Three theories about Congress Essay Example for Free

Three theories about Congress Essay There are at least three ways which lead a representative or a senator to vote for or against a bill or amendment: representational, organizational and attitudinal. Representational is based on the assumption that members want to get re-elected and therefore vote to please their constituents. Organizational is based on the assumption that since most constituents dont know how their senator voted, it is not essential to please them. But it is important to please fellow members of Congress. The attitudinal is based on the assumption that there are so many conflicting pressures on members of Congress that they cancel one another out, leaving them virtually free to vote on the basis of their own beliefs. The representational view has merit under special circumstances, like when the constituents have a clear view on some issue and a legislators vote on that issue will draw much attention. For instance, a legislator from a highly black district wont vote against a civil rights bill for minorities, while representatives with mostly non-minority (white) voters in their district can vote whichever way they please on the issue. Foreign policy is generally remote from the daily interest of most Americans and the public changes opinions on it rather rapidly. The constituents and the legislator vote differently for the most part on foreign policy. When an issue arouses deep passion among voters, it is necessary for the legislator to go in accordance with the majority constituents, despite his or her personal convictions if he or she wants to be re-elected. The general problem with representational explanation is that public opinion is not strong and clear on most measures on which the Congress votes. Many representatives and senators face constituencies that are divided on key issues. The organizational view deals more with legislators voting in accordance to cues provided by other legislators. Party plays a principle role in cues, most legislators will vote according to their partys will. But party and other organizations do not have clear positions on all matters. For most, a legislator is likely to be influenced by members of his or her party on the sponsoring committee. If there is no obvious liberal or conservative position on the matter the legislator takes a cue from the committee reviewing the bill. If they vote for it, so does the legislator, against it,  so is the legislator. If the vote is split, the legislator will vote the same manner as another legislator with similar beliefs (maybe he knows more about the bill than you do, you were sleeping through the last hearing). The attitudinal view is based on the individual legislators personal ideology. Where party splits, it is up the legislator to make the decision. Often times, senators from the same state may have widely differing opinions on certain issues based upon his or her ideology. A legislator who is a liberal Republican may vote democratic on some issues, and a conservative Democrat may vote republican on other issues.

