Homework Help: AP US Gov. eeeek

1

Hey,

I’ve been sitting here for the last three hours trying to write an essay for my AP US Government class that is due on Friday. I really don’t know if anyone can help me but I’m pretty desperate so I figured I’d give it a go.

The essay promp is: Evaluate the claim that there is “not a dime’s worth of difference between the contemporary republican and democratic parties” I’m thinking I’m going to argue that there IS a difference.

[*] We must consider presidential campaigns (candidates, party platforms, policy proposals etc.) 1st Body Paragraph

[*] the social base of party support in the electorate second body paragraph

[color=red] And the thing I really need help with is

[*] One other relevant basis for comparison. third body paragraph

[color=red]I can’t come up with something that doesn’t fall into the other two categories and I’m really, really stressing out.

If anyone has ANY suggestions please tell me, it can’t hurt even if you’re not sure.

  • And yes I am kicking myself for taking this class, I hate Government, and I’m not good at these critical thinking type things but my grade is on the edge of an A and this paper could make a big difference*

Thanks sooo much, any help is greatly appreciated :slight_smile:

2

You could bring in the historical aspect of things, which probably wouldn’t really count for either since it’s not the current social base for the parties.

3

You might consider the legislation the each party put in place while in charge of congress. Not a lot of difference because every so often the parties flip ideoligy’s. John Kennedy sounded like a present day republican .“Ask not what your country can do for you ,” :lol: Good luck

4

lol That’s going to be my “fall back” plan if I can’t come up with anything else.

He specifically told us that he didn’t want a history report on the parties, but that’s probably what he’s gonna end up getting for my final body paragraph unless I miraculously have some brilliant epiphany within the next few days :?

5

That’s a good suggestion but I’m worried that my teacher will say that legislation is too close to policy proposal and party platform, but maybe I’m wrong, I’m really not sure ahhhh.

6

Oh, I LOVE A.P. Government! I took it last year and I had the best time ever. I work for the Minnesota Republican Party, and I debated with my very liberal teacher nearly every single day. :smiley: I got a 4 on the final College Board test, and I also plan on majoring in Poli Sci and Pre-Law in college, so I hope I can be of some help.

First you should evaluate the value of a dime. (Just Kidding!.. but it would have make some interesting discussion in class!)

First evaluate whether people are really “democrat” and “republican” or if they are “conservative” and “liberal”. Zell Miller would be a great resource, if you can get your hands on any of his books, especially “A Deficit of Decency”. He is an amazing man, one of my role models, and one of the only Democrats I believe in with all my heart. Here is a full text of the Keynote speech he gave at the Republican National Convention in 2004-
americanrhetoric.com/speeche … 004rnc.htm

I believe that this is one of the greatest speeches I have ever heard, and I have listened to thousands of speeches by presidents, senators, and many other elected officials.

Here is an interesting article that I found when doing a research paper for Research and Writing.

findarticles.com/p/articles/ … _n13493466

It has some good points- I believe that the liberals and democrats of FDR and JFK’s times believed more in doing what was right, and the contemporary democrats only want to oppose whatever the Republican party is doing.

I would definately check out the National Republican and Democratic Party websites, as well as sites like www.georgewbush.com. Look at their party platforms and other party beliefs.

I’d discuss the similarities, but point out the definate differences that truely seperate the parties. You could mention that there was an amazing amount of legislation passed under Clinton’s first term under a divided government, (which was ultimately overshadowed by his shady dealings in his second term). I’d also get into how Dems and Reps united for a short time under 9/11, but have seperated again in light of the War in Iraq.

I know your teacher didn’t want a history report, but my teacher was BIG on relavant historical examples and backup information last year. If you can find relavant information to relate to your main points, I would!

