The Road to the White House, 2012

Introduction Voter turnout is an important aspect of a free and fair election in a democratic system of governance. A high voter turnout is deemed to be a sign of a healthy democracy (Lee 32). Even though America is one of the leading democracies in the world, its voter turnout has historically remained very low. In the last four decades, the participation of citizens in general elections has been steadily declining due to a myriad of socio-political factors. This paper highlights the measures that can be taken to improve voter turnout in the United States.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on The Road to the White House, 2012 specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Low voter turnout in the US is attributed to the emergence of candidate-oriented campaigns, inadequate electoral competition and the decline in the popularity of party politics (Green and Gerber 66). The rise of a hypercritical press has also contributed to the l ow voter turnout. Since these factors are difficult to address, more citizens are likely to shy away from the electoral process in the future. However, the following measures can help in motivating citizens to participate in elections. First, the current electoral process should be replaced with a proportional representation system. The current system discourages voters from participating in elections since a candidate can be declared the winner even if he wins in fewer states than his competitor (Green and Gerber 111). A candidate can also be declared the winner despite garnering fewer votes than his competitor. This happened in 2000 when Bush was declared the winner despite having fewer votes than Gore. These weaknesses demonstrate that the voters have a limited ability to select their leaders through the voting system. A propositional representation system will eliminate these weaknesses by assuring the voters that their votes will be the ultimate determinant of the countryâ€⠄¢s future leadership. Second, some laws that govern the voting process should be changed. Concisely, the voting hours should be extended to allow more people to participate. Most eligible voters fail to vote due to work commitments. Similarly, conducting elections on weekdays often discourage the working class from participating. Consequently, high voter turnout can be achieved by conducting the elections on weekends. Third, the campaign period should be reduced. Traditionally, lengthy campaigns are expected to give voters adequate time to evaluate the candidates. In the contrary, long campaigns divert the voters’ attention from campaign activities. Empirical studies reveal that â€Å"most voters lack the psychological preparation that facilitates close attention to campaigns when the Election Day is still months away† (Lee 98). Besides, voters are likely to lose interest in campaigns that last for a very long time. Hence, long campaigns produce an uninformed electora te, thereby discouraging participation in elections.Advertising Looking for essay on government? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Third, the voter registration process should be reformed. In most states, the registration process is often stopped, at least, two weeks prior to the Election Day. However, most citizens are hardly aware of the registration deadline. Besides, some voters find it difficult to register due to time constraints. Consequently, the registration deadline should be extended. Registration should be allowed on the Election Day in order to give more citizens the opportunity to participate. The registration process can also be made automatic. For instance, the government can use the list of registered citizens (holders of national identification cards) to create the voters register. Fourth, the media can help in motivating citizens to participate in elections (Green and Gerber 132). The print and electronic medi a play an integral role in informing the public about campaign events such as presidential debates, as well as, the policies of each candidate. However, the media has systematically reduced its coverage of political activities in favor of commercial adverts. The electorate is likely to be well informed if the coverage of political events is increased. Thus, the voters will have an incentive to vote. Fifth, civic education should be improved in the United States. Most citizens are not aware of the importance of participating in elections. Thus, comprehensive civic educational programs should be used to sensitize the citizens on the benefits of participating in elections. Finally, conducting opinion polls prior to the elections should be prohibited. Traditionally, opinion polls are used to predict the results of the general elections (Lee 122). Voter turnout tends to be low when the polls predict a landslide victory. This is because the citizens tend to believe that their votes will n ot change the results. Prohibiting polling activities during the