Hugo Chavez: Love Him or Loathe Him? Essay -- Essays Papers

Hugo Chavez: Love Him or Loathe Him? Last week an incendiary press release exploded into the global headlines. A man by the name of Hugo Chavez ventured the claim that he had become an important target of assassination. Even more alarming, he proceeded to identify his assassin. It was none other than George W. Bush. "We have enough evidence," said Chavez, "that if anything happens to me, the person responsible will be the President of the United States" (â€Å"Defying U.S., Venezuela’s Chavez Embrace Socialism†). Who is Hugo Chavez? And why would he have the audacity to regard himself as a threat -- indeed, a lethal threat -- to the most powerful country on earth? And does he really believe he is so dangerous in the eyes of the United States that he would be viewed as a candidate for extermination? Hugo Chavez is the duly elected leader of a relatively small country on the northern coast of South America called Venezuela. It is a nation whose regional stature has, in the last twenty years, grown in influence in total disproportion to its size. The reason for Venezuela's increasing political clout is simple. It is the owner of vast reservoirs of liquid gold. It is perched on an enormous supply of oil. To a country like America, which is the world's largest consumer of fossil fuels by far, nothing could be more encouraging than to share geographical proximity with a nation so abundantly endowed with oil. Increasingly, however, a common neighborhood is all the U. S. shares in common with Venezuela. The two nations are clearly drifting apart, and at an alarming pace. The lightening rod in America's relationship with its South American neighbor is Hugo Chavez. In many recent pronouncements, the President o... ...lt;http://globalresearch.ca/articles/LAN407A.html>. -Niemeyer, Ralph and Lucila Gallino. â€Å"Interview With President Chavez.† Venezuela Analysis. November 2003 <http://www.venezuelaanalysis.com/articlese.php?artno=1055>. -Pike, John. â€Å"Venezuela.† GlobalSecurity. August 2004 <http://www.globalsecurtiy.org/intell/ops/venezuela.htm>. -Stelzer, Irwin M. â€Å"The Axis of Oil: China and Russia Find a New Way to Advance Their Strategic Ambitions.† Free Republic. February 2005 < http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1346965/posts>. -â€Å"Topic Area A: The Situation in Venezuela.† Model United Nations of the University of Chicago. <www.munuc.org>. -West, Andrew. â€Å"A Recipe for Economic Collapse in Venezuela: Hugo Chavez’s Anti- Capitalist Philosophy.† Capitalism Magazine. October 2000 <http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/fr/565966/posts>. Hugo Chavez: Love Him or Loathe Him? Essay -- Essays Papers Hugo Chavez: Love Him or Loathe Him? Last week an incendiary press release exploded into the global headlines. A man by the name of Hugo Chavez ventured the claim that he had become an important target of assassination. Even more alarming, he proceeded to identify his assassin. It was none other than George W. Bush. "We have enough evidence," said Chavez, "that if anything happens to me, the person responsible will be the President of the United States" (â€Å"Defying U.S., Venezuela’s Chavez Embrace Socialism†). Who is Hugo Chavez? And why would he have the audacity to regard himself as a threat -- indeed, a lethal threat -- to the most powerful country on earth? And does he really believe he is so dangerous in the eyes of the United States that he would be viewed as a candidate for extermination? Hugo Chavez is the duly elected leader of a relatively small country on the northern coast of South America called Venezuela. It is a nation whose regional stature has, in the last twenty years, grown in influence in total disproportion to its size. The reason for Venezuela's increasing political clout is simple. It is the owner of vast reservoirs of liquid gold. It is perched on an enormous supply of oil. To a country like America, which is the world's largest consumer of fossil fuels by far, nothing could be more encouraging than to share geographical proximity with a nation so abundantly endowed with oil. Increasingly, however, a common neighborhood is all the U. S. shares in common with Venezuela. The two nations are clearly drifting apart, and at an alarming pace. The lightening rod in America's relationship with its South American neighbor is Hugo Chavez. In many recent pronouncements, the President o... ...lt;http://globalresearch.ca/articles/LAN407A.html>. -Niemeyer, Ralph and Lucila Gallino. â€Å"Interview With President Chavez.† Venezuela Analysis. November 2003 <http://www.venezuelaanalysis.com/articlese.php?artno=1055>. -Pike, John. â€Å"Venezuela.† GlobalSecurity. August 2004 <http://www.globalsecurtiy.org/intell/ops/venezuela.htm>. -Stelzer, Irwin M. â€Å"The Axis of Oil: China and Russia Find a New Way to Advance Their Strategic Ambitions.† Free Republic. February 2005 < http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1346965/posts>. -â€Å"Topic Area A: The Situation in Venezuela.† Model United Nations of the University of Chicago. <www.munuc.org>. -West, Andrew. â€Å"A Recipe for Economic Collapse in Venezuela: Hugo Chavez’s Anti- Capitalist Philosophy.† Capitalism Magazine. October 2000 <http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/fr/565966/posts>.

Gulliver’s Travels Essay

When Blackadder and Prince George are faced with dilemma of bribing an MP to vote in the princes favour they provide us with a description of a member of parliament called Sir Talbot Buxomly who is corrupt, cruel, ineffectual and open to bribes. According to Blackadder he is a perfect candidate to become a High Court Judge and even Prince George thinks he is â€Å"a little over qualified†. â€Å"Blackadder: Sir Talbot has the worst attendance record of any Member of Parliament†¦ but if we can get him to support us, we’re safe†¦ he’s a violent, bigoted, mindless old fool† The use of satire here suggests that the high court judge isn’t necessarily as honest as you would expect a person with that much power to be. A comparison with this is Swifts description of the Emperor in chapter two. He describes how he is expensively dressed. ‘He had on his head a light helmet of gold, adorned with jewels, and a plume on the crest’. Swift compares him to the pompons King George the first. He was king of England but was brought over from Germany and did not speak the language. When the Emperor speaks at Gulliver he cannot understand a word and this is his bribe at the king. Like Sir Talbot Buxomly, the Emperor is useless and incompetent. When it comes to the actual election, Blackadder confesses that they will cheat in order to win votes. He is not alone in this outlook as one of his opponents, Pitt the Even Younger confesses what he did in order to be a decent politician – bad mouthed the opposition. – Bribed the newspapers. – Threatened to torture the public if his party lost. Once again driving home the point that the politicians will do anything within their power to get a seat in parliament. You can tell that cheating is certainly not beneath them when Pitt the Even Younger told what was a decent politician is in his opinion. â€Å"I fail to see what more a decent politician could have done† Similar examples of satire, which criticise politics and the government are also found in â€Å"Gulliver’s Travels†. In Lilliput anybody who jumps over the highest rope gets a position in court and how candidates jump over and creep under a stick held at various heights win the silken threads which show the kings favourite. Just like in Blackadder getting a job in the court in lilliput is not to down how good you would be at the job but is down to how much you can creep, crawl and pander to the king. â€Å"Whoever performs his part with the most agility and hold out the largest in creeping and crawling, is rewarded†¦ â€Å"

