Midterm Essay Examination

Instructions: This is a take home essay midterm worth 25% of your grade. Answer one of the following questions in 3-4 double-spaced printed pages. Give your essay a title, and if the title does not make it obvious, be sure to indicate which question you are answering. Essays are due in class Monday, November 9^th.

1. Suppose you were a small farmer in Massachusetts in the 1780s. Would you have voted to ratify the Constitution? Why or why not? Was the Constitution the best possible outcome, or could the founders have devised a better system of government?
   
2. Are capitalism and democracy compatible? Provide a basic definition of each and then assess whether these two systems work well together. You need not take the extreme position (though you may), but may defend the idea that they are in tension.
   
3. Measure 64:
1. Most of you favored reforms of timber harvest practices to make them more ecologically sustainable while opposing measure 64 as too extreme. Outline specific changes to-or an alternative to-measure 64 that you would support. (Warning: Can you answer this question well without additional research?)
2. Write from the position of someone who supports measure 64. Analyze the anti-64 campaign (you can limit yourself to material in the Voters' Pamphlet if you like). What is wrong with its claims? Why are they effective? Could anything have been done to increase voter support for measure 64?
4. Television, it appears, has the potential for great good and great evil in American democracy. Proponents of tele-democracy--some mixture of televised town meetings and direct voting on important issues--argue that such schemes can help inform voters about issues, reduce citizen alienation, and reduce the power of special interest groups over public policy. Do you agree? Drawing from our study of public opinion and media, as well as the debate in Points of View, make a case.