Reelection of the House of Representatives - Essay Example

?You are a member of the House of Representatives. You will be facing reelection in November, and need to take steps to make yourself an attractive candidate. • a. What is your strategy for the next several months? How are you going to allocate your resources across your duties as a member of Congress and running for reelection? What do you need to do on both of these fronts to assure that you fulfill the duties of your office and continue to stay in office? (20 points, 300 words) One of the primary shortcomings it is often exhibited within individuals who run for reelection for either the Senate or the House of Representatives is the fact that they appropriated disproportional level of their time resources to campaigning. Although it is necessary to be active within the campaign as a means of maintaining notoriety and engaging with the stakeholders at home, seeking to spend two large a share of time on the campaign trail opens up a distinct vulnerability within the reelection campaign itself. In such a way, the opponent is able to point to the fact that the representative is somehow shirking his or her duties and not being present at the job and votes for which he/she is paid for. In such a way, even if it disproportional level of time to spend seeking to listen to and gain stakeholder feedback with regards to the campaign trail, such a tactic and easily backfire upon the representative due to the fact that missed votes and lack of participation within the House of Representatives has the potential to lead the voter to understand that the particular representative in question does not value or take very seriously their role within the process of representation. As a function of this reality, the best strategy to pursue is with regards to seeking to adequately balance the amount of time is spent on the campaign trail as well as serving within the House of Representatives. Due to the very nature of the way in which the House of Representatives operates, this oftentimes allows a reprieve in duties and a number of different vacations, recesses, and breaks during which the representative can seek to travel back to his/her jurisdiction and integrate with the campaign trail as well as the individual voters. Furthermore, maintaining a level of visibility on the campaign trail is not the only requirement that should be exhibited. As a function of proving to the populace that they value and take seriously their role, it is the responsibility of the representative to also seek to engage with stakeholders while on the campaign trail as a means of listening to, identifying, and seeking to ameliorate their specific concerns rather than merely campaigning in seeking to generate votes for a future term. • b. What issues might you emphasize over the next few months as you campaign and give speeches on the House floor? How are these issues related to your constituency, their demographics, and their values? Give at least three examples. (20 points, 300 words) Ultimately, the question of what issues to support and few months prior to election is ultimately an issue of visibility. In such a way, the representative is able to make themselves known on both a nationwide in domestic platform as a prominent advocate of values that resonates with the populace that they represent. Although this technically should be practiced at each and every juncture of a House of Representatives member’s career, it cannot and should not be ignored in the final few months leading up to an election. One of the current issues that is bound to generate a degree of residence, whether for or against, is the issue of gun control. In such a way, if the representative seeks a liberalization of current gun control measures, they can of course rely upon the Bill of Rights, various political action groups, and social conservatives as a means of providing a level of residence with regards to this particular topic. Conversely, if they seek to support a further level of gun control as a means of averting violence within the United States, they can necessarily invoke the horrors of the Colorado theater shooting, the Sandy Hook massacre, and a litany of other instances as a means of drumming up support for this particular stance. Additionally, action and participation with regards to the House of Representatives role in formulating federal budget and approving it is also an action that can be emphasize in helping to endear consolidate support among the constituents. Finally, seeking to understand what specific industry in business exists within the constituency as a means of sponsoring or supporting legislation that provides specific tax breaks or incentives to such industry will also resonate with the populace as the overall level of profitability that these home industries are able to generate will create future jobs and resources for the community. • c. How does federalism affect your efforts? Give at least three examples. (15 points, 250 words) Although the representative himself/herself is keenly aware of the fact that they do not operate within a bubble, the constituent is often of the opinion that’s the member of the House of Representatives might not be performing this/her job function to the fullest level due to the fact that they had not seen verifiable proof to such an extent. Oftentimes, the lack of progress that a member of the House of Representatives necessarily reflects is due to the fact that federalism adversely impacts upon the level of progress that they are able to exhibit to the constituents back home. This takes place in a variety of different ways. Firstly, federalism creates a number of different regulations through which any and all legislation and/or economic decisions must necessarily navigate. As a result of much of the red tape that federalism, via the process of regulation, engenders into the process, the constituents at home oftentimes feel that their representative is not doing his/her utmost in order to affect positive changes with regards the local environment. Furthermore, federalism is evidenced within the process of representation and the fact that many of the decisions are made up of the head of the individual representative. For instance, party politics plays a powerful role in the way that individual votes are cast and adherence to the party line must also be considered within each and every vote that is cast as well as representation of individuals within the respective communities at home. Finally, compromise is a relevant part of the process of representation and integration with the House of Representatives. In such a way, one party, and the respective representatives of it, are required to bend and give something in return for reciprocal actions by the other. This can oftentimes be seen as a level of weakness and implies strongly