How I chose my Fantasy Congress Team

I chose my fantasy congress Team Mostly on the Number of legislatures each congress member has passed because if they have been active up until this point, I can only predict that they will continue to be active. The one upper senator I was depending on to get me the most points was Diane Feinstein because she is heading efforts to pass legislation on immigration reform which is a current hot topic in congress. I wanted to choose Hillary Clinton but then I thought if she is going to be running for office, she's going to be working on her campaign and won't really have that much time to pass legislatures in congress. Just to have variety, I also chose one maverick, Chuck Hagel, to see if he could win me some points. Regarding the rest of my team players, like I said above, I based my decision based on the amount of work they have done so far in the government. So far however, I'm not scoring so high, so I may have to change my strategy.

Blog Entry #2

The Youtube clip in a cute, corny, extremely dramatic and straight-forward way basically shows us some of the disadvantages Americans would have if congress did not exist. The character Bentley verbally bashes congress and then has a dream that it has been suspended and realizes that life is much harder. In his dream each state is making its own currency because there is no congress to decide standard monetary policy. This angers Bentley a great deal and when he tries to buy a ticket to Washington D.C. to see for himself that congress is no more, he realized travel expenses have gone up because there is no congress to regulate commerce or railroad fares. Each state also has their own navy and military because congress used to regulate that as well. This dream or nightmare helps Bentley realize that congress does more good then it does bad and he says himself that everyone is so quick to be displeased by congress or complain about taxes but no one is quick to notice all the good and balance congress bring into the life of Americans giving us pure, clean food and federal highways. If congress was suspended in our current day and age, I do not think changes would be that drastic or dramatic; but, I do believe that it would give out president too much power. Just as Bentley's dream helped him become more appreciative of our government's legislative branch, the clip clearly showed me in a dramatized what an important role congress plays In the life of Americans. We should not take it for granted.

After reading chapter 11, and learning more about how congress is put together and exactly what its responsibilities are, honestly, I'm really impressed that the framers of the constitution and those who put together the American government so many years ago came up with a very efficient almost fool-proof system. I think our government is so successful because of our checks and balances system not giving one single branch of government too much power. Furthermore congress has a checks and balances system within itself. The Senate and the House divide and balance congress to once again even out power. I think it is also very efficient for each state to have equal representation in the senate and then representation by population in the House. Because the elastic clause exists giving "congress broad power to pass any legislation necessary to carry out its enumerated powers", which are the most defining powers and national responsibilities of our nation, I also think it is very important that the members of congress are elected by the American people. We vote for who we want making the laws of our country. If there was one thing I would change about congress it is to have term limitations. Chapter 11 talks about the Incumbency Factor which states that it is fact that current officeholders have more of a chance of being reelected into congress than someone who is campaigning for the 1st time. Current office holders are obviously more well known by the public and therefore the public feels safer reelecting them; however, if there were term limitations where each senate or house member could only serve a few years, it would give equal opportunity to all candidates running for congress and even the inexperienced candidates would have equal opportunities to get a seat. More importantly, according to chapter 11, the only way to introduce a bill in congress is to have a member of congress sponsor that bill. For example if I wanted a bill that was near and dead to my heart to be looked at by congress, I would have to go make nice with a member of congress and do my best to convince that member to sponsor and represent my bill. I wish there was some law allowing every citizens to represent their own bills in congress. Congress obviously would maintain its right on voting for the bill; however, I think legitimate citizens should be allowed to introduce their own bills in case of misrepresentation. Mind you there would have to be a strict screening process where only a selective few citizens who really know what they are talking about would be permitted; but, I think it would be a really good idea.

My fantasy congress team

Upper senators:
Dianne Feinstein (D)
Patrick Leahy (D)

Lower senators:
Dick Durbin (D)
Chuck Hagel (R)

Allstars:
Henry Waxman (D)
Jim Oberstar (D)

Supporting Lineup:
Mark Udall (D)
Patrick Kennedy (D)

Rookies:
Eleanor Holmes Norton (D)
Donna Christensen (D)

Modern Politics

In my opinion the most pressing aspect of modern day American politics is the so called "War on Terror" that we were launched into after 9/11. This issue is important because it is draining enormous recourses from our economy whether it's the war in Iraq, homeland security or the war in Afghanistan. In my opinion, George Bush has blanketted the war in Iraq as the so called war on terror when in reality, I think it is his attempt to control the oil in the area. Furthermore, Israeli Lobbyists in our country are supporting the war because it distracts the arab nations from attacking or causing trouble in Israel. In relation to the definition that we discussed in class, which was "who gets what, when and how", I think that George W. Bush and congress are benefitting the most from the war on terror because they have an excuse to put our troops in that area and then can easily control all the oil. Therefore George W. Bush (who) is getting oil control (what) during a time when there is a very large demand for it (when) by claiming that the war on Iraq is solving the war on terror when all it's doing is causing more and more chaos in that area (how). What I would like to see is George W. Bush stop covering up for all the disturbance we are causing in the middle east and as naive as this sounds, I would like to see our government be more considerate of other, smaller nations and think of what the consequences may be for them and their people before we invade and take over their governments.

1st political science class

Last Monday I attended my 1st political science class. It was very different than I expected. I was assuming it would be more of a reading, taking notes, cut out clippings from a news paper and write about them class and was happy when I realized most of it would be through my computer. I'm desperately trying to decide what major to choose and trying to find a subject that will spark my interest. I've taken the introductory class to almost all subjects ranging from econ to socio to astronomy to marine bio and I liked all of them but nothing really intensely sparked my interest. So now, it's poli sci's turn. I have no idea what to expect or what the course will be like so I'm looking forward to learning about it and seeing if it's something that I might want to do as a career. I'm definitely not trying to suck up to the teacher, but I really appreciated how detailed her instructions were on how to set up this blog so it really made me feel better about the whole computer aspect of the class. I'm looking forward to the class!