DOCSLIB.ORG

Garfinkel 1 Will Punctuated Equilibrium Theory Help Us Explain

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Garfinkel 1 Will Punctuated Equilibrium Theory Help Us Explain Garfinkel 1 Will Punctuated Equilibrium Theory Help us Explain the Developments Surrounding COVID-19 and Environmental Policy? by Adam Harrison Garfinkel A thesis submitted to the Faculty of the College of Arts and Sciences of the University of Colorado in partial fulfilment of the requirements necessary to attain an honors distinction upon graduation Department of Political Science April 5, 2021 Committee Members: Dr. Nancy Billica, Department of Political Science Dr. Janet Donavan, Department of Political Science Dr. Alison Hatch, Departments of Sociology and Women & Gender Studies Garfinkel 2 Garfinkel, Adam Harrison (B.A., Political Science) Will Punctuated Equilibrium Theory Help us Explain the Developments Surrounding COVID-19 and Environmental Policy? Thesis Directed by Dr. Nancy Billica Abstract: This project is titled, “Will Punctuated Equilibrium Theory Help us Explain the Developments Surrounding COVID-19 and Environmental Policy?”. As the title suggests, the research question will be regarding the effects of COVID-19 on the punctuated equilibrium theory, specifically relating to environmental policy in the United States of America. Punctuated equilibrium theory suggests that in both American and specific foreign governments, the policies that get created and passed tend to be rather steady and unchanging, until a major event occurs, which disrupts the normally homogenous system in a large way. An example where we have seen this theory hold true in the past was in the aftermath of 9/11, when the United States Government passed a series of new laws regarding air flight safety and other anti-terrorism acts, something that the country had not seen in policy until that point. This project will test this theory in the modern context of the COVID-19 pandemic, and seek to understand whether or not environmental policy has experienced a large shift after the major event that is the COVID-19 pandemic. This project is important because of the new nature of the COVID-19 pandemic. The world knows so little about what has happened so far and what will happen in the future from a policy perspective in response to the pandemic, so trying to predict the future of environmental policy has become very difficult. If this project can conclude that Punctuated Equilibrium Theory is in fact relevant for the COVID-19 pandemic, then this information could prove useful in predicting the United States Governments’ future response to major events, as well as help describe the current status of environmental policy in the United States. This information could then also potentially be used to help adjust new and future environmental policy, so that it best serves the American people and their future interests. Garfinkel 3 CONTENTS: CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................6 2. LITERATURE REVIEW .......................................................................10 3. RESEARCH DESIGN SECTION ..........................................................24 4. BACKGROUND INFORMATION REGARDING POLICY TOPICS.29 5. COVID-19 FACTORS............................................................................56 6. CASE STUDY #1 ...................................................................................61 7. CASE STUDY #2 ...................................................................................75 8. LARGER DISCUSSION & CONCLUSION .........................................89 BIBLIOGRAPHY……………………..…………………………………………. .. 101 APPENDIX A. INTERVIEW RECRUITMENT INFORMATION ..............................106 B. INTERVIEW QUESTIONS .................................................................107 Garfinkel 4 FIGURES Figure 4.1 Most Prevalent Alternative Energy Source by State: 2007 vs. 2017……….32 4.2 How a Hydroelectric Dam Works…………………………………………..34 4.3 An Example of Offshore Wind Turbines…………………………………....35 4.4 A Variety of Biomass Sources………………………………………………37 4.5 An Example of Private Solar Energy………………………………………..38 4.6 State Government Trifectas Vs. Carbon Emissions…………………………40 4.7. Example of Electric Vehicle Infrastructure…………………………………42 4.8 How the Cap-and-Trade System Ideally Works…………………………….43 4.9 Areas With the Most and Least Popular Transportation Systems…………..45 4.10 Fracking and Venting Regulations by State………………………………...47 4.11 The Delicate Nature of Fracking: is it Occurring too Close to the Water Supply?...48 4.12 The Deepwater Horizon Disaster: a resource Conservation Nightmare…….51 4.13 The Water recycling Process………………………………………………..53 5.1 Pre- and Post-COVID-19 Numbers of Environmental Policy in Each State..58 Garfinkel 5 TABLES Table 6.1 Case Study #1 Environmental Bills Pre and Post Pandemic ........................73 6.2 Case Study #1 Environmental Bills Versus COVID-19 Bills……………...74 7.1 Case Study #2 Environmental Bills Pre and Post Pandemic……………….87 7.2 Case