Thursday October 3, 2013

Objective: SWBAT understand how political ideology can influence demographic groups.

Drill: What does Bipartisan mean? What does this cartoon say about Americans’ political ideologies?

Homework: Read and summarize “Voting Patterns in America” this should include answering any questions that are asked in the paper. Read V.O. Keys article, CLUES

Political Ideologies and Value Judgments

•Based on the argument we began to read yesterday answer the following:

•1. Do the authors disagree about specific matters of fact? 2. Do the authors have disagreements about values? 3. What do the disagreements about values tell you about the authors' likely worldviews? 4. How do your own worldviews compare to those of the two authors?

•How can value judgments shape our political beliefs?

Data Analysis

•Look at these graphs that break down political ideologies and demographics, follow the directions to accurately break down and analyze what each graph shows us.

What does this mean?

•What conclusions can we draw from all of these graphs?

•Is there a strong connection between a person’s demographics and their political ideologies?

Friday October 4, 2013

•OBJ: SWBAT Understand how political parties have become more polarized and how and why factions inside political parties have formed and problems they cause.

•Drill: What trends in American voting have emerged over the last decade? What accounts for these? What problems does this bring up?

•Wilson: 199, 235-6, 266, 285-6, 352, 460, 462-3. Write 4 questions about your reading.

How have these issues divided the U.S. Political Parties over time?

RaceDemocracy

Economics

Way of Life

Form of Govt.

Political Partisanship

•Take notes on the PPT presentation about how political parties have become more polarized.

What divides the U.S. Political Parties Today?

Party Ideology

Democrats Not Ideologically Exclusive!Similar in many respects

Believe in the ideals of a Republican, Democratic society with a Capitalist

economyThis is how the parties are able to chase

the same “undecided voters”!

The state has the answer to problems-Tend to be more Liberal

Progressive to help the individual

The individual (with help from family, friends, church, etc) has the answer to problems

-Tend to be more ConservativePreservation of family values,

etc.

Republicans

Party Ideology

Increased spending on social welfareGun controlA woman’s right to abortionRights for gays and lesbiansState healthcareSocial Security (Pensions)

*Also currently strong on foreign policy and national security

Tougher attitude to criminals and crimeDeath penaltyLow public welfare spendingStrong National Defence policyFree market/ Little or no interventionBelieve in small governmentOkay with prayer in public schools

The Religious Right embraces Conservative social aspects of the party

Common morality necessary for social stability:

Therefore it is a suitable area for government intervention

Morality is a private concernChoice, self-expression is

necessary for a diverse society

Democrats Republicans

Why are there factions within the parties?

Why are there factions within the parties?

* Remember that titles of Conservative/ Liberal are given to people by others. To a Conservative in Alabama, their next-door Democrat might seem very

Liberal.* Remember that there is a geographical dimension- Republicans in the

Northeast will be on a different part of the spectrum than their fellow Republicans in the South.

Republicans:Divided Over:

TaxationDeregulationStates Rights

Morality

What are the differences between these three types?Fiscal ConservativesSocial Conservatives

Moderate

Fiscal Conservatives aim to do the following:Reduce government spendingLower Taxes Balance the BudgetDeficit ReductionPay off national debtDeregulate the economySupport free market principles & supply-side economics

Social Conservatives are associated with the religious right. They wish to do the following:Criminalise abortionOppose same-sex marriageOppose gun controlDo not support affirmative actionOppose state funding for stem cell researchWant religious organisation to have a greater role in delivery of welfare programmes

Moderate Republicans are generally fiscal conservatives but liberal on social policies. They aim to secure the following:

A balanced budgetLower taxesFree tradeDeregulationWelfareGay rightsAbortion rightsGun controlFederal funding of educationAbolish the death penaltyCivil Rights legislationFewer restrictions on legal immigration

Tom Coburn

Tom

Fiscal Conservative Senator from OklahomaElected 2004

Reduce wasteful spendingProtect Liberty

Take steps towards a balanced budgetProtection of the sanctity of all human life

Represents traditional, human values

But...Keen to improve health-care access and affordability

Sarah Palin

Sarah Palin

Social Conservative- Previous gov of AlaskaAgainst same-sex marriage & abortion

Supports capital punishmentSupports Creationism in schools

Wants to promote abstinence in schoolsAgainst gun control (member of the NRA)

Olympia Snow

Olympia Snow

Moderate Senator from MaineYoungest woman elected to Congress

(Aged 31 in 1978)Supports abortion rights

Opposes drilling in the Alaska Arctic National Wildlife Refuge

Backed proposals long heralded as those of the Democratic platform, including adding drug

prescription benefits to Medicare and raising the minimum wage.

Democrats:

New Deal Democrats-Workers/Unions

New Democrats-Modernisers

Market deregulation - Bill Clinton

Bill Clinton was the Democratic politician of the 1990s identified with the New Democrats; his promise of welfare reform in the 1992 election epitomised the New Democrat position, as did his promise of a middle-

class tax cut. His “Third Way” successes influenced Tony Blair.

New Dems are more open to deregulation than the previous Demo leadership had been. This was evidence in the large-scale deregulation of ag and the telecommunications industries.

An important part of the ideas of New Dems is focused on the economy. During Clinton’s time in office, the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993 was enacted that raised taxes on the

wealthiest 1.2% of taxpayers whilst cutting taxes on 15 million low-income families and making tax-cuts available to 90% of small

businesses.

