Congress Rhetorical Analysis

The political theorists David R. Mayhew, Gary W. Cox, and Matthew D. McCubbins argue on how the US Congress functions. They focus on the members of Congress and their actions. The basis of disagreement between the theorists lies in what Congress members find of importance. Mayhew argues that members of Congress, primarily concern themselves with reelection, as such, any action taken only benefits that. Cox and McCubbins’, however, formulate that Congress functions on the basis of majority party control and unity.

The article is written by Richard Fenno in 1978, summarizing the dilemma of congressmen in the contemporary time. The author was specifically discussing about members of the House, who always seek for reelection during his legislative career, as stated in the initial part of the paper. Fenno went on to propose the conflict in incumbent congressmen 's career: more attention for the Washington career leads to less attention for the congressmen 's home state. The Washington career required commitment to build up support within the House. However, focusing on Washington rendered the congressman homeless, or losing his home 's supportive forces.

Congressional term limits have been what restricted the amount of time that anyone can work in office whether it be to a representative, senator, or even the president. People have debated over keeping or losing the term limits, since each come with their own benefits and faults at the same time. In the argument for term limits, some may argue that they are necessary because, “Congress will be more responsible toward their constituents because they will soon be constituents themselves” (Weeks). The validity in this statement proves to be one of the strongest arguments because the creation of laws is mean to serve all people, and if the people in office had complete immunity, it would serve unfair and unjust to the rest of society. For this reason, it always will make those in office consider how impactful and

There are far too many occurrences in which Congress was unable to reach a happy medium to appease both side in the division of the House. For example, gun violence has been relatedly discussed in congress, yet no solution has been reached while the number of victims continues to rise. Immigration reform has been reviewed many times in Congress as well and there still is no true answer to the problem or agreeance upon what the problem truly is. Those are but a few examples of the reason why citizens have little faith in the American Congress system; it consistently fails to make any notable strides or achievements in bettering the country. Works Cited David Nakamura, Ed O 'Keefe.

This again, all goes back to Mayhew’s theory of how members of Congress seek

A citizen should act upon their free will or judgement without having the pressures of society around them. The House of Representatives member should worry about the diverse community values rather than the citizen. Even if they are in a specific party they do not have to vote upon what that party thinks what is

1. They are important source of information. A member who is part of congress has to evolve themselves with many policy areas. But a lobbyists can confine themselves to one area and can by providing specialized expertise. If the information is powerful, then the lobbyist can be an allies. 2.

In the aftermath of the first real wave of retiring legislators, supporters and opponents have debated on the benefits and detriments of term limits and neither side could come to a conclusion. In Maine where term limit restrictions resulted in a legislature comprised of 40% first term members resulted in the state’s budget being passed in march, the earliest in the state’s history. Supporters saw this as an example that members were working harder and were being more effective, while detractors saw the early budget as inexperienced legislators were passing proposals with inadequate understanding and scrutiny. Supporters emphasize the annual turnover increase in both chambers since the adoption of Proposition 140, as well as the significant increase in the number of members retiring voluntarily before they were 'termed-out '. Supporters are also quick to point out the increase in minority and women legislators increased as had been predicted.

Ensuring the vote by drawing the district 's lines, entails that normal constituents of a party will have their right to vote violated. The Voting Right Act while allowing this dilution, does not consider the fact that the votes become so diluted that they are meaningless. Making a vote meaningless does not only throw the concept of voting out, but also the basis of this country, democracy. Democracy is the decision making process exercising the authority to solve public problem, according to the three principles of: Popular Sovereignty, Political Equality, Majority Rule. The principle of political equality is being ignored by making a group’s vote diluted to the point where it means nothing, makes their vote unequal to others.

My definition of rhetoric before the readings was simply: successful written or oral communication with a clear purpose & audience in mind. After completing the readings, I have decided that is not specific enough and does not encompass what rhetoric really is. The readings by Crusus, Channell, and Drucker helped establish a clear relationship between argument, “mature reasoning”, and communication as a mode used to communicate. Both of the readings provided a clearer understanding of argument and communication, key components to rhetoric, but did not change my definition until I read “The Rhetorical Situation” by Bitzer. The idea of a rhetorical situation, provided a clear application of the question: “What is rhetoric?” in a historical, realistic

“When politicians know they must return to ordinary society and live under the laws passed while they are in Congress, they will think more carefully about the long-term effects of the programs they support” (Meiner 1992). If an elected officer has to live underneath the laws they have passed, in office they will focus more on what they believe will benefit them when they become a citizen instead of passing laws that they would never have to live under. With some politicians becoming too comfortable with their power, the idea of them having to become regular, American citizens will make them rethink how what they are supporting. Term limits have a positive effect on elected officials and laws being passed. “Basham notes that, there appears to be a positive relationship between term limits and fiscal conservatism.

Finally, the film “The Patriot” by Robert Rodat uses the archetypes of the quest for revenge and the fall to reveal how we as humans are willing to go to war for freedom, and for family, and unite people together under one cause. People are willing to go to war for family, freedom, revenge and to bring together a country or group of people.

A major theme in A&P is personal freedom. Throughout the story Updike uses metaphor for all elements in the story to implies the theme. At the beginning of the story, Sammy uses sarcastic tone to describe the customers as “sheep” and “houseslaves” which implies he is different from them in mindset. The way how Sammy talks about others shows his intellectual mind. He is not same as Stokesie who wants to be a manager one day. He also is not want to be Lengel who guards A&P for all these years. Although he is a part of these people since he has domestic difficulty, he thinks working in A&P is dull and dreary. He wants to escape from the conformity. Then, he saw the girls. “In walks these three girls in nothing but bathing suits” (746). Sammy notices

Woman Suffrage Women's right activist, Carrie Catt, in her speech, “Address to Congress on Women’s Suffrage”, explains how woman suffrage in inevitable. Catt’s purpose is to convince Congress that it is time for woman suffrage. She adopts a confident tone , uses direct quotations, and appeals to logos in order to convince Congress that it is time for woman suffrage. A confident tone is adopted by Catt throughout her entire speech to congress. Catt opens with “Woman suffrage is inevitable.”

As previously mentioned, in the end Randolph succeeds in controlling Joel, but the way he does so confines Joel to Randolph himself, and likewise to the Landing. Randolph manipulates every significant situation in which Joel takes part. He disregards Joel’s letters to his Aunt Ellen. Because Randolph does not send them, it consequently makes Joel feel as if she has abandoned him like his father did when he was born. “But Ellen had never answered his letters. The hell with her. He didn’t care any more. His own bloodkin. And she’d made so many promises. And she’d said she loved him. But she forgot. All right, so had he, sure, you forget, o.k., who cares? And she’d said she loved him” (Capote 185-186). Because Randolph has control over Amy, he uses her to control both Ed Sansom and Joel. She knew Randolph was sending for Joel, writing as if Randolph was his father, yet said nothing of it, nor tried to stop Randolph. Anything Randolph does, Amy is indifferent to, accepts, or ignores. Because of the control set on her, Randolph is able to use her as a tool in confining Joel. Joel becomes confined to Skully’s Landing essentially through Randolph, seeing the