Why is it so difficult for the two major political parties in Congress to articulate a coherent policy agenda

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POL 210-06609

                                                      ESSAY QUESTION THREE

GROUND RULES: Your response to the question below should be 3-4 pages in length (double-spaced, using regular 12 point font and margins). This is an open-book take-home exam, so you should use the assigned readings and your notes to formulate your response to the question. Since this is an exam, however, you are on your honor not to discuss the content of your response with classmates. The exam is due in class on Wednesday, April 2nd. Any exam received after class will be marked down one grade (e.g., A to A-) for each additional calendar day the exam is late. In most cases, extension of the deadline will only be granted with an appropriately documented personal or family emergency. If you anticipate a problem with the deadline, please let me know immediately.

HELPFUL HINTS: Your exam should use the ideas and events presented in the readings and in class to develop a focused and structured response to the question. Simply recounting history during relevant periods will be insufficient. You need to use that history to make broader arguments about key ideas and concepts, as dictated by the question. If you quote particular readings, you do not need to give a formal footnote, but include relevant page numbers in parentheses after the quote. Please spell-check your response and include page numbers on your document.

Please answer BOTH parts A and B of the following question in your essay:

  1. Why is it so difficult for the two major political parties in Congress to articulate a coherent policy agenda?
  2. Is there anything that Congressional leaders can do to make their legislative body run more efficiently?