buy custom California Politics essay

buy custom California Politics essay Governing the country is an extremely responsible process that comprises not only numerous rights and privileges, but also a broad spectrum of obligations. The need to balance between these two edges and to meet all the expectations of the population at the same time is one of the most complicated tasks that governors encounter. Relishing their high position, they often forget about primary purpose for which people elect them, which often serves as the ground for the majority of political crises in the world as it provokes distrust and, thus, the desire to control the government and influence the decisions making process. The discordance of thoughts and interests results in the governments inability of assessing the situation objectively and reacting the significant challenges appropriately. The paper aims at analyzing the crisis of California politics from the point of both modern aspects and the historical legacy that are crucial precursors for the current situation. Five Elements of the California Politics Crisis The phrase California Dream becomes the symbol of the state and implies the prosperity and happiness. However, there are a lot of significant problems in California despite the evident progress regarding certain number of issues. The legislative paradoxes are the biggest challenge the states government dealth with in the latest years. Thus, one can underline the five elements of Californias crisis: two-thirds requirement for changing the taxes, safe-seat reapportionment, terms limits, the absence of the unanimity on significant issues, and an easy way for passing the initiatives (Anagnoson et.al. 4). Legislative paradox related to budget and level of taxes is the most crucial issue in both political and economic concerns. In order to make the passing of the budget easier voters replaced the requirement of two-third votes on fifty percents and one. However, the previous two-third requirement remains actual for changing the level of taxes. Taking into account that the budget is inextricably connected with the taxes, nobody can balance it without appropriate correlatin of the tax rate. The governors could solve this problem rather easily and quickly, if they reached consensus and avoided not use these legislative differences as the instrument for speculating on interests of separate groups. This second element of crisis is the main barrier for making progress because individual interests often ignore the common needs or even harm them, thus obstructing progressive changes. It should be mentioned that the process of lobbying the group ideas is rarely aimed at general prosperity but has rather opposite results. Progressive movement implemented the simplified process of both passing the initiatives as the democracy measure and increasing the level of public involvement in the countrys affairs. However, this initially good intention frequently transforms into substantial ground for abuses and realizing selfish ambitions. Term limits set for preventing the governors abuses with their positions became another precursor for the crisis. The limitation of the severest terms did not reduce the governors raising the funds for next campaign but, vice verse, strengthened it. Appart from that , the level of governments competence decreased because of the new less experienced members, which obviously had the influence on the quality of the legislative decision. That is why the voters trustfully changed this norm in 2012. The Safe-seat reapportionment is the fifth element of the California crisis that also does not allow the state to move towards the progressive changes. This legislative norm creates an opportunity for representatives who failed to meet voters expectations to stay in the government again and again only winning the 10 percent margin. There were the attempts to change this situation in 2008, but, they had poor effect. A few more ideas were proposed in order to deal with the five most significant issues. Besides the above mentioned realized measures, the following suggestions were made: the lowering of the required majority for changing tax rates, the restriction of the process of passing the initiatives and amending the constitution, instituting the puublic financing and decentralizing (Anagnoson et.al. 7). However, they also raise a lot of controversies concerning their enacting. The Progressive Movement California politics history is characterized by the long period of citizens distrust of the government that continued to become deeper each year. In order to reduce the social tension, the urgent need for changes appeared in society. At that time, the leaders of the Progressive movement created the set of reforms that became a turning points in the history of California. There were a lot of social, economic and political precursors for the situation which led to the transformations initiated by The Progressive movement. Thus, the roots of the movement are hidden in the need to resist the business influence on the politics and prosecute the corrupted politicians. These issues has always existed in California and became even acuter after the Civil War due to rapid industrialization. Funds concentrated in the hands of corporations provided them with the wealthy and new ways of influencing the government based on the monopoly. Hence, coping with these social and political phenomena and making the government more responsive to the social needs were the primary goals of the Progressive Movement. The set of reforms consisted of nonpartisanship, primary elections, block office ballot and direct democracy norms (Anagnoson et.al. 22). According to them the label of the party was not affixed to the name of candidates in the elections ballot. The party chose its representatives for the further election on the primary one. The block ballot that California uses today was also one of the norms The Progressive had passed. However, the last set of norms, known as direct democracy, had the biggest impact on the ways in which California politics are operating today. Thus, the opportunity of passing the initiatives and instruments of direct actions for voters, such as referendum and recall were the most decisive measures that had the long-term effect on the political and economic life of California. Buy custom California Politics essay

