Based on your research and class discussion, complete the following (typed or loose leaf) (20 points):
Create a list of 5 talking points related to your research on Ralph Nader.
Choose three people. Discuss your points with each person.
Record the name of each person. After discussing your points, ask the person which political party they most associate themselves with. Record their response.
Ask them if they would consider voting for Nader if he ran for president. Ask them to explain their response. Record their response.
Ask them if they would consider switching their allegiance to a third party (i.e., not Democratic or Republican). Record their response.
You may either format your assignment in the way I have it above or in the form of an interview.
For homework tonight, read pp. 235-241 (from "The Second Party System" to "The American Two-Party System"). Take notes on the section -- include three questions on the side or at the end. Complete this assignment in your notebook. It is worth 20 points. We will be in the classroom tomorrow.
Ralph Nader
Today, we will continue looking at the role of third parties in American politics. You will not just look at one party today -- instead, you will consider the issue as a whole.
Complete all sections of today's assignment on loose leaf paper. You are working individually for the first three parts, but will be able to work with your partner for the last section.
What happened in 2000 that drew national attention to Nader and his beliefs?
Part II: Ralph Nader: An Unreasonable Man
Then, watch the video excerpt from a documentary film An Unreasonable Man, a piece about Ralph Nader. Use the video to respond to the questions which follow.
What does Nader say in the LA Times article? What is his justification for this position?
Do you agree with Nader? Explain your response.
Part IV: Third-Party Candidate Access to the Presidential Ballot
Rich Whitney, a Green Party candidate in the
2010 Illinois gubernatorial election.
The U.S. Constitution gives every citizen over the age of 18 a fundamental right to vote. Whether citizens vote for the President of the United States, U.S. Senators, or local government officials, voting for a candidate allows citizens to become involved in their own governance by choosing people to represent their own beliefs and concerns. Currently, two major political parties, the Democratic and Republican parties, dominate national politics. Having a dual political party system could make it more difficult for citizens to choose a candidate who accurately represents their own political beliefs.
State legislatures control the process in which candidates are placed on the ballot for Presidential elect ions. In Illinois, it is more difficult for a person who is not a Republican or Democrat to have their name on the ballot as a Presidential candidate. As a result, American citizens have fewer choices in voting for a President. The issue is whether creating barriers for third-party candidates is good policy. In order to access the ballot, a third-party or candidate must have 25,000 qualified voters sign a petition. Democrats or Republicans need between 3,000 to 5,000 signatures. The discrepancy in the number of signatures creates a significant burden for non-established political party candidates. Moreover, Illinois law requires that the petitions for non-established political parties be filed by June 2lst, an early due date compared to other states.
Respond to the following. You may work with your partner, but keep your assigned position in mind, and answer on your own sheet of paper.
U.S. Citizens have the right to associate and form their own political beliefs. Do barriers to third-party candidates hinder the rights of American citizens in voting for candidates who most closely represent their beliefs and concerns?
What are some reasons why you think the Illinois State Legislature decided to make it more difficult for non-established political parties to have their names on the presidential ballot?
What advantages exist for keeping a small number of candidates on the ballot? What advantages exist for opening up the ballot to anyone/any political party equally? What are the disadvantages of having a large number of people on the ballot? What does having such a large number of signatures (25,000) accomplish? What are the disadvantages to that system?
What are the downfalls of having barriers to the ballot? What citizen rights are at stake?
What are the effects of having a third party on the Presidential ballot? Are the Republican or Democratic parties equally affected by a third-party candidate? Or does it depend on how closely the third party resembles one of the two major political parties? Should it matter? Keep Ralph Nader in mind when you answer.
If you're interested in reading more about this topic, take a look at the
Today we will take a look at some of the third parties involved in the American political system. Although the Democrats and Republicans get the lion's share of media coverage (and therefore votes), several other parties nominate candidates for political office each year. Here are some of them:
The America First Party
The Constitution Party
The Green Party
The Libertarian Party
The Tea Party*
We'll also look at the two major parties:
The Democratic Party
The Republican Party
The Tea Party, as we know, has been for the most part embraced by the Republican party. However, it is worth looking at them by themselves due to their recent origins.
You will complete today's assignment in an e-mail to me. The e-mail is worth 20 points.
Part 1
First, use your textbook to respond to the following:
What are the four major functions of a political party?
How have elections changed since the early days of our country?
Which party (or parties) dominated the First Party System? Explain.
Part 2
You have been assigned a specific political party to research today. You may use:
The official website for your assigned party
Gale Student Resources in Context and other PSM LRC resources
Newspapers (The New York Times, The Chicago Tribune, The Washington Post, etc.)
News networks (CNN, MSNBC, etc.)
Stick to these sites unless you receive permission from me to do otherwise.
You have also received a handout with a brief description of each party we are looking at today. Use this as your starting point.
Complete the following in the same e-mail as Part 1:
Read through the descriptions of the parties. Which party (or parties) most align with your personal beliefs? Explain.
Name your assigned party. Copy and paste the web address for its official site.
