Assignment
For this exercise you will have to answer two questions:
Part One:
• First, you must visit and take the quiz to find out your political ideology at one or both of the following web-sites:
• Advocates for Self Government a libertarian web-site: www.theadvocates.org/quiz
• Pew Research Center for People & the Press: www.people-press.org/typlogy/quiz
• Then, write a short paragraph (four or five sentences) explaining the results of the quizz(es). Do you believe that these quizzes accurately measured your idelogical leanings to the right or the left?
• Part Two:
• The second part of this assignment requires that you select a topic in one of the chapters covered by this module. Conduct some research by visiting one of the web-sites provided below.
• Then, write a short essay (two or three paragraphs: minimum 9 sentences):
• explain why you decided to research that topic;
• how does it relate to the chapter you selected;
• discuss whether you consider this site a good tool for learning about American politics.
Options:
• Chapter 5: Public Opinion:Chapter 6: The Media: If you choose to cover this chapter, you must visit a non-traditional mainstream media source and identify whether it leans to the left or the right; or whether the site represents academic viewpoints that are non-partisan (neither left nor right leanings).
• PollingReport.com is a nonpartisant source on current trends in public opinion:http://www.pollingreport.com
• Real Clear Politics is a source for comparing polling results from several sources. It also aggregates the result from election polls: http://www.realclearpolitics.com
• Chapter 6: The Media
• Drudge Report: http://www.drudgereport.com
• Huffington Post: http://www.huffingtonpost.com
• The National Review: http://www.nationalreview.com
• Salon: http://www.salon.com
• Truth Out: http://www.truthout.org
• The Monkey Cage: http://www.themonkeycage.org
• Chapter 7: Political Parties, Participation, and Elections: To find out information on the next election, register to vote; and/or to learn whether your state allows you to vote through an absentee ballot contact the following web-site:
• League of Women Voters: http://www.vote411.org
• Project Vote Smart provides information on elections, candidates; and elected officials :http://www.votesmart.org
• Chapter 8: Interest Groups:
• For a list of the ten most important interest groups in America visit: http://listosaur.com/politics/10-powerful-special-interest-groups-america/
• The Center for Public Integrity, a nonpartisan, nonprofit investigative organization provides excerpts on lobbying investigations: http://www.publicintegrity.org/news/Lobbying
• The Center for Responsive Politics provides the most comprehensive list of interest groups and lobbyist:http://www.opensecrets.org/lobby/
• American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), one of the most powerful associations of legislators and private sector interest groups: http://www.alec.org/
• For a full expose on the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), visit: http://billmoyers.com/2015/07/24/dark-cloud-of-alec-converges-at-annual-corporate-political-lovefest/