EC Final Blog

This was a very interesting class and I learned a lot throughout this semester. As far as the blogs, I don't feel they were of much help. I constantly found myselff hurrying to respond to which ever issue was important for the week. They were helpful for people to vent about certin inssues throughout the semester. Responding to week
ly readings or key ideas would have served better if it were to be posted on D2L the discussion board. This was my first class that required a blog so the experience was something new. I didnt find the comments from other bloggers to serve that much help to my knowledge. Bloggers sometimes just posted a comment just to receive credit and they didnt always give great feedback. The blog just seemed to be something to do for busy work. I feel that getting feedback through D2L on weekly responses would have served better for my learning in this class.
It's hard to asses a grade for my blog because I'm confused on how they're graded. Overall, I feel that I worked diligently on my blog and sometimes didn't get the grade that I expected. I dont feel that making a comment to someone elses post should play a role in my weekly blog grade because it served no purpose. I would much rather get direct feedback on my blog post on why I got the grade. The grading scale for the blogs is tough to figure out so it's hard to give myself a grade but I worked hard on my weekly post and never really got what I thought I deserved and I never knew what I needed to improve on to submit better posts.

The Final Blog

American presidential elections are changing time by time. Voters are changing how they view parties based on the party’s affiliation with the candidate. I don’t believe that elections are being won over political stances like they have in the past. I find it based off personal experience and what I hear from friends and the media that voters aren’t concerned with any one issue but the status of the economy. In the past voters would vote for the candidates that shared the same views on certain important issues. For example, if a voter was pro-life then they would tend to vote for the candidate that took the stance of anti-abortion and promoted human life. Voters would base their vote on the candidate that shared majority of the same beliefs on different issues.
I find it difficult to agree with Fiorina when he says that voters who think alike vote alike. This may have been an okay assumption in the past. However, I feel today that statement isn’t always or necessarily true. The greed of Americans and the American dream of having lots of money and living in a big house with a great paying job are starting to bite America in the butt. Voters are not voting for candidates that best suits their views on issues, but they are voting for the candidate that they feel can revive the economy. So, I don’t feel that voters are categorizing themselves into certain political parties but to whoever can fix the economy.
I feel that it’s hard to agree with Fiorina during this time of our country facing such a crisis because this election shows that isn’t true. By Obama winning the election and by the margin and the states that he won shows that Fiorina’s statement isn’t always true. If it were then Obama wouldn’t have defeated McCain in some of the traditionally dominated Republican states. This just shows that people who think alike don’t always vote alike.

Build a Party

I found this project to be very interesting, the different types of governments each group plan to asses shows the many different beliefs individuals have at what government style works. Examples of the different type of government each group plan to use are; Group 3 feels that a small government with anti taxes is best for the country and not focusing on the mainstream politicians. I thought it was interesting that this group will reach out to the young children to teach them the fundamentals of growth. I feel this is key to the government becoming powerful and gaining the trust of the people. With the focus on fundamental growing to children this will help the economy for the future when the children are set to lead the economy and government. As far as rebuilding the economy I agree with the stance of Group 4, their party will focus on tax-cuts and holding the financial intstitutions of today accountable for their own behaviors and actions. Another issue that Group 4 will take action on is the demise of the automobiles. I agree with this group that by bailing out the auto industry such as; GM, Ford, Chrysler this will help the national economy from crashing into a bigger whole. In my group (Group 1) our focus was on attracting the the moderate voter and lowering the Federal defecit. Group 1 was a mixture of Group 3 and 4. We wanted to keep a small government and still offer a tax break for the working class. These different approaches of every group shows that there are many ideas and issues to attack to get our economy and government back to the way it was before the Bush Administration.
My group was pressing for time getting the assignment completed. The toughest part of this project was the communication and time spaces for everyone. We just relied on communicating online through D2L, this wasn’t completely a bad thing, but we probably couldve communicated better through different devices. The way that we approached the project was having everyone voice their opinion to each question and merge our ideas together. I think this turned out to be an effective way to building our party. For future projects I would suggest to communicate in more ways than one. When voicing your opinions, it’s sometimes difficult to just communicate through typing. I would suppest some verbal or face to face communication to allow for more interaction. All in all I thought it was a great project.

