LANGUAGE PRACTICE AND COMPREHENSION CHECK

USEFUL INFORMATION:

The Democratic Party - one of the two main political parties in the US, tracing the history to the time of Andrew Jackson in the 1820s. It was founded in 1828 and was considered to be more liberal.

The Republican Party is considered to be more conservative than the Democratic Party. It was organized in 1854 to combat slavery. The first Republican President was Abraham Lincoln.

The Vietnam War (1964 - 1975) - a long civil war between the Communist forces of North Vietnam and non-Communist forces of South Vietnam. It ended in 1975 when South Vietnam was finally defeated, and Vietnam was united as one country. US soldiers fought in Vietnam to support the army of South Vietnam. American people have very divided feelings about this war.

terms and notions:

Bylawn -. 1 the written rules for conduct of a corporation, association, partnership or any organization. 2 a law made by the local government.

Caucus n.- (pl. -es)- 1 US meeting of party members esp. in the Senate to decide policy. 2 representatives from a political party who assemble to nominate candidates.

TASK Ia) Study the following words from the text:

label n.- 1 piece of paper etc. attached to an object to give information about it. 2. short classifying phrase applied to a person etc. 3. logo, title, or trademark of a company. —v. (-ll-; US -l-) 1 attach a label to. 2 (usu. foll. by as) assign to a category.

disparate adj. -. essentially different; not comparable.

allocatev.(-ting) -(usu. foll. by to) assign or devote to (a purpose, person, or place).

allocation n. - a designation or apportionment for a specific purpose (of funds etc.).

meldv. -merge, blend, unite.

assignv. –1. appoint someone to a job or task; 2. give money to someone or decide it should be used for a particular purpose.

assignmentn.-1 task or mission. 2 the transfer of rights or property.

runv. – (for) offer oneself for election (run for President, Governor, etc.)

hammer out phr.v. –1. work out details of a plan, etc.;2. talk about something and come to a decision about it.

b) Use the active vocabulary and terms and notions to complete the following sentences:

1. The main parties are known under the ... "Democrats and Republicans".

2. A certain sum of money was ... for disaster relief.

3. Different interests must be ... to advance legislation.

4. The government ... a particular part of its foreign aid budget to African countries.

5. George Bush-junior ... ... President twice.

6. The challenge is to make ... computer systems work together.

7. The Democratic Party elects its candidates at a Party ... .

8. A rule made by an organization for governing its own affairs is called ... .

9. The committee tried to ... ... the proper solution.

10. The Government provided some ... to the job creation programme.

TASK IIa). Match the nouns on the left with their synonyms on the right.

TASK IIIUse the following phrases in your own sentences:

To run for office; to exist separately; to achieve power; to make up the caucus; to hammer out differences; to be for or against government decisions; to protect the environment; to meld disparate interests.

TASK IVDefine the following notions:

By-laws and customs; the Steering and Policy Committee: committee assignments; gubernatorial politics; legislative governance; an institution of governance.

TASK VComplete the following sentences paying attention to the comparative degree of the adjectives:

1. The larger the majority the greater… .

2. The broader the perception the better ... .

3. The higher the taxes the lower … .

4. The more aid to the poor the more … .

5. The more regulation of industry the better … .

TASK VIIn which meaning are the following words used in the text.

1. run v. – 1) to move quickly, 2) to compete in an election, 3) to control.

2. steer v. – 1) to make a boat go in a particular direction, 2) to guide and to direct a particular piece of activity.

3. party n. – 1) a social gathering for pleasure, 2) a group of people with common political aims, 3) a side in a lawsuit.

4. staff n. – 1) people who work for an organization, 2) a long stick to help you walk.

5. make up phr. v. – 1) to invent a story, 2) to use special paint, 3) to constitute, to form.

TASK VIIAnswer the following questions:

1. How important is the party system in Congress?

2. How do legislators organize themselves?

3. What is a caucus? What are the functions of caucuses?

4. What is the role of the committees set up by caucuses?

5. Compare the sources of power for national and state parties and those for legislative caucuses.

6. What are the functions of the legislative party system? Describe them.

7. Why do individuals choose to become Democrats or Republicans?

8. Why is it so important to achieve consensus on various issues among party members in Congress?

TASK VIIITranslate. Ask five questions:

The Conference

The conference is the means by which the two houses of Congress resolve the differences between them on a bill that both houses have considered and adopted. Such agreement is necessary if a bill is to become law because each house must pass an identical version of the same bill. The House Speaker and the presiding officer of the Senate name conferees to the conference committee. Conferees are usually members of the substantive committee that reported the legislation and are recommended by the committee chair and ranking minority member. A conference report must be approved by a majority of the conferees from each house; it does not matter how many members are appointed from each house, although it may change the dynamics of arriving at an intrahouse compromise.

