FRQ Prompt 10

In politics, there are two main players: the interest groups and the political parties. Each are important and hold fairly equal sway in the process of policymaking. While both juggernauts battle it out in the political arena, it is obvious that their fundamental goals rarely align.
Interest groups generally focus on a specific policy or area, whether in support of or against. Their goal is to use the public and their resources to push for policies that favor them through tactics such as lobbying and litigation. Political parties, on the other hand, want to control the government. Parties achieve this by electing people to offices that allow them to control the policy agenda.
Interest groups can sometimes help political parties while moving toward their own goals. As a way to try to influence and promote policy, interest groups can contribute money to PACs. If a certain party or candidate supports a policy, the interest group can support that party of candidate to help push for, or against, policies. By contributing to a campaign, they can also influence future decisions that the candidate makes about unrelated topics. The access and influence to policy makers is integral to interest groups' goals.They can also be a large source of information for parties, information that they parties can use to gain control of the electoral system.

NoKoBloPo

Post World War II, the peninsula of Korea was divided into two areas of control, the North and the South. The Soviet Union had troops in the former, and United States stationed forces in the latter. Since then, North Korea has become a state that is the subject of much criticism from the United States. The communist Korean Worker's party was formed in 1946 and came to power with the support of the Soviet Union. Kim Il-sung became the leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and ruled the nation until 1980. During the course of his control, the South Korea declared independence and the Korean War ensued. The war, between the years on 1950 and 1953, officially divided the peninsula into two nations. The goal of the "eternal president" and his successor, his son Kim Jong Il, was to reunite north and south.

After the Korean War, the area remained two separate nations, despite Kim Il-sung's attempts. North Korea enjoyed a period of economic prosperity and made moves to become more industrialized and modern. Part of their technological progress was the development of a nuclear program, although the nation agreed to halt the program when Kim Jong-il became leader. Kim Jong-il first emerged as a political figure in the 80's and assumed the position following his father's passing in 1994. Under his administration, North Korea suffered the effects of floods and the resulting famine. North Korea also began to move into demilitarized zones (set up post Korean War). Tensions were high between the north and south but were relieved a little during the summit at Pyongyang in 2000 between the two state's leaders and communication was opened up. Within a few years, however, conflict between the pair had erupted again.

Currently Kim Jong-un controls North Korea. Under his guidance, the north has become more isolated and closed to the outside world. The brief period of openness at the turn of the century has given way to propaganda and conditioning. While some of the elite enjoy a pleasant lifestyle, most of the populace is malnourished. Orphans little more than toddlers wander the streets because they left their homes, lost their parents, or were forced out of their families. Resources are thin and media is tightly regulated. No information comes in or goes out. People who try to leave are severely punished. Any suspicion of disloyalty and the whole family, even distant cousins thrice removed, are thrown into prison camps, tortured, and questioned. Some of the lucky expatriates who managed to get out have set up shop in South Korea. They smuggle foreign movies, flash drives, and other media into the country as well as set up secret radio stations.

The feelings of fear and hoplessnes permeates through the North. This will come to an end eventually and the carefully constructed tower of power is beginning to collapse already. As seen in the Frontline, people are unhappy with the constant regulations. Even the well living elite are expressing dissent in private conversations. The black market foreign media helps a great deal because it allows the people to see the outside world without the filter that their government has put on the information they receive. As more pressure comes from all directions, internally and externally, the North Korean government falters and will certainly crumble.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-15278612
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/fighting_words/2010/02/a_nation_of_racist_dwarfs.2.html
http://www.history.com/news/what-you-need-to-know-about-north-korea
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/secret-state-of-north-korea/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_North_Korea

