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Do the Republicans need to block even the good ideas?

Posted on September 2, 2011 by admin — No Comments ↓

Given that the current president is a member of the democratic party and will be running for re-election next year against a republican, in a narrow sense the best case scenario for republicans is that his policies fail. Then again, what happens if the president suggests a policy that actually can lead to job growth, deficit reduction, stimulation of business, effective reduction of regulations, etc. Is the republican-led house of representatives a fox in the henhouse, needing to block these new ideas for their own good over what could be a greater good. Of course if the shoes were on the other feet we might be saying the same thing about democrats.

This concern is deeply troubling – at the time of this post there is high unemployment, GDP is weak, and many economic indicators are troubling. We need our government to look past all of this partisan gamesmanship and do whatever will work best. Yet up against this lofty goal is the opposing party’s rationalization that if they block even the good ideas in the short-term, and thereby create failure for the president, they can assume full control in the longer term. This rationalization is bad for our country and is the ultimate fox in the henhouse in our system.

Our sister sites, a collective good and political truth serum will also be exploring this important topic over the next few days.

Tagged with: democatic, democratic party, election, policies, political parties, president, re election, republican party
Posted in Political Parties

Mainstream Media – Biased?

Posted on August 22, 2011 by admin — No Comments ↓

The mainsteam media has been a target of republicans for some time now, and it seems that the intensity of feelings that there is liberal bias among mainstream media outlets is increasing. The problem with these assertions for both sides of the political aisle is that they are hard to prove. What is likely and easier to prove is that many media members do fit demographics more typical of democratic voters – given the colleges they went to, the attitudes of their professors, and regions of the country where they now concentrate. All of this said, it would be unfair to assume that the fact that more mainstream media members vote for democrats in itself necessarily leads to any bias.

Studies have tried to explore whether there is any mainstream media bias. One study out of UCLA found a left-leaning bias by counting the number of times media outlets mentioned left and right leaning advocacy groups and organizations. However, the methods used in this study were faulted by many of the media outlets studied – including those often known to lean right or lean left. Other studies have tried to analyze and compare the types of stories written during campaigns to see if there are more positive stories typically written about one side or the other, and still others have looked back through history to see whether more positive stories tend to follow certain leaders, depending on their political orientation. None of these studies trying to explore media bias has led to any substantive conclusions.

The fact that in this age where statistical science is well advanced we have not been able to prove any “liberal bias” in the media in general might suggest that perhaps there is none overall. Another possibility is that media outlets are biased, but the rise of conservative leaning networks cancel out the liberal biases of others in any meta study. Finally, it is possible that the mainstream media stays adamantly so central and middle-of-the-road that those who have views on the far right or left do not feel they are completely covered or heard.

Nothing in this post suggests that individual media outlets and companies are not both biased and foxes in the henhouse, and we will surely be covering some of them in more detail!

Tagged with: bias, democatic, left wing, media, republican party, republicans, right wing
Posted in Media

Bias in the Political Polling Companies

Posted on August 21, 2011 by admin — No Comments ↓

With the rise in the internet and technologies that allow for fast and easy communication, political polling has become easier to do and more popular than ever. Polls are published about all aspects of the election campaigns, and almost every decision made by our political leaders is polled. Polling result web sites are extremely popular as people are very interested to know how many people agree or disagree with their own opinion, and what the prospects are for their own selected candidate or political party.

Recently we’ve seen a potential problem emerge with polling companies that raises issues related to Foxes in the Henhouse. We’re going to focus on the most obvious example to make our point: Rasmussen Reports polls. It has been reported that these polls may be biased toward the Republican Party and issues favored by republicans, with the following evidence given:

The weighting of their surveys is based on predetermined assumptions about the party identification of voters in the state they are calling, and many have found this weighting to assume too many republican voters.
Using initial questions to bias the responses to later questions, including this real example that was used in a question about drilling:

Question 1: “How concerned are you about rising gas and energy prices?”

Question 2: “In order to reduce the price of gas, should drilling be allowed in offshore oil wells off the coasts of California, Florida, and other states?”

Using methods that might exclude certain groups, some of whom are more likely Democratic voters. This includes not calling cell phones and therefore having a sample dominated by older households, and calling only during very particular times of day which may bias the sample toward certain demographics.

It does not help his image that the founder of Rasmussen Reports, Scott Rasmussen, has reportedly openly and strongly supported conservative causes, but this is largely irrelevant because every pollster has their own political bias. What we worry about in this case is whether that bias actually affects what are supposed to be scientific polls.

Tagged with: bias, democatic, polling, polls, rasmussen, republican party, republicans
Posted in Advocacy Groups

The Influence of Outside Money due to Citizen’s United

Posted on August 19, 2011 by admin — No Comments ↓

At times we might be accused of favoring one party over another. Actually, our aim is to show that both parties have issues leading to there being foxes in the henhouse. The Supreme Court decision in the Citizen’s United case, which not only made it possible once again for wealthy donors, corporations, and unions to contribute unlimited amounts of money to elections, but also made it possible for corporations and wealthy donors to hide their identities. Unfortunately, this dynamic is the perfect set up for inviting foxes to the henhouse – we don’t even know who is funding the message we are watching, and who will stand to benefit if we vote in the way the message prescribes.

Here is where we do have to point out that while the decision certainly “benefited” both parties since corporations lean toward supporting the republican party and unions lean toward the democratic party, the parts of the ruling that made it possible for wealthy individuals to donate unlimited sums certainly and the part that allowed for people to keep their identities hidden, benefited republican candidates more.

The point here is not to debate the legal merits of the ruling, but rather to begin the discussion about the effects it has brought, including the potential foxes in the henhouse.

Tagged with: 527s, citizens united, corporations, outside groups, republican party, unions
Posted in Outside Groups

Political News and Views from a Foxes Perspective!

Posted on July 12, 2011 by admin — No Comments ↓

A new kind of political fact checking

This section of our site will provide up-to-date analysis of political news as it relates to potential Foxes in the Henhouse. In other words, we aim to provide a new method of political fact checking As we’ve stated, we do not pretend that we know everyone’s motives and intentions. We also do not intend to pick on one political party more than the other. Our goal is merely to openly and constructively point out instances where there is the appearance of a fox guarding a henhouse as a result of a decision a political leader has made, or as the result of funding or other support he or she has received. We leave it up to our readers to decide whether there was a true conflict of motives or secretive deal making.

The posts on this page will generally follow our main topic list, and you can get more information about each topic as follows:

Independent Advocacy Groups such as 527s, Non-Profits, PACs, and Super PACs

Current Elected Leaders at the federal and state level, or Candidates for office during each election season

Political Appointees who head departments or task forces again at the federal and state level

Others with hidden agendas and dual roles such as corporations, polling companies, and the media

Thank you for visiting, and as always, please feel free to contribute feedback through the comments section, or suggest stories about politicians, political groups, and outside interest groups with dual roles and hidden agendas through the suggest content page.

This site as well as those linked to at the right are part of the A Collective Good network, aiming to increase the voice and influence of individuals from all over the political spectrum regardless of wealth or the amount of their political contributions.

Posted in General