debate.

OK. so there is DMZ between South and North Korea...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korean_Demilitarized_Zone
that's the website where you can find more about DMZ. :]


and the question is... "Should the US encourge South Korea to defend itself?" Basically, if the US encourage South Korea to defend itself, the US troops from DMZ will leave South Korea. and the question you should ask yourself is... is it good if the US troops leave South Korea to defend itself?

If you say no... then you are believing that the US troops should stay in South Korea, because of all the reasons i've listed under the "NO" side...

and if you say yes.. then you agree that the US troops should leave South Korea because of all the reasons i've listed under the "YES" side.



'Yes' side
With the withdrawal of US troops from South Korea, invasion will be easier. Those imperialist Americans have acknowledged our military supremacy. US can focus its attention elsewhere, such as the war in Iraqi Stan, because things seem relatively peaceful between North and South Koreas. But, there are no news about conflicts between North and South Koreas. Sure NK says it has nukes, but they suck, and we have more, and their army is turn on legs. They have no air force, no navy, and a small army. Their only weapons that are capable of reaching here are their Taepodong-II’s, and they are off by KILOMETERS.

-But that was over 30 years ago. These days, NK is too concerned about nuking the US to focus on invading SK. Thats another reason we need to pull troops back to the homeland, in case they launch an invasion on us.

But you guys have a better economy, military, air force, and navy. In fact, the air force and navy are literally infinitely better than North Koreas, as they don’t even have them





'NO' side

To defend itself means that US is taking its support away from SK, This is bad because the withdrawal of US troops from SK will make invasion easier. We are getting nowhere with the war in Iraq. Our combat styles aren’t suited to fit within an urban environment and also comply with the no civilian casualties’ rule, which is pointless because thousands of civilians have died already. You say things are peaceful, but this may be a facade. Four tunnels dug out under the DMZ were leading to SK and were made by North Koreans. Ahem, and don’t forget the Axe Murder Incident in 1976, where North Korean soldiers who outnumbered SK killed two American soldiers, one with an axe and one with a karate chop.

But even the North Koreans are not total buffoons. They realize that they will need to reshape their military technology until it is sufficient to reach and destroy any part of America, and to do that, they’ll have to bide their time, stay in North Korea, and they might even test some of their stuff on us
.
That may be true, but North Korea is not willing to play by the Geneva Convention. You’ve already seen what they have done to us: kidnappings, murders, and the Korean Air disaster.






If you think it's confusing. ask me questions! :]

1. Explain and give and example of the difference between a divisive public opinion and a consensus public opinion.
Consensus and divisive opinion are both public opinions; however, there is a difference between them. Consensus is a general agreement among the citizenry on an issue like 95% people vote for the issue and divisive opinion is polarized between two quite different positions.


2. Describe the reasons for taking a quota sample.
A quota sampling is a method of sampling widely used in opinion polling and market research. Interviewers are each given a quota of subjects of specified type to attempt to recruit for example, an interviewer might be told to go out and select 40 women, age 40 to 60, so that they could interview them about their television viewing. But why do they use a quota sampling? It is to ensure that the random samples include respondents from relevant segments of the population-rural, urban, Southeast, North and so on-most survey organizations randomly choose, say, urban areas that they will consider s representative of all urban areas. THEN they randomly select their respondents within those areas. Another reason is to make a judgment to be used to select the subjects or units from each segment based on a specified proportion. Lastly, one of the reasons why people use a quota sampling is because there are a lot of advantages. Although the result might be biased, a quota sampling costs less, administratively easy, has a quick reply and does not need any sampling frame.


3. Explain how each of the following impact a person's political socialization.
- Family: Not only do our parents’ political attitudes and actions affect out adult opinions, but the family also links us to other socialization forces, such as ethnic identity, social class, educational opportunities, and religious beliefs. Parents communicate their feelings and preferences to children constantly. Because children have such a strong need for parental approval, they are receptive to their parents’ view.
- Education: Education is closely linked to political participation. The more education a person receives, the more likely it is that the person will be interested in politics, be confident in his or her ability to understand political issues, and be an active participant in the political process.
- Peers: A peer group is a group consisting of members sharing common relevant social characteristics. Friends become an important influence. For the most part, associations among peers are nonpolitical. Political attitudes are more likely to be shaped by peer groups when the peer groups are involved directly in political activities.
- Religion: Depends on what kind of religion a person has, he or she will have different opinions about certain parties.
- Economic status/occupation: Poorer people are more inclined to favor government social-welfare programs but are likely to be conservative on social issues such as abortion. The upper middle class is more likely to hold conservative economic views but to be tolerant of social change.
- Political events within a person's lifetime: Political decisions on major issues, such a of abortion or gay rights, affect many people's political affiliation. Many pro-life activists, if their governor legalizes abortion, will not be likely to vote for his/her party next election. Likewise, homosexuals will not be likely to vote for Republicans if they illegalize same-sex relationships.
- Influence of political leaders: It has impacts because people are all influenced by those with whom they are closely associated or whom they hold in great respect-friends at school, family members, teachers, and so on. People are also influenced by forma opinion leaders, such as presidents, lobbyists, congresspersons, new commentators, or religious leaders.
- Media influence: The media-newspapers, televisions, radio, and internet sources-strongly influence public opinion. The media may not be successful in telling people what to think, but they are successful in telling what to think about.
- Demographics (race/gender/age): The race, age, or gender can have an effect on a person's political orientation. For seniors, they will most likely vote for the party that promises a better retirement plan. Between races, whether or not a party takes an affirmative action policy can also affect how they vote. How gender can have an effect on party affiliation could be if the candidate voices for women's rights. That will definitely grab the interest of women voters.


