Free Essay

Politics Analysis Draft

In:

Submitted By rock3
Words 1137
Pages 5
Analytic Essay

The political documentaries, Street Fight and Last Man Standing, portrayed elections that in an overall situational view were very similar. Both elections had a younger challenger than the incumbent; they also had one member that was from the area and one who grew up elsewhere, and like most elections they both had a central theme. Ethics, though, was the determinative factor for both.
Street Fight showed the 2002 Newark, New Jersey non-partisan mayoral election between the longtime Democrat incumbent Sharpe James and Cory Booker. The old joke “the only way an incumbent leaves office is death or conviction” held true for this election as Sharpe James blatantly abused the power of his office to disrupt Cory Booker’s campaign, having the housing authority prevent Booker from canvasing buildings, sending code enforcement to threaten or shut down businesses for supporting Booker and having the police department tear down campaign signs on the day of the election. (Curry, 2005) Last Man Standing on the other hand had been about a rural Texas state legislature election in 2002 between the Republican incumbent, Rick Green and a Democrat challenger, Patrick Rose. With the number of ethical conflicts that had arisen for Green he was forced to acknowledge Rose and challenge him to several debates, backlashing, giving Rose even more of an opportunity to strike against Green’s ethics while in office and have more media face time within the district. The only thing working against Rose was that he was young, inexperienced, and the sheer fact that he was running as a Democrat, in a state that at the time was becoming overwhelmingly Republican. (Stekler, 2004) In Street Fight, Cory Booker is described by a Newark citizen as a “golden boy.” He grew up in the suburbs of Harrington Park NJ, and with a football scholarship attended Stanford then Yale Law School. After he won in an upset election he served one term as a city councilman for the Central Ward. Booker moved into a low income housing project to be closer to his constituents, he was running for mayor to bring real change to improve the lives of the citizens of Newark, something that Sharpe James had run on 16 years prior. James had enormous ties to the community, he had grown up in Newark, and after he served in the army he came back to teach gym at a local high school, then in 1970 at 34 years old was elected to city council after serving 16 years, in 1986, he then ran for mayor as the “Reformer Candidate”. Although James’ staff had been plagued by ethical and criminal issues he strived to help the city undergo a sort of renaissance and believed he was the better candidate. (Curry, 2005) Last Man Standing showed Patrick Rose as an incredibly hard working young candidate who truly cared about his home town and would do anything in his ability to help the people of the district in which he was running. After growing up in Dripping Springs, Rose attended Princeton for his undergraduate and then moved back to Texas with his parents to attend law school. Green on the other hand was originally from Arkansas. He had run previously on being the most conservative candidate, stating he believed in the basics of freedom, wanting to make sure that government did not tell people how to run their lives, he sought to continue that work through reelection. Green though, like James, had problems in the ethical realm, three of which had been front page news before the campaign season began. Green had done a commercial for Focus Factor, a nutritional supplement; it was seen as improper use of his state office. He had represented the felon Melvin Cox in front of the state parole board, Cox had been convicted of a pansy scheme, the scam company had loaned Green $400K in unsecured funds for use in a business. Finally, Green also held a fundraiser for Allen Keyes, a presidential candidate, through a non-profit organization that had the appearance of a lobbyist shakedown. (Stekler, 2004)
For any election, a good candidate and a good message are not enough, they need money so that the voters get a chance to see the candidate and hear the message. (Binder, 2012) In James v. Booker, money became a campaign issue only after Booker rose more than James. The citizens saw this as an extension of the rhetoric James had been using, saying that Booker was conspiring with Jews to take over the city. That, with the fact that Booker had not grown up in Newark, perpetuated the outsider mentality and the majority of voters sided against Booker. Cory Booker lost the 2002 election. He had a chance to become better known by the city during the following four years, which coupled with James’ early drop out of the following election allowed for Booker’s landslide victory in 2006. (Curry, 2005)
Living in politically competitive areas and an increased level of media coverage will increase voter turnout for both sides of an election. (Kernell, Jacobson & Kousser, 2012) In a Texas swing district, at a moment in time when the political tides of the state were shifting, Green’s challenges to Rose for debates encouraged increased media coverage of the election and consequently of Green’s ethical blunders including one month before election Green went under investigation. Green and Senator Wentworth, working for a San Antonio law firm that lobbied on behalf of Metabolife, lobbied legislation without transparent financial disclosures, the investigation was dropped after election, but the media coverage solidified citizen’s positions on each candidate. Rose ended up winning by 333 votes, less than one percent of the votes cast in the election, and was the only Democrat to overthrow an incumbent Republican in the entire state. The rest of the state was a Republican landslide as many expected. Rose was reelected till 2010 during another political swing against the Democrats. (Stekler, 2004) Although the elections in Street Fight and Last Man Standing had their differences, ethics or the lack thereof held a large share in the outcome for both. Sharpe James was able to triumph with scandals and abusing the power of his office as Mayor of Newark, even when his false statements were on record and shady actions were known by the public. Rick Green, however, in a period where Texas was voting majority Republican suffered his reelection due to his multiple ethical gaffes in a swing district.
References