Study #2 Environmental Bills Versus COVID-19 Bills……………...88 Garfinkel 6 Chapter 1: Introduction There were not many things that all 50 states were the same in, or even agreed on in 2020. Political factors, cultural differences, and geographic location all play a role in creating these not so uncommon differences between states. One thing that is true for all 50 states, however, is that not a single one experienced an increase in the amount of environmental legislation introduced between March 11, 2020 and December 31, 2020, compared to their own legislature’s number of introductions exactly one year prior. Not a single one. Not only that, but there were 3 state legislatures which did not even introduce a single environmental policy in that time span. Nearly everyone who is up to date with modern policy making knows that the environment has been an increasingly pertinent issue amongst legislatures across the world. This scenario raises the simple question, why is this occurring? The question that this paper seeks to answer is: what has caused environmental policy to seemingly go by the wayside during the timeframe between March 11, 2020, and December 31, 2020? There could be multiple explanations for this occurrence, and the most obvious place to begin to look is the COVID-19 pandemic, which began on March 11, 2020, when the World Health Organization declared it a global pandemic. The novel coronavirus, or COVID-19, is an easily spread, flu-like disease, which is currently a leading cause of death in the United States (Cox, 2021). The question of how are COVID-19 and environmental policy related is then raised. They are seemingly unrelated at surface level, but when looked at in the context of the punctuated equilibrium theory, the connections between the two begin to appear. The punctuated equilibrium theory can be defined as: after major disruptions to society, we expect a quick and vast alteration in which policies are introduced, as well as which policies are passed throughout all levels of government (Baumgartner and Jones, 2018). If this theory were to be occurring in Garfinkel 7 the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, legislators would be introducing and passing a plethora of bills related to mitigating the effects of the pandemic (such as healthcare related legislation or unemployment benefit related legislation) and policy areas not related to the pandemic including environmental policy would be receiving little to no attention. Then, sometime after the end of the pandemic, both environmental and COVID-19 related policies would return to their normal levels of introduction. Another explanation for the noticeable decrease in introduction of state-level environmental policy could be the usual factors which have always impacted environmental policy since its creation as an issue area. These could include political factors, geographic location factors, cultural factors, and other factors which are relevant when discussing state-level policy. It is also possible that a combination of these normal factors and the punctuated equilibrium are occurring, or that it is another explanation all together. This paper attempts to address this irregular policy occurrence by following the plan of the below outline: Chapter 1: Introduction- This section outlines the overarching themes of the project while introducing the main question. Chapter 2: Literature Review- This chapter addresses the literature that already exists within the areas of environmental policy, state-level policy in general, and the punctuated equilibrium theory. Due to the recent nature of the introduction of the COVID-19 pandemic, this chapter is mostly used as background information to set the stage for the following chapters. Chapter 3: Research Design- Chapter 3 outlines the way in which data for this project will be gathered, introduces the 5 hypotheses integral to this completion of this project, and describes the methods that will be used to attempt to answer these hypotheses. Garfinkel 8 Chapter 4: Key Background Information Regarding Five Important Environmental Policy Topics- This chapter describes the five policy areas within the broader term ‘environmental policy’ this project will focus on. The purpose of this chapter is to provide the reader background into why these specific categories were chosen to represent the category of environmental policy, why these policy areas are important for environmental health, and to describe what the reader can expect the data in the following chapters to be based on. Chapter 5: COVID-19 Factors- Chapter 5 introduces how COVID-19 has impacted various state legislatures’ environmental policy,
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Legislative Assembly
