Reforming Government Project
POLS 1101 – Summer 24
In our American Politics class, we have learned about various proposals for reforming government. There are many proposals, some big and some smaller, on how to deepen and strengthen our democracy. I want you to create a presentation – it can be a powerpoint, prezi, google slides, or any other medium that you prefer – to teach about a proposal to reform government. What do you think would most improve our democracy? Choose a proposal, explain what problem it is addressing, how it would help our system of government work better, and how you would work to enact this change. Develop a concrete plan of action for how you will get your proposal enacted. Here is just a short list of some of the many reform proposals that some people think will improve our system. You can choose one of these or you can choose something else. Please choose something you feel strongly about.
- Ranked Choice Voting
- Institute Multimember Districts and proportional representation
- Proposals to end gerrymandering
- Participatory Budgeting
- Proposals to fight corruption in Illinois
- Deliberative Democracy
- Public Campaign Financing
- Campaign Finance Reform: Amend the Constitution to allow for regulation; pass strong disclosure laws; etc.
- Proposals to improve our process of voting and increase turnout
- Proposals to Revive the Constitutional Rights of Felons
- Citizen Assemblies and participatory councils to advise governments
- Invest in Civic Education
You are responsible for researching the issue and creating a presentation. You can be very creative and use any medium for your presentation (powerpoint (or google slides or prezi), video presentation, infographic, a mindmap, or another creative medium that I know nothing about!)Your goals of the presentation are to:
- Present an overview of your topic. (10 points)
- Explain the problem that it is addressing. (10 points)
- How will your proposal fix this problem and make things better? (10 points)
- What are the challenges of this proposal? (10 points)
- How do you suggest putting this plan into action? (20 points)