1) Curry, M. (Director) (2005). Street fight [Theater].

2) Stekler, P. (Director) (2004). Last man standing [Theater].

3) Kernell, S., Jacobson, G., & Kousser, T. (2012). The logic of american politics. (5 ed., pp. 486-531). Washington DC: CQ Press.

4) Binder, M. (2012, March). Voting and Elections. Lecture conducted from University of North Florida, Jacksonville, FL.

Similar Documents

Free Essay

Sylabus for Rhetoric

...changes will be communicated to students in writing. Course Description RHET 1302 will prepare you for college-level writing while helping you develop your critical thinking skills. Rhetoric is the study and practice of how people communicate messages, not only in writing and speech, but also through visual and digital mediums. In this class, you will develop skills to analyze the way rhetoric, in its various forms, addresses audiences. By paying attention to the strategies that good writers and speakers use to persuade their particular audiences, you will learn to reason better and to persuade others in your own writing, both through rhetorical appeals and through analysis of audience, purpose, and exigency that is at the heart of the study of rhetoric. For RHET 1302, you will read and reread texts and write multi-draft essays. Practically speaking, you will learn skills that you can use in your future course work regardless of your major. Student Learning Objectives • Students will be able to write in different ways for different audiences. • Students will be able to write effectively using appropriate organization, mechanics, and style. • Students will be able to construct effective written arguments. • Students will be able to gather, incorporate, and interpret source material in their writing. Required Texts Rosenwasser, David and Stephen, Jill. Writing Analytically with Readings. Second edition. Thomson/Wadsworth, 2011. Fall 2011 Assignments...

Words: 3351 - Pages: 14

Premium Essay

World Politics

...Writing Assignments i n World Politics Courses Thomas 0. Schlesinger Walking out of Rounds Hall with me after class, Benny, a sophomore in one of my international relations courses, asked for, and received, some pointers on the required paper. “You’ve just told me to write exactly as I’ve been taught not to write,” said he. “And who, pray tell, taught you?” asked I. He gave an over-the-shouldernod across the street, toward Ellen Reed House--the English Department. "Hmmm. . . fine--I'mnot surprised to hear they tell you something different,” I told him. “The English profs teach you to write in a generic way, say, fiction, or generically expository stuff. I want you to write a social science paper.” With some ”Hmmm-ing” of his own, Benny shuffled off, wearing a mildly annoyed and not altogether convinced frown. How dare they teach different ways to write in different departments at the same college! Benny did make an effort to heed my suggestions, but it took persistence. For example, the introduction to his first draft, included a vague Writing Across the Curriculum, Vol. 11, August 1990 35 36 Writing Across The Curriculum (August 1990) statement like: ”Conflict between Arabs and Black Africans in the Sudan is a serious problem and should be examined in greater detail. . . including its history, causes, and future.” The purpose statement I eventually settled for read more like this: ”This paper will examine social, economic, and political aspects...

