Essay plans for parties (3C)

PARTIES

Party Decline vs Party renewal debate

High levels of bipartisanship. Both parties given the number of factions that exist appear to be broad coalitions when voting. 9/11 victim’s bill had cooperation from both parties in overturning the veto. Blue dogs siding with the GOP against Obamacare.	2013 is the Least productive legislative year ever. 113th and 112th congress = least productive since the do nothing congress. Government shutdown of 2013 caused by divisions between the parties. 113th congress = most polarized ever.
Party leadership is weak. This is party decline, as leadership has no control over members who are no longer toeing the party line. They are no longer following a specific policy set out by the leaders. Rand Paul - Rebellions against PATRIOT act renewal. (Against McConnell) Boehner ‘prisoner of the extreme wing of his own party’.	Stats show that democrats and GOP are voting among each other more than ever. GOP house - 92% Senate democrats - 94% Leadership strong shows everyone is toeing the party line.
Primaries. Party leaders can no longer choose their candidate a severe loss of clout. One of its core functions is to choose a candidate, 70s reform has removed this ability.	Super delegates make up 20% of the vote. Played a major role in electing Obama. Still have influence. Party renewal as they evolve over time to be more democratic.
Parties no longer set agenda. E.E Schattschneider said that interest groups set political agenda, which is then adopted by the party. Parties’ hide, fearing that bringing up an issue would harm electoral prospects. Occupy Wall Street movement spread to 70 cities. Highlight financial inequality. BLM.	Increasing use of nationalised elections. Party unites to focus on an issue for an election shows that they are setting the political agenda. Six for 06 campaigns by democrats in 2006 acted as a national referendum on Bush. 2014 midterms most nationalised ever in 56 years.
Interest groups replace parties’ communication. Through TV ads and opinion polls. More candidates centred. People vote candidate not party. Candidates organise own campaign at invisible primaries.	Exaggerated, as all but 2 members of Congress are independent. All republican or democrat. Party loyalty stronger, split ticket voting at 5.7%. Lowest since 1920. Parties more involved in campaigns, planning, polling and ads. Polarisation of parties has entrenched loyalty.

Divisions within the Republican Party

Immigration. Deeply divided on immigration reform as some want to go further than others. Trump extreme vetting, gang of 8 bills with McCain and Rubio.	Majority of the party are on a consensus opposing comprehensive immigration reform. Trump views do not reflect the actual will of the party, which has drifted away from Trump, lightened position, as they need Hispanic vote. Still anti-broken system of immigration.
Foreign policy. Syria specifically. They are divided because they have opposing views on their approach to Syria, some want ground troops like Lindsay Graham and some want carpet-bombing like Ted Cruz. Paul Ryan led a rebellion in the senate on delaying the PATRIOT act.	Republicans still have a strong hawkish stance that American interests must be protected. All agree that something must be done.
Candidate. Many republicans denounce their policies of Trump yet a lot still support his points like Sarah Palin and Chris Christie. Even Mike Pence has clashed with him over the banning of Muslims from entering the US or the extreme vetting process proposed.	Overall the party and the establishment disagree and not support Trump. They are united in their disapproval of Trump.
Tea Party polarising. Stirred up a lot of divisions, popped up in 2010 and since then have targeted republicans calling them RINOs. Tea party have gone as far as attacking midterm elections by replacing RINOs with the Tea Party. Tea party not republicans caused the government shutdown of 2010.	Tea party have slowly begun to disappear from the news after the government shutdown. Tea party, republicans do not actually have policy divisions, only tactically divided as stated by Paul Waldman of the Washington post recently.
Social policy. The GOP is divided occasionally on social issues especially with socially conservative ideas being in the smear zone as suggested by Bill O’Reilly. Difficulty accepting legal climate and social shifts.	Divisions are often exaggerated, few republicans have actually come out in favour of gay marriage. Obergefell v Hodges.

