The Role of the Presidency

1. http://www2.scholastic.com/browse/article.jsp?id=4683
  
    This link provides the seven roles that one President is responsible for. There are chief of state, chief executive,chief diplomat, commander-in-chief, chief legislator, chief of party, and chief guardian of the economy. Each role is very specific and certain behavior comes with it. I knew the President does a lot of things but just being chief of these seven things is a lot. You need to be really trustworthy and reliable to be in the Role of the Presidency.

2. http://www.whitehouse.gov/our-government/executive-branch

   The President is both the head of the state and government for the United States. He is responsible for the execution and enforcement of the laws created by Congress. The President has lots of powers so with that comes with a lot of responsibility. The President must be 35 years of age, be a natural born citizen, and must have lived in the United States for at least 14 years.

3. http://usgovinfo.about.com/cs/agencies/a/presbrief.htm

   The executive power shall be invested in the President of the United States. He holds his office for four years. He has authority and responsibility covering a wide range of matters. The President is the commander-in-chief of all military forces deployed around the world.

4. http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/696785/the_many_roles_of_the_united_states.html

    It is often considered the "American Dream" to become President. There are constitutional limitations on become the president, though there are some "political" qualifications that are considered as constraints but not legally binding. A President must have political experience such as being in the United States Senate.

Economy Assignment

Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production, distribution, and exchange. The factors of production are land, labor, capital, and the role of the entrepreneur. It is often called a free enterprise system. It deals with private ownership, profit, and competition.

Socialism is an ecomonic and political philosophy based on the idea that benefits of an economic activity should be equally distributed throughout a society. A major con of socialism is that the countries tend to develop to many layers of bureaucracy, it complicates decision making and has a big effect on individual initiative. A big pro is that it gives workers and ordinary citizens more control over their daily lives.

Communism is a collectivist ideology, which calls for the collective, or state ownership of land and other productive property. Many of the countries that are communist have central planning. A con for this type of government is that the government controls everything they do.

Ch 22 Foreign Governments

1.  Pick two countries in Chapter 22 and provide an in depth paragraph on their government and how it operates.
Great Britian-Britian's unitary governent is based on an unwritten constitution and it hereditary monarch reigns but does not rule. Great Britian has the House of Lords and the House of Commons. The House of Commons is known as the lower house, they have a prime minister that is appointed by the queen. The House of Lords is higher. Britian's governement is very opiniated and have open debates where anyone can shout out anything.
Mexico- Mexico's governement includes an executive branch headed by the president, a bicameral legislature, and a national judiciary. The first gained their independence from Spain and began to build their own government. Their states are allowed to have power to legislate on local matters and to levy taxes, but most of their funding comes from a national level.


2. What are some of the similarities of the countries that are in Chapter 22?
Some similarities of the countries in this chapter are they all have a head leader whether its a prime minister or a president. In their government they also have two sides. For example, Britian's House of Lords and House of Commons.


3. What are some of the differences of the countries that are in Chapter 22?
Some differences are in our country we are very respective and listen. In Britian during their sessions people are making lots of noise and interupting each other which is really rude.

4. Which country in Chapter 22 do you believe has the strongest government and why?
I believe that Great Britian has the strongest goverment because they are very organized and let the people speak their mind.


5. In what ways does the U.S. government relate to the methods of governments listed in Chapter 22?
The U.S government has a head leader, the President, just like the other countries in this chapter. Many things are the same between our country and other but I think there are more differences.

Britain Government

Using the Internet: find two similarities and two differences between the government of Great Britain and the U.S.

Two differences between the Great Britian and U.S. governments are one, Great Britian is a monarchy and U.S is a democracy. The second difference is Britian doesn't enforce there laws in the Constitution and the U.S. does.

 

One similarity between the two governments is they both have two different groups and a head person, in Britian they have the House of the Lords and the House of the Commons, in the U.S. we have Democrats and Republicans. Another similarity is we both have a head person that all the laws need to go through we have a President and they have a Queen.


Also find two current events relating to the British government and provide a paragraph of reflection.

 

1. http://www.ihavenet.com/politics/Brits-Borrowing-from-American-Political-Playbook-JW.html

  

Brits Borrowing from American Political Playbook:

 

The British borrowed one of the most popular American institutions by holding a series of televised debates among their three candidates for Prime Minister. It became a success and really highlights the public intrest in the race. They have also learned there are some flaws to it. For example, leaving the mic on when it is not supposed to be and some people say things that shouldn't be said.

 

I think it was a great idea for the British to start doing this it not only gets the candidates involved but it spurs up the  public interest in the race and citizens will get to know more about the candidate they are voting for.

Quiz Jan. 6th

1. Explain how a bill becomes a law:
The first step is to propose a bill. The bill is passed on to the Senate and House of Representitives. The both have standing committees and decide if the bill goes to the floor or dies. Once it is to the floor it is debated over and then is voted on to either send it or let it die. If both the Senate and the House of Representitives want to send it, it then goes to the President. The President has three options he can either pass it, veto it, or do nothing with it.