The Lieberman Show

Joe Lieberman is a wild card to today’s politics and the control of Senate. Today he may be a Democrat and tomorrow he may consider himself a G.O.P. Senator Lieberman seems to be holding the Democratic party by the sack. According to an article published the magazine New York, before Barack Obama was elected President he publicly spoke at the G.O.P. conventions and endorsed John McCain for president. One Democrat put it, “You are a Republican” referring to the actions Lieberman took iin the 2008 Presdential Campaign. Wikipedia.com quotes Lieberman as being a “genuinely an independent”. Lieberman says that he tends to agree mainly with Democrats on domestic policy and agree more with Republicans on foregin and defense policy.
According to http://www.courant.com/news/nationworld/hc-joe1119.artnov19,0,5383363.story Senator Joe Lieberman is still a registered member of the Democratic Party. Senator Lieberman is the 51st seat in the senate and is one of two independents who represent the Democratic party. So the Democrats should reconcile with Lieberman despite his non-trustworthy acts in the past election campaigns. They cannot afford to lose the support of a democrat in the Senate.
Tuesday the Democratic party did just of what was expected of them, but they didn’t do what was right in the eyes of people who supoort fairess. Tuesday the Democrats decided to keep Senator Lieberman as a registered member of the Democratic party. The only punishment that Lieberman will receive is that he will not be a member of the Environmental and Public Works Committee after a 42-13 vote, this is according to courant.com. I agree with those who oppose the acceptance of Lieberman into the Democratic party because I also agree that the decision to retain him was political and he wasn’t given a punishment. Members of the voting who opposed the ruling will have a chace at a meeting next month to voice their opinions for a reprove. This is unlikely to show change because of the strong decisino in the voting 42-13.

Are they WHIGS?

The Democrats came out on top of this past highly anticipated election. This wasn’t a close election in the percentage of the popular vote or electoral vote. President elect Barack Obama made history becoming the first African American president in the United States history. This should be a eye opening experience for the Republican party, that they must make changes in the future of their campaigning and political views. I don’t believe that the Republicans are Whigs, and they hold a bright future in being one of the top two political parties in this country. President Bush didn’t help the Republican party during his tenure as president. I believe that this was an election that the Democrats held an edge in because Bush has screwed the economy soo bad that America thought change was needed. Since, McCain shared majority of the same views of Bush, I don’t believe that he had any chance of winning this election.
The Republicans do have a future in the Political world and gaining the leadership of the country along with seats in Congress. According to an article in the Townhall Daily the Republicans do have a comeback in sight. This article says that the 2008 Presidential election was similar to the 1992 election between Clinton and Bush. One similarity is that Obama defeated McCain in the popular vote by a margin of 6.5%, compared to Clinton defeating Bush by a similar margin of 5.5%. (http://townhall.com/columnists/MichaelMedved/2008/11/12/gop_comeback_been_there,_done_that&Comments=true) After Clinton help off Bush he then took office for two terms before the Republicans regained control of the nation. President Bush then took his two terms and that leaves Republicans in the same position as back in 1992.
I believe the Republicans will bounce back and compete for the next presidential race after President elect Obama finishes his term. After watching the debates for this years election and listening to different speeches I do believe that John McCain has what it takes to become the president of the United States and leading the Republican party. According to Aldrich the reason the Whig party collapsed was because of the death of Henry Clay. Clay kept the party together with his personal commitment and leadership. I feel that John McCain can resurge the Republican party with the same characteristics.

President Obama

The long awaited time for a new president is now over. President Obama will be the next president of the United States and it was time for change. Obama did a great job getting his policies out to the voters and it showed by him winning the election. I was surprised that he won the election by as much as he did in the electoral vote because I was expecting a much closer election. One thing that surprised me was the way he dominated the election. I predicted Obama to win the election based on the economic changes he plans to bring to the country. One reason I didn’t feel McCain won, is that much of his policies were similar to President Bush’s. Once the Bailout Bill was passed and it didn’t have the effect that was intended, I believe this was the downhill start for McCain and his route to presidency. Overall, my projection of the next president was accurate, but I didn’t think it would be by such a wide margin.
I believe that the President Barack Obama does have an electoral mandate in the United States. The margin of which he won the election proves to me that he has the support of the American people in both the electoral vote and popular vote. Obama will do his best to gain the support of all American citizens. Last night in his speech at Grant Park, Chicago, Il he stated to the people who vote he did not receive “ I will be your President too.” This showed me that he is willing to listen to all of the country and make things better for everyone. By the end of his first term President Obama will have an electoral mandate of the United States.

