Thinking Moves:

Essential Steps in Developing Deep Understanding

Thinking
Moves

Observable
Thinking
Behaviours
Notice parts
and features

Observing
closely and
describing
whats there Take detailed
notes to
record
observations
Describe parts
and features
in detail

Actions that Demonstrate Deep Thinking

Factions Have a Role to Play:

To many outside of the United States, the

elections consist of two main parties, the
Democrats and the Republicans; however, the
parties themselves are often further split due
to factional differences

Factions are often deciding factors in elections

because they cause a split within the parties
themselves

This article analyzes the Republican Party and

how factionalism has separated them by
several different schools of thoughts:
neoconservatives; traditionalists; libertarians;
religious rights

Whichever category they feel they belong to

more, they choose the candidate that
embodies it

However, one other simpler way of looking at

Republican factionalism is through the degree
of conservatism; moderate or hardcore
conservatives (represented most recently by
the Tea Party and Donald Trump)

However, many Americans decide who to vote

for not based on the candidates they believe
in but the candidates they dont, so the
Republicans know they wont vote for Barack
Obama, thus, they choose the other party
Flood of Money in US Election is a Scandal Waiting
to Happen:

There has been a spike of spending by

candidates in the current election running for
2016

Both Hillary Clinton and Jeb Bush have spent

more than Barack Obama and Mitt Romney
spent combined

The Supreme Court, however, continue to

allow for this excessive spending by lifting
limitations

The financial support has proven to be very

influential in campaigns:

Bob Inglis held the congressional seat for

South Carolina until 2010 when he changed
his stance on climate change and he lost the
support of many of his interest groups,
including the Koch Brothers, who went to Trey
Gowdy, who in turn, defeated the
aforementioned Inglis

At the same time, confusingly, the author also

claims unlike the in (Im guessing recent) past,
money no longer dominates because
candidates such as Clinton and Bush will be
leading the boards regardless of the financial
support they have; that is true but it is also
probably largely due to their competitors, who
either have lack of influence or are too
extreme (Trump and Sanders)

However, where is the money coming from?

Mostly from the Super PACs (Political Action
Committees) that are responsible for financial
backing for the candidates they support. Some
are, as the author claims, dark money which
comes from individuals or organizations that
donate but are looking for special favours or
access, pointing towards corrupt scandals that
would be a media field day

The last election had $300 million worth of

dark money, and the author believes there will
be twice as more in 2016
Up in Arms:

When people think about gun violence, people

naturally look at the United States as a whole;
and like with other issues, it has become a
horrible habit for the world to over-generalize
the country

From the beginning, the United States has

largely been consisted of several different
nations, or groups of people, that separates
the country on many different contentious
issues

The history of each region and the people that

dominate affects the values of each different
group of people up to this day

The author identifies eleven different nations

that exist today and they are: Yankeedom;
New Netherland; the Midlands; Tidewater;
Greater Appalachia; Deep South; El Norte; the
Left Coast; the Far West; New France; and the
First Nation

Theres a trend as the eleven of these groups

begin to merge together on many different
issues due to similar views and values

The two superpowers in the eleven nations are

Yankeedom and the Deep South and the other
groups take their sides accordingly; Greater
Appalachia and Tidewater (sometimes the Far
West) siding with the Deep South and New
Netherland and the Left Coast leanings with
Yankeedom. The other nations, especially
Midlands and El Norte act as swing states that
often become the deciding votes

Wondering
and asking
questions

Imagine
possible
connections
and
implications
Relate ideas to
emotions and
values
Create
questions to
propel further
inquiry

The former tend to be more conservative

given their origin of a more traditional,
respect-authority, hierarchical, warrior-ethic
society and the latter more liberal and
emphasizing self-restraint, individualism, and
intellectual achievement
Social Liberals are Destroying America:

Obviously a very conservative article written

by a very conservative man

He believes social liberalism is stupid because

it has no values and causes the society to fail
(I agree the name is contradictory in nature
but that doesnt mean the school itself is
wrong)

He wants structure in society he believes only

conservatism can offer

He says our cities are built on traditional

values but how then, will a country advance if
they cling onto their traditional beliefs? Was
black rights not only granted by breaking free
from the chains of traditional values?