the level to which federalism and is a valuable and salient interpretation of the role which Washington plays within the representative process. • d. How will the Obama administration affect your efforts? Give at least three examples. (15 points, 250 words) although the Obama administration represents one of a Democratic president, the fact of the matter is that not all of the policies in which the representative will be campaigning upon will ultimately be hurt by the existence of such a present. For instance, with regards to the recent defeat of gun control measures within Congress, the representative can integrate with his stakeholders and the community that a major victory has been one on behalf of him as well as his party. This specifically allows for a level of talking points and braggadocio that would otherwise not be nearly as effective if another party had been in control the White House of time. Similarly, with regards to the individualized help in which might be amenable to the local economy, the existence of a Democratic president such as Obama is also helpful. This is of course due to the fact that the budget which is been put forward each consecutive year of Obama’s presidency is an order of magnitude larger than the one which would be put forward by Republican president. In such a way, the representative is able to take full advantage of the liberalization economic spending while the same time seeking to cast himself/herself in something of a fiscally conservative role. Finally, with regards the local economy and the level of tax breaks and incentives that might be generated with regards industry, this aspects of the Obama presidency is without doubt for people to the way in which the represented as perceived and campaign with regards to the stakeholders in the community. As has been discussed previously, the community expects that the representative will have some level of free choice with regards to the extent and magnitude of economic incentives and tax credits that could be created within the local economy. However, due to the fact that the Congress in tandem with the president has almost invariably ruled against an increase in spending with regards to these areas, the Obama presidency is ultimately harmful to the way in which the representative can seek reelection based upon such laurels. • e. How much should you worry about the role of the courts in upholding your proposed policies? (10 points, 200 words) Although the role of the courts are integral in upholding or denying proposed policies, this is ultimately a question of when the policy was put into place as compared to when the campaign takes place. Due to the fact the court system operates at an unbelievably sluggish rate, it is not uncommon for the courts to rule on given aspect proposed policies up to three or four years after they were initially proposed or implemented. In such a way, the courts can have a powerful role with regards to how the candidates overall power and prestige is noted; however, this is completely contingent upon the timeframe that the court rulings might occur as compared to the timeframe in which the proposed policies were initially enacted. Accordingly, the ideal situation would be for the representative to seek to keep a very close watch on the means by which regards will review and provide jurisprudence on particular issues. As a function of this, the candidate will be able to appropriately plan to correct course of action, response, and level of dissociation/level of credit generation with regards to the individual rulings that directly affects his/her prospector reelection. • f. How might you choose interest groups with which to ally yourself? What benefits can groups offer you? How do you balance political and reelection concerns? (10 points, 200 words) Ultimately, the question of what particular interest groups be representative will seek to ally himself/herself with is one of the most important aspects of the process of representation. Ultimately, this process of representation engenders the representation of the interests of three distinct groups: the stakeholders within the community, the party needs, and the individual interest groups which seek to leverage degree of power and influence over the representative. However, the most salient way in which the interest groups defined the political career representative is with regards to how the opposition will necessarily seek to leverage this as a means of proving the representative has little or no concern for the individual community members that he/she ultimately represents. As a function of this, it is vitally important for the representative seek to integrate with interest groups that are not only indicative of the views in which the stakeholders at home may have but also have a presence within the local economy for the particular jurisdiction/region that the representative seeks to represent. If such a strategy is pursued, seeking to balance political and reelection concerns is greatly lessened; of course this is due to the fact that as long as Scituate’s identify the particular interest group that one seeks to ally himself/herself with, the level of frustration in disdain that is generated is necessarily lessened. Ultimately, the interest group is a way to maximize political power due to the fact that it has the potential to engage other representatives/Congressman as well as provide a large level of financial stimulus with regards to a particular campaign election. • g. How will your political party affect your strategy? Consider the role of the party both in Congress and at home in your district. (10 points, 200 words) Once again, the role of the representative is one in which balance in seeking to mediate the level of agreement between political parties within the district and within Congress becomes paramount. In such a way, the representative is ultimately a bona fide mediator that exists to represent and serve as a go between with regards to these key groups. In such a way, the party at home will likely determine the focus towards which the campaign will be geared. However, the party in Washington will necessarily determine the way in which these ultimate interests are coalesced into the broader interests of the party. This serves as an example of dictation of the age of old dictum that the political candidate starts out to either the far left or the far right and then proceeds as the campaign goes along to move more towards the center. Ultimately, shareholders within the district will be those compliments of the campaign will seek to push it towards the extreme. Conversely, if the candidate hopes to have a reasonable level of influence within Washington, he/she must necessarily move more towards the center as a means of mediating between these key compliments of the party that he/she represents. Read More