    8142 LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY Wednesday 4 June 2008 __________ The Speaker (The Hon. George Richard Torbay) took the chair at 10.00 a.m. The Speaker read the Prayer and acknowledgement of country. BUSINESS OF THE HOUSE Notices of Motions General Business Notices of Motions (General Notices) given. MISCELLANEOUS ACTS AMENDMENT (SAME SEX RELATIONSHIPS) BILL 2008 Bill received from the Legislative Council and introduced. Agreement in principle set down as an order of the day for a later hour. AUSTRALIAN JOCKEY CLUB BILL 2008 Agreement in Principle Debate resumed from 14 May 2008. Mr GEORGE SOURIS (Upper Hunter) [10.04 a.m.]: I have pleasure in leading for the Opposition in the debate on the Australian Jockey Club Bill 2008. I say at the outset that the Opposition will not oppose the bill—in fact, we will take some pleasure in seeing it ultimately change the face of the Australian Jockey Club. The purpose of the bill is to recognise the incorporation of the Australian Jockey Club and to transfer its assets, rights and liabilities to the newly incorporated Australian Jockey Club Limited. The bill will also enable the trustees of Randwick racecourse to grant a lease of the racecourse lands for up to 99 years. The Australian Jockey Club is currently an unincorporated association. In light of recent financial concerns, the chairman and board members, focusing on their potential personal liability and in line with modern business practice, initiated the process to update the current Australian Jockey Club Act, which dates back to 1873. The trustees of Randwick racecourse are limited to granting a 50-year lease under the current Act.
    [Show full text]
  • Redistricting in Minnesota
    Redistricting in Paul Huffman Minnesota: Redistricting Coordinator How It Affects [email protected] Your Voting Power LWV Minnesota Non-Partisan Policy The League of Women Voters is nonpartisan, neither supporting nor opposing candidates or political parties at any level of government, but always working on vital issues of concern to members and the public. 2 2021 – 2022 Estimated Redistricting Timeline • 4/30/21: Apportionment data to President • January – May 2021: Legislative session (re: Legislation/ Process for map development) • 9/30/21: Census Block data to states • TBD: MN Legislative hearings on Maps • 8/31/21: Special Redistricting panel convened by MN Supreme Court • October – December 2021: Special Redistricting Panel meetings (input to Supreme Court) • October 2021 – January 2022: City/County Government decide on local redistricting process • 2/15/22: Court Issues Final Redistricting Order • February – April 2022: Local Redistricting Hearings • 4/16/22: City redistricting complete • 5/6/22: Other local redistricting complete 3 What is Redistricting? . Following every census, the distribution of Congressional seats across the nation is subject to change – based on population movement. This is apportionment. Based on the census and reapportionment states draw the lines for U.S. congressional and state (House & Senate) districts. This is redistricting. Many local district lines such as county commissions, and some city councils and school boards are redrawn using decennial census data . Every state determines its own process. 4 Federal Laws For Drawing the Maps • U.S. Constitution: requires seats for the U.S. House of Representatives be apportioned to states according to the population count in the federal Census (Article 1, Section 2) • Permanent Apportionment Act of 1929 established the procedure and timeline to allocate House seats to states after each decennial census (Title 2 U.S.
    [Show full text]
  • Download the Report As a PDF File
    CLOSUP Student Working Paper Series Number 58 April 2020 Spearheading “Solar for All” in the Midwest: How Illinois passed legislation to incorporate solar energy in low-income and environmental justice communities Livvy Hintz, University of Michigan This paper is available online at http://closup.umich.edu Papers in the CLOSUP Student Working Paper Series are written by students at the University of Michigan. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the view of the Center for Local, State, and Urban Policy or any sponsoring agency Center for Local, State, and Urban Policy Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy University of Michigan Livvy Hintz Environ 302 29 April 2020 Final Paper Spearheading “Solar for All” in the Midwest: How Illinois passed legislation to incorporate solar energy in low-income and environmental justice communities Abstract As policymakers progress further into finding sustainable, renewable energy solutions for the United States, local and state governments have been fixating on solar power. The price of solar energy has dropped dramatically in recent years — but not quite low enough for low-income communities to independently make an investment. In order to mitigate the environmental injustice and economic inequity of solar installation, policies can be proposed to allow low-income customers to benefit from solar energy. This paper uses a case study of Illinois’s passage of the Future Energy Jobs Act of 2016, a bill that dedicates millions of dollars to community solar projects, low-income solar job training programs, and solar incentives for low-income communities.
