Christine Barbour and Gerald C. Wright. Keeping the Republic: Power and Citizenship in American Politics. Houghton Mifflin Company. (2000). ISBN #: 0395714109
Course Description
This course is the study of the structure, organization and powers of the executive, legislative and judicial branches including relationships between state and national governments. Students will also study the U.S. Constitution, American political culture and political processes including elections, political parties, voting behavior and interest groups.
Appointments
You can e-mail me any questions you might have. I check my e-mail frequently and will get back to you as quickly as possible.
Requirements
This course will involve the reading of chapter assignments and completing writing assignments. To keep up-to-date on current political events, you should read a newspaper or magazine every week. This will help you with your writing assignments. There will be a final exam. The final exam will consist of multiple choice and short answer questions. There will be several writing assignments throughout the course. You must use at least three references and footnotes in these essays. Spelling, grammar and punctuation will count. There will also be journal assignments that you will complete with each chapter. There will be a section entitled "what do you think?" You will respond to these questions, expressing your personal opinion.
Grading Procedure
This course will use the ten-point segmented grading scale.
A = 90 - 100 %
B = 80 - 89 %
C = 70 - 79 %
D = 60 - 69 % F = 59% or below
Journal assignments 25%
Final exam 25%
Essays 50%
Introduction
Hello, my name is Patri Cabe. This is American Government and Politics. I have taught this class several times. Each time I teach this class I learn something. Each time I teach this class, I learn more about our government and current events. In this course we will not only cover the foundations of our American government, we will also cover current events. We will cover cases being heard by the Supreme Court.. We will also look at the recent elections. Each time I teach this class, I also learn new ways to make the class interesting for the students.
I understand that some of you may work or have families. I still expect you to complete the reading assignments. If you don't procrastinate the writing assignments will not be overwhelming. Instead of being assigned one long research paper due at the end of the semester, you will be assigned several short essays throughout the semester. These essays should be around five pages long. Essays will have an introductory paragraph, with a thesis. The body of the paper will provide support for the thesis. A conclusion will tie all the points together. As with all papers, you will be required to use three references and footnotes. However, with these essays you will have the opportunity to express your personal opinions and beliefs. You will have adequate time to write these essays. The essays will be due at certain points in the course.
The first paper will be a discussion of a fundamental freedom. Examples of fundamental freedoms include the freedom of religion, speech, assembly and press. Other fundamental freedoms include the right to own a gun, the right to be secure from unreasonable searches and seizures. Equal treatment on the basis of race and gender may also be considered a fundamental freedom. You can discuss cases that have had an impact on this fundamental freedom. You can discuss your personal feelings about this fundamental freedom.
In the second paper you will discuss your political ideology.. You can choose from the Republican, Democratic, Populist and Libertarian parties. You will provide a self-identification along ideological lines. You will discuss your attitude toward government, society and the interaction between the two. Are you liberal on all issues? Are you conservative on all issues? Are you liberal on social issues and conservative on economic issues? Are you conservative on social issues and liberal on economic issues? You will describe how you think government should relate to its citizens.
In the third paper you will discuss your favorite President. Remember, this is not a history class. I don't want a lot of biographical information. Select an incident during the President's administration and discuss its impact. For example you can write about the impact of the Bay of Pigs (or the Cuban Missile Crisis) on Kennedy's administration. You could write about Richard Nixon and Watergate. You could write about Ronald Reagan and the Iran Contra Affair. You could write about Jimmy Carter and the Iranian Hostage Crisis or the Camp David Accords. You could write about Franklin Roosevelt and the Great Depression. You could write about George Bush and the war with Iraq. If you have any questions about the topic you have selected, feel free to ask me about it.
There will also be other short writing assignments. These will be answers to "what do you think" questions. These journal entries should be approximately one page long. Each chapter will have a "what do you think" question.
