American Politics Commons^™

The Right To Vote: Is The Amendment Game Worth The Candle?, Heather K. Gerken

William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal

No abstract provided.

The C-Span Archives: An Interdisciplinary Resource For Discovery, Learning, And Engagement, Robert X. Browning

The Year in C-SPAN Archives Research

The C-SPAN Archives records, indexes, and preserves all C-SPAN programming for historical, educational, and research uses. Every C-SPAN program aired since 1987, from all House and Senate sessions in the US Congress, to hearings, presidential speeches, conventions, and campaign events, totaling over 200,000 hours, is contained in the video library and is immediately and freely accessible through the database and electronic archival systems developed and maintained by staff.

Whereas C-SPAN is best known as a resource for political processes and policy information, the Archives also offers rich educational research and teaching opportunities. This book provides guidance and inspiration to scholars …

Horse Cave, Kentucky - City Minutes (Mss 22 Box 1 Folder 11), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

The minutes of the Caverna (later Horse Cave), Kentucky Board of Trustees from 1871 to 1892. Full text of the minutes, in 50-page increments, can be seen by clicking on "Additional Files" below. The community was known as Horse Cave, but changed its name to Caverna in 1869 and later changed its name back to Horse Cave in 1880. Stray material was scanned where it was found in the minute book; blank pages were not scanned. A short index was typescripted from the original minute book and is also included as an "Additional File." This minute book is part of …

"If You Can Hold On...": Counter-Apocalyptic Play In Richard Kelly’S Southland Tales, Marcus O'Donnell

Journal of Religion & Film

Richard Kelly’s Southland Tales (2006) presents a dystopic, post-apocalyptic, near-future through an aesthetic, which fuses contemporary postmodern screens with the phantasmagorical of traditional apocalyptic visions. This article argues that Southland Tales is an example of what feminist theologian Catherine Keller calls the “counter-apocalyptic” (Keller 1996:19-20). Through strategies of ironic parody Kelly both describes and questions the apocalyptic and its easy polarities. In situating the film as counter-apocalyptic the paper argues that the film both resists the apocalyptic impulse however it is also located within it. In this sense it produces a unique take on the genre of the post-apocalyptic film …

Governing Controversies: A View From The Ohio Public, John C. Green

Ray C. Bliss Institute of Applied Politics

This report updates Ohioans’ views on four controversies concerning state government: legislative redistricting, early voting, term limits, and length of a single legislative term. To one degree or another, these “governing controversies” reflect a tension between the role of popular opinion and professional opinion in the operation of state government, especially the state legislature. These issues may be addressed by the Ohio Constitutional Modernization Commission, currently convened to study and propose possible changes to the state constitution (http://www.ocmc.ohio.gov/ocmc/home).

How Secular Should Democracy Be? A Cross-Disciplinary Study Of Catholicism And Islam In Promoting Public Reason, David Ingram, David Ingram

Philosophy: Faculty Publications and Other Works

I argue that the same factors (strategic and principled) that motivated Catholicism to champion liberal democracy are the same that motivate 21^st Century Islam to do the same. I defend this claim by linking political liberalism to democratic secularism. Distinguishing institutional, political, and epistemic dimensions of democratic secularism, I show that moderate forms of political and epistemic secularism are most conducive to fostering the kind of public reasoning essential to democratic legitimacy. This demonstration draws upon the ambivalent impact of Indonesia’s Islamic parties in advancing universal social justice aims as against more sectarian policies.

Fixing The U.S. Congress By Embracing Earmarks, John Hudak

Brookings Scholar Lecture Series

Too often, earmarks, pork barrel politics, and other types of federal spending are seen as a problem in American politics. Nothing could be further from the truth. Congress’ abandonment of earmarks, the deconstruction of the appropriations process, and the breakdown in regular order in the House and Senate has coincided with a period of intense gridlock. For decades, pork greased the wheels of the legislative process, ensuring legislators could fund local needs in exchange for support on key legislation. Returning to the politics of pork offers a possible pathway to fixing a broken legislative process and meeting mounting public needs …

Spartans In Vietnam: Michigan State University's Experience In South Vietnam, Jake T. Alster

Grand Valley Journal of History

In this article, the relations between various colleges (with special attention to Michigan State University) and the United States Government are explored in relation to America’s effort in nation building in South Vietnam in the late 1950s. During America’s efforts in Vietnam more reliance was put upon collegiate institutions to help negotiate foreign policy. One of the major issues regarding South Vietnam was technical assistance, and how we should implement assistance into the third world. Michigan State University, under the presidency of John Hannah, became the most important university in the technical assistance program. John Ernst argues that this was …

Distributed Media In The Age Of Eisenhower: Political Buttons, Rachel C. Loughran

Student Publications

This paper describes the purpose and effectiveness of distributed campaign materials in the context of President Dwight D Eisenhower's 1952 and 1956 elections. It analyzes campaign buttons and political cartoons distributed by the Eisenhower administration to determine how they furthered the image Eisenhower wished to convey during his campaigns. This image is presented by applying certain aesthetic qualities to the campaign materials.

