STUDY GUIDE FOR “Noah Webster and the Demoralization of the Body Politic”

Ch. 4 in Scandal and Civility, by Marcus Daniel

Due 10/28

1.     What is the significance of the title of this chapter?  Webster brought the word “demoralize” to the English language.  It reflects his attitude to the French Revolution and American politics.

2.     Discuss Noah Webster’s attitudes toward the relationship between religion and politics.  Religion was a huge part of Webster’s life.  He recalled an early he could remember being taught religion.  It was a way of life for him growing up. Politics was his motivation to start the national language.

3.     How did Webster’s opinions about the French Revolution change over time?  Moral order and religious belief has been shattered.  He thought that when he lost his faith with the French Revolution, it was also the changing point for him and American Politics.

4.     We know Webster for his work as a lexicographer. What was Webster’s goal in publishing children’s spelling books and in writing dictionaries?   The speller was supposed to lay the basis for a distinctively American Literary culture – and moral  order – independent of European cultural influence, and its appeal was explicitly nationalistic and propagandistic.

5.     Google the following terms and discuss their relevance to this chapter: Calvinism, The Enlightenment, Samuel Johnson, primogeniture, xenophobia, Minerva, Alien and Sedition Acts, Great Awakening and Second Great Awakening.  During Webster’s youth, he was raised under a Calvinistic lifestyle.  The Enlightenment was a focus on reason to make decisions.  He was exposed to this at college.  Samuel Johnson was a lexicographer, much like Webster.  Primogeniture is the inheritance of the estate by the oldest sibling, most of time male.  Webster fought to abolish this tradition. Xenophobia is an attitude that Webster had.  He wanted American to be free of foreign influence.  Minerva was a publication that Webster read.  The Alien and Sedition acts were created to protect the Americans from foreign interference with governmental affairs.  The Awakenings were reconstructions of the Protestant faith.  Webster was always teetering on whether religion should be factor in government.

6.     Discuss Webster’s attitude towards political parties. How are his ideas relevant today? What’s your attitude toward parties? Do you think Webster was right?  He believed in a central government.  All power should be vested in the people.  The greatest number of people are in control of creating the laws and number control their execution.  My attitude is that we need parties.  Not too many of nothing would get done, just enough to keep the others in check.

7.     How did Webster’s political ideas change over the course of his life?  He used religion to guide his feelings, then he saw the collapse of the French Revolution and the struggle of American politics and lost his faith.

8.     Discuss one of these quotable quotes from the book:

“Men were innately corrupt and self-interested, he believed, and consequently it was absurd to make their political virtue the basis for political institutions.” (149)  This theory uses his view on The Enlightenment.  He developed this was of thinking when he was a student at Yale.  He continued this practice of reasonable thinking when he made his way in publishing and expressing his political views.

Fast Food Union Vote Fails

Close vote avoids union

By Andrew Pooch

            In Minneapolis, MN a group of 200 fast food workers were unhappy with the wages they were earning and decided to go as far to vote on creating a fast food union.  This vote was narrowly missed with 85 voting for and 87 voting against.

            The New York Times originally reported this event when a story broke of workers at a Jimmy John’s in Minneapolis wearing t-shirts that read, “Wages So Low You’ll Freak.”  The restaurant is known to have unique t-shirts and employees, but this motto was not approved by corporate.

            The fast food industry has been a difficult sector to unionize.  The complications exist with the age of most workers and the turnover that they cause.  The workers have expressed how the pay is low and the working conditions are unpredictable.  The shifts tend to be short and management isn’t sympathetic.

            “A union in fast food is an idea whose time has come,” said Emily Przybylski, in the New York Times, who is a bike delivery worker at Jimmy John’s who is also a social work student at the University of Minnesota.  “There are millions of workers in this industry living in poverty, with no consistent scheduling, no job security and no respect.  It’s time for change.”

            Mike Mulligan, the franchise owner of many Jimmy John’s shops in the Twin Cities spoke about how his employees are treated.  He felt that he treats his employees fairly and fears an uprising should this union follow through.  He felt that the employers had become a target of left-wing activists.  He encourages employees to stay at home if they have any illness.

