Congress Examining the Electoral Connection Body that represents the people Our approval though of congress is very low Less than 30 of us like them Least liked by American people but they like the people it makes up of 95 who run for reelection win Congress bring back federal projects that keep them reelected The elected say they hate congress too but that they fight against them for Congress in the Constitution us Article I Congress centered system Presidents power is very weak due to our republic Bicameralism House of representatives and Senate Size of bodies each size of chamber is determined by Constitution Senate Two senators for each state 50 states 100 seats in senate House of Representatives Based on number of population in state Ex California has highest population they get the most seats Every 10 years we have a census to determine how many seats each one gets They set a rule to only 435 seats in total Terms House 2 year team Senate 6 year team Senate is broken into classes A B C Each class has a different election year that rotates Senate is supposed to be the one that remains the most same regardless of population opinion The House of Representatives is for the people not senate Qualifications House 25 Years Old Citizens for 7 Senate 30 Years Old Citizen for 9 For the house you don t have to reside in your district that you represent only the state Senatus old man Senate The wiser and more mature body Away from public opinion Term limits in Articles No term limits meaning if people like them they remain reelected Congressional Districts Senate represents the whole state Apportionment the process of allocating seats to a legislative body State legislatives draw districts lines Whoever runs state legislature dem rep will draw them to represent their party Wesberry v Sanders 1964 the court applied one person one vote to the congressional districts Said districts have to be created equally based on population Thornburg v Gingles 1986 the Supreme Court construed the 1965 VRA to require that legislative district lines nod discriminate even unintentionally against racial minorities Created a majority minority district The majority is actually the minority in the district The district lines were drawn that actually made them seem quite strange Shaw v Reno 1993 bizarrely shaped districts designed to concentrate minority voters might actually violate the rights of whites The districts must be compact and continuous Subsisted representation are our interest really being represented Gerrymandering drawing the legislative districts in such a way as to give one political party a disproportionally advantage Perfectly constitutional 16 precincts 12 republican 4 democrat How you draw district lines can determine elections due to popular opinion votes Racial districting Miller v Johnson 1995 race as a dominate factor is struck down as violating the Constitution s equal protection clause Don t even consider race take it out of it Political Polarization The party s views flip flop Gerrymandering Party Primaries Determines party nominees through elections The Electoral System Parliamentary v Presidential Systems Us is a presidential system Voters have direct rule in electing the legislature and a direct role in the executive Many voters do spilt votes with different party votes Known as diving government president as one party and legislative branch as another one Same party would be considered unified government Voters have power to divide party s checks and balance system This is prominent in only our system presidential system This wouldn t happen in parliamentary Makes it hard to determine which party is controlling government blame game who to credit Parliamentary Voters elect members to the legislature and legislature elects executive members prime minister They are not considering the actual person running for election but they re party Party based elections Easier to see which party is doing good or bad Proportional Rule v Plurality Rule Plurality whoever gets most votes wins the seat Doesn t work for other places conformity costs gets too high Proportional rule PR List PR system Put before voters a list of potential candidates for each seat Not casting a vote for a single person but nationally how many seats in a legislature will be controlled by a particular party If list party b wins 30 of the votes then they win 30 of the seats First 30 names on the list get the 30 seats Get on list by being a strong and loyal partisan Loyalty to the party is important or you will be dropped from the list cant vote against them once Minority party can take seats too Leads to two party systems Our type of democracy in other international places could lead to tyranny Majority of votes are bipartisan We have very weak party s in our system Two party equilibrium plurality rule outcome Duvergers s law A principle that asserts that plurality rule elections structured within single member districts tend to favor a two party system Party centered v Candidate centered In candidate centered democrat can represent a republican district because mostly the person matters Party centered only cares about party not candidate Split ticket voting the act of voting for candidates from different political parties for different offices I m working for me system Political Action Committees PACs federally registered fund raising group that pools money from individuals to give to political candidates and parties One way to get money for your election Taking money in from everyone for your election PACs don t add much to much Our system is candidate centered its up to them to raise their own money for their election Through pacs and party s but doesn t add up to much David Mayhew s Congress The Electoral Connection Potential aims of MC s Members of Congress that guide rational behavior Getting re elected Need this one to get all three of his aims Fundamental one single minded thinkers of reelection Influence within the congress Power Making good public policy Getting rich in office Expected incumbent differential any different perceived by a relevant political action between what an incumbent member of congress is likely to do if returned to office and what any possible challenger would be likely to do The new member v the returning member This person doesn t compare to what I have to offer 95 of all incumbents return to office Activities of Members of congress MC to help increase chance of reelection Advertising
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