Case Study A Bipartisan Agenda For Change

2. Is there any theoretical debate that is important? What is Partisanship and why is it relevant to American Politics?

If Congress should have term limits or not has been a long debated question that is suggested as an amendment to the qualifications division of the Constitution. There are outstanding arguments on both side of the issue 5; unconstitutionality versus limiting power and mixture versus seniority are just a few. Term limits are requirement to upload the founder’s objectives, to inhibit unfair advantages given to resident, and to permit an assembly of additional benefits. Opponents of term limits have said in today’s world we need men and women to represent them in congress and term limits which will remove legislators when the start to become useful to constituents.

Forgette Richard, Garner Andrew, and Winkle John. “Do redistricting principles and practices affect US state legislative electoral competition? State Politics and policy quarterly, 20(9) (2009): 151 175.

     If we take a more in-depth look at the composition of Congress we see a body disproportionate with its Nation. Congress has maintained a fairly homogenous make-up since its founding even into the

John Dingell, a member of the United States House of Representatives, served fifty-nine years and twenty-one days at this position. With no term limits set for the federal legislative positions in the United States, is this representation becoming redundant? Term limits can potentially be crucial in political reform of the

Aida Krafess Rosie Branciforte ENC 1101 April 8, 2013 Democrats and Republicans The United States of America is known to have two major political parties. The Republican party and the democratic one. Both parties are based on views and principles being completely opposites of each other. The Republican party is known to be a conservative party, while the democratic party is known to be liberal. Two concepts that are opposites to each other. The democratic party will most certainly convince the majority of the people that it is the ideal party to remain in office because it promotes economic equality, it advocates civil rights and individual freedom, and because it is a liberal party.

In 2013, Rep. Peter DeFazio’s (D, OR-4) party unity score was 94% (Weyl, 183). Party unity as defined in the textbook, Congress and Its Members, are votes in which the majority of voting Republicans oppose a majority of voting Democrats. In other words, average votes Peter DeFazio casted with the Democratic majority against the Republican majority. Furthermore, party affiliation as well as ideological positions, and the constituency pressure are strongly correlated with congressmen’s voting decisions (Davidson, Oleskek, & Lee 2014, 255).

* Tolson, Franita, Partisan Gerrymandering as a Safeguard of Federalism (December 19, 2010). 2010 Utah Law Review 859 (2010); FSU College of Law, Public Law Research Paper No. 470. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1674507

Congressional Committees and Healthcare Policy (Chapter Review) An important point made in Weissert and Weissert concerning Congress and its committee structure is that the majority of the work in Congress is done through committees. They perform the majority of research on issues and possible solutions, get legislation written, re-written and amended, and support it as it moves through Congress and finally gets passed. They are the “workhorses of the legislature” (Weissert and Weissert, 29).

In the United States we are divided by the left and right side on the political spectrum; even further divided into political parties such as Republicans, on the right, and Democrats, on the left side. These two political parties show philosophical differences through their viewpoints on major topics such as the economy, separation of church and state, abortion, and gun control.

Throughout the book Congress: The Electoral Connection there is a common theme that the author, David Mayhew, brings to our attention. He argues that the members of Congress have one exclusive goal, to get reelected; because of this goal, it effects their behavior and actions during their time in office. There are four reasons that Mayhew puts an emphasis on the goal of reelection, those being political reality, the lack of focus on parties but rather on individuals, the constant struggle for power and, in his opinion, most importantly it establishes an accountability relationship with an electorate. As the book progresses Mayhew provides an abundance of evidence as to why he believes this is the primary goal of the members of Congress.

In a recent tweet you mentioned that we as Democrats should work with the Republicans. What in God's name where you thinking? They haven't worked with us since 1993 or approximately there of.

Proposition 140 created term limits for assembly members and state senators. Assembly members are only able to serve three two-year terms or 6 years while state senators are able to serve two four- year terms or 8 years (Van Vechen, 32). Another effect of Proposition 140 was that it limited the allocated budget to legislative staff (Lustig, 62). Proposition 140 is one of the tools that helped undo the reform done by Jessie Unruh in the 1960’s. This is problematic for it hinders the legislature to do their job efficiently by having less staff. Other propositions attempt to change the representation of Californians, which ultimately changes the legislators we see in the legislature. Proposition 118, required redistricting to be approved by two thirds of both chambers. The passage of this proposition would have been catastrophic to redistricting, for it simulates the same problem that the legislature deals with when it comes to passing new revenues. In different propositions, we see that the major effects are the only ones highlighted when in fact, the smaller details of the proposition also have drastic

Therefore, people end up free riding and result in an unequal representation that can be seen clearly in Congress where more than 82% of House members and 96% of Senators are white. These statistics make a difference in the way the Congress functions as a representative body. In fact, the

Consequences of Term Limits on the United States Congress Imposing term limits on the United States Congress could potentially lead to a massive reduction of knowledgeable politicians in the American government, thus resulting in a fatal blow to the future of American progression. When term limits are imposed, it has