Partisanship in the Congress

Reflect on partisanship in the Congress and discuss the proper role of the minority party in each house of the Congress. Is the frequent use of the filibuster for ideological purposes an act of patriotism or partisan politics at its worst?

Also discuss the proper role of the majority party in each house of the Congress. In responding to your classmates, discuss if you think its members should exclude the minority party whenever possible or try to compromise with them.

classmate post #1:

The proper role of the minority party in each house in Congress is to influence legislation at the committee level and ensure that all of the rules are being followed through the legislative process.  The minority should also use the court of public opinion through the media to fight egregious legislation and apply public pressure to the majority party.  

The frequent use of filibuster is used by both parties equally for ideological purposes and for partisan politics at its worst.  While the ideological debates on various issues can be very informative, very seldom does the use of filibuster change the direction of the voting majority.  Filibuster has also been the cause of excessive delays in the confirmations of federal judge appointees, thus slowing down the judicial branch of government.

The proper role of the majority party in each house of the Congress is to control the referral of legislation to congressional committees and ultimately control the legislative process.   A bill’s survival depends on referral to a favorable committee.  The majority is also tasked with remaining cohesive in policy positions and protecting the brand of their respective political party.

Evans, J., & Michaud, K. (2019). Central Ideas in American Government (9th ed.). Asheville, NC: Soomo Learning. Retrieved from: 

classmate post #2:

When looking into congress we have to realize that they are the ones who make the laws, of course after they’re signed by the president. It ismade up of two houses, the House of Reps and the Senate. Congress has the big responsibility to look out and take care of the citizens of the United States, make sure all laws are being abided and that the government is doing right by the people. 

Both sides elect their leaders by ballots. The majority and minority group have very similiar responsibilities, they are in charge of making sure all of the laws that have been signed are being followed the right away , that they are being represented correctly. The slight differences between both is that the minority party has fewer seats and they also need to make deals to pass legislation laws, whereas the majority side does not. 

Filibuster is a procedure where congree present a certain bill and they debate on whether or not they want to pass it.  They could delay it, or simply kill it all in all. They can do this by discussing potential issues that they believe can occur with it. When talking about this it’s honestly hard to determine whether or not filibuster is patriotism or partisanship, because every member of the congress or parliament has different ideas and reasons as to why certain bills shouldn’t be passed. So we cant say that filibusters are a bad thing, on the contrary at times it could be good, because some bills are not` passed` because they’re not good for the people, or it could allow for more in depth details about some of those bills.

Discussion Rubric:  

Your active participation in the discussion topics is essential to your overall success this term. Discussion questions are designed to help you make meaningful connections between the course content and the larger concepts and goals of the course. These discussions offer you the opportunity to express your own thoughts, ask questions for clarification, and gain insight from your classmates’ responses and instructor’s guidance. 

Requirements for Discussion Topic Assignments
 Students are required to post one initial post and to follow up with at least two response posts for each discussion topic assignment. 

For your initial post (1), you must do the following: 

•   Compose a post of one to two paragraphs.
   
•   In Module One, complete the initial post by Thursday at 11:59 p.m.
    Eastern Time.
   
•   In Modules Two through Eight, complete the initial post by Thursday at
    11:59 p.m. of your local time zone.
   
•   Take into consideration material such as course content and other
    discussion topics from the current module and previous modules, when appropriate (make sure you are using proper citation methods for your discipline when referencing scholarly or popular resources).
   

For your response posts (2), you must do the following: 

•   Reply to at least two different classmates outside of your own initial post thread.
   
•   In Module One, complete the two response posts by Sunday at 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time.
   
•   In Modules Two through Eight, complete the two response posts by Sunday at 11:59 p.m. of your local time zone.
   
•   Demonstrate more depth and thought than simply stating that “I agree” or “You are wrong.” Guidance is provided for you in each discussion prompt.