Government

MANDATORY WRITING ASSIGNMENT DUE BY 11:59 P.M. FRIDAY, MAY 5, 2017

Submitted via Canvas Assignment, Worth 25% of Final Course Grade

Spring 2017, GOVERNMENT 2306, Professor Jaye Ramsey Sutter, J.D.

PLEASE READ THIS ENTIRE DOCUMENT CAREFULLY & COMPLETELY IN ORDER TO MAKE YOUR BEST GRADE

DONALD TRUMP’S PRESIDENCY, IT’S IMPACT ON

TEXAS, AND ON YOU Now that Donald Trump is the president and has been in office over 100 days, tell me your thoughts about Trump the man, the president, the country under this president, and the effect this president’s policies you believe will have on the people of the State of Texas. Tell me a bit about your background with regard to politics and government. Also discuss what the future will be like for you because of Donald Trump’s presidency. Discuss what he will do about subjects that Trump campaigned on that directly affect many Texans: immigration policy, sanctuary cities, his proposed border wall with Mexico, the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals war. (I have provided you with a list of newspaper and magazine articles about these subjects if you wish to use any of them in discussing these important Texas topics.) Additional, if you wish, you can address your thoughts on Mr. Trump and more general issues such as terrorism, the economy, his relationship with Vladimir Putin and allegations of Russian influence in his administration, student loans, jobs, health care, Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, civil rights, crime, abortion, birth control, Iran, North Korea, nuclear weapons, and anything else that has grabbed your attention. (Obviously, you cannot address all of those issues but I place them there to aid you in your reflection about issues. You should, however, definitely address the particular topics relating to Texas.)

In your paper, address the subjects dealing with Texas highlighted above and as many of the following points as possible:

Where are you from (where you grew up) and did your home town, state, or country influence your political beliefs? How did you learn about government growing up? How did the area of the country or the world you’re from help determine your political socialization (“political socialization” being a term from our first unit referring how the attitudes, beliefs, and understanding of one’s government is transmitted to new generations)? What influenced (and how) your political socialization—your parents, your religion, your peers, your school, the media? If 18 or older and a citizen, are you registered to vote and have you voted before? Why or why not? Did you or did you not vote in the 2016 general election (and why)?

If you are not a citizen, do you plan to be and will you vote? Regarding voting, why or why not? Who would you have voted for in the presidential race if you could have voted? Do you consider yourself a Republican or Democrat? Other? No party? Independent voter? Why do you identify with a party or do not do so? Were your parents active in a political party, which one? Are you active or identify with the same party? If different from your parents in this regard, why did you change? Did follow the campaigns for the 2016 general election and, if so, how did you follow the campaigns: Television? Newspapers or magazines? Internet? Social media (such as Facebook, Twitter, blogs, etc.).? Talking with friends and family? Other? Who did you want to be the president and discuss your reasons why.

What are your impressions and reactions to the allegations that the Russian government hacked the election? President Obama, in his final press conference as president, stated that the computer hacking by Russia was discovered and confirmed by several different. U.S. national security agencies and confirmed that later and that it had an impact on the outcome of the election. What do you know of this and was do you think about it? What are your feelings and opinions about Donald Trump? (Are you happy? Despondent? Hopeful? Frightened? Why? What do members of your family say about Trump, his campaign, and his presidency? What do your friends think about Donald Trump? Do you talk about the new president and issues and your futures with friends? Hillary Clinton won almost three million more votes of the people of the United States than Donald Trump did but lost the Electoral College vote to him. Why, or how, did this happen? Do you have any thoughts about this as to how this process works? What do you think of Mr. Trump’s first 100 days in office? What about the Muslim travel ban. About cuts to higher education and student loans. About proposed changes in taxes to reduce taxes for the wealthy. About overturning Obamacare (the Affordable Care Act)? About North Korea? About bombing Syria? About his appointee, Judge Neil Gorsuch, to the Supreme Court? About overturning Roe v. Wade and making abortion illegal in the United States again? About ending funding to Planned Parenthood? About cutting funding for the foreign service and foreign aid? About cutting back drastically on environmental regulations? About any issue of which you might be concerned? President Obama, in his first public appearance after leaving office, told a group of young Americans that they (and you) will be responsible for changing the country

back from the direction it is taking now, and that it is the duty of young citizens to become involved, that it is the cost of citizenship in this country to do so. Do you believe you have a responsibility to this country?