1. Explain what an interest group is and the reason people join them.

Interest group is an organized group of individuals sharing common objectives who actively attempt to influence policymakers in all three branches of the government and at all levels. People join interest groups for many different reasons. First of all, solidary incentives give the desire to associate with others and to share with others a particular interest or hobby. Second of all, for other individuals, interest groups offer direct material incentives and provide discounts, insurance plans, and so on. Lastly, other individuals join because interest groups offer purposive incentives, the opportunity for them to pursue political, economic, or social goals through joint action.


2. What are the 4 kinds of interest groups?

Economic Interest Groups: Including business, agriculture, labor, gov’t workers, and professionals.
Environmental Groups: Groups that would be referred to as "tree huggers" by some and “pro-planet activists by others. They lobby for subjects from improvement of worldwide issues, such as global warming, to very specific ones, such as the endangerment of the manatee. Some well known environmental interest groups would be Earth First and Greenpeace.
Public-Interest Groups: The best interests of collective, overall community; the national good, rather than the narrow interests of a self-serving group.
Special Interest Groups: Being narrowly focused and call more attention because they have simple and straightforward goals.


3. What are some indirect and direct techniques interest groups use to achieve the goals.

There are four main direct techniques used by interest groups:
Lobbying Techniques: The term "lobbying" comes from the activities of private citizens regularly congregating in the lobbies of legislative chambers before a session to petition legislators.
The Rating Game: This strategy is used when many interest groups are attempting to influence the overall behavior of legislators through their rating systems. Ratings are a shorthand way of describing members' voting records for interested citizens and can be used to embarrass members.
Building Alliances: Use by interest groups to form a coalition with other groups concerned about the same legislation.
Campaign Assistance: This strategy is used by interest groups when they are attempting to influence government policies.

Indirect techniques mask the interest group's own activities and make the effort appear to be spontaneous. Furthermore, legislators and government officials are often more impressed by contacts from constituents than from an interest group's lobbyist.
Generating Public Pressure: There are times when interest groups try to produce a "ground swell" of public pressure to influence the government. The intent of this activity is to convince policymakers that public opinion overwhelmingly supports the group's position.
Using Constituents as Lobbyists: This strategy is one of the most effective interest group activities. In the "shotgun" approach, the interest group tries to mobilize large numbers of constituents to write, phone, or send e-mails to their legislators of the president.


4. What are the 5 functions of a political party?
The 5 functions of a political party are: 1. to recruit candidates for public office: the parties must work to recruit candidates for all elective office to gain the control of government. 2. Organizing and running elections: Political parties usually organize the voter-registration drives, recruit the volunteers to work at the polls, and to increase the number of voters. 3. Presenting alternative policies to the electorate: they are to be focused on a set of political positions, instead of on a single politician. 4. Accepting responsibility for operating the government: when a party elects the president of the legislature, it accepts the responsibility for running the government. 5. Acting as the organized opposition to the party in power: political parties focus more on beating the opponents instead of winning giant numbers of undecided votes. This isn’t good because then they don’t get groups of voters that passionately believe in the party’s views, you just have fewer voters for the other party by “slinging mud”.


5. Describe two of the minor parties in American politics today.

Minor parties have heavy competition against the Republicans and Democrats, but most have strong ideological foundations typically at odds with the majority. The Libertarian Party is an example of a notable third-party. It supports a laissez-faire ("Let it be economics") capitalist economic program. It also supports a hands-off policy on regulating moral conduct issues. Another famous, well-known third party is the Green Party. It started as an environmental organization with related political parties all along North America and Western Europe. Even so, it can have big impacts on an election, which can take away some votes from a candidate, like in 2000, when the Green Party took away 3 percent of votes from Gore. The Green Party is an established national party.


