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3C and 4C Government and Politics 2016

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Original post by MelissaaC
That sounds really good!


it was kinda waffly but i feel good abt it
Reply 641
Original post by Anonymous_18
Oh no!:frown:

I didn't write any of that! I wrote about increased partisanship and its effects, foreign policy - "congress sleeping on the job", checks and balances to show they are still effective to some extent


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I did pretty much the same as you too!

Uhh, 3C was better for me than this. Guess I'll have to wait till results day, screw politics now lol.

Good luck to everyone!
Original post by Pato1
PREDICTIONS

Constitution 15 Markers:
How are Constitutional rights protected in the US?
How checks and balances between president and congress work
What is the Bill of rights and how important is it?

Constitution 45 Markers:
'The constitutional system of checks and balances is a threat to an effective Government' Discuss.

(They've never put in a Federalism 45 Marker so I would do a brief page of notes of how the role of the state has increased/decreased just in case though I'm not expecting it to be a 45)

Congress 15 Markers:
What factors affect voting in Congress?
Why do only a small amount of bills proposed in Congress become laws?
Why are standing committees important in Congress?

Congress 45 Markers:
'Congress no longer has a significant role in foreign policy.' Discuss

President 15 Markers:
How much power does the president have over the legislative process?
What checks exist on the power of federal bureaucracy?
Why has the scope and size of federal bureaucracy grown in recent years?

President 45 Markers
'An imperial president' to what extent has this been true of the Obama administration
'Bargainer-in-chief' how accurate is this view of the president?

Supreme Court 15 Markers:
Factors which affect the appointment of Supreme court justices
How effective have the Supreme Court been at protecting 1st amendment rights?
Explain the checks on the Supreme Court

Supreme Court 45 Markers: ( I don't expect a 45 for S.C.)
How effectively have civil rights and liberties been protected by the Supreme Court?


you are amazing thank fck for ur existence
Reply 643
Bargainer in chief = Power of persuasion question
if i didn't put enough examples in will i get marked down a lot?
Could anyone telI me if i've done a load wrong or not? i did;
15 marker on the vice-president (how powerful were Dick Cheney and Biden)
1. Both balanced ticket/strong links with Obama/Bush
2. increased power as federal expansion e.g Cheney given foreign policy power
3. 50-50 deadlock in Senate 2000 allowed Cheney to have 8 votes..
4. Both had previous washington/congressional experience

15 marker on amendment process advantages and disadvantages;
1. Good as protects rights from short term government - but doesnt always, shown by prohibition.
2. Good as vague allows evolution e.g necessary and proper clause - but power to undemocratic Judiciary.

15 marker on assess the limits on the supreme court;
1. no enforcement power
2. not proactive
3. ( cant remember)
4. but judicial review relatively uncheckable

45 marker - TWE is the power of persuasion the president's most important power?

Yes - uses pork barreling in congress for domestic legislation e.g Bernie Sanders for Obama care
but - use executive orders, more important.
Yes- uses majority leaders and speaker to "whip" people into vote for foreign policy e.g in Senate over Start Treaty (said some bs over vote to enter Afghanistan which i think was wrong)
but - use executive actions more important
Yes- need to persuade for nominations
but - use recess appointments
Yes- use bully pullpit e.g Obama crying over gun control New deal etc..
i didnt get to do an evaluation :/

Conclusion, it is an important power to get party factions e.g blue dogs to vote with he party, but many more significant powers that are uncheckable.
If I only did one paragraph on power of persuasion talking about pork barrel spending, then did another 4-5 paragraphs talking about other powers is this the correct way to answer then question?
Reply 647
Decisions under Roberts Court that's affected Public policy:

Obergefell vs Hodges -> gay marriages
Shelby Country vs Holder -> State voting procedures
DC vs Heller -> legal to possess handguns

Explain the advantages and disadvantages of the process ofamending the constitution.

Advantages include:
the principles of the constitution are safeguarded from short-livedpopular sentiment• the fact that 27 amendments have passed shows that amendment ispossible
it works the US constitution is the world’s oldest functioning example

Disadvantages include
the constitution can become ‘fossilised’ and reforms many regard asdesirable e.g. to Senate representation and the Electoral College, oradditional rights, such as the Equal Rights Amendment - are nearimpossible to achieve
the difficulty of updating the constitution has encouraged the SupremeCourt to assume this role
there are uncertainties in the procedure, e.g. the length of timerequired to secure a ¾ majority of the state legislation
Original post by SarahAstill98
Did anyone do the constitutional rights question? Feel like I messed up by mainly talking about the supreme court


yeah i did what were your arguments ? I tried to balance my points for the 3 branches of government
What did people write for the amendment question?
+ timing and therefore allows amendments to be checked properly
- timing: too long and hardly any amendments made
- power given to congress and state legislatures therefore undemocratic?

