EXAMPLE- Senior Exhibition Topic Exploration

EXAMPLE Senior Exhibition Summer Assignment 2020 Name:______Topic Exploration

Directions: T he goal of this assignment is to explore issues that will help you choose an Essential Question for your Senior Exhibition. The scope of this project is to focus on a controversial issue that experts are debating. In order to help you think of ideas, consider everything you have learned and studied over the last three years. Is there a topic or issue that you wanted to learn more about? Was there a favorite lesson or unit (in any course) that really stuck with you? Consider using these interests as a place to start. You do NOT need to come to school with your EQ decided; in fact, it is preferable if you have a few ideas to work with rather than one EQ that you are set on. In the Fall, Humanities teachers will give you support and feedback so that you can decide on an EQ that both interests you and works for this project. If you have questions over the summer please email Ms. Peters at [email protected], Ms. Hartig at [email protected] or Mr. Lukens at [email protected]. We will do our best to help you.

Join the Senior Exhibition Support Google Classroom w ith the code 2ro7xky. Go ahead and do this right now!

This assignment is due on the first day of school in the Fall. Please make a copy of this document, complete it, and be prepared to print it or share it on the first day of class.

Possible topic #1: US Congressional Term Limits

Why does/should society care about this issue? (I s it an environmental issue? Is oppression involved? Are rights being violated?, etc. T ry to consider the different people/groups who are either directly or indirectly impacted by this issue).

A recurring issue in national politics is the belief that career politicians are corrupt and less interested in helping people and more interested in getting themselves reelected. Both grass-roots movements and seasoned politicians have called for term limits to prevent politicians from being corrupted and controlled by special interests. Imposing term limits would dramatically change who is elected and how congress members negotiate with each other to pass laws. This would also impact the relationship between the president and Congress.

Read an article that answers the who, what, when, where, how, and why. Try to find a neutral and unbiased article that presents the information without prejudice or that does not favor one particle side or outcome (if you are having trouble consider looking at a llsides.com for a starting place).

Write a summary of that article here (4-5 sentences):

In “Why is it so difficult to impose term limits on members of Congress?” Chelsea Tatham describes the recent efforts to impose term limits on members of Congress, the 1995 Supreme Court ruling that rejected state attempts to impose term limits, and the recent attempts to introduce a constitutional amendment to impose congressional term limits. In 1995 the Supreme Court ruled in U .S. Term Limits, Inc. v. Thornton that states did not have the right to impose term limits on their representatives in Congress. The only way for term limits to be imposed would be through a constitutional amendment. Since 2016 three different states (Florida, Alabama, and Missouri) have passed legislation to call for a convention to begin

the process of amending the US Constitution. In addition, Senator Ted Cruz (R-Tex) and Rep. Ron DeSantis (R-Fla.) introduced an amendment in 2017 to impose term limits, and most recently in 2019 Senator Cruz, Representative Francis Rooney (R-Fla), Senators Marco Rubio (R-Fla), Mike Lee (R-Utah), and David Purdue (R-Ga) have sponsored a proposal for a constitutional amendment to impose term limits.

Paste the url here: https://www.wtsp.com/article/news/why-is-it-so-difficult-to-impose-term-limits-on-members-of-congress/67-694d0162-60a1-4adc-942a-be1ac574880f

Explain the credibility: Who wrote it? ● Chelsea Tatham is a journalist for 10 Tampa Bay and has written for Tampa Bay Times.

Who is the publisher? ● 10 Tampa Bay WTSP is a digital and virtual news provider and CBS-affiliated television station licensed to St. Petersburg, Florida.

Who do they cite? ● Tatham cites Congress.gov that records all legislation and actions in Congress, Cornell Law School for an explanation of the Supreme Court ruling, and US Term Limits, an organization advocating for imposing congressional term limits

Based on the article you summarized, list as many possible essential questions you can ask about this issue. (Examples: Should the electoral college be abolished? Should the Green New Deal be passed? Should there be term limits for the Supreme Court?)

Should there be term limits for the US Congress? Should the Supreme Court 1995 decision in U.S. Term Limits, Inc. v. Thornton be overturned? Should Congress pass a constitutional amendment to impose congressional term limits? Should there be limits on campaign finance to reduce the problems caused by a lack of term limits?

