions. We were refreshed that the Speaker of the House has the most power, followed by the Committee Chair, the Majority and Minority leaders, and finally the Whips. These leadership positions and committees and their roles sparked the question: Is our system of lawmaking more of pluralist, majoritarian, or elitist system?
If you're still confused about committees or leadership roles in Congress, be sure to watch this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=evLR90Dx79M
Finally brought to us today were some notes on the dilemma of voting as a member of Congress. Members of Congress can vote as a trustee, someone who votes based on what they think or believe, a delegate, someone who votes according to how their people would want them to, or most commonly, as a partisan, or with however their political party is voting.
Assignments:
Presidential/ Candidate Project
Blogging
Meetings/ Letters
In class we shared ideas on the topic of what we actually receive from voting and how individuals overcame the problem of not being able to vote. For instance women were given the right to vote as were african americans but african americans were scared into not voting, outside the voter places were people who would scare them into not voting, possibly beating them up if they didn’t leave.
ReplyDeleteWomen got to vote in the 1920s and once it was ratified giving women the right to vote became the 19th Amendment, this right was known as woman suffrage. We continued to talk in class about what events happened first and eventually how Americans got the right to votes. (timeline and other videos linked below)
Another main thing brought up was that the voters do make a difference in what happens in government. Many people believe that the vote that they put through doesn’t make a difference in what’s going on currently in the United States, when in fact it does. Given that everybody has a right to vote now we should be taking advantage of being able to have a say in our government.
Meeting and letters are due as well as blogging and reading Chapter 9 and going on to Chapter 10.
http://www.kqed.org/assets/pdf/education/digitalmedia/us-voting-rights-timeline.pdf
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-AN4NZSROvs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQ2j8zSxPgU
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/article/2015/mar/06/fact-checks-about-selma-and-voting-rights-act/