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2. POL 201 Entire Course (Ash) POL 201 Week 1 DQ 1 Separation of Powers Checks and Balances (Ash) • POL 201 Week 1 DQ 1 Separation of Powers Checks and Balances • POL 201 Week 1 DQ 2 Amending the U.S. Constitution • POL 201 Week 2 DQ 1 Policy-making in the Federal System • POL 201 Week 2 DQ 2 Meet Your Rep • POL 201 Week 2 Short Essay - Policy-making in the Federal System • POL 201 Week 3 DQ 1 Presidential Leadership and the Electoral College • POL 201 Week 3 DQ 2 Defense Spending and the Military-Industrial Complex • POL 201 Week 4 DQ 1 The Supreme Court and Judicial Review • POL 201 Week 4 DQ 2 Habeas Corpus and the War on Terror • POL 201 Week 5 DQ 1 Party Platforms and Winning Elections • POL 201 Week 5 DQ 2 Voting and Turnout • Separation of Powers/Checks and Balances. For much of 2011 and 2012, public dissatisfaction with Congress rose to all time highs, with 70-80% expressing disapproval with how Congress does its job. Many commentators note that Americans are fed up with Washington "grid-lock" that makes government apparently unable to address important problems. Other observers believe that the national government is acting according to its design, based on separation of powers and checks and balances. POL 201 GENIUS Help Peer Educator/ pol201geniusthelpdotcom

3. POL 201 Week 1 DQ 2 Amending the U.S. Constitution (Ash) POL 201 Week 2 DQ 1 Policy-making in the Federal System (Ash) • Amending the U.S. Constitution. The formal process of amending the Constitution is cumbersome and slow. While this fact explains why relatively few amendments have been adopted, it does not discourage advocates of constitutional change from proposing them. Four amendment proposals that have gained considerable attention are the Balanced Budget Amendment, the Birthright Citizenship Amendment, the Equal Rights Amendment, and the Overturn Citizens United Amendment. Selectone of these proposals as the topic of your initial post and use the assigned resources to inform yourself about its purpose and the arguments of its supporters and critics. • Policy-making in the Federal System. The U.S. government's expansive role in public policy is caught in a swirl of conflicting cross-currents. On the one hand, popular expectations about government's responsibility to solve problems often exceed the capacity of state and local authorities to respond effectively. On the other hand, policies developed at the national level may not sufficiently reflect the great diversity of interests across the U.S. to be effective at the local level. Moreover, the search for POL 201 GENIUS Help Peer Educator/ pol201geniusthelpdotcom

4. POL 201 Week 2 DQ 2 Meet Your Rep (Ash) POL 201 Week 2 Short Essay - Policy-making in the Federal System (Ash) • Meet Your Rep. The Constitution states, "The House of Representatives shall be composed of Members chosen every second Year by the People of the several States..." (Art. I, Sec. 2). Contrast this with the original constitutional language for the other house of Congress, "The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senators from each State, chosen by the Legislature thereof for six Years..." (Art. I, Sec. 3). The phrase "chosen by the Legislature" was changed to "elected by the people" by the 17th Amendment, but not until 1912. In other words, from the beginning the House of Representatives was intended to be exactly what its name suggests –representative of the people. (Note that in 2010 the Tea Party, and some Republican politicians, called for repeal of the 17th Amendment, eliminating the popular vote for Senators. While most Republican politicians have backed away from that view, many Tea Party chapters continue to demand its repeal.) • Short Essay – Policy-making in the Federal System. The U.S. government's expansive role in public policy is caught in a swirl of conflicting cross-currents. On the one hand, popular expectations about government's responsibility to solve problems often exceed the capacity of state and local authorities to respond effectively. On the other hand, policies developed at the national level may not sufficiently reflect the great diversity of interests across the U.S. to be effective at the local level. Moreover, the search for effective policy is further complicated by theoretical debates about the constitutional framework of federalism, e.g., what limits on national power can be derived from the 10th Amendment? POL 201 GENIUS Help Peer Educator/ pol201geniusthelpdotcom

