Wealth Gap In Congress

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. These arguments present different perspectives, however, they do have agreements amongst them. Overall, Mayhew presents an argument that is believable and shows the truth of members of the US Congress.

Inequality has been a major problem all over the world. Not just with race or gender, but now ones' income puts them aside from others. and they are catorgarized. Gary S. Becker, a Noble laurete in economics, and Kevin M. Murphy, a professor at the University of Chicago and a recipient of a 2005 MacCrthur "genius" fellowship, believe that a higher education equals higher income. Paul Krugmam, a teacher of economics at Princeton and the city University of New York, uses people who have had an impact on America. They all make decent points towards income inequality, and inequality as a whole. Becker and Murphy believe that if a higher education will give you a higher income, although education after high school is expensive, the returns are worth it. Even though statistics prove that Becker and Murphy's theory is correct, Krugman believes that the living standards are important and shouldne be jepordized, because of an education.

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

In the essay “ Show Me The Money”; Walter Mosley informs his readers about the uneven distribution of wealth in America and the discrimination that the working class has to face everyday. He states that it is wrong to look down on people and place judgment on them because of the amount of education and wealth they might have. Mosley goes on to tell us that we all deserve to live comfortable lives regardless of our social or economic class. In conclusion Mosley states that wealth should not define who we are and that we should all be treated equal that way we can all have equal opportunities to try to make it in this world.

As industry exponentially grew after the Civil War, the need for labor and materials to power newly-created manufacturing giants caused new social classes to form: the rich corporation owners and the poor laborers. Unfathomably rich Robber Barons, or plutocratic American Capitalists, dominated the economy and industry and profited from the slave-like work of millions of poor laborers during this time period. Moreover, the poor working class and the rich further divided by distribution of wealth. Therefore, exploitation of capitalism widened the gap between the rich and poor classes of America, and both newly-formed classes developed reasons for the change.

America prides itself on being one of the most effective democratically governed counties. The idea of the American dream is that all people have equivalent political freedoms and a responsive government. However the effectiveness of social equality is being threatened by increasing inequality in the United States. Economic inequality in the US has expanded drastically. The wealth gap has had drastic changes over the past 35 years. What’s more, specifically, the rich have gotten a lot richer. Almost everybody who talk about it says that economic inequality must be reduced.

In 2010, Missouri’s 7th Congressional District elected Republican Representative Billy Long to office. Representative Long triumphed over his Democratic opponent by receiving 63% of the popular vote, which translates to 141,010 votes. Interestingly, the Republican primary election in 2010 was more closely contested than the general election. Similar election results occurred in 2012 as well. Billy Long would defeat Jim Evans, his Democratic opponent with again approximately 63% of the votes. However this time, the 63% of the voting translated to 203,565. This speaks of the voter turnout in this district. Representative Long

Many people believe in term limits. “In the 1900’s, public opinion polls showed that 70 to 80 percent of the American public supported the idea of term limits for Congress” (Feinberg, 1996). Term limits in Congress can be argued that the politicians who have been in office for decades could have be out of new ideas or have become comfortable in their position. It seems only fair that if others involved in politics, such as the president, can only serve for a number of terms than Congress should be faced with the same. “Term limits encourage politicians to work quickly and efficiently to pass good legislation that immediately benefits the electorate, and to prevent the partisan bickering and infighting that often gums up legislatures” (Issues

These types of men claimed to benefit the society most in these positions of power because, due to their wealth, policies did not affect them personally – they were so rich that essentially nothing could threaten them. This, the rich men claimed, gave them an unbiased perspective on what was best for the whole of the country. “The people” have always been an ever-changing group, as Hamilton noted at the Constitutional Convention, giving their desires a more temporary focus – not the long-term stability desired by the elite for this new republican society. Furthermore, the vulnerability of those who were not rich concerned the elites because, “…they will sell [their vote] to the rich,” taking away the purity in the freedom of choice that was so important to the formation of this country to begin with. (Young

In America after World War Two, citizens were split between classes based on their economic stability. Americans today still look at these classes and define these people as better off or worse off than the next person. Why do people judge others for having less money than them? Why do employers send lower class citizen away when they need the money the most? These are some question that citizens in the lower or middle class have when they are looking at their position in America’s economic system. Research shows that lower class citizens face more hardships to better their lives than those who are more stable.