            Micah Buckley-Farlee, a bike delivery worker, told the New York Times that he has a collapsed lung condition.  He once knew an attack was imminent, so he called into work. They told him to find a replacement for his shift.

            “I want a union for the little things – if you want a raise and the manager says no, you don’t have much to address,” said Buckley-Farley.  “And as for the big things like health coverage, you can’t get anywhere without a union.”

            Ultimately that decision to establish a union was rejected.  The employees will continue to work under the rules of management, which are undesirable.  The St. Paul Pioneer Press reported that most fast food restaurants require a sick employee to find their own replacement for their shift or they are reprimanded.

            Other conditions include most employees being helpless against the minimum wage.  Employers have been quoted saying if they could pay less to their employees, they would.  The fast food industry has been thriving in this economy, so why aren’t employees getting raises?

            Too many workers are afraid to stand up to their bosses for fear that they will lose the job they desperately need.  With this failed attempt to unionize the fast food workers, the treatment will continue and workers will be scared to lose their jobs.

Study Guide for Political Journalism Class F’10

Due date: Oct. 19

“An X-Ray of Dysfunction,” by Thomas L. Friedman. NY Times, 10/12/10

“As the World Burns,” by Ryan Lizza, The New Yorker, 10/11/10

1.     Who are John Kerry, Lindsey Graham and Joseph Lieberman, and what did they decide to work on together? Why? Were they good friends? What challenges did they have with the idea of even working together?  They were three senators that chose to work together on a climate-change and energy bill.  They weren’t good friends considering Kerry and Lieberman had ran against each other for president in 2004.  These chose to work together because they want a chance to change their reputations within their parties.

2.     How did the climate-change bill morph into something completely different? Describe some of the changes.    Some of the main focus became on drill for oil and other politicians were trying to get their issues into the bill (Pickens).  Too many special interest groups were attempting to get their interests into the bill.  It changed into focusing on oil, which ended being the tipping point for killing the bill when the oil spill in the Gulf occurred.

3.     How, if at all, did the Gulf oil disaster affect this bill?  Obama said that drilling for oil was very safe for the environment due to the advancements in technology.  Oil was a huge issue that was attempting to make its way into the bill.  The oil spill was the moment when Reid declared the importance of immigration and Graham pulled out.

4.     Were there any heroes in this story? Any villains? What went wrong? Evan Byah was a villain; Obama could also be considered a villain because he put the bill on the back burner for health care and the economy; the heroes were the three senators (Graham, Kerry, and Lieberman) who came together to put this bill together. Too many people were trying to get their input into the bill.  Fox news is considered a villain because they would attack Graham for his work with other parties.  They would single him out for the failures of the bill.  The media turned into a villain claiming K.G.L wanted to have a gas tax.  Harry Reid tried to put immigration ahead of climate change.

5.     What do you think are the lessons from this about the political process? How could the problems be fixed?  The senators were trying to please to many politicians and get their policies into the bill.  They spent too much time fixing it and angering people that it failed.  Obama administration also didn’t help by putting it behind health care and economy.

6.     Why did Tom Friedman write about Lizza’s article?  He wrote about the article because he is frustrated with the efforts that were put in from opposing parties to write a clean energy bill, to have it shut down.  He is disappointed as he should be in the lack of effort that politicians are putting forth to improve of country.

7.     What were the lessons Friedman took from it? Do you agree with him? Why or why not?  He says that we only have ourselves to blame, because we were the people who elected them into office.  He is correct and his statement is true.  We can also change it by elected others into office.

Reid losing grip on senate seat

Tea Party candidate turning heads

By Andrew Pooch

            Around the country, Tea Party candidates are making an impact and Nevada is taking notice.  Harry Reid is currently battling Sharron Angle for the Nevada senate seat.

