State Politics and Policy Newsletter, Spring 2014

From Spring 2014 Newsletter: State Politics and Policy Call for Articles: SPPQ Special Issue on Policy Diffusion. SPPQ seeks submissions for a special issue devoted to the study of policy diffusion in the American states. Guest editors: Frederick J. Boehmke and Julianna Pacheco, University of Iowa The study of policy diffusion considers the different ways…

Evangelicals Influence Isreal Public Policy more than AIPAC

I watched VICE (HBO) last night regarding American Evangelical support for Israel as the rightful property owner of the entire region. The show suggested that American evangelicals are probably more influential on their Congressperson regarding support for Israel than AIPAC, and what’s more, Evangelicals make pilgrimages to Israel and financially support the [illegal] Jewish settlements in…

Your Tax Returns (by TIGTA)

Tax season is January 1 through mid-April—when most individuals contact the IRS if they have questions about specific laws or filing procedures—and when the IRS is supposed to get the job done asap! The closure of Government operations between October 1 and October 16, 2013 made an impact on the IRS like a student missing…

What would George Washington say about the Patriot Act?

I recently presented a paper in Chicago (get the City Pass) about the Senate and American federalism. In short, there was a commitment to republicanism on the part of all participants through “instruction,” which is documented with more than 2,000 resolutions from State legislatures from 1789-1861 and was part of the institutionalization of the committee system.…

“No Response” means “Low Efficacy”?

If a legislator holds preferences for one group of voters and ignore others (i.e., a Democrat or Republican only affiliate with people in their own party); then do legislators ignore constituents from the other party? Like, if I emailed my representative on an issue and I requested a response, would a Democrat respond to me since…