There is one writing assignment worth 150 points. The purpose of the essay is to provide an opportunity to discuss a key concept or topic in Texas politics and to show a basic understanding of academic research and reporting skills. You should offer evidence for their arguments. Thus, submissions that are more comprehensive and detailed will earn a higher point total. The writing assignment should be a minimum of 750 words. Submissions must include a works cited page (note: there must be a parenthetical citation at the end of each sentence that contains information from a source). The textbook should be one of the sources and included on the works cited page (sources other than the textbook may be used as well).
You should use New Courier or Times New Roman, 12-point font, double-spacing, and one-inch margins on all four sides of the paper. The assignment is to be formatted according to the Modern Language Association (MLA) style which includes a works cited page but does NOT include a title page. You should research this style in order to properly format the assignment .
All writing assignments will be analyzed using SafeAssign. DO NOT cut and paste information from an online source or copy information directly from the chapter without using quotations and citing the information. DO NOT use generative artificial intelligence programs (such as ChatGPT) to prepare your assignment. Essays that contain plagiarized material will receive a significant reduction in points or a zero.
Writing Assignment Prompt
Read both Chapter 3 in the textbook and the article “New Texas plan for Hurricane Harvey aid yields the same result: Funds diverted away from the Gulf Coast” Then, define federalism in the U.S. (explaining the relationship between the national and state governments).
What are some benefits to leaving most of the control of programs (and their funding) in the hands of Texas and other states exclusively? What are some of the benefits of allowing the national government to provide funds (and control how the funds are spent) for programs administered by Texas and other states? Do you think the federal government should be allowed to enact “unfunded mandates” on the states? Why or why not? What state issues do you feel the federal government should be involved in? Why these and not others?
Article “New Texas plan for Hurricane Harvey aid yields the same result: Funds diverted away from the Gulf Coast” https://www.texastribune.org/2022/05/16/texas-harvey-disaster-aid-land-office/
Chapter 3. https://content.ctcd.edu/courses/govt2306/m23/docs/govt2306_ch3.pdf
