Reference no: EM133191037

Questions :

1. Discuss the history of interest groups. Why do they exist at all?

2. Tocqueville said that America is a nation of joiners. What did he mean? Investigate other nations to see whether they differ from the United States.

3. Contact a local interest group or the local chapter of a larger group.What are their goals? What are their strategies for achieving those goals?

4. Examine the data on the "revolving door" by going to the OpenSecrets.org website. Under the "Influence & Lobbying" menu, click on "Revolving Door." On the left-hand menu, click on "Lobbying Firms" and select one of the firms. You will see a list of its lobbyists. Examine the lobbyists' employment timeline and history. In addition, there are tabs for information on the industries they represent and their expertise. Examine several lobbyists' profiles. What do you see? Did they spend time in government service before their current employment as a lobbyist? If so, explore their time in government. Does it appear related to their expertise and/or their clients? Can you make the case that their past government work constitutes a current asset to their lobbying work?

5. Why did political parties become such a central part of our political environment if the framers derided them as "factions"? In other words, what do they do that might make them so central?

6. Compare "third" or "minor" parties to the major parties. How are third or minor parties' goals, organization, and success compare to that of the two major parties?

7. Compare our largely two-party system to other systems (e.g., Great Britain's three-party system or Israel's multiple-party system). How do their party systems affect their politics?

8. As noted earlier, our history is full of attempts to disenfranchise African Americans (see chapter section: "Added Barriers: Some Intended, Some Not"). Some were obvious (white primaries), but some seemed more innocuous to whites (publishing names and addresses of registered voters). Today, there are still provisions that might not concern whites while they seriously concern blacks. For instance, many states have toughened their identification requirements in the name of combating voter fraud. Why might this concern African Americans? How does this affect voter turnout? How does this impact confidence in voting or in government overall?

9. Many campaign finance regulations were enacted in the name of preventing the appearance of elections being "bought" by wealthy contributors. Is there any validity to this concern? Explore campaign contribution and the role of money in election campaigns and how voters view who government "works for".