2. What is a committee and what purpose does it serve?:

A committee is a person or a group of people elected or appointed to perform a service or discuss about something. The purpose of a committee is so they all can debate about whatever the topic is and decide if it is a good thing or not. 
3. Read the following link and share your opinions: 1 paragraph  http://keloland.com/NewsDetail6162.cfm?Id=109027
I think Kristi Noem is a very independent and strong leader. She is going to do what is right for our state and she isn't afraid to say it. She states that she wants to stand out among the 87 Republicans, and I think she will. I agree with her decision to repeal the health care bill but it will be hard when the Democrats still out number the Republicans in the Senate.

4.  Read the following link and find a story and give a reflection on it:1 paragraph  http://www.cnn.com/POLITICS/

I think it is really cool that they are reading the Constitution. Every member gets to read a part of it and it may take up to two hours but they will all get a better understanding of it. It truely shows that the House of Representatives is really dedicated and will stick to the Constitution. I also think it is a great idea to post all the bills 72 hours before so they have time to make their final decisions.

5. Read the following link and give a reflection on it: 1 paragraph   http://politics.blogs.foxnews.com/2011/01/05/worried-about-national-debt-put-it-your-credit-card?test=latestnews

I do not agree with the idea of using your credit card and paying for it later. It is still the same thing, Americans are spending more money than they have and are making the nation's debt even bigger. 14 trillion dollars is a lot of money and the government needs to actually do something to change that instead of telling Americans to put it on their credit card. Americans are just spending more money than they have and will most likely not have the money to pay it back later so it puts more people in debt.


6. Read the following link and give a reflection on it: 1 paragraph
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40925203/ns/politics-white_house/

I think it is a very good idea to get new people working for Obama. I think it is also great that Gibbs is an outside guy to Obama. That way he knows what its like to be a regular American and knows the struggles that come with it. He gets to see what its really like and gets to spend more time with his family. Obama's three goals good ones. They are to become more efficient, realign itself for a divided government, and to get Obama re-elected.

Legislative Preview

In the legislative process there are many steps involved. I am not very familiar with the process but I do know a few things about it. I know that a bill needs to be passed in order to be a law and it may get vetoed before it gets very far. I know that they have sessions and if it is around a holiday it may be in recess. There are Senate and House representatives in the legislative branch. The Lt. Governor is the head for the Senate and the speaker of the house is the leader for the House. I don't know how everything works once they are in session. The legislative branches process seems to work very well and has many steps in it in order to pass a bill to be a law.

Chapter 7 Quiz

1. Explain the difference between hard and soft money:

Hard money is the money that is spent to elect candidates for the Congress and White House. Most of the candidates use most of there own money instead of it getting given to them. Soft money is funds that
 are given to a party organization for the use of party building activites and recruiting voters. The big difference is that you work hard to get the hard money and the soft money is just given to you.

2. What is the electoral process and is this something that you agree or disagree with and why?

The first step of the electoral process is nominating candidates to run, then you have general elections to make the final decisions. There are then many different kinds of primaries. Once election day comes everyone votes and decides who will win. I agree with this process because it is good to get the people narrowed down before the election day so there is not to many candidates to choose from.

3. What is the difference between a closed and open primary?

In a closed primary, only the people that are declared to that certain party are allowed to vote. It is closed to the other partys voters. In an open primary, any qualified voter can cast a ballot.

4. Explain what absentee voting is and what the positives and negative may be with regards to it:

Absentee voting is a process by which you can vote without actually going to the polling places on election day. Positives about this process are people that are going to be out of town have the opportunity to vote and it is more convinient to do this process because you dont have to go to the polls and wait in line. A negative about absentee voting is that other people can look and see who is ahead before they vote.

5. What changes to your see in the way we run elections ten years from now?

Ten years from now I think most polling places will go to electronic voting. I also think more people will consider absentee voting because it is more convinient then going to the polling places on the days of elections.

6. Explain your views on money and elections with regards the amount of money that is spent:

I think a lot of money is spent on the elections and sometimes its not fair. One candidate may not have as much money as the other one so therefore the other candidate will have more advertising for them. I believe it is a big part of elections though, it helps the candidates promote themselves and get the people to vote for them.

7. Go to cnn.com or foxnews.com and find an article dealing with the election process.  Post the article in your blog and provide your viewpoints pertaining to the article.

 

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2010/12/07/haiti-waits-election-results-amid-fraud-chaos/

 

Haiti has been waiting for the results and it has been chaos. The two presidential candidates are very close and whoever gets fifty percent of the votes will win the election. The ballot has 19 different candidates which makes it hard to chose.

 

I think it is not good to have that many candidates on a ballot it makes the decision very hard and the votes could go either way.