Campaign Finance Issues Essay -- essays research papers fc

GENERAL BACKGROUND INFORMATION We are not a democracy, yet we do have a voice in our own government. Elections are the choice microphones for many citizens. There on Election Day, they have the right of making their voices heard; however, many interest groups and a few individuals seem to have a louder voice due to campaign financing: No U.S. official should be beholden to one or a few groups. And no group or individual should have a greater claim on our elected leaders than any other. That’s the way it should work. But it is growing clear to more and more Americans that it doesn’t (McCarthy 24). Recently, it has been the trend to try to make sure the opinions and concerns of minorities are duly noted and pondered on. The only problem seen with this comes about whenever the minority â€Å"buy† the attention of politicians. Typically, minorities are more than a number. The grossly rich, while small in number and percent, have never counted as a minority, but these are the only ones who can afford to give enough support to a candidate to draw attention to them. Again, we see an aristocratic government. Even interest groups of true minorities can’t give enough to impress anyone. Now that we have seen the dangers of campaign financing, we should go back and find out how it started. Max McCarthy speaks of a time when everything got worse in politics. This was not to imply that everything had been perfect before, but once the media gets involved, things tend to go differently. Many years ago, the media began to play a vital role in the political education of our citizens, with radios and televisions. Before, only those with real authority had any complete knowledge of what went on with governmental politics. As each candidate was brought closer and closer to the American people, they actually started to care about things that before were nicely kept secrets. The opinions of these, now seemingly real people, instead of future historical figures, were actually heard, and the people actually knew who they were voting for. With the start of this new technology, campaigning was much easier; all that was needed was enough money to get the name recognition: As campaign costs have skyrocketed in recent years, the percentages contributed by the parties and small individual donors have declined . . . An ever-growing... ...www. Fec.gov Connolly, Ceci. 1999. "Washington Post Magazine". http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/campaigns/wh2000/stories/gore 040499_full.htm. Corrado, Anthony, Thomas E. Mann, and Daniel R. Ortiz. ed. 1997. Campaign Finance Reform. The Brookings Institution. Emenhiser, JeDon. 1999. http://www.sorrel.humboldt.edu/~jae1/paper.html Ginsberg, Benjamin, Theodore J. Lowi, and Margaret Weit. 1997. We The People: An Introduction to American Politics. W.W. Norton & Company, Inc. Goidel, Robert K., Donald A. Gross, and Todd G. Sheilds. 1967. Money Matters: Consequenses of Campaign Financing Reform in the U.S. House Elections. Rowman & Little field Publishers, Inc. Lanham, New York. Malbin, Micheal J. 1991. Money and Politics in the U.S.: Financing Elections in the 1980s. Chatham House Publishers, Inc. Box One, Chatham, New Jersey. McCarthy, Max. 1972. Elections For Sale. Hough Mifflin Company, Boston. Pelletier, Paul.1999. "Closing the Deal: Ten Fundraising Tips". Campaigns and Elections (May):56-59.

Psychosocial Development Essay

The purpose of this paper is to provide the reader with a personal case study on the developmental transition of a 35-year-old woman from young adulthood into middle adulthood. The transition is examined in the context of Erik Erikson’s Psychosocial Development and the Loevinger’s Ego Development. The paper would present her current situation and future plans in accordance to her current developmental level.   TRANSITION TO MIDDLE ADULTHOOD: A PERSONAL CASE STUDY Basically, the goal of the research and study on life-span development is to describe, explain and optimize human development. Human development is interesting and highly varied that it seems at times the topic is inexhaustible. Researchers would like understand more fully human behavior and motivation as it change through age. According to the modern life-span perspective to understand the gravity of these queries one has to remember the following facts about human development. First, development is a life-long process. The life-span perspective is the study of human development from infancy to adulthood. This would include any form of development. Second, development is multidirectional. It involves all aspect of life. We have different priorities at different stages of life, for example a small child might deem it more important to be able to watch his favorite TV show rather than a good education. Third, development involves both gain and lost, to give room to new learning, priorities and experiences (Sigelman & Rider, 2010). Erik Erikson Psychosocial Development Claire is at the middle adulthood stage. By this time she had successfully resolved her concern on isolation. Crystal Miller is married and a mother of a two year old boy and a six year old daughter. She has a loving family. She has peers and friends that appreciates and support her. The middle adulthood stage is primarily characterized as a time when an individual searches for a sense of legacy to family and society. An individual needs to be affirmed of her or potential for contribution to society. Significant internal conflicts may arise pertaining to self-absorption and stagnation. This is the stage of the development where a sense of production and the ability and opportunity to express care to others is most important (Tenant, 2000) Claire aims to provide the kind of family and personal values that she had developed. Although her children are still very young, she want them to develop in an environment that they could free to express themselves