Mass Media Winter Break Assignment Videos

How does the media engage in agenda-setting?

As you watch the video look for examples of priming and framing in the media, and think about the impact of these techniques on politicians and voters.

Khan Academy Video “Media as a Linkage Institution”

Video of Jon Stewart on CNN’s Crossfire in 2004

Campaign Finance Reform Helpful Information

Below is a list of resources (PPTs, articles, infographics, case briefs, etc) that should be helpful in creating your mind map.

History of campaign finance regulation - From Ballotpedia
Money-in-Politics Timeline - from OpenSecrets.com
How Campaign Finance Works - from HowStuffWorks.com

Court Cases:
Citizens United v. FEC
Federal Election Commission v. Wisconsin Right to Life
McConnell v. FEC
Buckley v. Valeo

PowerPoints:





Mind Map Sample:


Videos:

Obstacles to 3rd Party Success

Below are resources for you to use to research the obstacles 3rd parties face in achieving electoral success.

Resources Start With:
The Problems with First Past the Post (Winner-Take-All) Voting Explained

Third Parties in the U.S. Political Process

Why Can't Third Parties Take Off?

Barriers to third party success

Ralph Nader says third-party candidates don’t stand a chance — and that’s lousy for democracy

Can A Third-Party Candidate Ever Become President?
MRC Study: Challengers to Clinton and Trump Get Just 0.03% of TV News Airtime

Going Further:
The best way to get more specific research about a specific barrier (like limited ballot access) is to do a google search with the following terms:

• 3rd parties + topic
• For example, google 3rd parties limited ballot access will send you to a great resource here: Ballot access for major and minor party candidates

Fishbowl Current Controversy: Critical Election Coming

Fishbowl Resources:
Exit Polls: How Voting Blocs Have Shifted From the ’80s to Now - from The New York Times
2016 Presidential Election Results - from The New York Times
2018 Midterm Election Results- from The New York Times

Snow Day Assignment

First, happy first snow day of the year...in November...this could be a bad sign, but let's stay positive! Speaking of staying positive, below you will find your assignment for this weekend. Unfortunately, this well-timed snow day has messed up our delicate schedule as we head towards Thanksgiving break. So, I am changing our critical election assignment from the group poster we talked about in class (we have to scrap that unfortunately) to analyzing the 4 most recent critical elections (1860, 1896, 1932, 1980). Your assignment is described in more detail below and links are included for you to access the necessary materials. Also, don't forget all this information and more (!) can be found on the blog under the class materials section. As always, if you have any questions about the assignment, or anything else for that matter, please let me know. I'm always happy to help!

The Assignment:

1. Complete the Critical Election Chart for all 4 elections using the Critical Election Analysis Reading (don't forget to use the maps at the end of the reading too!). 
2. You should use the critical election theory summary I passed out in class on block day titled "Critical Election Theory: The Cycle of American Politics" to help you complete the chart (there is also a Critical Election PPT on the blog that might be helpful to look at).
3. Be ready to discuss these elections and the theory on Monday!

Links for the Assignment (if you don't want to access the blog):

Critical Election Theory: The Cycle of American Politics

Critical Election Theory PPT

Critical Election Analysis Reading

Critical Election Analysis Chart

Have a great first snow day and I'll see everyone Monday!

Crash Course Political Parties

Unpacking the 2018 Midterms

The State of Congress:
New York Times Results

Exit Polls:
CNN
Wall Street Journal

Is America Conflictual or Consensual?

American political culture used to be very consensual. Everyone would compromise and be very civil but still stand their ground on what they believed is right. Today, we have become very conflictual for many reasons. A major example for this would be the 2016 Presidential election. President Trump and Hillary Clinton said terrible things about each other and had terrible sportsman ship. They made politicians look very immature. By talking badly about one another they have started to make America seem more conflictual because they did not compromise to try and make America better as a whole. Some more factual proof is and excerpt by David Brooks.In this article he wrote about how different the two political parties are. He also depicted how one party views the other. Our society as a whole is very judgmental and does not want to take other peoples opinion into perspective. There have been many protest and very violent acts done against other peoples' beliefs. The way Democrats view Republicans and vice versa is very inhumane. If we were to work together to make compromises and be more accepting to many peoples opinions our country would go back to consensual. James Madison wanted many factions who had conflict but he also said they would compromise. As time goes on, we are getting farther and farther away from compromise. Overall, America is starting to become conflictual but is till on the cusp. It cannot be decided what we are but if we continue down the path we are in we are going to become extremely conflictual. 

