Passport card:

Passport card is a pass card which is an alternative to a pass port book in the US. Pass port card is used as an identity card for US citizens. It is a pocket size passport albeit some limitations when compared to passport book. This was introduced in US in the year 2008 and the response was overwhelming. The official reports say that almost three million passport cards have been issued to the citizens of US in a short span of three years time. Passport cards are issued to US citizens only, which can be used to re-enter US from Canada, Bermuda and some other neighboring countries of US. One of the major limitations of passport size card is that it can be used only while travelling by Land or Sea.
Application and the process of passport card are same as of conventional passport book. Documentation part of it is also same. Easy to handle and the portability of passport card are the major plus points of passport cards when compare to passport books.
Objective and rationale of passport card:
As we said earlier, passport card is an alternative to Passport book in the US.Pasport card is issued by United States Department Of State in response to the demand raised by US community who frequent in and around US by land and Sea .This innovative step taken by the US authorities have been widely accepted and used in the US because of its miniscule size and portability. Passport card is not accepted in Air travel due to some aviation security reasons.

Uses of Passport card

To improve the efficiency of road transport especially in the case of land crossings, use of passport card will help you prove your identity. Its Radio Frequency identification chip with a unique number adds the use of passport card effectively. It protects the privacy of the passport card holder by way of this unique number which gets attached to the official database of the government only.
Under the real ID Act of the US, this passport card can be accepted for federal purposes such as domestic air travel and permission to enter federal buildings. TSA regulations in the US also accept passport card as an ID proof. At Airport and other security check posts. Passport card is considered while processing employment verification form. In some international consulates, Passport cards are accepted as a valid ID proof of US citizenship.

Validity and Fee of passport cards:

The passport cards hold the same validity of 10 years for major and 5 years for minors as in the case of passport books. While the fee is comparatively less for passport cards than normal passport books .The use of passport card is more in inland cruse and travel by land. A citizen of US is free to have both passport card and passport book at the same time. This can be applied in the same passport application form itself. Pass port card lay out is set in the form of credit card in its shape and even in looks.
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Political News

Political news has recently become an extremely important means for the spread of political ideas. Political news is communicated through newspapers, online new sources, and the radio. Broadcasting politic news accounts for a large majority of television news shows and political news requires a great deal of attention in newspapers and online news websites. Politic news includes, but is not limited to, discussions by political science experts regarding party candidates, current important political and economic issues, as well as, scandals and controversies taking place within the political realm. Politic news also includes broadcasting debates between candidates and well as political experts and up to date information on political policies. With it’s increase in popularity, political news has the ability to alter a candidate’s political agenda by offering support or criticism for their views on important issues. NPR, or National Political Radio, is a station dedicated solely to the spread of politic news. These news sources make vital information available to the public. It allows individuals to absorb the facts and make informed decisions about what is going on in the world. With the continual increase in technology political news can be transported in a variety of different ways that makes it easy for the public to access. Despite the ease of accessing the news, the public must remain wary. Many political news sources are known to have biased opinions and provide skewed reporting in favor of their political ideas, such as the conservative, right winged Fox News. Fox News has even been deemed ‘the most biased name in news. Political news often has the ability to manipulate the public or persuade the public to act. After the attack on Pearl Harbor news was broadcasted into homes via the radio on the tragic events that took place there. Likewise, after the attacks on September 11 horrific images of burning the burning twin towers overtook the news and flooded into homes from the television. These terrible images and the discussions that were repeated on political news stations briefly united the American population in the idea of the preservation of freedom and persuaded them to act. Alternative news sources such as provide up to date politic news free of corporate agenda. They seek to inspire change for the common good of the population. Political forums and blogs also provide up to date politic news as well as political debates and a variety of other information related to politics. Democracynow.org is another alternative source for political news. It is a radio and television news program hosted by Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzalez. It is broadcasted on over 800 stations and is currently the largest community media partnership in the United States. Today’s top headlines in political news include allegations that President Obama’s health care summit is just for show and news that Lt. Gov. Mitch Landrieu of Louisiana has been elected mayor of New Orleans