FRQ Prompt 9

In modern politics, media plays an increasingly large part in influencing policymakers. The collection of important issues that lawmakers examine and dedicate time to is called the policy agenda and is greatly influenced by what media.
National news media links the voters to what the policymakers have put on the policy agenda. It does this by bringing such issues to the foreground and providing information and increasing the public's knowledge about the agenda. Since national news media reaches a large percentage of the voting populous, it also can bolster support or opposition for certain policies. This causes the lawmakers to pay close attention to national news media and what their constituencies want.
When it comes to media attention, the president is a highly publicized part of our government. This is due to several reasons, primarily the fact that he is an individual. Congress is an amalgamation of people, making them less cohesive and relatable. Part of the president's election process requires him/her to campaign nationwide and make himself/herself a household name; the many individuals that make up Congress do not need to do that. That the president is an individual, also makes it much easier to condemn or praise him. While Congress represents a spectrum, the president holds definite views.
The media and news programs is how the majority of the nation receives its information about politics. As shown in the table, there are several trends of the viewing demographic of nightly news. Most significantly is the dramatic decrease in the percentage of young people who watch the nightly news in 2002 compared to 1974. For the elderly there is a similar trend, although not as dramatic. Another trend observed is that as people get older, they are more likely to watch the news. The elderly are approximately 30% more likely to watch regularly than youth, no matter what the year.
Though the media is still a large part of government, the news is playing a smaller and smaller role. The  public's shift away from using nightly news programs to gather information has changed the way the president presents policies. Since the elderly are more likely to watch the news, the president uses the evening time to target that specific demographic. Even then, the nightly news is not as effective as it once was for promoting and informing on the policy agenda. To reach those who don't watch the news, especially the younger generation, the president must find alternative media outlets such as Twitter, Facebook, tumblr, etc.

Holiday Political Song

How the Government Works (to the tune of Silver Bells)

City sidewalks, politicians
In pretentious suits
In the air
There's a feeling of confusion


Children crying
People dying
Cause they don't have health care
And Obamacare is really messed up

Chorus

House and senate
Are incompetent
'Cause they can't compromise
So nothing gets done...ever

Chorus

Elections coming
But not really
It's not for 2 more years
But Hillary doesn't seem to know that

Chorus

Making laws, making laws
There's no making laws in the city
Wasting time, drinking wine
Instead of doing their job

FRQ Prompt 8

The legislative branch of the government was designed to make the lawmaking process slow and force compromise. The House and Senate are a very large part of the delayed procedure and both have differing methods of passing a bill. The party who holds the majority in both houses not only has the advantage of numbers, but also possess the upper hand in other ways. For example, in the House of Representatives, the majority party has the majority when it comes to putting bills to a vote and is able to exert a substantial amount of influence on the process. Through a series of procedural guidelines in the House, the majority party can prevent bills from even coming up because they control the agenda and debates.
The House and the Senate operate very differently when it comes to the lawmaking process. One of the major is the level of formality in the system. The House has much more of a set process, with many formalities in place that the Senate does not have. Part of the set process is the Rules Committee, a committee that views all bills before they reach the House floor to budget time. Also, in the Senate, members can filibuster and effectively stonewall a bill. The House has no such ability.
These difference can hinder the passage of a law because one chamber can pass a bill while the other does not. The filibuster is a very obvious roadblock that the Senate can use. If a bill was passed in the House, Senators agains it in the other chamber can stall a vote on the issue until it is effectively killed. On the other hand, the House can block a bill with the Rules Committee, an institution that the Senate does not posses. The House does not have unlimited debate so Rules Committee sees each proposed bill and allots the amount of time to be spent on it. If the Rules Committee (controlled by the majority party) does not want a bill to pass, they can cut time and prevent any issues with the bill from being resolved.

FRQ Prompt 7

Campaign finance is a controversial topic and finance reform has been highly debated in the halls of congress. One of the the most prominent reforms proposed is the elimination of soft money, or the contribution of funds that avoid present government regulations or limits. People sidestep such regulations by donating to party affiliates instead of directly to campaigns or candidates. The supporters of this reform argue that campaigns are too dependent on money and the anonymity does not allow for accountability. The McCain-Feingold finance reform act was an early attempt to limit soft money, however the majority if the regulations were lifted or loosened. Opponents of such elimination claim that soft money allows for people to participate in politics without fear of backlash from their peers, and the removal of soft money would be an infringement on freedom of speech.

Another proposed campaign finance reform is raising limits on individual contributions to campaigns. This means that individuals would be able to donate more directly to campaigns rather than to PACs or third party affiliates. Proponents of this idea say that it would allow for more transparency and accountability, as well as providing a path for people to donate large sums without going the soft money route. Those against, however, state that such large contributions feed into the money orientated campaign game that is based on monetary funds rather than political merits. It would also allow an individual to "buy" a politician with large campaign contributions.