Planning Ahead... Way Ahead

Especially after reading the sections in the textbook about our nation's two-party system, and how difficult it is to create a truly influential third party, this whole deal with the Tea Party is actually really interesting to me, so I'm sorry that I keep posting on it and if I'm starting to seem repetitive or boring! :)

I decided to comment and write my opinion on another article in the Wall Street Journal; it was written by Peter Wallsten, published on Monday, Oct. 25, and is titled "Tea Party Already Shapes '12 Race." The article discusses and describes various Republican leaders' plans for how to deal with the Tea Party as well as their plans for the presidential race of 2012. What I really got out of it though, was insight into how real the Tea Party is; before, I had assumed it was a side track off the main road of today's politics, but now I realize that it is really in the heat of politics, and what it does can actually influence policy, and through that, me. I was also surprised to realized how carefully potencial candidates plan their campaigns and target audiences; I mean, the actual 2012 presidential election is still two years away!!

The four main leaders (or potencial candidates) for the GOP are: Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, Mike Huckbee, and Sarah Palin. Each of these people, especially Mr. Romney and Mr. Gingrich, have different methods of dealing with and using the Tea Party to the benefit of both. After reading them, I've also formed my own opinion of which method I think will work best. The article also describes a three-way division in the GOP, which could potencially affect the stability of the party in years to come. This division was a result of the influence of the Tea Party movement. The first group within the GOP consists of republicans who don't support the Tea Party, and, from a poll, a bit more than half of these site Mr. Romney as the GOP's "most important leader." The second group are republicans who are so supportive of the movement that they call themselves members of the Tea Party more than Republicans. Within this group, Mr. Gingrich is considered the GOP's "most important leader." The last group consists of republicans who do support the movement, and Ms. Palin and Mike Huckabee are sited as the leaders by this group. These groups correspond to the leaders' different ways of dealing with the Tea Party. Mr. Romney prefers a more traditional approach, although he has provided funds to help the Tea Party, and its candidates, he is spending the most effort forming ties with long-tme important republican leaders within the GOP. This has been the traditional way to gain the candidacy. Mr. Gingrich, on the other hand, is spending less time with the republicans and more time building up and supporting the Tea Party, which he believes is just the begining of an even greater change in politics.

Considering what I know of the history of third parties, I think Mr. Romney's way of dealing with the new party is the more effective method. He recognizes that it does have influence, and that it can be a great help to the GOP, and he does this without giving it too much power. This way, he is not completely alienating the voters who do support the Tea Party, as well as the party itself; and because they can see how he respects their interests, it might give him more votes in the election. Mr. Gingrich, though, is putting a little too much trust in the movement and is a bit over-optimistic about its potential success. By tying himself really close with the Tea Party, he is risking the fact that it might not be a successful or long-lasting party; after all, the main purpose of third parties is to get their idea into the public sphere, where it is usually later adopted into one of the two already dominant parties, either the GOP or the Democratic party. Yes, these past few years have been full of changes, from the first black president to the democratic control of Congress, and maybe the American people do want to make some major adjustments in their government, but I don't think giving more power to a third party is the best way to do it. There is something to be said for stability and tradition as well, and I think Mr. Romney will still be able to address the needed changes without resorting to any dramatic measures. This is just my opinion, but who knows? maybe I'll end up changing it later...

More on the Tea Party

So for my next post I decided to critique a post on the blog Power Line, one of the conservative blogs on the list of suggestes sources. However, I'm still not as knowledgeable on current politics as I ought to be, and the authors are so much more knowledgeable in contrast, so I went with a topic about which I have at least some background information.

It is actually two separate posts, both found here, (sorry, it requires some scrolling down), and posted on Tuesday, October 12.

The author is one of three for the blog, and he, along with the others, seems to be a credible source. I can tell from the ammount, frequency, and content of their posts that they are all quite knowledgeable and up to date on current events and policy. His intended audience is probably the many, many followers of his blog, but anyone who wants an opinion on a particular event or issue could also benefit from reading his comments.

