Essay #20

AMA, American Medical Association

a.) The AMA targets Congress, and, more specifically, Medicare.

b.) The AMA is made up of primarily physicians and medical students, whom will, quite frequently, encounter Medicare patients or policies in practice. Since Medicare policies tend to set standards for other insurance payers, the AMA wants to have some influence over how Medicare is run.

c.) The constituents of the AMA include doctors and medical practice officers. Such members have created a set of ethics, rules, policies, and procedures to standardize terminology. These "Current Procedural Codes" are one of the primary ways that all medical and insurance forms are filled out. Since nearly all medical procedures are billed to insurers, namely Medicare, the AMA wants to be able to effectively communicate with insurance companies to ensure that their constituency gets paid.

Answers: https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20101107140754AAe6OJT

(1999_2)National interest groups often target national-level policymaking institutions to achieve their policy objectives.

Select one of the following national interest groups.
- AARP
- AMA (Medical Association
- NAACP
- NAM (national assoc. of Manufacturers)

For the group you selected do each of the following.
- a identify one major national-level policymaking institution that this group targets.
- b describe one resource or characteristic of the group you have chosen and explain how it influences the choice of the target you have identified in (a)
- c describe another resource or characteristic of the group you have chosen and explain how it influences the choice of the target you have identified in (a).

Essay #19

a) One of the many ways media has contributed to candidate-centered presidential campaigns is covering a candidate's personal life and personality. By covering a candidate's back story and personal details, the media gives the public a feel for who a candidate is and where they come from. Sometimes the media plays a crucial role in how a candidate is viewed by the public by exposing scandals or embarrassing moments from their past. Likewise, the media can play a positive role in influencing the public opinion by portraying a candidate as like-able and friendly, a strong leader and spokesperson, and so forth.

b) Another way the media has contributed to candidate-centered presidential campaigns is through radio talk shows and television debates. By making such appearances, a candidate can discuss their views and goals publicly, and let the population know about their stance on certain political issues. They also gain name and face recognition, a key component of winning elections.

C) One way presidential candidates' use of the media has contributed to candidate-centered campaigns is by attention-getting. By taking advantage of media coverage, presidential candidates can draw more attention to their race and show the public who they are. 

d) Another way presidential candidates' use of the media has contributed to candidate-centered campaigns is through seeking contributions. Candidates can use the media to make commercials and ads to get contributions from supporters.

(1999_1)In the 1990’s presidential election campaigns have become more candidate centered and less focused on issues and party labels. The change has been attributed both to how the media cover presidential campaigns and to how candidates use the media. Identify and explain two ways in which the media have contributed to candidate-centered presidential campaigns. Identify and explain two ways in which presidential candidates’ use of the media has contributed to candidate-centered campaigns.

Your answer should not include a discussion of presidential primary elections.

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.