Elections Test Question

In order to be elected in America, one must show hard work and perseverance. Each candidate is working for a common goal, to take office and help better our country in the way that they see fit. It is these different philosophies on topics such as health care, education, and the economy that make elections what they are. Candidates with different stands on topics look to insure voters that their way is the best through media and conventions. Each candidate has a Political Actions Committee, a private group that works to help elect a candidate and advance the outcome of an election. The people in this group live in "the bubble" and spend months of their lives helping their candidate. A good PAC can really help the outcome of an election and is often the difference between gaining office or not. It is difficult enough to win an election, but without an effective PAC, it is hard to get a candidate’s name and ideas out to the public.

A successful candidate needs proper funding in order to have a chance come election time. Hard money is essential for media advertising and fundraising for the campaign trail. Hard money is money directly received by a candidate that is put in use to help the campaign. On the other hand, soft money is huge donations from corporations, labor unions, or individuals, and it is now illegal. It gave the democrats an unfair advantage so it was banned permanently. Donations are allowed to be made through mail, but cannot exceed specified limits. Having enough money to execute a long and strenuous campaign is vital to having a successful outcome.

Another factor that goes into elections is media influence. We all see hundreds of commercials for candidates around election time and wonder who the best choice is. This is when some elections become anti-democratic. Not every candidate has the same chance, and we saw in the video, “Can Mr. Smith make it to Washington?” that Jeff Smith never stood a chance because he was running against a candidate with a famous, well known name and family. A true Democracy should come down to who the best candidate truly is, and not how popular his or her name is. Media bias is the act of people in the media to select which events and new stories are covered, and how they are reported. They either don’t mention, or add fake statements to help get their own beliefs across rather than fairly broadcasting the news. Media bias can change the outcome of an election. Candidates without the support of the media often don’t stand a chance.

Political Parties are political organizations that strive to maintain power within the government. Most well known, are the republican and democratic parties. Democrats are more liberal while Republicans are conservative when it comes to governmental affairs. These groups compete to gain office, but there is also competition within the groups. Only one candidate from each party makes it out of the primary, so they must compete with each other, without making their own party look bad.

The last issue that plays a huge role in elections in America is voter turnout, the number of people that show up to the polls on election days to cast their vote. There are two ways to look at this issue. One, low voter turnout is a bad thing because it does not properly represent the entire country in a Democracy. Two, low voter turnout is a good thing, because the people that are well informed are the only ones voting which means that the right candidate will most likely be chosen. There are pros and cons to each argument, but one thing is for certain, making voting mandatory will not better the situation. This is when the government crosses the line and is no longer truly democratic.