Submit typed answers of three pages for each question, double spaced. Please staple your pages together and number them.
1. Based on class discussion and readings, what do you believe is the role of our political parties in American politics and government? Will the elections we have observed this past November and the debates among candidates, impact the two major parties in the future? Do you believe the Democratic and Republican parties are controlled by a ‘third’ Corporate Political Party’ as suggested in the Wright book? Why or why not?
What is the impact of money on the political parties we have studied, since the beginning of the American constitutional government? What does the Supreme Court decision, ‘Citizen’s United’ mean in terms of candidates, campaigns and party organizations? Would George Washington, Theodore Roosevelt or President Eisenhower have agreed that ‘ corporations are people’ and have a first amendment right to free speech through spending unlimited funds on elections ? (Be sure to refer to addresses by these three presidents and others in your answer).