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Democracy essay topics
Democracy essay topics
Democracy essay topics
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On March 2, 1953, in Janesville Wisconsin, a United States Senator was born. He was named Russell Dana Feingold, and he grew up shaping, and discussing his political views around the dinner table with his father, Leon, a founding member of Wisconsin’s Progressive Movement. 51 years later, Feingold is a third term U.S. Senator known for work both on Campaign Finance Reform, and on other issues critical to the people of Wisconsin.
Feingold first ran for office at the age of 29, and immediately began to get recognition as a rising star in Wisconsin politics. After defeating a longtime incumbent State Senator by the thin margin of 31 votes out of 47,000, Feingold sat down and began the real work of politics. After 4 years as a State Senator from southern Wisconsin, Feingold began to gain respect and admiration from his colleagues on both sides of the aisle.
Feingold was re-elected to the State Senate in twice before joining a three way primary for U.S. Senator in 1992. Feingold was the least known candidate in the race, but through hard work, and popular TV ads, Feingold received 70% of the vote, and became the Democratic Nominee. Defeating an incumbent Senator is never easy, but Feingold managed to do it, by receiving 52% of the vote, and defeating 2-time incumbent Robert Kasten.
As Senator from Wisconsin, Feingold is known for his independence and free thinking. Feingold once said. “I find it to be the most satisfying moment in politics when people of differing ideologies come together in support of an issue.” He is widely regarded as a man who has the best interests of the people of Wisconsin at heart, what earned him this reputation was his pledge during his first Senate campaign in 1992, to hold one listening session in each of Wisconsin’s 72 counties each year. This way, any Wisconsinite could discuss issues directly with Senator Feingold, without an appointment. One issue that was continually coming up in those early listening sessions was Campaign Finance Reform.
With the help of his friend John McCain, Republican Senator from Arizona, Feingold worked for almost 7 years on his flagship piece of legislation, what would later become known as the McCain-Feingold Campaign Finance Reform Act. The bill, when it was eventually passed in 2001 succeeded in banning unlimited soft money contributions given by corporations to political parties in exchange for favors, or access to politicians.
Along with Obama, Vogel mentions Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid as critics of large donors, who then also were leading in super PAC fundraisers. Though Vogel mentions many people and events, he never goes into great detail about any of it. Even with the immense amount of information that is left to the reader to decipher and research, one must ask themselves this question, “what are the effects of big money on modern politics.”
This paper will be focusing on Robert Casey better known as “Bob” Casey the Senator from Pennsylvania. Casey was born and raised on April 13, 1960, in Scranton Pennsylvania. Casey; “graduated from The College of the Holy Cross in 1982 and spent the following year teaching fifth grade and coaching eighth-grade basketball in inner city Philadelphia for the Jesuit Volunteer Corps”. (Senate.gov) Later on, he received his law degree from Catholic University in 1988. He married to his wife Teresa and has 4 children. In 2002 Casey wanted to follow his father into running for governor of Pennsylvania, however, he was defeated, later becoming the “treasurer” in the elections of 2004. Casey was first elected to the senate in 2006 as a Democrat, showing as one of the second highest victories since “1920” against an incumbent Senator. Later in 2012, he was re-elected becoming the first Democrat Senator into serving a full term and into being re-elected as a Pennsylvania Senator. Casey has become and followed the step of his father who was also a governor.
Dianne Feinstein, the oldest currently serving senior United States Senator from California, was born in San Francisco California in June 22nd, 1933. She became a mayor of San Francisco when the assigned San Francisco mayor was shot and killed in 1978. Although she lost the governor of California in 1990, she became the first woman elected U.S. senator from California in 1992.
The oldest currently serving US Senator, Dianne Feinstein, has done her share of leading our Senators and fighting to keep our country safe and free of crime. Feinstein is a member of the Democratic Party, as well as the former thirty-eighth mayor of San Francisco. Eight years after being elected into the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 1970, Feinstein served as the board’s first female president. The assassinations of Mayor George Moscone and City Supervisor Harvey Milk caused Feinstein to succeed as mayor of San Francisco in 1978. While Feinstein served as San Francisco’s first female mayor she renovated the cable car system and oversaw the 1984 Democratic National Convention.
Running for a position of power is a tough thing to do. There are many things to worry about: your image, your policies, and, especially, your voters. While running for Congress is not as stressful as running for president, it has it own set of obstacles: making a “home style,” representing the people well, and making useful public policy. Listening to the words of Richard Fenno, John Ellwood, and Eric Patashnik can make doing these things a whole lot easier.
in June 200 for the Green Party convention and cast his absentee ballot for Nader the day before
In fact, most new Senators would have relied on the opinions of the older and more experienced Senators to help them make their voting decisions. This was e...
