America’s Fiscal Policy

The American economy is grounded and influenced by what is called fiscal policy.  Fiscal policy is where the government collects revenues through taxation and spends money through expenditures to generate a stable economy.  The American economy, however, is threatened by a national debt that is over $18 trillion.  How did this occur?  It did not happen overnight.

One can make the argument that the government does not tax enough to generate revenue.  Others might disagree.  On the expenditure side, some have argued that the American economy is in disarray due to the government spending too much money.  There are those, though, who believe that the government does not spend enough money to help create a stable economy.  Where do you stand on the issue?

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American National Government

Politics and Race

The year was 1990.  US Senator Jesse Helms (R-NC) was making another bid for re-election.  His opponent that year was the former Mayor of Charlotte, Harvey Gantt.  This contest would prove to be the biggest challenge to Helms in his electoral career.  With one ad, though, the fortunes for a Gantt victory were quashed.  This ad below introduced the issue of racial quotas into the Helms/Gantt election.  The ad also received plenty of national attention.

Helms would end up winning the election 52.5% to 47.5%.  Helms and Gantt met in a rematch six years later, with Helms garnering 52.6% of the vote to Gantt’s 45.9%.  In today’s political climate, candidates who run for President, US Senate, and House have to identify an ad with the phrase, “I approve this message” as an acknowledgement to the public that they paid for the ad.  This is so because of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act (BCRA) of 2002.  Now that candidates have to admit that they are the sponsors of the ad, do you think such an ad as the one above could exist on the air today?  (This ad, by the way, was paid for by the Helms campaign.  The poor quality of the video makes it difficult to see the written disclosure.)

 

Clip from the Past: McCormack for President

In 1976, a housewife from New York, Ellen McCormack ran for President.  In 18 states, her name appeared on primary election ballots as a Democrat.  Her platform was strictly based on a pro-life approach to the issue of abortion.  Even though she did not win any primaries, McCormack’s campaign was successful enough to have raised money for federal matching funds and for Secret Service protection.  The extra campaign dollars also allowed for the creation of television spots that would promote McCormack’s pro-life beliefs.

Would a commercial, such as this one, work in today’s political climate?