What did people write for the limitations on sC power?

Limitations - checks and balances (2 big paragraphs)

Not limited - due to judicial review, it is a quasi legislative body and has important say on controversial issues

Is this right?:frown:


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Reply 650
Why is Persuasion the most important power:

Needs to persuade congress to get laws passed
Needs to persuade congress to ratify treaties
Needs to persuade his office to execute laws

Not most important/not important:
Veto
Executive agreements means he doesnt need to persuade to use Veto
Executive orders means he doesn't need to persuade people to vote
He is Chief Executive; he chooses his own cabinet officers.
He is Commander in Chief; war powers act has become useless.
Reply 651
Original post by SlimShady96
If I only did one paragraph on power of persuasion talking about pork barrel spending, then did another 4-5 paragraphs talking about other powers is this the correct way to answer then question?


I don't think 1 para will be enough, it reduces synoptic style of exam. You kind of need a persuasion comparison throughout the exam, though of course you need to talk about other powers too
Reply 652
Limitations of SCOTUS power:
- Legal process. Judges can only decide matters that are brought to them in the formof legal cases and will not offer advisory opinions.
Court traditions. Judges only consider cases where their decision will make a realdifference i.e. cases in which affect a considerable number of people and it isclaimed that considerable harm has been caused.
Lack of Enforcement Power. President Jackson said, “John Marshall has made hisdecision, now let him enforce it”. Since, there have been many examples of theCourt’s decisions being ignored or actively resisted, such as the refusal by southernStates to end racial segregation in the 1950’s and 60’s.
Public opinion. Striking down New Deal legislation in the 1930’s created theimpression that the Judges were out of touch with ordinary people which underminedthe Court’s status
Congress can alter the number of judges on the Court, which was successfully used asa threat when the Court was striking down New Deal legislation in the 1930’s
Supreme Court judgements can be over-turned by a constitutional amendment eg the16th Amendment was passed as a result of a Supreme Court declaration that a federalincome tax was unconstitutional
Congress can modify laws which have been declared unconstitutional so that, despitea Supreme court ruling, a law continues to apply in an altered form
Good luck to everybody with other exams! I'm just thankful politics is over now. Well done to us all haha:tongue:
Reply 654
For limitations of Supreme Court, being nominated by president and confirmed by senate isn't right, right?
Reply 655
Hey did any of you did the 45 marker on " 'the three branches of government failed to protect the constitutional rights' discuss." ? What did you say?
Advantages and disadvantages of amendments - Couldn't think of a huge amount to write for this one but I talked about how the difficulty of the process meant that constitutional values are protected and the government of the day can't make huge changes.
Also that it promotes federalism because of the involvement of both state and federal governments in the process.
However it makes change too hard to occur because even if there is widespread support (used example of gun control after Orlando) for an amendment, the polarisation of Congress prevents amendments from passing.

Limitations on Supreme Court - Talked about formal checks such as those of the President and Congress like the fact that the President appoints its members, Congress can impeach them and make amendments etc. Then countered by saying that they are not accountable to the President even though he appoints them, Souter was appointed by Bush because of abortion views but turned out to be very liberal - voted for abortion in Planned Parenthood v Casey.
Then talked about informal checks such as they can't initiate cases and have no enforcement power - the lack of enforcement was shown by the fact that several states defunded Planned Parenthood after the Casey verdict. Countered this by saying that they often are enforced such as with Eisenhower sending troops to desegregate little rock high school after Brown v Board of Education of Topeka. Also the initiation thing is true but when a case does come to the Court they often set a precedent such as defining the right to bear arms as an individual as well as collective in D.C. v Heller.

Why is the Senate seen as superior in status and power - Talked about the more significant exclusive powers of ratifying treaties and confirming appointments and the more important role the Senate plays in impeachment (trialling). Then about the fact that Senators are 1 of 100 and represent a whole state, have greater name recognition and serve 6 rather than 2 year terms. This contributes to them being seen as having a higher status and also power wise because a vote of 1/100 is greater than that of 1/435. Third point was that Senate members frequently go on to become Presidents, and VPs. Obama and Biden both former Senators, as were McCain and Palin and the current Democrat nominee Hillary Clinton. Also that many House members seek election to the Senate but not the reverse, shows that the Senate is often seen as higher up the political ladder.
what was everyones points for the president persuasion question?
For the 45 I did the power of persuasion being the most important

Getting the President's policy passed - President must try to deliver on campaign promises but this is dependent on his success to persuade Congress. Example of failed persuasion was immigration reform which was rejected by Congress. Example of successful persuasion was GOP Senators to vote for the Economic Stimulus Package to prevent fillibuster. Therefore persuasion is the most important because without it his policy can't pass through Congress.