Amygdalas Location and Function

Amygdala's Location and Function The amygdala is an almond-shaped mass of nuclei (mass of cells) located deep within the temporal lobes of the brain. There are two amygdalae, one situated in each brain hemisphere. The amygdala is a limbic system structure that is involved in many of our emotions and motivations, particularly those that are related to survival. It is involved in the processing of emotions such as fear, anger, and pleasure. The amygdala is also responsible for determining what memories are stored and where the memories are stored in the brain. It is thought that this determination is based on how huge an emotional response an event evokes. Amygdala and Fear The amygdala is involved in autonomic responses associated with fear and hormonal secretions. Scientific studies of the amygdala have led to the discovery of the location of neurons in the amygdala that are responsible for fear conditioning. Fear conditioning is an associative learning process by which we learn through repeated experiences to fear something. Our experiences can cause brain circuits to change and form new memories. For example, when we hear an unpleasant sound, the amygdala heightens our perception of the sound. This heightened perception is deemed distressing and memories are formed associating the sound with unpleasantness. If the noise startles us, we have an automatic flight or fight response. This response involves the activation of the sympathetic division of the peripheral nervous system. Activation of the nerves of the sympathetic division results in accelerated heart rate, dilated pupils, increase in metabolic rate, and increase in blood flow to the muscles. This activity is coordinated by the amygdala and allows us to respond appropriately to danger. Anatomy The amygdala is composed of a large cluster of around 13 nuclei. These nuclei are subdivided into smaller complexes. The basolateral complex is the largest of these subdivisions and is composed of the lateral nucleus, basolateral nucleus, and accessory basal nucleus. This nuclei complex has connections with the cerebral cortex, thalamus, and hippocampus. Information from the olfactory system is received by two separate groups of amygdaloid nuclei, the cortical nuclei, and medial nucleus. Nuclei of the amygdala also make connections with the  hypothalamus and brainstem. The hypothalamus is involved in emotional responses and helps to regulate the endocrine system. The brainstem relays information between the cerebrum and spinal cord. Connections to these areas of the brain allow amygdaloid nuclei to process information from sensory areas (cortex and thalamus) and areas associated with behavior and autonomic function (hypothalamus and brainstem). Function The amygdala is involved in several functions of the body including: ArousalAutonomic responses associated with fearEmotional responsesHormonal secretionsMemory Sensory Information The amygdala receives sensory information from the thalamus and from the cerebral cortex. The thalamus is also a limbic system structure and it connects areas of the cerebral cortex that are involved in sensory perception and movement with other parts of the brain and spinal cord that also have a role in sensation and movement. The cerebral cortex processes sensory information obtained from vision, hearing, and other senses and is involved in decision-making, problem-solving, and planning. Location Directionally, the amygdala is located deep within the temporal lobes, medial to the hypothalamus and adjacent to the hippocampus. Amygdala Disorders Hyperactivity of the amygdala or having one amygdala that is smaller than the other has been associated with fear and anxiety disorders. Fear is an emotional and physical response to danger. Anxiety is a psychological response to something that is perceived as dangerous. Anxiety can lead to panic attacks that occur when the amygdala sends signals that a person is in danger, even when there is no real threat. Anxiety disorders that are associated with the amygdala include Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD), Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD), and social anxiety disorder. Sources Sah, P., Faber, E., Lopez De Armentia, L., Power, J. (2003). The Amygdaloid Complex: Anatomy and Physiology. Physiological Reviews, 83(3), 803-834. doi:10.1152/physrev.00002.2003