The Political Process: How does it work?

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Overview

Students will examine some of the causes of common misperceptions by discussing the role of the media and the formal and informal rules of the political process.

Grade Levels

9 - 12

Objectives

Students will:

• examine some of the causes of common misperceptions of Congress;
• consider what role the media and the political process play in developing these misperceptions;
• review some of the formal and informal rules of the political process;
• observe a town hall meeting and participate in a discussion with an elected representative (federal, state, or local); and
• review and analyze campaign finance reform efforts.

Estimated Time

5 days (Day 4 activities will be spread out over several days or weeks.)

Materials Needed

• Interactive Learning Module: The Dynamic Legislative Process
• Interactive Learning Module: Public Criticisms
• Examples of media described in Procedure, Day 1, A
• Internet connection with Macromedia FLASH ® enabled
• Projection device

Procedure

Day 1

Have students watch criticisms 1, 5, 7, 8, and 12 in the Interactive Learning Module: Public Criticisms. Most but not all criticisms of Congress are based on perceptions of Congress and the behavior of individual Congresspersons. Discuss with students that in some instances the perceptions are based on facts while others are not. Major points to cover in the discussion include:

• Many misperceptions are based on partial truths and misperceptions caused by the media's need to exaggerate stories in order to attract readers, which they need to be a successful business.
• Some criticisms are also based on lack of knowledge of the rules of the game that are established by the Constitution and other informal rules that have become self-chosen patterns of operation by Congress. These formal and informal operating rules are in effect while they are: legislating in session or in committees, listening and responding to constituents, and running for election or re-election.
• Some criticisms are the result of the two major political parties' use of tactics and strategies to win elections by persuading voters that their opponents will not represent their interests in Congress or that they have little or no integrity or honesty.
• Some are based on citizens' lack of understanding that the legislative system in our democracy is based on conflict and compromise with majority rule and the protection of minority rights.

In this lesson we will look at several of these explanations with the intent of sifting out genuine criticisms from those based on misunderstanding or lack of knowledge. The next part of the lesson is divided into sections based on these explanations.

A. IMPACT OF THE MEDIA

1. Gather news programming for one week that reports on Congress from the following sources:
   • newspapers, including columns from the editorial pages
   • a week's worth of the ABC, NBC, or CBS national news
   • news programs on cable news networks such as FOX, CNN, and MSNBC
   • copies of several blogs, one from the left of center, the other from the right
   • talk-radio personalities being careful to have representatives from liberal and conservative positions

   Note: Students could do this on their own, but you run the risk of not having a complete sample.

2. Have students work in small groups with each group analyzing one of the sources of information—print media, network news, cable news, blogs, and talk radio—writing a summary that includes the following data.
   • A brief description of the content of each story presented.
   • The factual evidence provided, if any, to support the claims or assertions of the story.
   • The personal opinions expressed in the story.
   • The data not included in the story that a citizen would need in order to verify the accuracy and reliability of the story.
   • Their rating, on a scale of 1 to 10—with 1 being all factual and verifiable, and 10 being totally opinion—of each story.

3. After students have done the analysis, hold a class discussion that focuses on the media's role in creating the citizen's image of Congress and the media's accuracy and reliability in their reporting on Congress.

Day 2

B. FORMAL AND INFORMAL RULES OF THE GAME: LEGISLATING, CAMPAIGNING, AND LISTENING

LEGISLATING

1. Have students work in small groups using an activity or sport in which they are participants at their school or in their community. Ask them to make a list of seven formal rules that govern the conduct of the activity or sport.
2. Then have them list five informal rules of the game or activity that are commonly used.
3. Next explain that legislating also has formal and informal rules. Show them all or portions of the Interactive Learning Module: The Dynamic Legislative Process entitled "The Dynamic Legislative Process."
4. Ask them to make a similar list of formal and informal rules of legislating that they observe or can extrapolate from watching the process, even if the rule is not explicitly stated, just as they did for the game or activity they discussed earlier.
5. Next ask them which rules, formal and informal, they would keep and which they would eliminate to make the system more efficient.
6. Finally, hold a class discussion of these conflicting values:
• efficiency vs. protection of minority rights,
• being a servant of your constituents vs. being a leader,
• elected representatives vs. direct democracy, and
• citizenry educated on what the rules are (informal and formal) vs. citizenry that is uninformed.

