Debating Reform

by Ellis, Richard J.

• ISBN13: 9781604265521
• ISBN10: 1604265523
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2010-02-01
• Publisher: Cq Pr

Summary

As much as policy topics like abortion and same-sex marriage elicit spirited reactions from your students, aren't you looking for ways to get them out of their partisan corners? Ellis and Nelson have found that debating concrete proposals for reforming the political system encourages undergraduates to leave ideology behind and instead sift through competing claims and evidence.

Author Biography

Richard J. Ellis is Mark O. Hatfield Professor of Politics at Willamette University. Among his recent books are Presidential Travel: The Journey from George Washington to George W. Bush (2008) and To the Flag: The Unlikely History of the Pledge of Allegiance (2005). In 2008 he was named the Carnegie Foundation for Advancement of Teaching Oregon Professor of the Year. Michael Nelson is Fulmer Professor of Political Science at Rhodes College, where he teaches courses on U.S. politics, the presidency, and southern politics. He is also a nonresident senior fellow of the Miller Center of Public Affairs at the University of Virginia and a former editor of the Washington Monthly. His recent books include The American Presidency: Origins and Development, 1776-2007 (with Sidney M. Milkis, 5th ed., 2008); How the South Joined the Gambling Nation: The Politics of State Policy Innovation (with John Mason, 2008), which won the Southern Political Science Association's V.O. Key Award for the outstanding book on southern politics; The Elections of 2008 (2010); and The Presidency and the Political System (9th ed., 2010).

Table of Contents

Preface	p. xi
Contributors	p. xv
The Constitution
Resolved, Article V should be revised to make it easier to amend the Constitution and to call a constitutional convention	p. 1
Pro	p. 5
Con	p. 11
Federalism
Resolved, Congress should restore each state's freedom to set its drinking age	p. 19
Pro	p. 21
Con	p. 28
Public Opinion and Political Participation
Resolved, the United States should adopt a national initiative and referendum	p. 36
Pro	p. 39
Con	p. 46
The Media
Resolved, broadcasters should be charged a spectrum fee to finance programming in the public interest	p. 53
Pro	p. 55
Con	p. 62
Political Parties
Resolved, political parties should nominate candidates for president in a national primary	p. 70
Pro	p. 72
Con	p. 79
Elections
Resolved, the electoral college should be abolished	p. 86
Pro	p. 88
Con	p. 96
Resolved, proportional representation should be adopted for U.S. House elections	p. 103
Pro	p. 105
Con	p. 112
Interest Groups
Resolved, the “no cup of coffee” rule should be adopted in Washington	p. 119
Pro	p. 122
Con	p. 129
House of Representatives
Resolved, the size of the House of Representatives should be increased to 675 seats	p. 135
Pro	p. 138
Con	p. 144
Resolved, the redistricting process should be nonpartisan	p. 151
Pro	p. 154
Con	p. 161
Senate
Resolved, the Senate should represent people, not states	p. 172
Pro	p. 174
Con	p. 180
Resolved, Senate Rule XXII should be amended so that filibusters can be ended by a majority vote	p. 187
Pro	p. 189
Con	p. 196
Presidency
Resolved, the president should be granted a line item veto	p. 204
Pro	p. 207
Con	p. 212
Bureaucracy
Resolved, the government should scale back the outsourcing of government jobs to private contractors	p. 219
Pro	p. 222
Con	p. 229
Judiciary
Resolved, the terms of Supreme Court justices should be limited to eighteen years	p. 237
Pro	p. 239
Con	p. 245
Civil Liberties
Resolved, the United States should adopt an “emergency constitution” to preserve civil liberties in an age of terrorism	p. 251
Pro	p. 254
Con	p. 259
Civil Rights
Resolved, residents who are not citizens should be granted the right to vote	p. 265
Pro	p. 267
Con	p. 274
Domestic Policy
Resolved, the government should require national service for all youth	p. 282
Pro	p. 285
Con	p. 291
Economic Policy
Resolved, the federal government should ensure that no firm is too big to fail	p. 297
Pro	p. 300
Con	p. 306
Foreign and Defense Policy
Resolved, Congress should pass the War Powers Consultation Act	p. 314
Pro	p. 316
Con	p. 324
Notes	p. 333
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