Voices of the People: Political Participation Impacts Health of the Nation
Political participation, in all the ways it is practiced, is critical to the health of a nation. Despite grumblings about the political process and the disappointing performance of recent years, the right to vote is the cornerstone of democracy. A l...
Voices of the People: Commitment to Civic Duty
Why do some people feel a commitment to civic duty while others are either apathetic or hostile toward the system? In the mid-20th century the public was more optimistic regarding government and politics. As a result of the Vietnam War and Watergate...
Candidates and Campaigns: Slow Pace of Campaign Reform, The
The strategies that go into a successful campaign are well documented, but it is still hard for candidates to achieve the right combination and emerge the winner. Some change in the approach to political campaigns seems inevitable. The question is w...
Voices of the People: Slowly Expanding Electorate, A
The privilege of voting so basic to democratic government is a right that took many Americans centuries to achieve. During the early days of the country voting was generally restricted to white males. Even though the Civil War amendments gave black ...
Voices of the People: Social Stratification of Political Participation
The poor and minorities in the U.S., even some affluent members of the middle class feel alienated from the political system. Unlike other democracies, lower income people are dropping out of the electorate in the U. S. This not only affects the kin...
Voices of the People: U. S. Voter Turnout Lags Behind Other Democracies
If you look at the long history of American engagement in the political process, the vast expansion of the franchise in the 20th century is ironically tied to a decline in political participation. Voter turnout in the U. S. is much lower than in oth...
Candidates and Campaigns: Campaign Finance: Laws and Loopholes
The excessive amounts of money invested in political campaigns has resulted in demands for reform. Individual and party contributions to campaigns are limited by law. These hard money contributions can be spent any way the candidates choose. There i...
Candidates and Campaigns: Campaigns and the Media
In presidential campaigns, media consumes over half the dollars a presidential candidate spends. Increasingly, candidates for public office rely on television ads to get their message out. Some experts decry the fact that candidates can buy televisi...
Candidates and Campaigns: Campaign Finance: Call for Reform
Campaign finance reform is difficult to achieve because the people who must vote to change the system are its chief beneficiaries, the incumbent members of Congress. In addition the two political parties differ on what reform means. The Supreme Cour...
The Fourth Estate: Reporting on the White House: Three Perspectives
Major political figures spend enormous amounts of time directing the attention of the press toward issues they consider important. This intense concern with "managing" the news makes the relationship with the press adversarial, however professionall...