Now that we have gotten that out of the way, it is time to get down to the assignment. As the newest advisor to the most politically inexperienced president in American history, you will need to call on all that you have learned in POS 2041 to help Mr. Brady. Specifically, President Brady has asked for your help in passing a new law. The details of the law, as well as the details of President Brady’s party affiliation (if any) are totally up to you. President Brady wants to know about the kinds of difficulties that his proposal will face, and the things he needs to do to get it passed .
Specifically you should inform President Brady of the following:
1) The structure of our constitutional form of government (separation of powers, checks and balances, federalism – you should talk about all three of these and each should be its own paragraph).
2) The role of specific actors within the formal branches of government (Congress, the bureaucracy, and the courts – you should discuss all three of these and each should be its own paragraph).
3) The role of other institutions and actors (the media, political parties, and interest groups – you should talk about each of these and each should be its own paragraph).
You’ll want to tie this all in with how a bill becomes a law.
Your essay should be in the 1000-2000 word range. That’s a pretty wide range. Is it possible to do well if you write less than 1000 words? Yes, but only if you’ve been gifted with the brevity of Hemmingway. This assignment is asking you to summarize everything you’ve learned so far this semester so if you’re completing it in 500 words then that means you didn’t learn a whole lot. Can it be more than 2000 words? Sure, if you feel like it. You probably won’t feel like it, though.