My Political Race

My Political Race PDF Author: Parmjit Dhanda
Publisher: Biteback Publishing
ISBN: 1849548994
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 175

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Book Description
As Labour MP for Gloucester, when things were good for Parmjit Dhanda they were very good. He was rolled out for Labour conferences and media appearances as a poster boy for the party - a shining example of a new Britain, where white constituencies chose ethnic minorities as their candidates and then elected them as their MPs. It was the ultimate political fairy tale. However, the other side of Parmjit's story remained hidden for years. Its exposure threatened to undermine the received political narrative and neither Dhanda nor his colleagues were comfortable addressing the issues it would inevitably bring to light. Then something life-changing happened. As Parmjit and his family strove to remake their lives in the wake of Labour's 2010 general election defeat, there came a knock on the door of their Gloucester home one Sunday morning. A frightened-looking lady stood there shaking and distressed, her dog pulling her by its lead towards one of the cars parked outside. In the middle of the drive was a pig's head. To experience this kind of racism so close to home and so close to his young family left him feeling demoralised and isolated. After Parmjit's nine years of service to the local area, the perpetrators hadn't even realised the difference between a Sikh and a Muslim. Comprising unique insights, witty anecdotes and thought-provoking critique, this is the extraordinary tale of how a 'foreigner' in the Westminster village upset the odds - despite Britain's failure to address issues of race within its own Parliament. Speaking out for the first time about the uncomfortable truths he faced during his time in politics, Parmjit Dhanda hopes he can help present a smoother path for others in the future, as well as encouraging those currently in the game to speak out for themselves.

My Political Race

My Political Race PDF Author: Parmjit Dhanda
Publisher: Biteback Publishing
ISBN: 1849548994
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 175

Get Book Here

Book Description
As Labour MP for Gloucester, when things were good for Parmjit Dhanda they were very good. He was rolled out for Labour conferences and media appearances as a poster boy for the party - a shining example of a new Britain, where white constituencies chose ethnic minorities as their candidates and then elected them as their MPs. It was the ultimate political fairy tale. However, the other side of Parmjit's story remained hidden for years. Its exposure threatened to undermine the received political narrative and neither Dhanda nor his colleagues were comfortable addressing the issues it would inevitably bring to light. Then something life-changing happened. As Parmjit and his family strove to remake their lives in the wake of Labour's 2010 general election defeat, there came a knock on the door of their Gloucester home one Sunday morning. A frightened-looking lady stood there shaking and distressed, her dog pulling her by its lead towards one of the cars parked outside. In the middle of the drive was a pig's head. To experience this kind of racism so close to home and so close to his young family left him feeling demoralised and isolated. After Parmjit's nine years of service to the local area, the perpetrators hadn't even realised the difference between a Sikh and a Muslim. Comprising unique insights, witty anecdotes and thought-provoking critique, this is the extraordinary tale of how a 'foreigner' in the Westminster village upset the odds - despite Britain's failure to address issues of race within its own Parliament. Speaking out for the first time about the uncomfortable truths he faced during his time in politics, Parmjit Dhanda hopes he can help present a smoother path for others in the future, as well as encouraging those currently in the game to speak out for themselves.

Oregon Blue Book

Oregon Blue Book PDF Author: Oregon. Office of the Secretary of State
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Oregon
Languages : en
Pages : 232

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Book Description


Gender and Elections

Gender and Elections PDF Author: Susan J. Carroll
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9781139447898
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 248

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Book Description
Gender and Elections offers a systematic, lively, multi-faceted account of the role of gender in the electoral process through the 2004 elections. This timely, yet enduring, volume strikes a balance between highlighting the most important developments for women as voters and candidates in the 2004 elections and providing a more long-term, in-depth analysis of the ways that gender has helped shape the contours and outcomes of electoral politics in the United States. Individual chapters demonstrate the importance of gender in understanding and interpreting presidential elections, voter participation and turnout, voting choices, congressional elections, the participation of African American women, the support of political parties and women's organizations, candidate communications with voters, and state elections. Without question, this book is the most comprehensive, reliable, and trustworthy resource on the role of gender in electoral politics.

Primary Politics

Primary Politics PDF Author: Elaine Kamarck
Publisher: Brookings Institution Press
ISBN: 0815735286
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 253

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Book Description
The 2020 presidential primaries are on the horizon and this third edition of Elaine Kamarck's Primary Politics will be there to help make sense of them. Updated to include the 2016 election, it will once again be the guide to understanding the modern nominating system that gave the American electorate a choice between Donald Trump and Hilary Clinton. In Primary Politics, political insider Elaine Kamarck explains how the presidential nomination process became the often baffling system we have today, including the “robot rule.” Her focus is the largely untold story of how presidential candidates since the early 1970s have sought to alter the rules in their favor and how their failures and successes have led to even more change. She describes how candidates have sought to manipulate the sequencing of primaries to their advantage and how Iowa and New Hampshire came to dominate the system. She analyzes the rules that are used to translate votes into delegates, paying special attention to the Democrats' twenty-year fight over proportional representation and some of its arcana. Drawing on meticulous research, interviews with key figures in both parties, and years of experience, this book explores one of the most important questions in American politics—how we narrow the list of presidential candidates every four years.