Words: 2635 - Pages: 11

Premium Essay

Migrant Women Workers from Indonesia to Saudi Arabia

...migrants need our attention even more than usual. As women do not enjoy equal social (or even in household) position as men in Indonesia (local scale), they are usually been ignored by the government, both Saudi Arabian (national scale) and Indonesian governments (global scale). They are seriously abused and harass in those countries and suffer from great fear of losing their opportunity of going back to their home country as their passports have been collected by the agencies under illegal reasons. It is a shame that there are many NGOs to fight for equal gender treatment but the problem seems too broad and complicated and the leakage is not easy to fix. I argue that activist NGOs in those Southeast Asian countries have work hardly on both politics of scale and social construction of scale in from local to global scales, and they have gained more global attention by decades than before as more people and governments pay more attention on the women migrants now. It is essential to set effective labour laws to protect women (or other migrant workers) from being cheated by the agencies for false income rate and departure date, to avoid more victims to appear and do not know the effective way to contact the NGOs to help. First, I will provide a brief historical background of the rise of the activist groups and NGOs and the changes of their concerns and aspects in response to the government policies changes. As there are lots of benefits for the local workers to migrant to other country...

Words: 1218 - Pages: 5

Free Essay

Poli Sci 100

...KEY CONCEPTS Part I: Modern Politics: State and Citizens   You will find listed below the key concepts for each lecture and chapters from the text.  These concepts are what you will be tested on.  They will appear on the midterm quiz, in the form of multiple choice questions and in the final exam will be the basis of both the short answer and longer essay questions.  Please note that some of the concepts listed under lectures are also covered in the readings, sometimes in more than one chapter.    Lec. 1-2 What is Politics?    Concepts from the Lecture: Politics ‘Polis’ Plato Machiavelli Modern Age Thomas Hobbes Leviathan   Concepts from the Texts: ‘Simile of the Cave’ ‘fortuna’ philosopher-king Behavioural Approach Class Analysis Elite theory Pluralism Institutionalism ‘Power to’ vs. ‘Power over’    Lec. 3 What is the State? Concepts from the Lecture: Treaty of Westphalia Social Contract Legal-institutionalism Branches of State Levels of State Elitism Pluralism   Additional Concepts from the Texts: Night Watchman State Neo-liberal state Welfare State Liberal Democracy    Lec. 4 The State: Power, Authority, and Sovereignty   Concepts  from the Lectures and Readings: Power Authority Sovereignty Weber’s Typology of Authority Concepts from Readings: See Lec. 3 concepts   Lec. 5 Political Ideologies: Liberalism   Concepts from the Lecture Ideology Left vs. Right ideologies John Locke/ Two Treatises of Government J.S...

Words: 886 - Pages: 4

Free Essay

Shir

...BECOMING ZIMBABWE TEACHING HISTORY IN CONTEXT IN ZIMBABWE Miles Tendi Published by the Institute for Justice and Reconcilation Wynberg Mews, Ground Floor, House Vincent, 10 Brodie Road, Wynberg 7800, South Africa www.ijr.org.za © 2009 Institute for Justice and Reconciliation First Published 2009 All rights reserved. ISBN 978-1-920219-18-5 Produced by Compress.dsl www.compressdsl.com CONTENTS EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 1 CHAPTER 1: Using history 5 The uses of liberation history in Zimbabwean politics • Historical context • ZANU PF’s ‘Patriotic History’ • Patriotic History’s detractors • What is Patriotic History? • The opposition’s use of history 5 5 6 6 8 CHAPTER 2: History in secondary and higher education 11 History curriculum development in Zimbabwe’s secondary schools and higher education institutions, and the implications for reconciliation, national healing and transitional justice • The growth in education since independence • History in secondary schools • History in higher education • A review of the NASS syllabus 11 11 14 17 CHAPTER 3: Teaching history 23 Challenges of teaching history in Zimbabwe, points of contention and consensus, and future prospects • Repression in tertiary institutions • Decline in secondary schools • National youth training service centres • Reasons for optimism 23 25 25 26 CHAPTER 4: Supporting history teaching 29 Supporting secondary and higher educators, and proposals towards learning sessions, modules and activities for history...