    [Show full text]
  • The Best Partnering Opportunities and Market Entry Strategies for a Finnish Start-Up Venturing Into Silicon Valley
    The best partnering opportunities and market entry strategies for a Finnish start-up venturing into Silicon Valley Case company: Witrafi Oy Niki Matilainen Sampsa Siitonen Bachelor’s Thesis Degree Programme in International Business 2016 Abstract 10 April 2016 Authors Niki Matilainen, Sampsa Siitonen Degree programme in International Business Report/thesis title Number of pages The best partnering opportunities and market entry strategies for a and appendix pages Finnish start-up venturing into Silicon Valley 135 + 23 This study examines what methods there are for a Finnish startup to enter Silicon Valley in pursuit of the American Dream. The primary goal is to determine which concrete and ac- cessible alternatives are available in pursuing business in the Silicon Valley for Witrafi Oy, a smart parking startup from Finland. Thus, the aim is to provide information on methods available for the case-company to enter Silicon Valley with varying degrees of resource commitment. The thesis work consists of a theory review, data collection and subsequent analysis with recommendations made on how market entry could be pursued by the case company. The theory discusses funding options for a startup in addition to internationalization theories ap- plicable to an early-stage company. The empirical part focuses on providing viable interna- tionalization options for the case company, finishing with recommendations for Witrafi for various levels of resource commitment. The study involved both quantitative and qualita- tive methods. A qualitative exploratory research approach was used because the aim of the study was to provide additional information for decision making. Thus, no hypotheses were set in the beginning, rendering the research inductive.
    [Show full text]
  • Dorian Mostly Spares Lake County
    SCENE | C1 DORIAN | A3 ON STAGE: ‘DIAL ‘M’ THE ATMOSPHERE FOR MURDER’ OPENS STOKED A KILLER, THEN FRIDAY AT MOONLIGHT SWATTED IT DOWN Thursday, September 5, 2019 YOUR LOCAL SOURCE FOR LAKE & SUMTER COUNTIES @dailycommercial Facebook.com/daily.commercial $1 Dorian mostly spares Lake County By Tom McNiff As authorities surveyed days. Correspondent the area at daybreak, they Lake had been under threat reported very little tree of tropical storm conditions EUSTIS — Hurricane damage and there were no in the days prior to Dorian’s Dorian, which laid waste to immediate reports of wide- arrival, but National Weather the Bahamas with devastat- spread power outages. Service meteorologist Matt ing force this week, barely Lake County Commu- Bragaw said the storm didn’t registered in Lake County as nications Director Elisha veer close enough to the coast it rolled past Florida overnight Pappacoda said Wednesday and its wind field didn’t get Tuesday and Wednesday. morning there were “no sig- large enough to reach very Dorian, which stayed nificant calls overnight” and far inland. about 80 miles offshore as it that just one tree was reported In fact, Bragaw said most marched north, whipped up down. of the area never saw gusts waves and lashed the east County officials were con- greater than 28 to 30 mph, coast of the state with tropi- fident enough that the danger and rainfall in Paisley, Astor, cal storm force gusts, but 30 had passed that they ordered Umatilla and other east Lake miles inland, eastern Lake the six emergency storm shel- communities topped out at A man looks at the larger-than-normal waves on Lake Dora on County saw heavy rain and ters closed at noon.