The Democratic Primaries were more competitive than the Republican Primaries. There were five strong candidates heading into the primaries; Senator Gary Hart (D-CO), Congressman Richard Gephardt (D-MO), Senator Al Gore (D-TN), Jesse Jackson, and Governor Michael Dukakis (D-MA). Senator Gary Hart started the primary season as the favorite of many of the party leaders and the Democratic public as a whole. Suspicions of extramarital affairs dogged the Hart camp to the point in which Hart had to address the rumors. Hart challenged the media to investigate him, thinking that they would not pick up t...
On April 5, 1937 a true hero was born by the name Colin Luther Powell. He was born in Harlem, New York 12 years after his mother Maud and father Luther Theophilus Powell immigrated to New York from Jamaica. Colin grew up in New York City and proved to be a very intelligent human being. The Powell's were a very disciplined and religious family, which proved helpful in many cases. Colin skipped a grade in elementary school while excelling in his grasp for the English language. He proved extremely knowledgeable in many subjects. According to his older sister Marilyn he ¡§excelled at map drawing and French, and he was elected ¡¥class captain¡¦¡¨. (Senna 9)
Campaign finance reform has a broad history in America. In particular, campaign finance has developed extensively in the past forty years, as the courts have attempted to create federal elections that best sustain the ideals of a representative democracy. In the most recent Supreme Court decision concerning campaign finance, Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, the Court essentially decided to treat corporations like individuals by allowing corporations to spend money on federal elections through unlimited independent expenditures. In order to understand how the Supreme Court justified this decision, however, the history of campaign finance in regards to individuals must be examined. At the crux of these campaign finance laws is the balancing of two democratic ideals: the ability of individuals to exercise their right to free speech, and the avoidance of corrupt practices by contributors and candidates. An examination of these ideals, as well as the effectiveness of the current campaign finance system in upholding these ideas, will provide a basic framework for the decision of Citizens United v. FEC.
The Running Mate, Joe Klein’s political novel, contained a fictional candidate named Charlie Martin. In this book, Charlie Martin is democratic candidate for the U. S. Senate. Martin was a Vietnam veteran, who became a politician because of his mother who was Martin’s hometown Mayor. Four years earlier, Mr. Martin ran for President. He was defeated in the primary election by the current fictional President, Democrat Jack Stanton and at the end of novel has aspirations to run for Governor. Charlie Martin has several strengths and weakness as a political candidate. Some of his strengths are that he is a good speaker, as demonstrated in the debates, a Vietnam veteran, and has experience. His major weakness was that his mind was not on the campaign, but on a woman. Also, in this novel, there were the Lords. These characters served were Charlie Martin’s Vietnam buddies. They were his friends and some were his advisors, like Gidian Reese, who was the National Security Advisor. His role as a Senator was like that of any other Senator. He votes on bills, like the bills that were proposed by President Jack Stanton, proposes bills, and accepts illegal money from outside sources. The President, media, interest groups, committees, congressional staff and money all influence on who is appointed to office. All of these people/groups influence by giving money, influencing of a persons’ background, or on who is an important person. Policy for appointing someone to office is that, if you scratch my back I’ll scratch yours. Meaning, that if someone gives you a large amount of money, then the candidate usually returns the favor by appointed him or her to a selected office.
John Forbes Kerry is the candidate I would chose in the up in coming election. Some of the issues that would decide my vote are environment, the economy, homeland security, social issues, and Iraq. I would also vote for John Kerry because he has done good things for Massachusetts and I know he will do good things for this country. My last reason for voting for John Kerry is because he will bring our troops home safely. On November 2, 2004 I would vote for John Kerry.
Campaign Finance reform has been a topic of interest throughout the history of the United States Government, especially in the more recent decades. There are arguments on both sides of the issue. Proponents of campaign finance limits argue that wealthy donors and corporations hold too much power in elections and as a result they can corrupt campaigns. Those who favor less regulation argue that campaign donations are a form of free speech. One case in particular, Citizens United vs. The Federal Election Commission has altered everything with pertaining to Campaign Finance.
Bernard “Bernie” Sanders, is one of the best candidates for this years 2016 presidential election. He is the junior United States Senator from Vermont. He has demonstrated his passion towards an equal and stabilized country. Sanders is a man who believes in a country that is equal and all voices should be heard. Socioeconomic issues are to be heard of by all people because these issues are what make the people and the country. His propositions to a better socioeconomic country will better the relationships we have with one another. Voting for Bernie Sanders, means voting for a country that will be equal to all the people living here. A country deserves to be united by all the people living here regardless of race. We are all human, we all deserve
The subject of campaign finance reform sounds so dull, but it is necessary to understand that reform helps to keep the society flowing smoothly. Therefore, what is the current status of campaign finance reform? In 2002 the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act was passed by Congress. It was also known as the McCain-Feingold Act (Sidlow, 2013, p.213). It banned soft money at federal levels and regulated campaign ads from interest groups because the enormous amount of money spent by interest groups for their ads had the appearance of corruption (South University Online, 2013). There is so much money floating around right now that I fear the common man may soon have little say in what happens in this country. Now the super PACs and 501c's are spreading their influences too. Can reform be a realistic expectation of the American political process?