Elections Test

In today’s elections, it is a very long and strenuous process. Candidates and all of the committees alike go out and work hard to help themselves win. A lot of what today’s modern society is about is money. That is also what all of the political campaigns are about these days. If you have a lot of money, the better the campaign for you. There are many sources of campaign funds, which includes money given by families, contributions from PAC’s; which are organizations established by corporations, labor unions, or interest groups to channel the contribution of their members into political campaigns. Campaign funds can also come from direct mail contributions. The use of soft money; money not directly contributed to a candidate, is now illegal, and is now replaced by 527’s; which are issue advocacy groups that can’t support a candidate, but can support the issues. Hard money is money given directly to a candidate, which the candidate then uses to help fund his or her campaign. The media is another source that is essential in any campaign. The reporters and journalists help get the word out about the candidate, and what they’re doing, and what’s currently going on. What starts to happen though, when reporters and journalists follow around a candidate is media bias. Media bias is the bias of reporters or journalists within the media, who select which stories and events to cover, and how they’re covered. This usually happens when there is a widespread bias, and the stories that they put out there reflect the opinions that were formed from the large group of people, rather than the perspective of just that individual reporter or journalist. Three factors generally influence the voter’s decisions at the polls: one; partisan loyalty, two; issue/policy concerns, and three; candidate characteristics. Partisan loyalties usually never change. Generally one person chooses to be Democratic or Republican. Often though this sense of identification is handed down from parents to children. It is then reinforced by social and cultural ties. When voting, people usually cast ballots for a candidate whose position on economic issues is closest to their own. If voters are satisfied with their economic prospects, they tend to support the party in power, where voter unease about the economy tends to favor the opposition. There is low voter turnout right now in America. I do not really know if this is a good or bad thing for our country. Voter turnout is the percentage of eligible voters who cast a ballot in an election. Right now there is a low mobilization level among Latino’s. That could be for two reasons. One; there’s low rates of voter registration, and two; there’s low rates of naturalization. I believe that there is a low voter turnout because a lot of people do not know a lot of what is going on around them. I think if people watched the news more, or if people were more involved in what’s going on around them, then there would be a higher turnout rate. They do say though that the Latino population is increasing and it’s becoming more important because there could be an increase in voting rates. I believe that the election process in America is not truly democratic, because in ways it is totally unfair, such as the money issue. It is usually all about who has the most money, and who has the best campaigns. It is sometimes not a very fair race, but I guess that is the way things are right now, and there’s not much that can be changed. So the best thing we can do I guess is embrace it and just take it for what it is. Oh yeah! And vote. (=

Civil Liberties Test

There are different ways that someone, such as a policeman, can search you. There is probable cause, reasonable suspicion, or plain view. Those pretty much stay the same both in a school setting and outside of school. In the New Jersey v. T.L.O. case, the girl was accused of smoking in the bathroom, and then had her bag searched. Then after they started searching her bag, they found other drugs, which is reasonable suspicion, and then led to further searching. They then found a bag of marijuana and other drugs. The presence of the rolling papers gave suspicion to the principal’s mind, justifying the search. It did not violate the 4th amendment, which states that evidence obtained illegally cannot be used against you. Another example is the Mapp v. Ohio court case. There was an illegal police search of her home in search of a fugitive. The police found obscene materials after the search of her home. That was a violation of the Constitution, because there was no warrant on that search. So all evidence obtained by the search in violation of the Constitution us inadmissible in state court. The 5th amendment protects you from self incrimination, and a good court case example of that is the Miranda v. Arizona case. Miranda was arrested and confessed, but then recanted. The defendant was not given warnings of the rights before the interrogation. This did violate the 5th amendment when the rights were not read, like the right to remain silent and right to have counsel present during the interrogations. The 4th amendment can also be seen in the Veronia School District 47 v. Acton court case. The reasonable search and seizure clause of the 4th amendment was not violated in this case. The student refused to participate in the random drug testing, so therefore, he was denied participation on the football team when he and his parents refused to consent. Under the state supervision during school hours, he is subject to greater control over the free adults. It does not violate privacy like originally thought so. The first amendment has 5 components to it, which are freedom of speech, press, religion, petition, and assembly. In the Hazelwood v. Kuhlmeier case, the principal received proofs of a school newspaper, and found 2 articles inappropriate and ordered they be withheld from publication. The students took this case to court because they thought they were being stripped of their rights under the first amendment. The educators did not offend the first amendment. The educators have control over student speech. They have the right to deny anything that might interfere with the learning environment. So the principal had the right to deny the 2 articles, and the students did not get their way.