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Warm-Up

Write a brief (5 sentence) paragraph to the following:

What do you think makes a person a great leader?

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The 21st-Century United States

Politics & Leaders

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Political Parties

• U.S. government basically set on two (2) political parties (although other parties are involved & sometimes win)

• Democratic-usually supports middle-class and lower-class, small business, etc. with federal government involvement when needed--tend to be more liberal-left

• Republican (GOP)-usually supports wealthy and big business with little federal government involvement—tend to be more conservative-right

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1990 - Present Day

Presidents: CNN survey

• George H. W. Bush (Republican-1989-1992) 18/44• William Clinton (Democrat-1993-2000) 15/44• George W. Bush (Republican-2001-2008) 36/44• Barack Obama (Democrat-2009-present) n/a

• Congress:– 1989 Democratic Congress– 1993 Republican Congress (1st in 40 years)– 2007 Democratic Congress– 2011 Demo Senate-Rep House

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President & Congress Party AffiliationYear Congress President Senate (100) House (435)

2009 111th D D - 55*** D - 256

2007 110th R D - 51** D - 233

2005 109th R R - 55 R - 232

2003 108th R R - 51 R - 229

2001 107th R D* R - 221

1999 106th D R - 55 R - 223

1997 105th D R - 55 R - 228

1995 104th D R - 52 R - 230

1993 103rd D D - 57 D - 258

1991 102nd R D - 56 D - 267

1989 101st R D - 55 D - 260

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Political Parties TodayParty

(Official 2012 nominee)Year Founded

Registered Members

Party(Official 2012 nominee)

Year FoundedRegistered Members

Constitution Party(Virgil Goode)

1992 367,000 Libertarian Party(Gary Johnson)

1971 278,446

Democratic Party(Nominee to be chosen at party convention in Charlotte, NC, on Sep. 3-7, 2012)

1792 43,140,758 Republican Party(Nominee to be chosen at party convention in Tampa, FL, on Aug. 27-30, 2012)

1854 30,700,138

Green Party(Jill Stein)

1996 246,145

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Political Parties Today

• 5 registered parties had a candidate on the 2012 presidential ballot

• 3 are considered “Third Parties” or “Minority Parties”

• No third party candidate has ever won a presidential election

• However they can have a profound impact on the 2 majority parties

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Liberal/Conservative Defined

• lib·er·al– 1. favorable to progress or reform, as in political or religious

affairs. – 2. ( often initial capital letter ) noting or pertaining to a

political party advocating measures of progressive political reform.

• con·serv·a·tive– 1. disposed to preserve existing conditions, institutions, etc.,

or to restore traditional ones, and to limit change. – 2. cautiously moderate or purposefully low: a conservative

estimate. – 3. traditional in style or manner; avoiding novelty or

showiness: conservative suit.

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www.studentnewsdaily.com/conservative-vs-liberal-beliefs/

Read the viewpoints on each issue…create a 1-2 sentence summary of each issue…put a checkmark next to the view

that you agree with for each issueIssue Liberal

ViewpointConservative

Viewpoint

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Activity

• Liberal / Conservative small discussion groups• Summarize• What are you