Congress Articles- Due Monday December 20th

1. The House Rules Committee will allow a vote on changing the measure.The measure passed 81-19 to advance to the House of Representatives. The House will consider the tax cut package Thursday. The Senate passes the $858 billion tax cut package. Lower Bush-era tax rates are set to expire at the end of the year.  It will reduce the Democratic majority in the Senate in the new Congress convening in January, which would give Democrats less leverage to negotiate after the current lame-duck session.

           I think that it would be a good thing because the tax is already high enough and I don't think it needs to   be raised anymore. I think that it is good that the democrats will get less leverage to negotiate after the current lame-duck session because they don't deserve it.

2.) Harry Reid is expected Thursday to take up an 1.27 trillion dollar omnibus spending bill that would fund the government through the end of the fiscal year. The republicans threatened to stall the debate by having them read the 1,924 page bill aloud in the senate, which would push the debate until Saturday. Quote from McConnell , "And ensuring that Americans don't have a chance to see what's in it either. This, too, is reason enough to oppose it."

I think it is stupid that the republicans want to wait and have the debate Saturday because why not just do it and get it done with instead of having them read a 1,924 page bill out loud of all things to the senate? And having them have no one look at the bill and just oppose it is really dumb because some people might have good ideas about what to do with it.

3.) Harry Reid is to blame for potentially keeping the Senate in session through Christmas. Democrats are saying it's Republicans' fault. Quote from Reid, "Christmas is a week from Saturday. I understand that. But I hope the Republicans understand it also. Because we are going to complete our work, no matter how long it takes in this Congress."

I think that making them work the week of Christmas is just unprofessional and I understand that they have to get their work done but I think that it should wait until after Christmas to finish up the work that needs to be done. Plus Christmas time is important to some people and they need to do things to get ready for that to but i do understand that work needs to be done but still they don't need to work until Christmas day to get this done.

4.) President Obama turned the debate over the extension of the Bush tax cuts into a 2012 campaign issue when he made a deal with Republicans to extend them all for another two years. Quote "I believe the short-term tax deal negotiated by the White House and congressional leaders is a bad deal for taxpayers, will do little to create jobs, and I cannot support it," Pence said.
I think that we need to think about the people who need jobs because if you want your economy to make money first of all the people have to make the money to be able to help the economy make money. I agree with that Pence guy I cannot support it because some people do little to create jobs and i think some people could try a little harder to get open jobs to people.

Legislative Preview & How a bill becomes a law

Some areas that I didn't know are that there are 35 people in the senate and 70 in the House. I didn't know that the bill could be taken back to House or the senate and it can be looked at again and it can over power the governors decision to veto the bill and make the bill pass. Also, i didn't know once a bill is assigned to a committee, the chair decides when the bill will be heard. Some areas that I do have prior knowledge on is I do know that the bill gets drafted and goes to  the House of Representatives.

1. Explain the difference between hard and soft money:
*Soft money is basically money that was donated to the party, but not for a specific candidate or purpose and hard money is money raised by political candidates that must be reported to the FEC.

2. What is the electoral process and is this something that you agree or disagree with and why?
* The electoral process begins well in advance of the actual election as individuals declare their candidacies for office. I agree with the electoral process because then if they don't declare their candidacies before the election day then they wouldn't have any candidates to choose from.

3. What is the difference between a closed and open primary?
*In an open primary you do not have to declare a party affiliation, but you can only vote in one of the party's primary. In a closed primary you must be a registered member of that political party in order to participate in the primary.

4. Explain what absentee voting is and what the positives and negative may be with regards to it:
*Absentee voting is a vote casted by someone who is unable to attend the official polling station. Some positives of absentee voting gives government agencies more time to tabulate votes. This can cut down on the need to hire extra poll workers for Election Day or vote counters later. Some negatives are critics contend that these alternative forms of voting increase the potential for voting fraud, especially when ballots are sent in and make votes more difficult to count.

5. What changes do you see in the way we run elections ten years from now?
* I think that it will only get easier to vote because im guessing that everyone will chose to absentee vote which will cut down alot of jobs for the people who work at the voting stations. It wouldn't take as long to count the ballots and they would get the results back faster. That's just what i think.

6. Explain your views on money and elections with regards the amount of money that is spent:
*I think that sometimes that people put alot of money into campaigning and if they lose look how much money they wasted on signs and stuff. If they do win then i guess that most of the money went to a good cause. Some people think that the more money you spend the more likely you will win and the less money you spend the more likely you will lose.

