The Diversification of Congress; Beneficial, Pernicious or Benign?
Although the 113th Congress is the most diverse in (Jennifer E. Manning)Gender 98 Women, Ethnicity, Religion 18 specific, Occupations 16 specific, age, sexual orientation 7 openly gay or bisexual and abilities. Yet, it is the most unproductive Congress of more than 60 years! This class, plagued with indications of Internalized oppression and self-destruction, has produced less than 50 laws and has no adherence to the budget timeline this session. (Steny Hoyer)
Five Things you need to know about it
The Republican Party “GOP (Grand Old Party) (Barone) runs on a plat form of traditional values. This is also known as Social Conservatism which in actuality discriminates against laws or civil actions that promote fairness for women and some minorities, claiming affirmative action is reverse discrimination. This party’s members faithfully attend CPAC and are funded by well-known (Zeskind) white nationalist groups as the (The ACU) ACU and the Tea Party; who’s spokesmen are in favor of national Identity for white people.
Following the U.S. census, (Law)all local, state and federal election districts must be re-mapped to account for a growing and mobile population. There are strict rules regarding redistricting, each state has autonomy to make their own decisions. American attempts to tailor district lines for political gain stretch back to the country's very origin. Patrick Henry, who opposed the new Constitution, tried to draw district lines to deny a seat in the first Congress.
Filibuster have road blocked progress, this tactic is invoked to prevent a voted. (wolfe)Congressmen from either party have prevented timely votes therefore preventing the topic to come to ...
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...y accountability." n.d. .
Monika Landgraf. "Karlsruh Institue of Techonology." n.d. .
Steny Hoyer. The Democratic Whip. 3 December 2013. Content. 10 December 2013. .
The ACU. "The American Conservative Union State Legislative Ratings Guide." 26 November 2013. Scribd, the world's digital library. Document. 6 December 2013. wolfe, susan davis and richard. "U.S. Senate goes 'nuclear,' changes filibuster rule." USA Today 21 November 2013. 29 November 2013. .
Zeskind, Leonard. Blood and Politics: The History of the White Nationlist Movement from the Margins to the Mainstream. Ed. Straus and Giroux Farrar. First. MacMillian, 2009.
Constitutional Commentary, Vol. 27, Issue 2 (Fall 2011), pp. 347-360 Volokh, Eugene 27 Const. Comment. 347 (2010-2011)
Davidson, Roger H., Walter J. Oleszek, and Frances E. Lee. Congress and Its Members. Washington, D.C.: CQ, 2009. Print.
A Democratic Party long ruled by moderates and conservatives succeeded in stunting what seemed like the natural growth of a successful Republican Party until the 1990s. Since then, various forces have contributed to the growth of the Republicans, and in the end, to an altering of the core membership of each party. Most recently, the state has seen the development of a dominant Republican Party that doesn't yet hold quite the dominion the Democrats enjoyed through most of the twentieth century. The Republican Party has certainly benefited from the defection of former Democrats, the arrival of Republicans and independents from out of state, and organizational difficulties in the Democratic Party. Thus, Republican officials dominate state government, and Democrats find themselves reduced, for the present, to the status of an embattled minority party seeking to recreate themselves among their voting and financial constituencies. This is showing that the newfound Republican dominance can be the beginning of a new strong party system, or if we are in a state of transition in which the terms of political competition are still in change. If it is a new party system, I don’t think it will be very durable or last too long for that matter. Now, it seems that Republican dominance of state government will
...ilities of Congress is that minorities and factions exist: dissent takes place, not disagreements. Verbal brawls take place rather than actual argumentation, and that is what kills democracy. That is why things never get done.
Contrasts in the lawmaking methodology utilized as a part of the House and Senate reflect the distinctive size of the two chambers and individual terms of its parts. In the House, the dominant part gathering is inflexibly in control, stacking advisory groups with lion 's share party parts, and utilizing principles to seek after enactment supported by its parts. In the Senate, singular parts are better ready to hold up the procedure, which prompts lower similarity costs, however higher exchange costs. The complication of the lawmaking procedure gives rivals different chances to murder a bill, making a solid predisposition for the present state of affairs.