McClain's Tactics

I personally believe that it is too late for John McCain to come up with any tactic to contend for president of the United States. He has tried many different tactics in the past month during the Presidential Debates to gain votes in next months election. There has been major talk that the two campaigns have been taking negative personal shots at each other, and this is the worst it’s been in election history.
I believe that McClain’s strategists took the wrong direction when they used the tactic of Obama being associated with 1960’s domestic terrorist Bill Ayers. According to the Boston Globe this was a failed tactic and their distant relationship isn’t a legitimate issue in the presidential race. The Boston Globe reports that most voters are smart enough to see through that attempt at guilt by association. This attempt of McClain was to show that Obama is a secret Muslim terrorist. I believe that this attempt was worth a try, however McClain shouldn’t constantly drill the subject after realizing that it’s not important to voters. Colin Powell seemed to support Obama by saying McClain act was an act of “demagoguery”.
One huge mistake that I think McClain has made in his campaigning is not making the distinction between him and President Bush’s economic plan. Since, his partner is the leader of the country and his tactics have gotten the country in a horrible economic state voters want to know what is he going to do different than Bush. Thus, far McClain has made one key point to Obama, in the last debate he states “ I am not George Bush and if you wanted to run against George Bush you should have four years ago.” this was a key statement and if I was McClain’s strategist in these next, few weeks I would strongly make a point to distinguish my economic plan from George Bush’s. The voters are concerned about the economy and how it can get better.

Election Polls

The 2008 presidential election seems to be just a blink away and there have been many interesting factors in this election. I have never seen republicans turn democrat or vice versa. However, since the economy and government is in such a crisis, this is just what I’ve been seeing. President George Bush has done such a terrible job in the past eight years that Republicans are casting their votes for the rival party. This election is so important that people aren’t voting for their typical Republican or Democratic party. People are so interested in this election that they are voting for the best candidate.
This election is very distinct to those in the past because southern states are shown to be in more support of McClain and northern states seems to be in support of Obama. This isn’t the way things have been when America was formed. In the past southern states seemed to be more democratic and northern states republicans. This just shows the diversity and importance of this election.
One other huge difference that I’ve noticed while following this election is that of the education factor. In past elections it has been shown that people with higher education tend to vote more for republicans and those with less education vote for democrats. This election is soo important to the future of this country that those with higher education are seen to favor Obama in this presidential election.
It seems as if these two candidates and their views are going deeper than republican or democrat. In a sense this election is more about capitalism or socialism. It seems that the republican candidate is more about greed, or private wealthiness and less concerned with the less wealthy class. On the other hand, the democratic candidate is pushing for government funding of the less wealthy and underprivileged . When analyzing this election I see it as being deeper than John McClain vs. Barack Obama, or Republican vs. Democrat, but more as Capitalism vs. Socialism. Which is better for our society and future?

Role of Minority

The minority party plays a huge role in a democracy, as stated in Hetherington and Keefe the “ the minority party can mobilize congressional majorities and help shape public policy.” However, the goal in Congress is to be a part of the majority party, it doesn’t happen for everyone. The minority party behavior is affected by the majority party’s margin over the minority. Being in the minority party can have a mental affect on it’s members depending on how long the party has been a minority. The strategies the minority party use aren’t determined by its preferences of leadership or by opportunities that are presented from time to time. The role of the minority party is influenced by importance that they have no control over. If the minority party is resourceful it can play an aggressive and creative role in the legislative process. The minority party often has the outside sources that the majority party is searching for. Often times the minority party can assist the majority party in work that needs to be completed on the majority agenda because the majority doesn’t have time to complete all the work.
According to economists and politicians the Bail Out Bill was supposed to ignite the Stock Market. So much for that bill, huh? Since the bailout bill the Dow Jones has dropped over 620 points. This is the worst the stock market has been since the great depression. Americans as a majority were not in support of the Bail out bill. The Senate passed the bill on the first try because it’s supporters were giving them the wrong information and the senate seems to be more concerned with state needs. Opposing the senate and its representation is the House of Representatives, they seem to focus more on the people and were given unclear on the information concerning the bill. Sine this is an election year the House wanted to get every detail clear and the first time they voted I believe they were concerned about their own political futures. This is a time of crisis and they felt that they didn’t want to contribute to something that would make the economic conditions worse, and so far the Bail out bill has made it just that.