Harry Reid

Harry Reid

Senior Senator from Nevada/Senate Majority Leader

New Deal Democrat/ New DemocratTends to vote moderate

* But he lobbies hard for legislation that will advance the national Democratic agenda

Fought for coal-workers rightsWorked to keep nuclear waste out of Yucca

Mountain national parkPushed for a timetable for withdrawal of US troops

from Iraq

Max Baucus

Max Baucus

Senior Senator from MontanaSupported President Bush’s trillion-dollar tax cut

that mainly benefitted the wealthy in 2001Fought to add a prescription-drug benefit to

Medicare (pushed by the Bush admin)Sought billions on aid for drought-plagued farmers

in his home stateAdvocated opening up foreign markets to wheat

and beefVery popular on “K Street” -Special interest groups

Loretta Sanchez

What might influence a politicians beliefs within their party?

Dick Cheney Michael Bloomberg Mitt Romney

Michael Bloomberg

Mayor of NYC- 12th richest person in the United States.Founder of a financial news and information services media co.

Bloomberg was a lifetime Democrat before seeking elective office. He switched his registration in 2001 and ran for Mayor as a Republican, winning the election that year and a second term in 2005. Bloomberg left the Republican party over policy and

philosophical disagreement in 2007 and ran for his third term in 2009 as an independent candidate.

In the fall of 2008, Bloomberg successfully campaigned for an amendment to NYC’s term limits law, in order to allow him to run for a third term in 2009. He won the election on Nov 3,

2009.

Mitt Romney

Current Republican candidate for the presidency.He was the 70th governor of Massachusetts from 2003-2007.

The party base of Republicans in Mass are far more Liberal than in other parts of the country and Romney followed that line.

Whilst in office, he signed the Massachusetts Health Care Reform legislation, which provided near universal health coverage within the state. In 2008, Romney ran for the Republican nomination, but was heavily criticised for flip-flopping on issues. Attempting to appeal to the wider Republican audience, he attempted to take a step away from his health bill “Romney Care” and other more liberal stances

condoned by his state.

Now, in 2012, as the strongest Republican candidate, he has been more willing to support his previous measures- in particular health care. The reason for this? As the strongest Republican candidate, what he needs to focus on at the moment is winning the general

election in which he must appeal to the wider electorate.

**The importance of suiting your audience in the primaries versus the General Election.

What kinds of factions do we see within the party?

LCR is an organization that works within the Republican Party to advocate equal rights for all Americans, including gays and lesbians in

the US with state chapters and a national office in Washington, D.C. The group’s

constituency supports the Republican Party and advocates for the rights of gay and

lesbian Americans.

What kinds of factions do we see within the party?

“Blue Dogs”

The Blue Dog Coalition is a group of US Congressional Reps from the D Party who identify themselves as moderates. It was formed in 1995 to give more conservative members from the party a unified voice after the Republicans managed to capture the Congress in the 1994 Congressional Elections.

Are the parties becoming increasingly polarized?

Has their been a movement towards Partisanship since the 60s?[Partisanship is a term used to denote a state of affairs in which members of one party regularly group together in opposition to the members of another party. Partisanship is therefore typified by high levels of party discipline, frequent occurrences of party-line voting and little if any cooperation and compromise between politicians of different parties.]

Are the parties becoming increasingly polarized?

Some would argue that American political parties are becoming more ideologically cohesive. That although there are different factions within the parties and different types of Republicans and Democrats, the party base has become more solidified.Bennett argues that the Conservative Democrats are nowadays an endangered species. Most have either died, retired or joined the Republican Party. And that, likewise, moderate Republicans are becoming more scarce.

Blue Dog membership for the 112th Congress is 26 seats, down from 54 seats in the 111th Congress.

EVIDENCE

Why have the parties become increasingly polarized?

5 Reasons to start off!1-

A more ideological president (R) who wooed conservatives away from the D

Party whilst making it uncomfortable for moderates to remain in the party.

Why have the parties become increasingly polarized?

2-

From 1941-1980s, the parties had been united around a similar ideology due to a foreign policy consensus- unity in the face of threat. The collapse of the USSR ended

that threat.

Why have the parties become increasingly polarized?

3-

1993-2001- something of a paradoxAlthough a moderate D, his policy was

highly divisive. Brought out issues of the ‘60s: sex, the role of women, the nature of

authority and morality.

Why have the parties become increasingly polarized?

4- 2001-2009- Another divisive president. Ran for office as “a uniter, not a divider”... but he

was.Iraq War ended bipartisan support in Congress

and in the country.

Why have the parties become increasingly polarized?

5-

TechnologyDirect mail, talk radio, cable television, mobile

phones, e-mail and the internet enabled ideological soul mates to communicate more

efficiently and to spread their ideas.Partisanship is increased and the political

debate can get ugly.

Polling Project•You and your partner have the rest of the

class to work on your polling project.

•Things you should focus on today:

•Visit the Mass GOP website

•Create your questionnaire

•Plan on distributing your questionnaire today and have it collected by class Monday

•If you have completed your questionnaire begin work on your presentation

Questionnaire

•This is what you will be handing out to the people you poll, it is completely anonymous (in the sense that their name will not appear on the sheet)

•Should include demographic data, age, race, gender, education, income (optional) etc.

•Should have between 7-15 questions

Wrap Up

•What is the importance of polling? What types of things can a candidate learn from this?

•Is the information accurate enough to be useful?

•REMEMBER DO YOUR POLLING OVER THE WEEKEND!!!