Warm-Up Write a brief (5 sentence) paragraph to the following: What do you think makes a person a great leader? 1

The 21 st -Century United States Politics & Leaders 2

Political Parties U.S. government basically set on two (2) political parties (although other parties are involved & sometimes win) Democratic-usually supports middle-class and lower-class, small business, etc. with federal government involvement when needed--tend to be more liberal-left Republican (GOP)-usually supports wealthy and big business with little federal government involvement—tend to be more conservative- right 3

Present Day Presidents: CNN survey George H. W. Bush (Republican ) 18/44 William Clinton (Democrat ) 15/44 George W. Bush (Republican ) 36/44 Barack Obama (Democrat-2009-present) n/a Congress: – 1989 Democratic Congress – 1993 Republican Congress (1 st in 40 years) – 2007 Democratic Congress – 2011 Demo Senate-Rep House 4

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President & Congress Party Affiliation YearCongressPresidentSenate (100)House (435) thDD - 55***D thRD - 51**D thRR - 55R thRR - 51R thRD*R thDR - 55R thDR - 55R thDR - 52R rdDD - 57D ndRD - 56D stRD - 55D

Political Parties Today Party (Official 2012 nominee) Year Founded Registered Members Party (Official 2012 nominee) Year Founded Registered Members Constitution Party Constitution Party (Virgil Goode) ,000 Libertarian Party Libertarian Party (Gary Johnson) ,446 Democratic Party Democratic Party (Nominee to be chosen at party convention in Charlotte, NC, on Sep. 3-7, 2012) ,140,758 Republican Party Republican Party (Nominee to be chosen at party convention in Tampa, FL, on Aug , 2012) ,700,138 Green Party Green Party (Jill Stein) ,145 7

Political Parties Today 5 registered parties had a candidate on the 2012 presidential ballot 3 are considered “Third Parties” or “Minority Parties” No third party candidate has ever won a presidential election However they can have a profound impact on the 2 majority parties 8

Liberal/Conservative Defined lib·er·al – 1. favorable to progress or reform, as in political or religious affairs. – 2. ( often initial capital letter ) noting or pertaining to a political party advocating measures of progressive political reform. con·serv·a·tive – 1. disposed to preserve existing conditions, institutions, etc., or to restore traditional ones, and to limit change. – 2. cautiously moderate or purposefully low: a conservative estimate. – 3. traditional in style or manner; avoiding novelty or showiness: conservative suit. 9

Read the viewpoints on each issue…create a 1-2 sentence summary of each issue…put a checkmark next to the view that you agree with for each issue IssueLiberal Viewpoint Conservative Viewpoint 10

Activity Liberal / Conservative small discussion groups Summarize What are you 11