Interest Groups, by Shea Nolan

Pluralism is the idea that democratic politics consists of various interest groups working against each other, balancing one another out so that the common good is achieved. It is necessary to good government to have interest groups because they allow people the ability to contribute to the democratic process. Also, they prevent any one minority from imposing its will in the majority. Therefore interest groups are a vital part to a healthy democracy.

Some believe that pluralism is flawed because there are so many conflicting interests in society. They argue that the interest groups interfere with democracy because they seek benefits for a minority of people rather than the greater good of the majority. Furthermore, other critics argue that interest groups only benefit an economic group, which allows them to have greater financial resources for their use. Nearly two-thirds of lobbyists in Washington represent economic groups. Therefore, interest groups tend to ignore the poor in favor to middle and upper class Americans. Charges of unfair influence are often vague and unsupported by facts. Large organizations put forth the effort to create a correlation between donations and votes, but that is not real evidence that votes have been purchased. It’s against the law to actually buy votes and if found guilty of doing so a vigorous prosecution will acre. But just recently both a lobbyist and politician have been found guilty and punished for giving and receiving bribes. This shows the system works and will deter others from acting in the same way. Not able to buy votes, special interest groups instead give money to politicians’ election campaigns. Special interest groups give money to those candidates who have already supported their policies.  

Since the 1960’s the number of voters has substantially declined in the US, but the number of interest groups activity in lobbying the government has increased dramatically. The main objective of an interest group is to try to influence every branch and every level of government that best fits their policy goals. Though interest groups serve an importance to democratic government, they’ve had gained a negative standing in America, due to the fact of dishonest lobbying. The influence of special interest groups is increasing. New campaign finance laws are needed to check this growth and give politics back to the people. We should follow the British system, which puts severe limits on individual candidates’ spending and bans political television ads, but gives political parties free access to the national media for regulated political broadcasts.

The Oldest of them All, by Moranda Zimmer

            In class we had a discussion about the United States Constitution, as well as others around the world.  It caught my attention that the United States has the oldest constitution, with Norway and Belgium closely behind.  In different classes throughout high school and undergrad we learn varies things about the constitution, but a lot of interesting facts of it are left out.  I wanted to find all the facts about the United States constitution and learn more about it. 

            The United States Constitution has 4,400 words in it, and is the oldest but shortest written Constitution of any major government in the world.  September 17 of each year is a day marked as the anniversary of the day that the framers signed the document.  This day is different from the Fourth of July, because that is the day our country became a country, and this day is to remember the day that our constitution was officially signed.  The oldest person to sign the constitution was Benjamin Franklin at the age of 81, and the youngest was Jonathon Dayton at the age of 26.  Because of Benjamin Franklin’s poor health, he needed help signing the Constitution, and when he signed it he had tears rolling down his face. One specific fact I found extremely interesting was that Thomas Jefferson did not sign the constitution as he was out the States serving as the U.S. Minister when this took place.  Also, the only two presidents that signed the constitution were George Washington and James Madison. 

            There were 55 representatives who attended the convention.  Of these individuals 34 of them were lawyers, eight of them had signed the Declaration of Independence, and about half of them were Revolutionary War veterans.  The rest of them ranged anywhere from farmers, educators, ministers, judges, doctors, and financiers.  Some of them, about one/fourth owned a large amount of land, but all of them held some sort of public office, such as being a Congressman or a governor. 

Other interesting fact about the constitution is what our country was like at the time of the signing.  The United States had a population of 4 million, and Philadelphia was the largest city at the time with a population of 40,000.  Our nation now has more than 300 million people in it.  When Benjamin Franklin died at the age of 84, his funeral set the record for the largest public gathering up to that time. 

            All these facts combined, as well as many others, make up how our constitution was formed, and what it is today. It’s what our country run off of, and the small details behind it are so important to the overall picture.  It was really interesting learning more about what’s behind the constitution that often gets by passed.      

 Works Cited:

http://www.constitutionfacts.com/us-constitution-amendments/fascinating-facts/

Nine Justices of the US Supreme Court, by Anonymous

            We briefly talked about the Justices of the US Supreme Court, and I think its crazy how important they are to our government system so I wanted to go further into learning about each one in office today.  I want to know about their history, and what their back round is that got them to where they are today.  The basic knowledge behind the justices is that the present nominated them, and they have to be approved by the Senate.  Once they are approved they have a lifetime appointment, unless they decide to step down, or in very rare cases get booted.  However, looking at the big picture there is so much more about each one individually.