    [Show full text]
  • The Incompatibility Principle
    University of Colorado Law School Colorado Law Scholarly Commons Articles Colorado Law Faculty Scholarship 2007 The Incompatibility Principle Harold H. Bruff University of Colorado Law School Follow this and additional works at: https://scholar.law.colorado.edu/articles Part of the Constitutional Law Commons, Jurisprudence Commons, Legal History Commons, Legislation Commons, President/Executive Department Commons, and the Supreme Court of the United States Commons Citation Information Harold H. Bruff, The Incompatibility Principle, 59 ADMIN. L. REV. 225 (2007), available at https://scholar.law.colorado.edu/articles/458. Copyright Statement Copyright protected. Use of materials from this collection beyond the exceptions provided for in the Fair Use and Educational Use clauses of the U.S. Copyright Law may violate federal law. Permission to publish or reproduce is required. This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Colorado Law Faculty Scholarship at Colorado Law Scholarly Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Articles by an authorized administrator of Colorado Law Scholarly Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. +(,121/,1( Citation: 59 Admin. L. Rev. 225 2007 Provided by: William A. Wise Law Library Content downloaded/printed from HeinOnline Mon Mar 27 17:59:18 2017 -- Your use of this HeinOnline PDF indicates your acceptance of HeinOnline's Terms and Conditions of the license agreement available at http://heinonline.org/HOL/License -- The search text of this PDF is generated from uncorrected OCR text. -- To obtain permission to use this article beyond the scope of your HeinOnline license, please use: Copyright Information ARTICLES THE INCOMPATIBILITY PRINCIPLE HAROLD H.
    [Show full text]
  • 2018 ELECTION RESULTS DISPATCH the INITIAL RESULTS November 7, 2018
    2018 ELECTION RESULTS DISPATCH THE INITIAL RESULTS November 7, 2018 Maine Democrats walked away from yesterday’s 2018 midterm elections controlling a state government trifecta - flipping the Maine Senate, increasing their margin in the House of Representatives, and picking up a governorship that is as symbolic to them as it is substantive. Their victorious evening comes after nearly a decade of elections where the GOP stayed on an impressive electoral offensive. No review of last night’s results could begin without the state’s marquee contest: the gubernatorial race between Democratic Attorney General Janet Mills and Republican Gorham businessman Shawn Moody. Unenrolled State Treasurer Terry Hayes failed to live up to expectations and may have even hindered Moody’s vote totals, as Mills was declared the winner before midnight. The final tally of the race will likely show Moody trailing by the high single-digits as Mills’ vote total currently sits at more than 52% of votes cast. The Democrats will now find their own champion in the Blaine House following Governor Paul LePage’s two terms as Maine’s Chief Executive. LePage reshaped Maine’s electoral and policy landscapes, and Democrats will view Mills’ victory as a referendum on the tenor and direction that defined those years. At the federal level, popular Unenrolled Sen. Angus King easily cruised to reelection in a three- way race with Republican Eric Brakey and Democrat Zak Ringelstein. U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree also prevailed in Maine’s more southerly 1st Congressional District over Republican Mark Holbrook and Democratic-turned-Unenrolled state representative Marty Grohman.
