About the United States congress
Read the following summaries from the WikiSummary website (http://wikisum.com/w/Main_Page) (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.. This page summarizes important works in political science.
1. David Mayhew. 1974. Congress: The electoral connection. http://wikisum.com/w/Mayhew:_Congress (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.
2. Richard Fenno. 1978. Home style: House members in their districts. http://wikisum.com/w/Fenno:_Homestyle (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.
(If the links do not work, try Google-ing “wikisum”, then click on the “Congress” link under “American Politics”, and then click on Congress/Electoral Connection (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site., then on Mayhew: Congress (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site., and (going back to Congress/Electoral Connection) then click on Fenno: Homestyle.) (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.
Mayhew’s view suggests that members of Congress are “single-minded seekers of re-election,” whereas Fenno argues that sometimes the re-election quest is primary, but that after a time, members may seek other goals like good policy or higher office, using the “trust” they develop over several elections and based on their “styles.” Which one best accounts for what members of Congress (MC’s) do? What evidence would you use to argue with them (or support their positions)? Is it ok for MC’s to pursue their own interests in our democracy? Is this what Madison meant when he said that “Ambition must be made to counteract ambition” or “If men were angels?” (in Federalist #51)? Write an 800-1000 word essay. Be sure to give evidence you read and thought about the summaries and Chapter 9 (and Federalist #51).An article which might help you think about what Mayhew and Fenno are discussing is below. You do not have to read it to write a good essay, but it is a good example of political science research and argumentation.
Conditional Party Government_Rohde (assessing Mayhew).pdfPreview the document
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In seeking to understand what drives the Members of Congress, we consider the two arguments given by Mayhew and Fenno. According to Mayhew, he suggests that the Members of the Congress (MCs) usually are only driven by the factor of being re-elected. To him, re-election incentive is the ultimate and only goal that the MCs have all the time. He goes ahead to state that for them to achieve this, they engage in three primary activities that include: position-taking, credit claiming and advertising.
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