Political Culture and Public

Policy Issues Interest Groups and Lobbying,

Economy, Foreign Policy, and the Media

Warm Up

Lobbyist: Sounds positive or negative? What do you know already?

Lobbyists

People employed by interest groups who persuade officials to vote on their interest group’s behalf

Meeting in the “lobbies” of the chambers

What do these have in common?

AARP

National Organization for Women (NOW)

PETA

NRA

American Medical Association

American Federation of Teachers

MADD

ACLU

Special Interest Groups

Organizations established to carry out specific goals

Types: Economic/business (Chamber of Commerce) Professional (American Medical Association) Labor (American Federation of Labor) Public Interest (PIRG)/Government watchdog Ideological/Single issue (social, religious)

AARP, NRA, PETA, NOW, NAACP

How they influence public policy

“Think tanks”: Researching issues and developing public policy proposals

Electioneering: Giving political support to elected officials

Grassroots lobbying: Coordinating public meetings/public support at the local level

Direct lobbying: Lobbying politicians to vote a certain way on bills

Choosing an Interest Group

What type of interest group (category) interests you most?

What issue interests you most?

Warm Up

Based on the article you read last night, what is one pro and one con of lobbying/interest groups?

Before we start the game…

Choose your main goal today:

Will you… 1. Use direct lobbying to try to advance your

cause?

OR 2. Use grassroots lobbying to increase

awareness of your issue?

Present

1. Brief overview of your interest group Purpose Main issues of concern An interesting fact

2. Lobbying Your goal How much $ spent Why you chose the tools you did

Direct Lobbying Points

1. DC trip: 20

Testify: 12

Grassroots: 8

TV ad: 7

Letter writing: 6

Email/phone: 5

Website: 4

Print Ad: 3

Grassroots Lobbying Points

Grassroots: 20

TV ad: 12

Letter writing: 8

Email: 7

Website: 6

Print ad: 5

Testifying: 4

DC trip: 3

Wrap Up

Did you use more direct lobbying of legislators or more grassroots mobilization? Why? How did you decide which tools to use?

For your goal, which tool do you think would be most effective in real life? Least?

Rules for lobbyists

Registration

Must disclose expenses

Gift ban

Discussion

1. Brief overview of your interest group Purpose Main issues of concern An interesting fact

2. What will be your main goal today as a lobbyist? Will you use direct lobbying or grassroots lobbying and why?

Pros and Cons of Lobbies

Influence of money

Narrow interests

Provide specialized information

Keep Americans informed

Kept in balance by competing interests (democratic pluralism)

“The revolving door”

Former politicians who become lobbyists after leaving office

Why might this be a problem?

Warm Up

Write down:

1. Answer Wrap Up questions in lobbying packet

2. In your opinion, is the lobbying of interest groups more of a positive or negative influence on our government? Why?

Vox Pop Results

With a partner, share your Vox Pop results: Questions you asked Most interesting/surprising comments Main “takeaway” from the experience

Where does your tax dollar go?

You have ten sticky notes. Each note corresponds to ten cents of $1.00 you just paid in taxes.

Think about what budget category you would want your $1.00 do go to (divide it up any way you like).

Be able to justify your choices.

How you do you get your money?

How does the government get its money?

What do you spend money on?

What does the government spend money on?

Terms

Revenue: Money coming in

Expenditures: Money going out

Balanced budget: Revenue = expenditures

Surplus: Revenue exceeds expenditures

Deficit: Expenditures exceeds revenue

Deficits + interest = debt

How does the government get its money?

Taxes: Income: Based on salary Sales: Based on sales (6.35%) Property: Based on home ownership Social security: For retirement Corporate: For businesses Excise tax/sin tax: On “bad” items (cigarettes,

alcohol, etc.) Estate tax: On deceased person’s property Gift tax: On gifts of more than $14,000 Import tax (tariff): On foreign products

Tax Brackets

Progressive: The more money you have, the higher percentage (“tax rate”) you pay in taxes Income taxes

Flat: Everyone pays the same percentage

Regressive: The less money you have, the higher percentage you pay in taxes Sales tax

How else does the government get its money?

1. Social Security Trust Fund: Holds total of $2.67 trillion debt which is 19% of the total debt.

2. The Federal Reserve: Holds total of $1.63 trillion, 11.3% of the total debt.

3. China: Holds $1.6 trillion, 8% of total debt.

4. US Households: Holds $959.4 billion of Treasury bonds, which is 6.6% of the total US debt.

5. Japan: Holds 6.4% of total US debt.

Debt holders

Wrap Up

1. Based on what you learned today, is the government spending money on the right things? Why or why not?

2. Is the government spending enough money addressing your issue? Why or why not?

Media Brainstorming

What is the media? What forms of media do you use?

How does the media influence the government? What should be the role/job of the media in a democracy?

What are positive aspects of the media today? Negative characteristics?

Quick Poll on the Media (based on Pew Research study)

1. Agree/disagree? “The media…” A. Gets facts straight B. Deals fairly with all sides C. Is too critical of America D. Is careful to avoid bias

2. Write “F” for favorable, “U” for unfavorable, or “DK” (don’t know) for each news source CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, New York Times, NPR

Where do you get most of your news? Pick one: TV, internet, radio, or newspapers

Colbert: “truthiness”

What does Colbert mean by “truthiness”? What does this say about our media?

Bias in the media What is media bias? What is slant? What is

the difference between bias and perspective?

Brainstorm as many biased news strategies as you can.

Trends in Media Coverage

TV: 24 hr. coverage (CNN), increasingly ideological

Talk radio: Mostly conservative

Internet

Intense competition Dirty laundry Sensationalism

Media conglomerates: Disney/ABC/ESPN; TimeWarner/Turner Broadcasting, Viacom (CBS, MTV, VHI)

Media Bias

Fox News vs. MSNBC

Examples?

Discussion Questions

Do you believe that Fox News and MSNBC are protected by the First Amendment’s freedom of the press to say what they do? Do you believe they should be protected? Explain.

 What can be done to help improve the level of accuracy in news stories and the amount of fair and unbiased reporting?