Christian Brand Professor bird 21 June 2024 ENG101 The Power of the Vote: Analyzing Russell Glass’s Rhetorical Strategies By skilfully intertwining three distinct modes of persuasion (the modes of logos, pathos, and ethos) within the framework of his essay ‘Opinion: Want a revolution? It’s easy—go vote’ (2012), Russell Glass asserts a rational explanation as to why one might find voting in American democracy compelling and meaningful. We will unpack and explain how Russell Glass utilizes rhetorical devices and strategies that make his essay more eloquent, rhetorically correct, and persuasive. Logical Arguments (Logos) Glass begins his entry with a parade of argumentative paragraphs that could justify voting. He identifies the Americans’ despair …show more content…
Voter turnout data, for instance, enhances the logos appeal by illustrating how much difference voting can make: President Obama won both in 2008 and in 2012 with less than 3 per cent of the popular vote; more people voted in those two elections than in any other in the history of the US. Invoking specific elections decided by narrow margins reinforces the ‘all politics is local’ appeal, as well as the emotional one, and he evidently hopes the data will make his readers feel that last year’s turnout of 53.6 per cent is too low for them not to have cast a ballot. Third, by presenting counterarguments to rationalizations for not voting, Glass provides practical proof of his position not simply or exclusively by persuasion, but also in a way that reinforces the logical force of his whole argument. He counters the objection that my vote doesn’t make any difference by showing how that objection, by considering the voting behavior of many individuals together, makes way for changes in the votes of individuals to combine into a difference that makes a …show more content…
The language is meant to ‘fire up’ the voters. Moreover, Glass’s blurb ethically escalates beyond rights by depicting voting as responsibilities rather than exercises of the right. He helps voters to dial up the ante by going to the future: ‘Those born in the future depend on what you do today when you vote.’ Here is the ‘responsibility appeal’, which works by enlisting decisionmakers’ concern about future people by inspiring their care for the present generation – the preservation of all family-minded people – and the country’s reputation. The clichéd thought goes something like this: ‘Yeah this is a wasted vote [but] my dad [and my grandpa] were in an Allied POW camp for years so we could vote.’ Here those in the future generations are presented as implying responsibility on the present generation, especially on us, the readers. Ethical Appeals (Ethos) By the tone of his broadside and the way it is presented, Glass also earns this credibility and moral force. He speaks ‘respectfully’ and
When attempting to convince other to view an issue from a different standpoint, there are multiple different rhetorical strategies that can be utilized in order to effectively do so. In the article “Not by Math Alone,” by Sandra Day O’Connor and Roy Romer, the authors argue that school systems today lack the education needed to prepare students to take part in their government. O’Connor and Romer use a variety of persuasive techniques, including establishing credibility and presenting facts and evidence, to get the audience to see how rare civic learning is and why it is important for students to learn about these things. The authors instill trust in the audience as they provide information from credible sources that supports their purpose.
I am responding to Micheal Schudson’s essay titled “America’s Ignorant Voter”. He makes several arguments against whether America having relatively ignorant voters poses a problem to our society, and whether it’s becoming worse over the years. One of the arguments he poses as to why Americans seem so clueless about political matters is due to the complexities of our nation’s political institutions.
The word “persuasion” can be defined as a form of discourse that uses logical and emotional appeals to convince the audience to think or act in a certain way. This type of technique is used throughout the speeches of Jonathan Edwards’s “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” and Patrick Henry’s “Speech to the Virginia Convention.” The similarities and differences between the two speeches can be seen through the main idea, the purpose of each speech, and the author’s use of literary elements.
In other words, if you don't want war, watch how you vote. The connotation of this statement is far reaching, it naturally places responsibility on the American government for having participated in the war, but it foremost appeals to the American public to take responsibility and to use this history, this story, to create a better future. Works Cited:.. O'Brien, Tim. A.
Voting is one of the citizens’ rights living in a country. In the past, not everyone can vote. Voting used to be for only white American men. However, our ancestors fought for that rights. Eventually, any American who are older than eighteen can vote, despite their race or gender. In addition, voter turnout is used to keep track of the voting. It is the percentage of eligible voters who cast a ballot in an election. Unfortunately, the voter turnout has been decreasing over time, and it means that there are less and fewer people who actually show up and vote. This essay will discuss the voter turnout in Harris County, Texas.
