Constituents have minimal influence on their legislators' policy priorities

The most basic function of elected politicians is to represent the priorities of their constituents. But to what extent do legislators' policy priorities actually reflect what people want? In new research, Philip D. Waggoner uses states' industrial patterns in combination with survey research to model constituents' preferences and then places these against legislators' bill sponsorship. He finds that legislators tend to make assumptions about what their constituents want, based on the industries in their state, rather than on their expressed policy priorities

Th1 Disabled Function in Response to TLR4 Stimulation of Monocyte-Derived DC from Patients Chronically-Infected by Hepatitis C Virus

Background: Lack of protective antibodies and inefficient cytotoxic responses are characteristics of chronic hepatitis C infection. A defect in dendritic cell (DC) function has thus been suspected, but this remains a controversial issue. Methods and Findings: Here we show that monocyte-derived DC (MoDC) from chronically-infected patients can mature in response to TLR1/2, TLR2/6 or TLR3 ligands. In contrast, when stimulated with the TLR4 ligand LPS, MoDC from patients show a profound defect in inducing IFNc secretion by allogeneic T cells. This defect is not due to defective phenotypic maturation or to the presence of HCV-RNA in DC or monocytes but is correlated to reduced IL-12 secretion by DC. Restoration of DC ability to stimulate IFNc secretion can be obtained by blocking MEK activation in DC, indicating that MEK/ ERK pathway is involved in the Th1 defect of MoDC. Monocytes from HCV patients present increased spontaneous secretion of cytokines and chemokines, especially MIP-1b. Addition of MIP-1b on healthy monocytes during differentiation results in DC that have Th1 defect characteristic of MoDC from HCV patients, suggesting that MIP-1b secretion by HCV monocytes participates in the Th1 defect of DC. Conclusions: Our data indicate that monocytes from HCV patients are activated in vivo. This interferes with their differentiation into DC, leading to deficient TLR4 signaling in these cells that are enable to induce a Th1 response. Thi

Bill Sponsorship in Congress

Bill sponsorship in the American Congress is an outlet for individual legislators to stake out policy positions and set the legislative agenda. This tool is freely available for all legislators to use, whether in the majority or minority party, freshman or senior, Republican or Democrat, male or female. Further, there are relatively few limitations on topics as well as frequency of sponsorship; legislators are free to sponsor as many bills on any topics they wish while serving in office. To date, the scholarly literature has focused almost exclusively on the agenda setting or position taking value of bill sponsorship. Yet, in light of the pressures, constraints, and opportunity cost structure facing legislators every day, I suggest such a widely used tool is leveraged by legislators to satisfy many different goals and to respond to many other pressures, beyond agenda setting and position taking. I expect bill sponsorship to be a strategically and uniquely leveraged tool by legislators in three realms: representation, careerism, and issue ownership and trespassing. To support this argument, I bring to bear numerous theoretical expectations, data sources, and statistical methods. Broadly, I find that legislators use bill sponsorship to indirectly represent constituents, focusing on issues they assume constituents should favor, seen through employment patterns in districts and variance in issue ownership guiding issue focus dependent on the party of the elected legislator. I also find that heritable traits, such as personality, influence the degrees to which legislators decide to align their sponsorship focus with their committee focus to become specialists. Some select this path of careerism, while others do not. Zooming out, I find broadly that bill sponsorship is a valuable form of behavior that deepens an understanding of Congressional behavior in addition to position taking and agenda setting.Political Science, Department o

POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY AND COMMUNITY JUSTICE: A CRITICAL INTERSECTION EXAMINED TO AID IN THE REDUCTION OF RECIDIVISM

