Does the part-time nature of the Texas Legislature encourage or discourage people from particular occupations to run?

Writing Assignment 1
Select ONE of the following topics to answer for Writing Assignment 1. The writing assignment should be a minimum of 750 words. You should find much of the information you need to complete the assignment in the textbook, but you may also need to use additional sources (such as news articles or government websites). Make sure to provide a citation for all sources used in your paper. See the Writing Assignment Instructions for more information.

Using the data from Chapter 7, discuss in detail the gender, racial and educational makeup of the Texas Legislature. Does it adequately represent the population of the state? If the Texas Legislature had more people of color, more women, or more people of varying levels of education, do you think it would pass different policies? If so, what kinds of policies might they pass? (Be specific here.) Does the part-time nature of the Texas Legislature encourage or discourage people from particular occupations to run? Do you think a full-time legislature could make the legislature more representative? Why or why not?

After reading Chapter 4, review “Texas and the Nation: How Republican is Texas?”, which shows how Texas compares to other states in terms of how many residents identify as Republicans. Is Texas where you thought it would be on the graph? Why or why not? Recalling information from Chapter 1 on the changing demographics of Texas, how might the state’s position on the graph change over the next 20 years? With only 42% of Texas’s population identifying as Republicans, what explains Republicans holding all statewide offices and a majority of the Texas House, Texas Senate, and delegation to the U.S. House of Representatives?
Online assistance for writing assignments is available through the

Last Completed Projects