Why Do People Vote the Way They Do?

Bryon Allen and Chris Wilson's article in the November/December 2009 Politics Magazine addresses the use of heuristics in defining voter behavior. Allen and Wilson first warn against assuming voters are paying close attention to a campaign and thus acting as a "rational voter." And the authors, likewise, advise not to give voters too little credit, assuming they are "ignorant voters."

Allen and Wilson identify four categories that they call heuristics that can explain voter decision-making:

1. Affect -- a quick decision based on an initial reaction to a candidate
   
2. Single Factor -- one criteria, whether a particular issue or relationship with a candidate
3. Ideology -- the overall coordination of a candidate
4. Authority/Liking -- an endorsement or recommendation of a candidate by an informative source

The authors are quick to point out that a voter's heuristic may change from election to election and candidate to candidate.

Congress: A Vocabulary Review

During The Dirksen Center's annual Congress in the Classroom® workshop -- http://www.dirksencenter.org/print_programs_CongressClassroom.htm -- participants are asked to introduce the lesson plans, resources, and techniques that have proven successful in teaching about Congress in their classrooms. A 2009 participant, Erica Powell, Mt. Diablo High School, Concord, CA, presented a lesson entitled, "Congress: A Vocabulary Review."

This activity is based on a game called "Shenanigans." The purpose of this lesson is to review students' knowledge of key concepts and terms related to Congress.

Find "Congress: A Vocabulary Review" at:
http://www.congresslink.org/print_lp_congressvocabrev.htm

Nader Questions the Influence of Business on Government

In a recent interview given to truthout.org, Ralph Nader identified what is perhaps the most pressing problem Americans face, the influence of multi-national corporations on the U.S. government. His new book, Only the Super-Rich Can Save Us, leads one to ask, what do we need to be saved from? Nader provides this thoughtful response:

[We need to be saved] from the concentrated power of multi national corporations over our government. It's a corporate state, almost clinically defined, and FDR warned against this in 1938. Any government that's taken over by private economic power -- he used the word -- he said that's fascism.

Nader went on to explain that both Republicans and Democrats are guilty of kowtowing to these business interests and that it is a significant impediment to effecting any substantive change. The entire interview is available here.

Updated July 29, 2020: The interview is now available here.

IRS To Conduct 6,000 Random Business Audits

The National Association for the Self Employed reports that the Internal Revenue Service will begin reviewing the tax records of 5,000-6,000 randomly chosen businesses beginning this November (2009). The program will be completed over the course of three years on both for profit and non-profit employers.

The NASE makes the following suggestions to make sure your company is ready:

• Since these audits will be unfolding over a three-year period and audits typically cover a period of three tax (calendar) years, initiating an internal review of employment taxes compliance now is the first step to consider.
• Identify an internal point person to manage the audit preparation process. Notices of audits can simply be addressed to the company at the address used for filing recent tax returns. If not directed to an informed contact person such notices may not be timely or completely responded to.
• Identify and budget for internal and other resources to gather, organize and analyze such records and provide appropriate representation.
• Engage experienced employment tax and audit experts before having an initial audit meeting with the IRS. Legal counsel should generally be able to provide assistance protected by the attorney-client privilege. Whether such expertise is engaged to either visibly represent the employer or simply to advise the employer in the background, it is important to engage these services early. Early involvement usually lends to a more efficient audit process.
• Do not rush into an audit schedule. Do not commit to a date before the adequate resources are in place and there has been an opportunity to gather, review and analyze all initially requested documents. It is important for the employer to have an overview of the company's strengths and weaknesses.
  

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. Collection Available

Oliver Wendell Holmes served on the United States Supreme Court from 1902 to 1932. The quotable Holmes, perhaps best known for writing that the First Amendment would not protect a person from falsely yelling, "Fire!" in a crowded theater, was also a soldier in the Civil War, a Harvard Law School professor, and Chief Justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Court. The Harvard Law Library recently made much of Holmes's works and effects available on the web as part of its Digital Collection project. Many items of interest are now accessible by the public, including Holmes's own annotated copy of The Common Law, perhaps his most significant work. The Holmes collection can be accessed here.

Updated July 29, 2020: The collection can now be accessed here.

More Evidence Federal Student Aid is Killing Higher Education

Indiana's Ivy Tech Community College, with 23 campuses across the state, is considering capping enrollment because of a lack of funding from the taxpayers. This is unsurprising given the student-funding environment over the past thirty-five years. The federal government has long guaranteed student aid loans and grants, with the honorable goal of permitting more students to attend college. But this has resulted in schools increasing their budgets at a far greater rate than the economy allows.

Because of federal aid, students have been able to pay tuition regardless of the cost since 1972, when Congress opened the floodgates, and schools have responded accordingly, raising their tuition at unmanageable rates. In Ivy Tech's case, student fee rates rose 43% between 1995-96 and 2004-05 alone, while inflation increased 24% in the same period. To Ivy Tech's credit, its tuition increases do not even approach other state schools such as Indiana University, where student fees increased 100.9% over the period, and Purdue University's 111.2% increase.

Schools keep raising tuition, and the federal government keeps guaranteeing loans for the full amounts. And just as the government spends every dollar, and more, that it receives in revenue, colleges spend the money that they receive. It is a cycle that saddles students with mortgage-size loans that they must repay for a decade or more after graduating, and it is now hitting schools, which rely upon the guaranteed revenue. If Ivy Tech does, indeed, cap enrollment, no one should be shocked, and the school should not shoulder full blame for denying students an opportunity to further their education. Equal or greater fault lies with federal policy. We have come to expect that organizations and governments cannot help but take advantage of every opportunity to gouge the taxpayer and to spend every dollar that they receive. When it comes to public institutions, restraint is not an option.

Nixon Library Expands, Moves Archives

The Nixon Library reports that due to an addition to the library's Yorba Linda, California campus, documents and audio-visual materials currently stored at the National Archives in College Park, Maryland will be moved to the library proper in 2010. Copies of all publicly-available audio tapes will be available at the library campus, the National Archives, and online.

Updated July 29, 2020.

Amazon Kindle 2

The second generation Kindle will ship at the end of February, 2009. From looking at the pictures released by Amazon, the Kindle 2 is not only thinner than the original (about the width of a #2 pencil), but it is sleeker. With rounded edges and better placement of page buttons, the device should store easier, without inadvertent page turns. Amazon is accepting pre-orders now.

We have the original Kindle, and it is an amazing device. The Wall Street Journal and Financial Times are delivered wirelessly each morning, and old issues are disposed of with the click of a button rather than a trip to the recycling container, making the Kindle as environmentally-friendly as possible. And there are so many free and inexpensive books available that it would take several lifetimes for the average reader to get through them all.

This is not a marketing blog and not designed to make a profit from affiliate links, but if you are considering an electronic reading device, the Kindle is worth your consideration.

Kindle 2: Amazon's New Wireless Reading Device (Latest Generation)

Electronic Readers Amazon Kindle and Sony Reader -- Are the Books You Install Yours?

Many of us, after reading a book that we like or think someone else would like, pass the book along. And some of us sell our read books online or donate them to libraries. With the new electronic text reading devices, that transfer of possession isn't possible in a traditional sense. But if the other person has a Kindle or Sony Reader, is it legal to pass the book along in a more modern sense -- digitally?

The Columbia Science and Technology Law Review discusses the sharing, borrowing, and transferability of books purchased to be used on the Amazon Kindle and Sony Reader. The author(s) conclude that the question of ownership of electronic texts purchased under restrictive licenses will have to be decided in the courts. Until then, there will be a presumption that the licenses are enforceable.