Words: 16487 - Pages: 66

Free Essay

Political and Constituitonal Reforms in Nigeria

...Sokunbi Adetoyese Politics of Political and Constitutional Reforms in Nigeria. Andrew Heywood in his book, Global Politics (2010) identifies that politics, in its broadest sense, he defines it as the activity through which people make, preserve and amend the general rules under which they live. As such, politics is inextricably linked to the concepts of conflict and cooperation, which means politics is a social phenomenon with the characteristics of both struggle between opposing groups, parties and claims on one hand and cohesiveness, mobilization and organization on the other hand. On former hand, there is the constant existence of rival opinions, different wants, competing needs or opposing interests guarantees disagreement about the rules under which people live. Likewise on the latter hand, people recognize that in order to influence these rules or ensure that they are upheld, they must work with others, with whom they share similar needs and values. This is why we can allude the meaning of politics as the authoritative allocation of values, in which rival views or competing interests are reconciled with one another because at the art of politics is essentially to resolve conflict. In reality however, politics in this broad sense is better considered as the search for conflict resolution and not necessarily its achievement, since it is near impossible to resolve all conflict and satisfy all opposing groups especially in a multi-ethnic super diverse state...

Words: 5143 - Pages: 21

Premium Essay

Public Law

...Module: Public Law& Civil Rights ‘The Government is pledged in its manifesto to complete reform of the Lords to remove the hereditary element entirely and to reconstitute the House on a modern representative basis.’ Government White Paper (The House of Lords: Completing the Reform 2001). Consider the political and legal reasons as to why, some 13 years after stage 1 of House of Lords reform (the House of Lords Act 1999), Parliament has only now started to consider Stage 2 legislation (House of Lords Reform Bill 2012). Abstract During the past 100 years, the British government has never ceased trying to bring democracy to the House of Lords. However, having examined the reform history, one could conclude that all the reforms proposed after 1999 are not carried out as planned. This essay, therefore, attempts to provide descriptions on the major reforms of Lords proposed or implemented since 1911. It will focus particularly on discussing the main political and legal difficulties on the incompletion of reform of Lords since 1999. 1. Introduction The House of Lords has long been known as a historical curiosity of this country. Together with the Canadian Senate, the chamber remains one of the only two unelected second chambers in the modern and major democracies. Owing to the undemocratic composition of the Lords, it was reluctant to utilize its legitimate powers in the 20th century for which some local political scholars described as having ‘a little public profile...

Words: 6234 - Pages: 25

Free Essay

Plagerism

...student's papers. These services scan uploaded essays for lifted material from across the web. Many teachers require students to submit their own papers to the site before handing in a hard copy, thus eliminating tedious work for the teacher while also discouraging plagiarism since students know their work will be checked. While these websites are quite effective at catching kids who rely on copy-and-paste rather than writing, they will not catch students who hire a writer or buy unpublished content. Rely heavily on in-class material. When assigning a paper, use material from the classroom in the prompt. It is far more difficult for a hired writer to incorporate material from a class they did not attend. Instead of asking for a basic character analysis of the Montague family, ask students to compare each character to a member of the class or the school. It's highly unlikely that a would-be cheater will find material on something so specific, or a writer for hire who is familiar with your class. Makes papers a continuation of discussion. Asking students to continue a discussion from class in their papers serves two purposes. Similarly to the above suggestion, it makes plagiarizing or purchasing an essay more difficult. But more importantly, it promotes critical thinking and allows pupils to delve more deeply into classroom material. Write in class. This is probably the most effective way to curb cheating, although it does require more shuffling on the teacher's part. Instead of conducting...