Political Systems

The political system is a system of government and politics and is generally referred to as ranging in degrees from left to right. The left side of a political system generally consists of parties with liberal viewpoints while the right side consists of parties that take conservative stances on the issues. There are many different types of political systems that exist around the globe. These political systems include, anarchism, theocracy, republics, and Islamic democracy. Perhaps the most successful and most popular political system is democracy. The term democracy refers to a political system in which governing is carried out by elected representatives of the people, or by the people themselves. In a Democracy the supreme power is invested in the people. Less popular and less successful political systems include monarchies and communism. The political system known as a monarchy is the exact opposite of a democracy. Whereas a democracy places power in the hands of the people a monarchy places supreme power in the hands of one individual. Though monarchies were most common in ancient times they do still exist today. King Abdulah II of Jordan and Queen Margrethe II of Denmark are both examples of constitutional monarchs, While Sultan Qabus ibn Sa’id of Oman is one of the only absolute monarchs that remain in power. A constitutional monarch acts as head of state but is required to work within a written or unwritten constitution. whereas an absolute monarch isn’t required to follow any rules but his own. The political system known as communism seeks to destroy the class structure and private property and keep all goods controlled in a common to be redistributed to individuals as needed. Perhaps one of the most feared political systems is fascism. Fascism is a form of authoritarianism that seeks to create a single party state. Any opposition or viewpoints different from that of the party in power is often met with violence. Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini are two of the most notorious historical fascist leaders.

Democracy has become one of the most popular of the political systems because it allows citizens to have a say in their government. In America every United States citizen over the age of 18 is given the opportunity to cast their vote in elections, thereby supporting the candidate that they wish to see in office. By doing this they are supporting political viewpoints and ideas that they find important and wish to see made a priority in campaigns. Democracy was first developed in Athens around 500 B.C. Only Athenian male adults who completed their military training had the right to vote in elections. The political system in Athens was very complex and consisted of three political bodies. These bodies were the assembly, consisting of 6,000 citizens, the boule, consisting of 500 individuals, and the courts. The members of the assembly were not elected but attended because they has the right to should they choose. Though the Athenian model of democracy is very complicated (much like our own government) and requires some extensive study, the fundamental idea of putting the power in the people’s hands has been passed on to today’s democratic political systems.

Liberal Party

Liberal is often a term associated with the Democratic party, but a small majority of the American population gives credence to the less popular but equally as important Liberal party. There are a variety of different liberal parties around the globe. There is a Liberal party in the UK and in Canada the Liberal party is the oldest federally registered party. In Britain the liberal party was one of the two major political parties until it merged with the Social Democrat party to form the Liberal Democrats. The United States Liberal Party was formed in 1944 in New York City. In New York State the party is the most popular existing third party and has been around for the longest period of time out of any of the existing third parties. The Liberal party still possesses a strong influence in New York State politics and seeks to support candidates that are progressive and can effectively meet challenges. Liberal parties advocate individual and civil rights. The Liberal party has often been criticized for having too close of ties to the Democratic party, however the Liberal party states that they stand for a wider range of social and economic reforms than the Democratic party. The Liberal party promises major parties support in order to influence a candidate regarding certain issues.

Liberal parties are pro-choice and support a woman’s right to choose. Choice is a fundamental and essential civil right that should be extended to all citizens, and should a woman feel that abortion is in her best interest she should have the right to choose abortion. Liberal parties believe that it is extremely important to provide access to good and affordable health care for all American citizens. The party supports universal health insurance. Every American citizen needs to have access to health care when they are sick and should not be denied this because of a lack of financial resources. Liberal parties support detailed civil rights legislation to make sure that members of groups that have been historically discriminated against based on religion, gender, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, and economic class, are no longer faced with discrimination within the education system, in the workplace, or anywhere else. The United States and the rest of the world are currently experiencing an environmental crisis. Climate change, excessive pollution and global warming are threatening the survival of struggling and endangered species and also negatively effecting the health of the human population. Liberal parties recognize that a government’s primary duty is to provide protection to it’s citizens and seeks ensure that no harm come to them. All human beings have the right to expect protection and safety from their government. Liberal parties believe that people who are responsible for committing crimes must be punished for their actions with life imprisonment. Though the Liberal party supports life imprisonment without parole, liberal parties are generally opposed to the death penalty. Although the Liberal party seems to have similar ideas as the Democratic party, the two parties’ political agendas differ in multiple areas.

Political Debate

Political debates occur when political parties, individuals, and organizations with varying political positions use a given arena to discuss and argue political agendas, policy and issues. This arena can vary from internet forums between individuals to presidential debates televised and broad casted from major television stations. A political debate will focus on major issues including social and economic issues as well as foreign policy. Topics that are often discussed in political debates today are abortion, gay marriage, the economy, foreign policy and the war in Iraq, gun control, taxes and health care. Political debates can often become heated and provides the candidates with an opportunity to voice their stance on important issues. It also gives their opponents the opportunity to argue their points and use past facts to expose lies. Political debates are not a new device, they have been used throughout history as a means of arguing one’s platform and undercutting one’s opponent. Publications of the 1859 debates between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglass can still be found today.

