Elections, Parties, and Pressure Groups
Session 4: Political Spectrum

Materials

• Political Process Vocabulary List (Attachment A)
• Graphic: Political Spectrum
• Semantic Feature Chart (Attachment C)
• Computer with Internet access

Instructional Activities

1. Write the day's vocabulary words on an overhead or on the board (see Attachment A). Briefly discuss their meanings.
   
   
   
   
2. Draw the political spectrum above on the board. Define the terms liberal and conservative. Explain that liberals generally favor more government involvement to solve society's social issues. Conservatives favor less government intervention and recently have championed tax cuts. Lead a discussion with information currently in the news.
   
   
3. Explain that the two major political parties have members that hold both liberal and conservative views. However, more Republicans hold conservative views and more Democrats hold liberal views. Both parties try to win elections by appealing to the political center.
   
   
4. Distribute a Semantic Feature Chart (Attachment C). Add issues to the chart that are currently in the news. Divide students into pairs and ask them to complete the chart. Discuss results with the class. (Information on issues and views is available from Public Agenda Online <http://www.publicagenda.org/>.)
   
   
5. For homework, ask students to look at the political cartoon in today's newspaper.