Every four years our nation goes through a political paroxysm of (pick one): furious activity, anxiety, fear, or loathing. The Presidential election -- this year may be the worst ever. The nation has gone through a grueling time since the 2016 election. Now, not only must we choose our president & vice-president, 1/3 of all Senators, all members of the House of Representatives, countless governors and state legislators – we are faced with two very different philosophies of governance.
This SDG proposes to study Election 2020 in each of the three terms in 2020. While we will focus on the Presidential race, we’ll also discuss important local and national trends & issues as they emerge.
During the course of the year, we'll cover: election funding; PACs and SUPER PACs; how to win friends & votes: advertising/PR/events; endorsements & what they mean; analyses of all debates; media coverage – fair and balanced, or…; geographical differences; polls & pollsters; real issues and phony issues; friends and foes; is honesty the best policy?; how do politicians approach/avoid talking about issues, and any and all relevant news.
By this point, the Presidential field is pretty narrow. Competition for the Vice-Presidential slot is increasing. Primaries are over, and platform discussions begin. And then… conventions.
Election 2020 #3 – Fall
We will discuss how the campaigns are faring… and then, after the results are in, we’ll analyze them.
Note: Since committing to a year-long course may be difficult or impractical, persons will initially sign up for Winter Term. Those who wish to stay in the course will have priority for the nest term(s). Open spaces will be filled at registration.
During the Winter term, when there will be a lot of Democratic candidates (and maybe even a Republican candidate or two), each member of the SDG will pick one Presidential candidate and spend the first hour of the SDG discussing that candidate. Then in the next hour, the same member will discuss one of these (or other relevant) topics:
The current atmosphere -- what’s gone on since 2016
The candidates
Foreign commitments
Money, money, money
The primary/caucus process/Iowa
Diversity v identity politics
Voter suppression v voter fraud
The California primary -- and of course we'll follow the others
Social media
Polls
24-hour news cycles
Debates
Fake news
Trolls/foreign intervention
Blue, red & purple states
Regulation v deregulation
Congress
Immigration
Emergency declarations
Presidential power
Emoluments