campaigns will make it difficult to predict the results. Thus, more citizens are likely to participate in the elections. Collaborative Essay The Road to the White House, 2012, by All of Us The main issues in the 2012 presidential elections include economic growth, unemployment and tax policy (Gallup). Additionally, the voters are concerned about the management of the country’s public debt. National security and foreign policies have also featured prominently in the presidential campaigns. The Republicans have been criticizing President Obama’s economic and energy development policies since the beginning of the campaigns. Obama intends to extend the tax cuts that were introduced by Bush’s administration. The tax cuts are expected to benefit citizens whose income is less than $ 250,000. However, the president has promised to end the tax cuts that are currently being enjoyed by the wealthy.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on The Road to the White House, 2012 specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Romney, on the other hand, intends to reform the tax system by introducing a new set of tax cuts. For instance, he has proposed a 20% reduction on personal income tax rate. He has also proposed a reduction in corporate tax by 5 percentage points, as well as, the elimination of the estate and capital gain taxes. In 2011, Obama focused on pursuing green energy development policies. However, in early 2012 he made a dramatic change in his energy development policy by deciding to exploit all energy sources rather than focusing on clean energy. Romney, on the other hand, favors the development of non-renewable energy sources such as oil and gas. His energy policy is based on the premise that the non-renewable energy sector can create more jobs and significantly improve energy supply in America. The Republican presidential primarie s began in 2011 with several candidates competing for the party’s nomination. By February 2012, there were only four candidates left in the competition. They included Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, Ron Paul and Rick Santorum. Romney was nominated as the party’s presidential candidate in May, after winning the support of 1,144 delegates. President Obama was nominated as the presidential candidate for the Democratic Party in September after he won the support of more than 2778 delegates. The Republicans held their national convention in August 2012, whereas the Democrats held their convention in September 2012. During these conventions, the parties focused on criticizing each other. The parties seemed to have adopted similar political values. Consequently, the conventions produced political strategies which were more or less the same. The Republicans focused on highlighting the weaknesses of their opponents by describing them as people who discourage individual success and free enterprise (Harris and Vandehei). The Republicans also described their opponents as people who prefer the European-style welfare state. The Democrats adopted a similar approach by describing their opponents as people who look alike and have little concern for the less fortunate. The Democrats also accused their opponents of having the intentions to control Americans’ sexual and reproductive freedom. Most voters find it difficult to make a decision concerning the candidate to vote for due to the similarities in the policies and political strategies that have been adopted by the two parties. Since the beginning of the campaigns, the candidates have focused on popularizing their policies in order to win voters’ support. Romney was deemed to be the winner of the first presidential debate. However, Obama was considered to be the winner of the second and the third debates (Gallup).Advertising Looking for essay on government? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More In the third debate, Obama won the support of the audience by clearly specifying his positions on foreign policy and his past achievements. Generally, Obama has received favorable ratings on healthcare, energy and taxes. Romney, on the other hand, has received positive ratings on economic policy, as well as, his stand on federal budget deficit. The results of the 2012 presidential election will be determined primarily by the candidates’ ability to articulate the socio-economic issues that the country is grappling with. Works Cited Gallup. This Week’s Top Stories. Gallup, 27 Oct. 2012. Web. Green, Donald and Alan Gerber. Get Out the Vote: How to Increase Voter Turnout. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2008. Print. Harris, John and Vandehei Jim. Two Conventions Tell the Tale of 2012. Politico, 7 Sep. 2012. Web. Lee. American Voter Turnout: an Institutional Perspective. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2006. Print. This essay on The Road to the White House, 2012 was written and submitted by user Remington Wilson to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

