Political Culture and Public Policy Issues

1. Political Culture and Public Policy Issues Interest Groups,Economy, Foreign Policy, and the Media

2. Journal #49 • 1. Do you agree or disagree with the following statements? • a. The decision makers who represent me at all levels of government are knowledgeable enough to make good decisions on their own. • b. Citizens should be allowed to petition their elected officials in any way they choose to make their positions known. • 2. Lobbyist: Sounds positive or negative? What do you know already?

3. Special Interest Groups • Organizations established to carry out specific goals • Types: • Economic/business • Professional • Labor • Public Interest (PIRG)/Government watchdog • Ideological/Single issue(social, religious)

4. Influential interest groups • Business: • Chamber of Commerce • Labor: • AFL-CIO (union) • Professional: • American Medical Association • American Federation of Teachers • Single Issue: American Association of Retired People (AARP), NOW, PETA

5. How they influence pubic policy • Researching issues and developing public policy proposals (“think tanks”) • Giving political support to elected officials (electioneering) • Coordinating grassroots organizing at the local level (public opinion) • Lobbying politicians to vote a certain way on bills

6. Lobbyists • People who persuade officials to vote on their interest group’s behalf • Meeting in the “lobbies” of the chambers

7. Rules for lobbyists • Registration • Must disclose expenses • Gift ban

8. Pros and Cons of Lobbies • Influence of money • Narrow interests • Provide specialized information • Keep Americans informed • Kept in balance by competing interests (democratic pluralism)

9. “The revolving door” • Former politicians who become lobbyists after leaving office • Why might this be a problem?

10. Journal #50 • What were the results of your opinion poll from yesterday? • Were the results surprising? Why or why not?

11. Presentations • 1. Brief overview of your interest group • Pick 1-3 interesting facts/points to share • 2. Your lobbying strategies and main goal • How much $ spent • Why you chose the tools you did • 3. Audience feedback • NOT on the interest group’s topic or cause! • On the lobbying strategies used/slogans/etc. and their effectiveness

12. Reflection Paragraph • Which tools did you use most often? Did you use more direct lobbying of legislators or more grassroots mobilization? Why? How did you decide which tools to use? • In your specific case, which tools do you think would be most effective in real life?

13. Discussion • Is lobbying a negative or positive part of the legislative process? • How effective are lobbyists? • What are the best ways for decision makers to acquire information? • Are the laws that currently govern lobbying effective?

14. “It’s the economy, stupid” • Personal budget • Government budget • Taxes • Stock Market

15. The Federal Budget • OMB (Office of Management and Budget) helps the president create a budget to submit to Congress each year • Balanced budget: Revenue = expenditures • Surplus: Revenue exceeds expenditures • Deficit: Expenditures exceeds revenue • Deficits + interest = debt

16. How does the government spend its money?

18. How does the government get its money? • Taxes: • Income • Sales • Property • Social security • Corporate • Excise tax/sin tax • Estate/gift tax (indirect tax) • Import tax (tariff)

19. Tax Brackets • Progressive • Income taxes • Regressive • Sales tax

21. How else does the government get its money? • 1. Social Security Trust Fund: Holds total of $2.67 trillion debt which is 19% of the total debt. • 2. The Federal Reserve: Holds total of $1.63 trillion, 11.3% of the total debt. • 3. China: Holds $1.6 trillion, 8% of total debt. • 4. US Households: Holds $959.4 billion of Treasury bonds, which is 6.6% of the total US debt. • 5. Japan: Holds 6.4% of total US debt.

22. Debt holders

24. The Stock Market • You will be creating your own business • To start your business, you will need capital ($) • Instead of borrowing, you can sell parts of your company to investors, who make profit (dividends) • Shares (parts) of ownership in a company = stock • Goal for businesses: Have your share price go up • Goal for shareholders: Buy low, sell high!

25. Mock Stock Market Roles • Stockbrokers: • All start with $40 • Goal is to make the most money at the end of the game (cash plus the end value/price of your stocks) • Companies: • All start with 50 shares of stock • Goal is to sell the most stock • You will need to have a good business plan, specific details on how the company is run, and good marketing skills

26. Mock Stock Market Rules • I am the market and I will be handling all of the money and deciding all stock prices! • We will have rounds of trading. During rounds you will: • Buy stocks (if you are a stockbroker) • Try to convince buyers to buy your stock (if you are a company) • At the end of each round, you will: • Sell or hold onto your stocks (stockbrokers) • Work on making your company better (companies) • I will change the prices per share of stock for each company based on how well they are performing • Higher = company doing well (more potential profit) • Lower = company not doing as well (more potential loss)

27. Modern Media • What should be the role/job of the media in a democracy? • Do you think that the media is doing their job? Why or why not? • What are positive aspects of the media today? Negative characteristics?

28. Trends in Media Coverage • TV: 24 hr. coverage (CNN), increasingly ideological • Talk radio: Mostly conservative • Internet • Intense competition • Dirty laundry • Sensationalism • Media conglomerates: Disney/ABC/ESPN; TimeWarner/Turner Broadcasting, Viacom (CBS, MTV, VHI)

29. Media Bias • “Liberal” media? • Fox News vs. MSNBC • Examples?