American Politics Today Chapter 1 PDF

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Professor Jane Junn...

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Understanding American Politics - How does politics work and why does politics matter? - Why don’t people vote? Why do people vote? How do they decide who to vote for? - Why do so many people mistrust politicians and the political system? - Why cant congress get things done? Why can they get anything done? - Why is the supreme court so political? - Can presidents do whatever they want? Why can’t they do more? - Is the media biased? KEY IDEAS: Politics is conflictual, political process matters, and politics is everywhere  The 2016 presidential campaign and the surprising election of Donald Trump highlighted the conflicts deeply embedded in American political life  American politics make sense if you know how to analyze the politics WHY DO WE HAVE A GOVERNMENT?  Government- the system for implementing decisions made through the political process  All countries have some form of government which has the purpose of providing order and promoting the general welfare To Provide Order  Without government there would be chaos as Thomas Hobbes said, “w/o gov. life is brutish”  And one of the most important roles is policing- making sure that people obey the law and protecting citizens from threats coming from outside the nation  This crucial role is noted in the Constitution preamble: providing for the common defense and insuring domestic tranquility  Government is necessary to provide security  Founders also said they wanted to establish justice and secure the blessings of liberty” because they recognize human nature for what it is  Having a government creates checks and balances, but it also makes people greedy for power and wanted to impose their views  James Madison assumed people were self-interested, and said when they formed groups with like-minded people they became factions which he feared  Factions- Groups of like-minded people who try to influence the government. American government is set up to avoid domination by any one of these groups  So government is necessary to avoid the anarchy of the state of nature, and the right kind is needed to avoid oppression  Americas government seeks to avoid factions by separating powers and assigning distinct duties to each  Separation of Powers- The division of government power across the judicial, executive, and legislative branches  And checks and balances gives each branch some power over the others  Lastly federalism divides power between local, state, and national governments To Promote the General Welfare  The government exists to promote the general welfare with things such as climage change, health insurance, welfare etc..

But intervention is not always needed or wanted, but when it is government action is needed because public goods aernt provided by the free market because of collective action problems  Public Goods- Services or actions (such as protecting the environment) that, once provided to one person, become available to everyone. Would be under-provided by the free market  Collective Action Problems- Situations in which the members of a group would benefit by working together to produce some outcome, but each individual is better off refusing to cooperate and reaping benefits from those who do work.  Its easy for a small group to tackle a problem, but the more people, the more difficult it is- they would suffer from the free rider problem  Free Rider Problem- The incentive to benefit from others’ work without contributing, which leads individuals in a collective action situation to refuse to work together  Thus people are elected and taxes are payed so that public goods can be provided  Collellective action problems are common in modern society ( education ex.)  How does government insure domestic tranquility?- IRS, Federal Reserve, Postal Service, SSA, NASA, FDA, and Department of Education  Most government programs are designed with that purpose Forms of Government  Aristotole described three different types of government: Monarchy( rule by one), Aristocracy( rule by the few), and polity (rule by many-general population)  From polity comes constituitional republican governments based on how power is allocated amongst the branches  Presidential systems such as ours with separation of power and parliamentary with a chief executive from the legislative brabch  Then further into polity, you can have federal with power shared between local, state, national or unitary (U.K.) all the power is national, and confederation(Switzerland) where states have power and form loosely What is politics?  Politics- The process that determines what government does  Politics is much broader than government as it includes ways of behaving and making decisions common in every day life  Politics is conflictual: There is always disagreement over it at all levels and that’s where government policies being created come in, which makes compromise difficult (which is normal)  Political Process Matters: government actions form from conscience choices made by elected officials and beuracrats  Politics puts certain people into positions and makes the rules and structure for what they can do  The political process is the way for resolving conflict  Politics is Everywhere: helps to determine what people can and cannot do, their quality of life, and how they think about situations  Peoples political thought and behavior are driven by the same types of calculations and decision making rules Politics is Conflictual 

Conflict is central in politics EE S argued that how many people are involved in the fight determines who wins Others argue that conflicts are helpful for small groups- questioning flawed views People avoid discussing politics to maintain social harmony This dislike of politics produces a desire for stealth democracy- nondemocratic policies such as running government like a business or having no debate over policies  This idea thinks that everything would be better if we could take politics out of politics, but conflict cannot be avoided and shouldn’t be  And in many cases, no single policy choice satisfies even a slight majority of elected officials or citizens  People know conflict in politics because the easy ones move along fast  A consequence of conflict is compromise and another is that its impossible to get what you want Political Process Matters  Political process determines government actions  Members of the federal bureacy and federal judges are very important to the process though they weren’t elected to their positions  And even citizens effect the process by voting, supporting a certain candidate, donating, or demanding action  Rules govern policy making from presidential requiremnts to voting rules in the senate and house Politics is Everywhere  Through the efforts of people trying to get americans to pay attention even when they don’t want to  All of us can name our party and if we are liberal or conservative  And government policies and regulations of all kinds effect you everday     

Sources of conflict in American politics  Economic Interest, cultural values, racial, gender, ethnic difference, and ideology  1: over time our nation has become more stratified by class to the point that the u.s. has one of the highest levels of income inequality  A commitment to the free market and to economic individualism remains central to our national identity  Free market- an economic system based on competition among businesses without government interference  Economic individualism- the autonomy of individuals to manage their own financial decisions without government interference  Today there are important differences among political parties and their terms of economic interest and favored economic policies  Democrats and activist tend to favor more redistributive tax policies and social spending for the poor  Redistributive tax policies- politics, generally favored by democrats, that use taxation to attempt to create social equality  Republicans in contrast favor lower taxation and less spending on poor and favor regulation of individual behaviors  Also more inclined to the free market

2: cultural views differing is another source of conflict in America Culture wars- political conflict between red state americans( strong religion) and blue state (secular)  Same sex marriage, gun control, family values, etc.  3: racial, gender and ethnic differences cause conflict  Over the last generation, 90 percent of African americans have been democrats, whites tend to be republican, Asians d, latin d, women d, men r  But these aerent fixed so they could change over time  Some believe that when immigrants come to America they should leave their language and culture behind and assimilate  Others say there is strength in diversity and that we are less of a melting pot and more of a tossed salad  Major trends suggest that by 2042 whites will no longer be a major majority in the u.s. population  As long as there are racial differences and racial discrimination there will be continued conflict  Many of these same observations apply to gender in politics  Womens suffrage movement ran through late nineteenth and early 20th c.  Gender inequality exists in politics  4: ideology is another source of interests  Ideology- a cohesive set of ideas and beliefs used to organize and evaluate the political world  Most republicans are conservative and most democrats are liberal  Conservatives favor lower taxes, free market, limited government  Liberals favor social tolerance, stronger government programs, and more market regulation  Libertarians prefer very limited government, believing that the government should provide for the national defense and should only have a few other responsibilities  Personal ideologies are not always consistent Resolving Conflict: democracy and American political values  Written down constraints describe how the actions taken by each partivipant shape the ultimate outcome of conflict  However some of the most important rules are not written down Democracy  Democracy means that policy disagreements are resolved through politics-decisins made by citizens  Government by the people, representative democracy usually  But democracy is not the only way to solve conflict; some use authoritatian government, theocracy, Liberty  Democracy depends on the consent of the governored: if the views of the people change, poilicies and leaders must change to  The American ethos is to embrace conflict and exprerss your views  To the founders, liberty was the simple principle for their new government  Liberty- political freedom, protection of rightsb  And rresolving conflict must involve compromise  

Equality  Equality- before law, political equality, opportunity. But not material ...