Warm-Up Write a brief (5 sentence) paragraph to the following: What do you think makes a person a great leader?

The 21st-Century United States Politics & Leaders

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

1990 - Present Day Presidents: George H. W. Bush (Republican-1989-1992) William Clinton (Democrat-1993-2000) George W. Bush (Republican-2001-2008) Barack Obama (Democrat-2009-present) Congress: 1989 Democratic Congress 1993 Republican Congress (1st in 40 years) 2007 Democratic Congress 2011 Demo Senate-Rep House Presidents rated according to a CNN survey and where they rank out of 44 presidents

President & Congress Party Affiliation Year Congress President Senate (100) House (435) 2009 111th D D - 55*** D - 256 2007 110th R D - 51** D - 233 2005 109th R - 55 R - 232 2003 108th R - 51 R - 229 2001 107th D* R - 221 1999 106th R - 223 1997 105th R - 228 1995 104th R - 52 R - 230 1993 103rd D - 57 D - 258 1991 102nd D - 56 D - 267 1989 101st D - 55 D - 260

Political Parties Today Party (Official 2012 nominee) Year Founded Registered 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

Political Parties Today There are about 28 political parties in the U.S. 5 registered parties had a candidate on the 2012 presidential ballot 3 are considered “Third Parties” or “Minority Parties” and have “ballot” status for the presidential election No third party candidate has ever won a presidential election However they can have a profound impact on the 2 majority parties

Liberal/Conservative Defined 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.

Issue Liberal Viewpoint Conservative 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 issue Issue Liberal Viewpoint Conservative

Activity Liberal / Conservative small discussion groups Summarize What are you pgs 9-12 of 21st issues packet