Unit 4: Congress Ken Buck

3/21/2016

Buck is a Republican Representative of Las Animas County in Colorado. He was once a Senator of Colorado and a District Attorney. He is a member of 4 subcommittees. He supports Gun Rights, is against abortion and gay marriage.

Encrypt Act:
I think that Senator Ken Buck will vote against the bill that will allow government to access information from companies like Apple from clients phones. Buck has made previous statements during the USA Freedom Act of 2015, that "while protecting our national security it is most important and necessary to protect the rights of every American. He wants to prevent government overreach, and the Encrypt would be giving the government more access and power, which he clearly does not agree with.

Aviation Innovation, Reform, and Re-authorization Act:
The Republican party wants to reduce government involvement as much as possible, and to reduce government spending. By making the FAA an independent non profit entity, the government would not be putting money into that organization, and would save tax payer money. I think that Ken Buck would vote for this bill. He does not support the raising of taxes, and does not agree with tax payers money going into government organizations, so he would agree with this act.

Sentencing Reform Act:
I think that Ken Buck would support the Sentencing Reform Act. He supports saving money, and not raising taxes. The Reform Act would reduce the amount of prisoners money in his county, which would allow the money to be spent elsewhere.

Unit 3 Political Parties, Mass Media, Interest Groups

3/2/2016
"Never Trump" Movement
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/03/us/politics/donald-trump-republican-nomination.html?ref=topics&_r=0


Summary: The Republican Party is becoming more and more alarmed as the Presidential campaign continues. After Trump's big win during Super Tuesday, Republicans are now opening their eyes even more. Trump is clearly the front runner in the Republican party. He has gained more delegate votes than Rubio and Cruz, and has won more states than both of them as well. One of the Republican PAC's, called Principles PAC has released an ad called "Unelectable". This ad is meant to hit Trump hard, to attempt to expose him even more. Keep in mind this is being led by the Republican PAC organizations, and they are spending millions of dollars on just a few seconds on TV. Many Republican politicians have stated that they will not support Trump. They believe that if Trump is elected, their party name would be tainted, and many would believe their party now supports bigotry. Trump is now determined to win over Ohio and Florida. If he does so, the race for the other 3 candidates will most likely be over. To prevent this, Super PAC's who support Rubio in Florida, and Kasich in Ohio are spending millions of airtime on TV ad's against Trump. In hope that they will persuade enough voters in those areas to not vote for Trump. Previous Republican nominee in 2012, Mitt Romney, has recently spoken out about Trump as well. Stating how disruptive Trump would be to the Republican Party.

Analysis: The use of ad's and mass media greatly affect political campaigns. Candidates use the media to persuade the public. The public is extremely influenced by the media, and as technology increases, so does the use of TV ad's and social media. As we have seen in this political campaign, candidates like Trump have taken to social media's such as Twitter. Candidates do this to connect with the public. By connecting with the public they can raise their polling numbers. The reason for the "Unelecteable" ad that will be soon coming out onto TV is to try and ensure that Trump will be gain no more supporters. If this ad fails, it will be more likely that Trump will take this state as well. History shows that candidates who do not campaign and advertise well in certain states, usually lose that state. So it would be in Trump's best interest to campaign and rally more support before these ad's, in hope that he will not lose any supporters.