Conflicts Between Fathers and essays

Conflicts Between Fathers and essays The respect that a father receives as head of the family is obvious in the Iliad. Not only is the father the primary concern in the Iliad, but also the paternal expectations are the basis for the heroic code. However, women in the Iliad are a contradiction to the fathers in the beliefs that the heroic code is not the most important aspect of the warriors' lives. The warrior comes after the king in the social structure. Although he ranks second, the warrior has a powerful position in society. The warrior is dependent on the community for glory and commemoration because that is the only way he can reach the status of a "hero." The thought of being a hero is every warrior's dream. In order to obtain that goal, the warriors followed a heroic code, a set of rules, which have the potential to elevate a reputation to that of a hero. The code incorporates many regulations, but the biggest part of the heroic code comes from the paternal endorsement of the father. With the opening of the poem, we see how important that father's name is in describing the identity of the hero. Agamemnon, in his first introduction to the reader, is referred to as "Atreus' son."(1.8). Genealogy even has the power to cease battle between enemies. Such is the case with Diomedes, challenged by Glaukos on the battlefield, who questions him about his descent. After Glaukos has given the full story of his ancestry, Diomedes realizes that their grandfathers have been friends and says, "Why, you are my friend! My grandfather, Oineus, made friends of us long ago"(6.119-121). Because of their grandfathers' friendship, it was understood that they were to be friends as well. The paternal expectations addressed to the son consist of what the son has to live up to in order to please the wishes of his father. The son must be a great warrior, surpassing the strength and greatness of his father. He must never shame the generations of his fathers. Hektor illu...

Brainstorm one of the ten topics given (pls refer to description Essay

Brainstorm one of the ten topics given (pls refer to description uploaded) - Essay Example The Wal-Mart was founded in 1962 in Rogers, Akansas by Sam Walton. Expanding the number of outlets based on the success of the initial outlet, Sam Walton replicated the winning formula in to the Wal-Mart Chain of outlets. The company was incorperated as Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.in 1969. It was first listed on the New York Stock Exchange in year 1972. In year 1990 the company becomes the largest retailer in USA. Its foreign operations start in 1991 with a store in Mexico city. Since then the company has grown locally and intenationally with a host of strategic acquisitions such as the Woolco- canda, ASDA-UK and Amigo- Pueterico. The ompany holds 9% of the US retail storemarket share by revenue. Out of every $100 spent in U.S. retail shops, $ 8.90 is spent every year at Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart is the largest employee in USA, Canada and Mexico. The company operates its own real estate company which is the largest in the United States. Wal-Mart alos operates the largest private sattalite communication system which links its suppliers and stores located globally. 138 million shoppers across the world are catered by Wal-Mart each week. 82% of American households have made at least one purchase at Wal-Mart. Its scale of operations is as big enough to impact on the US economy itself. â€Å" Wal-Mart increased the US economys overall productivity by three-quarters of a percent by highly efficient distribution systems and pressure on suppliers to be more efficient† (Wikipedia) Wal-Mart operates 5 categories of outlets. These include Wal-Mart Discount Stores , Wal-Mart Supercenters, Wal-Mart Neighbourhood Market, Sams Club and Wal-Mart International. It also operates Wal-Mart Online. These store formats differ by their average floor space and merchandise. Sams Club which operates on deep discounting basis caters to small business owners who are members of the club. The supercenters feature exprsess Lube

Application Demonstration Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Application Demonstration - Essay Example A client logs in from the client application and upon proper authentication with the server, the client application’s IP address is stored by the server and the client’s status is made to ‘Online’. As such, at any given time, the server maintains two basic things, the list of contacts of any client (who are clients themselves), the clients who are online and the IP addresses of the online clients. At the client end, the message is decrypted using predefined logic and the online and offline contacts are displayed to the customer in predefined separate formats (the online contacts are colored while the offline ones are grayed). The server receives the message and determines the contact. It checks whether the client contact is online, in which case, a socket with the client contact is opened. Otherwise, the server responds to the client with a ‘Contact offline at the moment, send offline message’ message. In case a contact is offline, the server stores the message in its database. Whenever the client contact comes online, the server initially queries the database to determine if there were any offline messages. If there were any such messages, the server relays the offline messages to the client, wherein they are displayed in a separate dialog with the messages being grouped according to the client who sent the

