Transcript American Voters: How They Influence Government

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Bus companies begin to suffer financial
hardship because a large percentage of riders
were minorities.
Three Stages to Correcting a Social Injustice
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Have to take a stand
Special interest group must join cause to increase
pressure
Political system must translate the demands into
laws to end injustice
Creative thinking… what’s this one yelling as he jumps?
Increase pressure until demands are finally met
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What affects it?
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Shifting Public Interest
Different times cover different interests
 1960’s: Nuclear war, crime, narcotics
 1980’s: War on drugs, soaring budget deficit, and
environment
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Lack of consensus
 We rarely agree whole-heartedly on anything…
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Time Lag
 Once we do agree, it takes the government a long time
to move on the issue and pass laws
And now it is time for
me to enlighten you
all about tattoos.
CT: If you had to get
a tattoo what would it
be of and where?
But we can all come to a consensus on
this
… this tattoo was a mistake, right?
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How to measure public opinion…
Straw Poll- usually flawed because only those who
feel strongly participate
 Scientific Sampling- cross sampling (members of the
population who make up a good representation)
 Improvements in techniques- they make mistakes
some times, have learned not to claim 100%
effectiveness
 Difficulties with public opinion- it’s constantly
shifting
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Shifting opinion
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Christmas Break of 2012 and the Washington
Post Poll
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Introduce myself as a government teacher…
Questions about income and who I voted for…
Pronouncing “John Boehner”
Hillary Clinton, not relevant at the time (had retired)
Using big words
Hanging up
 Or did I?
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Mockery
Spell Check
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Propaganda- information designed to push your opinion a
certain way
 Mass Media: designed to reach large numbers quickly and
cheaply; radio, TV, newspaper, magazines
 Most people get news from the TV, which usually has a
bias even though they claim not to…
 Printed sources usually have more accuracy, but they can
also be biased by hiding stories on back pages…
 Editorial pages are the place to find opinion
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Movies: These also carry a message whether or not
you realize it…
 can you name any that do?
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Advertising: job is to “sell” the candidate to you by
highlighting their successes
Government: politicians try to shape our opinions
Economic Influences: people support what keeps
their money safe… for example, “I’m all in favor of
helping minorities to achieve equality until it affects
me...”
What about SNL?
Do they try to persuade opinions one way or the other?
Want to see the 2000 election debates on SNL,
considered by many to be one of the greatest skits of all time?
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They ask for political favors when decisions are
being made that affect their interests.
Why have pressure groups grown so much?
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Free speech and assembly allows them to exist, especially
with broadening interpretations of the law over the years
They give a lot of money to campaigns
They provide some insight for how people feel to their
representatives
They also provide experts when writing new legislation
They are effective… if they weren’t, they wouldn’t exist
(natural selection)
Videos of ducks?
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In the past they haven’t always been so good…
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1800’s: politicians supported by special interests
usually sold their vote and ignored public interest…
also ironically enough happens with Illinois
Governor in 2008.
Today: they can take you out to eat, provide some
services… but they can’t pay for their votes,
contribute money for the legislator’s private use,
make illegally large donations.
Also, most government officials have to make their
wealth publicly known to avoid corruption
Blagojevich anyone? Want to see what I’m talking about?
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Laws proposed by the people are called initiatives or
propositions
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Some people argue that initiatives are flawed…
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Write up the law
File it with the right person
Circulate a petition with enough signatures
Verify those signatures to keep fraud from happening
Educate the public
Voted on by the public
The law comes into play
Dishonest methods, slows down normal processes, confuses
voters, badly written
Some say it’s flawed, but it has its merits…
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Increases popular sovereignty, counteracts special interest
groups, keeps public interest
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Referendums- approval or rejection of a law by
the voters
Mandatory: required by law to be placed in front of
voters and approved by them for it to go into effect
 Optional: discretionary if felt it is important enough
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 Petition: vote on a recently passed law if they don’t
agree with it (if an optional referendum is called into
question, the petition places it before the voters on the
ballot.)
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Impeachment
Recall election (vote of lost confidence)
Can’t be used more than once during person’s term
in office
 Can’t be done at the national level, would require a
new amendment
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 I believe France and some other European countries have the
ability to recall a President in the middle of his/her term….
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Debate people
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Write your representatives
Don’t be upset if you get a “canned” response,
remember they are busy
Visit them in office, but don’t make them feel
uncomfortable or creeped out
Talk to the media about what upsets you, they
are always looking for a story
But remember…
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You can’t make people listen, but you have plenty of
chances to voice your opinion.