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Chapter 1: Understanding American Politics Why Do We Have a Government ● Government- the system for implementing decisions made through the political process ● Government that serves two purposes; to provide order and to promote the general welfare ➔ ● ● ● ● ●

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To provide order Why is there a government? To create order and tame “the state of nature” Most important role of the government are policing and providing national security Two goals of the federal government is to “provide for the common defense” and to “insure domestic tranquility” AKA military protection and law enforcement Government is necessary to provide security James Madison has a pessimistic yet realistic view on mankind: the government reflects people, if men were angels than there would be no need for the government and if angels were in the government then there would be no restraint of power People only want what is best for themselves and their families therefore people with the same thinking group together known as factions Madison’s greatest fear was tyranny of a fraction imposing its will on the rest of the nation which is why many American colonists fled Europe in the first place Federal government is divided by three ways; separation of power, checks and balances, and federalism Separation of powers; judicial, executive, federal Checks and balances; gives each branch some power over the two Federalism; allots different responsibilities to local, state, and national government With this division of power Madison reasoned no single faction could dominate the government

➔ To Promote the General Welfare ● Basically means tackling problems Americans cannot solve on their own ● For example: taking care of the poor, the sick, the aged, global issues such as climate change, terrorist threats, and poverty in other countries ● Government intervention is not inevitable as people can decide these problems aren't worth solving ● If the people believe the issue is worth solving than government action is necessary because of public goods ● If a group of 1,000 tried to figure out a problem on their own the group would suffer from free rider problem as everyone only cares about their best interests ● The government provides public goods that that all those people acting on their own would not be able to provide ● People elect leaders and pay taxes to provide those public goods

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Collective action problem-a situation in which all individuals would be better off cooperating but fail to do so because of conflicting interests between individuals that discourage joint action Collective action problem is common in modern society (ex: education) Ways the government tries to “insure domestic tranquility” and “promote the general welfare” is through groups such as the Internal Revenue Serve, Federal Reserve, Postal Service, Social Security Administration, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Department of Education, FDA, etc American disagree on what kinds of public goods the government should provide

➔ Forms of government ● Aristotle distinguished three different types of government by the number of people ruled vs the number of people ruled; 1) monarchy (rule by one) 2) aristocracy (rule by the few) 3) polity (rule by the many, such as the general population) What Is Politics ● Politics-the process that determines what government does, whether and how it provides different public and private goods ● Politics include ways of behaving and making decisions that are common in everyday life ● Three key ideas of politics 1) Politics is conflictual 2) Political process matters 3) Politics is everywhere How It Works: Three Key Ideas for Understanding Politics ● Politics is conflictual ➔ Disagreements at all levels ➔ Compromise is difficult to achieve but this is a normal and healthy part of politics ➔ Compromise is necessary to produce outcomes ➔ Conflict over issues like the national debt, abortion, and health care reflect disagreements among the American people ➔ Often requires compromises within government ●

Political process matters ➔ Governmental actions are not accidents, they are results from choices made by elected officials ➔ How political conflicts are resolved is important ➔ Elections determine who represents citizens in government ➔ Rules and procedure determine who has power in Congress and other branches

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Politics is everywhere ➔ What happens in government affects our lives in countless ways

➔ Policies related to jobs and the economy, food safety and nutrition, student loans, etc shape our everyday lives ➔ Political information is seen in the news and encounter political situations in many areas of our lives Politics Is Conflictual ● Conflict plays a central role in politics ● Some believe that conflict is helpful for group decision making ● If nobody challenges a widely flawed view, people may convince themselves that the obvious flaw is not a problem ● People avoid discussing politics in order to maintain social harmony ● “Stealth democracy”-undemocratic practices such as running government like a business or taking action without political debate ● Stealth democracy gives the idea of taking politics out of politics ● Example: abortion - Results in intense differences of opinion that is rooted in self-interest, ideology, and personal beliefs - No naitonal consesus on when to allow abortion - No indication that the issue is becoming less important to citizens or elected officials - No sign of a compromise politics that would gain widespread support ● No matter what Congress does people will be unhappy with the result ● Not true that politicians try and find a compromise to satisfy everyone ● No single party choice satisfies a majority of elected officials or citizens ● Conflictual issues have a winning side and a losing side, the winners try to extend their gains and the losers work to roll back policies ● Politicians who bargain with opponents are not abandoning principles but want to strike a deal to make some sort of policy change desired ● It is impossible to get exactly what you want from the political process ● Translating demands, even if it is a popular opinion, into policy change requires citizens to accept something short of their ideal ● Compromise doesn’t mean that change is impossible but that what is achievable often falls short if individuals demands Political Process Matters ● Political process can be compared to a sporting event with strategies and the outcome of winning ● Politics is the process that determines what government does ● Public policy is everything from defending the nation to spending on Medicare ● Elections allow voters the power to enact laws, write budgets, and appoint positions ● It matters who wins ● The 2016 election produced unified Republican control of the presidency and congress ● Since this was the 2016 election result many Obama-era regulations were repealed which would of never happened with a different election result