Unique Caucus of Voters Research Materials

ASSIGNMENT:
Unique Caucus of Voters Assignment

RESEARCH: 
Use the following sites to help you with your voter research.

Pew Research Center 2016 Election (link 1)
Pew Research Center (link 2)

UVA Center for Politics / IPSOS 2018 Political Atlas

Washington Post 2016 Exit Polls (link 1)
Washington Post 2016 Exit Polls (link 2)

New York Times 2016 Exit Polls

US Election Project – Voter Turnout Demographics (link 1)
US Election Project – Voter Turnout Demographics (link 2)

Women Voting Statistics from the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University

Ballotpedia

Important Issues to Voters & Voter Enthusiasm:

Voter Turnout Fishbowl Discussion Materials

ASSIGNMENT:
1. Take notes on the reform proposals from the class handout.
2. Research additional reforms using the resources below
3. Write a summary of your proposed solution on a separate piece of paper
4. Be prepared to discuss it in the fishbowl.

REFORM PROPOSAL RESOURCES:
Project Fairvote
11 ways to get more people to vote, according to designers - from Business Insider
Increasing Voter Participation in America - from The Center for American Progress
WhyTuesday.org
Increasing Voter Turnout for 2018 and Beyond - from The New York Times

Polling Analysis Assignment Links

Reading:
20 Questions a Journalist Should Ask About Poll Results

Polling Link:
2018 PEW RESEARCH CENTER’S AMERICAN TRENDS September 24-October 7, 2018
Methodology for Pew Research Center Poll

The Greatest Democracy in the world, or is it?

America is in a very unique spot in terms of Politics. The citizens all have extremely varied opinions in terms of politics. There are the Republicans which want little to change and everything to be traditional, and conservatives which are very supportive of the republican views. On the other side of the spectrum, there are the Democrats, which are open for change, and are okay with things changing. On the Democratic side, there are the Liberals, who like conservatives, are very supportive of their party. Whenever there is a new presidential election, there are maps created of the nation that separate the states into "colors." Blue states have a population that is mostly supportive of the democratic party, and red states have a population that is mostly supportive of the Republican party. Therefore, the nation as a whole is conflictual, because the two political parties are always disagreeing and making different arguments.

The first reason why the United States is a conflictual nation is because it is divided into "red states" and "blue states." This shows that the nation is conflictual because there are many citizens that have varying opinions on the way that they think the nation should do things. The first video shows ways that the nation should be shown in terms of "red" and "blue" The nation is dividing itself into different sections of red and blue and is therefore isolating each state away from each other instead of trying to unite them. The blue and red map shows a whole state as either red or blue instead of determining it by town or county. The state is then thought to be Republican or Democratic based on the state as a whole, instead of each individual town. Also, the bigger states with a smaller population are also a key factor. A state can have a small population, but since it is a bigger area of land, it is thought to be more represented than the smaller states.

The first video demonstrated how the map of red states and blue states is not an accurate representation of what the map should actually look like. It said that the red and blue should be divided by county and not by the state as a whole.

Conflictual Government.

        The basis of American politics is conflictual. In everyday life the word politics is linked with debate and conflict. We as a nation split our opinions into two different categories, conservative and liberal. During the 2016 election, the divide between the two parties was bigger than ever.
         While you may say that our country is united by one common goal, the ways we achieve that goal is progress through conflict. Conflict allows for the minds of people to be swayed through in depth conversation of our government. Brookes proved in the article, "One Nation, Slightly Divisible" that political bias is inevitable when trying to form a nation. His article was blatantly bias with many digs at republicans such as "racist" and "homophobic". Some of the most prominent conflict stems from the stereotypes that come with the different political parties. While Liberals are stereotyped for having idealistic views and no way to accomplish their goals, conservatives are usually portrayed as small town people with small minds.
         Our country was built off of using conflict to accomplish the common goal we all share. We use debates as a way to get to know our political candidates better, benefiting from the conflict. In the map below, it is showed that the political decisions of our country are divided, displaying that even our states don't all have the same views. Each states population usually leans one way or the other, debating within themselves what candidate to vote for and where to use their electoral college votes.


