PLS 111 Current Events Assignment #2

Spring  2008

This assignment is based on an article drawn from the Washington Post’s April 26, 2008 edition concerning a controversy over whether to reduce fuel taxes.  This subject has led to a debate among the three candidates – Obama, Clinton and McCain.  The focus of this assignment is to ask the question – who is the liberal and who is the conservative with regards to this issue?  How do you feel about the merits of the argument?

 This assignment is due May 5.

-----------INSTRUCTIONS -------------------

Your instructions are indicated in your syllabus, but here's an edited reminder. 

Remember your paper should be about two typewritten pages long (double spaced) – longer essays will be accepted however

 Instructions for the Current Events assignment:

Assignment Goal: Apply Conservative and Liberal perspectives to the issues raised in the article about fuel taxes. How would Conservatives and Liberals perceive the issue and why?  Be sure to include references to core ideological beliefs and values when seeking to explain why each ideological position would be pro/con or indifferent to the proposal.

Also be sure to include a discussion of your own position on the issues (pro, con, indifferent).   The discussion of Conservative, Liberal and your own views should be roughly evenly divided.  Be sure to incorporate an introductory paragraph summarizing the topic.

Your essay should demonstrate: (1) your understanding of the ideological perspectives; (2) the priorities and trade-offs raised in the article as well as (3) demonstrate the ability to develop and support an argument. 

Assignment Format: A well-written, thorough word-processed essay about two pages long (Time Roman, 12 point, 1 inch margins). It should have your name, course, section time, and a title. You may want to include in your text specific citations from various sources including the article itself. If outside references are used, please include a footnote showing sources.   Hyperlinks to sources may also be placed in the document. 

Obama, Clinton clash over gas tax as Indiana looms

By Jeff Mason and Andy Sullivan

Reuters
Saturday, April 26, 2008; 6:37 PM

ANDERSON/SOUTH BEND, Indiana (Reuters) - Democrats Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton touted their economic agendas and sparred over fuel taxes on Saturday as they crisscrossed Indiana ahead of its must-win presidential nominating contest in May.

Clinton, a New York senator who trails Obama in votes and number of delegates who will determine the party's nominee to run in November's election, challenged the Illinois senator to a televised debate without moderators. His campaign declined.

Obama gave a populist message as he tried to reach the kind of working class voters who handed victory to Clinton in Tuesday's Pennsylvania primary election.

"If the economy's growing and your incomes are going down, what's happening? It means that somebody's making out like a bandit," Obama told about 2,000 people in the city of Marion, citing tax cuts under the Bush administration that benefited the wealthy and not the middle class.

Obama spoke out against halting a tax on gasoline during the summer months, a move supported by Clinton and presumptive Republican nominee John McCain, saying it may not bring down prices and would deplete a fund used for building highways.

"The only way we're going to lower gas prices over the long term is if we start using less oil," Obama said in Anderson.

Indiana holds its nominating contest on May 6 and polls show the race to be tight. Like other Americans, the state's residents are concerned about high fuel prices, a mortgage crisis, job losses and a sputtering economy.

Clinton launched an ad calling for a suspension of the gasoline tax.

"Hillary Clinton knows it's time to act, take some of the windfall profits of big oil to pay to suspend the gas tax this summer, investigate the oil giants for price gouging and collusion," the ad said.

McCain, taking the day off from the campaign trail, said through a spokesman that Obama had retreated from earlier support for action on gasoline prices.

"Gas prices are at the all-time high, and instead of taking a strong stance for hard-working Americans, Barack Obama has backed away from his support for gas tax relief," Tucker Bounds said in a statement.

"Americans need strong leadership that can deliver lower gas prices and a healthier economy, not Barack Obama's inexperience and indecision."