    [Show full text]
  • Exploring the Potential Effects of Election Day Voter Registration in Mississippi
    EXPLORING THE POTENTIAL EFFECTS OF ELECTION DAY VOTER REGISTRATION IN MISSISSIPPI by Adam Blackwell A thesis submitted to the faculty of The University of Mississippi in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the Sally McDonnell Barksdale Honors College. Oxford May 2014 Approved by Advisor: Dr. Melissa Bass Reader: Dr. Heather Ondercin Reader: Dr. Andy Mullins ! 2014 Adam Blackwell ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ii ABSTRACT ADAM BLACKWELL: Exploring the Potential Effects of Election Day Voter Registration in Mississippi (Under the direction of Dr. Melissa Bass) With recent Supreme Court decisions and state legislative initiatives, policymakers and scholars heatedly debate voting rights in America. The debate typically centers on policies that seek to affect the accessibility of voting. Election Day Registration (EDR) is one voting policy being discussed. Allowing voters to register on Election Day is a policy currently used in eleven states and the District of Columbia, and states with EDR rank highest in the nation’s voter turnout rates. In this thesis, I analyze the voter turnout effects and Election Day Registration policies in North Carolina and Minnesota, as well as the political environments surrounding the implementation and political sustainability of these policies. I compare voter turnout effects prior to and after the implementation of Election Day Registration and research how many voters actually take advantage of EDR in each state, drawing on US Census information on voter turnout for the general population, as well as young voters and racial minorities. I then apply my finding to Mississippi. I conclude that an EDR policy in Mississippi would increase overall turnout, especially among African Americans, Hispanics, and young voters.
    [Show full text]
  • Gerrymandering V. the Constitution: the Case of Gill V. Whitford
    Gerrymandering v. The Constitution: The case of Gill v. Whitford Ulrik Tallhaug Sydnes Masteroppgave [Vår/2018] Institutt for sammenliknende politikk Universitetet i Bergen 1 Abstract In this case study I analyze partisan gerrymandering in the United States with the research question: Does partisan gerrymandering violate the Constitution of the United States of America? With this as a starting point I use the Supreme Court case of Gill v. Whitford about redistricting in Wisconsin as this studies case. I start off with an introduction to some views on representation that informs the conflict in the case. Whether one has a dyadic or collective view of representation could be a huge influence on ones opinion of gerrymandering’s legality. Then I go in detail on how the redistricting process works in the United States, some of the mechanisms in place to ensure a fair redistricting process and explain what gerrymandering is. I also present the parts of the American Constitution that partisan gerrymandering might be in violation of. To get background information on how gerrymandering is treated in the court system, I found it important to do a breakdown of the most important Supreme Cases on the field. Then I looked at the case at the center of my paper. The data I used in discussing and concluding on the issue is mainly collected through document analysis of the amicus briefs filed in Gill v. Whitford. I sorted the arguments in what I found to be the most important categories. The two main things the oral arguments and the amicus briefs seemed to focus on were the First Amendment and how a manageable standard would look like.
    [Show full text]
  • BALLOTPEDIA COURTS STATE PARTISANSHIP 2 TABLE of CONTENTS Introduction 3 Confidence Score 3 Definitions 4
    BALLOTPEDIA COURTS STATE PARTISANSHIP 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction 3 Confidence Score 3 Definitions 4 Overview of Confidence Scoring Results 5 Highlights 7 State Supreme Court Control Compared to State Government Trifectas 8 Breakdown of Justices by Confidence Categories 9 The Most and Least Divided State Supreme Courts 10 The Least Homogeneous State Supreme Courts 10 Most Homogeneous State Supreme Courts 11 The Percentage of the Population that Lives in States with Democratic- or Republican-Controlled Courts 12 Partisanship of Justices Across Judicial Selection Methods 12 Assisted Appointment Through a Bar-Controlled Commission Produced the Lowest Average Pure Partisan Score 14 The Michigan-Ohio Method of Selection Produced the Highest Average Pure Partisan Score 14 Comparison of Appointment Methods by Court Balance Score and Median Court Score 15 Difficulties with our Analysis of Pure Partisanship Scores by Selection Method 16 Michigan-Ohio Method 16 Legislative Selection in South Carolina and Virginia 17 Kansas and Assisted Appointment Through a Bar-Controlled Commission 17 Partisan Balance Rules 17 Delaware 17 New Jersey 18 Retention Elections 19 Vacancy Appointments 20 Highest Confidence Scores 21 Indeterminate Justice Confidence Scores 22 Indeterminates Due to Conflicting Data 24 Indeterminates Due to Lack of Data 24 Pure Partisan Scores 24 Pure Partisan Scores by Presidential Term 25 Pure Partisan Scores by Year 25 Scoring Methodology 26 Simplified Scoring Index 27 3 Introduction Each state within the United States has at least one supreme court, or court of last resort. Oklahoma and Texas both have two courts of last resort, one for civil appeals and one for criminal appeals.