Explain the main ideas and policies of the Republican Party 15

• One of the main values of the Republican party is limited government intervention, this means that the Republican party is anti-federalist, this is evident in their opposition to many federal intervention bills like Obamacare and the Stimulus bill. This was seen in the government shutdown of 2013, which was prompted by the GOP due to their opposition towards Obamacare. This is also seen through the president elects comments that ‘gay marriage is a state-issue’ suggesting that the case of Obergefell v Hodges which legalised gay marriage in the US should not be forced upon every state.
• Another main idea of the Republican party is a hawkish foreign policy which is evident through almost all of the Republican candidates for presidency such as Ted Cruz and Jeb Bush who stated that they support the extreme policy of carpet bombing Syria entirely. This is an idea that is firmly upheld by the neo-conservative faction in the GOP who support the promotion of democracy overseas and promoting American interests abroad.
• Additionally, social conservatism values dominate GOP policy whereby they are predominantly pro-life, promote gun rights and hold less sympathy towards immigrants. The GOP candidates have almost all stated that they will defund planned parenthood or put it through intensive reform. They have opposed the decision of Obergefell v Hodges which legalised gay marriage
  
  
  Why and to what extent does the Republican Party oppose affirmative action?
  
  
  • Inequalities exist but AA is not the answer.  The Republican Party recognise that there are serious inequalities that exist in America but that that they should be addressed through class-based programmes. Helping the most needy in society regardless of race is a better policy in the opinion of the GOP. Ted Cruz stated that he would adopt economic affirmative action instead of race-based affirmative action.
  • Takes away from merit. The idea of affirmative action has made many that actually be affected through it to feel as though their position is due to the colour of their skin rather than merit and achievement. They did not make it there on their own.
  • Fiscal conservatives. Affirmative action is sometimes quite expensive and requires government intervention, something that is largely opposed by the GOP overall as AA requires a large amount of government intervention. Especially since almost all Republicans are anti-federalist.
  • ????
  
  
  Why are African American voters so loyal to the Democrat party?
  
  
  • History. The democrats have become the party of the minorities, with policies like the New Deal and Truman’s executive orders desegregating the military still having a huge impact on today’s society. With most civil rights legislation coming from the Democrat party such as the Civil Rights Act and Voting Rights Act and the introduction of Affirmative Action, which still goes on today. Historically, the Democrats have been a liberal party promoting initiatives that are supported or beneficial to the black community, such as Affirmative Action: EXAMPLES: OR, Democrats like Bernie Sanders and Obama have been saying they support black lives matter
  • Push reasons. The republican party have pushed away black voters through things like Ronald Reagan or George Bush generally being seen as anti-black, especially seen with how George Bush’s policies led to issues with the handling of the situation after Hurricane Katrina due to how Bush took away funds from the department in charge of this. Led to the famous outburst by Kanye West that ‘George Bush doesn’t like black people’ + Donald Trump and his comments on black people, etc
  • Obama.  The first black president in US history is black and his policies such as Obamacare were more in favour of those less economically advantaged, and these tend to be minorities as they make up the majority of those living in poverty.
  • The first black president. The empathy shown by Bill Clinton towards black people and the employment of many of them into the federal administration has led to many claims that Bill Clinton was in fact the first black president. Showing how the democrat party has significantly focused their efforts on aiding black people.
  
  
  To what extent are their divisions between the main political parties over racial and ethnic issues?
  • Affirmative action. The republicans have always been hostile towards AA as they hold the belief that government should be colour blind and that AA unjustly penalises the white community. Republicans greatly supported the Schuette v Coalition case which although it maintained that AA is constitutional, it now allowed it to be outlawed in states via propositions and initiatives. The democrats have always maintained a positive standpoint on AA, having actually brought it in under Johnson.
  • Voting rights. The republicans have generally opposed the Voting Rights Act, which has the Democrat party as its ardent supporters with the overwhelming renewal vote which was near unanimous in 2006. More recently, the republicans and democrats are constantly clashing over Shelby County V Holder where the Republicans support Voter ID laws and Democrats oppose it because minorities are more likely to be poor and not actually have such an ID. Restricts minority vote. Voter ID laws originate in GOP dominated states, Democrats across the country have spoken out against them, some (D) California Rep even said that such laws were racist
  • Immigration reform. The Republicans tend to have a hard line conservative approach/social conservative approach to immigration and therefore have more extreme policies towards it such as Trumps most recent claims of wanting to deport all 11million illegal immigrants which has sparked claims as to whether this is even possible at all. The democrats however, are more in favour of pathways to citizenship and extending visas, this was seen in the Gang of 8 Bill with the overwhelming support by Democrats and overwhelming opposition by Republicans.
  • Stop and frisk. The Republicans are heavily in favour of this policy, which has generally been used by the police to target minority males as 70% of stop, and frisks occur to non-whites. The democrats have generally been against this as it has been argued to enforce institutionalised racism in the police force.

