Am Govt Homework 8 Answers - Student Seven

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Answer the first five questions, and then two of the remaining three, for a total of seven questions:

1. Explain what it means when people say that the Democrats won the "ground game" in the last election.

First I must explain what a ground game is. A ground game is the field campaigning of a candidate. This can include, knocking on doors, speaking to people on street corners, or even bussing people to polling booths on Election Day. In the 2012 election the Democratic Party had a very aggressive ground game compared to the much more passive Republican one. Due to the influence of the Democratic ground game people say that the Democrats won the ground game as if it was a competition.

Superb explanation - and a good analogy to a competition.

2. Explain the difference between an "initiative" and a "referendum".

An initiative is proposed by the people and voted on by the people in order to make it law. A referendum is proposed by the legislature and then voted on by the people.

Succinct and correct. Well done.

3. Other than your answer to question 1, why else do you think Obama defeated Romney? Explain.

The amount of goverment handouts given to people was a contributing factor to Barack Obama's victory. People who are already getting free income, can continue getting it by voting for Obama; generally people vote for the easier path.

"goverment" -> "government". Good explanation.

4. Explain what "divided government" and "gridlock" are, and what your view of them are.

Divided government is when the two chambers of Congress are controlled by opposing parties. This is good, as it keeps one party from getting extreme in their bills. In a divided government, gridlock can occur; this is when one party’s views differ so much from the others that no bills can pass.

Excellent answer again, one of the finest in the class.

5. Does New Jersey allow an "initiative" and, if not, should it?

New Jersey does not allow initiatives. With the amount of careless people in New Jersey, I do not think that initiatives be a very helpful or beneficial thing here.

Good answer, though I don't think "careless" is the best adjective for this context. Perhaps "uninformed" or "misinformed"?

6. Do you think it was right for Governor Chris Christie to praise Obama so much so close to Election Day? Discuss, perhaps using a sports analogy where a player on one team gives the ball to a player on the other team at a crucial moment because he wanted to.

What Chris Christie did, I believe, was to try to help the people in distress from the hurricane. I don't think this move by Christie really made a difference in the election; New Jersey would have voted clearly Democrat anyway, and Christie knew this, so he took the aid from the federal government to help the citizens of New Jersey.

True, but the news of Christie praising Obama traveled far beyond the New Jersey borders and could have affected undecided voters in key swing states. Not because those undecided voters are big supporters of Christie, but because of the (false) impression it makes when a Republican praises a Democrat, much like if a New York Giants player gave a New England Patriots player the football at a key moment in the Super Bowl. Football players are smarter than that, perhaps?

7. What is a "recall", and which types of officials are susceptible to it? Would you interpret U.S. Constitution as preventing the people of New Jersey from recalling a U.S. Senator? Discuss.

8. Do you agree with Ron Paul's quote at the beginning of the lecture?

Yes. It is very bad that there are more people on the receiving end of government aid, as they will always vote for more aid, and eventually there'll be no one to pay their taxpayer-funded salaries.

Perfect score: 70/70. Very well done.--Andy Schlafly 17:57, 8 December 2012 (EST)