learn from their own experiences. The role of mothers in the development is crucial. Early learning of young children can be accredited quality of interaction and care they receive from parents. She wants her children to be able to be become productive members of society. As Tenant (2000) explained it becomes an adamant task is to preserve culture and transmit family values. This may come in the form of establishing stable family or home environment. Strength comes through care of others and production of something that contributes to the betterment of society. This would provide meaning and purpose. Furthermore, the middle adulthood stage, aims to develop a sense of fulfillment in both the professional and personal life. At this stage, profession or work is most crucial. Thus, Erikson asserts through his study the individual in the middle adult stage tend to be focused in finding meaning with their professional life. They would like to view their jobs are more than a means for financial gain; it should have significance and contribution. As parents, they would like to feel that they had helped mold the values system of their children, as well provided for their personal needs. As a co-worker, she would like to be a source of valuable information and help them in own personal endeavors. It also, middle adulthood is when we can expect in control. (Cohen & Reese, 1994) Claire as a registered respiratory therapist and a registered nurse sees her profession as source of personal fulfillment. She had honed her professional skills through 17 years of patient care experience in the field. Field experience in the medical profession is unparalleled, through her interaction with patients and professional she had developed genuine care for patients and professional for the field. She had gained expertise acknowledged by her peers and clients. Thus, when she entered the corporate medical device industry she took the initiative to advocate better deliverance of health care by helping clinician help their patients the base care. She assists executive level from making major financial and technological decisions. It is part of her responsibility to make sure each and every clinician is fully trained on their equipment. Thus, get the full and best use of the equipment to not only benefit the hospital and clinician but also the patients. These efforts, led to the lowering the cost of healthcare is through better patient care by enabling the clinicians to provide the right care at the right time. She acknowledge that she may be luckier than some, because she in a profession that she feels she is making a significant contributions. Being a mother, she personally feels for parents whose children are under medical care due to illness. As, a parent she would like her children to learn any profession can be used to be of service to others. That is important to be in a job you are developed and appreciated. As a spouse, she aims to become her husband’s source of support as he is to her. Considerably, her family is very young and she would like to equip herself with the necessary parental skill that she would need particularly in her children’s adolescents year. At times, though she feels that the demand of family life and professional life is taking a toll of her emotional well-being. She has to sets priorities and often the things she has to give up; working in the medical instrument copy at times requires travel and hours of work. As a mother, there are times that she feels that she should spend more time with her kids. Children tend to grow up really fast. Although, she seems to manage well, this is still this dilemma she often encounters. At this point she had to acknowledge her husband’s part in taking care of the family. It helps to know that she is not alone; learning from other working mothers and how they deal helps her find her own balance. Although she has a long way to go before moving to late adulthood, she would like to make the best of it while she’s here with her family and friends. Significant relationships are within the workplace, the community and the family. Thus, Claire would like to expand her expertise to the community. She plans to get involved in community project pertaining to healthcare. Time can be an issue but she believes that it can be done. Support groups in forms of friends, family and peers can help her resolve internal conflicts and feel more competent in handling all aspects of her life. Loevinger’s Ego Development According to Loevinger’s Ego Development, the ego serves as the master trait of personality with a core organizing function. In a way it neutralizes the demands of the id and the super ego. The ego provides the direction and guidance for both the inner and outer forces (Thorne, 1993). Loevinger presented ego development in nine distinct stages. Most adults can be found from the fifth to the seventh level of ego development (Westenberg, Blasi & Lawrence, 1998). The self-aware stage, the fifth stage is the most common stage among adults in the United States. At this stage there is an increased but limited awareness of deeper issues and the inner lives of themselves and others. A personal introspection of ideas pertaining to religion, morality, mortality, love and relationships as compared to others, somewhat there seems to have resolution. Awareness, acknowledgement and acceptance of others perspective, they are appreciating themselves and others as unique. However this may bring tension between actual to what is expected. In terms what is expected is often a combination of society and the individual’s own definition. This may lead conflicts with family and peers. If let unresolved this may lead to self –criticism. This continues on the sixth stage, the conscientious stage. At this stage, the tendency towards self-evaluation and self-criticism continues. Responsibility, achievement and the pursuit of high ideals and long-term goals are highly