Organizational Behavior And Communication Paper Essay Example for Free

Organizational Behavior And Communication Paper Essay Southwest Airlines Organizational Behavior Communication Paper Erica Sepulveda Communications for Accountants/Com 530 January 30, 2012 Southwest Airlines Organizational Behavior Communication Paper Airlines, such as Southwest Airlines, strive to provide the best customer service that they can offer to keep their customers happy. A prospective Southwest passenger may probably make their reservation by calling the customer service number, logging on to the company’s website, or booking at an airport with a Southwest Airlines agent. The employees that assist these prospective and actual passengers are considered the backbone of the company and do their best to represent Southwest in the finest way possible. One may question, what makes these employees happy? What kind of organization culture are they surrounded by on a daily basis? â€Å"A strong organizational culture provides stability to an organization† (Robbins Judge. , 2011, pg. 520). Culture of Southwest Airlines According to Southwest Airlines mission statement, â€Å"Employees will be provided the same concern, respect, and caring attitude within the organization that they are expected to share externally with every Southwest Customer† (Southwest Airlines, 2012). This definitely shows a positive sign that the majority of employees working for this corporation are happy. As an unemployed individual looking for employment, a position within Southwest is where they would want to be. It’s evident that this company values their employees and strives to keep them happy. Happy Employees = Happy Customers. Happy Customers keep Southwest flying† (Southwest Airline, 2012). Recently, Southwest Airlines was honored as one of the best companies to work for. â€Å"Southwest Airlines (NYSE: LUV)has been recognized as one of the top 50 Best Places to Work, a significant achievement, as nearly 150,000 companies are rated by their employees on Glassdoor† (PR Newswire, 2011). This p oint certainly proves that this organization’s espoused values align with its enacted values. Communication Roles within Southwest Airlines Company An organization’s culture plays a critical role in the way communication is done throughout the company. Southwest airlines, for example is a huge company with thousands of employees. One would guess that communication within this organization takes more of a virtual approach. However, just because they are a huge company, doesn’t mean that communication with others or the voices of management won’t be casual. As Kelleher, CEO of Southwest, said himself: â€Å"Theres a lot being said about the importance of communication, for instance. But it cant be rigid; it cant be formal. It has to proceed directly from the heart. It has to be spontaneous; it has to be between individuals seeing each other on the elevator† (Lee, 1994). This corresponds to the culture of the organization that Kelleher works very hard to maintain. As a CEO who values his employees, we see here that he’s not afraid to show how he is and how much he believes in making the environment a happy and comfortable one for his employees. Perceptions Within Southwest Airlines Let’s consider an employee of one of Southwest competitors wishing that they worked for this airline instead of their current employer. Hearing all the wonderful stories about working for this company and how happy everyone is leads this employee to think that he/she is working for the wrong company. The perception here is that an employee at Southwest is happier than an employee working for the competitor. Robbins ; Judge defines Perceptions as, â€Å"a process by which individuals organize and interpret their sensory impressions in order to give meaning to their environment† (Robbins ; Judge, 2011. g 168). Additionally, they mention that what we perceive may not be what the situation actually turns out to be. Reading information or listening to others rant about how wonderful the culture is within a company doesn’t necessarily mean its all good. While employees may be happier than miserable working for Southwest, I highly doubt that there aren’t challeng es that are faced at times in their positions. Research has shown that Southwest Airlines espoused values mirrors their enacted values. However, suppose it didn’t. What happens if the perceptions of their culture, communication and work environment is said to be â€Å"peachy†, however it really isn’t? Suppose employees were really unhappy and the mission statement of Southwest really wasn’t followed in the way they operate their organization. This leads to bad perceptions, along with potential employees ; customers assuming that this organization is voicing something that it’s not. This is an example of how misalignment between espoused values and enacted values would affect perceptions within Southwest Airlines organization. Conflict within Southwest Airlines Conflict is another important topic that should be considered in organizations like Southwest Airlines. â€Å"Conflict results from differences between group members differences in personality, perception, information, culture, and power or influence† (Beebe ; Masterson, 2009. , pg 152). Conflict is something that every company and individual deal with at some point in time. While some people may view conflicts as a bad thing, in actuality and depending on the situations involved, the conflict may be viewed as a great learning experience. Southwest Airlines view conflicts as a way to strengthen and build relationships (Gittel, 2003, Chapter 8). The individuals that are initially involved in the conflicts should first try to come to an agreement. It’s best to make sure that the conflict isn’t over a misunderstanding or something that’s not an issue. If an agreement or resolution can’t be agreed upon, it may be wise to get the other member of the team or group involved. â€Å"When conflicts arise at Southwest and are not resolved by the parties themselves, a conflict resolution process is used† (Gittel, 2003, Chapter 8). Getting others involved will likely help determine why there is a disagreement and somehow find the resolution that the parties couldn’t come to on their own. Southwest Airlines is one the most prosperous airlines in the US today. Many of the other Airlines try to use the methods that Southwest employs to keep their company, staff and employees in good standing. â€Å"The mission of Southwest Airlines is dedication to the highest quality of Customer Service delivered with a sense of warmth, friendliness, individual pride, and Company Spirit†.

