Being a Member of Congress or President

REQUIREMENTS:

Limit 4, single-spaced, type-written pages, 12-pt. Times Roman font, 1 inch margins. The paper
will count for 20% of your final grade. Papers must be in Word, PDF, or RTF format. Papers
must include your name, student ID#, and the title of class. This is both a creative exercise and a
test of what you have learned so far in the course. Use your imagination as well as apply your
knowledge of relevant information in answering the questions. Papers are due in my Brightspace
“Assignment” folder no later than Monday, June 4 @ 11:59 p.m. Late papers will be docked a
letter grade after each day it is late (however, early papers are accepted). Feel free to use sources
such as the Internet, magazine and newspaper articles, books, and any others you might come
across; however, you MUST cite all sources used, as well as utilize quote marks when directly
quoting a source.

QUESTIONS

Compare and contrast the movies in Section II. What kind of pressures must a president or
member of Congress deal with? Must a president or members of Congress “dirty their hands”
and engage in overtly political behavior in order to be successful? What role does the media and
scandal play? What about lobbyists, special interests and money? Has money corrupted the
American political system? Explain. Be sure to draw on all the movies in this section, the
assigned readings, and any other relevant films &/or readings in answering these questions.
Remember: there are no “right” or “wrong” answers to these questions—simply opinions which
are either well-defended or not.