...Expansion of Medicare under Bush: What is medicare? Medicare is a social insurance programme for over 65s who have worked and paid into the system and for under 65s who suffer from several disabilities and conditions. It is administered by 30 private companies across the nation and was used by 48 million Americans in 2010, providing them with health assistance when needed. How did Bush expand it and what was the effect on the federal - state relationship? George Bush expanded Medicare throughout his terms in office with various increases in spending and acts with his Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003 being of great significance. It was set to cost $400 billion in its first 10 years, a huge expansion of federal spending and of a federal programme introduced by Democratic president Johnson in 1965 which was seen as a huge increase in the size and role of the federal government compared to the state governments. This can be proven by the opposition faced by Bush by conservatives within his own party in Congress with 25 republicans voting against the act in the House and 9 senators opposing it in the senate, causing Bush to rely on sympathetic democrats to support it. This shows just how far it was from the traditional republican view to federalism and Reagan’s ‘New Federalism’. Expansion of Medicaid under Obama: What is medicaid? starting in the 1980s, Medicaid is similar medicare in the sense that it is a social insurance...
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...The Battle for Ethical Politics In America Each decade brings about important events that shaped and affected the political status in the United States. The exploration of the effects of McCarthyism on the Cold War shows the evolution of the political tone in the United States. The United States’ political control over Communist takeover was elevated until approximately midway through the Vietnam War. At which time, the United States’ involvement in Vietnam and the fight against communism was questioned. Following this period, the threat of socialism seemed to diminish, and Watergate caused many people to distrust political officials. When this scandal finally settled down, a new leadership brought about the biggest change in the Cold War since its inception, and a new respect for political power. Senator Joseph McCarthy: Fight Against Communism After World War II, the threat of Communist takeover was real. By 1949, Communists took control of Eastern Europe and Asia, and by 1950, China had succumbed to Communist rule (Davidson, Gienapp, Heyrman, Lytle, & Stoff, 2005, p. 812). The United States’ involvement in the fight to save China, led some Republicans to believe the Democrats let the Communists win (Davidson, Gienapp, Heyrman, Lytle, & Stoff, 2005, p. 813). To further complicate matters, in 1949, the trial of Alger Hiss, the man accused of selling secrets to the Russians in the 1930s, was convicted for lying about his association with known Communist, Whittaker...
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...Latin American Politics and DevelopmentThe Cold War, the Cuban Revolution, the spread of guerilla warfare and the doctrine of National Security in Latin America | During World War II, the United States and the Soviet Union fought together as allies against the Axis powers. However, the relationship between the two nations was a tense one. Americans had long been wary of Soviet communism and concerned about Russian leader Joseph Stalin’s tyrannical rule of his own country. For their part, the Soviets resented the Americans’ decades-long refusal to treat the USSR as a legitimate part of the international community as well as their delayed entry into World War II, which resulted in the deaths of tens of millions of Russians. After the war ended, these grievances ripened into an overwhelming sense of mutual distrust and enmity. Post-war Soviet expansionism in Eastern Europe fuelled many Americans’ fears of a Russian plan to control the world. Meanwhile, the USSR came to resent what they perceived as American officials’ rhetoric, arms build-up and interventionist approach to international relations. By the time World War II ended, most American officials agreed that the best defence against the Soviet threat was a strategy called “containment.” In 1946, in his famous “Long Telegram,” the diplomat George Kennan explained this policy, The Soviet Union, he wrote, was “a political force committed fanatically to the belief that with the U.S. there can be no permanent modus vivendi...
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...To what extent does racism continue to be an issue in US politics? In this essay I will assess whether racism still continues in US politics today. There is one side that believes that racism still continues in US politics and that discrimination against race and ethnicity is a big problem. However there is another side that argues that America is no longer racist and that race and ethnicity is no longer an issue in American politics. Neither of the sides will ever agree on one side. My first point that racism continues to be an issue in US politics is education. African Americans cannot get the same grades as white Americans without having to work twice as hard due to the racism that is attached to them. An example of this is that total for students in 2006 department of education, 37% of African Americans were suspended and 58% expulsion, with such high levels of African Americans subject to punish it is clear to see that racism does still continue in the US. However many would argue that American education is not racist through many African Americans getting certificates and highly paid jobs as seen with Obama being president. An example of this in action can be viewed in 2000 86.8% of African Americans achieved a high school certificate compared to 1960 where only 39% achieved one, this shows that racism is no longer a problem in US politics and is a thing of the past. My second point is the issue of racism post 9/11. Stigma is attached to minority groups because of what...