Gold Rush And War :: essays research papers

A gold rush leads to war The American Civil War (1861-1865) and the Reconstruction period that followed were the bloodiest chapters of American history to date. Brother fought brother as the population was split along sectional lines. The issue of slavery divided the nation's people and the political parties that represented them in Washington. The tension which snapped the uneasy truce between north and south began building over slavery and statehood debates in California. In 1848, settlers discovered gold at Sutter's Mill, starting a mass migration. By 1849, California had enough citizens to apply for statehood. However, the debate over whether the large western state would or would not allow slavery delayed its admittance. Delegates from the south threatened to secede if California was admitted as a free state. Meanwhile, tempers also flared in New Mexico and Texas over border disputes, and abolitionists fought pro-slavery advocates over the issue of slave trading within the District of Columbia. Southern political leaders, mostly Democrats, proposed a convention in Nashville to discuss secession. In 1850, Henry Clay proposed the Compromise of 1850 to Congress. The Compromise contained the following provisions: California would enter the union as free state. New Mexico territory would be divided into New Mexico and Utah, and offered popular sovereignty. Texas must yield disputed territory to New Mexico in return for federal assumption of its state debt. Trading, but not possession, of slaves would be banned from the District of Columbia. Fugitive slave laws would be enhanced. Zachary Taylor, who was president at the time, was prepared to veto the bills, but died suddenly. His successor, Millard Fillmore, allowed the provisions to pass one at a time with the help of Stephen Douglas. The Nashville Convention met soon afterwards and denounced the plan, but took no decisive action. This uneasy truce would last for only four years. In 1854, the Kansas-Nebraska Act makes further compromis e practically impossible. It granted popular sovereignty to both states, in the hopes that they would split on the slavery issue and continue the shaky equality between slave and free states. Nebraska quickly adopted an free-soil constitution and was admitted as a free state. Kansas, however, was badly split along sectional lines, and opposing political forces ratified both a free and a slave constitution in 1855. Riots broke out everywhere, and "Bleeding Kansas" fell into chaos. John Brown, an infamous and rebellious abolitionist, killed five pro-slavery activists in 1856 in retaliation for the murder of five abolitionists.