Day 3

CAMPAIGNING

1. Print copies of the Buckley v. Valeo Supreme Court Case (http://www.oyez.org/cases/1970-1979/1975/1975_75_436/) and the Feingold/McCain campaign finance law (http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=107_cong_public_laws&docid=f:publ155.107). Provide students with copies of the original documents or create teacher-edited versions. From those documents ask students to work in groups of two or three to make a list of what types of expenditures on campaigns and donations of money to campaigns the two documents address.
2. Go to the Federal Elections Commission site (http://www.fec.gov/finance/disclosure/srssea.shtml) and look up the campaign expenditures of your state's U.S. Senators and two of your U.S. Representatives and who provides the major sources of their campaign funds. Donations to campaigns can also be in forms other than outright cash donations.
3. Discuss with the class the following questions.
   • Why is money so important in an election?
   • What types of conflict of interest can occur when a legislator takes a donation from a person or interest group?
   • Should elections be publicly financed?
   • How much time do you think a legislator must spend raising money for his/her next election?
   • Do campaign finance rules and laws give an incumbent an unfair advantage?
   • Do wealthy candidates have an unfair advantage?
   • Interest groups tend to donate to legislators who have values similar to their group's legislative interests. Which groups tend to primarily donate to each party?
   • Interest groups provide significant amounts of money to candidates who represent their values and promise to provide special consideration in return for the donation. How do we explain the fact that control of Congress changed from Republicans to Democrats in the early 1990s and back to the Democrats in 2006?
4. Ask students to write a three-paragraph paper in which they list and describe the top three changes in campaign finance laws that would address the criticism that wealthy individuals and interest groups control Congress with their campaign contributions.

Day 4

LISTENING

1. Contact your legislator, state, federal, or city officer and ask them when their next town hall or community meeting will be held.
2. Have your students attend the meeting and record the following data.
   • Which questions were asked by the legislator's constituents?
   • Did the legislator actively listen or speak most of the time?
   • How did the legislator respond to hostile or challenging questions?
   • How did the legislator respond when he did not have the information needed to answer a constituent's question?
3. Invite the same legislator to appear in your class for a conversation with students. It is important that it be a conversation and not a lecture. Before the conversation, have five groups of students each choose a different issue from the community which the legislator represents, ideally a Congressperson but not necessarily (it may even be more desirable to have it be a state senator/representative or city council member) and research the background of the issue.

Preparation Note: Have students use the following skills from the response to the criticism, Ordinary People Can't Have Any Impact in the Interactive Learning Module: The Dynamic Legislative Process to prepare for the meeting with the legislator.

• Study enough to know what the problem is and ask for very specific remedies.
• Be certain that this problem is one that the legislator has jurisdiction over. If it is a city council member, be certain that it is a city issue; if a state legislator, it should be a state issue; if a Congressperson, a federal issue—and that the issue is legislative in nature rather then executive or judicial.
• Have students listen actively and respond with intelligent, thoughtful follow-up questions that clarify the data and issues surrounding the problem.
• Invite the legislator to return to class at an appropriate time in the future to follow up on the issues discussed.
4. Hold a class discussion evaluating the responsiveness, sincerity, and respect demonstrated by the legislator toward his/her student constituents.

Day 5

1. Use an overhead projection device to play criticisms 1, 11, and 14 in the Interactive Learning Module: Public Criticisms. Ask students if they agree with these criticisms.
2. Divide the class into three groups. Assign each group one of the three criticisms.
3. Have each group conduct research and learn about the ethics rules in Congress and general behavior guidelines.

Recommended Resources by Group

The group assigned criticism 1:

• Highlights of Ethics Rules at the House Ethics Committee Web site.
• An Overview of the Senate Code of Conduct and Related Laws at the Senate Ethics Committee Web site.

Students in this group should then summarize the rules of the House and Senate. Students may want to create a table or chart to make it easier for other students to understand.

The group assigned criticism 11:

• Highlights of Ethics Rules at the House Ethics Committee Web site.
• An Overview of the Senate Code of Conduct and Related Laws at the Senate Ethics Committee Web site.

Students in this group should specifically find out what ethics rules exist to prohibit Members of Congress from accepting bribes. They should then conduct research to find out what happened to Representative James Traficant of Ohio and Senator Harrison Williams of New Jersey when they accepted money in exchange for official influence.

The group assigned criticism 14:

Students in this group should discuss whether or not political campaigns are indeed becoming too malicious and learn about any rules that may exist about political campaigns. Students may want to contact their local elections commission and see if a campaign code of ethics exists and what, if any, recent cases it looked at.

4. Allow all the groups to present their findings.

Extension Activity

Have students read a newspaper and watch the news for one week. Ask them to keep track of the number of times something negative is said about a Member of Congress and the number of times something positive is said about a Member of Congress. Explain that the nature of news means the media often look at what is going wrong and not necessarily at what is going right. Discuss the role the media have in portraying Congress as a "bunch of crooks."

Assessment

Check your students' understanding by asking students to provide the following information.

• Describe at least one ethics rule of the U.S. Congress and/or one ethics case involving a Member of Congress and how it ended.

Lesson Plan Feedback

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