1. Why Do People Run for Office? Explain two reasons and give examples for each.
People who choose to run for office can be divided into two groups-those who are “self-starter” and those who are recruited. The self-starters get involved in political activities to further their careers, to carry out specific political programs, or in response to certain issues or events. Other politicians may aspire to long-term political office-for example, country offices such as commissioner of sheriff sometimes offer attractive opportunities.



2. Explain the eligibility requirements for running for the following offices:
- President- Vice President- Senate- Representative:
The Constitutions certainly state "formal requirements" to run for national offices. The President and Vice-President both have slightly stricter requirements than a Congressman would need. To be president, the person must be a natural-born citizen, be at least 35 years old, and must be a resident of the U.S. for at least 14 years.

Likewise with the vice-president, he/she must be a natural-born citizen, be at least 35, and cannot be a resident in the same state as the candidate for president. On the other hand, the requirements for a Congressman's office are a bit easier.

To be senator, the candidate must be a citizen for at least 9 years, be a resident from the state elected from, and be at least 30.

The candidate running for a representative seat must be at least a 7 year citizen, a resident of the state from which he/she was elected, and be at least 25.



3. Break down the reasons for each of the following in a campaign:
- Tracking polls: As the election approaches, many candidates use tracking polls, which are polls are taken almost every day, to find out how well they are competing for votes.
- Focus groups: A small group of individuals who are led in discussion by a professional consultant to gather opinions and responses to candidates and issues. It is to grain visibility into public perceptions of the candidate.
- Political parties: Help to show where the candidate stands so the voters know what they will do in office
- political consultants (spin doctors): highly paid campaign experts. They help devise a strategy and make a theme for the campaign. They make things catchy to that people will vote for whoever they are endorsing. All of these things have a big role in modern day campaigning.


4. Name three campaign finance reform acts and find a common reason for all of them.
The Hatch Act of 1939: Forbade a political group to spend more than $3 million in any campaign and limited individual contributions to a political group to $5,000.
The Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971: Placed no limit on overall spending but restricted the amount that could be spend on mass-media advertising, including television. It limited the amount that candidates could contribute to their own campaigns and required disclosure of all contributions and expenditures in excess of $100.
The Bipartisan Campain Reform Act of 2002


5. Explain the 4 kinds of presidential primaries.
The states and state parties use different devices for nominations and hold different types of primary elections. Four types presidential primaries are: Closed Primary, Open Primary, Blanket Primary, and Run-off primary.
Closed Primary: The selection of a party's candidates in an election is limited to avowed or declared party members. Voters must declare their party affiliation, either when they register to vote or at the primary election. This system tries to make sure that registered voters cannot cross over into the other party's primary in order to nominate the weakest candidate of the opposing party or to affect the ideological direction of that party.
Open Primary: A primary in which voters can vote in either party primary without disclosing their party affiliation. Voter makes the choice in the privacy of the voting booth.
Blanket Primary: The voter may vote for candidates of more than one party. This system may be much more costly because each candidate for every office is trying to influence all the voters, not just those in his or her party.
Run-off Primary: It is when no candidate receives a majority of the votes in the first primary, the top two candidates must compete in another primary, which is a run-off primary.

6. Using figure 10-3 in your book, list the path of how electors elect a president.
-Every first Tuesday of November is the date for the "General Election" where voters vote for electors.-Then during the first Monday after second Wednesday in December, which is the "Electoral College", the Electors vote for the Pres and VP respectively.-Then if each candidate receives 270 votes or more they are elected.-And IF AND ONLY IF they get less than 270 electoral the President and VP are made in the House and Senate, President goes to the House, and the VP goes to the Senate.-After, the House votes and there are at least 26 representatives for him he’s elected, and if at least 51 senators vote for the VP, he is elected.

7. Give three reasons why people don't vote.
Since it is so difficult to register to vote, political scientists believed that one reason voter turnout in the United States was so much lower than other Western nations. They are also advancing other explanations for low U.S voter turnout.
Uninformative Media Coverage and Negative Campaigning: Voters are not given the kind of information that would provide an incentive to go to the polls on Election Day. Also, negative campaigning is thought to have an adverse effect on voter turnout. Nonvoters, however, were much more cynical about government and politicians than were voters.
The Rational Ignorance Effect is suggesting that citizens are making a logical choice in not voting. It is when people purposely and rationally decide not to vote because they believe it is not likely to be a deciding one. To make more people to vote, there are two ideas seemed promising. The first was to allow voters to visit the polls up to three weeks before Election Day. The second was to allow voters to vote by absentee allot without having to give any particular reason for doing so.