Our country thrives off of conflict, it uses conflict to better itself in every way. Conflict is a necessary evil if we want progress and development.

Consensual Political Culture in America

      Although America is described as a melting pot, a country of different cultures, ideas, and people, the American political culture, the widely shared beliefs, values, and norms that define the relationship between citizens and government, is consensual. Refer back to July 4, 1776, when the Second Continental Congress approved the Declaration of Independence. Thirteen colonies announced their separation from Great Britain citing "that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness". These words are the fundamental law of America. Governments exist to represent and protect the people, and when they are no longer doing their job the people have the right to make a change to their government. The Declaration of Independence defined American beliefs. They still hold true today even though there are differences of opinion by citizens about America's political system. In the video clip with Barack Obama addressing the nation in 2004, Barack referred to "the American story, the greatness of our nation". He spoke about different reasons why people come to America, including his ancestors. He stressed the importance of individualism and how America is one place that offers it. America is a place where people of all types and potentials are welcome. A place where people can make it on their own as America is a place of opportunity. He also said, "Our pride is based on a very simple premise, summed up in a declaration made over 200 years ago", and he repeated the American beliefs about equality and unalienable rights citizens are entitled to which are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. He said, "that is the true genius of America." He continued to say, "There is no liberal America, no conservative America, there is the United States of America...We all pledge allegiance to the United States of America. Obama was referring to the blue (liberal) states and the red (conservative) states that were referenced in Brook's article, One Nation, Slightly Divisible. In his article, Brooks listed differences in America between the red and blue states. For example, several differences mentioned are "Red America is traditional, religious, self-disciplined, and patriotic while Blue America is modern, secular, self-expressive, and discomfited by blatant displays of patriotism." He also mentions that "certainly Red and Blue America disagree strongly on some issues, such as homosexuality and abortion. But for the most part the disagreements are not large." One might conclude that America is a divided nation based on this, one of conflictual political culture, because of these differences, but it is not the case. These differences are a result of the diversity of the different people living in America. Everyone is unique. Everyone has there own beliefs. People choose to live in America where they want to live. The government doesn't tell them where to live. As long as there are people, there will always be differences, but it's not a bad thing. America is all about allowing people to make choices. In the video clip with President Trump's victory, President Trump said, "Americans from all races, religious backgrounds, and beliefs want and expect the government to serve the people." He pledged to be "President for all Americans." This suggests that American is a democracy form of government where differences are welcome and uniting people is really what America is all about. Differences in opinions are good and are encouraged to make America great.

This is a picture of Barack Obama the night he addressed the nation in 2004 when he affirmed there really is a "U" in the United States of America, and it has been this way for over 200 years. 

Conflictual or Consensual?

American political culture can be describes as consensual rather than conflictual. A consensual political culture is one where the people may disagree on some issues, but generally tend to agree on things. A conflictual political culture is the opposite, where people tend to disagree on things, divisions and political subcultures tend to form. And while there are examples of both in our nation, American more resembles a consensual political culture than a conflictual. In the video, "Donald Trump Victory Speech" President trump describes his presidential following as "a movement compromised of people from all races, religions, and beliefs". This very closely follows what a consensual political culture is all about, people who are starkly different from one another, coming together and agreeing on who would be the president of our country. While id does bring up some good points saying otherwise, the article, "One Nation, Slightly Divisible" by David Brooks, also has solid evidence towards America having a consensual political culture. In the article it states, "Seventy percent of the people in Blue states and 77 percent of people in Red states agreed that 'too many children are being raised in day-care centers these days.' These are small gaps". Regardless of if these people come from red or blue states, they still have overwhelmingly similar views to some situations, dispite being made out to be so different from one another. The gap between these numbers is only 7% which, if you think about it, really isn't that much.
This quote from former president Barack Obama, also shows that america has a consensual political culture rather than a conflictual one. What he is trying to get across here is, that saying that there are "red" and "blue" states are just labels. And that really, at the end of the day, we are all apart of the same country, not divided, but whole. Even though we may have differing options on some matters, when it boils down to it, we are all Americans the same.