The Timeline of Presidential Elections

The Timeline of Presidential Elections PDF Author: Robert S. Erikson
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 0226922162
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 221

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Book Description
In presidential elections, do voters cast their ballots for the candidates whose platform and positions best match their own? Or is the race for president of the United States come down largely to who runs the most effective campaign? It’s a question those who study elections have been considering for years with no clear resolution. In The Timeline of Presidential Elections, Robert S. Erikson and Christopher Wlezien reveal for the first time how both factors come into play. Erikson and Wlezien have amassed data from close to two thousand national polls covering every presidential election from 1952 to 2008, allowing them to see how outcomes take shape over the course of an election year. Polls from the beginning of the year, they show, have virtually no predictive power. By mid-April, when the candidates have been identified and matched in pollsters’ trial heats, preferences have come into focus—and predicted the winner in eleven of the fifteen elections. But a similar process of forming favorites takes place in the last six months, during which voters’ intentions change only gradually, with particular events—including presidential debates—rarely resulting in dramatic change. Ultimately, Erikson and Wlezien show that it is through campaigns that voters are made aware of—or not made aware of—fundamental factors like candidates’ policy positions that determine which ticket will get their votes. In other words, fundamentals matter, but only because of campaigns. Timely and compelling, this book will force us to rethink our assumptions about presidential elections.

Super PACs

Super PACs PDF Author: Louise I. Gerdes
Publisher: Greenhaven Publishing LLC
ISBN: 0737768649
Category : Young Adult Nonfiction
Languages : en
Pages : 113

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Book Description
The passage of Citizens United by the Supreme Court in 2010 sparked a renewed debate about campaign spending by large political action committees, or Super PACs. Its ruling said that it is okay for corporations and labor unions to spend as much as they want in advertising and other methods to convince people to vote for or against a candidate. This book provides a wide range of opinions on the issue. Includes primary and secondary sources from a variety of perspectives; eyewitnesses, scientific journals, government officials, and many others.

Who's Counting?

Who's Counting? PDF Author: John Fund
Publisher: Encounter Books
ISBN: 1594036195
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 306

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Book Description
The 2012 election will be one of the hardest-fought in U.S. history. It is also likely to be one of the closest, a fact that brings concerns about voter fraud and bureaucratic incompetence in the conduct of elections front and center. If we don't take notice, we could see another debacle like the Bush-Gore Florida recount of 2000 in which courts and lawyers intervened in what should have involved only voters. Who's Counting? will focus attention on many problems of our election system, ranging from voter fraud to a slipshod system of vote counting that noted political scientist Walter Dean Burnham calls “the most careless of the developed world.” In an effort to clean up our election laws, reduce fraud and increase public confidence in the integrity of the voting system, many states ranging from Georgia to Wisconsin have passed laws requiring a photo ID be shown at the polls and curbing the rampant use of absentee ballots, a tool of choice by fraudsters. The response from Obama allies has been to belittle the need for such laws and attack them as akin to the second coming of a racist tide in American life. In the summer of 2011, both Bill Clinton and DNC chairman Debbie Wasserman Schultz preposterously claimed that such laws suppressed minority voters and represented a return to the era of Jim Crow. But voter fraud is a well-documented reality in American elections. Just this year, a sheriff and county clerk in West Virginia pleaded guilty to stuffing ballot boxes with fraudulent absentee ballots that changed the outcome of an election. In 2005, a state senate election in Tennessee was overturned because of voter fraud. The margin of victory? 13 votes. In 2008, the Minnesota senate race that provided the 60th vote needed to pass Obamacare was decided by a little over 300 votes. Almost 200 felons have already been convicted of voting illegally in that election and dozens of other prosecutions are still pending. Public confidence in the integrity of elections is at an all-time low. In the Cooperative Congressional Election Study of 2008, 62% of American voters thought that voter fraud was very common or somewhat common. Fear that elections are being stolen erodes the legitimacy of our government. That's why the vast majority of Americans support laws like Kansas's Secure and Fair Elections Act. A 2010 Rasmussen poll showed that 82% of Americans support photo ID laws. While Americans frequently demand observers and best practices in the elections of other countries, we are often blind to the need to scrutinize our own elections. We may pay the consequences in 2012 if a close election leads us into pitched partisan battles and court fights that will dwarf the Bush-Gore recount wars.

