Moral Dilemmas - A Politician's Life

Friday's class consisted of finishing up our examination of some of the our political system's biggest debates including Senate Reform, patronage, and cabinet solidarity.

We made our way through some of the dilemmas facing MP's, Cabinet members, and issues like Senator Andrew Thompson's vacations in Mexico. The hope was that simulating the experience of creating a budget would help you remember what Cabinet Solidarity stood for, while watching VHS video footage of Parliament would help bring the issues of Senate Reform to life.

Next day we will review your notes from pages 230-233 in your text, begin our political cartoon analysis, and start researching the process of passing a bill. It is extremely important that you are in class this week, as we will be acting out Parliament procedures in groups next week.

In the meantime, you might want to be following the "fall-out" from the non-confidence debate that occurred in Parliament this week...