American Politics Readings PDF

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Summary review for all American Politics readings...

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The Constitution ● Preamble ● Article I: Legislative branch ● Article II: Executive branch ● Article III: Judicial branch ● Article IV: States ● Article V: Amendments ● Article VI: Constitution takes on debts form Articles of Confederation, it is the law, officials must oath over it ● Article VII: Ratification ●

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Articles of Confederation Preamble Article I: Style Article II: States Rights Article III: Mutual defense Article IV: Laws of other states to be abided; extradition Article V: The Legislature Article VI: Rights denied the States Article VII: Appointment of military officers Article VIII: United States to pay for defense; taxes Article IX: Rights granted the Federal Government Article X: Committee of States Article XI: Canada may join the United States Article XII: Assumption of debt Article XIII: Articles are Supreme Law, amendment The Declaration of Independence Preamble List of abuses Colonists attempted to use diplomacy New government Logic of American Politics Chapters 1-2 Chapter 1: The Logic of American Politics

● Coordination dilemma: requires a lot of focus and work to remain coordinated, as the group is larger need someone to stop and lead  need to create a focal point ● Ex: symphony ● ● Prisoner’s dilemma: Will gain more if both chose option A, but risk losing the most while the other wins the most  so both chose option B

because safer, but would have done better if both chose option A ● Ex: two prisoners and confessing/silent ● ●

Tragedy of the commons: if everyone shares something, there isn’t enough or that something will suffer wear  everyone suffers  need to regulate/privatize ● Ex: common pasture of cattle or fishing ● ● ●

Transaction costs and conformity costs

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Private goods, public goods, externalities

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Leading up to the Constitution (page 46) ● 1750s: French and Indian War drains the British treasury and calls for colonial unity ● 1760s: Stamp Act enacted, followed by the Stamp Act Congress  delegates ● 1770s: Tea Act  Boston Tea Party, Coercive Acts  Declaration of American Rights, Battles of Lexington and Concord  Second Continental Congress = government, Declaration of Independence, Paine’s Common Sense  Articles of Confederation ● 1780s: Hartford Convention and British surrender  Articles of Confederation ratified, Shay’s Rebellion  Constitutional Convention, The Federalist  Constitution ratified

Chapter 2: The Constitution

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Problems under the Articles ● Congress was in debt and couldn’t get money ● States faced prisoner dilemma  because not enforced, states weren’t willing to contribute money because other states might not ● Poor economic relations between states and with other nations ● Discontent  Shay’s Rebellion

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Locke’s popular sovereignty: people have the right to chose those in authority and can take away that authority ● ● ●

Virginia and New Jersey Plans  the Great Compromise

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Logroll: strategy when two sides swap support for dissimilar policies

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Practice of American Politics Chapter 1 OLSON Collective action

Individuals in groups do not act in that group’s interest unless it is a very small group or there is coercion (will not voluntarily act to achieve their common/group interest) ●

● ● Organizations/associations exist to further the interests of their members  usually common interests ● When individuals share a common interest, individual unorganized action will not suffice ● Each individual has own interests too ● ● Patriotism is strongest non-economic motive for organizational allegiance  but can’t support solely on contributions or volunteers (taxation) ● ● ●

HARDIN Tragedy of the Commons

Invisible hand in population control (the ideal population is not the maximum one)

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We’re all in a system that encourages us to increase our use of something ● Ex: If there is free land for cattle, herdsmen will want to put as many cattle in it as they can ●

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Can privatize or regulate/allocate Pollution

● Issue: How do you legislate temperance? It’s easy to prohibit, but not to enforce. Mutual Coercion/ Mutually Agreed Upon ● Ex: taxing ● ● ●

PUTNAM Cooperation (No free-riders)

● Many people want certain things, but efforts to achieve it fail  when cooperation fails ● ● ● ●

Social capital: features of social organization (networks, norms, trust)

Combining private infrastructure with public policies and using public policies to revitalize America’s stocks of social capital ● ● ●

Federalist Papers

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10: factions, large republic

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51: 47: 49: 58:

checks and balances separation of power no tyranny ability of the House of Representatives to grow with the population

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How Democratic is the Constitution? Chapters 1, 3-4, 6

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WOODS

Beard: the Constitution was an aristocratic document created to pursue founders own economic interests ● We see founders as “demi-gods” because can’t explain how they made such a radical and nuanced document ●

Articles of Confederation were weak and Americans knew this  were willing to give Congress more powers ● No one expected the Constitution  created such a strong national government and eliminated states powers ● Constitution created a disproportional amount of power to a central government in comparison to weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation ●

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States of 1780s didn’t see selves as democracies  democracy was defined as a government by the people  they had elected representatives ● State legislatures abused their power  enacted too many legislations too fast  unfair ● Vulnerable to local interests  unstable changes and laws ● Rooted from excessive democracy  fear of tyranny of majority ●

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Madison argued for a large republic  was not supportive of interest group politics  believed these many small competing factions would neutralize each other, which would allow rational to dominate

