The Flaws of the Filibuster: The House is Doing it Right.

One of the things we touched on during this course, while ever so briefly, that greatly intrigued me was the use of the filibuster and its accepted use in the Senate. The filibuster is the total stoppage of forward movement on a bill by a single person stalling and talking about whatever they really want till a majority of 60 out of 100 Senators vote for it to end. This is used mainly by the majority to control the conversation. However, the part that I later discovered and what boggled my mind was the fact that the filibuster has been totally expelled from the House of Representatives. The idea that one side of the legislative branch of the government can completely and totally abolish the use of one of the most important  tools in the obstruction of a bill or topic of conversation is in my mind remarkable.

The first thing I find exceptional about the House’s complete deletion of the filibuster is the fact that the House got rid of the filibuster so early in their history.The House took steps as early as 1842 to get rid of the filibuster and to install a “Rules Committee”, this committee places limits and restrictions regarding debates that are headed to the floor. This prevents occasions like the one that took place in the Senate on August 28th-29th when Strom Thurmond spoke for 24 hours 18 minutes while stalling the Civil Rights Act of 1957. The House realized at an early age that the limiting of time spent on bills would get more done, leading to a more efficient use of power and time.

The second thing I find incredible about the House’s band of the filibuster, is the fact that the Senate has not followed suite. With as many as 139 filibusters happening in very recent years the use of filibusters is changing from what used to be a rarity to an almost normal event in the Senate. The Senate majority can basically control the floor by sing well placed filibusters, blocking the conversation on laws and topics they disapprove of. Yet that is getting our country no where, the majority could easily just use their power to vote through the items they favor and turn down the ones they dislike. The power in the Senate needs to be controlled and maintained in a civilized fashion that gets things done in the speediest way possible.

The Senate needs to keep their stalling in check and take the focus from avoiding bills and problems to actually doing something about it. Even if a bill is not passed that is still better than sitting there having a Senator give long filibusters that can often backfire on them as it did to Sen. William Proxmire when his opposition pointed out in the next years re-election that his filibuster of just under 24 hours had cost tens of thousands of tax dollars to keep the chambers open all night and light. The Senate needs to jump on the bandwagon with the House and either form a committee that sets pre appointed limits for discussing and debating a bill or topic, or they need to find another way of completely eradicating the filibuster and the incredible amount of time wasted dealing with them.

Thoughts on Solving the Gun Crisis: We Still Need Protection

Throughout the year we have been going over current events and how they relate to our class. An important current event is gun control. It affects hundreds of people every year and has been getting much attention because of the record numbers of gun caused casualties in 2012. Every day a new headline over the current position on gun control is introduced on the current whereabouts on the bill being passed. Gun control is a very controversial issue, and I believe it should not be restrained too much.

Gun control should be only a little more regulated, and that people should still have the right to bare arms. I understand that the tragedies in Newtown and Aurora were unfair and people blame the guns. Regulation is definitely necessary to a degree, but restraining citizens from protecting themselves would be unacceptable. President Obama agrees that the right to bare arms is acceptable, but he wants to drastically change the current ways to get guns, making it very difficult to bet rifles and handguns.This is a subject that was even included in the constitution, and changing its meaning dramatically is unfair. This relates back to our government class because it emphasizes the importance of persuasion, a topic that we covered in “Congressional Government”. President Obama is trying very hard to convince Congress to pass the bill, and he is using certain techniques to do so. In “Congressional Government”, the author states that “He can introduce his bill; but that is all he can do, and he must do that at a particular time and in a particular manner…” meaning that the advocates of this bill need help inorder for change to occur. They are very limited. The president is restrained and without more advocacy the bill won’t be passed for awhile.

 I have learned many things about national politics from this course. First, I learned about elections, and the several different tactics legislators use to become elected. I learned about the electoral college, and debated over who was going to win the presidential election. I learned about the difference between the political parties, and we started to form opinions. Then, we moved on to the presidency, and we talked about the crisis of the fiscal cliff. I worked with my group to create a possible solution to the fiscal cliff and the national debt. We then moved on to congress and legislature. I learned of the importance of persuasion of legislators in order to ensure their positions, and the different rules the constitution presents to ensure judges stay faithful. All of these examples have led me to better understand our nations government.

Gun control and other important current events that we go over in class are helping to shape my opinions about the government every day. They present me with questions that we can discuss in class, helping me to understand the course material in a more comprehensive manner. The opinions that I am creating are heavily influences oncurrent events, and solutions we have to discussions in class. These discussions are teaching me to think in a different way, and are showing me the different ways the government works.

Braydon

Confusing Components of Congress

Is this what Congress really looks like?

