The documentary: ‘Last Man Standing: Politics, Texas Style’ tells the story of two sets of elections in Texas in the year of 2002. The main election shown is the race for State Representative, between the incumbent, Rick Green and his opponent, Patrick Rose. As well as this, the election for state Governor between Perry and Sanchez is also shown. Throughout the film, the five principles of politics: The History Principle, The Rationality Principle, The Institution Principle, The Collective-Action Principle and The Policy Principle, manifest themselves in many different ways. The first aspect of The 5 Principles is The History Principle. This principle is concerned with how everything to do with politics got to be like it is today. This includes: Why institutions are the way they are, why certain groups of voters choose to vote for certain candidates and how past events can affect politics and elections particularly. This principle is demonstrated very clearly in the documentary. Firstly, Texas was historically a democratic state but this has changed in recent times and it is clear that in recent history, republicans have a better record in elections in Texas. The documentary explains that during the ‘technological boom’ in Austin, a lot of new voters moved into this area and into Texas in general. The people were predominantly white but the minority groups were also growing which meant that Texas good very easily swing towards the democrat or republican side. One political commentator in the documentary said when talking about voters in Texas, ‘They go out there, find a Republican and they vote for them’. This shows that at the time of the election this election, the Republican Party were favorites and so therefore was Rick Greene. In this particular case, of the Republican rise, it is clear that religion and more specifically the activity of
The documentary: ‘Last Man Standing: Politics, Texas Style’ tells the story of two sets of elections in Texas in the year of 2002. The main election shown is the race for State Representative, between the incumbent, Rick Green and his opponent, Patrick Rose. As well as this, the election for state Governor between Perry and Sanchez is also shown. Throughout the film, the five principles of politics: The History Principle, The Rationality Principle, The Institution Principle, The Collective-Action Principle and The Policy Principle, manifest themselves in many different ways. The first aspect of The 5 Principles is The History Principle. This principle is concerned with how everything to do with politics got to be like it is today. This includes: Why institutions are the way they are, why certain groups of voters choose to vote for certain candidates and how past events can affect politics and elections particularly. This principle is demonstrated very clearly in the documentary. Firstly, Texas was historically a democratic state but this has changed in recent times and it is clear that in recent history, republicans have a better record in elections in Texas. The documentary explains that during the ‘technological boom’ in Austin, a lot of new voters moved into this area and into Texas in general. The people were predominantly white but the minority groups were also growing which meant that Texas good very easily swing towards the democrat or republican side. One political commentator in the documentary said when talking about voters in Texas, ‘They go out there, find a Republican and they vote for them’. This shows that at the time of the election this election, the Republican Party were favorites and so therefore was Rick Greene. In this particular case, of the Republican rise, it is clear that religion and more specifically the activity of