A Conflictual America

The question that everybody is asking is, Is America conflictual or consensual?  I think that by the way America is going right now that we are conflictual. I think this because conflictual means that political subculture’s opinions do not agree with each other which causes a lot of conflict and decisions won’t be made easily. While consensual means that even through the different opinions and ideologies, the people will somehow agree and make decisions for the country without problem. The basis of this question startes off with red and blue states. The people in these states are quite different from each other. People in red states live in rural area’s with traditional, religious thinking and backgrounds where there is only one way, while people in blue states are much more open minded to new ideas, live mostly in cities, and have a much more modern mind set. These people obviously have different opinions on different topics. For example, with a topic like abortion, the two groups of people think very differently. With more traditional and one way thinking, people in red states with think that abortion is not right and are pro-life and therefore think that no matter the circumstances every baby should be born. But people that are open to change and are very understanding think that if someone has a special case, then abortion is allowed.

In the video sources, the first video explained how the map of the red and blue states are very much not correct looking. They are making the map geographically instead of how many electoral votes each state gets. Making the map geographically doesn’t show exactly how much of america has voted for a concept. A state as big as Montana could look big on the map but really only has three electoral votes, while Massachusetts has 11. That is almost 3 times the amount of electoral votes Montana has, yet Montana is geographically so much larger than Massachusetts. When people look at these maps, they wonder how in the world could the blue states beat the red states because the red states look much bigger. But in reality on the coast (where the blue states are) there are many more people living there rather than in the red states (the middle of the country).

In the second and third video, it talked about minimum wage, adding jobs, and health care. The governor of illinois and the governor of Texas seemed to battle it out with what they thought was right. The governor of illinois seemed passionate about his people and getting health care for them to keep his hard working workers in check and make sure they are okay. But the governor of Texas simply made the point of, why waste the money on giving health care to everyone if we already have very good hospitals and health care in Texas. Well as you can see we already can see which man is liberal and conservative. Illinois governor is very much more on the liberal side with showing that he cares for everyone and wants everyone to be protected, while Texas’s governor basically says hey go find your own health care and do it yourself. By them giving off these liberal and conservative vibes we can already see the two groups forming that are causing America to be conflictual. They also talked about jobs where Illinois governor wanted to raise the minimum wage so that people who were working hard got paid well. Texas’s governor wants more jobs and to keep minimum wage where it is. Again, this shows conflictuality because they are disagreeing and not coming close on an agreement for the country.

As you can see, these groups of people think very differently. So when it comes to making a decision for the country, they aren’t going to automatically agree on the same thing. They are going to argue for what’s right and that y America is conflictual.

America is more Conflictual

In the United States, there are many people with many more different view points when it comes to political topics. As a result of this America is very conflictual. There is a strong divide between the people themselves due to their values and what they believe in. The people of Blue America and the people of Red America live very different lives, according to Brooks, “All we know, or all we think we know, about Red America is that millions and millions of its people live quietly underneath flight patterns, many of them are racist and homophobic, and when you see them at highway rest stops, they're often really fat and their clothes are too tight” (Brooks). The viewpoints of these two groups have opposing political beliefs, further proving the idea that America has more of a conflictual culture.

In the video from Vox, it demonstrates how unequal the electoral map is and how a small state can have more votes than a larger state. The videos from the “Crossfire” talks about some of the differences between the political parties and the differences about their beliefs with “ Red states vs. Blue states.” An other example that shows that America is more conflictual is that “during the election of Trump, many people had huge protests that involved "shutting down highways, burnt down effigies, and shouted angry slogans”. This is just another example of the many that show of how conflictual America is due to its different view points and beliefs that everyone has.

Conflictual or Consensual??

