course ID

Casino Jack and the United States of Money

Casino Jack is a documentary about a corrupted lobbyist shown during class. It follows the life of Jack Abramoff, who is a well known republican super lobbyist in Washington D.C. It also included other lobbyist, such as Tom Delay, Boy May, Ralph Reed and others. Abramoff was seen as the “man who bought Washington.” He scammed millions off of lenders and bribed many members of congress. The documentary was about what people would do to allow certain parties to gain access get what was offered, such as legislation and campaign contribution. Abramoff wanted a symbiotic relationship with parties to help fund leadership and the cost of campaigns. He worked with Tom Delay. Their main focus was raising money and showing their ability to do so as a symbol of their power, and moving up in status. One of the scandals that Abramoff was known for was against the Indian Tribes. He saw opportunities of Indian Tribes needing help and would paid and extreme amount to receive the help. He also got involved with lobbying against the immigration bill and the minimum wage law in Northern Mariana Island, to protect them. In the end the lobbyist involved in these scandals, he has been convicted. At the same time there has been reforms, annual salaries of lobbyist has risen and campaign contribution as well. Now, it has been accepted for voices of the wealthy to get what they want by helping the people of congress and corruption.

This is related to what was taught in class about lobbyist and interest groups. Interest groups are “a group of citizens who share a common interest, and try to influence public policy to benefit its members.” These people involved have lobbyist who has the right to lobby, under the ...

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...rent people hold each of the position. It consists of the Prime minister and Cabinet ministers as the executive branch. They are chosen by the legislators and can be fired by them at any time, by a vote of no confidence. At the same time, the executive branch can get ride of the legislator by calling dissolution of parliament. Unlike the presidential system, which separates their powers, the parliamentary system fuses their powers. It was difficult to tell the difference between the different branches. In the British parliamentary system, the prom minister is elected into parliament and would be the leader of the biggest parties. The parliamentary system has no government of it is prorogued and the government refers only to the cabinet. But the terms are used interchangeably. To compare to the Presidential system in the United States, it is the administration.