Counter was that he has the power to sign executive orders which effectively bypass Congress. Did this with immigration reform after it failed to go through Congress, however persuasion is still the most important because if he abuses executive orders then Congress can defund them as they threatened to do to the Department of Homeland Security with the immigration thing.

Foreign policy - President must persuade Congress to authorise any military action according to the War Powers Act. This was the case when Obama had to ask Congress to authorise military action in IS which they did.

Counter was that this doesn't always happen in reality - Obama bypassed Congress and acted with unilateral power with Libya and did not ask Congress for authorisation showing that he is not just limited to persuasion. But persuasion is most important because he is still reliant on Congress' power of the purse so if he doesn't ask for authorisation they could stop funding the military action, Libya was just an exception because it was a crisis.

Agenda - President has national agenda while Congress members have their own agenda, shown by the GOP voting against Obamacare because they had an agenda from their constituents to vote against increases in the Federal budget. Therefore Obama failed to persuade them and was essentially powerless.

Counter was that if Congress tries to pass their own agenda too heavily and President disagrees then he can veto any legislation passed by Congress, as he did with the Keystone pipline. But persuasion is the most important because Congress can override his veto with 2/3 majority in both houses.

Treaties - President has to persuade Congress to ratify any treaties he signs, Clinton failed to do so with the Comprehensive Test Ban that the Senate rejected, therefore persuasion is the most important in this area because otherwise the President can not get treaties ratified.

Counter was that he can sign executive agreements, these are like treaties but require no ratification so he can bypass Congress, Obama did this with the Paris climate change agreement. Also the President is not limited by Congress in his role as the chief diplomat so he can make verbal agreements and affect relations with countries without Congress having a say. However persuasion is the most important because this is all reliant on public support for his actions.

(Was going to also have a point about the federal bureaucracy but didn't have time)

Concluded that persuasion is the most important power because without it the President is limited to arguably controversial methods like executive orders and agreements and so for the President to be truly powerful he must use the power of persuasion well.
Original post by Tezcatlipoca12
For the 45 I did the power of persuasion being the most important

Getting the President's policy passed - President must try to deliver on campaign promises but this is dependent on his success to persuade Congress. Example of failed persuasion was immigration reform which was rejected by Congress. Example of successful persuasion was GOP Senators to vote for the Economic Stimulus Package to prevent fillibuster. Therefore persuasion is the most important because without it his policy can't pass through Congress.

Counter was that he has the power to sign executive orders which effectively bypass Congress. Did this with immigration reform after it failed to go through Congress, however persuasion is still the most important because if he abuses executive orders then Congress can defund them as they threatened to do to the Department of Homeland Security with the immigration thing.

Foreign policy - President must persuade Congress to authorise any military action according to the War Powers Act. This was the case when Obama had to ask Congress to authorise military action in IS which they did.

Counter was that this doesn't always happen in reality - Obama bypassed Congress and acted with unilateral power with Libya and did not ask Congress for authorisation showing that he is not just limited to persuasion. But persuasion is most important because he is still reliant on Congress' power of the purse so if he doesn't ask for authorisation they could stop funding the military action, Libya was just an exception because it was a crisis.

Agenda - President has national agenda while Congress members have their own agenda, shown by the GOP voting against Obamacare because they had an agenda from their constituents to vote against increases in the Federal budget. Therefore Obama failed to persuade them and was essentially powerless.

Counter was that if Congress tries to pass their own agenda too heavily and President disagrees then he can veto any legislation passed by Congress, as he did with the Keystone pipline. But persuasion is the most important because Congress can override his veto with 2/3 majority in both houses.

Treaties - President has to persuade Congress to ratify any treaties he signs, Clinton failed to do so with the Comprehensive Test Ban that the Senate rejected, therefore persuasion is the most important in this area because otherwise the President can not get treaties ratified.

Counter was that he can sign executive agreements, these are like treaties but require no ratification so he can bypass Congress, Obama did this with the Paris climate change agreement. Also the President is not limited by Congress in his role as the chief diplomat so he can make verbal agreements and affect relations with countries without Congress having a say. However persuasion is the most important because this is all reliant on public support for his actions.

(Was going to also have a point about the federal bureaucracy but didn't have time)

Concluded that persuasion is the most important power because without it the President is limited to arguably controversial methods like executive orders and agreements and so for the President to be truly powerful he must use the power of persuasion well.


this looks very very good to me

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