            The Chief Justice of the United States is John G. Roberts.  He was born in New York, and has a wife, and a family of two children.  He got his A.B. from Harvard College and also is law degree from Harvard Law School.  He has a long history in the government system serving from a law clerk, to a special assistant attorney general, as well as an associate counsel member to President Reagan.  He was appointed to the United States Court of Appeals in 2003, and was nominated by President G W  Bush as Chief Justice in 2005.

All of the Justices, except Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagen, and David Souter are married and have children.  Antonin Scalia has the most children at the number of nine.  The majority of the justices went to high-end schools for their undergrad, and almost all received their law degree the most top competitive schools in the country.  They all worked their way up in the system of the government holding some of the best positions in the government system.  This chart shows the basic information about each current Justice.

The duties of the Supreme Court Justices that are stated in the constitution are to check, and keep in check, the action of the President and Congress.  They also have the power to overturn any case that violates the constitution, and has the final say in all cases involved laws of Congress.  The justices do have a lot of power, however, the other two branches of government limit it.  The Court has nearly 5,000 requests of cases to be reviewed for hearing each year, but only generally gets to about 150 of them.  Each justice plays a key role in keeping out government in line.  The roles of these nine justices are a big part of our government system, and without them our balance between state and government could be corrupt. 

Works Cited:

http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/article/role-supreme-court

http://www.supremecourt.gov/about/biographies.aspx

            

Our Changing Society, by Anonymous

         It’s safe to say our society is changing.  It’s changing in ways we never thought would be possible.  Technology is advancing, medicine is curing diseases they never thought possible, but all together the everyday life of citizens in changing.  In class we talked about the traditional and secular divide.  I feel that this divide is the transition our entire country is going through right now.  We are going away from what we once thought would be forever, to things being more accepted. 

            In the lecture we discussed how in the traditional sense divorce was not welcomed, but in the secular it is.  This is like today society.  Up until the 20^th Century divorce was looked poorly upon, but with the changing society it is more accepted.  A marriage is expected to only last “32 years, and 34% of marriages end by the 20^th wedding anniversary” (Sedghi). These numbers are absolutely insane to me as there are only a few people I know that are divorced.  This chart shows the divorce rate in the United States from 1950-2004.  This increase of divorces is not only common in the United States, but also in other countries as well.  In England and Wales the numbers have been increasing over time, but in 2011 they started to see a decline once again (Sedghi).  These charts show the divorce rate in the United States in one, and the divorce rates in England and Wales in the other. 

           

The divorce rate is happening all over the world with the U.S. having the most, Puerto Rico, and Russia are close behind.

            Once again these numbers are so striking to me.  Looking at how other countries are facing these same issues that we are in America makes everything so surreal that changes are happening all across the world, and fast.

Works Cited:

Sedghi, Ami, and Simon Rogers. "Divorce Rates Data, 1858 to Now: How Has It Changed?" The Guardian. N.p., 2012. Web. 15 Oct. 2013. <http://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2010/jan/28/divorce-rates-marriage-ons>

The Rise of Democracy: MEXICO, by Shea Nolan

Mexico first declared their independence from Spain in 1810, but didn’t gain their full independence till 1821. After the revolution general Agustín Cosme Damián de Iturbide y Arámburu was appointed President in 1881, but his term ended in 1822. Though Iturbide only ruled for a year this demonstrates the political struggles before and after independence.  

The 8^th president of Mexico López de Santa Anna was a general, and eleven times president; his total presidency spanned over 22 years. Between being a general and a president Santa Anna greatly influenced early Mexican politics and government for 40 years. Even though he has been seen as a brave soldier, hero of the army, and a cunning politician he has been recognized as the reason why Mexico had lost over half its territory.

Seizing power in a coup in 1876 José de la Cruz Porfirio Díaz Mori was a soldier and politician, who served seven terms as president. Díaz ruled Mexico with an iron fist until 1911, where it took nothing less than a revolution to dislodge him. During his term, known as the Porfiriato, the rich got richer and the poor got poorer. Though there was such a large gap in social classes Mexico had become recognized as a developed nation in the world, but this all came at a price, Díaz presided over one of the most crooked administrations in history. 