It can be argued that the political culture of the United States is either conflictual or consensual. The definition of political culture is a set of shared views and normative judgments held by a population regarding its political system. The United States is full of diversity and different groups of people, this can create issues and problems, making a more conflictual political culture. 

There are two main parties, conservative and liberal, that are constantly in conflict with each other. The two groups have very different views on most things. 
The map above is the presidential election in 2000. According to David Brooks, in his article One Nation, Slightly Divisible, "The electoral map of 2000 presidential race became famous: big blocks of red (denoting states that went for Bush) stretched across the heartland, with brackets of blue (denoting states for Gore) along the coasts." The 2000 election was the main start to the division of people based off of political belief and it has created a conflictual culture. Brooks also stated in his article the differences between liberals and conservatives, or blue America and red America. "People in Blue America, which is my part of America, tend to live around big cities on the coasts. People in Red America tend to live on farms or in small towns or small cities far away from the coasts. Things are different there." In a video published by Vox, it says that maps, such as the one above, are actually "misleading" and "unhelpful". The coloring of the map makes it seem like the red won by way more than they actually one by, and that's because most red states have less electoral votes than the blue. In the 2000 election, Bush won with a total of 271 votes from the electoral college, and Gore lost to Bush with a total of 266 votes. The maps should be arranged in a different way to help people with a better visual representation.

Social media has a big influence on how people think and act today. In an infographic that showed the two parties differences, it showed how liberals feel the government should be on social media, posting everything that's going on, to keep all people with the same amount of information. Whereas the conservatives feel that the government should have nothing to do with social media, they feel that if the government gets on social media it will allow them more power, meaning the power for the people becomes more limited. The conservatives want as much power they can have to keep their freedom above everything else. But, the liberals, they want the government to have more power and make sure everybody is treated equal and fair, keeping equality above everything else. 
So based off of all the evidence, the political culture of the United States in a conflictual due to the conflict between opposing sides. Maybe in the next few years, while Donald Trump is president, the conflict will come to an end and the country will join as one, as he said he is going to do in his winning speech in 2016.

America and its Conflicting Political Culture

    America has always been divided into many factions which was never a problem, until certain large factions stopped compromising. One of the biggest factions in America is the conflicting beliefs between Democrats and Republicans, also known as the Blue Wave against the Red Wall. This faction is a prime example to why America's political culture is extremely conflictual rather than consensual.

    The Crossfire brings in people on both sides of this ongoing war between two government beliefs to argue about issues that are continuing to be an issue for the country as a whole. The fact that this segment is even necessary is proof in itself that conflict is taking over political culture. The faction has gotten so out of hand that television shows take it upon themselves to try and help come up with a compromise since it is evident that the people themselves cannot handle it. Throughout part one of The Crossfire the to sides strongly stuck to their beliefs, refusing to budge their thoughts on what was right and being stubborn to compromise. They would rather yell and prove each other wrong then to think of a reasonable solution to better the country. 

In part three of The Crossfire, after saying their daily outrages, they ask which states are working more effectively for America. This approach is completely ridiculous, they are putting different states of the country against each other when they should be coming together. Instead of seeing which states are better, how about giving off ideas back and forth and comprising all of the bigger conflicts that are going on in the states? It is impossible to come together as a nation when the news in putting polls and charts together to see how divided we are. 

We already know whats wrong and that there are disagreements, so it is time to come together as Americans just like Trump said in his acceptance speech.

Conflictual or Consensual Political Culture?