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...American politics in different media An essay written by Emil Holte. As the headline articulates this essay would be about American politics in different medias. This essay will discuss the representation of American politics in three different medias. The media consists of books, TV-series and Cartoons. To be more specific it is, America – A Citizen’s Guide to Democracy Inaction (chapter 6), House of Cards and a cartoon with Obama and Romney. These three medias do all somehow have a common representation of American politics or American politicians. What do they have in common and where do they differentiate from each other? The common thing all three different medias are representing is the overall opinion of the American politician and American politics in general. The book, America – A Citizen’s Guide to Democracy Inaction (chapter 6), is deeper in the “theoretical” aspect than the other two. But you should not be fooled by the word theoretical. The book does describe the American politics and the politicians, but it is in a very informal and sarcastic approach. The sixth chapter describes campaigns and elections and therefore also how the American politician acts. It tells basic facts about American politics but with a twist of a subjective and sarcastically opinion. As an example “Initially, the process of conducting campaigns and holding elections was conceived as a means to an end – the peaceful transfer of power.”. Later on in the same passage “Today, running for...
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...more influential towards shaping America’s politics than domestic affairs. . First off, the foreign affairs that affected American politics during 1790 through 1816 was majorly from the European nations. The first major foreign event in the 1790s was the Proclamation of Neutrality. France was at war with Britain, so France requested United States to help them. As a result, a cabinet meeting was set up where Thomas Jefferson went against Alexander...
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...as growing inequality, specifically in America, has been well publicized and largely ignored. So it seems that even 5 years after its initial publication, Winner-Take-All Politics by Jacob Hacker and Paul Pierson relevant in its criticism of American politics. As America drags itself out of the worst economic recession since The Great Depression, we are constantly reminded that the American economy is once again on the rise, yet so it would seem that the average American is unaware. “The Thirty Year War” as Hacker and Pierson dubbed it has continued, and increased its...
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...As a citizen, to be represented in American government means to have a say in politics. Without representation, America is not truly for the people or by the people. Women are atleast half of the population in America and to never have a woman President shows that it is time for a change for the better. As children, girls need to see women in all occupations so they can grow up knowing they can truly be anything they want to be. The United States are called united for a reason. All the states are together, working as one country. Although wished for, women and men are not united on the side of politics. Nearly 50 countries have had a female as a leader in their history, yet America is not one. Although a President should not be chosen...
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...everyone stands to salute the flag, they feel proud to serve this country. Until they see one of the players on his favorite team not saluting the flag, but sitting during the national anthem! He is astonished. Why is he not respecting the flag? This has gone through many minds, soldier and non, when someone protests the flag. This should not happen. The anthem is a time for respect and patriotism, nothing else. Hence, athletes have gone too far targeting the flag. Athletes have gone too far because the anthem is meant for patriotism and not an opinion on politics, we are saluting our country and not our politics, and Kaepernick should have had a different target....
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...Gabriel Laurencin Jr Political Science Assignment VI April 17, 2015 The last three months of college have offered me opportunity to learn and understand the science that is involved in politics. Politics can be simplified into smaller components and an easier understanding by studying how it works and the systems of which they operate. This is what we call a social science. According to Britannica Encyclopedia Political science is a social science discipline that deals with systems of government and the analysis of political activity and political behavior. It deals extensively with the theory and practice of politics which is commonly thought of as the determining of the distribution of power and resources. When I started the political science class my views on politics were negative. Negative in the sense that I wanted little to do with politics. My view of politics was a form of corruption were citizens were robbed. My recent studies of the political science have changed my views, interest, and expectations of politics. Growing up in the Virgin Islands my generation has heard and seen very little positive talks about politics. My definition of politics before my political science class was fairly simple. I thought politics were a group or an entity of elected officials that controlled government money. I learned that I was not one 100% right but there was way more to that one simple word. The very first thing that political science made me understand is the importance...
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...Religion and Politics and the effect of religion in America For a virtuous instance of how religion affects politics in our current world we need not look very distant but rather look around you. The influence of Catholicism on Latin American politics, and the role religion plays on Middle Eastern politics have had a profound affect in those related societies. After examining the effects of religion into the above mentioned societies it is clear that the introduction of religion into politics has proven to be suppressive and counterproductive to most third world countries, and various subcultures in first world countries. A very well known writer and scholar on the history of Egypt, Budge, E. A. Wallis, "Egyptian Religion and Society: Egyptian Ideas of the Future Life (Library of the Mystic Arts)". Citadel Press. August 1, 1991. Wrote, “Most scholars have concluded that, in later times at least, there was no close personal tie between the individual Egyptian and the gods, that the gods remained aloof, that their relationship to humans was indirect, communicated to him by means of the king”. We must remember that there was no established book or set of teachings, as the Bible or the Qur'an, and few prescribed conditions of behavior or conduct. Humans were guided essentially by human wisdom and trusted in their belief in the goodness of the gods and of their divine son, the king. An important concept in Egyptian life was the idea of justice. Although the Egyptian was entirely...
