Electoral College Reform

Facts/details:
1. The 2000 election led for calls to repeal the electoral college.
2. Hillary Clinton and Ronald Dworkin are advocates of reforming the electoral college.
3. Baker vs Carr declared that one person-one vote must prevail at state and local level.
4. After the 2000 election, the GOP gained control of all 3 branches.
5. Al Gore wanted to change the electoral college because he lost under it.
6. Gore pledged to abide by the "popular vote".
7. The author has a negative view of the Constitution.
8. Willam Rehnquist could retire knowing his successor would be a conservative.
9. George Bush would reject reforming the electoral college.
10. The author thinks the electoral college should be by-passed in future elections.

Questions
1. Would it be legal to by-pass the electoral college in future elections?
2. If Gore won the election but lost the popular vote, would he really step down?
3. Why does Gore think Americans would not want to go back to the times of Ronald Reagan?
4. Is Al Gore the same person who invented the internet?
5. Isn't the electoral college system fair now?

I do not think the electoral college needs to be reformed, the system now is fair and doing away with it would be unnecessary. I am also thankful for the electoral college because it made sure we didn't have Al Gore as president and that would have been a true nightmare.

New York Times Budget Puzzle

We solved the deficit by 89% savings from spending cuts and 11% from tax increases. This shows that it is possible to solve the deficit without huge tax increases. Some of the easy cuts included eliminating earmarks,reducing the number of troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, and reducing social security benefits for those with high incomes. However, some of the cuts were more drastic such as ones involving medicare and federal workers.

Issue of the Week- National Debt

1. What country do we owe the most money?
The United States owes China approximantly 1.16 trillion. China practically owns us right now which doesn't make our country look too good. It worries me what actions China may take if we fail to pay them back.

2. Will raising taxes alone get us out of this?Creating a top tax bracket would not be fair, as the top one percent currently pays more in taxes than the bottom 90 percent combined. Doing this could cause wealthy americans to work less, decreasing govenrment revenue. The only way to get us out of this debt is by drastically cutting govenremnt spending.

3 Are any countries debts as high as the United States?
We have the highest debt. However, when comparing debt as percent of GDP, Japan and Italy are worse than us. Regardless, the United States is pretty bad.







Sources:
http://www.defeatthedebt.com/
http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2011/01/28/the-10-countries-with-the-most-debt

Political Cartoon 2

1. Was the protester a bad choice for person of the year?
2. Was the navy seal team that killed bin laden considered?
3. Does "the protester" represent a specific group of protesters?

3 pending bills

1. H.R. 358: Protect Life Act
2.S. 1700: Medical Device Regulatory Improvement Act
3.H.R. 1676: Tanning Bed Cancer Control Act of 2011

 H.R. 358: Protect Life Act
Facts:
1. Sponsored by Joesph Pitts
2. Amends the patient protection and afforadable care act to prohibit federal funds being used to cover any health plan that includes coverage of abortion services.
3. Gives federal courts jurisdiction to address violations of this.
4. Was passed in the house October 13th.
5. It was refferred to a senate committee October 17th.

Questions:
1. Why hasn't the senate made a decision on this?
2. Could this bill pass in the liberal senate?
3. Is federal funding of abortion currently illegal or restricted?

President Research

President Ronald Reagan

Lessons from Reagan:
1. That "reaganomics" which involves reducing government spending, reducing taxes, and less regulation, is best for the economy. Reagan greatly improved our economy and his policies created 20 million jobs during his presidency.
2. Other countries can be intimidated. Reagan's "Star Wars" program showed the soviets they couldn't compete with America.
3.Parties can come back from political disgraces. After scandals with Nixon, Reagan reasured the public's faith in the republican party.
4. The president needs to be a strong leader who can build consensus. Reagan was blunt and said what needed to be said. He called the soviet union out for what it was, "an evil empire", in this great speech:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=do0x-Egc6oA
5. “If we ever forget that we are One Nation Under God, then we will be a nation gone under.”
6. No matter how amazing of a president you are, haters are still gonna hate.