5. POL 201 Week 3 DQ 1 Presidential Leadership and the Electoral College (Ash) POL 201 Week 3 DQ 2 Defense Spending and the Military-Industrial Complex (Ash) • Presidential Leadership and the Electoral College. Americans expect their presidents to get things done, to solve problems, to govern effectively, and to be strong leaders. The framers of the Constitution did not envision such presidential leadership. A scholar of the presidency points out that Article II of the • Defense Spending and the Military-Industrial Complex. Levin-Waldman (2012, pp. 186-89) analyzes how "iron triangles" link Congress, the bureaucracy, and interest groups in self-serving relationships that influence policy in ways that are contrary to the public interest. In 1961, at the end of President Eisenhower's second term, he gave a farewell address to the nation in which he warned of the dangers of a "military-industrial complex." Many commentators today see the military-industrial complex as an example of an iron triangle that bloats the defense budget and distorts national priorities. Not everyone would accept this analysis, however, especially defense "hawks" in Congress, the military bureaucracies, and defense industries. POL 201 GENIUS Help Peer Educator/ pol201geniusthelpdotcom

6. POL 201 Week 4 DQ 1 The Supreme Court and Judicial Review (Ash) POL 201 Week 4 DQ 2 Habeas Corpus and the War on Terror (Ash) • The Supreme Court and Judicial Review. In a recent lecture at Yale University, Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer cautioned that while most citizens assume that judicial review is an enduring part of American government, judges should not take it for granted. He advises that if judges wish to preserve this undemocratic power they should follow a judicial philosophy that will "build confidence in the courts" (Breyer, 2011). Justice Breyer goes on to describe the kind of judicial philosophy he has in mind. However, some of his colleagues on the Supreme Court would reject his ideas about what philosophy should guide judges. • Habeas Corpus and the War on Terror. Soon after the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan in 2001, the Bush administration developed a plan for holding and interrogating prisoners captured during the conflict. They were sent to a prison inside a U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay on land leased from the government of Cuba. Since 2002, over 700 men have been detained at "GITMO." Most have been released without charges or turned over to other governments. In 2011, Congress specifically prohibited the expenditure of funds to transfer GITMO prisoners to detention facilities in the continental United States, making it virtually impossible to try them in civilian courts. As of April 2012, 169 remained in detention at GITMO (Sutton, 2012). POL 201 GENIUS Help Peer Educator/ pol201geniusthelpdotcom

7. POL 201 Week 5 DQ 1 Party Platforms and Winning Elections (Ash) POL 201 Week 5 DQ 2 Voting and Turnout (Ash) • Party Platforms and Winning Elections. Political parties mobilize voters to win elections and implement policy goals. Parties use their stated policy goals (i.e., their platforms) as a way to mobilize voter support. Generally, in order to be successful in a two-party system, parties must have policy goals across a broad range of issue areas to appeal to a broad range of voters. • For this discussion, you will identify one issue area that you want investigate. Use the resources required for this discussion to gather information about the goals and proposals, in that issue area, of three political parties – the Democratic and Republican parties and a third party. • Voting and Turnout. The U.S. has one of the lowest voter turnout rates among modern democratic political systems. One study ranks the U.S. 120th on a list of 169 nations compared on voter turnout (Pintor, Gratschew, & Sullivan, 2002). While during the last decade many initiatives have been undertaken to increase voter participation, concerns about the possibility of election fraud have also increased. Additionally, some political interests feel threatened by the increase in turnout among some traditionally low-turnout ethnic minorities. POL 201 GENIUS Help Peer Educator/ pol201geniusthelpdotcom

8. POL 201 Week 5 Final Paper Civil Liberties, Habeas Corpus, and the War on Terror (Ash) • The final assignment for this course is a Final Paper. The purpose of the Final Paper is to give you an opportunity to apply much of what you have learned about American national government to an examination of civil liberties in the context of the war on terror. The Final Paper represents 20% of the overall course grade. POL 201 GENIUS Help Peer Educator/ pol201geniusthelpdotcom

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