1) Required Activity: Public opinion and Media: Which Sources Do you trust?
Keep in mind this reference while answering also- Chapter 7: Ginsberg, B., Lowi, T. J., Weir, M., Tolbert, C. J., Campbell, A. L., & Spitzer, R. J. (2023). We the People: An Introduction to American Politics (14th Essentials Edition). New York: W. W. Norton & Company.
This module focuses on the dynamics of how public opinion is generated, how it is measured, and how media consumption and exposure affects individual opinions and sensibilities. While many of you have stated that your main source of news is social media, this discussion is about traditional media sources and trust.
For this discussion, please answer the following question. You may have to take some time to look at news for a day or two from major media sources that you are not used to checking. If you have access to cable, take a few minutes to view coverage of the main headlines from some of the major “mainstream” media sources such as cable outlets CNN, FOX, MNSBC, or network sources such as CBS, ABC or NBC. Other sources like NPR or PBS are other options. If you don’t have cable access, you can access headlines and news from most of these sources online by googling them.
After viewing the news headlines and looking at a few major stories/articles from different outlets, answer the following questions:
A). Which of the news sources do you find most trustworthy and why?
B) Which sources do you find not trustworthy? Why?
Please try to avoid ideological or partisan answers. Instead, put on your “political scientist” thinking cap on and try to evaluate the sources objectively. Take into account things like:
C) how do they frame issues?
D) how much time do they spend on issues or stories,
how much personal opinion-sharing do the presenters engage in and how much balance do they give to traditional liberal or conservative concerns in their coverage, etc. in your answers.
2) Required Activity: Urban vs Rural: is geography Political Destiny?
Keep in mind this reference while answering also- Chapter 8: Ginsberg, B., Lowi, T. J., Weir, M., Tolbert, C. J., Campbell, A. L., & Spitzer, R. J. (2023). We the People: An Introduction to American Politics (14th Essentials Edition). New York: W. W. Norton & Company.
You can refer to the textbook reading and/or the article below to provide your answers, but it is not necessary to cite them.
On a number of issues ranging from same-sex marriage to whether or not white Americans enjoy the benefits of society more than black Americans, to abortion and the role of government in solving social problems, rural Americans and Urban Americans have consistently different views. The difference between rural and urban Americans views on many of these topics has gotten wider over the last 25 years or so (Parker et al. 2018).
A) What do you think is explains the major difference in views on political and social issues held by rural and urban Americans
B) Just provide your best explanation of what factors unique to rural populations and Urban populations you think might be involved
C) and why those factors might affect overall views held by people.
D) Provide a defense of the reasoning behind your hypothesis explaining the different views in question.
*Parker, Horowitz, Brown, Fry, Cohn, and Igielnik 2018. Urban, suburban and rural residents’ views on key social and political issues. Pew Research Center.org. issues/Links to an external site. Search entries or author
3) In your answer, address the following: Voting turnout in America.
Most people acknowledge that it is important for citizens to vote, but many Americans do not vote.
A) Discuss some of the institutional explanations for low turnout,
B) as well as some of the personal reasons (i.e., the explanations that people give for not voting).
C) Do you think voting is an important component of a democracy?
D) What are some solutions to low turnout in American elections?
Keep in mind this reference while answering – including but not limited to Chapter 9: Ginsberg, B., Lowi, T. J., Weir, M., Tolbert, C. J., Campbell, A. L., & Spitzer, R. J. (2023). We the People: An Introduction to American Politics (14th Essentials Edition). New York: W. W. Norton & Company.
4) In your answer, address the following: Term limits for members of Congress
Some observers express concern about high reelection rates for incumbent members of Congress and have advocated for term limits as a way to formally remove longtime members of Congress.
A) Why do you think these proposals for term limits are being advanced?
B) Are there advantages to having long-serving members of Congress in office (e.g., when dealing with an entrenched bureaucracy)?