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...millennials and younger people better than Bernie Sanders. Clinton attempts to connect but fails miserably. This fact is seen by her trying to use just emojis in Twitter posts. Bernie Sanders promises a brighter future for younger people. He does this by promising three things: getting big money out of politics, Medicare for all, and income and wealth equality. Getting big money out of politics is a huge deal, especially considering the state that politics is in right now. Six years ago in, Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, the Supreme Court decided to give the right to own the government over to the wealthy. This decision made corrupt politics ever more corrupt. We now live in a country dominated by the wealthy, but this was not how America was established. We live in a country based on democracy. Right now, the only way to participate in our country’s politics is to have big pockets or wealthy contributors. This needs to be changed. Everybody deserves a shot. The government and Congress are no longer working for the average American. Medicare for all is one of Sanders’s most ambitious projects but could prove to be his most vital. Bernie’s proposal is for all of America, not just the upper class, millionaires, and billionaires. A person should not have a...
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...to migrate to the New World. With years of wars, famine, and religious persecution in Ireland, these people came to America to build a new life. Not afraid of hard work the Irish came and built a life they could be proud of; although the Irish American believes that they have been victim of discrimination. NINA ‘No Irish Need Apply’ and WASP ‘White Anglo Saxon Protestant’ is and ingrained belief that the Irish American’s “remember” (Jenson, 2004). Another current issue is the unjust treatment of the Irish seeking political asylum in the United States (McElrath, 1997). The first Irish immigrants came in the 1580s to the Carolinas long before the founding of the United States of America. It is believed that possibly hundreds of thousands of Protestant Irish immigrated in these early years. This is contrary to the urban myth of the Irish Catholic American origins (Meagher, 2009). The next big migration of Irish to America was in the 1700s to 1820s. These immigrants assimilated easily into the American way of life as most prospered at a rate that could not have been conceived in Ireland. “Nearly half of General Washington’s continental arm, including 1492 officers and 22 generals, were of Irish descent” (American Immigration law Foundation, 2001, p. 1). Even with the influx of Irish throughout early history of America, the peck of Irish migration to America came in the mid-1800’s. This time in Ireland is known as ‘The Great Potato Famine’ when in 1845 a fungus decimated...
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...Gun Control in America Gun Control in America has led to many deaths nationwide. Every day we lose thousands of people lives that have been killed by guns. This whole gun control system that we have today in america has not seem to decrease the violence but increase it, since many criminals find a way to get a hold of a firearm. The gun violence we are having is created because of the lack of politics being careless for their people's safety, by the regulations on gun control, and how criminals have access to guns. The law was introduced back in 1934 when the federal government started its gun control policies in order to stop gang violence which was called the National Firearms Act of 1934. Ever since then it has not helped stop the violence and it seems that the issue has grown over the years and it is now a major problem. When the issue really struct the people was when there was school shootings, which really impacts america by making the school safety a failure since criminals enter heavily armed to a school campus.One major school shooting was “two high school teens Eric Harris, 18 and Dylan Klebolod, 17 had killed 13 people and wounded 20 more before commiting suicide on April 20, 1999 at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado” (History.com staff). The crime was...
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...the electoral system provides? Britain and America are quite commonly known as first world countries (highly developed countries) and they are known to be the most powerful countries in the world. Britain and America practice the same type of electoral system that is first past the post. Their political system is large and intense mainly due to the size of the countries. As mention in the book Introduction to comparative politics: poltical challenges and changing agenda( fifth edition) ,Britain have a democratic parliamentary government headed by a Monarch and Prime minister and on the other hand the US (America) has a Presidential system and a Federal government with power share between the National government and fifty (50) states government. Both America and Britain have a bicameral system. In Britain, the Heads of state and Heads of Government are different in the role they play in that the monarch (which is the queen) and also the Head of state is responsible for mainly ceremonial duties, the Prime minister (Head of government) looks after the day to day affairs of the government. Any decision that is made needs the queen approval. In America, the president carries out both the duties of the Head of State as well as the Head of Government. America has a written constitution whereas Britain doesn’t have any rather they have a set of laws and principle that deal with regulating the populace and running the government. America has a Congress with a Senate and a House of...
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