The Sun Rising

This is a dramatic poem where the speaker and his lover are in bed together. The speaker personifies the sun, and is speaking to it throughout the poem. As the sunlight comes through the windows, the speaker tells the sun to leave them alone. He seems to feel that their life together is complete, and that the sun is being a nuisance. He then tells the sun that his lover is worth more than anything the sun can ever find outside their bedroom. It is a love poem of an unusual kind.In this poem, composed in the form of a dramatic monologue, the poet lover is angered at the Sun and calls it names for disturbing the time him and his lover are spendong together. . He addresses the Sun as â€Å"busy old fool†. He calls it unruly because, by peeping in to the bedroom through windows and curtains it disturbs the lovers. The poet-lover tells the Sun that lovers’ seasons do not run to its motions. He advises the Sun to go and do such routine and dull jobs like chiding late-schoolbo ys and apprentices, waking up court-huntsmen and peasants.The expression â€Å"country ants† is imagery. It refers to the peasants, drudging like ants. However, the poet and his lover are not like ‘them', they are superior to all that is going on around them and they should not be disturbed. They get up with the Sun and toil the whole day, till sunset. Love knows no season, no climates. It is not affected by time. In this section of the poem we come across personification like â€Å"busy old fool† and â€Å"saucy pedantic wretch† to show the annoyance the poet has at this intruder.The poet’s wit is apparent when he tells the Sun that he has no reason to think that his beams are â€Å"so reverend and strong†. The poet lover could eclipse and could the beams of the Sun with a wink. He does not do so because he does not wish to â€Å"loose her sight so long. † This indicates that the love between the poet and his lover is so obsessive, so strong and has such potency that he does not even want to lose sight of her for her second. The Sun travels all over the world in twenty four hours. The poet asks the Sun to go round the world, see all Kings, come back tomorrow and say ifDonne uses hyperbole to exaggerate the importance of himself and his lover, â€Å"in one bed lay†- he is insinuating that all important elements of the world are there in the their bed and in their room. They are everything. To Donne, this moment with his love means everything and he describes it as such. The same imagery continues in the concluding verse of the poem where â€Å"She’s all States, and all Princes I†. The poet’s mistress is all States. She is the world. The Sun can shine over only half of the world at one time. The lovers, on the contrary, are the world.It logically follows that the Sun is â€Å"half as happy as we†. When we come to this part of the poem we notice a shift in the mood of the poet. Th e Sun is no longer the â€Å"busy old fool† or the â€Å"saucy pedantic wretch† of the first verse or stanza. It is now an aged fellow in need of ease. The poet offers it the needed ease; the Sun’s duty now is warming the world. It warms only half of the world at a time. By shining on the lover’s bed it can shine over the whole world at a time. â€Å"Let the bed be the centre and the walls the sphere† of the Sun with this arrangement the aged Sun can do its duties with ease.At the beginning of the poem the poet asked the Sun to go away from there. Now he invites the Sun to go round their bed and shine on them. He does not want to lose his lovers sigh for even a second- shows how much he loves her. The poet addresses the sun as a person and rebukes the sun because it has wakened him and his lover from their sleep. He demands to know why lovers should obey time. He also shows his dominance over the sun, calling it a ‘saucy pedantic wretchâ€⠄¢ and tells the sun to bother other people instead such as late school boys or workers imploring or more time to sleep.He tells the sun to find the royal court people and farmers to let them start their day instead of controlling the lovers, because time does not exist in love and unlike season or climate or sun, love doesn’t change. Hours, days and months are just silly, useless measures. The poet challenges the sun about its strength, that the sun isn’t is high and mighty because he can make it disappear by winking, except he doesn’t want to lose sight of his lover. He teases the sun that his lover’s eyes are so beautiful and bright that it can blind the sun.He tells he sun to go to far away countries like India or stay because the entire world is with him in the bed. The sun can also find kings but he and his lover are so superior that even the kings will say the most important people are in his room, ‘all here in one bed lay’. The poet c laims that his lover is ‘all states’ and in fact the whole world itself and he is the ‘prince’ that rules it, nothing else exists other than them. They are the celebrity, and even other princes want to mimic them.He declares that honour and science are nothing compared to their love and that the sun is only half as happy as they are. He says the sun is old and so it should rest because its duty is to warm the world and since they are the world, the sun has completed its duty. Then, the poet cleverly turns the sun’s refusal to leave into a show of its generosity and by shining at them, it has centered itself upon the room of his love and so they are the sun, the center of the universe