Obama's Race

Obama's Race PDF Author: Michael Tesler
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 0226793834
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 209

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Book Description
Barack Obama’s presidential victory naturally led people to believe that the United States might finally be moving into a post-racial era. Obama’s Race—and its eye-opening account of the role played by race in the election—paints a dramatically different picture. The authors argue that the 2008 election was more polarized by racial attitudes than any other presidential election on record—and perhaps more significantly, that there were two sides to this racialization: resentful opposition to and racially liberal support for Obama. As Obama’s campaign was given a boost in the primaries from racial liberals that extended well beyond that usually offered to ideologically similar white candidates, Hillary Clinton lost much of her longstanding support and instead became the preferred candidate of Democratic racial conservatives. Time and again, voters’ racial predispositions trumped their ideological preferences as John McCain—seldom described as conservative in matters of race—became the darling of racial conservatives from both parties. Hard-hitting and sure to be controversial, Obama’s Race will be both praised and criticized—but certainly not ignored.

American Reboot

American Reboot PDF Author: Will Hurd
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1982160772
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 288

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Book Description
From former US Congressman and CIA Officer Will Hurd, a “how-to guide with a prescription for getting the nation on the right footing” (Politico) and “a clarion call for a major political pivot” (San Antonio Report) rooted in the timeless ideals of bipartisanship, inclusivity, and democratic values. “Hurd has the biography and the charisma and the God-given political chops to put the Republican Party—and the rest of the country—on notice.” —THE ATLANTIC It’s getting harder to get big things done in America. The gears of our democracy have been mucked up by political nonsense. To meet the era-defining challenges of the 21st century, our country needs a reboot. In American Reboot, Hurd, called “the future of the GOP” by Politico, provides a “detailed blueprint” (Robert M. Gates, Secretary of Defense, 2006–2011) for America grounded by what Hurd calls pragmatic idealism—a concept forged from enduring American values to achieve what is actually achievable. Hurd takes on five seismic problems facing a country in crisis: the Republican Party’s failure to present a principled vision for the future; the lack of honest leadership in Washington, DC; income inequality that threatens the livelihood of millions of Americans; US economic and military dominance that is no longer guaranteed; and how technological change in the next thirty years will make the advancements of the last thirty years look trivial. Hurd has seen these challenges up close. A child of interracial parents in South Texas, Hurd survived the back alleys of dangerous places as a CIA officer. He carried that experience into three terms in Congress, where he was, for a time, the House’s only Black Republican, representing a seventy-one percent Latino swing district in Texas that runs along 820 miles of the US-Mexico border. As a cyber security executive and innovation crusader, Hurd has worked with entrepreneurs on the cutting edge of technology to anticipate the shockwaves of the future. Hurd, who the Houston Chronicles calls “a refreshing contract to the panderers, petty demagogues, and political provocateurs who reign these days,” draws on his remarkable experience to present “a call to Americans to consider the most contentious issues of our times more holistically” (The Atlantic). He outlines how the Republican party can look like America by appealing to the middle, not the edges. He maps out how leaders should inspire rather than fearmonger. He forges a domestic policy based on the idea that prosperity should be a product of empowering people, not the government. He articulates a foreign policy where our enemies fear us and our friends love us. And lastly, he charts a forceful path forward for America’s technological future. We all know we can do better. It’s time to hit “ctrl alt del” and start the American Reboot.

Freedom is Not Enough

Freedom is Not Enough PDF Author: Ronald W. Walters
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 9780742548060
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 262

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Book Description
Black voters can make or break a presidential election--look at the close electoral results in 2000 and the difference the disenfranchised Black vote in Florida alone might have made. Black candidates can influence a presidential election--look at the effect that Jesse Jackson had on the Democratic party, the platform, and the electorate in 1984 and 1988, and the contributions to the Democratic debates that Carol Moseley Braun and Al Sharpton made in 2004. American presidential politics can't get along without the Black vote--witness the controversy over candidates' appearing (or not) at the NAACP convention, or the extent to which candidates court (or not) the Black vote in a variety of venues. It all goes back to the Voting Rights Act of 1965 which formally gave African Americans the right to vote, even if after all these years that right is continuously contested. In Freedom Is Not Enough (a quote from Lyndon Johnson's 1965 commencement address to Howard University just before he signed the Voting Rights Act), Ronald W. Walters traces the history of the Black vote since 1965, celebrates its fortieth anniversary in 2005, and shows why passing a law is not the same as ensuring its enforcement, legitimacy, and opportunity.