The Challenge of Politics
Web Resources
The following links will help you explore the themes of Chapter 9 on the Web.
The U.S. House of Representatives
The home page of the U.S. House of Representatives provides up-to-date information on all issues before Congress. Visitors to this site can read about current legislation and write their congresspeople. There is also a link to Thomas, a searchable database of legislative information supported by the Library of Congress.
Whitehouse.gov is an excellent site devoted to the U.S. executive branch. In addition to frequently updated news releases and speech transcripts, this informative resource outlines the president’s policy platforms on a variety of different issues. Sections devoted to the vice president and the first spouse provide their scheduled appearances and points of view. In addition, photo essays, games, and quizzes make this a fun site to visit.
This Web site of the federal judiciary offers brief descriptions of and links to the U.S. Supreme Court, U.S. courts of appeals, U.S. district courts, and U.S. bankruptcy courts. A newsroom, publications, and statistical reports make this site an excellent resource about the judicial branch.
The Brookings Institution is a Washington, D.C.–based research center that was founded as the Institute for Government Research in 1916. The Brookings Web site is an incredibly rich resource. Of particular value on the site are the Brookings Policy Briefs, which cover a wide range of government and economic issues, not only in the United States but in other countries as well.
The American Enterprise Institute (AEI)
AEI is a moderate-to-conservative think tank dedicated to the principles of “limited government, private enterprise, vital cultural and political institutions, and a strong foreign policy and national defense.” AEI research areas tend focus on the United States, but the AEI Web site does include a special section devoted to issues in Asia, Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, Africa, and Russia and the former Soviet republics.
The Federal Election Commission (FEC)
The Federal Election Commission is a regulatory agency that oversees the financial aspects of political campaigns. This official FEC Web site explains the Federal Election Campaign Act and offers election guides for citizens, candidates, and the media. These guides provide the national voter registration form, statistics on previous elections, news releases, and information related to election regulations.
This is a rich directory of United States lobbyists covering numerous areas of concern, including abortion, civil rights, education, gun control, health, immigration, media, peace and war, religion, tax reform, voting and elections, the homeless and poor, public interest law, water resources, animal rights, and children.