The Institutional Revolutionary Party (RPI)

The Institutional Revolutionary Party was founded in 1929 due to the forces that had triumphed in the revolutions, also to give deliver stability to Mexico that had been plagued with violence. Though Mexico is a multi-party system, the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), National Action Party (PAN), and the Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD), the PRI has governed Mexico with almost complete dominance from the day of the Mexican Revolution.

Miguel de la Madrid of the PRI was elected president in 1982. He had won with 70% of the vote; this was a much lower percentage from the past. In other words this showed that candidates from the right and left were gaining ground. Though he had made a number of economic gains in his term, the PAN started to demand for additional electoral reforms as well.

Following the electoral reform in 1986 the Chamber of Deputies added another 100 seats, and 200 of the now 500 seats were devoted to smaller parties. Though there was much reform there was still much political fraud in a number of elections, mostly in the election of 1986. With every election (every 6 years) the PRI was losing its political dominance and smaller parties were beginning to rise.

A new horizon

Known as one of the most historic election in Mexico the 2000 elections was the change of a new leader and a new political party. PRI, after ruling Mexico for 71 years; Vicente Fox of the Alliance for Change was elected. Vicente Fox, winning the election with 42% of the vote over Franciso Labastida of the PRI with 36%, this was a dramatic loss for PRI. After his inauguration on December 1, 2000, Vicente Fox promised the people of Mexico that he would promote free market policies, and to strengthen democracy and the rule of law in Mexico. But the terrorist attacks on September 1^st 2001 in America affected Mexico’s economy. This event limited government funding that was going to fund Fox’s health and education programs. In the 2003 elections to renew the Chamber of Deputies, the PAN lost seats, giving less support to Fox and his programs. Fox not having the majority in congress he was unable to approve any major legislation along with a purposed tax reform and a proposed energy reform.

Approaching the July 2006 presidential election, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador of the leftist PRD was leading, against Felipe Calderon for the PAN, and Roberto Madrazo for the PRI. Felipe Calderon of the PAN was able to take the 2006 election; this allowed the PAN to serve another term ruling. All of the political events that have happen thus far in Mexico have allowed the political system to grow more into a democracy.

Religion is changing right along with Society, by Moranda Zimmer

While talking in class about religion and how people tend to go to church less now than they used to really got my attention as I think about my own life.  My grandparents will not miss a Sunday of church, unless they are extremely sick.  However, my family, as regular attenders, will miss every once in awhile.  Looking at this from a bigger picture is this how it is all across the United States or just in certain areas? 

            A recent survey was done by Gallup showing that the ratings have been the lowest they have ever been.  The survey was done to see how American’s felt religious influence was in the United States.  It came back with results that said “77 percent of American said that religion is loosing it’s influence on the American life, while only 20 percent said religion has gained in influence” (Kaleem).  The most interesting part of this all is that only one year after the September 11^th attack Americans believed that the influence of religion was increasing.  However this chart shows a different response.

            Another interesting thing about religion is not only how people are attending less, but how often people change their religion in the United States.  “More than half of American adults say they have changed religious affiliation at some point in their lives” (Paulson).  The most interesting part of this is that most people switch out of the religion they were raised in by age 24 and many change religions more than once in their lifetime.  One of the most jaw dropping finding was that “one in ten Americans is now a former Catholic, and about half of the former Catholics are now Protestants, and about half are now unaffiliated” (Paulson). 

            Many reasons due to changing a religion have to due to getting married and changing for the spouse.  As well as not agreeing with the church's beliefs anymore.  With the uproar controversy topics such as abortion, same sex marriages, birth control, as well as the gender of the pastor/priest this has let people to either switch churches, or just not attend anymore.  This graph also shows some reasons why people leave their childhood religion. 

I found all this information really fascinating because I am from such a small town that I really have never looked at religion across the United States.  It was shocking to realize how many people just don’t go to church anymore, and how many people change their religion over their lifetime.  My religion is something that I cherish very much so this topic was fitting for my interest.

Works Cited:

Kaleem, Jaweed. "Religious Influence In U.S. Seen As Decreasing, But Most Americans Want More: Survey." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 29 May 2013. Web. 10 Oct. 2013. <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/29/religions-influence-us_n_3354499.html>.

Paulson, Michael. “Why do Americans change their faith? – Articles of Faith – Boston.com” Boston, MA news 27 Apr. 2009. 10 Oct. 2013. http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles_of_faith/2009/04/why_do_american.html