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PARENTI

● Most of the population was poor but the office-holders were mostly rich planters ● ● Framers were all rich  were losing power among common people and needed to form an ally with each other with a central government  protecting own interests ●

Wanted to protect the haves (property owners) from the have-nots (propertiless)

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BERNS

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Constitution is more democratic

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Now some define democratic as equality Real struggle of ratification was representation

● Madison said there are 2 options for democracy  conformity or factions ● Anti-federalists wanted conformity ● ● ● ●

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BESSETTE Madison’s deliberative democracy ● Deliberate majority ● Threatened by corporate/elitist control/interests/power Logic of American Politics Chapter 3

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Externality (positive and negative)

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Dual Federalism Shared/Cooperative Federalism Nationalization

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Federalism  Confederation + Unitary

17th Amendment: direct election of Senators

The Supremacy Clause: Article VI, restricted national policy in the 19 th century, but then national government became the supreme power ● ● ●

Enumerated powers: national government’s powers

● Elastic clauses: Article 1 Section 8 (Congress can make laws that are necessary and proper) ● ●

10th Amendment: The powers not given to the national government in the Constitution are the states’ ● ● McCulloch v. Maryland: reaffirmed elastic clause, Congress had the right to create a bank ●

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Gibbons v. Ogden: Congress could regulate interstate commerce

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Paths to nationalization: ● Americans have adopted policies that states don’t have resources for ● States solicit federal intervention because cannot solve issues independently or with each other ● National majorities insist on federal involvement in traditionally state/local matters

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FDR New Deal 1930s and LBJ Great Society 1960s Why need nationalization: ● Coordination problems between the states ● Reneging and shirking (tragedy of the commons: no one wants to breathe bad air but everyone continues to pollute unless regulated) ● Competition (prisoner’s dilemma between states)

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Preemption legislation: federal laws that assert the national government’s prerogative to control public policy ● Thanks to supremacy clause ● Shared federalism, federal government helps states regulate, not curtails ●

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Carrot (financial inducements) and stick (regulation and mandates) ● Carrot: Grants-in-aid, block grant, matching grant (creates a moral hazard where they take risks and don’t have to pay all the costs) ● Stick: cross-cutting requirements (rules/guidelines for federally subsidized state programs), crossover sanctions (a state must adhere to federal guidelines to an unrelated program to be fully eligible for another program), direct orders (requirements enforced by legal/civic penalties), and partial preemption (federal laws that allow states to administer joint federal-state programs as long as they conform to federal guidelines)

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Practice of American Politics 2.1, 2.2, 3.2, 3.3

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Roche

Constitution was a “patch-work sewn together under the pressure of both time and events” ● ●

“No doubt the goals of the constitutional elite were ‘subversive’ to the existing political order, but it is overlooked that their subversion could only

have succeeded if the people of the United States endorsed it by regularized procedures” (35). ● ● ●

Had to get consensus and ratification

There was a fundamental ideological consensus  why delegates stayed and participated, argued/debated/compromised on specifics

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Critical fight was over representation which was solved with the Connecticut Compromise

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Not much debate with respect to the Executive ● electoral college picked by the state legislatures  proportional but each state had at least 3, also directly elected by the people Brutus Anti-Federalist: issues of the Constitution and nominal representation

Senate is small and no proportionate but can veto over the more democratic House ● ● ●

Representative should be just like the people

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Will lead to a natural aristocracy  will only help each other

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Kettl Katrina showed the flaws of American federalism

● too many players involved in a difficult process: finer-pointing and blame-shifting ● ● The Framers made the national government supreme but allowed the states to govern themselves with the 10th Amendment (Any powers not listed go to states) ● ●

Federalism’s strength comes form its flexibility “its ability to adapt to new problems and political cross-pressures” (87). ● ●

Creates multiple venues for political action. Can go to the different levels. ● ● ●

Dual federalism: separate spheres

Fourteenth Amendment ended dual federalism: equal protection clause set a national standard which gave the courts power to enforce national policy over state objections (89)

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● ● Fiscal Federalism: citizens and national policy-makers wanted to pursue projects but states didn’t have the resources  national government ● could tell what states to do by offering grants ● “it sidestepped constitutional limitations on national interference in state and local issues” and allowed the national government to deal directly with local governments (93). ● ●

“In reality, federalism is a set of political action arenas. It is far less an institution than a living organism, one that breathes, grows, shrinks, and changes in response to the forces pressing upon it” (100). ● ● ● ●

Rauch

Independent state action: allows different policy approaches to be tested simultaneously and successes tend to be copied by other states and frequently serve as models for national policy ● also moderates easily inflamed cultural issues ●

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Abortion is a national right but gay marriage is decided by the states courts don’t want to decide  leave it to the states

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Moral pluralism

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Tocqueville’s Democracy in America

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Volume 1:

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Author’s Introduction

Chapter 3 There are differences in wealth, but not aristocratic privileges Everyone is equal in America , 4, 8, 14, 15, 17, 18

Volume 2: Second Book: Chapters 1-9, Third Book: Chapters 3, 5, 13, 14, 18, 21, Fourth Book: Chapters 1-8 ● ● ● ●

Putnam’s “Turning In, Turning Out” social capital: citizen’s engagement in community affairs ● features of social life (networks, norms, and trust) that enable participants to act together more effectively to pursue shared objectives (665).