Okay, his claim: The Tea Party is transitioning from being viewed as a nuiance to being regarded with much more respect and recognition, and the vehicle for this transition is money. I agree with his opinion, and I believe it doesn't just apply to the emerging Tea Party. At all levels of politics, the ammount of money you have is critical to how successful you are as a candidate or a party. Without sufficient finacial support, the policies a party or candidate wishes to advertise and eventually pass won't be as easily made public and it would be much harder to gain support for them, much less implement them if they do manage to get passed. The Tea Party, especially a few of its candidates for senator, are now raising enough money to become competetive and actually make a difference. I also realized how far the group has come when I read and article from the National Journal in the textbook on pgs 172-173, which refers to the now actual "Party" as a populist movement characterized by a series of unorganized and nonassociated "tea parties" (rallies) all over the nation. Now, candidates from the Party including Sharron Angle, Kristi Noem, and Michele Bachmann from Minnesota, have raised millions of dollars for their campaigns, sometimes surpassing their Democratic and even Republican opponents, as well as shocking many. I think the ability of new candidates with new ideas to raise so much money shows that there are still many Americans willing to not only form, but support their own opinions when they are represented by a political group. I think the addition of a new competitive group to the political atmosphere of our country is a healthy reminder of the rights of free speech that our country was founded on, and that the Tea Party especially will offer an alternative to the constant Democrat vs. Republican system of politics. It will also bring new conservative ideas into the relm of politics, as well as cause more citizens to take an interest in what is happening in their government. I'm curious as to how many more candidates the Tea Party will support, and how it will progress from here!

First Rate Learning for First Grade Kids

So I just had to post about something that the high school government class at my school did today. I'm not in the class (because I'm taking this class!), but I was able to see what they did because I was there to take pictures.

So: The teacher gave the high school class the assignment (it was a group project) to create a 10-minute presentation to teach first-graders something about U.S. government. Then, she arranged a day with the first-grade teacher when they could actually teach the kids. (I go to a charter school, so all the grades meet on the same campus.) It was so cool!!! And the first-graders were sooo cute!!!! Anyway, the high-schoolers had to figure out how to simplify what they were learning in such a way that the younger kids would be able to understand and learn from it, but make sure they were still teaching correct and unbiased information. The three groups' topics were: the duties of the president, the Bill of Rights, and the Preamble to the Constitution. They even made up games and songs as well as colorful posters to teach the younger kids!

Anyway, it was really fun to watch and to see the first-graders learning things about government beyond just who the current president is (which is pretty much all they knew!). It made me think back to when I was first introduced to the concepts of government, but the thing is, I can't remember! I'm sure it wasn't as early as first-grade, though, which is one reason it made me happy to see such young kids already being exposed to ideas about the government and country that protects and guides their lives and in which they will someday participate. Just thought I'd mention it! :)

Political Tornados

As my last post was about the difficulties the Republican party is dealing with, I found it fitting that this opinion pointed out the problems within the Democratic party.

 The critique was one of the top articles in the Opinion section of the Wall Street Journal, and was published today. The author is Peggy Nooman, who writes a regular column for the newspaper. She is a credible source, and seems to know what she is talking about enough to form opinions with a base in fact. Her intended audience is anyone who regularly reads the newspaper, and is up to date enough in politics to have a basic knowledge of the background information surrounding her argument. (I am neither of these, but I was nonetheless able to understand her clear and well-written arguments.)

In her opinion, entitled The Twister of 2010, Nooman argues that the Democratic party is dealing with just as much, if not more, issues as the Republicans. I was previously unaware of the internal trouble the Democrats were facing, but I did know that Obama's presidency had not gone as well as some of those who had originally supported him had hoped, and with this backround idea I was not surprised to learn that there are some internal conflicts within the majority party. She uses a variety of facts and quotes as well as other techniques to convince her audience (including succeccfully convincing me) that the Democratic party is headed for a breakdown and the Republicans are on the rise. For example, I love the title of her article; she compares the tensions that might potencially break up the now-unstable world of politics to the rapid, destructive force of tornados. Now that she has my attention, she proceeds to provide evidence and logic to lead me to her major claim: that the Democratic party is ready to fall apart. Her evidence includes quotes from President Obama in which he is accusing his former supporters of abandoning him. This only further encourages dislike toward him. She also refers to the Democratic party's recent use of "wedge-issues" (social issues meant to appeal to a wider voter audience, such as abortion) and negative advertising (in which one party talks bad about the other instead of promoting its own ideals). Both of these techniques, she states, suggest a certain desperateness on the part of the Democratic party to keep itself together and try to increase its voter popularity. Nooman then asserts that not only will these attempts not be effective, but that the party will continue to not just split, but splinter, as opinions continue to differ and Democratic politicians continue to dissagree with even Obama himself. overall, her opinion convinced me that the Democratic party definitly has problems of its own, and that they are not getting any closer to resolving them, which is good news for Republicans! By the way, I was having issues myself with adding an embedded link, (urg...computers...sorry) so here's the addess of the article: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704483004575524340160716872.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_BelowLEFTSecond