valued. Personally-evaluated morality starts to evolve and behavior is guided by self-evaluated standards. It is at this stage as well that, shame arises from not meeting the others’ expectations; guilt arises from not meeting one’s own expectations. In a study conducted by on the personality change in women from College to Midlife. The personality scores of female college seniors studied where first measured in 1958 using the California Psychological Inventory, then again when they were 27 years old, the third time were 43. The results showed that changes in personality were largely consistent with theories of adult development. The study highlighted a major factor, sex role specialization in their late 20s and a decrease in their later years that is accompanied by increases in confidence, dominance, and coping skills. (Helson & Moane, 1986) Claire efforts to achieve professional success rather than simply focusing on her family life would have been frowned upon. Claire own ideals and priorities would have been influenced by the norms of society. The expectation of society on her would had definitely clashed with her endeavor to develop professionally. The change in the perspective of society in the role of women had definitely changed in terms professional and long term goal. However, women are still held more responsible to the welfare of the children and of the family. Often, the dilemma would arise since she is permitted to do both, but she is expected to be a complete success in family life and with her professional life. This may be easier said than done. The only solution, make it both work. She wants to have sense of control over her priorities, goals and resources. Delegation and proper time allocation are some solutions she can think of as a way to resolve some concerns. Van Hiel and Vansteenskist (2009) examined the effects of intrinsic and extrinsic goal attainment on older adults’ ego-integrity, psychological well-being, and death attitudes. Intrinsic goal attainment contributed positively to subjective well-being and ego-integrity and negatively to despair, whereas extrinsic goal attainment was unrelated to psychological health and contributed positively to despair. Intrinsic goal attainment contributed to the acceptance of one’s own death, lower ill-being, and less death anxiety, whereas extrinsic goal attainment was negatively associated with death acceptance. It is argued that the attainment of intrinsic goals is related to better psychological health, because intrinsic goals are more conducive to the satisfaction of basic psychological needs. In summary, Claire plans to revisit her priorities, goals for each aspect of her life. Claire’s intrinsic motivation of becoming a contribution to her family, work and community would provide her with the necessary drive and energy. At the same time, she would like to be realistic in terms of her expectation of herself. She believes she can define her own definition of success. BIBLIOGRAPHY Cohen, S & Reese, H. (1994)Life-span development psychology: methodological contributions. Hillsdale, New Jersey: Lawerence Earbaum Associates, Inc. Tenant, M. (2000) Psychology and adult learning 2nd edition. New York: Routledge Sigelman, C. K. & Rider, E. (2010) Life-span human development. Cengage Learning. Thorne, A (1993) On conceptualizing loevinger’s stages of ego development. Psychological Inquiry. 4, 1, p. 53-55. Taylor & Francis Ltd. Retrieved at August 20, 2010 at http://www. jstor. org/pss/1449596 Van Hiel, A. & Vansteenskiste, M. (2009) Ambitions Fulfilled the effects of intrinsic and extrinsic goal attainment on older adults’ ego-integrity and death attitudes. International Journal of Aging and Human Development, 68, 1, 27-51 Westenberg, P. M. , Blasi, A. & Lawrence, D. C. (1998) Personality development: theoretical, empirical, and clinical investigations of Loevinger’s conception of ego development. Lawrence Mahwah, New Jersey: Erlbaum Associates, Inc. , Publishers Helson, R & Moane, G. (1986) Personality Change in Women From College to Midlife. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 53, 1, 176-186.

Short Story - 1172 Words

Obviously the comment about his neighbor’s choice of font offended him in some way. The next week’s worth of messages come printed in increasingly gaudy colours and bizarre fonts that make Comic Sans look tame and normal. I can’t even read that. Is that even a real font? Did you scribble something onto a piece of paper and scan it in? Honestly. A few hours later his printer hums to life and he glances up from his sketchbook. Screw you, I have beautiful handwriting. Jihoon can only assume it was a cat drawn underneath the message. He snorts- that’s the most awful looking cat he’s ever seen, which is impressive considering he’s seen Hoshi’s attempts at drawing. I’m going to go with the current theme and assume this is a cat. Of†¦show more content†¦Jihoon raises an eyebrow at him,I heard you talking to your fish last time I visited. You have no room to comment. Whatever you say, Jinnie. — Some days he doesn’t say much. Those days used to be filled with a kind of foggy muck in his mind. On those days his mind felt too big, his apartment too small, his skin too tight. But lately, even on the days he falls silent, his apartment doesn’t shrink. He doesn’t try to claw his way out of his own skin. On those days he collects pieces of paper. Paper, with increasingly crappy poems and ridiculous pictures. Then he wonders if there’s a market out there for this kind of sappy yet somehow endearing stuff. The printer hums and rattles its shelf. Roses are red This dino is blue You’re not talking today Is something wrong with you? There is a gruesome sketch of a dinosaur in blue pen with a bunch of hearts and question marks around it, and he tries not to let it get to him. But despite the slow throb in his brain and the general weariness in his bones, he finds himself talking. About his afternoon. About the kids in the summer programs his colleagues roped into teaching. About Hoshi and their high school volleyball team and dozens of other random things. The haze is still floating around his brain when he crawls into bed that night. But this time he doesn’t feel quite as afloat as he usually does when it happens. Three days later, the knocking at the door pounds in sync with the drums in his head.Show MoreRelatedshort story1018 Words   |  5 Pagesï » ¿Short Stories:  Ã‚  Characteristics †¢Short  - Can usually be read in one sitting. †¢Concise:  Ã‚  Information offered in the story is relevant to the tale being told.  