Buying Favor: Why Congress Depends on Funding From Special Interests Es

There is a problem with Congress. The previous sentence summarizes the collective sentiment of the general public concerning the legislative branch of the federal government. A 2010 Gallop poll revealed that over eighty-nine percent of Americans have no confidence in Congress (Lessig 2). It is theorized that Congress is so far out of favor because it has been unable to resolve the nation’s most important issues, such as Medicare, Medicaid, immigration reform, and the growing budget deficit, due to seemingly trivial reasons. Some theorize this lack of significant legislative action is due to growing partisanship between the system’s dominate political parties, the Democratic Party and the Republican Party. According to Mark Brewer, â€Å"Politicians†¦are more likely to support their party and oppose the other party today than any other time since the 1950s (219).† Another hypothesis explaining the lack of legislative action by Congress is the special in terest theory. According to the theory’s advocates, the Congress has not accomplished much because of the institution’s dependency on large-scale campaign contributions; and these donors would rather there be little regulation or regulations supporting their specific industry. To support this hypothesis, Harvard University law professor Lawrence Lessig authored Republic, Lost: How Money Corrupts Congress–and a Plan to Stop It in 2011. The book details the effect of campaign funding by special interests and its effect on congressmembers and government policies. Within Republic, Lost, Lessig attempts to draw interest to the issue he believes is the reason for the federal government’s inactivity: dependence corruption. He argues congressmembers have become unresponsive to the will ... ...ed States Trade Representative. â€Å"Statement by U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk on Congressional Passage of Trade Agreements, Trade Adjustment Assistance and Key Preference Programs.† Web. 4 May 2012. . â€Å"Public Support for Increased Trade, Except With South Korea and China.† 9 Nov. 2010. Pew Research Center. Web. 4 May 2012. Tea Party Platform. â€Å"Ten Core Beliefs of the Modern-Day Tea Party Movement.† 2011. Teapartyplatform.com. Web. 4 May 2012. . United States Bureau of the Census. â€Å"Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2010.† By Thom File and Sarah Crissy. May 2010. Census Bureau. Web. 4 May 2012. .

Influential African American Leaders

In the years following Reconstruction, many African Americans rose to the challenge of bringing rights and equality to blacks. Booker T. Washington, W. E. B. DuBois, and Ida Wells-Barnett are Just of few examples of the outstanding influential African American leaders that had an impact on the people, time period, and history. Booker T. Washington did what seemed like the impossible for blacks; he founded the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama. It was there that the former slave trained uneducated African American students in a trade that would help them achieve conomic freedom and experience the same equality as whites.To achieve this freedom and equality, he taught that if blacks excelled in fields like teaching, agriculture, and manual labor trades (blue collar fields), then eventually they would be treated as the equals they strived to be. Even though the Institute became an important center for technical education in the South, many blacks found his philosophies and teachings controv ersial. While those blacks wanted to integrate and become a bigger part of society, Washington saw no problem with segregation. One f his most famous doings is his Atlanta speech given 1895.In support of his campaign for segregation, he said during the speech, â€Å"In all things that are purely social, we (whites and blacks) can be as separate as the fingers, yet one as the hand in all things essential to mutual progress. † As always there as two sides to everything, and Mr. W. E. B. DuBois was the exact opposite of Washington. W. E. B. DuBois was the very first black Ph. D. graduate from Harvard University. DuBois was one of those African Americans that found Washington's philosophies and teachings controversial, and he disagreed with him n many things.Offended by the ideas that Booker T. expressed in his Atlanta speech, DuBois saw Washington as someone that only wanted to please the white community and population. In response to Washington's Atlanta speech, DuBois delivere d the â€Å"Atlanta Compromise. † Within this speech he argued about how the acceptation of segregation and settling for achievement would not get the African American community anywhere. He thought that blacks should go after occupations in humanities and managerial/professional (white collar) fields.It was his thoughts hat blacks must be politically, legally, and socially active in order to achieve equality. DuBois helped organize a group of black intellectuals known as the Niagara Movement; it was their goal to outline an agenda for African American progress in the US. In 1909, he was also an important part of the founding of the NAACP, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People; they also devoted themselves to the progress of African Americans. Ida Wells-Barnett, an African American woman, led campaigns against the Ku Klux Klan and for the women's movement.As the KKK terrorized southern blacks, Ida led a ampaign against the lynchings that made many of the unaware northerners aware of the situations occurring in the southern states. As for the women's movement, her active role gained even more notoriety when she refused to march at the end of suffrage parades Just because she black. She, along with others, helped DuBois form the NAACP. These Atrican Americans tougnt tor the rights that they telt they were granted by the Bill of Rights and the amendments added afterwards. It was because of the efforts of these three men and women, African Americans and women now have the rights that they do.

Classism in The Grapes of Wrath Movie Essay example

In the year of 1939, the Great Depression affected the lives of many located within the United States. This was a severe, and most widespread depression which affected people across the world. For the reason that there was a fall of the stock market, a drought ravaged the agricultural heartland. Those who were dependent on their farmland to provide for their families became imposed by coercion to retreat and re-locate their entire families. This migration was a struggle during this period because the lack of resources and money to survive. Among other elements, starvation and homelessness caused many to die at an early age. John Steinbecks, The Grapes of Wrath, exhibits the Joads, a family who undergoes the collapse of the agrarian†¦show more content†¦However, as time develops and the migration continues her exterior begins to slightly crack as she realizes she cannot fully keep her sorrows to herself. As she is not a full advocate of solitude, the unity of her famil y is important and keeps her moving forward. The father of the family, Pa Joad, is a character that is naturally god and thoughtful. The hardship of the trip as a whole and attempting to remain the head of the family affects him, and causes him to become emotionally drained. However, he began as the strong leader collaborating the big move for the entire family, upon leaving several shelters Mama Joad informed him that he is beginning to loose his responsibility to support the family. For the reason that Pa Joad gradually breaksdown continues to remind the family that hardships are not the only way to build character. Tom Joad, becomes friends with a very important person throughout the uprooting process and learns that a human being can have a little effect on the world if they do not bond together as a whole. The hardships faced with, cause Tom to follow this teaching and come to the realization that he cannot continue to be a silent witness to the injustices in the world. This experience, and from meeting friends who share the same beliefs ultimately caused him to become an advocate and join union organizers. The strength that is portrayed from the individuals who choose to remain together showed Tom another side of life, and that he will