            Reid has held a senate seat in Nevada since 1987.  He has moved his way up from being senate majority whip, to minority leader and now majority leader.  None of this is being considered this fall however.  He has been attached to the Obama administration, which has been unsuccessful in bringing change to a state such as Nevada.

After a private questioning meeting, Angle was quoted saying, “ The best that I could give you is that the message has changed from hope and change to fear and smear.”

            The Tea Party has some extreme candidates, and Angle is said to be one of them.  Reid is trying to inform voters that although they may be frustrated with the Obama administration, they should be aware of the changes that would arise if he weren’t re-elected.

            The fact is that Reid underestimated his opponent to a degree.  He started his campaign advertisements in the fall of 2009, but has since lost a grip.  He started by assuming that his seat was secure to the fact that he is senate majority leader.  He wanted voters to realize what that means to his home state. 

            These two candidates are pouring millions into their campaigns.  Angle has stated about $17.8 million, while Reid has yet to classified his funding.  The figure for Reid is figured to be very high as well. 

            The results have yet to be shown however, since Reid is receiving less than 50 percent of the vote.  The independent voters have shown they are frustrated with Nevada’s economy and hurting Reid’s election chances.

            “I’m very confident that we are running ahead,” said Mr. Reid’s pollster, Mark Mellman.  “It’s a tough race, it’s a competitive race and lots of things can happen between now and Election Day.  But we’ve been meaningfully ahead, pretty consistently.”

            Angle’s party disagrees with this statement from Reid’s camp.  Rob Jesmer, the executive director of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, said, “I think if the election were today we’d win because Sharron has the advantage of voter intensity.”

            According to the FiveThiryEight forecast, the Nevada seat is in a toss-up.  The race is hard to pin down in the current polls, but Nate Silver gives Angle a 62 percent chance of winning the election.

            Silver is making his living predicting elections correctly.  He is taking into account the way campaign money is being spent, voter opinion and other major successful polls.  He forms this data into a mega poll. 

            The closer the date gets to November 2, the more views the FiveThirtyEight is going to see.  The outlook is change for Nevada as well as the Senate, because people are frustrated with the state of the economy and have a chance to change it.

Scandal & Civility, by Marcus Daniel

“Benjamin Franklin Bache and the Desacralization of George Washington” (Ch. 3)

Study Guide

1.     Please discuss the significance of the title of this chapter, including a definition of the word “desacralization.”  George Washington was considered the Father of the U.S.  Bache was responsible for slanderous remarks against him. This was taking the significance of Washington away from what he meant to this country.

2.     Explain this statement on p. 110: “The transformation of American colonists from subjects to citizens seemed complete and almost instantaneous. But it was not.”  There was a change from people living under Great Britain to people gaining their independence.  Some were more enthusiastic about it than others.

3.     Who was Bache’s grandfather? What kind of influence did that grandfather have on his life?  His grandfather was Benjamin Franklin.  Franklin shaped who Bache would become.  He accepting him at an early age sent him to a school to shape his beliefs.  Then became an apprentice figure to Franklin, following him around to see what his work was like.

4.     How old was Bache when he died? (114) The chapter doesn’t mention the cause of his death. See if you can find it somewhere.  Bache died in 1798, from yellow fever.

5.     When Bache first founded the “Daily Advertiser,” he promised he would observe the “strictest impartiality.” (116) What happened to this promise?  He wanted his paper to be objective.  He was presenting it for the good of the public.  The paper started to reflect Bache’s political views.

6.     Bache also had a Jefferson connection. What was it? (117) Jefferson was looking for a paper to compete with the Gazette.  After Freneau shot him down, Jefferson turned to Bache.

7.     What was it about the Jay Treaty that so incensed Bache and others?  (133) They were interpreting it as a battle between the will of the people and a will of the president.  It was creating a King-like figure in the president.

8.     Discuss the  “insidious influence of women” mentioned by the author on p. 123. Do you see that kind of attitude at all in contemporary politics? Women were being involved in politics.  They didn’t necessarily have input then, but there were issues that women had influenced.  Today, more and more women are entering the political realm.