ABSTRACT Political philosophy and criminal justice are fields which seemingly rarely mix. While criminal justice is largely focused on the notion of practical, empirical enforcement methods for creating a safer society at large, political philosophy typically remains in the lofty realm of abstract thinking, virtually inaccessible to the lives of individual citizens. However, a thorough examination of political philosophical thought reveals multiple and strong strands of criminal justice theory. Even strong hints of the relatively new notion of community justice can be found interwoven throughout the entire tapestry of the political philosophical tradition, from Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics to John Rawls's A Theory of Justice. Why would such a relationship among traditionally disparate disciplines be worth discovering and developing? This paper addresses that question by demonstrating that in order for communities across the world to accept and view the new notion of community justice as relevant, a framework that is historically rich and practically cogent, as well as academically sound, must be established in order to legitimize this new trajectory of executing justice in society. Thus, in order to reduce and prevent crime, diminish recidivism and create overall safer communities, a political philosophical approach to community justice must be pursued. The form and content of this abstract are approved. I recommend its publication

Philip_Waggoner_Sponsorship_APR-759644_ONLINE_APPENDIX – Supplemental material for Do Constituents Influence Issue-Specific Bill Sponsorship?

<p>Supplemental material, Philip_Waggoner_Sponsorship_APR-759644_ONLINE_APPENDIX for Do Constituents Influence Issue-Specific Bill Sponsorship? by Philip D. Waggoner in American Politics Research</p

Where Are We Going with Statistical Computing? From Mathematical Statistics to Collaborative Data Science

The field of statistical computing is rapidly developing and evolving. Shifting away from the formerly siloed landscape of mathematics, statistics, and computer science, recent advancements in statistical computing are largely characterized by a fusing of these worlds; namely, programming, software development, and applied statistics are merging in new and exciting ways. There are numerous drivers behind this advancement, including open movement (encompassing development, science, and access), the advent of data science as a field, and collaborative problem-solving, as well as practice-altering advances in subfields such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, and Bayesian estimation. In this paper, we trace this shift in how modern statistical computing is performed, and that which has recently emerged from it. This discussion points to a future of boundless potential for the field

Where are we going with statistical computing? From mathematical statistics to collaborative data science

The field of statistical computing is rapidly developing and evolving. Shifting away from the formerly siloed landscape of mathematics, statistics, and computer science, recent advancements in statistical computing are largely characterized by a fusing of these worlds; namely, programming, software development, and applied statistics are merging in new and exciting ways. There are numerous drivers behind this advancement, including open movement (encompassing development, science, and access), the advent of data science as a field, and collaborative problem-solving, as well as practice-altering advances in subfields such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, and Bayesian estimation. In this paper, we trace this shift in how modern statistical computing is performed, and that which has recently emerged from it. This discussion points to a future of boundless potential for the field

Appendix – Supplemental material for The Cost of Doing Business: Congressional Requests, Cost, and Allocation of Presidential Resources

<p>Supplemental material, Appendix for The Cost of Doing Business: Congressional Requests, Cost, and Allocation of Presidential Resources by Brandon Rottinghaus and Philip D. Waggoner in Political Research Quarterly</p

Are samples drawn from Mechanical Turk valid for research on political ideology?

Amazon’s Mechanical Turk (MTurk) is an increasingly popular tool for the recruitment of research subjects. While there has been much focus on the demographic differences between MTurk samples and the national public, we know little about whether liberals and conservatives recruited from MTurk share the same psychological dispositions as their counterparts in the mass public. In the absence of such evidence, some have argued that the selection process involved in joining MTurk invalidates the subject pool for studying questions central to political science. In this paper, we evaluate this claim by comparing a large MTurk sample to two benchmark national samples – one conducted online and one conducted face-to-face. We examine the personality and value-based motivations of political ideology across the three samples. All three samples produce substantively identical results with only minor variation in effect sizes. In short, liberals and conservatives in our MTurk sample closely mirror the psychological divisions of liberals and conservatives in the mass public, though MTurk liberals hold more characteristically liberal values and attitudes than liberals from representative samples. Overall, our results suggest that MTurk is a valid recruitment tool for psychological research on political ideology