What do you Make of the Role of Advertising in American Elections

Unit 4: Discussion

Introduction:

What do you make of the role of advertising in American elections? Do negative ads make citizens more or less likely to participate? Should there be additional rules for political advertising?

Optional Questions:

– Often, we hear calls for the “rich” to pay their “fair” share or just more.  Yet, it seems like the discussion rarely includes how much the rich indeed pay in federal income taxes.  As well, we do not often discuss what “fair share” means for any group.

How much of US federal income taxes are paid for by the rich already?

How many Americans do not pay any federal income tax or receive a handout after filing?

What is a “fair tax” rate?

We are a nation that stands against discrimination of all types, should we continue economic discrimination against the more wealthy?  What limits should there be to this discrimination?

Should everyone have “skin” in the game and pay some amount of overall federal income tax?

For people who pay zero federal income taxes or get a handout, how does that likely effect their thoughts related to government spending?  Will they care more or less than people who do pay taxes?  If they already pay nothing, will they more likely vote for greater or less government spending?

ULOs reflected in discussion:

ULO 2: Analyze the role of advertising in elections