9.     How did Bache’s attitude toward the whiskey rebellion change? Why? (130) He started out at sympathetic to the farmers, but as the struggle continued he changed his feelings.  He sided with the government and said the farmers just wanted British gold.

10. There was talk in Bache’s and other newspapers of impeaching Pres. Washington. On what grounds?  They brought seventeen charges against the president.  He was being a coward and an enemy of the people.  Some also thought he undermined the constitution by signing the Jay Treaty.

11. The author states that Bache’s campaign against Washington was a total failure, but that he did have a different kind of victory. What was it?  The title of the chapter is Benjamin Franklin Bache and the Desacralization of George Washington.  That is what Bache was able to do.  He desacralized the presidency, made it secular.

Report: U.S. Would Make Internet Wiretaps Easier

U.S. moves to tap Internet

Questions of security versus privacy

By Andrew Pooch

            In today’s society, the technology of the telephone is becoming extinct.  People are moving to impersonal means to communicate.  People are turning to the Internet for their communication. 

            There are many options through the Internet.  Social networking sites have emerged to become the main avenue for communication.  Facebook, Twitter and Myspace are the most popular forms.  People are also still using their email accounts or talking face to face through Skype.

            Technology is increasing in complexity, therefore making wiretapping more difficult.  The more sophisticated the technologies become, the more the conversations are scrambled.  This makes it difficult to use wiretaps.

            The Obama administration is making a move to increase their ability to tap into these resources.  The main concern is homeland security.  The ability of the U.S to wiretap and get information strictly from phones has been diminished from the dependence on the Internet.

The Obama administration is proposing new regulations that would allow a wiretap that would capture an unscrambled version of conversations over the phone, computer and email.  It would then make then available for law enforcement. 

            “They are really asking for the authority to redesign services that take advantage of the unique, and now pervasive architecture of the Internet,” said James X. Dempsey, vice president of the Center for Democracy.  “They basically want to turn back the clock and make Internet services function the way that the telephone system used to function.”

            This plan by the government has signs of potentially harmful flaws.  If they were able to gain the access they are proposing, this would open up the Internet to attacks on identity.  Citizens and businesses would be more prone to identity theft.

            “We’re talking about lawfully authorized intercepts,” said Valerie E. Caproni, general manager for the Federal Bureau of Investigation.  “We’re not talking expanding authority.  We’re talking about preserving our ability to execute our existing authority in order to protect the public safety and national security.”

            Caproni also added that the technology we use to communicate has drastically changed since 1994.  The laws regulating how we communicate have not kept up with the changes in communication.

            The U.S has two convincing arguments on their side.  They had an investigation hit a dead end with the drug cartel in Mexico, because the suspects were using a peer-to-peer website to discuss drug related business. 

            The other related case was the failed bombing in New York last May.  The suspect of the bombing would have been discovered earlier if the technology he was using to communicate had the possible for intercept.

            From the evidence that will likely be presented to Congress, It will be a convincing argument for Congress to pass a new form of regulation for wiretapping.  This new process of encoding Internet technologies will prevent some terrorist threats that may be missed if there isn’t a change.

http://www.startribune.com/nation/103836983.html

Due Oct. 5

Read Green, Mayer, Taddeo OR Sternbergh articles in Taibbi book

Answer the following questions:

1. What is the topic of this article and what is the author's main point?  The topic of this article is Nate Silver.  He has created a website that is considered a mega poll.  The main point of the article is how Nate Silver created this Website and it has become to go to place for election predictions.

2. Discuss at least two interesting pieces of information you learned. Why were they interesting?  Nate Silver is a baseball statistician that used his skills to create an algorithm to predict elections.  He has used his knowledge to create a new polling system.  He uses the top ranked polls for individual elections and runs simulations in an algorithm to come up with a mega, more accurate poll.