"Miller light and bud light…either way you end up with a mighty weak beer!" This is how Jim Hightower (a Texan populist speaker) described the choices that the U.S. electorate had in the 2000 elections. This insinuates that there is a clear lack of distinction between the parties. Along with numerous others, this is one of the reasons why the turnout is so low in the U.S. elections. In trying to explain the low figures at the U.S. elections, analysts have called American voters apathetic to indifferent to downright lazy. I disagree that the 50% (in recent elections) of voters that fail to turnout to vote are lazy and that they have just reason not too. I will also show that the problem lies within the system itself in that the institutional arrangements, electoral and governmental, do not create an environment that is conducive to mass participation. I will address these main issues and several others that have an effect on voter participation. In doing so I will compare America to other established democracies.
The United States national elections have been experiencing a steady decline of eligible voters showing up to vote. This steady decline has been ongoing since experiencing a significant increase in voter turnout from 1948 through 1960. Over the years there has been significant, meticulous research done to try to pinpoint the cause of the decline in voter turnout over years. All of this research has led to the production of an enormous number of literatures written on the perceived causes. The vast amount of literature produced has led to a number of competing explanations about this decline. The quest for the answer to the question of, why this decline in voter turnout, is very important for an overwhelming majority of Americans and our democratic system because the people/voters can only truly be represented by our government if all eligible voters go out and vote. For this paper I will examine four theories that attempt to explain the decline. The four theories that I will discuss are voting barriers, campaign contributions, negative campaign advertising, and finally the cultural explanation. However, through thorough exploration and critiques of the strengths and weaknesses of these four theories, we will find that the cultural explanation theory is currently the most persuasive theory in the group. Finally, I will also explore some reasons as to why citizens do vote as well.
Ginsberg, Benjamin, et al. We the People: An Introduction to American Politics. 9th ed. New York, N.Y.: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., 2013. Print."Voter Turnout." Nonprofit Vote. Nonprofit Vote, n.d. Web. 27 Nov. 2013.
Which is not to say that voter turnout had been impressive in previous years, at it’s highest percent in 2008, it was still only 63.7 percent. For Rousseau’s ideal democracy, this is an abysmal rate of participation, especially considering that presidential elections receive the most attention by far. Voter turnout for local elections is even worse, with only a sad 11.89 percent voting in the 2015 Mayoral election (Petty). However, the general will is more than just the will of all.
Shenkman, R. (2008). Just How Stupid Are We?: Facing the Truth About the American Voter. New York: Basic Books.
Dye, T. R., Zeigler, H., & Schubert, L. (2012). The Irony of Democracy (15th ed.).
Did you know over 60% of teens work in the state of South Dakota? South Dakota Workforce: Of that 60%, nearly all of them are taxed and none of them have the right to vote. This is a clear example of taxation without representation: one of the unjust ideals that America strives to stray from. In his essay, “In Defense of Lowering the Voting Age,” Joshua A. Douglas craftily demonstrates the need for sixteen-year-olds’ votes to establish a fair representation in the municipal world through his use of logos, ethos, and pathos. Although Douglas’s use of pathos is sparse, it is impactful because it helps the reader to connect to the text through their emotions.
Throughout Thoreau’s essay, he expressed his opinions and beliefs on the importance of civil disobedience in a society. He talked about how one must use his or her moral sense, conscience, to decide what is just and unjust. From here, Thoreau urged his readers to take action, to stop the machine from continuing its lifeless duty. His call to action is if a system is prone to corruption, the people must disobey it. This means that personal endangerment may be needed to do what is right. Going against the status quo to uphold justice and ethics is the basic message behind Thoreau’s essay.
Voter turnout has been declining in the United States throughout history, due to the potential voters’ personal choice not to vote and ineligibility. According to research, a large percentage of individuals are not voting because political parties fail to appeal to the voters and this leads to the voting population losing interest in the campaign, while others postpone registering and by the time they realize their delay the election is upon them. This downward trend of voter turnout can be traced to the reforms of the Progressive era. Turnout in post-Progressive era America remained low, never reaching the levels attained before the Progressive era reforms. This would be expected, since there is little in the political history of these years that would indicate a return to a collectively oriented system of voter participation.
Why do people tell stories? People tell stories to convey a message, to get a point across, or to share experiences. Stories are more than just words, they are a medium that can bring out some of the deepest thoughts and feelings we may have. Homer's epic poem has been told over and over again because it is a simple story that covers a lot of main tropes in storytelling and is related to Greek mythology. The story tells the tale of Odysseus, who leads his crew on a journey across the ocean.