{"id":724,"date":"2015-07-21T18:18:08","date_gmt":"2015-07-21T18:18:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/courses.candelalearning.com\/masteryusgovernment1x6xmaster\/?post_type=chapter&#038;p=724"},"modified":"2015-07-29T23:06:31","modified_gmt":"2015-07-29T23:06:31","slug":"why-it-matters-9","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/spokanecc-americangovernment\/chapter\/why-it-matters-9\/","title":{"raw":"Why It Matters","rendered":"Why It Matters"},"content":{"raw":"<h2><span data-sheets-value=\"[null,2,&quot;Describe and assess the nature and role of elections in the American political system&quot;]\" data-sheets-userformat=\"[null,null,25345,[null,0],null,null,null,null,null,null,null,1,0,null,null,null,10,1]\">Describe and assess the nature and role of elections in the American political system<\/span><\/h2>\r\n<a href=\"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/spokanecc-americangovernment\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3858\/2015\/07\/3004887056_28d4b6c121_b.jpg\"><img class=\"  aligncenter wp-image-725\" src=\"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/spokanecc-americangovernment\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3858\/2015\/07\/3004887056_28d4b6c121_b-768x1024.jpg\" alt=\"Photo of the Rockefeller Center in New York City during election night, 2008. Projected lights make half the building look blue, half red, representing the Democrats and Republicans. A row of American flags lines the street beneath.\" width=\"350\" height=\"467\" \/><\/a>\r\n<h3>Introduction<\/h3>\r\nElections are the moment of truth in a democracy. Through the vote, The People choose their leaders and thereby signal which policies and programs they want to live under.\r\n\r\nAt least that\u2019s the ideal.\r\n\r\nJust how true is it? How meaningful are elections in the American political system? Do our election processes and practices match up well with our broader democratic ideals and our commitment to political equality? What are the consequences of our elections? Does the vote produce\u00a0policies that reflect\u00a0the preferences of the average citizen?\r\n\r\nAs you work through the material in this section, consider how you might answer the above questions.","rendered":"<h2><span data-sheets-value=\"[null,2,&quot;Describe and assess the nature and role of elections in the American political system&quot;]\" data-sheets-userformat=\"[null,null,25345,[null,0],null,null,null,null,null,null,null,1,0,null,null,null,10,1]\">Describe and assess the nature and role of elections in the American political system<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/spokanecc-americangovernment\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3858\/2015\/07\/3004887056_28d4b6c121_b.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-725\" src=\"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/spokanecc-americangovernment\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3858\/2015\/07\/3004887056_28d4b6c121_b-768x1024.jpg\" alt=\"Photo of the Rockefeller Center in New York City during election night, 2008. Projected lights make half the building look blue, half red, representing the Democrats and Republicans. A row of American flags lines the street beneath.\" width=\"350\" height=\"467\" srcset=\"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/spokanecc-americangovernment\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3858\/2015\/07\/3004887056_28d4b6c121_b.jpg 768w, https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/spokanecc-americangovernment\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3858\/2015\/07\/3004887056_28d4b6c121_b-225x300.jpg 225w, https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/spokanecc-americangovernment\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3858\/2015\/07\/3004887056_28d4b6c121_b-65x87.jpg 65w, https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/spokanecc-americangovernment\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3858\/2015\/07\/3004887056_28d4b6c121_b-350x467.jpg 350w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 350px) 100vw, 350px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<h3>Introduction<\/h3>\n<p>Elections are the moment of truth in a democracy. Through the vote, The People choose their leaders and thereby signal which policies and programs they want to live under.<\/p>\n<p>At least that\u2019s the ideal.<\/p>\n<p>Just how true is it? How meaningful are elections in the American political system? Do our election processes and practices match up well with our broader democratic ideals and our commitment to political equality? What are the consequences of our elections? Does the vote produce\u00a0policies that reflect\u00a0the preferences of the average citizen?<\/p>\n<p>As you work through the material in this section, consider how you might answer the above questions.<\/p>\n\n\t\t\t <section class=\"citations-section\" role=\"contentinfo\">\n\t\t\t <h3>Candela Citations<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t <div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t <div id=\"citation-list-724\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t <div class=\"licensing\"><div class=\"license-attribution-dropdown-subheading\">CC licensed content, Original<\/div><ul class=\"citation-list\"><li>Why It Matters: Elections. <strong>Authored by<\/strong>: Steven Horn. <strong>Provided by<\/strong>: Everett Community College. <strong>License<\/strong>: <em><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"license\" href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/\">CC BY: Attribution<\/a><\/em><\/li><\/ul><div class=\"license-attribution-dropdown-subheading\">CC licensed content, Shared previously<\/div><ul class=\"citation-list\"><li>US Election 08. <strong>Authored by<\/strong>: Paul Williams. <strong>Located at<\/strong>: <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/pcw\/3004887056\/\">https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/pcw\/3004887056\/<\/a>. <strong>License<\/strong>: <em><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"license\" href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nd\/4.0\/\">CC BY-ND: Attribution-NoDerivatives<\/a><\/em><\/li><\/ul><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t <\/div>\n\t\t\t <\/section>","protected":false},"author":923,"menu_order":1,"template":"","meta":{"_candela_citation":"[{\"type\":\"original\",\"description\":\"Why It Matters: Elections\",\"author\":\"Steven Horn\",\"organization\":\"Everett Community College\",\"url\":\"\",\"project\":\"\",\"license\":\"cc-by\",\"license_terms\":\"\"},{\"type\":\"cc\",\"description\":\"US Election 08\",\"author\":\"Paul Williams\",\"organization\":\"\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/pcw\/3004887056\/\",\"project\":\"\",\"license\":\"cc-by-nd\",\"license_terms\":\"\"}]","CANDELA_OUTCOMES_GUID":"","pb_show_title":"on","pb_short_title":"","pb_subtitle":"","pb_authors":[],"pb_section_license":""},"chapter-type":[],"contributor":[],"license":[],"class_list":["post-724","chapter","type-chapter","status-publish","hentry"],"part":723,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/spokanecc-americangovernment\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/724","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/spokanecc-americangovernment\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/spokanecc-americangovernment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/chapter"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/spokanecc-americangovernment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/923"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/spokanecc-americangovernment\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/724\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1273,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/spokanecc-americangovernment\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/724\/revisions\/1273"}],"part":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/spokanecc-americangovernment\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/parts\/723"}],"metadata":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/spokanecc-americangovernment\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/724\/metadata\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/spokanecc-americangovernment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=724"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"chapter-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/spokanecc-americangovernment\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapter-type?post=724"},{"taxonomy":"contributor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/spokanecc-americangovernment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor?post=724"},{"taxonomy":"license","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/spokanecc-americangovernment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/license?post=724"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}