Assignment

For this exercise you will have to answer two (2) questions:

Part One:

• First, you must visit and take the quiz to find out your political ideology at one or both of the following web-sites:
  •  Advocates for Self Government a libertarian web-site: www.theadvocates.org/quiz
  • Pew Research Center for People & the Press: www.people-press.org/typlogy/quiz
• Then, write a short paragraph (four or five sentences) explaining the results of the quizz(es). Do you believe that these quizzes accurately measured your idelogical leanings to the right or the left?
• Part Two:
  
  • The second part of this assignment requires that you select a topic in one of the chapters covered by this module. Conduct some research by visiting one of the web-sites provided below.
  • Then, write a short essay (two or three paragraphs: minimum 9 sentences):
    • explain why you decided to research that topic;
    • how does it relate to the chapter you selected;
    • discuss whether you consider this site a good tool for learning about American politics.

Options:

• Chapter 5: Public Opinion:Chapter 6: The Media: If you choose to cover this chapter, you must visit a non-traditional mainstream media source and identify whether it leans to the left or the right; or whether the site represents academic viewpoints that are non-partisan (neither left nor right leanings).
  • PollingReport.com is a nonpartisant source on current trends in public opinion:http://www.pollingreport.com
  • Real Clear Politics is a source for comparing polling results from several sources. It also aggregates the result from election polls: http://www.realclearpolitics.com
• Chapter 6: The Media
• 
  
  • Drudge Report: http://www.drudgereport.com
  • Huffington Post: http://www.huffingtonpost.com
  • The National Review: http://www.nationalreview.com
  • Salon: http://www.salon.com
  • Truth Out: http://www.truthout.org
  • The Monkey Cage: http://www.themonkeycage.org
• Chapter 7: Political Parties, Participation, and Elections: To find out information on the next election, register to vote; and/or to learn whether your state allows you to vote through an absentee ballot contact the following web-site:
  • League of Women Voters: http://www.vote411.org
  • Project Vote Smart provides information on elections, candidates; and elected officials :http://www.votesmart.org
• Chapter 8: Interest Groups:
  • For a list of the ten most important interest groups in America visit: http://listosaur.com/politics/10-powerful-special-interest-groups-america/
  • The Center for Public Integrity, a nonpartisan, nonprofit investigative organization provides excerpts on lobbying investigations:  http://www.publicintegrity.org/news/Lobbying 
  • The Center for Responsive Politics provides the most comprehensive list of interest groups and lobbyist:http://www.opensecrets.org/lobby/ 
  • American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), one of the most powerful associations of legislators and private sector interest groups:  http://www.alec.org/ 
  • For a full expose on the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), visit: http://billmoyers.com/2015/07/24/dark-cloud-of-alec-converges-at-annual-corporate-political-lovefest/