Wise, T. (2012). Dear white America: Letter to a new minority. San Francisco, CA: City
Every ten years after a census, politicians redraw the district boundaries that determine the house and state legislature. The problem with this system is that the same politicians who redraw the district boundaries are the ones who are being elected by the
When gerrymandering occurs, a political party draws the boundaries of an electoral district in a way that helps their party win elections over the other parties. For example, if a Republican controls a state, and it appears like the party will lose a seat in the future, the Republicans will draw the district in a way to exclude as many Democratic voters as possible. Perhaps they will do this by removing a democratic stronghold from one district and adding it to another district that will either easily go Republican or will have a Democratic representative no matter what happens. Before 1964, the majority party could draw districts in any way they wanted to, and chaos ensued. Consequently, in 1964, the U.S Supreme Court legislated that the districts “had to contain equal population, and be as compact as possible” (“Gerrymandering”). Every ten years the U.S. issues a census to determine the population of each state. After this, each state receives their share of the 435 seats, and then the state gets to break the population into the corresponding number of districts. This whole process, known as reapportionment, takes weeks to determine, and in many cases, courts must determine the shape and area of each district. Even though the districts must contain equal population, gerry...
Jost, Kenneth. "The Federal Judiciary." CQ Researcher 8.10 (1998). CQ Researcher. SAGE Publications. Web. 01 Mar. 2011. .
The United States, comprised of much political diversity, has only two major political parties, the Democratic Party and the Republican Party. The Republican Party was founded by anti-slavery activists on March 20th, 1854, and is represented by its mascot, the elephant. Often referred to as the “Grand Old Party”, or GOP, Republicans favor customs that exude traditional Christian values with a platform based on American Conservatism. As a Christian myself, the values I share with Republican ideals are a main reason I side with the Republican Party.
Legislators were meant to create laws which align with ideals of the constitution, yet they also responded to the voice of political advocates and endorsed laws, strategically worded to discriminate ...
Otto von Bismarck once said, “Laws are like sausages, it is better not to see them being made.” The arduous process that a bill undergoes in order to become a law may seem grueling and pointless; however, the processes high caliber of difficulty allows for the extreme prestige and exclusivity of bills that are passed. Because the process is so exhausting, and filibusters, subsequently requiring a super-majority vote to pass a bill, have always been such a threat in Congress, historically, bills that attempt to reform sensitive issues have not fared well in the legislative branch. However, when Congress does pass controversial laws, it then also faces the task of effectively enforcing them. But, when the process is carried out to completion, laws that are enforced have significant impacts on the everyday lives of the American people—such as laws concerning abortion rights. In the United States, the government and Congress have significantly affected the rights of women with regard to abortions through laws that either restrict or guarantee their legality and availability, while the government’s capacity to do so is affected by the principle of federalism along with that of the separation of powers.
The legislative branch of America helps create the laws or legislation. Ideally, it works to create a society that is safe for all members. The State of California like the federal government has a bicameral legislature, in other words, composed of two chambers. The upper chamber is called the senate, while the lower is called the assembly. A unique process for the state level is that it allows for the initiative. This process circumvents the state congress and can create laws without their aide. In the state of California, every ten years, following a US census, which collects demographic information, state legislators draw redistricting plans for itself, California seats in the US House of Representatives, and the State Board of Equalization. There have been attempts to create a “non-partisan” redistricting commission, but this has been turned down by voters numerous times. Proposition 14, 39, 118, and 119 were all turned down by voters to create a non-partisan districting commission. Every decade a large portion of the state congress’s energy is spent on redistricting. In fact, two of the last four censuses, Supreme Court has had to step in to break a deadlock. In 1970, Ronald Reagan, a Republican, vetoed all together the Democratic redistricting plan. The Supreme Court had to step in and created its own plans for California to follow. Then in 1981, Democrats proposed redistricting as well as congressional delegation redistricting. The Republicans stopped this by adding referendums to the state ballot. Because it was too close to elections though, Supreme Court overturned these referendums in 1982. In 1984, they officially passed the new redistricting plan which was very similar to the original plans.
Tolson, Claudette L. "White Supremacy." Encyclopedia of Race and Racism. Ed. Patrick L. Mason. 2nd ed. Vol. 4. Detroit: Macmillan Reference USA, 2013. 272-274. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 29 Apr. 2014.
Light, Paul C., and Christine L. Nemacheck. "Chapter 7 Congress." Government by the People, Brief 2012 Election Edition, Books a La Carte New Mypoliscilab With Etext Access Card Package. By David B. Magleby. 2012 Election Edition ed. N.p.: Pearson College Div, 2013. N. pag. Print.