The Influence Of Machine Politicians

They needed help from the government and local community. In other words, "machine politics." Politicians played an important role in the political machine. In order to maintain this role, they received substantial kickbacks from the owners of the factories. They would recruit people to help the immigrants become citizens of the United States, and then pay the immigrants to vote for a specific candidate, often several times. Before the Progressive Party materialized, there were just the Democrats and the Republicans, "and the one got the office which bought the most votes."

society can be seen. In the late 1800’s there was a rise in the number

Political machines were a very corrupt but necessary group during the 19th century into the early 20th. They were a local political party organization that made it possible to get a large number of voters out to get their candidate elected. Political machines were appealing to immigrants and other poor people living in the cities as much as they were important to the politician they got elected.

When asked whether he learned anything as an actor that's been useful to his presidency, Ronald Reagan replied, “ There have been times in this office when I’ve wondered how you can do the job if you hadn’t been an actor.” Politicians must employ methods of artifice and present themselves as an idealistic image of themselves in order to win elections.

The majority of boss systems were used by ethnically Irish immigrants -- all of which included voting aged white males. With these political machines, each

In the late 18th century, during The Progressive era, which was an era during which people called for change in order to solve problems and at that time, there were many problems in society, and Reformers wanted to improve industrial conditions, living conditions, and politics. Many cities were experiencing industrialization and rapid urbanization in the post-civil war years, creating a range of problems, including poor working conditions. To improve working conditions, reformers started by restricting child labor, and later established labor laws, including the eight-hour work day and a minimum wage. Having a safer workplace, many people felt safer in work. Due to the rapid growth and urbanization, there were poor living conditions, and homes and apartments were not safe. People were forced to live in crowded tenements with poor conditions, where diseases were spread easily. Reform housing conditions and sanitation improved living conditions, and sanitary reform improved public health. Reformers cleaned the streets, improving the way of living for the poor. The Social Justice Movement attracted people moving and immigrating to America. It focused on the need of houses, better working conditions, and better community services and had a large impact on the lives of people living in poverty and benefited their lives and jobs in many ways. Progressives also wanted to improve government and increase citizens participation by reforming the tax system, eliminating corruption, granting women the right to vote, and passing measures to increase citizens' participation in government. Political reforms included a preliminary election which gave all members the right to participate in nominating and voting. Another political reform was a process that gave voters the power to remove elected officials from the office through a

Stephen Medvic, In Defense of Politicians, discusses why Americans feel that politicians are dishonest. In 2007, a Gallup poll about honesty and ethical standards for occupations, showed that only 12 and 9 percent of people felt that Congressmen and State office holders held high standards, (Medvic p. 2). In addition, Americans tend to like their representatives more than the members of Congress because they view them as actual people. Americans view Congress as a group of politicians who are greedy and not representing their interests, (Medvic p. 4).

The American dream states that anyone can do anything if they set their mind to it and work hard because America is the land of opportunity. This message did not prove true for the two men in the films we watched. For Jeff Smith and Cory Booker, political dynasties prevented either man from getting an equal opportunity to run for public office. These political machines have powers beyond that one a single man running in an election and these powers can shift elections in someone's favor, effectively chipping away and the foundations of democracy. Political Machines are political power structures who hold enormous power through their commandment of support.

“Put your best foot forward,” but if that foot is fake, is it really yours? Facades and fallacies have absorbed American politics and entertainment like vacuum of morality upon our society. Although Americans want to believe that our leaders are honest and are held to a superior moral standard than the rest of us, the very nature of politics and entertainment requires those who want to be successful to master the art of deception, or as noted by author Chris Hedges, “the most essential skill…is artifice.” Artifice is ultimately the common link with the most successful and most powerful people in the world. Utilizing artifice and emotional appeals to put on a show and create a powerful narrative is more important than qualifications for the

As industrialization caused cites to grow in leaps and bounds, political bosses started to take power. As the 19th Century came to a close, almost every sizable city had a political boss, or at least had one rising to power. Tons of immigrants from every part of the world began to pour into the major cities. Cities have had diversity in the past, but the huge diversity of the American cities was unique.

The political machines were detrimental to the turn of the century in American Society. Bosses used naturalization for personal gain of votes and support, had complete control over money and the cities, and corrupted governments. Thus, political machines did not benefit American society.

Why did political machines come to power? There are three main reasons for the rise of political machines in the nineteenth century. The first was white men wanting the right to vote, second the rapidly growing cities, and third the increasing number of immigrants entering the United States. The three reasons listed above allowed for the political machines to thrive. The growth of cities led to increasing crime rates and health issues that were left unaddressed by the government. This was where political machines stepped in.

The incumbency effect is someone staying in office because of the benefits they receive from it. According to the notes, this incumbency effect if more advantageous for members of the House than the Senate, but advantages are still high for both chambers. Some big advantage incumbents have are they were already previously elected so their name is more well known amongst voters. Also, people are more likely to donate to a candidate that has one before and in return that incumbent gets more funding than a new candidate. The biggest and most important advantage incumbents have is franking. Since they are in office, they have access to free postage and publication costs and can mail to all residence in their district to remind the potential voters

Dog-whistle politics is a widely known term in political sciences; means coded language that is only understood by a targeted audience. According to William Safire (2008, p. 190), the term originated in 1988 from opinion polls. Safire quoted Richard Morin, director of polling for The Washington Post, mentioning the dog whistle effect (Safire, 2008, p. 190). People who talk about racial problems are being criticized, while people who use coded messages to talk about racial problems are not (Haney-Lopez, 2015, p. 4).

Let me step aside to explain 7 – A little thinking about power and our political leaders