POLS 206 1st Edition Lecture 7 Outline of Last Lecture I In the News a President addresses the nation on Syria b Budgeting battle on the horizon as well Sept 30th II Federalist 51 a Ambition must be made to check ambition III House IV Senate V President VI Supreme Court VII Goals of the Founding Fathers VIII Pure Parliamentary System Not what we have IX Running for Congress a Primary b General Election c Implications of this system d Bottom Line Outline of Current Lecture I In the News a Navy Yard Shooting b Budget Shut Down II Does the incentive of re election really work i Selection Effects ii David Mayfield III Collective Action Problem Again a Advertising b Position Taking IV Credit Claiming Important one a Porkbarreling i Inserting funding requests into a piece of legislature in order to get stuff done for the folks back home b Casework i Constituent directed concern c Recent History V Why is Porkbarreling Justified a To keep the power in the hand of each respective party Current Lecture VI In the News a Navy Yard Shooting b AR 15 Semi Automatic assault rifle c Same rifle as the one used in Sandy Hook Elementary i Do you support or oppose stronger gun control 1 It might not matter we need guns for protection and soon enough the only people left with gun might be the bad guys 2 Also if people are desperate enough they will find other means d Budget Shut Down i Tea party is demanding the defunding of Obamacare or there is no CR in September and no November increase in the debt ceiling ii 40 50 house republicans iii Mainstream GOPers want to defund it but they realize that it is highly unrealistic is it really worth it to shut down the government e Why are the republicans fighting Is this not what the liberals want They prefer it VII Does the incentive of re election really work a House re election rates 95 and senate re election rates are 87 so no not really i Reasons for this 1 They are doing a good job 2 Challengers don t think that they can win a People who run are the people who win incumbent advantage ii Selection Effects 1 Only a few challengers choose to run in the first place so the percentage is higher than it would be if that were taken into consideration 2 Strategic Retirement in other words politicians will retire when they think that they are going to lose a Formula incumbents who run that win i If we took this formula into consideration it would show that the re election rates are inaccurate 3 Strategic Challenger Entity a Many incumbents are uncontested b No GE Challenger emerges in 10 20 of elections c Incumbents are advantaged i Engage in activities and generate institutions rules that enhance security d Goals influence an institution make a difference prestige i None of these goals can be achieved without re election ii Re election is a private good for MCs 1 Don t have to share power or prestige of office 2 They will work hard to maintain this iii Election is a public good for citizens 1 Outcome will determine where you participate or not 2 Little incentive to pay attention iii David Mayfield 1 Because it is good for MC they will work hard to achieve office a 3 Activities to prove re election i Advertising ii Position taking iii Credit claiming VIII Collective Action Problem Again a As MCs it is individually rational to engage in such activities it leads to suboptimal outcomes i Particularized policies that cater to specific district interests ii Neglect changes that are national in nature iii Inflates government spending b Advertising i Developing brand name ii No issue content 1 This doesn t enhance our ability to make an informed choice 2 Yard signs and bumper stickers c Position Taking i Public statement about views ii Speaking not much doing iii Each member of congress is just 1 435 iv No singular response to large national challenges the MCs know this and so do the constituents IX Credit Claiming Important one a Generating belief that one is responsible for an outcome b Has to be plausible though i Focus on small projects that they can succeed in c Porkbarreling i Also known as earmarks ii Inserting funding requests into a piece of legislature in order to get stuff done for the folks back home iii Research police university programs fire departments iv Non controversial from a perspective of the electoral district make more friends than enemies d Casework i Constituent directed concern ii Non controversial as well makes more friends than it does enemies iii Pork Barrel projects spiked right before republicans lost the house and now it is spiking again with democrats in power 1 It is a very hard thing to keep under control e Recent History i 14000 projects ii 30 Billion dollars iii 32 projects and 69 million dollars per MC X Why is Porkbarreling Justified a To keep the power in the hand of each respective party b Neither party is really that good at controlling it i Re election is too important for them to give up the spending ii Elections are candidate centered iii Parties are weak relative to parliamentary counterparts iv MC can t trust that other MCs wont find other clever ways to spend money