Choose ONE of the possible essential questions (above) and find a new Find another new article that has evidence that supports a different article that has evidence that supports one side/one particular answer to side/answer to the s ame essential question. the essential question. Should there be term limits for the US Congress? - NO Should there be term limits for the US Congress? - YES Summarize the article in 4-5 sentences. Summarize the article in 4-5 sentences. Burgat argues that there are five reasons that the US should not adopt In this opinion piece, Doug Bandow argues that there should be term term limits for members of Congress. The author starts by addressing limits for Congress. His main concern is that there is not enough some of the common arguments for term limits such as limiting turnover (there used to be more) and that members who serve for 30-40 corruption, ending the ability of members to serve for much too long, and years are not representing the interests of their constituents. He claims respecting the public’s opinion on the issue (term limits are popular that at first they are responsive to the people they represent but that they among people on both sides of the political spectrum). Though Burgat quickly become part of the institution and vote to both spend more and agrees with some of this reasoning he also believes that term limits will

tax more. He also points out that even when citizens are not happy with hurt Congress as an institution and that they should, therefore, not be Congress they often still re-elect their members. According to Bandow used. Burgat has five reasons. 1) Term limits prevent people from running, this is not serving the public interest, and there are several ways this which restricts the ability for people to choose who they want. 2) could be addressed. One, Congress can (and has) propose(d) a Experience matters in Congress. Law-making is difficult and constitutional amendment which he believes is very unlikely to pass. understanding the complicated rules and how to write effective laws Two, seats could be added to Congress making many of the districts without loopholes or unintended consequences takes time to learn. Also, more competitive. Three, the states could call a constitutional convention creating relationships with other members is very important and that under Article V of the US Constitution. Four (lastly and most preferable requires that the members stick around long enough to create these to Bandow), states could bring a similar case to the US Supreme Court relationships. 3) Less experienced members will be more influenced by hoping to overturn the decision in U.S. Term Limits, Inc. v. Thornton. special interests and may be more likely to go with whatever the Executive Branch wants. 4) Good/effective lawmakers would lose their jobs and 5) Quote at least 3 pieces of evidence from the article: Term limits will not prevent corruption; in fact, it may make it worse because inexperienced legislators would rely more on special interests, “Passage of unpopular legislation sometimes led to mass political bureaucrats and executives because of their inexperience. Burgat ends slaughter, the ouster of a third or more of the House in one election, such with the argument that there is a way to limit the term of any member of as in 1854” (Bandow). (This shows how elections for seats in the House Congress and that is for people to vote them out of office. used to be more competitive.) Quote at least 3 pieces of evidence from the article: “In contrast, today, even when polls show profound disillusionment with Congress, reelection rates typically top 90 percent and have gone as high “T ake, for example, the recent Sen. Graham-Sen. Durbin alliance that has as an astounding 98 percent” (Bandown). (These statistics show that recently proposed a b ipartisan immigration compromise. Such a incumbents almost always win, so there is less turnover in Congress.) partnership is due in no small part to the pair’s long history—Graham and Durbin served two years together in the House and the Senate for 21 years “Even in so‐called wave elections, more than 80 percent of members are and counting” (Burgat). (This shows that members of Congress who know reelected” (Bandow). (This shows that even when people are unhappy each other are able to work together on important legislation). with Congress, there is very little change.) “I n fact, as expert analysis has shown with the recently passed Senate tax “Florida State University economists Randall Holcombe and Robert bill, policy crafted by even the most experienced of lawmakers is likely to Gmeiner, who concluded that such restrictions in state legislatures have ambiguous provisions and loopholes...” (Burgat). (Here the author slowed the growth of both spending and taxes. Growth rates ranged uses analysis of a complicated tax bill trying to use this as evidence that between 16 percent and 46 percent lower in states that imposed term even experienced legislators write bills with too many issues/loopholes). limits” (Bandow). (This supports the point that the longer politicians are in office the more they will tax and spend). “R elatedly, lawmakers in states with term limits have been found—including from t his 2006 50-state survey— to increase deference to “15 states already term‐limit their legislators. (Voters in another six agencies, bureaucrats, and executives within their respective states and states voted to impose term limits, but the legislatures or courts countries simply because the longer serving officials have more experience subsequently overturned the measures.)” (Bandow) (This shows that with the matters” ( Burgat). (This piece of evidence is attempting to voters/people support term limits). respond to the argument that there will not be as much corruption in Congress if there are term limits).