Words: 1466 - Pages: 6

Premium Essay

Doc 1

...Ivarsson 1 Victor Ivarsson English 100 – 19 Professor Fisher Essay 4 – draft one December 9, 2014 Intro: The world we live in today is far more globalized than that of our previous generation. Before social media and other instant forms of communication existed, people did not need to worry about speaking a different language or the way it was spoken. Dialects and accents had little meaning because of the barriers that surrounded each community prohibited the inhabitants of much interaction with people from other societies. Today however, people can speak with each other regardless of location, which emphasizes the importance of the power of language. The negative consequences that come from this is that those who do not master a language perfectly or differ from perfect speech are discriminated against in the general community. A phenomenon, which writer Gloria Anzaldúa, who wrote the article “How to Tame a Wild Tongue,” calls “Linguistic Terrorism.” According to her, linguistic terrorism negates not only the speaker, but also the experiences and culture behind that person (Anzaldúa). Thesis: Although language can be used as a tool of power, the use of faulty and imprecise language negates the speaker and causes negative consequences. Body 1, Tan: An accent is an example of imprecise English, which causes people to make negative or positive assumptions about the speaker based on the information that accent reveals. Example: In Amy Tan´s essay “Mother Tongue...

Words: 1241 - Pages: 5

Free Essay

Orwell Essay

...Im only uploadind this because i want to get onto this site.. lol Orwell Essay Draft The highly political and literary worlds constructed from the writer George Orwell has allowed audiences to see glimpses of themselves among these worlds, as well as provoking acts of analysis and reflection within themselves, decades after these worlds and opinions were initially established. The ongoing relevance of Orwell is due to an inspiring recipe of writing greatness. Orwell’s authentic craftsmanship, directness of expression, straightforward-simple style, methodical structure, pure honesty and most importantly textual integrity, marries together with his abilities to use his context and experiences as evidence for his ideas and argument. Essentially, it is Orwell’s universal and highly relatable ideas that allow his audiences to reflect upon Orwell’s arguments, amongst their own personal contexts for decades upon decades. These ideas constructed from the literary, political and nationalistic worlds, are derived from Orwell’s famous essays, Writers and Leviathan (W&L), Why I Write (WIW), Politics and the English Language (PATEL), Notes on Nationalism (NoN) and Sporting Spirit (SS), which are still studies and read worldwide today. Through Orwell’s essays Writers and Leviathan, Why I Write, and Politics and the English Language, Orwell has been able to establish a literary world for his audience to reflect their literary views and opinions upon. Writers and Leviathan, was a response...

Words: 1847 - Pages: 8

Free Essay

Conservatism

...more likely to propose standards that decrease ‘‘reliability’’ and increase ‘‘relevance,’’ partly due to their tendency to propose fair-value methods. We find opposite results for FASB members affiliated with the Democratic Party, although only when excluding financialservices background as an independent variable. Jackknife procedures show that results are robust to omitting any individual standard setter. & 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. JEL classification: D72 D78 G18 K22 L51 M41 Keywords: Accounting FASB Politics Relevance Reliability Standard setting 1. Introduction As the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) closes in on four decades, the role of its standards in shaping U.S. and international corporate reporting is widely acknowledged. An empirical literature on the political economy of FASB standard setting has emerged over that period to explore the origins of accounting standards largely through an analysis of constituent comment-letter lobbying (e.g., Watts and Zimmerman, 1978). But such...

Words: 20500 - Pages: 82

Premium Essay

Ict Failures in Gotv for Us Presedential Elections

...Interim Report ICT use in Getting out the Vote in recent US Presidential Elections: A Tale of Two Solutions. Xxxxxxxxxxxxx (for module ISM106) December 13, 2012 Contents. 1.0 Background and Objectives………………………………………………..3 2.0 Literature Search and Methodology………………………………………4 3.0 GOTV - The Problem Domain…………………………………………….5 4.0 Timetable……………………………………………………………………7 5.0 References…………………………………………………………………..8 “Good judgment comes from experience, but a lot of that comes from bad judgment”. Will Rogers, American Humorist (1879-1935). 1.0 Background and Objectives. Getting out the vote (GOTV) is a very important activity in an election campaign. Within a typical polling precinct, campaign fieldworkers identify and confirm voters who pledge to vote for their candidate. A list of these voters is carefully compiled for each precinct, with up-to-date contact information and whether assistance is needed in getting voters to the polling station being crucial. On Election Day, campaign workers at the polling stations monitor the voters on the list and record which have voted and which have not. Great effort is then expended on contacting the “laggards” and getting them out to vote. Periodically during the day, voter turnout data is sent, through aggregation points, to campaign HQ where it updates the big picture and allows the co-ordination and refocusing of further GOTV efforts. The purpose of...

