Representative Kevin McCarthy is one of fifteen Republican members in Congress in the state of California, which is highly outnumbered by thirty-eight democrats. After four years of getting reelected as the representative for the 22nd district in California, redistricting retitled it the 23rd district. The newly numbered district became more compact, losing the central coast while adding a chunk of Tulare County. This did not change the fact that McCarthy’s district was still heavily Republican. The redistricting of 2012 in California showcased a new way to redistrict as the citizens of California chose the district lines, providing one of the most competitive elections in the country.
In spite of a scorched-earth campaign by Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee, Neil Gorsuch has been confirmed to fill the Supreme Court vacancy left by Justice Antonin Scalia’s untimely death last year. Gorsuch’s nomination was one of the most significant actions of the Trump presidency so far, and his confirmation will now have profound implications for our nation over the next several decades. Here are four reasons why American citizens—especially Evangelical conservatives—should consider Gorsuch’s confirmation a great victory and why he might be better even than Scalia, whose place on the bench he would take. 1.
The Koch brothers represent a symbol of a greater problem of what the power of money in politics can accomplish. Some wealthy and large-scale corporations have the ability to indirectly express control in ways that manipulate and overwhelm the resolve of the people. The Kochs’ influences on major events are becoming more and more evident to society. Thier costly campaign to strike down science reflects what our country is becoming more conscious of-- affluent ideologies in the top 1% can impose substantial influence on our lives, whether through policy or advertising. The Kochs have millions of dollars to influence
Betsy DeVos’ name is starting to get attention. She is, after all, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for the next United States Education Secretary. But Betsy DeVos may be getting negative attention instead of a positive one. In Florida, teachers are already planning to protest against Trump’s pick.
The robber barons did everything they can to keep wealth. These men acted like they were helping the people but the truth is they were helping themselves not the society. They forced the society by charging out difficult rates, and discriminating against small businessmen. In American politics, the
The Koch network, clearly, has Americans best interests at heart. These wealthy brothers have no idea what it is like to be an average American, and their ideas only advance their own
Senator Mike Lee: Why not give people a choice and let the superior economic concepts win the day? Senator Mike Lee penned a superb editorial on the proposed BCRA https://medium.com/@SenMikeLee/the-missing-ingredient-in-bcra-humility-771ce270fd00 And it has one of the best ideas yet on the bureaucratic monstrosity known as Obamacare: Give people a choice in the matter. With this proposal the so-called ‘Liberals’ and those of the Left with their socialist national agenda can show if they are truly ‘pro-choice’.
Nevertheless, while federal law dictates that political advertisers must file a disclosure report if contributions exceed $10,000, donors can easily maintain their identities nonetheless. Furthermore, donors can now easily transfer money through “intermediary nonprofits”, otherwise known as super PACs (Murray Digby Marziani 2-3). In 2010 and 2012, “70-80% of super PAC finances directly supported or opposed federal candidates, and in 2012, super PACs spent a total of $620.9 million supporting or opposing House, Senate, and presidential candidates (United States Cong. Congressional Research Service 1-3). As a result, individuals have been left unaware of the influences corporations and other groups have had on federal
The candidates that are running for president are terrible. I wouldn’t want to picky any of them. However, if I had to pick a certain celebrity, it would only come close to Mitt Romney. Mitt Romney seems to show as the only person that could actually run in this election and be professional.
Political speech is one of the most confusing, vague, and misleading areas of the English language to understand. Politicians use this to their advantage to persuade voters to believe they are the perfect candidates. The campaign for the presidential election of 2016 has just gotten started and, the front runner, Hillary Clinton, definitely fits George Orwell's definition of politician using vague responses and misleading answers. Hillary Clinton, wife of Bill Clinton, served as the sixty-seventh United States Secretary of State under President Barack Obama. Before becoming Secretary of State she was a Senator for New York.
According to an article in the Journal of Organizational Moral Psychology, Bennington and Grant (2011) “US dollars spent on lobbying members of government nearly tripled from 1998 to 2008” (P.85). To conclude, the amount spent lobbying during the following six years steadily ranged between 3.30 billion and 3.52 billion dollars (Opensecrets.org, n.p). Amazingly, the amount of money spent on lobbying is just mere pennies compared to gains they will receive from their successful lobbying campaigns.
A majority of the money raised by pro-Huckabee super PAC, Pursuing America’s Greatness, for Huckabee’s campaign came from one contributor, Ronald Cameron of Little Rock, Arkansas. Cameron is the CEO of Mountaire and donated $3 million to Pursuing America’s Greatness, of the $3,604,855.94 total that it had raised (The Daily Caller). Though he had raised over three times the amount he raised during his first three quarters combined when he ran for president back in 2008 (The Daily Caller), it is nothing in comparison to his running mates, such as Jeb Bush, who had raised upwards of $199 million at the time (Politico). As of September 30, 2015 Huckabee and all of his contributors have donated $7.74 million (InsideGov), which is a decent amount more than back in July, but it still doesn’t compete with his running mate’s numbers. This puts Huckabee at a considerable disadvantage.
Many officeholders, legislators, and members of Academia argue that the supreme court decision Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission has single-handedly destroyed American democracy as we know it. This case is one of many that, in essence, allows legalized bribery to occur within the American political system, with most large money contributions to politicians coming from sizably influential corporations. Although many elected officials believe corporate money in politics strengthens democracy, it contrarily damages democracy and is the reason campaign finance reform is the greatest issue facing American politics. Since 1976, the US Supreme Court has ruled in favor of cases like Buckley v. Valeo and First National Bank of Boston v. Bellotti, which claims corporations are considered people; and based on First Amendment rights, people are allowed to spend their money within the political arena. Citizens United v. FEC is the supreme court decision that has led to further corruption within the American campaign finance system, while halting efforts to minimize money in politics.
One important component in which the upper class rule America is the electoral process. Loose campaign finance regulation, including controversial Supreme Court decisions such as Citizens United v. US and Buckley v. Valeo is a primary cause of the wealthy ruling politics. These two decisions asserted that corporations are not limited in their spending on political candidates. Essentially, the US Supreme Court enabled corporate leaders to buy influence - SuperPAC heads and wealthy businessmen were welcomed to join forces and pour as much money as possible into candidates’ campaigns. The net effect: America’s wealthiest individuals could exert an unmatchable influence on candidates and the electorate while pressing an agenda favoring the upper class.
Interest groups in Texas are relatively powerful actors in the political process. Organized interest groups and their representatives, also known as “the lobby” participates in the policymaking and political processes in Texas. Interest groups provide critical channels for Texans to communicate their political preferences and attempt to influence government actors and their fellow