Congressional Representation
In order to form a more perfect union, our forefathers wrote a constitution describing the
way that this country should function. In this constitution, a governing body was created: The
United States Congress. Since its inception, Congress has been passing legislation that
represents the will of the people. This representative democracy has shaped the US into what it
Because we (the people) don’t have time to write and vote on all legislation by
ourselves, we need to delegate individuals to devote their time to that cause. When
congressmen and women get elected to office, they must represent the constituency that
elected them in the first place. Thus, the will of the people reaches the higher levels
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As the article states, “the preferences of the average American appear to have
only a minuscule, near-zero, statistically non-significant impact upon public policy...it makes
very little difference what the general public thinks. The probability of policy change is nearly the
same (around 0.3) whether a tiny minority or a large majority of average citizens favor a
proposed policy change”.1 How could this be? If not for the people, who is Congress passing
The sad truth is that true political power and influence only resides within two groups in
this country: the nation’s economic elite (top ten percent) and special interest groups such as
Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, AT&T Inc, JPMorgan Chase & Co, Citigroup Inc, Comcast
Corp, Lockheed Martin, Unions, PACs, etc. The Princeton study found that “a proposed policy
change with low support among economically-elite Americans (one out of five in favor) is
adopted only about 18 percent of the time, while a proposed change with high support (four out
of five in favor) is adopted about 45 percent of the time. Similarly, when support for
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Based on the findings of the Princeton study and numerous other works, one thing has
become clear: money buys political influence in The United States of America. Political influence
no longer comes with popularity amongst the general public, but rather with backhanded under
the table deals and, even worse, deals right in front of everyone’s faces. Most of what a
legislator does revolves around money and how to collect more of it to spend on their
campaigns. The problem with this is most legislators turn to special interest groups or economic
elites for their money, which leaves them subject to those groups’ demands. This demonstrates
that Congress is a body that does not represent the people as a whole, but rather the people
who fund the legislators. The fact of the matter is that the system in which this country operates
under is deeply rooted in corruption. When 90% of the US has no say as to how the government
allocates spending of their taxpayer dollars, something has to change.
So, what is the solution? Campaigns like the Sunlight Foundation, the Center
The excerpt “Congress: The Electoral Connection” written by David Mayhew centers around the fundamental arguments that discusses how members of congress are self-interested for reelection. Mayhew further elaborates on his idea by discussing the electoral activities that congress members devote their time into and resource from, which are advertising, credit-claiming, and position taking. Mayhew’s excerpt further examines the framework in how congress operates which contributes to the explanation of how and why congress partakes in the certain electoral activities.
We often wonder about the importance of government. Is it necessary? Does it really benefit society? The answer is yes. Many countries have diverse forms of government such as totalitarian, monarchy, theocracy, and much more. The United States of America specifically runs a democratic type of government. A democratic government gives power to the people. Citizens over the age of eighteen are allowed to elect leaders based on their individual opinions through voting rights. The main purpose of the American government is, to protect people’s inalienable rights to life, liberty, property, and the pursuit of happiness as our Founding Fathers intended.
Davidson, Roger H., Walter J. Oleszek, and Frances E. Lee. Congress and Its Members. Washington, D.C.: CQ, 2009. Print.
Representation: the effort of elected officials to look out for the interests of those who elect them
In conclusion, even though some of the Congress processes and its structure seem to be made to slow things down and to reduce effectiveness, they exist to, as discussed in class, protect the minority from the tyranny of the majority. After all, one of the main objectives of having a government is to create a balanced society, and to reduce the chances of having social convulsion and anarchy.
...o keep their jobs, Congress members must please the majority of a state and in the nation. Citizens are the people who help campaign and vote to re-elect you or have someone take your job. Members when voting must remember that and consider voting in favor of what the majority in their state wants even if he or she disagrees. If they do not listen to state residents who are the voters, this can lead to someone sitting down in their former seat.
...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.
Many Americans in today's society will find it difficult to answer the question of what Congress exactly does and why it exists. Others simply don't care and see Congress as a failed system where nothing gets done. Lee Hamilton, in his book Why Congress Works and Why you Should Care, proves these people wrong and gives an insider's look at what Congress actually does do and how it affects every American each day.
by using several different methods to persuade the public’s opinion and the U.S Congress to agree with them.
Public opinion is like this because many U.S. citizens believe that Congress is not taking the right action to help and benefit the people. Citizens believe that Congress is doing what is best for them and not for this generation and the next of U.S. citizens. A way that Congress could approve its public opinion is that Congress could ask the opinion of citizens and keep it mind. Doing so it would make the people feel like their voice is being heard. Telling the people about what a Bill entails would as well help raise the public opinion of Congress. This is going to be a bill that could affect them; citizens have the right to know what is going on within their own government.
There has been much focus on the amount of power the upper one percent of
...nies. But a similar measure was blocked in the Senate, due in part to the efforts of the drug lobby. The politicians make false promises to get elected while taking enormous amounts of campaign money from lobbyists and others that influence their votes in congress and then after they take care of their lobbyist friends they collect for themselves by taking jobs from the lobbyists making millions of dollars. We need to somehow get the laws changed that prevent politicians from being able to accept campaign money from lobbyists and other special interest groups and also prevent elected officials from going to jobs that lobbyists promise them. These special interest groups are ruining America in all areas of government. Any congressmen that accepts money, perks or job promises need to be put in jail for treason because they are selling out America to the highest bidder.
In our countries government, Congress plays a major role in decision making. They’re primary role is to pass laws. These laws start off as bills. Bills can only be introduced by members of Congress. Although these bills only come from Congressman, there are many people who influence these bills. Such as the president, regular citizens, offices in the executive branch, and many others. The bills right off the bat do not have a very good chance of passage. Only one out of every ten bills even gets any attention at all. This is because they must go through many tests and hearings before they even have a chance of landing on the president’s desk. These steps in a bill becoming a law are very important, and make sure that all bills passed into law are the best of the best.
2. Do political and governmental elected politicians represent the general population or a small segment of the society?
informed, or only care about their own interests. Building an effective democracy takes time, the