“By the mid‐1990s 23 states had enacted such limits” (Bandow). (This Paste the url here: shows that before the Supreme Court stepped in, almost half of the states https://www.brookings.edu/blog/fixgov/2018/01/18/five-reasons-to-oppose-c had imposed term limits on their members of Congress). ongressional-term-limits/

“Alas, in 1995 a 5–4 majority of the Supreme Court tossed these measures Explain the credibility: out, ruling that state authority over congressional elections did not reach Who wrote it? Casey Burgat wrote this article. Burgat’s writing is mainly that far” (Bandow). (This illustrates how narrowly the Supreme Court focused on legislative affairs for the Brookings Institute. Brookings is a decided the case declaring it unconstitutional for states to impose terms public policy research organization based in Washington D.C. limits on their members of Congress). Who is the publisher? The Brookings Institute Paste the url here: https://www.cato.org/publications/commentary/how-term-limit-congress Who do they cite? Burgat cites many sources, including Rasmussen reports for the statistics on how many people support term limits, polling Explain the credibility: from Real Clear Politics, Congress.gov to cite the proposed legislation and research from the Legislative Studies Quarterly regarding the Who wrote it? Doug Bandow wrote this article. He works for the Cato effectiveness of state legislative term limits. Institute. He holds a law degree from Stanford and worked in the Reagan administration. He writes for many different publications including the Washington Times and the Wall Street Journal.

Who is the publisher? The Cato Institute

Who do they cite? He quotes Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) and also cites economists from Florida State University.

Briefly answer the following questions:

1) Explain why the topic is controversial. This topic is controversial because some argue that term limits would make it more difficult for congress members to enact change and reform in Congress. Others argue that without term limits, politicians will continue to be controlled by special interest groups and that newer congress members are excluded from powerful committees within Congress.

2) Is there a significant amount of research on this topic? (You may want to think about how hard it was to find the two articles.) There are a lot of articles on the 1995 Supreme Court ruling that established that congressional term limits could only be imposed by a constitutional amendment. There are a lot of biased articles and organizations that are either for or against term limits; it is more difficult to find information that is from a completely unbiased source.

3) Is religion or morality a main argument for either claim? Not really. There is a moral component to the argument that politicians are “corrupted” by special interests and becoming career politicians.

4) Are there at least two claims (a “yes” side and a “no” side) and are they clear? Yes, there are two very clear sides to this issue.

5) Why are you interested in this topic? I honestly don’t know what the right thing to do is to limit the power of special interests groups in Congress. On the one hand, I can see the appeal of term limits to stop career politicians from losing sight of their obligations to the people and the need to limit the power of some special interest groups. On the other hand, I recognize the importance of politicians being able to negotiate with each other and the need to build relationships and trust over time; term limits would damage that. I’m also concerned that term limits might reduce the power of Congress and give more power to the president. I’m also wondering if there are other ways to limit the influence of special interest groups besides term limits.

Complete the same assignment (below) for a different possible topic.

Possible topic #2:

Paste the url here:

Explain the credibility: 1. Who wrote it?

2. Who is the publisher?

3. Who do they cite?

Based on the article you summarized, list possible essential questions you can ask about this topic. (Examples: Should the electoral college be abolished? Should the Green New Deal be passed? Should there be term limits for the Supreme Court?)

Summarize the article in 4-5 sentences. Summarize the article in 4-5 sentences.

Quote at least 3 pieces of evidence from the article: Quote at least 3 pieces of evidence from the article:

Paste the url here: Paste the url here:

Explain the credibility: Explain the credibility: 1. Who wrote it? 1. Who wrote it?

2. Who is the publisher? 2. Who is the publisher?

3. Who do they cite? 3. Who do they cite?

Briefly answer the following questions:

1) Explain why the topic is controversial?

2) Is there a significant amount of research on this topic? (You may want to think about how hard it was to find the two articles.)

3) Is religion or morality a main argument for either claim?

4) Are there at least two claims (a “yes” side and a “no” side) and are they clear?

5) Why are you interested in this topic?