Sources:
http://www.rightwingnews.com/john/reagan.php
http://www.heritage.org/about/press/how-great-was-ronald-reagan-40th-president-place-in-history

Campaign Ad Analysis

ce1. He tries to make himself seem relatable by talking about his life and pretending he loves america. Also, sad music is played for "sympathy"
http://www.livingroomcandidate.org/commercials/2008
"Country I Love"
I don't think it is effective because it seems so cheesy and fake, but maybe it would be if you didn't know much about Obama.

2. The ad calls the candidate out on the contradictions between his words and his actions.
http://www.livingroomcandidate.org/commercials/type/backfire
"Riady"
I think it could be effective because people don't want their leaders to seem hypocritical and unsure of themselves.

3. The ad uses humor to point out some of the ridiculous things the candidate has said.
http://www.livingroomcandidate.org/commercials/type/backfire
"Really MD"
I think it is effective because it makes the candidate seem like a joke that no one would take seriously.

4. The ad draws attention to the candidate's past accomplishments.
http://www.livingroomcandidate.org/commercials/2008
"Original Mavericks"
I think the ad is effective because it shows why the candidate would be good for president.

5. The ad is touching without going over the top.
http://www.livingroomcandidate.org/commercials/1984
"Prouder Stronger Better"
I think it is effective because it shows voters what a difference Reagan had already made in America.

Conclusions:
1. Ads are persuasive.
2. Advertising does little to inform.
3. Ads alone are not very effective.

Electoral College Reform

Facts/Details:it
1. The two main criticisms of the electoral college are that it is undemocratic and it is an unreliable device for selecting the President
2. Each state gets atleast two electoral votes, regardless of population.
3. Democratic voters are more likely than Republicans to mess up their ballot.
4. The framers of the Constitution did not forsee political parties.
5. The difference between Gore and Bush's popular votes was only 0.5 percent.
6. Reform to the electoral college would increase the liklihood of deadlocks.
7. There is no serious political movement to abolish the electoral college.
8. The point of having the electoral college is so that people with more political knowledge can make decisions over the average American.
9. Members of congress are like "president-pickers".
10. Before the 2000 election, 1976 was the last year the popular vote was so close.

Questions:
1. Why were 2 percent of the ballots cast not counted?
2. Didn't Madison warn of factions within government, which is kind of similar to parties?
3. Could a direct democracy actually work?
4. Have any groups made real attempts to reform the electoral college?
5. Is there a way to reform the electoral college that would work better?

Taxpayers for Common Sense

Article 1:
http://taxpayer.net/resources.php?action=issues&proj_id=4765&category=&type=Project
Big Oil, Big Profits
1. Just 9 months into the year, ExxonMobil matched their total profits from all of last year.
2. The  5 big oil companies brought in $870 billion in profits between 2001 and 2010.
3. The president has called for an elimination or reduction of subsidies and programs supporting big oil.
4. Big oil continues to rake in heavy taxpayer subsidies.
5. Specific cuts could save taxpayers $15 billion this year.

Article 2:
http://taxpayer.net/resources.php?action=issues&proj_id=4992&category=&type=Project
If The States Can Cut, The Feds Can Too
1. The supercommittee only has to find 3% in deficit savings over 10 years.
2. 24 States have cut government spending by an average of 7.5% after inflation.
3. Failure to act by the end of the year means huge tax cuts put in place by President Bush will expire.
4. The Pentagon budget is still continuing to go up.
5. There's a planned 1.6% pay increase for service personnel in 2012.

Death Penalty Questions

 1.) How many states have banned the death penalty, and how many states still have it?
The death penalty is currently legal in 34 states and abolished in 16 states.  The most recent state to abolish the death penalty is Illinois.

2.) Why is the death penalty so expensive?
Most of the costs come from the inital trial, because the cost of the trial is usually a lot higher with cases involving death. Also, there are usually numerous appeals leading up to the death penalty. So the high cost is from the legal expenses rather than actually killing the person.

3.) What are the criminal offenses one needs to commit to receive the death penalty?
The death penalty is almost exclusively for the crime of murder. Some states have laws that allow the death penalty as a punishment for rape of a child, however anyone is yet to executed for this.


Sources:
http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/
http://deathpenalty.procon.org/view.answers.php?questionID=001000

Political Cartoon

1. Why does the media support occupy wall street, but look down on the tea party?
2. Does occupy lack a real political agenda?
3. Are occupy supporters anti-american?