Reminder Senior Project Proposal and Plan is due today. Turn an electronic copy in to turnitin.com and a hard copy to the office. If it is not turned.

Reminder

Senior Project Proposal and Plan is due today. Turn an electronic copy in to turnitin.com and a hard copy to the office. If it is not turned in today you will need to wait until the fall to propose a senior project.

T-shirts: Who still owes money?

Why is this cartoon funny?

Why do we study history?

“History is important. If you don't know history it's as if you were born yesterday. And if you were born yesterday, anybody up there in a position of power can tell you anything and you have no way of checking up on it.” --Howard Zinn

Don’t know much about history…

“The Constitution was written explicitly for one purpose: to restrain the federal government.” –Ron Paul, after the New Hampshire primary on Jan. 8, 2008

Don’t know much about history…

“And I believe the nation that invented the automobile cannot walk away from it.“ –Barack Obama, addressing a Joint Session of Congress, February 24, 2009

Don’t know much about history…

“Barack Obama is facing a financial emergency on a grander scale. Yet his approach has been to engage in one of the biggest peacetime spending binges in American history.” –Mitt Romney, writing in a Union Leader op-ed, April 25, 2011

Don’t know much about history…

“When the stock market crashed, Franklin Roosevelt got on the television and didn’t just talk about the princes of greed. He said, ‘Look, here’s what happened.’” –Joe Biden, recounting the political fallout after the 1929 stock market crash to Katie Couric on Sept. 22, 2008

Don’t know much about history…

“[Paul Revere] warned the British that they weren’t going to be taking away our arms, by ringing those bells and making sure, as he is riding his horse through town, to send those warning shots and bells, that we were going to be secure and we were going to be free.” –Sarah Palin, after touring Paul Revere’s house in Boston, June 2, 2011

Monday, May 28

Objectives: To gain a basic understanding of US politics To examine where people get their political

views To introduce Book Chats and begin

discussing author information Due Today: Book/Author bio info Homework: Read ¼ of book, Book Chat

assignment (Friday), follow the news Agenda: Politics 101 Lecture, Book

Chats

The Rules

Respect Trust no one Keep an open mind

Political Terms

What do these terms mean? Right v. Left Conservative v. Liberal Republican (GOP) v. Democrat Red v. Blue

How did we get here?

Origin of the Two-Party System No parties originally Federalist v. States rights Jackson Democrats Anti-slavery Republicans

Civil War Republicans: Northern, pro-business,

Blacks Democrats: Southern, populist

How did we get here?

1896 Election Modern campaigning Campaign funding

New Deal Coalition: Big city machines, poor and

middle class, white South, intellectuals, labor unions, blacks

Democrats for life

How did we get here?

Civil Rights JFK and LBJ Nixon’s Southern Strategy

Reagan Falwell’s Moral Majority Tax cuts

Republicans

Small government Personal

responsibility Low taxes Higher defense

spending Fiscal conservatism

South/Midwest (+22/+10) Suburban/Rural

(+12/+28) White Evangelical (+58) Men (+14) Seniors (+16) Very Rich (+18) Veterans (+24) Big Business

Platform: Constituency:

Democrats

Social safety net Social justice Higher taxes Less defense

spending

Urban (+32) Coastal (+5) Post-graduates (+4) Minorities

(+82/+32/+18) Women (+2) LGBT (+38 Youth (+16) Labor

Platform: Constituency:

Money in Politics

Spiraling cost of campaigns Lobbyists Campaign Finance Reform

McCain-Feingold Citizens United Super-PACs

Who finances the Senate?

Who finances the House?

Legislative Branch

Senate 2 Senators per state Elected every 6 years Needs a 60 vote super-majority to pass

most bills House of Representatives

By population Elected every 2 years Simple majority

112th Congress

House of Representatives: Republicans – 240 Democrats – 193

Senate: Republicans – 47 Democrats – 51 Independents – 2

How do you pass a bill?

Both houses write a bill, then try to reconcile the two versions into one bill

Add amendments and riders The bill comes up for a vote If it passes both houses, it goes to the

President The President can either sign or veto Congress can override a veto with a 2/3

majority

Congressional Gridlock

“Least functional Congress” in history--Why?

Polarization Being “for” something

v. being “against” something

Politics as a zero-sum game

Increased use of the filibuster

The Filibuster

Votes in Senate require simple majority Votes to end debate (invoke cloture)

require super-majority (3/5) Minority party uses this tactic to prevent

majority from bringing legislation to a vote

Both parties have used it

Politics v. Policy

Policy is what you want to do Politics is how you get it done

Where do we get our political ideas?

Parents Religion Teachers Community Media

Snapshot of Sammamish

Median Age: 35 Households: 87% families, 50% kids

under 18 Median Income: $134,000 Industry: Prof/Sci/Tech/Info Education: 98% High School, 70%

College + Religion: 37% (50% nationally) Race: 75% White, 17% Asian, 4%

Hispanic

Where do you stand?

Click the Political Compass Quiz link on the website and take the quiz:

http://www.politicalcompass.org/

CBA

Read the Rubric Need to make a connection to current

events for a 4 Russia ≠ USSR Causes of policy should come before

policy Effects should address who was affected

and how Should get used to standard form of in-

text citations

Book Chats:

Who brought their book and biographical info?

Book Chats Assignments (on website) Book Chats Presentations (on website) Book Chats Discussion

Assign a note-taker (turn in on last discussion day)

Discuss the biographical info (look at the Author Biography section of the presentation for ideas)

Read silently when finished