    [Show full text]
  • Judicial Supervision of Campaign Information: a Proposal to Stop the Dangerous Erosion of Madison's Design for Actual Representation Michael J
    Hofstra Law Review Volume 34 | Issue 1 Article 10 2005 Judicial Supervision of Campaign Information: A Proposal to Stop the Dangerous Erosion of Madison's Design for Actual Representation Michael J. Ushkow Follow this and additional works at: http://scholarlycommons.law.hofstra.edu/hlr Part of the Law Commons Recommended Citation Ushkow, Michael J. (2005) "Judicial Supervision of Campaign Information: A Proposal to Stop the Dangerous Erosion of Madison's Design for Actual Representation," Hofstra Law Review: Vol. 34: Iss. 1, Article 10. Available at: http://scholarlycommons.law.hofstra.edu/hlr/vol34/iss1/10 This document is brought to you for free and open access by Scholarly Commons at Hofstra Law. It has been accepted for inclusion in Hofstra Law Review by an authorized administrator of Scholarly Commons at Hofstra Law. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Ushkow: Judicial Supervision of Campaign Information: A Proposal to Stop JUDICIAL SUPERVISION OF CAMPAIGN INFORMATION: A PROPOSAL TO STOP THE DANGEROUS EROSION OF MADISON'S DESIGN FOR ACTUAL REPRESENTATION [N]egative ads will be part of the equation. But we look forward to a fairfight in which no one is making up their own facts.1 - Denver Post EditorialBoard I. SELECTING OUR LEADERS: A STEADY EROSION OF MADISON'S DESIGN On September 4, 2005, less than one week after Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans and the Gulf Coast, and more than three years into an escalating quagmire in Iraq, Frank Rich facetiously paraphrased Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, writing, "for now ...we have no choice but to fight the war with the president we have.",2 The failure in the United States' mode for selecting public officials is the systematic undermining of informed debate.
    [Show full text]
  • Partisan Gridlock in the Contiguous States: Credit Ratings, Economic
    The University of Maine DigitalCommons@UMaine Honors College Spring 2014 Partisan Gridlock in the Contiguous States: Credit Ratings, Economic Stability, and the Ramifications of oliticalP Competitiveness, Polarization, and Party Control in U.S. State Legislatures, 1992-2010 Logan Nee University of Maine - Main Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/honors Part of the Law and Politics Commons, Political History Commons, and the United States History Commons Recommended Citation Nee, Logan, "Partisan Gridlock in the Contiguous States: Credit Ratings, Economic Stability, and the Ramifications of Political Competitiveness, Polarization, and Party Control in U.S. State Legislatures, 1992-2010" (2014). Honors College. 145. https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/honors/145 This Honors Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by DigitalCommons@UMaine. It has been accepted for inclusion in Honors College by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@UMaine. For more information, please contact [email protected]. PARTISAN GRIDLOCK IN THE CONTIGUOUS STATES: CREDIT RATINGS, ECONOMIC STABILITY, AND THE RAMIFICATIONS OF POLITICAL COMPETITIVENESS, POLARIZATION, AND PARTY CONTROL IN U.S. STATE LEGISLATURES, 1992-2010 by Logan Nee A Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for a Degree with Honors (Financial Economics and Political Science) The Honors College University of Maine May 2014 Advisory Committee: Michael Montgomery, Associate Professor of Economics, Advisor Hsiang-Tai Cheng, Associate Professor of Economics Jordan LaBouff, CLAS-Honors Preceptor of Psychology, Honors College Richard Powell, Professor of Political Science Gregory White, Professor of Economics ABSTRACT Today’s complex sociopolitical context features an increasing determent of fundamental bipartisan principles and negotiation at both the federal and state levels of government.
    [Show full text]