Writing Homework Help

Discussion 5

Please read Jon Cassidy’s “Broken by Design” carefully. After reading and reflecting on his arguments, do you believe the current structure of the Texas legislature is capable of meeting the demands of 21st century Texas? Explain.

Your response should be at least 100 words clearly addressing the question and employing proper spelling and grammar.

Link:https://www.city-journal.org/html/broken-design-14…

Discussion 6

The election of judges is one of the defining characteristics of Texas politics. Supporters of the system argue this promotes accountability and judicial independence while opponents argue judges are too beholden to special interests and good judges may be at the mercy of partisan tides. An interim committee will study whether Texas should change its system for selecting judges. Do you think electing judges is a good idea or should Texas consider an alternative? Explain.

Unit Blog 3

A system of representative government works when citizens are informed and can hold their elected officials accountable for their actions. One of my goals in this class is encouraging you to pay closer attention to current events and the world around you. Each week I introduce you to different principles and concepts and the blog provides an opportunity for you to apply those concepts in a way that you can master the concepts and principles by applying them to events occurring now. You need to find a news article or op-ed about Texas politics/government/policy (not an encyclopedia entry, website summary, press release, etc.) that deals with one of the subjects we discussed during Unit #3. In order to earn full credit, the article or op-ed must have been written in the last six months, you must draw a clear connection between the subject of the article/op-ed and a concept or principle from class, write at least 100 words using proper spelling and grammar, and include a link (the URL) to the article in your post.

Extra Credit

To assist you in the process, I want you to use critical thinking standards as a means to evaluate the messages coming from various candidates, political parties, and media outlets. Thus, for 10 extra credit points to add to any assignment or assignments of your choice, please complete the following:

1) Read the “Critical Thinking Standards” file in the “Extra Credit Opportunities” section.

2) Watch the following video to enhance your understanding of Critical Thinking Standards:

https://theelementsofthought.org/the-intellectual-standards

3) Analyze the use of THREE of the critical thinking standards in ONE of the following news reports:

https://www.texastribune.org/2021/04/26/texas-cong…

https://www.texastribune.org/2021/03/02/texas-redi…

https://www.texastribune.org/2021/02/12/census-tex…

4) Write three brief paragraphs about how the news report is or is not using the critical thinking standards you chose (one paragraph for each standard).