Here are some other articles and websites that you may find interesting-

aiada.org/article.asp?id=53617
liberalslikechrist.org/about/demvsgop.html
thirdworldtraveler.com/Micha … A_SWM.html

I will also give you one tip-

Don’t be afraid to become well-informed on every essay you write for AP Government!! Don’t expect to be able to pick it all up from your book or your teacher- In AP Govenment last year I didn’t read a single chapter in the book! Now, if Government isn’t a strength of yours, I might not suggest that, but I skimmed, and I read the constitution about 5,000 times, and wish I had read it 5,000 more times. Also become well-versed on all the major court cases and know what the most important documents in history.

Good Luck, and I hope I was able to help out! Feel free to email me anytime if you want help with anything!

Now, A.P. English anyone? :wink:

7

Wow, that’s a lot of info to read on the political parties :wink:

For my 0.02 (hey, that’s 1/5 of a dime… groan)… I’d say that discussing the actual policies/etc put in place while in office as different than what they say they’re going to do. For instance, doubt Bush was going around saying “I’m going to screw the environment in favor of big business” during his election campaign, but it’s evident during his terms in office that he’s more interested in pleasing people with money than hippies who want to save the earth.

I’m sure that the democrats have been similarly hypocritical, but right now I don’t know them b/c I hate politics so unless it’s blatant/on front page of MSNBC, I don’t know about it. :slight_smile:

8

Maybe do something like how republican’s really like blowing innocent countries away, whilst democrats seem to favour diplomacy. :wink:

I have no idea about US politics… :stuck_out_tongue: But our media makes any republican out to be evil and stupid [well, particularily with Bush]! :lol: And I think I kinda agree! :wink:

9

You and what, 54% of Americans? sigh only 3 more years… thank God.

10

Haha! :smiley:

11

Man, seriously. It’s ridiculous…what is our country coming to???

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I think Bush and all of the Republicans in office are doing a commendable job. Read Zell Miller’s speech- this is from a Democrat of the older generation. Today’s Democratic party is moving downhill pathetically quickly. Bush appeals to Americans because he has values- something John Kerry was sorely missing. I know it is hard to see that we are doing the right thing in Iraq, but Rome wasn’t built in a day, and Iraq won’t be either. We also need to realize that if terrorism isn’t taken care of overseas, it WILL come to America. We may not agree on Iraq, but I believe that many, if not ALL Americans will agree that a repeat of 9/11, but on a much greater scale, is the last thing we would want to happen.

Thats my $.02, sorry if it offends anyone, that is not my goal, just my beliefs.

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Ok, I usually don’t get into a political conversation, but, here’s my thoughts. Bush’s “values” are one sided and follows the classic American thinking of “if it don’t affect me, why should i care?”. We can strike preemptively, yet don’t dare to use that policy against us. He puts the economy above the environment, never a good idea. Shall we commend them on helping to ruin the environment? Or perhaps we should commend them on the superb job of having soldiers lives taken? Maybe the great job they did with the budget, or the wonderful things they’ve done for our personal rights? How about a great big thank you for dropping the ball pre-9/11 and ignoring threats that allowed this tragic event to happen in the first place. Furthermore, this administration continues to fall right into the plan of Bin Laden, “the policy in bleeding America to the point of bankruptcy”. Well, you think I like Bush or Republicans? :stuck_out_tongue:

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They both work for big business.The Republicans more diligently.
Mat

15

I heartily echo the complaints about screwing the environment.

I also find it… disturbing… that McCain, a fellow Republican is butting heads with Bush over the torture issue. Bush wants wording that’ll protect people who do torture. What kind of moron thinks anyone is going to believe him when he tells the EU and UN “Oh no, we don’t torture” while at the same time he’s trying to make sure he gets exemptions for if it’s the CIA doing the torturing. I don’t believe in torture and I don’t blame the rest of the world for hating Americans if we’re using it. (I also don’t blame them for hating us for McDonald’s :wink:). I’m not 100% anti-Republicans, I voted for McCain in that primary he ran in and if he ran for president I’d prob vote for him unless the Dem candidate really impressed me. I just think Bush is dropping the ball and weakening the US’s position as a super power at an alarming rate. I heard that no world superpower has lasted longer than 100 years and at this rate the US certainly won’t.