The most famous type of political debate is the presidential debates. Some of the most important political debates in the history of the United States occurred during the 2008 presidential elections. The Primary Democratic debates, which took place between Senator Hilary Clinton and Senator Barack Obama included the first woman to run for spot in the presidential election and the first African-American to run for a spot in the presidential election. Millions of Americans tuned in to witness the exchange between these two incredible people. Major topics that were of interest in the 2008 political debate included health care, the economy, and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. There were four different debates that took place in September and October 2008. Three of these debates were between the candidates running for president, Senator John McCain and Senator Barack Obama. One of the debates was between the candidates running for vice president, Joe Biden and Sarah Palin. Two of the debates between the presidential candidates is ninety minutes long. The candidates are asked a question and given time to answer and speak directly with one another. The third debate between the presidential candidates allowed voters to pose the questions that the candidates answered. The way that a candidate presents himself in a debate may greatly alter the amount of support he gets from the voters and ultimately determine the election. After the debate CBS conducted a poll in which they asked viewers who they felt had won the debate. 40% of the viewers felt that President Obama won the debate, while only 22% thought that senator McCain won the debate. It was estimated that 52.4 million people tuned in to watch the 2008 presidential debate.

Though presidential debates are the most common type of political debates, they are not the only form of political debate that occurs. Informal political debates occur on a daily basis in person or on the internet. There are hundreds of political blogs and political forums that cater solely to debates. This illustrates the important role that politics plays in individuals everyday lives.

Liberal Beliefs

Liberal beliefs are considered to be progressive. Because of this, liberal beliefs are thought of as the views of the future by many individuals. The Democratic Party has the liberal beliefs and the democrats have more registered voters than any other political party in the world. On the opposite side of liberal belief is the conservative beliefs. The Republican Party follows the conservative viewpoint.

• One liberal belief is that the government should take responsibility for fixing the social injustices that many individuals in the United States face. In fact, liberal beliefs rely on the thought that the government is the only force that is strong enough to bring this fairness to the people. One liberal belief that connects with this thought is the government carrying out affirmative action within the workforce and educational system. Affirmative action was designed to give minorities and women extra help in getting a job and going to particular colleges.

• Another liberal belief center on abolishing the death penalty. The liberal belief is that the death penalty is a cruel and unusual punishment for individuals to face, no matter what the circumstances of their crime. Conservatives usually believe in the death penalty, finding it to be a just way of punishment. Currently, the death penalty is only a legal form of punishment in some states.

• It is a firm liberal belief that abortion should be legal and women should be allowed to choose whether or not they have one. Liberal belief center on what is known as a woman’s right to choose. Many republicans have tried and failed to abolish abortion. These failures to make abortion illegal has fueled liberal beliefs that a woman’s right to choose is the correct way to handle abortions.

• A liberal belief is that the church and state should be separate. This translates to removing the use of the word God from government work related events. The liberal belief is that religion has no place in politics or governmental activities.

Liberal beliefs and conservative beliefs as a whole tend to be complete opposites of each other. There are different levels of liberalism. The more radical liberal beliefs a person has, the more likely they are going to be to agree to these ideas. Some liberal beliefs are more progressive than others. Another political party, the Socialist Party, operates from an extremely liberal viewpoint. The Republican Party and the Independent Party operates from a more conservative viewpoint.

Political Agenda

A political agenda is set to be a group of policies and issues that the government lays out to impact political debates and news that may occur in the future. A political agenda consists of any ideas that are up for consideration. Liberals and conservatives each have different political agendas when it comes to forming the basics for the work they want to accomplish.

• Policies that are offered up for debate by liberals cover every issue that the American public faces in their day-to-day lives. These issues include economic, environmental and social problems. The liberal political agenda hopes to solve these issues with a series of new political policies.

• A political agenda can sometimes be considered a bad thing, as many politicians have been know to manipulate people with political agendas. For politicians, the point of setting a political agenda is to achieve a certain level of success. Political agendas are set carefully by political parties.