[NEW] Essay plans for elections (3C)

This is long overdue, my apologies. This site boasts on average 6,00 views a day and approximately 13,000 per month and everyone has been asking me to upload more essay plans and whatnot, so here they are.

I did not create these essay plans myself, one of my tutees did. There are a range of new examples from this year and last year as my previous essays are too out-dated apparently and I have people complaining about an example from 2014 which I still think is very relevant. Some of these plans are fully completed, others have information missing.

More essay plans and notes to come.

To what extent is the system of nominating Presidential candidates in need of reform? (45)

PARTY DIVISIONS. Primaries are lengthy and have a tendency to create party divisions because they become really intense and as seen this year, toxic (NY Times). Personal attacks are increasingly likely; “You are the single biggest liar. You probably are worse than Jeb Bush,” (Trump to Ted Cruz) “Donald Trump’s consistently disgraceful” (Cruz to Trump) Trump completely divides the GOP.	Divisions can be easily repaired because of how long the actual process is, almost all fights during elections and divisions are healed by the end as seen through endorsements. Bernie fully endorsed Hillary Clinton Cruz, although initially refusing, endorsed Trump.
SUPER TUESDAY. Primaries are meant to be a lengthy process with consistency in debate, it should not be easy to predict a winner so early on as is enabled through the Super Tuesday which gives away over 50% of delegates in one day. This disenfranchises other states. 2016 has 4 super Tuesdays. Marco Rubio forced to drop out before Florida - his home state - even votes.	2016 is arguably an exception and an anomaly due to how radical the candidates are. Front loading was barely a problem in 2012. The last state can still have a large impact on the primaries and frontloading does not always allow an easy prediction of who the winner will be. 11 in 2012, 19 2016.
LOW TURNOUT. The turnout is generally low showing that the system is not appealing to the electorate and questions the mandate and democratic legitimacy of candidates nominated. Participation is needed for democracy to flourish. 2016 - 28% 2012 - 17% 2008 - 30%	Low turnouts show correlation rather than causation. Does not suggest why they are voting and cannot prove that the system is to blame. Could be disillusioned with Congress or Washington politics. Voters still use the primaries as a way of judging the candidates even if they aren’t voting in the primary.
LACK OF PEER REVIEW. Primaries test candidate campaigning skills rather than their governing skills. Voters lack peer review as they may be ill informed or may just vote out of emotion. Prior 1970s reform party bosses in smoke filled rooms made educated decisions.	In a media dominated 21st century, campaigning skills are just as important as governing skills. Weeds out weak candidates like Chris Christie and Carly Fiorina.
NEW HAMPSHIRE MYTH. It has been argued that the candidates that win the first primary and caucus in New Hampshire and Iowa will in the primaries. Eliminate the usefulness of state primaries.	This hasn’t occurred for the last three presidents (Clinton, Obama and Bush). Sanders won New Hampshire and lost overall.

Who votes for who and why?

• Republicans: Middle and upper class wealthy people because republicans tend to be fiscally conservative and cut back on taxation, which is something that appeals to the rich. Paul Ryan – Tax cuts grow the economy and create more jobs.
• Gun owners because republicans support the 2nd amendment. John McCain – prosecute criminals not citizens for gun ownership.
• Religious people because the Republicans tend to hold more conservative beliefs such as anti-gay marriage, anti-marijuana, pro family values and against gun control.
• Nativists who oppose immigration as seen through Donald Trump who even won the Republican bid for presidency.

Democrats

• African Americans  As the democrats are the party of the minority
• Immigrants and Hispanics
• Gay people
• Women – Lilyledbetter act, fair pay act and abortion.

