Death Amendment Theory

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Introduction It is a cool morning in mid-April. A woman walks into a crowded teacher’s lounge for a cup of coffee after teaching her morning English class at a small middle school in Oklahoma. As she sips her coffee, the scene of a demolished building on the television steals her attention. It is the remains of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building. The same building that her husband works at and the same building that offers a daycare for her young children to stay at while she works. Her knees go weak and she falls to the ground. At 9:02 am, on April 19, 1995, a bomb sitting in a van below the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City exploded, killing 168 and wounding over 500 more. Now imagine the pain this woman feels.…show more content…
The paper will first provide background information on the law. The background will specifically identify the main issue, the details of how this particular issue made it to the top of Congress’ legislative agenda, the different courses of action that entities suggested as to how the government should address the issue and, finally, a description of how it became a law. Next, the paper will introduce the theory that I will evaluate. I will describe the key actors, power, participation, institutions, and policymaking of the theory. The paper will then assess the fit of the theory by explaining whether what the theory says should have happened, actually happened in the passage of this policy. Finally, it will conclude by declaring whose bias the outcome reflected as well as how democratic the passage of this bill makes American politics and policymaking…show more content…
The elements of this political theory include the key actors, power, participation, institutions, and policymaking. I will also analyze who this theory suggests governs the country and how democratic the theory makes lawmaking process appear. According to the state-centered theory (SCT), “government institutions and the officials that populate them” are the “ONLY entities that can have a meaningful impact on the policymaking process.” Therefore, in order to make an impact, you must be within the government. They are the only key actors because they are the only people with access to the proper resources needed for policymaking. It does not matter whether it is the President or a tax collector, any government official can affect policy according to
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