Classism is a major issue that plagues American society. Classism separates groups by their economic status in society. America is perceived to be a middle class society, however in reality the middle class does not hold majority of the nation’s wealth. Most of the nation’s wealth is held by 1% of the population in America which consists of 34% of the nation’s wealth, meanwhile “the richest 20% of Americans hold nearly 85% of the total household wealth in the country” (Adams et al, 2013, p. 151). American citizens that are a part of the upper class are privilege because they have access to majority of the resources. They are not shut out from opportunities like the middle and lower class. The class that an individual is in affects their chance

Increased polarization correlates with inequality. Research from Princeton and Georgetown prove or point to the correlative connection. One problem with this is that political polarization prevents Congress from acting on economic issues, especially ones directly concerning inequality (McCarty). Gerrymandering by design creates incumbents. The predictive power and capture of campaign finance colludes with gerrymandering, whether it’s “cracking” or “packing.” In newly captured districts created by cracking, serious officials that want to challenge this require extra fundraising just to meet balance with their gerrymandered incumbents, money that is less likely to come from citizen constituents since they constitute such a marked minority in the district (Schumate). Even in party strongholds that are created by packing, the effect of campaign finance is felt through candidate to candidate giving. Candidates with excess cash are permitted to donate it to any candidate they choose, creating a strong incentive for incumbents, even in “packed” districts, to fundraise like there’s no tomorrow, in order to build up political chits(Schumate). If gerrymandering produces a diminution of citizen faith in the democratic process, it would plausibly discourage constituents from donating to their congressional campaign or any other, further diminishing the incentive for Congresspersons to act in accordance with voter preferences (Schumate). Finally, the fact that our redistricting system affords redistricting power to state legislatures in the first place adds a new dimension to the campaign finance wars. The biggest difference between the House and Senate is that only the former faces redistricting. But the gerrymander-inequality connection stands on the same logic: the New York Fed study found that polarization in the House correlates more closely with inequality than in the

The American Revolution was symbolic of a breakaway from old ideals and a transition into a new form of government. After being burdened with the heavy taxes imposed by the tyrannical British monarchy, and faced with taxation without representation, the colonists broke off to institute a new set of rules. By asserting their independence from Great Britain, the colonists committed treason and fought for their land. With the Declaration of Independence, these colonies became known as the United States of America. Despite the military force of Britain, America was successful; the citizens established a republican democracy in which everyone’s ideas could be represented in government. In the following years came revisions in the government; the

For this week 's current events I an article read on the Huffington post that talks about the vast wealth gap between Black and White America. According to the post the gap got a bit smaller in the years leading upto the Great Recession but in the past 30 years has exploded as the black and Latino communities have been hit by foreclosures and job cuts.There 's a lot of reasons why there are enormous wealth gaps between minorities and whites in America. The most simple answer is, it takes money to make money. Part of the reason that there 's this enormous gap is because whites have long had higher wages and wealth to pass on from generation to generation. And it 's like a snowball - it gets bigger and bigger as it gets passed on, and the

Income inequality has grown significantly during this past decades and this phenomenon continues to increase over the years. This problem is constantly discussed in the daily news all around the world. Several consequences of this increase of inequality between people leads to economic problems such as high unemployment rates, lack of work for young people, fall of demand for certain product. The gap between rich and poor is increasing, the rich are richer and the poor are poorer as a result politicians and economists try to adopt certain policies in order to reduce this gap. The United States exhibits a wide difference of wealth distribution between rich and poor people, which is larger than any other major developed country.