C) What do recent election cycles say about the need for term limits?
D) Are there other ideas for systemic reform such that challengers are placed on a more equal footing with incumbents?
Keep in mind this reference while answering – including but not limited to Chapter 10: Ginsberg, B., Lowi, T. J., Weir, M., Tolbert, C. J., Campbell, A. L., & Spitzer, R. J. (2023). We the People: An Introduction to American Politics (14th Essentials Edition). New York: W. W. Norton & Company.
5) In your answer, address the following: Execuitve Power
Since the 1800s, the president’s power has grown at the expense of Congress.
A) Has the executive branch become too strong? How might Congress rein in the power of the president?
B) Congress could author laws that are more specific and limit discretion when they delegate powers by statute, thus enhancing their authority vis-à-vis the president.
C) However, what rational goals or concerns of members of Congress might prevent them from passing more specific and detailed legislation (reelection)?
D) Are there any constitutional reforms one might propose, such as limiting the president to one term in office or creating more independent agencies that are separate from the presidency (like the Federal Reserve Board)?
Keep in mind this reference while answering – including but not limited to Chapter 11: Ginsberg, B., Lowi, T. J., Weir, M., Tolbert, C. J., Campbell, A. L., & Spitzer, R. J. (2023). We the People: An Introduction to American Politics (14th Essentials Edition). New York: W. W. Norton & Company.
6) In your answer, address the following: Congressional Oversight
A) Congress has several tools of control over the bureaucracy as it interprets and implements laws that Congress has passed.
B) What is congressional oversight and how does Congress exercise its oversight power?
Keep in mind this reference while answering – including but not limited to Chapter 12: Ginsberg, B., Lowi, T. J., Weir, M., Tolbert, C. J., Campbell, A. L., & Spitzer, R. J. (2023). We the People: An Introduction to American Politics (14th Essentials Edition). New York: W. W. Norton & Company.
7) In your answer address the following: The US Supreme Court: Debating lifetime tenure for Supreme Court justices
A) Should Supreme Court justices have life tenure? Recent studies have shown that since 1970, justices are serving much longer terms on the Court than ever before (more than 25 years on average), with the average interval in time between vacancies also increasing (see Steven G. Calabresi and James Lindgren [2006], “Term Limits for the Supreme Court: Life Tenure Reconsidered,” Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy, 29:769–877). Gone are the days of a short-term justice like Sherman Minton. Law professor Sandy Levinson, in his book Our Undemocratic Constitution, says that it’s troublesome that Supreme Court justices now stay on the Court for decades.
B) Why might that be a problem? Consider this question from a democratic sense, particularly when one considers the fact that ideology (and not the law) often influences the most important decisions of the Court.
C) Should justices have a time limit on how long they can serve on the Court? Nothing in the Constitution requires that there be exactly nine people on the Supreme Court.
D) Would increasing the size of the court alleviate the concern regarding the recent trend of justices serving longer terms?
Keep in mind this reference while answering – including but not limited to Chapter 13: Ginsberg, B., Lowi, T. J., Weir, M., Tolbert, C. J., Campbell, A. L., & Spitzer, R. J. (2023). We the People: An Introduction to American Politics (14th Essentials Edition). New York: W. W. Norton & Company.
8) In your answer address the following: Policy Domestic and Foreign: Considering what to cut from the federal budget.
A) If more than 60 percent of the federal budget is “mandatory spending,” what is left to cut?
B) What economic goals do categories of mandatory spending support?
C) What programs should be abolished or cut?
D) Should any programs be expanded? If so, identify which ones and explain why they should be expanded.
Keep in mind this reference while answering – including but not limited to Chapter 14: Ginsberg, B., Lowi, T. J., Weir, M., Tolbert, C. J., Campbell, A. L., & Spitzer, R. J. (2023). We the People: An Introduction to American Politics (14th Essentials Edition). New York: W. W. Norton & Company.
