Domestic and Foreign Policy

The purpose of this weeks drawing is to illustrate policy. In particular domestic policy. The cartoon is to depict a businessman who was laid off. He then had to go to the unemployment office to file. Also he would probably then want to apply for WIC, food stamps, and Medicaid for his family. Interestingly enough economic policy and social policy are closely related. If economics are not well such as our current situation with job loss and the housing market then citizens are more likely to fall into social problems such as needing unemployment and welfare. On the other hand, if the economy is well then people are less likely to need welfare.

In my past cartoons I do feel that I have expressed some political leanings. I feel someone would think I am fair but I do have more of a conservative feel for things.

Supreme Court

The cartoon illustrates the role of the Supreme Court in conjunction with the state and local governments. The players represent the states. They are the main component of the team and without them the game would not be the same. In comparison, the state governments are a vital part of our government and they are in place for better representation of citizens. The coach represents the Supreme Court. He acts as a leader and mediator among the team to ensure they follow the rules and regulations with in the game. The Supreme Court in turn is put into place to determine the Constitutionality of legislation. The legislation that comes to them typically is issues that are too controversial for the states to determine. The coach is overruling the players with a different play. Its important to understand that the Supreme Court is the highest authority. Both the coach and players are a vital part of the team just as the state government and Supreme Court are important in the government.

Presidency and Congress

The purpose behind this cartoon is to depict the role of the president. The president along with the help of the Congress are necessary to determine and enforce legislation. In this case, I chose to depict what I had used for my graded assignment. The representatives in our state have all voted at one time for abortion to not be funded by grants and taxes. The president has a platform based on what he believes the people need and want and abortion is a major issue in our world today.

See cartoon below.

Voting and Parties Cartoons

The meaning behind the cartoon for this weeks lesson on voting and political parties, is to show a combination of the types of parties and the voting system. The two dominant political parties in the United States is the Democratic and Republican parties. The Democrats are represented by the donkey and the Republicans are represented by the elephant. In the United States, political parties play a major role not only in government issues but tend to be a defining characteristic in every person. People sometimes judge based on political parties and therefore in the cartoon I wanted to depict that there are different people that vote based on their political party and demographics. The other point I wanted to depict was our voting system. The United States uses a ballot system for voting that is held based on state. There are different offices that are open for election whether it be city, county, state or federal. The United States has a unique system with defining political parties and voting practices.

See cartoon below.

The Media

The purpose of the cartoon on media is to depict a person asking himself a question. The question is what source of media he wants to use to gain information on current news. There are different types of media such as radio, newspapers, television, and internet. One question a person should ask himself when deciding on a source of media to learn news is how accurate is the news. Also one must know the political leanings that each source of media may have. It is a good idea to be well rounded in the difference sources of media and not just take news from one source.

See cartoon below.

Graded Assignment 4

The Pew Research article, "Public Knowledge of Current Affairs Little Changed by News and Information Revolutions", has concluded that even with technological advantages and the availability of news at all times the information the the public knows has not changed. Today people are just as likely to name leaders and are aware of events as much as they were about twenty years ago. Also the change in formats that have been presented by news providers have not impacted the knowledge that the public has. However, demographics have an extreme impact on the knowledge that the public has from news providers. Based on the research, I definitely feel that we should be more aware of our country and the things that go on in it. It's our country and we should take part in it. If you do not know have the knowledge to back up your opinion I believe it should not be given.