How To Take Notes

It seems that it would be easy to write down stuff in class. That learning how to take notes would be a waste of time. However, the opposite is true. If you learn how to take notes effectively and efficiently, you’ll save yourself hours of study time just by observing a few simple tricks. If you dont like this method, then try out the Cornell System for taking notes! Choose Appropriate Paper The right paper can mean the difference between complete frustration in class and organized notes. To take notes effectively, choose a sheet of loose, clean, lined paper, preferably college-ruled. There are a couple reasons for this choice:Choosing loose paper to take notes allows you to rearrange your notes in a binder if necessary, lend them easily to a friend, and remove and replace a page if it gets damaged.Using college-ruled paper means that the spaces between the lines are smaller, allowing you to write more per page, which is advantageous when you’re studying a lot of material. It won’t seem as much, and thus, as overwhelming. Use Pencil and Skip Lines Nothing will make you more frustrated than taking notes and having to draw arrows from new content to a related idea your teacher was talking about 20 minutes ago. That’s why it’s important to skip lines. If your teacher brings up something new, you’ll have a place to squeeze it in. And, if you take your notes in pencil, your notes will stay neat if you make a mistake and you won’t have to rewrite everything just to make sense of the lecture. Label Your Page You don’t have to use a clean sheet of paper for every new note-taking session if you use appropriate labels. Start with the topic of the discussion (for study purposes later), fill in the date, class, chapters associated with the notes and teacher’s name. At the end of your notes for the day, draw a line crossing the page so you’ll have a very clear demarcation of each day’s notes. During the next lecture, use same format so your binder is consistent. Use an Organizational System Speaking of organization, use one in your notes. Many people use an outline (I.II.III. A.B.C. 1.2.3.) but you can use circles or stars or whatever symbols youd like, as long as you stay consistent. If your teacher is scattered and doesn’t really lecture in that format, then just organize new ideas with numbers, so you don’t get one long paragraph of loosely-related content. Listen for Importance Some of the stuff your teacher says is irrelevant, but much of it needs remembering. So how do you decipher what to put down in your notes and what to disregard? Listen for importance by picking up dates, new terms or vocabulary, concepts, names, and explanations of ideas. If your teacher writes it down anywhere, he or she wants you to know it. If she talks about it for 15 minutes, she’s gonna quiz you on it. If he repeats it several times in the lecture, you’re responsible. Put Content Into Your Own Words Learning how to take notes begins with learning how to paraphrase and summarize. You will learn new material better if you put it into your own words. When your teacher waxes wordy about Leningrad for 25 minutes, summarize the main idea into a few sentences you’ll be able to remember. If you try to write everything down word for word, you’ll miss stuff, and confuse yourself. Listen attentively, then write. Write Legibly It kind of goes without saying, but I’m gonna say it anyway. If your penmanship has ever been compared to chicken scratch, you better work on it. You’ll thwart your taking notes efforts if you can’t read what you’ve written! Force yourself to write clearly. I guarantee that you will not remember the exact lecture when it comes to exam time, so your notes are often going to be your only lifeline. Note Taking Tips Sit near the front of the class so you dont get distractedBring the appropriate supplies, good college-ruled paper and a pen or pencil that will allow you to write legibly and easily.Keep a folder or binder for every class, so youre more likely to keep your notes organized.