Rahul Sharma's AP Govt Blog

Revolving Door: About half of retiring senators and a third of retiring House members register as lobbyists  7th period         Members of the Senate are more likely to become lobbyists with 87% of retiring Senators becoming lobbyists, compared to the 78% of retiring House Representatives becoming lobbyists.  Congressmen were less likely to become lobbyists in the 1970s and 1980s because  the lobbying industry was not nearly as big then. The real growth of lucrative Washington lobbying started in the 1990s  This research likely underestimate the revolving door due to many  members preferring to not  register , but still do  work that looks very much like lobbying.  I think committee chairmen are more likely to become lobbyists because of the connections and valuable information they have.  The author mentions that registration requirements were "looser" back in the day, meaning that they are stricter now. These strict...

Campaigning doesn't work - general election study    7th period The outreach activity by political campaigns essentially has no impact on voters’ choice of candidate in general elections. While having no impact, campaigns can still make an impact on voters.  Broockman and Kalla studied the 2015 primary and the 2016 election and found that -1.9% of people were actually persuaded by campaign activities close to the election. Actions close to elections are useless, whereas actions months before the election have a legitimate chance of changing someone's mind. Campaign activities have a greater potential to affect primary elections, but not general elections. Broockman and Kalla found that canvassing can boost turnout, primary election persuasion, and persuasion in special elections. From the given data, groups should put more effort into boosting turnout at the end of a race rather than persuading voters earlier on.  Two statewide cases wh...

Free Speech Week Conservatives want to hold "Free Speech Week" at Cal-Berkeley because of they believe it is a  a center of intolerance for conservative views. " A public university's initial response should be to agree to the speaker's request. However, the university is allowed to thong about things first, such as how offensive the speaker is perceived to be and whether or not it will be too disruptive. However, when making the decision, they must be neutral to content. They cannot not grant permission to the speaker just because their message is unpopular. Everyone must be treated without bias to have equal rights of speech. School officials and the group requesting to speak may get in a conflict over money. Many colleges require the speakers to pay additional costs to speak, but some argue that it is too expensive and that limits the First Amendment. Berkley requires their speakers to pay for security to control the climate. Most students of the First A...

Why More than 80 Million Americans Won't Vote on Election Day In the 2012 election, 58.6% of Americans voted, and 84% of registered voters voted. Some states create obstacles for certain groups of voters. An example of an obstacle is early registration. Many people do not pay close attention to the election and get interested a few weeks before the election. However, by that time, it is too late. And not allowing Election Day Voting lowers voter turnout. The most common reason for not voting is the inconvenience of voting due to the lack of interest and other more important obligations.  Your environment and cultural norms also impact voter turnout. For example, if you are college educated and are reasonably affluent, you are more likely to vote. However, if you are a poor immigrant, there is a less social expectation to vote. Having so many elections also lowers the turnout rate because the numerous elections are overwhelming and fatiguing. By skipping one or two elections,...

9 facts that explain DACA, the immigration program Trump is threatening to end Trump was pressured into making a decision about its future on September 5th, one day after Labor Day, because that is the day  a grou p of Republican state officials were set to sue over its constitutionality.  The DREAM Act was intended to benefit  the children who crossed illegally into the US with their parents and prevented them from growing up in a country where they could never become legal residents or citizens because the new laws made it harder for illegal immigrants to become legal residents.  The DREAM Act was stalled, but it would have countered the new citizenship laws and given those children a path to citizenship. However,  DACA, created by Obama in 2012, offered DREAMers a temporary grant of protection from deportation and a permit to work legally in the US. The protections last two years, after which immigrants can apply to renew for them. T o be eligible for DA...

We conservatives champion local power. So we must respect the rights of “blue” cities. The two sides of the argument over sanctuary cities are the Trump Administration and the residents of the cities. The Trump Administration wants to "crack down" on the sanctuary cities.  The disagreements about how to be governed are  growing .  In defense of liberalism,  Chesterton came up with “distributism,” which aimed for decision-making to be taken care of at local levels. This devolution will bring power back to the states. This devolution essentially meant local control of government, with less interference from the federal government.  Devolution of powers is usually associated with conservatives. Nowadays, however, liberals would probably support devolution. When thinking of our current president, it seems logical to devolve and bring power back to the states and away from him. The author uses abortion to bring up the desires of the two groups. Both want a ...

Rahul Sharma, 7th -  Why the ACLU defends white nationalists’ right to protest The ACLU advocates for the guarantee of free speech rights for everyone, even for the bigots. The ACLU has been involved in controversial matters regarding free speech for decades now. The ACLU has protected the free speech rights of the neo-Nazis and even the KKK. Most recently, the ACLU defended the white supremacists in Charlottesville.   From the ACLU's perspective, even hurtful speech that the public does not support should be protected. A few decades ago, some governments promoted racist views, and the public supported that. Overtime however, the public's minds changed.  Now, the ACLU's argument is that  governments should  never  be allowed to restrict free speech based on its content. Everyone has a voice and should have an equal opportunity to express their opinions. The views of the white supremacists in Charlottesville are not supported by the public, but th...