In a perfectly apportioned system, no citizen's vote weighs more than another's. The U.S. Senate is one of the most malapportioned representative bodies in the developed and democratized world
What accounts for this? Does this jeopardize American democracy or facilitate it? Why?
What will be an ideal response?
An ideal response will:
1, Recount the intent of the framers in balancing the will of the people against cool, collected consideration of policy issues.
2, Describe how the Seventeenth Amendment made the Senate more accountable by establishing direct election of senators.
3, Examine the current demographics of the Senate in contrast to the public, noting senators tend to be wealthier, more educated, racially homogenous (white), and male, compared to the public and even the House of Representatives.
4, Discuss the merits of elite representation as opposed to a less educated, poorer, racially and gender proportionate governing class.
5, Relate how some critics charge that being too directly representative leads to gridlock and pandering to special interest groups.
6, Formulate an argument on representativeness versus "effectiveness" in American democracy.
7, Offer a conclusion restating the main points of the argument.
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After the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment, which abolished slavery, some southern states passed “black codes.” What did these laws attempt to do?
a. Accommodate the needs of newly-freed slaves. b. Make slavery legal again under certain circumstances. c. Restrict the rights of former slaves and relegate them to second-class citizenship. d. Restrict some rights of former slaves until a certain period of time had passed.
An Oklahoma law was typical of the effort to bar or remove homosexuals from teaching positions. It did NOT criminalize
A. promoting public or private homosexual acts B. advocating homosexual activities C. attributes of being a homosexual D. soliciting homosexual act
The Umkhonto-we-Sizwe ("Spear of the Nation") was
a. the armed wing of the African National Congress. b. a militant White separatist movement that was later incorporated into the National Party. c. the armed militia of the Zulu homeland that later developed into the Inkantha Freedom Party. d. a militant African separatist group that was later incorporated into the African National Congress. e. the original name of the Pan-Africanist Congress, a more militant offshoot of the African National Congress.
The American approach to human rights has been criticized because of its primary focus on ________ rights
A. civil B. Western C. American D. individual E. collective