● ● Political participation refers to our relations with political institutions. Social capital refers to our relations with one another (665). ● sending a check to a PAC is not social capital ● ●

Civic engagement refers to people’s connections with the life of their communities ● ● ●

The more we connect with people, the more we trust them

America’s social capital has been shrinking for more than a quarter century ● participation within organizations has decreased, spend less time on informal socializing, visiting, and clubs/organizations ● change in forms of political participation  just have to use a pen (check, petition) while rallies, meetings, and working for a party has decreased

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● ● Social capital decreased starting in the 60s and rapidly decreased in the 70s and 80s ● ●

Reasons why

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business and time pressure economic hard times residential mobility suburbanization women in the work force and the stress of two-career families disruption of marriage and family ties different economy: chain stores, branch firms, the service sector Vietnam, Watergate, disillusion with public life, cultural against authority growth of the welfare state the civil rights revolution Television, the electronic revolution

Education is a powerful predictor of civic engagement ● highly educated are more likely to be joiners and trusters ● we are better educated than previous generations

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Americans feel busier now ● pressure from the economy  job insecurity, declining real wages ● but doesn’t seem to be a factor ● reports show that we’ve gained more free time than previous generations ● employed workers are involved in more groups than those outside the work force ● hard work does not prevent civic engagement

● ● Residential stability (homeownership) is WRONGLY associated civic engagement ● people are staying where they live ● ●

Small towns and rural areas are more trusting with each other ● residents of large cities are a lot less trusting ● types of groups differ based on location

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Women in the workforce ● women belong to fewer voluntary associations than men but they spend more time on these groups and more informal social connecting time ● relative declines are greater with women ● working women are slightly more involved than housewives Marriage and family ● increase in divorce rates and single parents ● unmarried people are less trusting and less engaged

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Size of government and the Welfare State ● big government undermines social capital ● slum clearance policies of the 50s and 60s, social expenditures and tax policies Race and Civil Rights ● decline in social capital happened right after the successes of the civil rights movement ● blacks are less trusting

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Generational ● second to education as predictor of civic engagement and trust ● older people belong to more organizations than young people ● older people vote more and read the newspaper more  associated with joining and trusting ● older people are more trusting and engaged but we don’t become more trusting and engaged with age

● ● Life cycle effects: differences attributable to stage of life, they produce no change even though there is change with age ● ● ●

Period effects: effect everyone regardless of era, age, etc.

Generational effect: people in the same generation share the same historical moment, produces social change  no individual changes, society does ●

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Which generation you were born into does effect

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Television is the culprit ● introduced in the 50s, the fastest distribution of a technological advance ● TV is associated with low social capital while newspaper is associated with high social capital ● TV seems to be the only leisure activity that inhibits participation outside the home ● TV privatizes our leisure time (679) ● TV watchers are unusually skeptical about the benevolence of other people  pessimistic ● Children watch a lot of TV

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or 7)

Huntington’s The Promise of Disharmony Chapters 1-8 (not 4

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Principles of American Politics 10.4 FIORINA

Many believe that Americans are increasingly polarized especially over cultural issues ● Fiorina argues that it is the political elites that have become polarized and have changed the voting options ●

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There have been close elections recently ● “50-50” nation

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Shows that there are not that many differences between blue and red states ●

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Also, partisanship and ideology are strong correlates of who votes Logic of American Politics Chapter 4 Racial profiling Civil rights: political participation and expression Civil liberties: Constitution’s protection from government power The height of Slavery 1808-1865

● The Missouri Compromise 1820: issue of whether or not Missouri would be a slave state, was entered as a slave state and Maine as a free state, 36°30’ line ● ●

Compromise of 1850: allowed residents of the territories to decide for themselves whether to apply for statehood as a slave or free state ● ●

Fugitive Slave Law: northerners have to honor southerners’ property claims to slaves ● ●

Dred Scott v. Sandford: 1857, the federal government could not prevent slavery in the territories ● ●

Reconstruction 1865-1877 ● Thirteenth Amendment: no slavery ● Fourteenth Amendment: equal protection before the law ● Fifteenth Amendment: everyone has the right to vote

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Black codes: prevented former slaves from voting 1890s Jim Crow Laws ● segregation ● white primary: African Americans couldn’t vote in the primaries ● poll tax ● literacy test ● grandfather clauses

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Plessy v. Ferguson: separate but equal

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1932 FDR and New Deal

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Smith v. Allwright 1944: no more white primary

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Brown v. The Board of Education a...