Essay #18

a.) One trend evident in the figure is that the percentage of House seats for Democrats has decreased.

b.) Incumbency advantage gives candidates already holding office an advantage over newcomers. Even though southern states may have voted for a Republican president, they continued to vote for experienced, incumbent Democratic congressional candidates.

Gerrymandering is the act of dividing electoral districts in such a way as to favor one party or class. In southern states, Gerrymandering created districts that protected Democratic seats even though there were more Republican voters in statewide presidential elections.

c.) Catholics have become much more inclined to vote for Republicans and much less inclined to vote for Democrats, due in part to the Republican views on abortion.

Labor union members have decreased in number, and, therefore, account for a smaller percentage of Democratic voters. 

Women, as a whole, generally tend to vote Democratic. As the number of women have increased, outpopulating men, they account for a larger percentage of Democratic voters.

Essay #17

2.a.) One of the many key characteristics of the merit system is that hiring and promotion are based on the experience or qualifications of someone.

b.) The structure of the federal bureaucracy is very large and divided into specialized units and expertise. Jobs, in the federal bureaucracy, are assigned to those who have the most experience, making for efficient operation. 

The complexity of public policy problems is too much for Congress and the president to handle, so they delegate authority to the bureaucracy. The federal bureaucracy and its members can set rules and regulations in a non-discretionary way.

c.) Congress can reject presidential appointments to the bureaucracy and can pass legislation affecting the bureaucracy.

The courts, by process of judicial review, can declare bureaucratic actions unconstitutional.

Interest groups can use litigation and public freedoms, like protesting, lobbying, and speeches, to gain the attention of the courts or Congress, who can directly check the bureaucracy.

Essay #16

Federal Law

a.) Congress gives federal agencies policy making discretion in executing federal laws because it is more efficient and less time-consuming and congress and its agencies lack the expertise needed to execute the laws otherwise.

b.) The Environmental Protection Agency exercises policy-making discretion over clean air and water. It exercises that discretion by putting limits on how much pollution cities and factories are allowed to make, and where they are allowed to dispose of it.

c.) Congress ensures that federal agencies follow legislative intent by overseeing the whole process (they can hold hearings and investigations) and controlling the funding or budget for each agency.

2006-3 The United States congress and the president together have the power to enact federal law. Federal bureaucratic agencies have the responsibility to execute federal law. However, in the carrying out of these laws, federal agencies have policy making discretion.

(1) Explain two reasons why Congress gives federal agencies policy making discretion in executing federal laws.

(2) Choose one of the bureaucratic agencies listed below. Identify the policy area over which it exercises policy-making discretion and give one specific example of how it exercises that discretion.

a. Environmental Protection Agency

b. Federal Communications Commission

c. Federal Reserve board

(3) Describe two ways in which Congress ensures that federal agencies follow legislative intent.

Essay #15

a.) An entitlement program is a government program that guarantees certain benefits to a particular group or segment of the population.

b.) The primary source of revenue for the Social Security program is taxes based on earned income, and other work-related taxes.

c.) One threat to the future of the Social Security program is that the Social Security "bank" is going to run out of money, because the outputs exceed the inputs.

d.) One demographic trend that threatens the future of Social Security is that there is a huge population of older people, born in the baby boomer era, living long lives, and the current birth rates are actually decreasing. This will lead to the Social Security program running out of money because the number of people who are eligible to recieve it is increasing (increasing population of "old" people) while the numer of young workers who fund Social Security is decreasing and unable to keep up with the funds being withdrawn.

e.) If the age of eligibility for Social Security were raised, then people would work longer (to an older age). As a result, not as much money would be taken out of the Social Security "bank," and more money would go in, extending the amount of time the fund will last.

2006-2 In recent decades, entitlement programs have constituted a substantial portion of the United States federal budget. Social Security is the largest entitlement program in the US. From the information in the chart above, and your knowledge of the US government and politics, perform the following tasks.

(a) define entitlement program

(b) What is the primary source of revenue for the Social Security program

(c) Identify one threat to the future of the Social security program should the trends depicted in the chart continue

(d) Describe on demographic trend that threatens the future of the Social Security program and explain how it is responsible for the threat that you identified in (c )

(e) Explain how any one of the trends in the chart above would change if the age of eligibility for social security were raised.

