Virtual Start

For Thursday, read the first chapter of Davidson and the second chapter of LaPira.

Objectives of course:

• Why the institution operates the way it does  
• What motivates members
• Reelection
• Power:  individual and party
• Good public policy
• How the institution has changed in recent years
• Polarization
• Nationalization of elections and internal congressional politics.
• How lawmakers, activists, and ordinary citizens accomplish their aims.
• Comparisons
• Two Congresses: Representative assembly and lawmaking body.
• Two chambers:  House and Senate are different.
• Two parties:  Republicans and Democrats differ ideologically, geographically, and demographically, though the lines have shifted over the years.
• Two kinds of status:  being in the majority is really different from being in the minority.
• Recent developments
• Impact of the 2020 elections. 
• Trump administration, impeachment, and insurrection

The Room Where It Happens

• Deliberation and compromise
• Missing today?  Will the situation change?