Composition of Congress
a. Mostly white men
b. Other countries, women have been able to overcome the gender obstacle, some have
quotas that some of representation has to have a certain amount of female
i. Need women in office to ensure their liberty and women's voice is heard so policies
can serve their rights.
ii. Suffrage movement - collective action - ????
c. Most representatives don’t represent the population, most reps are college grads, while
most ppl in US only high school grad.
i. Most reps are lawyers and businessmen, who know how to organize money to run
for office and get into office
ii. All humans are biased to what they are, their culture, etc…
Terms of office
a. House of Rep is 2 year term
i. Want to extend term length because there are simply too many elections, voter
fatigue. Too many elections, cant devote time to writing good legislation, taking too
much time to get re-elected; "endless campaign"
ii. Good thing about 2 year term is that if ppl don’t like rep, then ppl can replace him
quickly instead of waiting.
b. Senate is 6 year term
i. Good thing to keep so that they can be the "calm headed" leaders and focus on
national legislation
c. Incumbents: Single-minded re-election seeker
PRESIDENT
1. Congress was conflicted over the powers of the president
2. Figure head of nation, representative, but not too much power
3. Little law making responsibilities, more of a manager
4. "Necessary and expedient"
5. Can declare war, congress gives funds for war
6. Appoints supreme court justices, but congress confirms
7. Fed paper #69 - can only be a leader as long as ppl keep voting him in to office
8. Constitution doesn't really specify powers of president, opened door for president to claim more
power, more elasticity in his authority
9. "Take Care " Clause
i. President : Article 2 Section 3
1) "He shall take care that all laws will be faithfully executed
ii. Executive privilege
iii. Executive order
1) Pass laws without the approval or inclusion of congress
iv. Executive agreement
10. Congress did not want a vigorous and energetic president (president that could just make things
happen)
11. Fed Paper #70
i. Larger congress gets, the slower progress
ii. One man institution of presidency will move faster than multi-man institution of the
legislature.
iii. In times of war, presidency has power to make fast decisions
12. War powers resolution
i. Ability of congress to slow president's pace by approval of military funding
ii. But hard to prove when military has already been dispatched as soldiers would have no
weapons or ammo
13. Receive foreign diplomats and diplomacy
14. Make policy (executive order)
i. Treaties