7. Go to cnn.com or foxnews.com and find an article dealing with the election process.  Post the article in your blog and provide your viewpoints pertaining to the article.
* "Since the midterm elections, at least four national polls in the next race for the White House have been released. But one thing's missing: Candidates.
Last time around, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani formed a presidential exploratory committee in November 2006, with Sen. Sam Brownback of Kansas and former Virginia Gov. Jim Gilmore launching exploratory committees the following month. Rep. Duncan Hunter of California didn't even wait for the midterms that year, announcing his first formal steps towards a White House bid in the week before the election.
Fast forward four years and the sense of urgency's very different. While many of the potential contenders for the GOP presidential nomination are very active behind the scenes, and many are making stops in the crucial early voting states, none have taken any formal first steps in the long road to the White House.
"It's a decision I'll make later in the year, next year," said former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, on ABC's "The View" on Monday.
Huckabee, who ran for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination and who is considering another bid for the White House, also told reporters Sunday in Iowa that "Honestly, I'm not on a time table."
Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who also ran for his party's presidential nomination last time around and is seriously considering another run, told supporters in a conference call last week that January and February would come and go without any announcement from him.
"People are exhausted from the 2010 election, and they're not anxious to begin right away with the next campaign," said Romney in the conference call, which was first reported nationally by Politico and confirmed by CNN.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, who's also considering a bid, says that he's "a few months away" from making a decision and indicates that no announcement would come before late winter or early spring. Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels and Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour say they'll wait to announce any possible bids until their states' legislative sessions end in the spring. Barbour adds that he's not setting any "artificial deadline."
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich of Georgia says any decision on a bid for the nomination would come in February or March. And Sen. John Thune of South Dakota doesn't appear to be in any rush either.
And former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, who tells the New York Times that she's "engaged in the internal deliberations" of a possible White House bid, has not mentioned any timetable.
So what's behind the glacial pace this time around?
The polls are maybe one reason. National surveys of Republicans indicate that there's no front-runner at this early point in the battle for the GOP nomination. No front-runner means no sense of urgency for potential candidates and campaigns, giving them some breathing room.
And this time around, unlike in the 2008 campaign cycle, many of the potential GOP hopefuls are pretty well known to the public.
"The front runners, if they are indeed the front runners, are all very well known to Republicans: Romney, Huckabee, Gingrich, Palin and Barbour," says Republican strategist Rich Galen, the author of Mullings.com, an on-line column.
"Thune, Daniels, and the others are not as well known. But as long as the first tier candidates are quiet, the second tier-ers can husband their ammunition for now," adds Galen, who advised Fred Thompson during his bid for the 2008 GOP presidential nomination.
Another reason is the calendar itself. The two parties have pushed back the start date of the first contests in the road for the White House. The Iowa caucuses, which kick off the presidential primary season, were held right after New Years in 2008. Next time around they are scheduled to be held in early February, a full month later.
Galen says new technology may also be contributing to the later starting date: "This may be the first presidential cycle in which the new media is fully understood. The need to get to every hamlet in Iowa 13 times before the Ames Straw Poll may not as pressing when you can get followers on Twitter and Fans on Facebook to the same effect."
Add to all this a need to better understand the 2010 midterms' effect on the 2012 race.
Potential candidates and campaigns may want to wait until the debris can be examined from the midterm Tsunami. No one is certain whether that was a one-time wave, or a political-climate-change induced sea level rise," adds Galen.
And finally, a very simple explanation. We're all exhausted from the midterms.
Says Galen: "The media, the candidates, and the voters are all just worn out from a 2010 mid-term election cycle which seems like it started in 1947!"

* I think that people just need to take their time and see if they actually want to run for the 2012 presidency and Potential candidates and campaigns may want to wait until the debris can be examined from the midterm Tsunami. No one is certain whether that was a one-time wave, or a political-climate-change induced sea level rise.

Chapter 6 Test

1.  Provide a paragraph on an important issue of your choice from Section 1:
*When the constitution went into effect in 1789, the right to votw in the U.S. was restricted to white male property owners.Not one in 15 adult white males could vote in elections in the different states.The size of the American electorate which is the potential voting population. The history of American sufferage since 1789 has been marked by two long-term trends.


