This entry is going to be a book. Hold on to your hats, folks. I have a lot to say. Citizens United is quite possibly the one issue that really makes my blood boil as a teacher about democracy (or republican democracy, to be precise), governance, and leadership. So, I slow down here and... take. my. time. Period. To get the kids ready, I have them do a **BEAST** of a webquest (up for sale on my store soon, with answers.) Some of the things I like the best are the following: I ask my kids to listen to the first twenty minutes or so of this interview of Peter Stone, of the Center for Public Integrity. The interview gives a background on Citizens United, types of PACs, government oversight, and usage by the parties. The second resource I <3 is the Colbert Report SuperPAC. Colbert, all sarcasm and crassness aside, does a great job at peeling back the loopholes he had to jump through to get his PAC up and running. Be sure to check out his filings with the FEC, and the FEC Advisory Opinion. (Just becareful, it is Colbert.) This video is totally good for student consumption. The kids are to complete their webquests, which are so dense they really take about 3 hours of work. I know. My kids hate me on this day, but there is SOOOO much to say on the topic. The next class day we process this information. We start by analyzing the difference between issue networks and iron triangles. I found this great graphic (the first one), but as my kids point out, there are some missing connections. We travel the environmental policy issue network by discussing (in brief) the Keystone XL pipeline, and how many individuals get involved in a single policy. (Although, the chart does not include the energy lobbies, but this is illustrative.) Once we have reviewed this information, I then touch up on the revolving door and visual literacy skills with some cartoons about such topics. We then set about the task of explaining what Special Interest Groups are all about. Phew. So, I have to spend about ten hours each year right before I teach this unit brushing up on all things IG and PAC. Some ground rules: I explain the difference between common interest and special interest... one being inclusive, the other exclusive respectively. Special interest is by nature going to be a self-interested minority of folks. I also explain how along with media, parties, (and elections)... special interest are linkage institutions, which connect and bind the constituents to the government as an institution, and allow individuals to express policy preferences. Parties, the media, elections, and special interest have competed with each other historically, and we see today that at times the work of media and special interest has eroded the importance of parties in particular. That being said, it's go time. I give the kids a graphic organizer to help think about how these groups relate in the public, and I try to walk through each one in it's grandeur. (I even through in think tanks (policy institutes), just for fun. Well, actually because I personally use so many of them myself for resources.) We walk through the four categories (and explain that these are generalizations, and some groups can pop up in multiple categories) and give examples...
We address the means in which special interest gets involved with pressure politics, either directly thorough lobbying, or by advocacy in general. If they want to bug Congress, they'll...
The POTUS gets targeted via...
And don't forget the courts...
I here make connections between the constituents and their elected representatives via interest groups... and the dependence of interest on grass-roots initiatives to apply pressure (just like the dependence that parties have on grass-roots, too..) To round out our discussion, I give the kids a few readings that highlight pros and cons of interest groups. I jigsaw these readings, and then ask the kids to evaluate if the author is pro or con, and why?
OMG. If you can condense that, drop me a line. My students really dislike me during this unit.
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Jen's bookshelf: nerdcation
I want to start by thanking Mr. Snowden and Mr. Greenwald for their uncompromising dedication to giving the NSA violations air time and transparency.
I wanted to share some of the most important things I have learned from this book bef...
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nerdcation
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nerdcation and to-read
tagged:
nerdcation and to-read
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nerdcation and to-read
AuthorI lovgov. LOVE IT! I love teaching government, learning about it, debating, discussing, asking questions about government. And not the standard boiler plate questions, but the hard ones that are NOT in the books. Archives
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