Recommended: Political corruption examples today
Paul Starobin’s “Pork: A Time Honored Tradition Lives On” discusses the control exerted upon local appropriations by the Legislative Branch. The author points the divide the practice of “porking” creates within the House, fiscal conservatives are fundamentally against it, while some democrats support the action. Those in opposed to the method find that it creates budget inefficiencies because the federal funding is being used to finance local projects and special interests, which is generally done for political gain. However, those in favor, believe, as elected officials, their duty is to fight for the benefits of the people and areas they were chosen to represent. In reality, there needs to be a healthy balance between the two sides, central
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.
This again, all goes back to Mayhew’s theory of how members of Congress seek
Each chapter details one method congressmen and presidents use to move up in their careers, explaining the concept through stories of each politician employing the strategy. Presenting the ideas in this way gives a thorough understanding of the principle, and keeps both political and non-political readers interested through the whole book. In the introduction, Matthews defines hardball for readers. It “is clean, aggressive Machiavellian politics.
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
The legislation was considered by several committees in the house, and in both chambers, compromises arrived at through informal processes altered the bills after the committees reported their legislation… In the Senate, the real possibility of a filibuster shaped the process, making it necessary of Majority leader Mitchell to build through negotiations an oversized coalition. (Sinclair 3). This evolution in the legislative process could be a result of congress manipulating the rules to achieve goals in informal ways.
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.
This is shown in the House of Representatives,
The representatives would be the voices of their constituents, leaving them with the responsibility of making decisions for the public good.
The popularity of the members of Congress and Congress overall has been declining as the years pass and time changes. The dissatisfaction and disapproval of the public is so high because according to David Mayhew who wrote Congress the Electoral Connection members of Congress are single-minded people who are only focused on reelection, involve in “smart” behavior such as position taking, credit-claiming and advertisement. Also, according to Mayhew parties are weak, however, that is all not true people tend to vote more so for their party than the person in general. Arnold the writer of Logic of Congressional Outcome, states that Congress has many things to take into account such as citizen preference, robe-challenger, has to take into account
Fenno's theory of home style applies itself differently to Arizona State Legislature than its intended purpose in the US Congress, because in Arizona legislature the representatives spend more time at home and less time in session. The Arizona State Legislature also breaks up time in session and time out of session so that session is all at one time, where the US Congress has many sporadic breaks. These small differences largely impact the representative's interaction with constituents. Fenno's theory looks at how interaction with constituents relates to actions in Washington, using this theory the differences in interaction with constituents in the Arizona legislature, should translate to differences in how legislators vote and act while in
In recent years, the U.S. Senate has been embroiled in a countless number of filibusters which have a long history in the U.S. Congress. To supporters of the filibuster, such political procedures play an important role in a democratic society. They believe that the filibuster embodies the spirits of democracy to protect the minority from oppression in the United States. Reformers or skeptics of the filibuster, on the other hand, believe that filibusters sometimes severely hinder the operations of the government. Although people have witnessed many filibusters in history, the number of filibusters in the past few years surprised and infuriated many in America.
Attempting to enact significant legislation requires Congress and the White House to compromise and anticipate what others will approve of and pass. When a bill successfully passes both houses of Congress, which has become increasingly difficult due to party polarization and radical groups within the House of Representatives and the Senate, it then goes to the president for signing. This is a lengthy process, and in order for groups of people with opposing views to settle in agreement on a measure, a great deal of negotiation is often required. This can result in a piece of legislation that is a compromised, diluted version of its original form that is not an effective solution to the initial problem. Vague, weak legislation often necessitates further action by the other two branches of government in order to interpret and execute it properly.
John Jeremiah Sullivan’s essay, “Feet in Smoke” is a poignant glimpse at life, the human experience, and its frailty. “Feet in Smoke” focuses on an experience that John Jeremiah Sullivan’s brother, Worth, endured. Touching death. The essay utilizes imagery through vivid descriptions and “Feet in Smoke” has a particularly powerful paragraph that uses robotic imagery foremost. This paragraph, and the paragraphs that follow shortly afterwards are the crux of “Feet in Smoke”.
Congress is broken into two parts, House of Representative and a Senate. The House of Representative follows the people’s concerns and works to resolve it. The Senate is in place to keep the peace when there is a debate and to bring up ideas
