OVERVIEW: Your final, cumulative writing assignment for POLS 5 is to put forth your own ballot proposition to address an issue you see within state or local politics. Knowing what you know now over the course of our time together, you should have identified an issue relevant to local or statewide politics to be approved by the instructor via Canvas. Now rather than researching a proposition that has already passed, you have to put yourself in the shoes of a campaign manager creating your own proposition Be creative but be realistic as well! Your proposition should fall within state or local jurisdiction. For example: you cannot create an initiative to ban the electoral college as that is not within the scope of the CA state legislature.
LENGTH & FORMATTING: You will submit a paper between 3-5 pages double spaced, approximately 500-1000 words. You may use the font of your choice, within reason (i.e., Times New Roman, Helvetica, Arial, Calibri, etc.). I encourage you to be creative with presentation and format for this final memo.
PROPER CITATION & STYLE: As with the midterm memo, you are allowed to use any citation style you prefer as long as it is an official style (i.e. MLA or Chicago). You should be using in text citations whenever you are bringing in information from a source. In addition to citing your sources throughout, your memo should also include a complete Bibliography on a separate page after you have written your final page of text.
Note: You should always cite to the primary source rather than citing to secondary online sources with crowdsourced information—as such, it is not acceptable to cite to Wikipedia and/or Ballotpedia in your Final Political Analysis Memo. Always go to back to the original primary source cited, verify it, and cite it directly in your Memo.
Structure: Through your work on the Midterm Memo you should have developed some insight and expertise about the direct democracy process, and issues statewide. You may consider a variety of factors including:
the specific ballot proposition you created and it’s particular domain of policy and politics, and
the regional political dynamics, culture, and context of your Region (Northern California, Bay Area, Greater Sacramento, San Joaquin Valley, or Southern California).
Interest Groups, Political Culture & Ideology, Political Parties, Other Institutions, Collective Action, Understanding the “Rules of the Game”, the history of California, direct democracy, the progressive movement & CA politics.
For this Final Political Analysis Memo you should put yourself in the shoes of a political campaign manager seeking to pass an initiative (or referendum if you are attempting to block a law that has been recently passed). Prior to this assignment you will submit your proposal which needs to be approved by the instructor, and that you should receive feedback on. Just as you did for your midterm memo, you should consider a variety of factors when considering this proposition:
What does voting “yes” on this initiative mean? What about voting “No?” Who will support this initiative?
Who will oppose these efforts?
Major newspaper editorial support/opposition.
Where will the major political parties most likely stand on this issue?
Will you have to rely on fundraising and donors to support your campaign? Or will you have to take on a grassroots effort with a more limited budget?
How much money will you need to raise?
What kinds of other strategies can you develop?
What political leaders or even public figures might be willing to support your campaign?
What interest groups may support your initiative? Do they have financial resources to support you?
What interest groups may oppose your initiative? Do they financial resources to oppose you?
How will you frame your messaging? How will you appeal to voters? What kind of voters?
Is your proposition likely to pass next election cycle? Why or why not?
How do you expect votes to differ in different regions of California? Think Rural vs. Urban, what industries are affected (if any), etc.
In this Final Memo, you are asked to also Look back, and look forward. Think about these regions and historical election results to better understand the distinctive features concerning your chosen ballot proposition and its substantive policy area, as well as the local regions within the state. The overall objective of the Final Memo is for you to develop a proposition that will demonstrate you understand the political process, key players, institutions, groups, and the ‘rules of the game’. It is also an opportunity for you to think about how you might address an issue that you have identified in your local community, or statewide.
