How do individuals and groups of people influence the political process?

Individuals and groups of people influence the political process a lot. One of the biggest ways an individual can influence the political process is through their vote. The power of a vote is enormous! Through your single vote you can put your word in of who you want to represent you… and your values and beliefs.

Campaigns, rallies, protest, donations, voting…. These are all ways people influence the political process

The political process is all about public opinion. The opinion of the public is what makes up the majority of the political process(rallies,voting, ect.)

One of the main groups that influence the political process is the media. In my opinion this is a bad thing. The media always seems to take the little information they have and drag it out into a long story full of lies… The media is portraying politics, and politic leaders in the wrong ways. A lot of Americans rely on the information they receive from these media informatives. Some Americans are very knowledgable about the political world around them, but there are also many that don’t know much so they will believe the skewed data from the media.

Interest groups are any organization of people with policy goals who work within the political process to promote such goals. Groups attempt to influence policy in various ways including:

• Lobbying government. Organized interests hire representatives to advocate on behalf of the group's interests. Lobbying activities include contacting members of Congress and the executive branch to disseminate information about the positive or adverse effects of proposed legislation.
• Engaging in election activities. Interests may attempt to influence elections in order to help get people who support their issues elected or reelected. Electioneering techniques include giving money to candidates, endorsing candidates or issues, and conducting grassroots activities such as get-out-the-vote drives.
• Educating various publics. Interest groups work hard to educate the public at large, government officials, their own members, and potential interest group members.
• Mobilizing various publics. To influence policy-making, many groups rely on the efforts of people who are motivated to act on behalf of their issues and causes. So-called grassroots activities might include writing letters, making phone calls, contacting policy-makers, and demonstrating.

 What method do you think is the most effective towards influence on politics?

In what ways does public opinion influence the formation of a democratic society?

         In a democratic society public opinion matters; In a democracy such as the U.S the public is expected to have a role in governmental decision making. How much say is a debatable topic? Democracy is defined as “rule by the people.”

          Public opinion is “voice of the people”, the results in public poll. Public opinion refers to opinions on governmental and policy matters rather than on private matters. Each individual has a different opinion based on his/hers values and beliefs. Some people have more influence over the formation and expression of peoples opinions. For example leaders of labor unions have influence on their members and also present their members views to the government policy makers for them. Public opinion is assed by polls and voting.

          I also believe that the media has a huge culture and social impact on the public’s idea of something. If we see something everyday and watch the same thing everyday and it is telling us one thing is right and one thing is wrong… you tend to start believing it. The media is able to shift the publics eye and opinion on governmental issues.

In all public opinion does influence the democratic formation; the public has a huge part of government. We are able to cast our views by voting, protesting, and free to have our own opinions. Public opinion plays a huge role in the elections, and many other political matters. The media is a large part of this also because they have the power to alter the publics view on certain political issues.

           

How do government and the private sector intersect? How should it?

The government and private sector intersect a lot. They work together to receive a positive outcome. Government is in charge of establishing the rules and regulation that set the boundaries of how businesses operate so they can not do whatever they want! When there are no boundaries businesses feel they can run their business as they wish which ends with poor working condition, workers not fit for job, low wages… there has to be some boundaries for a good economy… The private sector is part of the economy that is in charge of privately owned business; they are in charge of how the employees and people are treated in the workforce(i.e. equality, wages, taxes….) Some of the main types of businesses in the private sector are sole trader, partnership, private and public limited company. The private sector is not run by state. The private sector encompasses all for-profit businesses that are not owned or operated by the government.

http://govleaders.org/matrix.htm

more to come...

Power: Government, Economy, and Politics

What role does power play in government, economy, and politics?

Power plays a big role in government, economy, and politics. In general the party with more power wins; when you have more power you have more ability to persuade voters your way. We, the general public gives the power to the leaders. Government has a lot of power! The government has even been accused of abusing this power by restrictions on travel to Cuba, illegal surveillance and wiretapping, also US military aggression in central American and Iraq…….power is a huge factor in government, economy, and politics.

Power plays a role in all three Government, Economy, and Politics...

Power is a very powerful thing. Power is usually defined as a persn or nation having great influence or control over others. At the beginning of Chapter 2 the author mentions that corporate policies have profound consequences for all citizens, that anything that the government does is going to affect people's lives and their communities. In this chapter is discussed that Capitalism distributes money,wealth, and economic power unequally. It is obvious that the people who own and control the means of production have control over employees. Capitalism is a economic system in which means of prouction are privately owned and operated for a private profit. Capitalism i considered a form of private government. As the book states this is "private in the sense that those who own and control capital(financial resources, machines, offices...) are not elected by the public through democrativ procedures."(19) In a capitalist economie a small portion of people live off the income they receive from owning a business, most people earn their livings by working for others. In this case management holds all power over employees...(breaks, vacation time, wages, benefits)

They then decide whether to invest, what to invest in and where to invest it. These corporate decisions affect the entire society. On oage 27 Charles Linblom an economists says "because public functions in the market system rests in the hands of bussinessmen, it follows that jobs, prices, production, growth and economic security of everyone all rests in there hands." That is Power!

MONEY=POWER

What do you think is the most powerful thing in the government, economy and politics???