3. What sources did the author use -- these can include people, documents, first-hand observation, etc. Discuss the quality of the reporting.  Joe Sheehan, on of the creators of PECOTA, Moneyball, Nate Silver, Dick Bennett a pollster for ARG, FiveThirtyEight.com,

4. Do you agree with the author's conclusion? Why or why not? The conclusion for this article is that Nate Silver has created a new way to look at polling.  The author states how cocky these statisticians can be. Nate Silver knows how things have been done, he now wants to change the status quo.

5. Discuss how the historical context you learned from the Daniel book thus far illuminates the contemporary story you just read. Does it prove to you that history repeats itself and there's nothing new under the sun or does it prove that these times are different from the early days of political reporting?  Based on what I have read so far in the Daniel book, I have a hard time comparing the way Silver is using his Website.  Sure there was a form of polling in early political history, but the way Nate Silver has become so accurate by compiling so much data is by far ahead of that time.

6. Did you like this article? Why or why not?  I liked this article because Nate Silver saw a flaw in the predicting of elections.  He took his knowledge of baseball stats and applied a formula to calculate a more precise election prediction.  This Website is now the number one poll that people turn to for election predictions.

Minnesota Preparing for a New Governor

Candidates’ Websites Help Inform Voters

by Andrew Pooch

It is officially less than a month until Minnesota will know who will be the next governor.  The three candidates in the conversation for governor are Mark Dayton, Tom Emmer and Tom Horner.  Voters can this time to explore the top candidates and see what each has to offer.

The most popular way to be informed is to visit each candidate’s Website.  The candidate’s share their positions on the issues, plans to fix them, information about them and their running partner and ways to help the campaign. 

Mark Dayton has a slogan of, “Mark Dayton for a Better Minnesota.”  He explains on his Website how Minnesota has entered into a crisis.  He feels that he can get our state out of this. 

He has noticed unfortunate change in education, employment and taxes throughout our state and wants to make those changes.  The slideshow on his homepage shows him talking with voters, wearing the same thing as them – flannel, blue jeans, rolled up sleeves.  He is trying to fit the image of blue-collar.  The next picture is Dayton in a suit, helping in the classroom.

His website has navigation tabs entitled: “Meet Mark,” “Meet Yvonne,” “On the Issues,” “News and Multimedia,” “Get Involved,” and “Contact.”  The organization of Dayton’s Website is easy to navigate.  It’s helpful that his stances on the issues are laid out for voters to easily understand.

Tom Emmer has a slogan of  “A New Direction.”  He wants Minnesotans to know that he is focused on family.  His family was able to be prosperous in Minnesota, and he wants the next generation to be the same.  This theme is evident since his family is pictured on the banner that appears on every page. 

His webpage has a blog style.  Updates for new media are visible on the homepage.  His website has a navigation bar with tabs reading: “About the Team,” “Budget,” “The Issues,” “Take Action,” “News,” “Events” and “Connect.”  Emmer uses a subtle arrangement that has flow and readability.  The information to navigate his site is at the top, and then when voters scroll down they can see articles and events to read about.

Tom Horner is running as an independent.  He feels that Minnesota shouldn’t have its future burdened by partisan politics.  Horner says Minnesota is a great state and feels it can get better with him in office.  Horner uses Dayton’s and Emmer’s Websites to make his better.

He incorporated why he is running, like Dayton.  Then he has a page of his life history and importance of family, like Emmer.  His Website is also set up the same as the other two, he has a navigation bar with tabs reading: “Meet Tom Horner,” “Issues,” “Events,” “On The Trail,” “News” and “Horner’s Corner.”  Horner’s Website is cluttered.  There are too many contrasting colors with loud fonts.  He has the less important stuff bolded and in larger tabs than the more important issues that voters are actually searching for.

Nate Silver of the New York Times has created a forecast of how the election is predicted to turn out.  The predicted election results have Dayton with 45%, Emmer at 40% and Horner earning 12% of the vote.  Silver has then calculated the percentage chance of each candidate winning.  Dayton is at 70%, Emmer at 22% and Horner at 0%.

http://markdayton.org/mainsite/

http://www.emmerforgovernor.com/

http://www.horner2010.com/

http://elections.nytimes.com/2010/forecasts/governor/minnesota