The article is written by Richard Fenno in 1978, summarizing the dilemma of congressmen in the contemporary time. The author was specifically discussing about members of the House, who always seek for reelection during his legislative career, as stated in the initial part of the paper. Fenno went on to propose the conflict in incumbent congressmen 's career: more attention for the Washington career leads to less attention for the congressmen 's home state. The Washington career required commitment to build up support within the House. However, focusing on Washington rendered the congressman homeless, or losing his home 's supportive forces.
Under Mayhew’s criterion for a successful political career, it is easy to argue that Representative Long has fulfilled the criterion and has led a successful career. Constituents directly influence many of the political actions members of Congress make because they are the ones who possess the power of the vote, not the representative himself. As observed his television advertisement was a tool utilized by Long to reach a larger audience and for voters to be able to associate a face with the name, “Billy Long.” By enacting and sponsoring certain pieces of legislation, Representative Long was successful in claiming credit and taking a strong position to rally support around his campaign and platform. All of these moves attributed to the multiple reelections of Representative Long.
Lee H. Hamilton, a former congressman in the House of Representatives, wrote, The Case for Congress, to share some of the criticisms he has heard over the years and to explain the effects of such opinions. Hamilton speaks of three main criticisms: “Congress is run by lobbyists and special interests”, “Congress almost seems to promote total gridlock”, and “There’s too much money in Politics” (Hamilton 2004). For each of these criticisms, Hamilton explains these thoughts and his opinion on the matter. The strongest point of Hamilton’s argument was in defending the lobbyists in Congress. Hamilton (2004) said the public opinion of lobbyists is that “Congress is manipulated by powerful wheel-dealers who put pressure on legislators and buy votes through extensive campaigns and other favors” (p. 83).
In The Broken Branch, Thomas E. Mann and Norman J. Ornstein offer a first hand and well-explained account of what is wrong in the United States Congress today, when and where the government started to let things slip, and how Congress can work to get back on track. Mann and Ornstein begin their book by discussing some of the history, events, and reasoning behind practices of today’s Congress. Not until chapter three in the book do they really get into the root cause of the problems facing Congress in today’s day in age. In chapter three, Mann and Ornestein detail that they began their political careers in Washington D.C. in 1969, at the peak of the dissatisfaction that citizens were feeling over the Vietnam War (47). The duo conveys that the
Diplomacy in the United States is becoming more and more important. And congress's have their own weaknesses to competent leadership role in foreign affairs. For several reason members of congress background complex, opinions are vary. They will fails to meet foreign activities because those activity need a high degree of continuity, quickly, confidentiality. Especially their strong local color, they can’t consider the advantages and disadvantages of foreign for the United States.
, Reference re Senate Reform 2014,
Without a party system to depend on, like politicians now, individual members of Congress depended on their own reputations for political leverage. William Maclay wrote his diary as a “deliberately crafted political tool” (18). Relatively unknown outside of Pennsylvania, Maclay was a nobody on the national stage and knew it. Maclay understood how important his personal reputation was and purposefully wrote for self preservation. The strongest example Freeman chose to portray the importance of reputation was her selection of Maclay’s description of speeches in Congress.
In the aftermath of the first real wave of retiring legislators, supporters and opponents have debated on the benefits and detriments of term limits and neither side could come to a conclusion. In Maine where term limit restrictions resulted in a legislature comprised of 40% first term members resulted in the state’s budget being passed in march, the earliest in the state’s history. Supporters saw this as an example that members were working harder and were being more effective, while detractors saw the early budget as inexperienced legislators were passing proposals with inadequate understanding and scrutiny. Supporters emphasize the annual turnover increase in both chambers since the adoption of Proposition 140, as well as the significant increase in the number of members retiring voluntarily before they were 'termed-out '. Supporters are also quick to point out the increase in minority and women legislators increased as had been predicted.
By following his conscience, he engaged in an act of civil disobedience in the Senate. Once called a political heretic, Adams defied the common tendency of freshman Senators to blindly follow the dictates of the party. “He denied the duty of elected officials ‘to be palsied by the will of their constituents’… by flattering their prejudices, by ministering to their passions, and by humoring their transient and changeable opinions.” I believe that John Quincy Adams understood the grave weight of his political decision. Nevertheless, meaningful progress and development within political institutions sometimes involves a reformation of its internal practices.
Consequently, meeting attendance and keeping in touch with your constituents go hand in hand for senators. Finally, a senator’s last responsibilities are to be an excellent orator and to protect their citizens unalienable rights (Leviticus, 2017). The significance of being an excellent orator includes being able to create an excellent debate and hold a discussion for a lengthy amount of time leading up to the voting of bills (Leviticus, 2017). In addition, protecting your citizen’s rights ties into being an excellent orator by ensuring that a bill that impairs your constituent’s democratic rights does not get voted on. Using evidence, I will assess McCarthy’s performance as a senator and explain why he did not meet any of these responsibilities.
Many readers and historians refer to Islam as a prominent religion in the world for its values and principles. Islam prospered during what is considered the Post Classical period. It was a time of many developments and changes that effected the world. Afro-Eurasia was overtaken by Muslims due to military expansion, and Islam was expanding rapidly. Islam was a religion that caused controversy as it disregarded many of the concepts that had been established in the world such as polytheism, as it claimed that Allah was the only God.
Elected officials must balance the wishes of the overall electorate, specific constituencies within the Congress, and their own ideology. The relative importance of those competing factors remains an open question (Levitt, 1996). According to Fenno legislators make their decisions based off of three primary goals: reelection, good public policy, and influence (Smith, et al., 2013). Mayhew argues that Fenno's first goal, reelection, is in fact the only goal. His reasoning is that congressional members are constantly scared or worried with the thought of losing the next election round.
As the Arkansas State Senate Majority Leader, I am writing this in honor of the present session in the state senate debating placing term limits on members of Congress. I will state both sides of the issue and make clear my reasons for the side I support. I support the call for a constitutional convention to establish term limits on members of the House and Senate. While there are many accurate and valid arguments behind both the support of term limits on Congress, and the opposition of these term limits, I personally do believe that members of Congress members should have to undergo term limits. I have a copious amount of reasons why I am for Congress term limits being put into place.
The practice of writing letters to congress is one that dates back to the earliest days of America’s history, but in recent years it has become arguably more effective and convenient to contact congress through email or a phone call. Nevertheless, writing letters is one method that will never go out of style. Letters or “snail mail”, as they are commonly nicknamed, are still effective because receiver of the letter can feel the effort the sender put forward to write and send it and, as a result, a bit more attention is given to the person’s
A citizen should act upon their free will or judgement without having the pressures of society around them. The House of Representatives member should worry about the diverse community values rather than the citizen. Even if they are in a specific party they do not have to vote upon what that party thinks what is