Do propositions, referendums and recall elections enhance or weaken democracy.
Increase participation. Propositions and referendums could provide a specific issue that is attractive to a specific group of voters, which would perhaps encourage them to go and vote for the proposition as well as for a presidential election/mid term election. Additionally, propositions offer another form of political participation, something that is necessary for democracy to flourish. For example, the issue of marijuana legalisation has got a lot of young voters voting – this year in total (2016) there have been too many propositions for the legislation of marijuana (California 12m voted, Nevada). Political participation in the US is especially important because the turnouts at election time have been low in recent years.	However, despite them increasing participation, it is not always successful, some issues are more important than others to voters and therefore some issues will obviously gain much more attention by the electorate while others will be completely neglected. So, propositions rarely ever bump up the turnout. Less than 50% - Washington State Init. 1433
Knowledge and education. Gives a lot of people the opportunity to become a lot more engaged in politics as many pressure groups and parties will be campaigning, many views will be around propelled through the news. In a democracy it is important for a population to be educated on the issues. The electorate must be informed and educated on candidates and the general political climate of their country so that they may be able to make informed decisions on elections. Propositions and initiatives help to educate the public on such matters, informing them of what the current political agenda is. During the run up to the California propositions in 2016 such as Prop 66 many newspaper were pu3blishing guides entitled with something along the lines of “What is Proposition 66: Voter Guide” to educate the population about the proposition	Wedge politics. Many people already have engraved beliefs such as through religious principles like on abortion, the death penalty or gay marriage. The media may have a weak impact. Many issues like the death penalty, gay marriage or abortion are subject to wedge politics which splits apart a country which could lead to general disorder within a country through protests or even riots.
Forces issues to the debate. Propositions force certain political issues to be put on the agenda for political debate. Many issues may be neglected by politicians and they may not be sympathetic to such issues and therefore may not be acting on them, propositions allow for ignored issues or issues not being well tackled to be forced straight into the political debate and allow for people to decide on them for themselves. This is a form of direct democracy, some issues may be too sensitive or too controversial to be decided on by just politicians and so the people get a say in them as well.	However, this arguably does not enhance democracy simply because many of the issues which are put on the ballot are issues pushed forward by a small minority of wealthy pressure groups, hinting at an elitist society. So this means that only a narrow number of political issues are actually put on the ballot and many others are excluded because smaller groups are unable to meet the requirements to put their issue on the ballot. For example:  With just weeks to gather more than 61,000 signatures, the campaign to authorize a casino in southern Maine reportedly offered circulators up to $10 per signature. 2016
Accountability. Through initiatives and propositions, the people are able to hold their elected officials to account. They can bring up an issue that the representative promised to commit to during their election, making them campaign for it, or generally implement it/work towards it. Recall of an election allows them to hold a politician to account where they essentially hold a re-election which they could use to disapprove or approve of their candidate by voting out or in the candidate. The Colorado recall election of 2013 was a successful effort to recall two Democratic members of the Colorado Senate following their support of new gun control legislation. Initially four politicians were targeted, John Morse and State Senator Angela Giron. Replaced by two Republicans.

Why are US presidential election campaigns so long?

1. The invisible primary lasts a minimum of a year which allows the candidates to collect money, donors and supporters. Preparations are made so early in fact that some candidates have announced that they are running 2 years before the election even takes place. Jeb Bush announced his that he would be running for president in 2014 and his invisible primary had technically begun since then.
2. Frontloading means that the invisible primary must start even earlier to allow for a greater deal for money to be raised as if the primaries are shortened by heavy frontloading, there is less time to raise money unless the invisible primary is prolonged. Hence Jeb Bush starting two years prior while this year there was a huge level of frontloading in the form of 4 super tuesdays and a super saturday.
3. The electoral college could lead to battles in the supreme court or in politics in general as was seen in 2000 when Al Gore took it to the Supreme Court due to him winning the popular vote but not the electoral college. This happened again this year but there was little to no backlash over it and no supreme court cases.
4. There are useless events such as the National Convention where a winner emerges, a vice president is selected and a party starts. This happens despite the winner having already been announced and the Vice President is now rarely actually even selected during the National Convention. It usually occurs long before the national convention begins.

Analyse the strengths and weaknesses of the Electoral College

1. It suppresses the popular will, allowing a candidate to win despite losing the popular vote. It is therefore democratic as the winner is not winning by a majority of the vote as was seen in 2016 when Donald Trump won despite having around 2 million less votes than Hillary Clinton.
2. It requires candidates to campaign for all regions in America and to focus on key group of voters meaning that they are able to assess  their distinct issues. Such as how Hillary has been able to focus heavily on minority rights, while Donald Trump has focused heavily on immigration.
3. Some states are heavily democrat and heavily republican meaning that some candidates would pay less attention to some specific states such as how Democrats would hardly try to get Texas to vote for them and the Republicans would rarely attempt to win in California.
4. Candidates from minor parties have almost no ability to win unless they have very high levels of support in specific states when in truth they only have a small amount of support in every state.
5. Rogue electors