Have you heard of your party before? Explain where/how.
Are any major political figures associated with your party? Explain.
Describe the origins of your party. Include the link where you found this information.
List and describe 3 major accomplishments of your party. Paste the link where you found this information.
List and describe the party's main issues of concern. You should have approximately 5 or more issues to examine here. Paste the link where you found this information.
Has your party been in the news lately? Is it getting positive coverage? Negative? Explain.
Where does your assigned party fall on the political spectrum? Explain how you can tell.
How has your party performed in past elections? Is it nominating anyone for president in 2012? Is it nominating anyone for other political offices?
Choose 5 of the following questions to complete for homework tonight.
Justify or refute the following statement: “A liberal government is better for poor Americans than a conservative government.”
Compare and contrast the state of nature according to Thomas Hobbes and John Locke. Include an explanation of why each man thought a person would leave the state of nature. Finally, explain which philosopher you agree with and why.
Define “political ideology.” Then, choose one of the ideologies discussed in the book. Describe the ideology, then explain whether or not you agree with it and why.
Evaluate the Preamble to the U.S. Constitution. Explain whether or not you believe it provides a satisfactory “mission statement” for the U.S. Include specific phrases in your response.
Argue for or against the following statement: "Anti-federalists were the true federalists." Support your response with information from the text and class discussion.
Argue for or against this statement: “If Alexander Hamilton were alive today, he would be a member of the Tea Party branch of the Republican party.” Support your response with information from the text and class discussion.
Evaluate the failures of the Articles of Confederation. Explain why the founders felt that they needed to create a new government.
Consider the Constitution. Is it intended for everyday use, or is it simply a symbolic document? Support your response.
Compare and contrast Republicanism and Democracy.
Examine the following statement by the Greek politician Perikles: "We do not say that a man who takes no interest in politics is a man who minds his own business; we say that he has no business here at all."
Which one of the philosophers discussed in class would most agree with this statement? Explain your response.
GOP presidential candidates prepare for the party's debate last night in New Hampshire.
You should have completed the questions about the Primary Elections at this point. Now, we'll prep for, watch, and assess your candidate's effectiveness in last night's Washington Post-Bloomberg debate in New Hampshire.
Remember: You are the campaign managers for your candidate's election committee in Illinois' 7th District. This is a heavily Democratic congressional district, led by the popular Representative Danny K. Davis. You must find a way to convince your district to vote for a Republican -- your Republican!
Last night, the eight leading Grand Old Party (GOP) candidates sat down together to talk about the issues they care most about. You will have the opportunity to look at the debate from three different points of view today:
Before: Preparing your candidate for the debate
During: Your candidate's responses during the debate
After: Assessing your candidate's performance
Complete the following using the same Word document you created last week.
What does the author expect from your candidate? If your candidate is not listed in the article, how can he/she use the information in the article to grab people's attention during the debate?
You can find more information about the debate and what to expect here.
Choose six of the questions. Answer them as completely as you can for your assigned candidate. Paste the link(s) where you found the information after your response.
Based on your research thus far, make a prediction: What must your candidate focus on during the debate in order to be successful?
Part 3: The Debate (15 points)
Now, finally, you get to see your candidate in action. Hopefully he/she kept all of your preparatory work in mind during the debate!
The full debate is available to watch at the Washington Post website. It is 90 minutes long, however, so it will not be the best use of your time to watch the entire thing today. You can simply skip through the debate. Alternatively, there is a list of links to important segments from the debate on the right hand side of the page. Click on the links to watch the segments relevant to your campaign.
There are two possible assignments you can complete for this section: one for candidates who were invited to the debate, one for those who were not.
Eight candidates were invited -- that means two of you were left out in the cold. You should be furious.
First, find out if your candidate was invited. Then, complete one of the following options:
Option 1: Invited Candidates: Assess your candidate's performance by answering the following:
Count the number of times your candidate talks.
Count the questions your candidate volunteers an answer for.
Count the number of times your candidate actually answers the question posed by the moderator.
Count the number of times your candidate tries to steer the debate toward a topic that benefits him/her. What topics is he/she trying to focus on?
Count the number of times your candidate criticizes another candidate. Who is he/she criticizing? What issues are at stake here?
Count the number of times your candidate is attacked by another candidate. What weaknesses are the other candidates attempting to exploit?
Does your candidate make any mistakes? Explain.
Does your candidate seem to be getting his/her fair share of talking time during the debate? Explain.
Option 2: "Outsider" Candidates: In preparation for the debate, review the main issues your candidate cares about. Decide whether or not your candidate was unjustly excluded by answering the following:
Why was your candidate excluded from the debate? Is this fair? Explain.
Count the number of times your candidate could have spoken. Summarize the issues he/she could have talked about.
What could your candidate have attacked another candidate about? Explain.
What weaknesses might the other candidates have exploited if your candidate were present at the debate? Explain.
Which candidates seem to get the most time to speak during the debate? Why do you think this is the case?
