of public good. The two visions are the Madisonian Ideal and the Individual Interest Model. The Madisonian Ideal stresses "res publica" meaning the commonwealth or good of the public at large. Another key point in this vision is putting the good of the nation above your own personal good which is know as civic virtue. I also learned the word Weltanschauung and its meaning. Weltanschauung is a German word for 'world view'. A product of our worldview is our personal ideology.

Ideology is a set of beliefs held 'by a significant number

of people, it provides a description and a prescription for society. Some things that have an effect on our Weltanschauung include: our family, where we live, the

news, and even when we were born. We learned there are

some differences between Liberals and Conservatives also. Liberals, which include Democrats, are advocates of a gradual change in the soci

political social, and economic institutions of society. In my life so far my political views have been shaped by what my-friends and family say, teachers, and probably most influential has been the media. Political Parties seek control of the government to bring about new or redefined public policies and programs. Interest groups pressure the political parties to act on the policy they stand for. Personally the only types of media I get my news from are newspapers and an occasional news program on TV I don't spend enough time(only about 1-2 hours a week) checking up on the news and I'd like to read more national magazines. I think James Rosenau painted an accurate picture of society in his little model. He said only about one percent was uninformed and the remaining percent was somewhere in between. Public opinion polls are like

al structure. Conservatives, including Republicans, oppose major changes in the

PART 4: QUESTIONS AND PROBLEM AREAS: No questions or problems at this time.

From the beginning of the Republic, America has struggled to reconcile religion with the dynamics of a democracy. Thomas Jefferson invoked the "Creator" in the Declaration of Independence, and the nation has always been guided, at least in part, by a sense of divine mission. But when you get down to specifics, history offers little evidence of direct interplay between faith and presidential leadership. Four presidents were preachers' kids - Chester A. Arthur, Grover Cleveland, Woodrow Wilson and Herbert Hoover. Of these only Wilson, a former president of Princeton, had serious theological training. Yet his exacting Calvinist thirst for perfection led him to reject U.S. membership in a less-than-perfect League of Nations. Jimmy Carter was manifestly the most pious of modern presidents, but the prayerful "partnership with God" he sought in the White House was not rewarded with a second term.

I read an article I found on www.msnbc.com (good site). The article was dated Jan 30. The article was about the front runners in the presidential campaign confessing what religious faiths they believe in. George W. Bush, with a Christian right to consider, has let the world know that his heart belongs to Jesus. Al Gore, after intellectually sojourning among New Age mystics, talks about his faith, decl

Some common words found in the essay are:
Start Era, Bill Bradley, Political Parties, Ideological Consensus, APPLICATION Chapter, Conservatives Liberals, James Rosenau, Weltanschauung German, , Madisonian Ideal, public opinion, mass media, political parties, minor parties, major parties, party system, two-party system, measure public opinion, 8 mass, section 3, opinion section, newspapers form mass, public opinion section, form mass media, seek control government,
Approximate Word count = 1550
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)