While his main focus in his article was

supposed to be on the failure of social liberals,
he somehow spends 80% of it on his view
about homosexuals
Factions Have a Role to Play:

For those who decide to vote for a party

because they simply do not believe in the
opposing party, which candidate do they tend
to go for? Ex: For Republicans, would those
anti-Democrats go for moderate conservatives
or more radical ones?

It seems many of the categories of schools of

thought overlap in terms of their values and
purpose, what distinguishes them to make
them, often times, so drastically different?
Flood of Money in US Election is a Scandal Waiting
to Happen:

The article does not really identify the direct

effects financial support may have on the
success of a candidate. The evidence is clear
that financial support from billionaires
definitely is, but what are the specific
connections between the two?

If there is such strong evidence for dark

money being spent by candidates, why hasnt
the Supreme Court done anything in shedding
light on the issue and making spending be
reported openly?
Up in Arms:

How will globalization and the connection of

the world through faster means of
communication and transportation change the

Building
Examine
explanations
similarities
and
and
interpretations
differences
Hypothesize
and test
ideas
Summarize the
main idea

Reasoning
Search for
with evidence
evidence to
support
claims
Check for
validity and
soundness
Verify
sufficiency of
detail to
support
claims

stances/nature of the nations, will they begin

to integrate or separate?
Social Liberals are Destroying America:

Why does seeking to integrate social justice

under the terms of liberalism make social
liberalism without value?
Factions Have a Role to Play:

Underneath the surface of political parties are

the factions that strongly influences the
outcome of each party and the candidates
that emerge
Flood of Money in US Election is a Scandal Waiting
to Happen:

Money has become an influential determinant

in the success of candidates (except
apparently for the current one) but much of
the beneficiaries are doing it for their own
vested interests and a lot of the portion of the
money may come from what is dark money.
However, whether or not the money comes
from illegal sources does not impact the
Supreme Court lifting restrictions.
Up in Arms:

The United States is riddled with eleven

different nationscreated from their own
unique history and origin that separates the
country apart when it comes to their stances
on many different issues such as gun control,
economic policies, and social welfare
Social Liberals are Destroying America:

His ultimate goal is to try to undermine social

liberalism as a school without values and
structure but he fails badly to do so
Factions Have a Role to Play:

While the authors credibility is not as

influential as it could be given his credentials,
hes writing for the respected New York Times
and looking at the history of factions that have
existed, the arguments put forth seem
reasonable

It makes sense that people within a party may

have different interests and thus, factions
would naturally arise within political parties
that simply offer a basic framework and
general belief
Flood of Money in US Election is a Scandal Waiting
to Happen:

The article is published by the prestigious New

York Times which boosts its credibility. Looking
at simple statistics can support the facts that
that the author uses, such as the amount of
financial support each candidate obtained as
well as the amount of dark money there was

Uncovering
complexity
and going
below the
surface

Identify and
reject
simplistic
explanations
Search for
alternative
evidence and
explanations

in previous elections.

This author used sufficient evidence to build a

strong cause-and-effect link between money
and the political influence it buys

This article does lack in explanation for how

money directly influences the success of
candidates. While the evidence does strongly
support it, it would be better if the author used
a paragraph to quickly sum up the possible
connections between them.
Up in Arms:

While the source of the article comes from a

university, Tufts comes from Massachusetts
and the credentials of the author are also
largely debatable

In addition, as the author pointed out himself,

there are different nations with different
stances on the issue and Massachusetts is part
of the Yankeedom and therefore, as evident in
his slightly prejudiced writing, he is against the
Deep South-leaning side, most obvious by his
referring to the Greater Appalachia by the
derogatory slang: Redneck
Social Liberals are Destroying America:

By looking at the source, I see many problems

with the article For starters, its published by
Eagle Nation what kind of nationalistic,
Murica-obsessed publisher is this?! The
author has a Ph.D in Literature the
PERFECT degree for a trustworthy analysis
on political issues and he has over 200 blogs,
600 poems, a memoir based on his boxing
career? How do any of those add to his
credibility as a political critique?

How is social liberalism a failure to have

values? He fails to explain this at all. Is trying
to distribute the wealth and privileges of a
country not a value? Thats a set goal and the
policies implemented by social liberalists
revolve around that.