What candidate(s) does your candidate match up best against? What could he/she do to be included in the next debate?
Part 4: Evaluation (15 points)
Option 1: Invited Candidates
Complete the following to evaluate your candidate's performance:
Check the facts. Did your candidate tell the truth during the debate? What about the other candidates? You can use this assessment from FactCheck.org to help your response.
Did your candidate perform well? Describe his/her body language, then explain what this can tell you about them.
This one's a long one. Record your mental and emotional responses to the candidate. Your own mental responses can be quite telling. Did the candidate make sense to you?
Now, think about your emotions. What did you feel about your candidate's performance? Think in terms of four emotional categories: glad, sad, mad, afraid.
Note: Keep in mind that your mental and emotional responses reflect your values, your beliefs, your bias, your prejudices. Are you reacting positively or negatively to everything your candidate is saying because he/she is a Republican while you might be a Democrat, because he's black or he's white, male or female?
Score your candidate's performance on a scale of 10, with 10 being the highest and 0 being lowest. Explain your score. Note: this score does not necessarily mean the candidate won or lost -- it is simply an indication of his/her performance based on your research/predictions
After being his campaign manager in Illinois' 7th District for a couple of weeks now, you're getting to know your candidate pretty well. Do you like him? Would you think about voting for him? Explain why.
If given the opportunity to jump ship and work for another campaign, who would you work for? Explain why.
Finally, who won the debate? Try to separate your response from the responses of anyone you read online. Explain your response.
Option 2: "Outsider" Candidates
Choose the candidate you liked the best from the debate. Complete the following to evaluate his performance -- hopefully you can use this information to get your candidate invited to the next debate!
Check the facts. Did your chosen candidate tell the truth during the debate? What about the other candidates? You can use this assessment from FactCheck.org to help your response.
Did your chosen candidate perform well? Describe his/her body language, then explain what this can tell you about him/her.
This one's a long one. Record your mental and emotional responses to the candidate. Your own mental responses can be quite telling. Did the candidate make sense to you?
Now, think about your emotions. What did you feel about your candidate's performance? Think in terms of four emotional categories: glad, sad, mad, afraid.
Note: Keep in mind that your mental and emotional responses reflect your values, your beliefs, your bias, your prejudices. Are you reacting positively or negatively to everything your candidate is saying because he/she is a Republican while you might be a Democrat, because he's black or he's white, male or female?
Score your chosen candidate's performance on a scale of 10, with 10 being the highest and 0 being lowest. Explain your score. Note: this score does not necessarily mean the candidate won or lost -- it is simply an indication of his/her performance based on your research/predictions
Now, go back to your original candidate. After being his campaign manager in Illinois' 7th District for a couple of weeks now, you're getting to know your candidate pretty well. Do you like him? Would you think about voting for him? Explain why.
If given the opportunity to jump ship and work for another campaign, who would you work for? Explain why.
Finally, who won the debate? Try to separate your response from the responses of anyone you read online. Explain your response.
Mitt Romney stands on a chair at a town hall
meeting in Chandler, Arizona.
We'll pick up our investigation of American federalism next week. Don't forget -- you have a test tomorrow.
Today, we'll continue taking a look at your Republican primary candidates. Palin team, since your boss has dropped out of the race, you've decided to pack your bags and head for Louisiana, where you'll work on Buddy Roemer's campaign.
It's time for all of you to meet the other members of your candidate's campaign committee today. Since you'll be working together to actively campaign for your candidate during Quarter 2, we'll use today and a couple of days next week to compile some basic information.
Start by creating opening a new MS Word document. Save it to the Y:\Ramin American Politics\Republicans folder. Name the file "Your Candidate - Dossier". Include your complete PSM heading with the names of all group members in your document. Ultimately, you will create a website for your candidate, but today and next week we'll start small.
Begin by combining the information you compiled last Thursday in the computer lab. Under the heading "Candidate Profile," Combine your information with your partner's to create a complete background profile of your candidate. We will expand upon this as the semester goes on.
Then, you will begin thinking about the next steps for your candidate. How will he/she earn the chance to face off against President Barack Obama in the presidential election next fall?
The first step is the primary election. Under the heading "Primary Preparation," complete the following using the links on this site, your candidate's website, and any other relevant information you can find. Copy and paste the link where you found your information after your response.
What is a "primary election?" Where are they held? How do presidential primaries work?
Are any of the primaries more important than the others? Explain.
What is your candidate doing to prepare for the primary elections?
Is he focusing on any particular primaries more than the others? Explain.
Has he decided to put less emphasis on succeeding in any of the primaries? Explain.
How is your candidate currently performing in the polls (compared to the other Republican candidates)? Can you find any information that explains why this is the case? What inferences can you make about your candidate's campaign based on his current poll performance?
According to the poll data from the Real Clear Politics site, how would your candidate fare against President Obama if the election was held today? What inferences can you make based on this data?
Examine CNN.com, NYTimes.com, WashingtonPost.com, and other television and print news sites. What has your candidate been talking about lately? What issues keep coming up in interviews?