You are to present in this essay your opinions and thoughts on what you know, where you learned it in general, and why you’ve made the decisions you did about voting and arrived at the opinions you had about the candidates for president, and, in particular about the president-elect and his ideas, behavior, plans, and what he will do as president and what you think will be the results.

This is a chance for you to take the stage and tell your audience (me, the reader of your paper) what you think and feel. Do not worry if you think you are not a strong writer. Don’t worry if you are ESL and have, at this time, weak language skills. Write in your best form and style and language skills, but I am nowhere close to being as interested in the formalities of all that as I am in hearing, in reading what you think, what you believe, what you have heard from your family and friends, and what your hopes or your fears may be. (NOTE: No one will read this paper but me. I will erase the papers after the end of the semester. So, do not worry that I might share your personal feelings and believes in the paper. I am the only member of your audience and will protect your privacy.)

MECHANICAL REQUIREMENTS FOR THE PAPER: 1,000 WORD, MINIMUM. You can write beyond the minimum number of words if you wish. However, points will be deducted for papers under 1,000 words—five (5) points off for every 50 words under 1,000. The thousand word-count is a MIMIMUM. You may certainly exceed that minimum-word count. (I encourage you to do so if you have the time to do it and ideas to share.) Write your essay on a word processor preferably with Microsoft Word, or a word processor and then highlight your document, copy it, then paste it onto the “Text Entry” box on the Canvas site for submission of your paper. Look over the pasted document to make sure nothing has been left out before clicking the final “Submit” button. DETERMINE THE WORD COUNT AND POST IT AT THE END OF THE PAPER. When you type a document on Microsoft Word, Word automatically counts the number of pages and words at the bottom left of the workspace in the status bar. If you don’t see the word count in the status bar, right-click the status bar and click “Word Count.” You can also go to “Tools” on a classic Word menu, pull down, and click on “Word Count.” On some versions of Word you can click on “Review” and then on “Word Count.” If your word count is below 1,000 then you lose points. AND IF YOU DO NOT TYPE IN BOLD PRINT THE WORD COUNT AT THE BOTTOM OF THE PAPER I WILL PENALIZE YOU BY 5 POINTS. WRITE THIS PAPER IN YOUR OWN WORDS. Don’t worry if you’re ESL or if you don’t think you’re a good writer. I want to hear your ideas, your experiences, your impressions, all in your own words. I won’t be grading for grammar. I’m grading on

content and meeting the minimum requirements set out in the instructions. DO NOT PLAGIARIZE! Do your own work. You have to write what is in your head, your heart, your mind. YOUR words are better than anyone else’s in telling me about what you know and what your think and believe. Don’t risk flunking this assignment by plagiarizing because you can do really, really well on this assignment without plagiarizing. If you do any outside research to support some point you wish to make (and that is a great thing to do) and include it in your paper you MUST show where you got the material. You don’t need to use a formal system like MLA or APA, or Turabian. You may simply, in parentheses after “quoting” the material from the outside source tell me where you got it. You do NOT have to do any research (unless you wish to do so in order to support key points you address in the paper) However, if you decide to DO outside research and include it in your paper you MUST show where you got the material. You don’t need to use a formal system like MLA or APA, or Turabian. If you include just a few (1-3) outside sources in the paper, you may simply, in parentheses after “quoting” or “paraphrasing” the material from the outside source tell me immediately, at the end of the sentence, what it is and where you got it. For example: (Marc Veasey, “Commentary: If DACA immigration program end, Texas will lose,” Dallas Morning News, 16 January 2017, https://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/commentary/2017/01/16/daca-immigration- program-ends-texas-will-lose). If you quote or paraphrase from this article again in your paper, you’d need only put in parenthesis after the quote or paraphrase the following: (Veasey), which would indicate you got the material from the Marc Veasey article. If, however, you decide to use several different articles in your paper, I would suggest adding a WORKS CITED page at the end of your paper. In the body of the paper you would put the author’s name at the conclusion of the “quote” or the “paraphrased” material. Please remember, however, that you do not need to include any outside sources if you do not wish to do so BUT if you use material from an outside source, you must cite the source or it is plagiarism and you would flunk the assignment. DO YOUR OWN WORK! Do not work on this with another student. If you copy another student’s paper in part or whole, both you AND the student you copied from will be severely penalized. You will likely receive a grade of F…perhaps even a grade of ZERO. Be aware, I check carefully for plagiarism and sharing of work. And I am quite good at finding cheating and more than willing to flunk a student for plagiarizing and copying another’s work. BUT if you do your own work, if you correct cite and document where you got words or information from an outside source, if you follow these instructions, then you likely will earn a very good grade, a grade which will be 25% of your final course grade. DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSION OF PAPER BY POSTING IT IN THE DIALOGUE BOX ON THE CANVAS ASSIGNMENT SITE AND SENDING IT VIA CANVAS IS FRIDAY, MAY 5, 2017 BY 11:59 P.M.