Ã‚  This is unlike a novel, where the story can diverge from the main plot †¢Usually tries to leave behind a  single impression  or effect.  Ã‚  Usually, though not always built around one character, place, idea, or act. †¢Because they are concise, writers depend on the reader bringing  personal experiences  and  prior knowledge  to the story. Four MajorRead MoreThe Short Stories Ideas For Writing A Short Story Essay1097 Words   |  5 Pageswriting a short story. Many a time, writers run out of these short story ideas upon exhausting their sources of short story ideas. If you are one of these writers, who have run out of short story ideas, and the deadline you have for coming up with a short story is running out, the short story writing prompts below will surely help you. Additionally, if you are being tormented by the blank Microsoft Word document staring at you because you are not able to come up with the best short story idea, youRead MoreShort Story1804 Words   |  8 PagesShort story: Definition and History. A  short story  like any other term does not have only one definition, it has many definitions, but all of them are similar in a general idea. According to The World Book Encyclopedia (1994, Vol. 12, L-354), â€Å"the short story is a short work of fiction that usually centers around a single incident. Because of its shorter length, the characters and situations are fewer and less complicated than those of a novel.† In the Cambridge Advanced Learner’s DictionaryRead MoreShort Stories648 Words   |  3 Pageswhat the title to the short story is. The short story theme I am going conduct on is â€Å"The Secret Life of Walter Mitty’ by James Thurber (1973). In this short story the literary elements being used is plot and symbols and the theme being full of distractions and disruption. The narrator is giving a third person point of view in sharing the thoughts of the characters. Walter Mitty the daydreamer is very humorous in the different plots of his dr ifting off. In the start of the story the plot, symbols,Read MoreShort Stories1125 Words   |  5 PagesThe themes of short stories are often relevant to real life? To what extent do you agree with this view? In the short stories â€Å"Miss Brill† and â€Å"Frau Brechenmacher attends a wedding† written by Katherine Mansfield, the themes which are relevant to real life in Miss Brill are isolation and appearance versus reality. Likewise Frau Brechenmacher suffers through isolation throughout the story and also male dominance is one of the major themes that are highlighted in the story. These themes areRead MoreShort Story and People1473 Words   |  6 Pagesï » ¿Title: Story Of An Hour Author: Kate Chopin I. On The Elements / Literary Concepts The short story Story Of An Hour is all about the series of emotions that the protagonist, Mrs. Mallard showed to the readers. With the kind of plot of this short story, it actually refers to the moments that Mrs. Mallard knew that all this time, her husband was alive. For the symbol, I like the title of this short story because it actually symbolizes the time where Mrs. Mallard died with joy. And with thatRead MoreShort Story Essay1294 Words   |  6 PagesA short story concentrates on creating a single dynamic effect and is limited in character and situation. It is a language of maximum yet economical effect. Every word must do a job, sometimes several jobs. Short stories are filled with numerous language and sound devices. These language and sound devices create a stronger image of the scenario or the characters within the text, which contribute to the overall pre-designed effect.As it is shown in the metaphor lipstick bleeding gently in CinnamonRead MoreRacism in the Short Stor ies1837 Words   |  7 PagesOften we read stories that tell stories of mixing the grouping may not always be what is legal or what people consider moral at the time. The things that you can learn from someone who is not like you is amazing if people took the time to consider this before judging someone the world as we know it would be a completely different place. The notion to overlook someone because they are not the same race, gender, creed, religion seems to be the way of the world for a long time. Racism is so prevalentRead MoreThe Idol Short Story1728 Words   |  7 PagesThe short stories â€Å"The Idol† by Adolfo Bioy Casares and â€Å"Axolotl† by Julio Cortà ¡zar address the notion of obsession, and the resulting harm that can come from it. Like all addictions, obsession makes one feel overwhelmed, as a single thought comes to continuously intruding our mind, causing the individual to not be able to ignore these thoughts. In â€Å"Axolotl†, the narr ator is drawn upon the axolotls at the Jardin des Plantes aquarium and his fascination towards the axolotls becomes an obsession. InRead MoreGothic Short Story1447 Words   |  6 Pages The End. In the short story, â€Å"Emma Barrett,† the reader follows a search party group searching for a missing girl named Emma deep in a forest in Oregon. The story follows through first person narration by a group member named Holden. This story would be considered a gothic short story because of its use of setting, theme, symbolism, and literary devices used to portray the horror of a missing six-year-old girl. Plot is the literal chronological development of the story, the sequence of events