Good Morning Citizens!
Today:1.Media – Finish
Merchants of Cool1.Discussion
2.Citizens United 3.Campaign ads vs.
debates
Citizens United Citizens United was a Supreme Court Decision which declared that Corporations
had the same rights to free speech as individuals.
And that Money = Speech
Thus – Corporations can, through Super Pacs, spend unlimited amounts of money on political campaigns.
Now, there are campaign finance laws and limits that you can spend giving to political campaigns.
BUT
Because of Citizens United, Unions, Corporations and Wealthy Individuals can form Super Pacs to create campaign ads on the their own, allegedly separate from the official political campaign. They DO NOT have to reveal where their money comes
from.
+ vs. - Campaign Ads What works best?
Cost of the 2012
election: ?
Debates vs Commercials
First – Highlights from the second presidential debate
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-19973295
65.6 million viewers
How are debates commissioned? How might debates be improved?
Criticisms of debates? Debates vs. commercials?
Happy Tuesday Friends
Today:1. Voting2. Electoral College 3. Maps of the Electorate
HW: Research Paper Due Block Day. Please email me or see me if you need help finding resources to use in your paper.
Voting in the U.S. Age – 18 – U.S. Citizen
Registered to Vote Vote Early – Absentee Ballot
58.2% of eligible voters voted in 2012 dropping from 61.6% of those eligible to vote in 2008
Minnesota led the states with a turnout rate of 75.7%. Hawaii laggard, with a turnout rate of 44.2%
What factors contribute to voter turn-out? How might we increase voter turnout?
The Electoral College In the United States we do not elect our leaders by popular vote. Instead, we have a winner take
all electoral college system.
PresidentialCandidate
V.P. Candidate
PoliticalParty Popular Vote Electoral
Vote
Barack H. Obama
Joseph R. Biden, Jr. Democratic 65,917,2
5851.0
1% 332 61.7%
Willard Mitt Romney Paul Ryan Republican 60,932,2
3547.1
5% 206 38.3%
Gary Johnson James P. Gray Libertarian 1,275,893
0.99% 0 0.0
%
Jill Stein Cheri Honkala Green 469,016 0.36% 0 0.0
%
2012 Election Results
What conclusions can we draw from looking at these maps? What might the map look like moving forward?
Youth Vote
Youth Voting has been on the rise
since 1996.
What factors contribute to youth voting? What types of ads do you find effective in encouraging young people to get out and vote?
Restrictive Voting Laws
U.S. Supreme Court Declared Part of the Voting Rights Act Unconstitutional because it singles out states that have a history of suppressing minority
and female votes.
As soon as they made that decisions, states like Texas began passing restrictive voting laws – aimed
at preventing women and the poor from voting.
Voter Fraud?
TGIF! Does it really work right before finals? I’m not sure. At least you can sleep in right?
Today: 1. News2. Campaign Ads 3. Debates4. Discussion –
Commercials vs. Debates what do they each provide?
If you turned in your paper to me by today I will get it back to you by Monday so you can make revisions – if you want, by Friday.
News
Classroom NewsNational/International News
Senate Rules ChangesUpdates on Syria – Refugees Affordable Care Act Updates
Monday: Central Question Returning or Locke and Hobbes – Are
people mostly good or mostly evil? What are our politicians motives? What are our business leaders
motives? What are our own motives?
Final Open Floor Discussion
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