If you have questions about the assignment or need assistance, don’t hesitate to write me at [email protected] and I’ll do all I can to help.

WORD COUNT ON THE ABOVE DOCUMENT IS 2,015 WORDS

LINKS TO ARTICLES ABOUT TRUMP ADMINISTRATION POLICIES ON IMMIGRATION, BODER WALL WITH MEXICO, DACA, AND DEFUNDING SANCTUARY CITIES (WITH AN ARTICLE ON TEXAS LEGISLATURE APPROVING A LAW TO CUT STATE FUNDS TO TEXAS SANCTUARY CITIES)

http://www.star-telegram.com/opinion/opn-columns-blogs/bud- kennedy/article142164639.html https://www.dallasnews.com/news/texas-politics/2017/03/27/texas-attorney-general- backs-trumps-plan-use-eminent-domain-border-wall https://www.texasobserver.org/texas-border-wall-mexico-condemnation-letter/ http://www.newsweek.com/border-wall-not-good-idea-texans-insist-poll-587573 http://www.mystatesman.com/news/opinion/two-views-trump-border-wall-bad-for- texas/zDpkCJK4U7uh4bh6YafsAL/ http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-texas-border-wall-20170407-story.html http://www.nbcdfw.com/news/local/President-Trumps-Authorization-of-Border-Wall- Looms-Large-in-Texas-411831835.html http://www.sacurrent.com/the-daily/archives/2017/01/25/trump-orders-border-wall- more-immigrant-detention-in-south-texas http://www.sacurrent.com/the-daily/archives/2017/01/25/gov-abbott-says-hell-fire-any- sheriff-that-doesnt-help-federal-immigration-officials http://theweek.com/speedreads/675971/texas-longest-border-mexico-zero-38-members- congress-support-trumps-wall

http://www.kxxv.com/story/35256896/when-is-a-wall-not-a-wall-gop- redefines-trumps-border-wall https://www.brookings.edu/blog/fixgov/2017/04/25/why-the-wall-on-the-mexican- border-wont-happen/ https://www.texastribune.org/2017/04/14/white-house-green-lights-new-immigration- detention-center-texas/ https://www.texastribune.org/2017/04/27/bill-ban-sanctuary-cities-heads-back-senate- after-marathon-house-debat/ https://www.texastribune.org/2017/04/18/majority-texans-believe-immigration-helps- county-more-it-hurts/ https://www.texastribune.org/2017/02/21/uttt-poll-texans-take-hard-line-immigration- and-refugees/ https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/04/trumps-quiet-reversal-on- deporting-young-undocumented-immigrants/524367/ https://www.texastribune.org/2016/11/10/immigrant-dreamers-fear-deportation- nightmare/ If using a source in your paper, you should show the author’s name, the publication, the date of publication, and the URL as shown below:

Marc Veasey, “Commentary: If DACA immigration program end, Texas will lose,” Dallas Morning News, 16 January 2017, https://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/commentary/2017/01/16/daca-immigration- program-ends-texas-will-lose https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2016/06/the-supreme-court-has-left-an- undocumented-workforce-in-limbo/488747/