Essay #13

(A) Congressional reapportionment: The process of relocating the number of representatives allocated to a state. One main reason why this is important to the states is because the people want their representation in congress to be as big as possible.

(B) Congressional redistricting: The drawing or redrawing of House district lines.

(C) Two goals a politician might have when gerrymandering are increasing minority representation and decreasing opposition strength. For instance, a minority neighborhood in a large city might have previously been part of a larger district, but a politician might make it its own district to increase minority representation. If a politician wanted to break up opposition support, he might slip a neighborhood that was mostly one party, and make that party the minority in several other districts. Politicians redistrict to increase their support which is also known as gerrymandering.

(D) One restriction that the supreme court has placed on congressional redistricting is that district lines cannot be drawn solely based on race meaning that a neighborhood that is mainly hispanic cannot create its own district. District lines also make it so that there could not be two separate neighborhoods  which become the same district unless they are connected.

2008-1) Congressional reapportionment and redistricting are conducted every ten years. When redistricting is conducted, politicians often engage in gerrymandering.
(a) Define congressional reapportionment and explain one reason why it is important to states.
(b) Define congressional redistricting.
(c) Explain two goals of politicians when they gerrymander during redistricting.
(d) Describe two limits that the United State Supreme Court has placed on congressional redistricting.

Oil Spill Bibliography

Smith, Martin, and Marcela Gaviria. "The Spill." PBS. PBS, 26 Oct. 2010. Web. 23 Feb. 2014.

        In the last 10 years, the British Petroleum company also known as BP, has arguably become one of the most unsound companies in the history of oil extraction. Within those ten years, BP has had more than four major massacres which have resulted in the death of employees, the destruction of company infrastructure, and millions in settlement costs. Despite the company's constant shift in leadership, it is apparent that BP exercises a grossly negligent Business plan which pinches pennies and results in the death of employees.

Pelley, Scott. "Blowout: The Deepwater Horizon Disaster." CBSNews. CBS Interactive, 16 May 2010. Web. 28 Feb. 2014.

        This article investigates the negligence employed by British Petroleum leading up to the 2010 oil disaster that is now being called the worst oil spill in history. The article outlines events that led up to the disaster and the warning signs that were ignored British Petroleum. The story also depicts the harrowing escape of one of the survivors of the disaster and interviews a former BP insider who warns of another potential disaster.

Rushe, Dominic. "BP May Face $18bn in Fines for Gross Negligence as Federal Trial Resumes." The Guardian. Guardian News and Media, 01 Oct. 2013. Web. 02 Mar. 2014.

        For petroleum a phase $18 billion in fines for gross negligence as the federal trial resumes. The plaintiffs attorney argues that British Petroleum was woefully unprepared for the 2011 blowout and lied about how much oil was flowing from the well. BP tried to hide the amount of oil that was spilling into the Gulf of Mexico following the Deepwater Verizon oil rig disaster. These and more come his new arguments for the prosecution in the recent days of the trial. US District Judge Carl Barbier in New Orleans is presiding over the trial and it is already apparent that he is leaning the prosecution's favor.

Essay #12

  (a) Divided government is when a political party controls the white house and another party controls the House and Senate. Due to the lack of agreement between the two parties, a political gridlock is often created and creates a standstill between the two where nothing is decided on. A divided government can also cause problems with the relationship between the people and their government because the people lose trust in the government when things aren't being taken care of.

        (b) An incremented cost in election campaigns have caused a distrust in regime in general. This is because as elections have become much bigger, the connection to the public and the political opinions have been lost for more corporate tactics.

        (c) Two specific instances of a decline in trust and confidence in the government are the recent recession and court cases involving congressmen. The recession is a great example of the general public's distrust in their government. This was made evident in the following election with a majority party change. Therefore, court cases involving Congressman or members of the senate being charged with stealing government funding. With a distrust in government citizens decline their right to vote and lead to protest.

3) Trust and confidence in government have declined in recent decades.

(a) Explain how divided government has contributed to the decline in trust and confidence in government. Be sure to include a definition of divided government in your response

(b) Explain how the increased cost of election campaigns has contributed to the decline in trust and confidence in government.

(c) Explain two specific consequences of the decline in trust and confidence in government for individual political behavior.