• The liberal political agenda is known to be a progressive one that hopes to move forward in a way that benefits the average American. Liberals are known for wanting the government to take firmer control of the issues that affect the public and solve them. This political agenda is the complete opposite of the conservative agenda, which wants less governmental involvement in individuals’ live.

• The liberal political agenda relies on the belief that every human being has certain rights and that the government should protect these rights. Their political agenda is filled with plans for social justice with equal opportunities for each individual. In contrast, the republican or conservatives’ political agenda relies on the government staying out of peoples’ personal lives.

• All political agendas set the stage for the tone of the election that is being held. Because it is the job of the candidates and their teams to get the points of the political agendas across clearly, large amounts of time are devoted to spending time with the average voter, speaking with them about their concerns. These concerns can help to form a political agenda. If individuals in an area is very concerned with the environment, then the political agenda may push environmental issues into the spotlight.

The political agenda that current United States President Barack Obama ran under emphasized issues of the Iraq war and the economy. This was the political agenda for the liberals because these two issues were top priority on many peoples’ mind.

Liberal Political Stance

There are two main political parties in the United States with drastically different political views. These political parties are the republicans and the democrats, who take an opposite political stance on a number of political issues. While republicans are considered to be conservative, democrats are considered to be liberals. A political stance is the political views that one takes. The political views of the liberal is completely opposite of the political stance of the republicans.

• Since democrats are liberal, The political views are liberal and the stance they take on most issues are liberal as well. The political views of the Democrats rely on increased opportunities for the poor and middle class and protecting civil rights of individuals. The democrats’ political views are that the government is responsible for helping individuals achieve social and economic justice.

• This is in direct contrast to the Republican Party, whose political stance is that the government should not be allowed to be deeply involved with peoples’ day to day lives.

• The political stance of a democrat is a popular one. The Democratic Party has over 72 million registered voters, the largest in any political party in the world. Since the democrats’ political views rely on progress, the political stance that they take on many issues are progressive ones.

• The Democratic political party does believe that taxes should be raised, but their political views are that taxes should not be raised substantially for the poor and middle classes. The republicans’ political stance is that taxes should not be raised at all. They particularly take a strong political stance on the belief that taxes on the rich should not be raised. The political views of the Democratic political party is that the rich should pay higher taxes. The Democratic political party also believes in raising minimum wages as a way of boosting the economic standing of the working class.

• Once an individual’s political stance has been established, then it is possible for them to pick a political party. There are other political parties beside the Republican Party and the Democratic Party. The Socialist Party follows liberal views as well.

Although a person’s political views can change over time, many individuals stick with the party that they are accustomed to.

Taxes, Political Issues

There are many current political issues that dominate the medium airwaves due to their level of importance. Currently, those political issues revolve around the economy and the war in Iraq. However, there are many other political issues politicians address during their campaigns. Democratic liberals will usually take a particular stance on a political issues while Republicans conservatives will take the opposite one.

• One political issue that is always addressed during a political campaign is taxes. The constant debate of whether to raise or lower taxes for different classes of individuals is a constant battle. The conservatives do not believe in raising taxes, especially for the upper class. They claim that lowering taxes can help stimulate the economy. This is a political issue that will not be going away anytime soon. Liberals believe that raising taxes, or keeping them around the same level, will help to improve the average American’s life. Liberals also believe in raising taxes for individuals in a high income bracket.

• Government involvement in the day-to-day lives of American citizens are another political issue that is argued over. Liberals believe that the government should guide people, helping to protect them by regulating rules and laws. On this political issue, conservatives believe that the government should step back and keep involvement in peoples’ live limited. Political issues often tend to revolve around problems like this.

• Another political issue that liberals and conservatives have an opposite viewpoints on is gun control. Liberals believe that this political issue could be solved by enforcing stricter gun laws. Conservatives think that since owning a gun is a constitutional right, the government should step back and allow people to be armed if they choose. Political issues like this tend to be somewhat easier to solve with compromise. When it comes to abortion rights, a major political issue, liberals believe that a woman has the right to choose whether or not to abort their fetus. Conservatives are anti-abortion.

• One of the biggest political issues that exist today, somewhat because of the economic crisis that the United States are facing, is the funding of programs that are meant to aid low income families or individuals. The liberals think that this political issue can be solved by increasing the funding for these government programs, Conservatives believe that there should be less government spending on such programs.

Political issues are dealt with in different was by the conflicting viewpoints of the liberals and the democrats. Depending on what party is dominating Congress and the presidency, certain political issues may be given more attention than other political issues.