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Role of mass media in shaping public opinion
How the media shape public opinion
Role of mass media in shaping public opinion
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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.
Through the telling of several oversight investigations in his book Watchdog, Congressman Issa sheds a light on “deep, systemic problems in government. Ones in which he says can only be solved by significant, long-lasting institutional changes, including stronger protections for whistle –blowers, robust congressional investment in oversight, and real autonomy for the independent inspectors general that investigate each executive-branch agency” (Issa p.
This again, all goes back to Mayhew’s theory of how members of Congress seek
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
“Many good people serve in Congress. They are patriotic, hard-working and devoted to the public good as they see it, but the institutional and cultural impediments to change frustrate the intentions of these well-meaning
Impeachment serves as a vital mechanism for Congress to hold the president accountable for abuses of power or violations of the law, maintaining
Meaning they will do anything as long as it doesn 't threaten their principal goal which is reelection.” (Arnold, 5). Reelection is the main goal but members of Congress will do other things that are beneficial to their constituency unlike the theory that Mayhew brings up. Although, congressmen have to watch out for what they say and how they act since there will always be an opponent who will attempt to bring all those things to light to use them as an advantage and most of the time is decisions and conditions that the public hasn 't even noticed and wouldn 't at all if it wasn 't for the robo-challenger. In addition to that reasoning congressmen are extremely unpopular with the public because they have to take into consideration the input of experts, generalist and ordinary people.
The Supreme Court, while conceivably powerful and instituted to uphold the Constitution, actually has little ability to harness and implement its power to protect minorities. The opinions/rulings of the Supreme Court are not directed to the public, rather these opinions are directed to check the other two branches of government, which are able to implement rulings to protect minorities, if they so choose. Simply, the Court acts as a “middle man.”
The United States is believed to go for the people and by the people, however that is not all true. Even with the new form of government there are still many conflicts because, people with higher authority wants to keep a certain reputation for themselves. The people are supposed to have the power because, the people make up the nation and the people are the ones that are being mostly affected by the decisions high authority makes. The members of congress should vote according to their conscience because, it relates more to the people than a financial issue. Congress can give back to the people the opportunity to have a voice in saying the issues that are really important, and congress can attack those issues.
One of the first things that can be done to lower incumbency rates is to better inform the voter population about the congressmen running. Many do not know the people who are running or the values they stand for. So by being not being informed, people just end up voting for
I believe that members of congress should have the right to express themselves as a delegate or trustee. The reason why I choice both is because as a delegate it’s your obligation to carry out instructions or orders from those who you represent, and if they vote on a decision, you would have to go along with it or your chance as being re-elected is done. It’s tough being a delegate because you can’t please everyone when making a decision. People with no voice or opinion this is when delegate comes in and hear their story and how they want the delegate to represent them. This is great because the delegate would not be selfish on representing the citizen’s word on how they would like to live their life or what happens to them and other people
Researching Congress for my research topic was important to me because using the link provided (https://www.congress.gov/quick-search/legislation-text) allowed me to look for myself and read about how people in congress feel by considering what they agree to. It is important that I have a clear understanding of who decides what in congress, so I can further make better choices when siding with certain people on different issues. Chapter nine was very interesting for me, I enjoyed reading about how congress works. The website is amazing, and I love how you can go year by year to view legislation. The site relates to the chapter by giving us examples and clearly showing some of the things congress members agree too.
Should people in life or death situations be held accountable? Yes and no, it is and isn’t that person 's fault it’s they could have thought about it and realized that he could get hurt and die or live it’s like mountain climbing it’s like what if you fall off and hit your head.it depends on how you think of it, wheather you want to doecause its dangerous or you may not know if it is dangerous yet you do it anyway. Likewise it can be where you get hurt and will be held accountable even though you know that you can get hurt and die.
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
Also the quality or state of being accountable especially an obligation or willingness to accept responsibility or to account for one 's actions public officials lacking accountability