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Superpowers are interesting. The United States is on the brink of finding itself in new territory. The EU is getting more powerful and Asia, particularily China, is emerging as an economic and political force on a global level. I’d say within 25 years we’ll see a shift from the relatively unipolar global system we have now to a multipolar system with three main players - United States, EU and Asia including India and Australia. I’d also argue that considering that most of the world’s oil comes from the Middle East, and the area is developing massively for example the United Arab Emirates, we’ll see Arabic nations becoming more important also.

It’s interesting regarding terrorism. In my mind, feel free to disagree with me and abuse me for saying so, but the United States government is possibly the biggest terrorist group in the world. Millions of people die each year because of economic sanctions placed on them by the United States. The United States invaded Iraq on what pretence? The Sydney Morning Herald today is stating that Bush admits the grounds for the war were made on unfounded accusations and irrelevant intellegence. What right does a single country have to impose their morals and views on how society should function? Everyone can safely assume the United States invaded Iraq mainly to do with reasons surrounding oil, spreading Western democracy and Bush’s family having unfinished business regarding Saddam. Yes Saddam is a war criminal and yes he mightn’t have done the best job running his country. Each nation is entitled to autonomy, independence and sovereignty. Quite frankly, if a nation doesn’t want democracy, who says they should have it? Who says democracy is the best method anyway? America is an example of this. It has become a bunch of rich, fat-cat beauracrats who do things not for their country, but for the agenda of those who back their political campaigns. What is the point of the United Nations if the United States goes against everything they stand for? Heck, the United States has not even signed the United Nations Declaration of the Rights of Children.

As far as I’m concerned, the United States had no business invading Iraq. The United States has no role as psuedo ‘World Police’. The fact that they continue to do this is why terrorism exists. Because of past actions of the United States over the past 50 years, including the Cold War and the support of Israel, the rest of the world now suffers the threat of exreamists. Islam is a great religion. Anyone who studies it closely will realise that this is the case. I know many Muslims and they are some of the nicest people you’d hope to meet. There are just as many Christian extreamist groups in the world, however, their lives have not been tormented as such and therefore they have no need to destroy the lives of others. However, I’d argue that America in fact would like to have a Christian world. The United States is the most fanatical, patriotic and religious nation in the world. These three added together is a recipie for disaster. I know you guys are predominately all American, but I can tell you now that many people around the world will look forward to the decline of the United States and the dominance they hold in the global political system.

My two cents.

17

That was well stated, Jase. I don’t even disagree with you too much :wink:. I don’t think that American’s being patriotic is necessarily a bad thing, for instance. :slight_smile:

The US constantly thumbing it’s nose at the UN and EU and going around telling everyone we don’t have to follow rules is a recipie for disaster. I think the US’s role in protecting the right of countries to have a democracy during the Cold War was a good thing. I think that unopposed America has become something of a tyrannical empire. Hopefully our next president will be willing to work with the emerging powers and create a balanced force that helps protect everyone’s rights, not just those people who are being trampled and have something of strategic or monetary value.

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Hopefully the next president is a woman because no man in America is capable of doing what you say needs to be done. Except maybe Bill, but he can’t run again. Maybe his wife… :wink: :smiley:

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There’s no way she’d win…even (some) liberals hate her guts, let alone conservatives.

It would be very cool to have a female president, though. :smiley: 8)

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I can’t disagree with Jason even one little bit. It saddens me to think what the rest of the world must think of us. We’re a fabulous, obviously flawed, nation led by an enormously arrogant fool. Please know that we’re not all behind this regime .On a personal level, I’ve dealt with local youth long enough that many I knew when they were bright eyed and bushy-tailed 7-8 year olds are now serving in Iraq. It saddens me greatly. I would never dishonor their commitment or effort but at the same time I’m still trying to understand why they are there…Lord knows we’ve been spun several directions… God bless America…we need all the help we can get.