The source he cites about homosexual issue is

from a cardinal, a member of the clergy
sure, thats definitely accurate
Factions Have a Role to Play:

The schools of thoughts mentioned by the

article was not explained so here:

Neoconservatives: Combines traditional

conservatism with political individualism (more
liberal in this sense) but is strongly focused on
national interest, often with military force

Traditionalists: Self-explanatory and they seek

to uphold the traditional moral codes and
values; theyre the reactionaries and often

 Examine all
parts of
issues to
explore
complexity
Search for deep
causes

have similarities with the religious rights group

Libertarians: People who seek to maximize

autonomy (self-government), freedom of
choice, political freedom, and importance of
equality

Religious Rights: Refers to religiously

motivated right-wing/conservative movements
Flood of Money in US Election is a Scandal Waiting
to Happen:

Links below:

http://freakonomics.com/2012/01/17/how-much-does-campaign-spending-influence-the-election-a-freakonomicsquorum/

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/cifamerica/2012/jan/29/us-politicsvote-money-wins

Making
connections

Connect new
information
with whats
known
Identify
patterns and
perspectives
Identify areas of
agreement
and
disagreement
between
sources

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-partisan/wp/2013/05/06/when-money-matters-inelections/

Up in Arms:

There are exceptions to all cases, the easiest

and most obvious being Donald Trump who
came from the Bronx but nevertheless would
definitely represent the Deep South
conservative side
Social Liberals are Destroying America:

According to him, gay marriage is ugly

because it goes against the aesthetics of
heterosexual love between man and woman.
This does not make sense given that
homosexual people are born the same except
for their sexual orientation with which they do
not have a choice and do not need one.

Lack of economic regulation led to the seven

billion dollar debt not the fact that America is
not conservative. Social conservatives fail to
deliver their position on economics and
therefore, cannot state that they will not bring
the USA to the same amount of debt, perhaps
even more.
Factions Have a Role to Play:

Trump is an ideal example of a faction within

the Republican Party. Most Republicans do not
agree with his position, however, there are
many who do and he is still leading in the polls

Donald Trump gains his supporter from the

more radical (I would argue radical because
reactionary would be in support of the status
quo and Trumps envisioned world is far from
that) conservatives and he has successfully
split the party in two, pulling a large majority
towards him

His faction of the Republican Party will

significantly influence the election results as
instead of having people decide theyre
Republican because they know they dont
want the Democrats, people are actually
motivated and publically, strongly supporting
this man; in short, rather than having

Capturing the Capturing the

heart and
essence of a
forming
concept
conclusions
Forming a
reasoned
judgement
based on
foregoing
thinking

Republican supporters spread out evenly

between the candidates, he has pooled a large
amount to his side
Flood of Money in US Election is a Scandal Waiting
to Happen:

Trump himself says, repeatedly, that he has A

LOT of money (claiming he has a net worth of
10 billion dollars which is debatable) and it
clearly has not stopped him selling his name
and making his candidacy a massive success
Up in Arms:

The United States is split in many issues such

as the recent LGBTQ rights and the everlasting gun control and theyre usually split
based on the different nations in the United
States
Connections Between the Articles:

Author of Social Liberals are Destroying

America is evidently what the epitome of a
traditionalist as the author of Factions Have
a Role to Play stated

Since the beginning, the United States has

been separated by the groups of people that
settled in different regions of the country.
These groups polarized to be considered
different nations. Thus, the United States is a
great example of a multinational country. The
country has seen much conflict because of the
different interests the groups have. These
nations have come together or even separated
to form different factions that influence
American politics today. The people who give
financial support to the factions would come
from the nation the faction they support come
from for obvious, self-interested reasons. The
last article is an ideal example of someone
who probably came from the Deep South or
one of the nations that are allied with them.
The faction he supports is known as political
conservatism and his stance is very clear on
homosexual equality.

4 Higher Order Questions:

1) How will globalization and the connection of the world through faster means of
communication and transportation change the stances/nature of the nations, will
they begin to integrate or separate?
2) To what extent does having many nations benefit a country? Does it offer the
decision-maker more perspectives to look from or simply stall it from effectively
making change?
3) Should the United States continue to have a legal system that was purposely
designed to make it hard to implement changes to the law given the many
nations/factions that exist?
4) How does the financial aspect of an election influence its results?