2.  Provide a paragraph on an important issue of your choice from Section 2:
* Every state requires that any person who wants to vote must be able to satisfy qualifications based on 3 factors. One of those factors is citizenship, the second factor is residence, and the third factor is age. The states have leeway for the first and second factors but wants nothing to do with the third factor.


3.  Provide a paragraph on an important issue of your choice from Section 3:
*  The first law passed by congress to implement the 15th amendment know as the Civil Rights Act of 1957. The Act gave the attorney general the powerto seek federal court orders to prevent interference with and person's right to votein any federal election. The Civil Rights Act added a safeguard. The officers were to serve anywhere a federal court found voter discrimination.

4.  Provide a paragraph on an important issue of your choice from Section 4:

* The studies of education voter behavior reveal that there is also a lose relationship between the level of a voter's education and how he or she votes. College graduates  vote for republicans higher percentages than do high-school graduates.


5. Explain voter apathy and what can be done to help it:
* It is often cited as a cause of low turnout among eligible voters. We need to increase the amount of sophistication of civic education in our homes and schools. Also, develop policies that address the central concerns of the electorate, while realigning and strengthening  the two-party system.


6. Explain the qualifications for registering to vote:

* That you must me at voting age of 18. They use registration which is a procedure of voter identification intended to prevent fraudulent voting. It gives the officals a list of those persons who are qualified to vote in a election.

Political Parties

The republican party was first born in the year1854. The new party put forward a radical vision of modernizing the United States it emphasized free farms for farmers, banking, railroads, and industry. Most of the members were Whigs, and others had been democrats or they had been members of the third party. Any democrats who joined were awarded with a seat in the U.S. senate. Ripon, Wisconsin held the first county convention on March 20, 1854. From 1860 to 1932, the Republican Party was dominant, as the Democrats elected only two presidents, Grover Cleveland  (in 1884 and 1892) and Woodrow Wilson (in 1912 and 1916).  The republicans don't aprove of abortion.

The democratic party of the United States is an account of the oldest political party in the United States and arguably the oldest democratic party in the world. .It dominated American politics during the Second Party System, from 1832 the mid-1850s. After 1830, the Democratic Party drew support from a cross section of the country.  During the Third Party System the (1854-1896) the Democrats became the minority in the face of the newly formed Republican Party. The democrats lost consecutive presidential elections from the years 1860-1880. The democrats next victory in the presidential election was in 1884. The democrats believe in abortion.

I think in the years coming up when i vote I'm choosing to be republican because it runs in my family and I don't approve of abortion at all think that babies should be adopted instead of killed. I learned that republican party was dominant from the years 1860-1932. I believe in changes and i think the republicans are good about getting changes changed and making ourselves heard.

Assingment #4

The republicans swept the votes over the democrats . Dennis Daugaard was selected to be our next governor. Kristi Noem was elected over Stephanie Herseth. The major bills that were going on were legalizing  marijuana and the smoking bans. The legalizing marijuana bill failed and the smoking ban passed. The smoking ban in South Dakota will be put in to effect in restaurants, bars and varying hotel rooms. 

The National results were all basically democrats. In the national results there is already talk about the new presidency for the year 2012.

Assignment #3

 Directions: In your blog:  Pick two areas from each of the three section in Chapter 4.  Write a paragraph on those areas and what you have learned in regards to each area.  You should have six total paragraphs.

Chapter 4, Section 1

 The Exclusive and Concurrent Powers

• Most of the powers that the Constitution delegates to the National Government are exclusive powers. Some examples of exclusive powers are coin money, to make treaties with foreign states, and to govern U.S. territories and admit new states. Some powers are not expressly denied to the States.Concurrent power is the powers delegated to the National Government. Some examples are to levy and collect taxes, borrow money, etablish courts, and define crimes and set punishments. The concurrent powers are held and exercised seperatly and simultaneously by the two basic levels of government.
• I have learned that concurrent powers are those powers that make it possible for a federal system of government to function. The federal system determines the way that powers are divided and shared between the National and the State governments. Also, that the states cannot regulate interstate commerce, but they can and do affect it.

Chapter 4, Section 2

Admitting New States- Admission Procedure

• The area desiring Statehood first asks Congress for admission. When the congress chooses, it passes and enabling act, an act directing the people of the territory to frame a prpsed State constitution.If the congress still agrees to Statehood after reviewing the document, then it passes the act of admission. Which is an act creating the new state. If the president would sign the act, the new state would enter the Union.
• I learned that the congress has admitted 37 states since the original 13 formed the Union. Those 5 states are Vermont, Kentucky, Tennessee, Maine, and West Virginia. They were made from parts of already existing states. Also, the two newest states  area Alaska and Hawaii, they are shortened the usual process of gaining admission to the Union.

