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Using
the Video Unit 6
Pre-Viewing Activity
and Discussion (30 minutes)
Before viewing the video, discuss the following questions:
- Can legislatures ever be efficient policymakers?
- Should they be efficient?
- How does Congress represent the founders' intent to provide
for a series of checks and balances?
- Legislatures are chaotic places. Why?
- Should legislators represent their constituents or the larger
political system?
Watch the Video
(30 minutes) and Discuss (30 minutes) [Top]
The video includes three segments:
1. Campaign Finance Reform
For nearly seven years, a small bipartisan group of reformers in
Congress fought to get a bill passed that would deal with the pervasive
influence of money in American politics. Their proposed bill represented
the first major change in campaign finance rules since Congress
passed far-reaching amendments to the Federal Election Campaign
Act (FECA) in 1974. The new campaign finance reform bill would prohibit
corporations, unions, and other interests from donating unregulated
soft money, which includes union dues and shareholder investments,
to political parties or to individual politicians. The bill that
passed was the result of significant compromise with various interests
in and out of Congress. Although the campaign bill wasn't what all
of its supporters wanted, it was what could command the support
of a majority of Congress.
Discussion Questions
- After years of pushing for campaign finance reform, supporters
were strengthened in their efforts by the scandal that erupted
over Enron. Can you think of other times when unpredictable outside
forces created the opportunity for major legislative action?
- The campaign finance bill was, in the end, passed because several
legislators were willing to compromise and accept some provisions
that they were not happy to support. What does this tell us about
legislators and the legislative process?
- Is the bipartisan support for the campaign finance bill really
that unusual?
2. Standing Up for a Cause You Don't Support
This story contrasts the efforts of Oregon's two U.S. senators on
the so-called Death With Dignity law, which allows doctors to prescribe
lethal doses of controlled substances to terminally ill adults who
request them. Through two direct ballot initiatives, one to create
the law and one to decide whether or not to repeal it, Oregonians
twice voted in favor of assisted suicide. Both Republican Senator
Gordon Smith and Democratic Senator Ron Wyden personally opposed the
assisted suicide law. But once Congress challenged Oregon's law as
a violation of the U.S. Controlled Substances Act, the senators had
to decide where they stood on Congress's challenge, and how much they
should let the views of Oregonians sway their position. In the end,
each had to decide if he was a delegate or a trustee.
Discussion Questions
- What interests should a representative represent?
- What should a legislator do if the constituents' views clash
with the representative's?
- Should legislators do what is best for their constituents or
what is best for the nation?
3. My Door Is Always Open: A Profile of Representative Wayne Gilchrist
One part of a legislator's life that is little appreciated by most
of us is the extraordinary amount of time they spend in helping their
constituents on a variety of matters including requests for aid in
untangling bureaucratic red tape, personal references, and specific
information on a wide variety of policy topics. To meet their constituents'
needs, most representatives maintain large staffs in their Capitol
Hill and home district offices. Although this kind of work is often
denigrated as casework or errand running, it is important to recognize
it as a form of representation.
Discussion Questions
- What kinds of services should legislators perform for their
constituents?
- Are there services that legislators should not provide?
- What is it that constituents want from legislators?
[Top]
Post-Viewing Activity
and Discussion (30 minutes) [Top]
Try the Critical
Thinking activity for Unit 6. This is a good activity to
use with your students, too.
1. Are Our Legislators Like Us, and Does It Matter? (20 minutes)
While in theory legislatures are primary mechanisms of popular sovereignty
that help to carry out the consent of the governed, in demographic
terms America's legislators are more white, male, and older than
the American population as a whole. Some Americans think that this
undermines representation, while others believe that legislators
can effectively represent people who are different from them.
The following statistics compare the demographic characteristics
of the 107th Congress with the entire population of the United States.
Examine the following statistics. Note how certain categories in
society are underrepresented in Congress while other categories
are over-represented. Then consider whether "good representation"
requires that Congress "mirror" the country as a whole,
or whether an "atypical" Congress can represent all interests
in society. Try to think of examples of this, such as men who champion
women's rights, or wealthy legislators who fight for the interests
of the poor. Do these examples undermine the view that Congress
members and senators should be more diverse? Why or why not? Consider
the issue as what "good representation" really means,
and what it requires in practical terms.
White Men in Congress
House: 336 (77%)
Senate: 87 (87%)
Congress as a whole: 426 (79%)
U.S. as a whole: 39%
Women in Congress
House: 61 (14%)
Senate: 13 (13%)
Congress as a whole: 74 (14%)
U.S. as a whole: 51%
African Americans in Congress
House: 39 (9%)
Senate: 0
Congress as a whole: 39 (7%)
U.S. as a whole: 12%
Hispanics in Congress
House: 18 (4%)
Senate: 0
Congress as a whole: 18 (3%)
U.S. as a whole: 8%
Asians in Congress
House: 5 (1%)
Senate: 2 (2%)
Congress as a whole: 7 (1%)
U.S. as a whole: 3%
Gays (openly) in Congress
House: 3 (0.7%)
Senate: 0
Congress as a whole: 3 (0.6%)
U.S. as a whole: 12%
Members Over 70 Years Old
House: 34 (8%)
Senate: 9 (9%)
Congress as a whole: 43 (8%)
U.S. as a whole: 8%
Members Under 40 Years Old
House: 42 (9%)
Senate: 1 (1%)
Congress as a whole: 43 (8%)
U.S. as a whole: 46%
Jews in Congress
House: 27 (6%)
Senate: 10 (10%)
Congress as a whole: 37 (7%)
U.S. as a whole: 2%
Catholics in Congress
House: 120 (27%)
Senate: 24 (24%)
Congress as a whole: 144 (27%)
U.S. as a whole: 23%
Baptists in Congress
House: 60 (14%)
Senate: 8 (8%)
Congress as a whole: 68 (13%)
U.S. as a whole: 11.7%
Methodists in Congress
House: 51 (12%)
Senate: 14 (14%)
Congress as a whole: 65 (12%)
U.S. as a whole: 5%
Mormons in Congress
House: 12 (3%)
Senate: 5 (5%)
Congress: 17 (3%)
U.S. as a whole: 2%
Presbyterians in Congress
House: 38 (9%)
Senate: 10 (10%)
Congress as a whole: 48 (9%)
U.S. as a whole: 3%
2. Bringing Home the Bacon and Representing the Constituents
(10 minutes)
Members of Congress, state legislatures, and even local government
legislators are generally expected to provide financial benefits
for their communities. In Congress, this expectation is called bringing
home the bacon and the bills whereby special projects or lucrative
grants are earmarked for particular districts are referred to as
pork. Discuss these expectations as a problem of representation.
Should legislators do this? Is this good public policy? If it isn't
good public policy, who is to blame: the legislators or their constituents?
[Top]
Homework [Top]
Read the following Readings from Unit 7 to prepare for next week's
session.
- Introduction-The Modern Presidency: Tools of Power
- Tocqueville, Democracy in America: "The Executive Power"
- Federalist Papers: "Federalist No. 69"
- Jackson, "On Indian Removal"
- Lincoln, The Emancipation Proclamation
Read next week's Topic Overview.
[Top]
Classroom Applications
[Top]
You may want to have your students do the post-viewing activities:
Are Legislators Like Us, and Does It Matter? and Bringing Home the
Bacon and Representing the Constituents. They are provided for you
as blackline masters in the Appendix of the print guide.
[Top]
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