A question that pops up many times while talking about political culture seems to be, is American political culture consensual or conflictual. While both sides can be proven, it is clear that the answer is conflictual. To start off this country is founded off of a pluralist government. This creates factions within peoples political culture. The whole purpose of the government is to argue with different factions to make compromises. However, sometimes compromises don't happen and nobody is happy in the end. This is mainly because the factions arguing are dominated by two groups, democrat and republican. These groups are completely opposite which is why compromise is slow. In the article, One Nation, Slightly Divisible the different groups are depicted as completely opposite people by describing the Republicans as people who,"live on farms or in small towns".  While democrats are people who,"live around big cities on the coast."(Brooks 1) The place you live may not seem like a big difference but it can cause many differences with ones political culture. People who live on farms are more likely to be self reliant by hunting and farming. This leads to people who want guns or hunting tools. Back in the city however, the use of guns isn't needed as much as on a farm. People there can walk to a market and buy whatever they need from their and are more reliant on other people. This leads people to not believe in the importance of guns and affects their political culture that way. This is a prime example of battling beliefs with one another but, there haven't been many compromises with gun usage, just many people screaming at one another to try and get their point across.
          Also when Trump officially joined the presidential election, he said that Mexicans are,"Laughing at us," when it comes down to border security. This is also another conflictual case because many people don't agree with Trumps idea with that. There is very rarely a nice, civil debate about this kind of stuff because most people will have an opinion in their head and stick with it no matter what happens. These kind of people will also defend their opinion and will make their point come across as clear as possible even if that means violence. Almost at every political gathering their is a protest whether its confirming a supreme court justice or a presidents inauguration. During these protests there are battling opinions which make it hard for any side to accept the others which sometimes leads into violence.
          To finish off,  as you can see with the chart, 86% of democrats have an unfavorable impression of the republican party and 41% even say republicans are a threat to the nation. Republicans on the other hand are even more severe. 91% have an unfavorable impression on democrats while 45% think they are a threat to the nation. This kind of distrust and disliking of one another makes almost any kind of consensual agreements extremely hard. This stat shows just how divided American political culture really is. And this Paragraph should show how conflictual the government really is.

A Country Full of Conflict

American political culture is more conflictual than consensual. Different groups of people with opposite beliefs and opinions have been clashing with each other for years on what to do when the country has to elect a new president into office, or what solution to go with when the country hits a problem, and many others. These arguments should be handled peacefully and civilized but are sadly not, with people from both sides constantly hating and throwing punches at the other party. Every single law passed or decision made has always had different ideas put into it, and a divided vote taken place to decide the outcome.

Also, this diversion within the country makes it hard to rule as a president because of all the different ideas being thrown at him/her. The overload of commands by the people leaves the government ineffective and slow, not really getting anything done without a well structured vote by Congress. Obama makes this clear in the YouTube video titled, "Crossfire: The great divide - red vs. blue states (part 1/3)", when he says that his priority was to gain as many republicans as possible, to make things a little easier on him when trying to make decisions. He obviously did not want to only make Democrats happy while he was president, and rather do things that benefit both parties of the Democracy. 

David Brooks also knew about this diversion in America in his article, "One Nation, Slightly Divisible" when he talks about the diversity in race with both red states and blue states. He said that in Montgomery County (Blue States), 60% of the population is white, while also having 15% black, 12% Hispanic, and 11% Asian. But, in Franklin County (Red States), the population is 95% white, with almost no other races. These differences show how different the two sides are in terms of letting others in, as well as how they treat them.

America is more split than it is united, with an argument raging around every corner. I do not think there really is a great solution to this, because there will always be two different parties with lots of different ideas and opinions being spread around the country. The best thing we could do as a country to try and handle the situation is have a single representative come up and tell the others peacefully what their state wants, so that there is less screaming and violence and more decisions made and benefits for the people. A civilized and organized democracy is always a better path than a violent and divided one, but that is a long way ahead of America at this point.

The United States Is More Conflictual

 In the United States, there are many people who live here with different opinions about certain political topics. Basically they are conflictual meaning a clash of opposing beliefs and values. For instance, in Red America and Blue America it's homosexuality and abortion (One Nation, Slightly Divisible David Brooks). One America agrees with same sex marriages and the other America does not. One America agrees with abortion and the other America doesn't. Or it can even be there religion. In Red America there are more churches there than in Blue American. In Blue America there are more restaurants than churches. Some people may not agree with some decisions people make and this is how a conflict can start. Another example, could be the power to impeach the president ( The Bad Map Every Presidential Election). Like, Donald Trump for example. Most Americans now want to impeach Trump because they don't agree with the decisions he is making for the United States. There is a conflict of interest when people don't agree on the same things. Therefore, America is conflictual about many different political topics.