Module 14

Module 14

 

Thanks for your good reflections on bureaucracy. This week, we’ll look at another aspect of American-style democratic government that has had a high profile lately, Politics and the Media. 

 

What are the roles and responsibilities of the media within a democracy, anyway? Please post a reflection to your blog that responds to this question, after reading the chapter in your textbook.

 

In addition to the chapter on Politics and the Media, please begin to wrap up your Term Project. I’ve copied the assignment below so you have it handy. 

 

A few things about our final weeks. 

   A) Next week will be our last week of class… you will each be creating a video presentation about your Term Project or, if you prefer, we can schedule a Zoom meeting so you can present your Term Projects in real time. 

   B) We have two last chapters in our textbook – domestic policy and foreign policy… please each choose one chapter (first to choose gets their choice). That will be the chapter around which you’ll do your final week’s blog assignment.

   C) We will have a final exam during finals week, the week of December 14. The format will be similar to the midterm.

 

 

Term Project

 

0) As a preliminary step, please identify 5 topic areas you have learned (or will learn) about American government this semester which you think other people might find interesting, or perhaps which you think they should know more about even if they don’t find it interesting. Post these to your blog this week as part of your Module 10 blog post.

 

1) Prepare a 1-2 page summary of key “talking points” for each of your 5 topic areas… these talking point summaries should be designed to use as resources you could refer to while having a conversation with someone about the topic area. Please send me your first one before doing all 5 so that I can give you feedback on it before you do the rest.

 

2) For each of your 5 topic areas, find opportunities to share what you’ve learned with at least two other people. You can share with friends, family, anyone. You can share with both other people at the same time or separately… that’s up to you. These sharings can be in person, they can be by phone, chat, email, whatever format works best. Just find opportunities to share what you’ve learned, using your talking points as a reference, with other people.

 

3) As or after each sharing, write some notes about how it went. Who was the person? What format did you use (in person, chat, etc.)? How did the person respond? Was he or she interested? Did they ask questions? Were you able to help them better understand an aspect of American government that they were already curious about? 

 

4) Put it all together. By the end of the semester, you’ll prepare a Term Project comprising: an Introduction, your Talking Point Summaries, a Narrative Description of all 10 conversations, and some Concluding Remarks of your own.

 

Module 13

Module 13

 

Why is bureaucracy important?

DUE: Sidlow, Chapter 13 The Bureaucracy

 

Happy gratitude holiday, you two. I hope you each have an opportunity to hit the “pause” button on life for a little while and be thankful for the good things in your life. Sometimes, we get so busy we don’t even notice them, but they are there… you are there. Appreciate your physical body for sustaining your life and breath, appreciate your spirit for not giving up, appreciate your mind for its curiosity and its desire to be educated. 

 

One thing I appreciate this week is actually the topic of one of our remaining chapters: bureaucracy. That’s right, these past few weeks in America, bureaucracy was a key player in the ability of our election system to function effectively in the face of unprecedented challenges. Bureaucrats across the country did their jobs, played their roles in the elections process, stamped and signed and processed paper in accordance with their job descriptions and with the high ethical commitments so many bureaucrats actually have, but are seldom recognized for. Our election system has been effective, in large part because of bureaucracy, and so maybe it’s appropriate to be thankful for all the bureaucratic “pencil pushers” across the country – everyday heroes of the moment – who did their jobs these past weeks and months and by doing so, facilitated a successful elections process which will not, it seems, break under pressure. 

 

Bureaucracy, one could say, is beautiful. Please make that statement the theme for your blog post this week, after reading the chapter in your textbook. 

 

Other than that, just continue to work on your Term Project – maybe some of your conversations will take place over your Thanksgiving meal (virtual or otherwise).

Module 12

Module 12

 

This week, while you continue to work on your Term Project, please read Chapter 6, Interest Groups, in your textbook. Write a short blog post explaining what an interest group is and the role interest groups can play in making American government more responsive to the needs and concerns of average people.

 

In addition, complete Step 1 of your Term Project, then get started with Steps 2 and 3. These steps were outlined in Module 10.

Module 11

 

Module 11

 

In addition to the presidential contest and state-level ballot propositions, we also had some Congressional elections last week. And aren’t you glad, by the way, that the election is finally over? Not fully over, of course, because while we do have a declared winner, the losing candidate has not yet conceded. The apparently-losing candidate does in fact have a right to do things like asking for a re-count or filing lawsuits if he or she believes there was wrongdoing. In this case, the apparently-losing candidate is Donald Trump and while he is within his rights to pursue legal challenges, most observers agree that the number of votes in question, even if his challenges were to be successful, are too few to impact the outcome. So the election is essentially over, but we won’t fully move forward until all challenges have been resolved or abandoned.

 

But back to Congress. This week, please read Chapter 11, Congress. What is unique about the way US congressional representation is organized? In what ways does it attempt to provide for both popular representation and state representation? Write a short blog post addressing these questions.

 

Also this week, please start Step 1 of your Term Project, preparing 1-2 page Summaries of your topic areas. Remember, send me one of the Summaries first, and give me a day to reply with feedback before you start working on the other four Summaries. Please do your best to send me your first Summary early in the week, and save yourself some time to do at least 2 more Summaries by Sunday.

 

Please send me your Summaries by email. You do not need to post them to your blog.

Module 10

WEEK TEN

 

It’s Election Day eve… by this time tomorrow we might already have some trends developing and people across the country will already be breathing sighs of relief, or staring at their news outlets in dismay, depending on how their candidate or their issue is doing in the early returns. Since it is political parties that drive much of the election-related activity we’ve been exposed to over the past several months, it seems like an appropriate week to read Chapter 7 on the topic of Political Parties. Beyond just watching the presidential race, also keep your eye on a couple of propositions that were on the ballot in your area, such as classification of app-based drivers or voting rights for felons. Did the propositions win? Were they supported heavily by a political party? Why? Write a paragraph in your blog on political parties.

 

 

It’s also time to start thinking about your Term Project. 

 

0) As a preliminary step, please identify 5 topic areas you have learned (or will learn) about American government this semester which you think other people might find interesting, or perhaps which you think they should know more about even if they don’t find it interesting. Post these to your blog this week as part of your Module 10 blog post.

 

1) Prepare a 1-2 page summary of key “talking points” for each of your 5 topic areas… these talking point summaries should be designed to use as resources you could refer to while having a conversation with someone about the topic area. Please send me your first one before doing all 5 so that I can give you feedback on it before you do the rest.

 

2) For each of your 5 topic areas, find opportunities to share what you’ve learned with at least two other people. You can share with friends, family, anyone. You can share with both other people at the same time or separately… that’s up to you. These sharings can be in person, they can be by phone, chat, email, whatever format works best. Just find opportunities to share what you’ve learned, using your talking points as a reference, with other people.

 

3) During or after each sharing, write some notes about how it went. Who was the person? What format did you use (in person, chat, etc.)? How did the person respond? Was he or she interested? Did they ask questions? Were you able to help them better understand an aspect of American government that they were already curious about? 

 

4) Put it all together. By the end of the semester, you’ll prepare a Term Project comprising: an Introduction, your Talking Point Summaries, a Narrative Description of all 10 conversations, and some Concluding Remarks of your own.

 

For this week, Module 10, you only need to brainstorm what 5 topic areas you want to focus on. If you’d like, you can think of 6 or 7 and I’ll help you hone them down to 5. Once I’ve reviewed your proposed topics, you’ll be ready to start developing your talking points.