In class, we just finished a lesson over Congress and its components and its importance in the American government. Following discussion and analysis, I concluded that America’s public is completely oblivious as to what goes on in Congress on a daily basis. After and in-class study of an excerpt from the notorious “Congressional Government: A Study in American Politics” by Woodrow Wilson, I would have to agree that citizens and people of America have little knowledge of the complexity of Congress. The workings of Congress can not be fully understood without deep investigation of all the different components of Congress and that certain aspects of Congress are concealed to the public’s eye.
Even though a majority of Americans believe the Speaker of the House to have most of the power, it is instead spread out among committee leaders. Over forty-five committees compose the House of Representatives and Senate, each having a different job and purpose (1). The committees each have domain over certain bills or ideas presented to Congress. If a bill were to be addressed regarding farming, it would proceed to the Committee of Agriculture to then be changed, denied, or approved to move on to a vote including the other members of the Congress or Senate (depending on which was addressing the proposed bill). The committee heads have immense power because of their ability to pocket veto, or to hold onto a bill and not let appear in the committee meetings (3). If it never sees the committee, it can never become a law. The committee heads all enforce this power when they do not want to deal with a proposed piece of legislature that they dislike.
To the majority of Americans the Congress seems to work vigorously only when it is in session. In reality the sessions are more of a show than anything, and the real work is done in the committees on the other days of the year (4). When the 535 members of both Congress and Senate are present in a room, not much can be accomplished with so many people. The committees break down the agenda and what needs to be completed into manageable pieces.
On top of the complex components of the House of Representatives and Senate, a great deal of knowledge regarding politics and skilled maneuvers are needed to win an election or remain in office (2). To comply with a representative democracy, elections take place every two years for the House and every six years for the Senate (2). Due to a short amount of time in between elections for the House, officials need a mindset that pleases the people to get elected while also keeping what is best for the country in mind and also staying true to their beliefs and knowledge. This is a slippery slope that can seriously damage a reputation of an official if only one mistake is made. The senators have a bit more time to recover from errors and have less of the political drama to worry about because of their longer terms. If a mistake is made it can be recovered in six years time easily and forgotten by the public.

The majority of Americans are oblivious to the committees and their heads, the sessions and daily work, and the politics involved in Congress on a day-to-day basis. People criticize the Congress for their work without fully understanding what is truly going on. Some aspects, like daily work of Congress, are seemingly concealed by the better-known and more publicized sessions of Congress. The various twists and components of committees and their heads can be confusing without in-depth research and education. More citizens need to research what goes on in Congress to fully appreciate and understand their government. I have studied and absorbed a great amount of material from this lesson, and in turn now appreciate the 535 members of Congress and their incredible and difficult work in the U. S. government system.

Acknowledgements:
Source 1- http://www.govtrack.us/congress/committees/

Source 2- http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/congress-america.htm

Source 3- Woodrow Wilson’s “Congressional Government”

Source 4- http://usgovinfo.about.com/od/uscongress/a/congsessions.htm

Picture- http://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=picture+of+congress&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8

We are Surrounded with Media

The election process has really helped me relate to the work we have been doing in Government class. National Politics really shows how news spreads around the nation and really keeps people informed on what is happening. National Politics has really helped me stay informed on what is happening with the election, Government, Senate, and so on. Media plays a big part in our lives, even if we don’t realize it.

The main event that has really helped me understand the course material would have to be the election. The election has helped me so much because it hits all topics that we have been learning about. The biggest aspect that it helped me understand would be media. I never realized how important media was in today’s world, but really media is how we get all our information. Everywhere we look something is informing us on the news, whether it is facebook, twitter, school, billboards, commercials, etc. Media in general is all around us and helps the candidates spread the word of their ideas. I also never realized how important campaign commercials were in the elections. Campaign commercials is the candidate’s way to basically sum up their ideas and main key points to broadcast to the world and hopefully recruit some support for their campaign. An example of a great campaign commercial is “In America: Anything is Possible” by Mitt Romney. This ad is inspiring, encouraging, and makes the people of America feel safe and united. Without the help of our Government class I would have never been able to indicate a bad commercial from a good commercial if I saw one. Government class has helped me understand what are good qualities for the President of the United States to posses and what qualities we should keep a heads up to watch out for.

Government class is helping me start to form opinions about certain issues, such as who we would want to run our country, how important it is to vote, and social media. Before, Government class, I did not care much about the election process and tried to avoid any information about it. I not only didn’t care for the news because I thought it was boring, but I didn’t like how I didn’t understand the terminology and meaning of some of the statements they stood for. This made me feel less than and incapable of understanding what was happening in our country. Thanks to our government class, I now understand what the president’s run for and what they are trying to accomplish in their campaigns. A great President for our country would be one that followed the Stewardship Model. This means that we could trust our President because we don’t have to limit his powers and that he still has the best interest in our nation. I also now understand that voting is very important. We have the opportunity to have a say in how our nation will be ruled and it is important to have our input so we get the best option possible. Social Media really helps us determine who we want to vote for. Information about the candidates is everywhere and we need to listen. I am looking forward to voting and having a say when I become old enough to vote.

Some other opinions I have started to form is that although media is very helpful and useful to our everyday lives, I don’t think we should rely on it so much. I think Presidents should meet and greet as many people as they can and get on a more personal level with our people, such as when they are in the Iowa Caucus. By getting on a more personal level, it helps the people be more comfortable with you and it really helps them understand what kind of person you are and why they would want you to lead our country. By meeting more people, it would help more people like you, because by taking time out of your day to go talk to someone would make them feel special and just by doing that would help the candidate rally up some votes. The people have the right to fully get to know who their President will be, because being the President is a big deal, and the people need to know that whoever is elected has the best interest of the people in mind, but still willing to do what is best for the country when needed.

 http://www.mndaily.com/2012/02/07/digital-door-knocking