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

2. The 21st-Century United States Politics & Leaders

3. 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

4. 1990 - Present Day Presidents:
George H. W. Bush (Republican )
William Clinton (Democrat )
George W. Bush (Republican )
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

6. 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

7. 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 , 2012)
1854
30,700,138
Green Party (Jill Stein)
1996
246,145

8. 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

9. 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.

11. Issue Liberal Viewpoint Conservative
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

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