Bipartisanship Essay, Research Paper

Recently, the debate of whether bipartisanship has completely left this country incapacitated due to the lack of cooperation between Senators and House members with conflicting opinions has grown especially due to the Clinton Impeachment Debates. Many individuals feel that the only reason William Jefferson Clinton was impeached in the House was due to the fact that the majority of the House is republicans. This research proposal will attempt to define if the concept of bipartisanship does exist. If it does exist, what are the contributing factors to it (convincing individuals, convincing corporations, money, the Senators or House member s families)? These can be considered to be the independent variables. Presently, the Internet consists of numerous, almost uncountable, sources on bipartisanship. Many magazines and newspapers are major contributors to this subject as well. The amount of scandal contributing to this particular issue creates a level of curiosity that intrigues all aspects of this society. When the public seems to want press on a particular issue, they seem to get it.

The most notable feature of the current state of journalism in the U.S. is the total dereliction of duty on the part of national political reporters. More than fifty congress critters, senators, and state governors have announced their retirements in the past year, after they received packets from a group of hackers called the Fifth Column detailing illegal and unreported income from bribes, kickbacks, payoffs, and whatnot. This story of the wholesale sell-out of the U.S. political process should rank as one of the top stories of the decade. But the national media blandly reports the contrived explanations (”I just want to spend more time with my heretofore neglected family”) and speculates on the sad loss of Washington country-club camaraderie that used to keep such fine people in public office forever.

There are certain hypotheses in question on this particular issue.

Hypothesis #1: Other than wartime issues, republicans seem to vote with republicans while democrats choose to vote with their fellow democrats on various issues.

Hypothesis #2: Money, big corporations, and fellow party affiliates affect the voting patterns of Senators and House members.

Hypothesis #3: Due to the fact that there are contributions coming in at both sides for different politicians, nothing actually gets accomplished. This can compared to a negative (-1) added to a positive (+1) which eventually comes back to equal 0 (consequently resulting in some aspects of government effectiveness going back to square one ).

The independent variables in question for this particular argument are corporations, individuals, money, and family members of the politicians. It is a personal belief that campaign contributions are the only contributing factor that affect politicians voting patterns.

The dependent variable being discussed on this particular issue is the voting patterns of senators and House of Representative members. It is my belief that money and corporations have an effect on the dependent variable, while the other independent variables that haven t been mentioned (individuals and family members of the politicians or a combination of both) will not have any relationship on the dependent variables.

Obviously, there are several votes that have been taken by Congress within recent years and ever since this country was founded. Arguably, the most important vote taken within the last 5 years is the Impeachment trials of William Jefferson Clinton. This particular event defines the greater problem of bipartisanship. Can by bipartisanship be completely eliminated? Many say no, but if it can t, why so? What defines politicians voting patterns? Does seniority have a large part to do with specific votes on specific issues? All of these questions have been posed for a purpose. The object of this particular research proposal deals with defining voting patterns of both republican and democratic politicians. How can we attempt to answer these questions and where can the information be gathered from? This question will be the focus of the future information presented.

There are many sites and readings on the question at hand. Many would say that this is a result of the recent Impeachment Hearings. This can be argued. There has always been a sense of disagreement between both democrats and republicans in both the House and the Senate. Arguably, the only reason that Bill Clinton was officially impeached in the House was due to the lack of cooperation of both parties. Where can some of this information be gathered? A great source that benefited this specific proposal was the Internet. The Internet, in essence, can benefit any research proposal, term paper, and assignment in general. Some specific sites that had great information on the topic at hand are as follows:

1. http://www.house.gov/

2. http://www.ljx.com/practice/securities/0821aba.html

3. http://www.nylj.com/links/0821aba.html

4. www.publicampaign.org/

5. www.sierraclub.org/politics/pac$$$.html

6. www.actr.com/research/index.html

7. www.actr.com/news/101998.html

8. www.ewg.org/pub/home/reports/wet_pac/swamped.html

9. http://www.lycos.com/wguide/wire/wire_144088_60971_3_1.html

10. http://www.state.nh.us/sos/pacs.html

All of these previously mentioned web sites are part of a large-scale investigation of morality taken by these so-called politicians. It is scary to believe that there are so many things that can contribute to a senator or House member s voting patterns. Things such as contributions from PAC s (Political Action Committees) or individual law firms. It is a personal belief that due to all of these contributions , there is a lack of cooperation due to conflicting beliefs. In some circumstances, rival organizations with rival convictions try to bid out the sell-out politicians. With this phenomenon, some aspect of government will remain stagnant a nothing will get accomplished.

With all of the technology available in this day and age, it is easy to keep track of specific voting patterns taken by politicians, and that is what must done. To organize the experiment, random votes taken by Congress must be analyzed (in terms of the specifics of both republican and democratic votes). Do the voting patterns represent bipartisinship and are the campaign contributions existent for all of the party affiliates.