Words: 1602 - Pages: 7

Premium Essay

Australian Legal System in Context

...AUSTRALIAN LEGAL SYSTEM IN CONTEXT BLB1101 Semester 1 2014 Table of contents Topic Page number Unit rationale and learning outcomes 3 Calendars – lectures and tutorial workshops 4 Tutorial workshop exercises 5-11 Assessment information 12-23 Assessment tasks 12 Part 1 – VCAT and Applied law 12 Part 2 – VCAT and Contextual analysis 13 Hypothetical Case Studies 15 • Residential Tenancies List 15 • Planning and Environment List 18 • Anti-Discrimination list 20 Assessment criteria 22 Reading guide 24-28 Su Robertson, Unit Coordinator su.robertson@vu.edu.au 9919 1823 Unit rationale BLB1101 Australian Legal System in Context: • Provides you with a working foundation in the technical structure of Australian legal systems, using applied practical teaching and learning methods; • Exposes you to ways of making sense of Australian legal systems in a legal academic way using the themes of economics, sustainability, race and gender; • Inducts you in the ways of the lawyer, including appropriate language use and structure, ethics and legal professional behaviour, using reflective, applied and theory-based teaching and learning methods. Learning outcomes Upon successful completion of BLB1101, you will: • Be able to identify and understand the components of Australian legal systems, how these components intersect and interact, and how lawyers use these systems; • Be able to identify and use the language...

Words: 9050 - Pages: 37

Premium Essay

Nutrition

...The Impact of Media on Nutrition, Body Image, and Public Health Bio 111 Lonnie Burt, MS, RO, CD-N Shannon Oliver March 3, 2012 Draft for Research Paper When it comes to health the first person who is expected to guide nutritional diets should be a healthcare professional. However, over time in lieu of that healthcare professional the television box and magazines have been the guideline to a healthier lifestyle. Not only has these media outlets been a guideline, it has also been an illustration of how the ideal body shape should be. The media has also acted as the source of distraction, distress, and illusions, therefore being counterproductive to the same purpose which it served in the nutritional aspect. The distraction is shown in the obesity rates in children ages 12 and under who are unable to detach themselves from the TV screen, therefore refusing to be active. Distress is shown between the young adults between 12 and 20 battling with anorexia nervosa and/or bulimia. The illusions are counted by the number of diets being falsely advertised to manipulate people into thinking there is a way to lose 30 pounds in 3 weeks. The mass media has an overwhelming effect on our everyday lives because of the power and ubiquity that has been gained over time. The direct correlation between media and nutrition along with body image are shown to effect people through eating disorders, poor nutritional health, and obesity. The Impact of Media on Nutrition, Body Image, and Public...

Words: 586 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

Position Paper

...Position paper From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia A position paper is an essay that presents an opinion about an issue, typically that of the author or another specified entity; such as a political party. Position papers are published in academia, in politics, in law and other domains. Position papers range from the simplest format of a letter to the editor through to the most complex in the form of an academic position paper. Position papers are also used by large organizations to make public the official beliefs and recommendations of the group. In academia Position papers in academia enable discussion on emerging topics without the experimentation and original research normally present in an academic paper. Commonly, such a document will substantiate the opinions or positions put forward with evidence from an extensive objective discussion of the topic. In politics Position papers are most useful in contexts where detailed comprehension of another entity's views is important; as such, they are commonly used by political campaigns, government organizations, in the diplomatic world, and in efforts to change values (e.g. through public service announcements) and organisational branding. They are also an important part of the Model United Nations process. In government, a position paper lies somewhere between a white paper and a green paper in that they affirm definite opinions and propose solutions but may not go so far as detailing specific plans for implementation...

Words: 1657 - Pages: 7