Chapter 4, Section 3
Extradition

• According to the Constitution " A Person charged in any State with Treason, Felony, or other Crime, who shall flee fom Justice, and be found in another State, shall on Demand of  the excutive Authority of the State fom which he fled, be delivered up, to be removed to the State having Jurisdiction of the Crime." -Article IV, Section 2, Clause 2. This clause refers to extradition which is the legal process by which a fugitive from justice in one State is returned to the State.  It is designed to prevent a person from escaping justice by fleeing a State.
•  I learned that  governors regularly approve the extradition requests they receive from other States' chief excutives, and some of those requests are contested. This is true in strong cases like racial or political overtones, and in cases like parental kidnapping of children involved in custody disputes.

Assignment #2

1.  What does Federalism mean by definition and what does Federalism mean to you?
 
Answer #1: Federalism is a system of government in which a written constitution divides the powers of government on a territorial basis between a central, or national, government and several regional governments, usually called states or provinces. I'm really not sure what it means to me but all i know is that there are laws made for minors and older people but most of the minors get away with them like smoking for example. Thats all i really know about federalism.

2.  List and describe the three powers of the National Government.
Answer #2: 1) Delegated Powers- it has only those poers delegated (granted) to it in the constitution. 2) Expressed Powers are delegated to the National Government in many words expressed in the constitution. These powers are also sometimes called  the "enumerated powers." 3) Implied power is found in one of the expressed powers. Article I, Section 8, Clause 18 gives congress the "necessary and proper power."

3.  Explain the division of powers and why it is important?

Answer #3: The division of powers is the basic principal of federalism; the constitutional provisions by which governmentalpowerss are divided on a geographic basis. It is important because it assigns certain powers to the National Government and certain powers to the States. This division of powers was implied in the original Constitution and then spelled out in the Bill of Rights: "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States repectively, or to the people." - 10th Amendment

4.  What is the Supremacy Clause and what is its function?

Answer #4: "This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall be made in Pursuance thereof; and all Treaties made, or which shall be made, under the Authority of the United States, shall be the supreme Law of the land; and the Judges in every State shall be bound thereby, any Thing in the Constitution or Laws of any state to the Contrary notwithstanding." The Supremacy Clause has been called the 'linchpin of the Constitution" because it joins the National Government and the States into a single governmental unit, a federal government. In other words, The Supremacy Clause holds together the complex sructure that is the American federal system.

5.  Find a site on the Internet that deals with Federalism.  Take 10 minutes and review that site.  Provide the link and provide some of the useful information that you found to help you better understand what Federalism is and how it works.

Website: http://usgovinfo.about.com/od/rightsandfreedoms/a/federalism.htm

Answer #5: The U.S. Constitution establishes a government based on "federalism," or the sharing of power between the national, and state (and local) governments. England and France have a power-sharing form of government, which is the opposite of "centralized" governments. Each of the 50 states has its own constitution. All provisions of state constitutions must comply with the U.S. Constitution.

Some of the exclusive powers of National Government that are reserved to them are: Print money (bills and coins), Declare war, Establish an army and navy, Enter into treaties with foreign governments, Regulate commerce between states and international trade, Establish post offices and issue postage, and make laws necessary to enforce the Constitution.

Some of the powers that are reserved to the State Government are: Establish local governments, Issue licenses (driver, hunting, marriage, etc.), Regulate intrastate (within the state) commerce, Conduct elections, Ratify amendments to the U.S. Constitution, Provide for public health and safety, Exercise powers neither delegated to the national government or prohibited from the states by the U.S., and Constitution (For example, setting legal drinking and smoking ages.)

Assignment #1

1. What are your views on the latest political ads on TV?  What candidate(s) do you like or dislike and why?

Answer: I think that most of them have a really negative message and they have a very attacking feeling when you watch them. I don't really have any likes or dislikes about them because I really only have seen a couple but don't remember whose they were but I just didn't like how they were so negative the whole time through their ad.

2. What role do you feel that you will play in politics and government in the future?  What ways are you participating currently?

Answer: Well, I will be turning 18 in April and kind of can't wait until i actually have a say in which politicians or whoever is good for the government or not. I'm not really sure how the future is going to go with government and politics for me.