When a conference committee reaches an agreement, it issues a conference report that details the agreement. This report then becomes the vehicle for further legislative action. It may contain exact bill language, but it may only contain references to prior legislative action, such as an amendment of one house or the other. The report is then considered by the house that accepted the request for a conference. The report is not subject to amendment and, if not adopted by both houses, it must go back to another conference. When both houses agree to a conference report, that report becomes the mandate for the bill’s enrollment.

TASK IXSpeak about

a) the role of caucuses in the legislative process.

b) national, state parties and legislative caucuses.

c) how individuals choose to become a member of a party.

d) conferences and conferees.

TASK XAgree or disagree with the following quotations:

1. A politician is an acrobat – he keeps his balance by saying the opposite.

Maurice Barres (1862-1923), a French politician.

2. Liberty means responsibility. That is why most men dread it.

George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950).

TEXT 9 Representative Government*

Representative democracy is perhaps most obviously a system of government suited to situations in which it is for one reason or another impractical for the citizenry actually to show up and personally participate in the legislative process. But the concept of representation, as understood by our forebears, was richer than this. Pre-Revolutionary rhetoric posited a continuing conflict between the interests of “the rulers” on the one hand, and those of “the ruled” (or “the people”) on the other. A solution was sought by building into the concept of representation the idea of an association of the interests of the two groups. Thus the representatives in the new government were visualized as “citizens”, persons of unusual ability and character to be sure, but nonetheless “of the people”. Upon conclusion of their service, the vision continued, they would return to the body of the people and thus to the body of the ruled. In addition, even while in office, the idea was that they would live under the regime of the laws they passed and not exempt themselves from their operation: this obligation to include themselves among the ruled would ensure a community of interest and guard against oppressive legislation. The framers realized that even visions need enforcement mechanisms: “some force to oppose the insidious tendency of power to separate the rulers from the ruled was required”. The principal force envisioned was the ballot: the people in their self-interest would choose representatives whose interests intertwined with theirs and by the critical reelection decision ensure that they stayed that way, in particular that the representatives did not shield themselves from the rigors of the laws they passed.

Actually it may not matter so much whether our representatives are treating themselves the way they treat the rest of us. Indeed it may be precisely because in some ways they treat themselves better, that they seem so desperately to want to be reelected. And it may be that desire for reelection, more than any community of interest, that is our insurance policy. If most of us feel we are being subjected to unreasonable treatment by our representatives, we retain the ability – irrespective of whether they are formally or informally insulating themselves – to turn them out of office. What the system, at least as described thus far, does not ensure is the effective protection of minorities whose interests differ from the interests of most of the rest of us. For if it is not the “many” who are being treated unreasonably but rather only some minority, the situation will not be so comfortably amenable to political correction. Indeed there may be political pressures to encourage our representatives to pass laws that treat the majority coalition on whose continued support they depend in one way, and one or more minorities whose backing they don’t need less favorably. Even assuming we were willing and able to give it teeth, a requirement that our representatives treat themselves as they treat most of the rest of us would be no guarantee whatever against unequal treatment for minorities.

This is not to say that the oppression of minorities was a development our forebears were prepared to accept as inevitable. The “republic” they envisioned was not some “winner-take-all” system in which the government pursued the interests of a privileged few or even of only those groups that could work themselves into some majority coalition, but rather – leaving slavery to one side, which of course is precisely what they did – one in which the representatives would govern in the interest of the whole people. Thus every citizen was said to be entitled to equivalent respect, and equality was a frequently mentioned republican concern. Its place in the Declaration of Independence, for example, could hardly be more prominent. When it came to describing the actual mechanics of republican government in the Constitution, however, this concern for equality got comparatively little explicit attention. This seems to have been largely because of an assumption of “pure” republican political and social theory that we have brushed but not yet stressed: that “the people” were an essentially homogenous group whose interests did not vary significantly. Though most often articulated as if it were an existing reality, this was at best an ideal, and the fact that wealth redistribution of some form – ranging from fairly extreme to fairly modest proposals – figured in so much early republican, while doubtless partly explainable simply in terms of the perceived desirability of such a change, also was quite consciously connected to republicanism’s political theory. To the extent that existing heterogeneity of interest was a function of wealth disparity, redistribution would reduce it. To the extent that the ideal of homogeneity could be achieved, legislation in the interest of most would necessarily be legislation in the interest of all and extensive further attention to equality of treatment would be unnecessary.

Date: 2015-12-11; view: 614