Campaigning

Money has always been the name of the game in the world today. In American politics nothings has changed, campaigning and advertising is the most common way to get elected. Individuals and special interest committees is where majority of the campaign comes from. Political organizations aren’t fueling the campains of their candidates as much as special interest groups. Political scientists Barbara Salmore and Stephen Salmore said it best, ‘cnadidates have become individual entrepreneurs, largely set free from party control or discipline. These special interest groups are willing to finance the campainging if the candidate is willing to pass legislations or help the special interest groups. The question I have is, is this the right way to run the election that is supposed to be for the better of this country? I don’t believe this will be changed anytime soon because this is thought of as political freedom. The election will always be ran by the people with money and that’s the same for America.
I don’t believe there is an even resolution to reforming campaigning distributions because these big special iterest groups and others with tons of money always find a way to beat the system. The main problem is that who are these political parties electing as their candidates? The preferred candidtate should be elected based on the interest of the party’s goals. However, that’s not always the case candidates are sometimes elected based on what the special interests groups and other want. The reason they are often elected is because those are the groups that bring in all the campaig money. Political parties don’t have all the money needed to campaign so they must do both and elect their candidate that represents the paprty and rules with special interest groups. They must do this in order to win the ultimate election.

Primaries

Many believe that the Primaries are a time for the whole country to tune into Politics and the election race. This is a time when the candidates separate themselves from running party mates. This past primary seemed to be very interesting the Democratic Party’s candidates because there wasn’t any one candidate that stood out the most. After the primaries many voters tend to lose focus of the election and not follow it as much. During the primaries the candidates are forced to give false promises on key political issues at that time. It seems to me that every candidates promises to do different and make the country better than the current president.

The media seems to put much hype into the primaries that it draws all different types of voters into it. I think the primaries do a great job of drawing the attention to different voters however, I feel that the inexperienced voters tend to forget about how important the future debates and conventions are to the election. Inexperienced voters tend to suffer the most from primaries because they stop following the election after these candidates give false promises that their parties force them to make.

I’m not sure if this affects party discipline. The candidates are promising everything that the parties believe in and in return the parties sell the candidates. Elections force candidates to say things that they really don’t plan to follow through in once elected into office. This seems to be a common problem in every presidential election.

Blog 2

What is a Political Party?

When I hear the term “political party” I think of presidency, congress, and the House of Representatives. A political party is a group that shares the same discourse, mainly sharing beliefs on certain issues that are important across the world. Political parties are necessary for any government that carries a Democracy because these parties represent the interest of the people. Political parties can also be thought of as a “family”, they stick together on their beliefs and support one another in decision making. The leader of these political parties is elected by the citizens of democracy. Citizens elect one individual that they believe can lead the country best and have their best interest at heart. This individual then runs for president against other nominees from different political parties. Many believe that in political parties the president is the most important person. However, that’s not correct everyone in the party is important. Members in the party can also be part of the congress or House of Representatives where key decisions are made, sometimes people tend to forget about these different branches. The president does have the most power in legislature; however, he looks to these different branches to help his tenure as president. The two main parties in this country are democrats or republicans, where the democrats tend to be more liberal and the republicans tend to be more conservative. There are many things that go into being part of a political party.

Blog 1

Hello to Party Politics in America 421, Welcome to the page of Allan Hanson. First I will like to tell you a little about myself. I’m a senior at UWM and my major is Economics. I am a huge Brett Favre fan, also I love the Brewers and UWM Panthers fan. I just finished my career playing for the UWM Mens Basketball team, in which I was a member for the last four years. I attended high school at Wauwatosa East High School. This is my first online class and I am looking forward to learning more about politics especially since this is the year for a heated election. My hope for this course is that I learn more about politics so when it’s time to vote I’m educated enough to make the right decision that helps better this country. Not only do I plan to become more educated for the upcoming Presidential Election but I also like to enhance my knowledge about different areas of politics in general. My dream surrounding studying this course online is that America can one day become united to a point where everyone agrees on one common goal. With this dream becoming true in the future there will be no need for different political parties.

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