Post-9/11 Illegal Immigrant Detention And Deportation: Terrorism And The Criminalization Of Immigration, Stefany N. Laun

Student Publications

This paper analyzes the changes in immigration policy since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 in terms of how immigrants are viewed in the United States. The goal is to address the recent criminalization of immigration in that the perceptions of terrorists and immigrants have become relatively synonymous since 2001. Although deportations have decreased, immigrant detention has increased significantly. Detention centers pose threats to the basic human rights of the immigrants residing in them, as well as perpetuate the culture of fear enveloping recent immigrants, whether they are legally or illegally in the country, and native United States citizens …

Dwight Eisenhower, The Warrior, & John Kennedy, The Cold Warrior: Foreign Policy Under Two Presidents, Andrew C. Nosti

Student Publications

This paper presents a comparison between President Eisenhower and President Kennedy's foreign affairs policies, specifically regarding the Cold War, by examining the presidents' interactions with four distinct Cold War regions.

The Problem Of State Intervention In Post-Abolition Slavery: A Critique Of Consensus, Anthony Talbott, David Watkins

Political Science Faculty Publications

Slavery is now illegal by all states and under international law. Contrary to the hopes of abolitionists, this state of affairs has transformed rather than eradicated slavery as an institution. Furthermore, responses by states to post-abolition forms of slavery have often been less than ideal. This paper begins by comparing two state responses to slavery in the early 20th century: the federal peonage trials in Montgomery, Alabama from 1903-1905, and the federal response to an alleged epidemic of “white slavery” from 1909-1910, culminating in the passage of the White Slave-Traffic Act. Taken together, these responses engender pessimism about the state …

Politics For Place: An Introduction To American Decentralism, Jeff Taylor

Faculty Work Comprehensive List

Paper presented at the Front Porch Republic Conference, University of Louisville, Louisville, Kentucky, on September 27, 2014.

Justice Not Long Delayed: Historical Perspective And The Twenty-First Century Fight For Gay Rights, Charles O. Boyd

Oglethorpe Journal of Undergraduate Research

This paper attempts to formulate the best comprehensive strategy for achieving equal rights under the law for gays and lesbians. One of the main ways this paper attempts to formulate such a strategy is by looking at the tactics that allowed previous movements, such as abolitionism and the Civil Rights Movement, to succeed. This paper considers which of the tactics of these movements should be adopted by gay rights activists. Some tactics, such as civil disobedience, are determined to be useful for gay rights activists. Others, such as violence (which was avoided by the Civil Rights Movement but used by …

Backsliding Into Corporate Dominance?, Evan Barrett

Highlands College

A Montana Public Radio Commentary by Evan Barrett.

Published newspaper columns written by Evan Barrett on this topic, which vary somewhat in content from this commentary, appeared in the following publications:

Missoulian, October 3, 2014

Independent Record, October 13, 2014

Grit And Dreams: Character Strengths, Social Mobility, And The American Dream, Richard Reeves

Brookings Scholar Lecture Series

The issue of social mobility is at the forefront of current political debate. President Obama has described it as ‘the defining challenge of our times.’ Paul Ryan says that the ‘engines of upward mobility have stalled.’ Most approaches to restoring the American dream focus on institutions: schools, companies, and colleges. There is growing evidence that individual character strengths -- especially grit (the capacity to stick with a task or a journey), and prudence (valuing future outcomes) - matter just as much as more tangible factors. Blending history, philosophy, and economics, in this public lecture I will argue that restoring the …

The Bias Of Neutrality: An Examination Of A Congressman's Motivations On The Issue Of Network Neutrality, Harrison Beau Bryant

e-Research: A Journal of Undergraduate Work

The United States Congress is an institution that, especially in recent times, is continuously faced with more modern and complex problems. The political dilemma surrounding the issue of network neutrality is a perfect example of a highly complex and technical problem that members of Congress have been forced to think about and act on. Because use of the Internet has now been almost entirely integrated into American society, with nearly 80% of the U.S. population connected in one way or another, the Internet's priority as a subject of legislation has seen a meteoric rise in Congress (data.worldbank.org; opencongress.org). In fact, …

Enhanced Interrogation: Torture Policies Of The United States, Philip A. Quigley

e-Research: A Journal of Undergraduate Work

Over the last decade the US Government has worked tirelessly to combat terrorists, insurgents, and those who intend harm to the US, its interests, and its allies and their interests. The US Military and the US Intelligence Community have used many tactics as part of a more complex strategy for waging a worldwide war against al-Qaeda, other terrorist organizations, and their base of support. No tactic has garnered as much public attention, media outcry, and political debate as the use of torture, or more euphemistically referred to in US Government documents, "enhanced interrogation." The use of this tactic has strained …

Are Approval Ratings An Accurate Reflection Of Success? Effects Of Media Coverage On Public Opinion Of Colin Powell, Michaela Dalton

e-Research: A Journal of Undergraduate Work

No abstract provided.

Colin Powell, Torture And Terror, Jonathan Cohen

e-Research: A Journal of Undergraduate Work

This paper will address evidence linking the former Secretary of State, General Colin Powell, to the hotly-debated torture program of the George W. Bush (GWB) administration. The evidence in this paper suggests that the policies and practices of torture in the War on Terror were planned and authorized by General Powell and other senior officials in the GWB administration.