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Ordinary citizens are also part of politics; donating, voting, party organizations, individual candidates, demand action from these groups Rules and procedures that determine who has the power to make government policy; presidential requirements such as US citizen, rules that structure House and Senate debate and voting Rules have an enormous impact on what can or does happen which means choices about these rules are choices about outcomes The ability to determine political rules empowers the people who make these choices

Politics Is Everywhere ● People encounter a political story every day ● Interest groups, political parties, and candidates work to raise public awareness of the political process and to shape what people want and know ● News media offers extensive coverage of elections, governing, and how government policies affect people ● The federal government is extraordinarily large ● People's political behavior is similar to their behavior in the rest of their lives ● Free riders acting in their own self interest may undermine the outcome that most people prefer ● Not easy to convince like minded people to contribute to a political group and their efforts ● Free riders who refuse to participate yet reap the benefits of others participation ● Example: college students want more student aid and lower interest rates on government loans but they fail to organize politically Sources of conflict in American politics: economic interests, cultural values, identity politics, ideology Economic interests ● People have different economic interests which creates a source of conflict in politics ● Historically the US has been relatively free from class based politics ● Now the nation has been so stratified by class that the US is one of the highest levels of income inequality among developing nations ● Free market-an economic system based on competition among business without government interference ● Economic individualism-the autonomy of individuals to manage their own financial decisions without government interference ● Broad commitment to a free market and economic individualism remains central to our national identity ● Democrats favor redistributive tax policies ● Redistributive tax policies-tax policies that attempt to create greater social equality, such as taxing the rich at higher percentages than the middle class or the poor ● Democrats are more in inclined to regulate industry to protect the environment and ensure worker and product safety and social spending for the poor

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Republicans favor lower taxes and less spending on social policies More supportive of free market and less inclined to interfere with business interests Repulibcans favor regulation of indivuals behavir (aboirtion, same sex marriage, marijuanna, etc)

Cultural Values ● Culture wars, “red state” Americans and “blue state” Americans ● Red state Americans tend to have strong religious beliefs ● Blue state Americans tend to be more secular ● Many Americans disagree on a number of things; whether to supplement the teaching of evolution in public schools with intelligent design and creationism, same-sex marriage, abortion, school prayer, legalization of drugs, gun control, school vouchers, immigration policy, including allowing political refugees to enter the country, the federal Common Core curriculum for K–12 schools; and religious displays in public places Identity Politics: Racial, Gender, and Ethnic Differences ● Many political differences correlate with race, gender, and ethnic differences ● Blacks, latinos, and asain americans tend to support the deomcratic party ● White americans tend to support the republican party ● Should ethnic and racial differences be tied into political interests? ● Melting pot america vs assimilation into american culture ● Melting pot view-there is strength in diversity and embrace a “tossed salad”, favor less restrictive immgration laws ● Assimilation view-English should be the country’s official language, form into american culture ● Regardless of how this debate is resolved our multi racial makeup is clear, by 2060 whites will no longer constitute a majority of the US population ● As long as there are racial differences in employment, education, health, housing, and crime and as long as racial discrimination is present in our society, race will continue to be a source of political conflict ● Many of these same observations apply to gender as well ● Low percentage of women in office ● Many other nations have higher percentages of women in elected office ● Gender politics became even more central the first two years of Trump’s presidency ● #MeToo movement which has drawn attention to sexual assault Ideology ● Ideology-a cohesive set of ideas and beliefs that allows an individual to organize and evaluate the political world ● Republicans tend to be conservative ● Democrats tend to be liberal ● Conservatives promote: Traditional social practices - Favor lower taxes

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Free market More limited government

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Liberals support: - Social tolerance - Stronger government programs - More market regulations

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Libertarians beliefs: - Very limited government - The govt should provide for the national defense - Only have a few other defined responsibilities - Conservative in areas such as social welfare policy, environmental policy, and govt funding for education - Liberal in areas such as personal liberty issues, free speech, abortion, legalization of drugs

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Issues that once divided our nation no longer do anymore (same sex marriage, interracial marriage) Cannot divide American into two groups, red and blue, that oppose each other on all issues

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Resolving Conflict: Democracy and American Political Values ● Some of the most important norms aren’t written down ● Norms- unwritten rules and informal agreements among citizens and elected officials about how government and society should operate ● These norms constitute America’s political culture including democracy, equality, and liberty Democracy ● Democracy- government by the people ● For the most part, America is a representative democracy ● Democracies resolve conflict through voting and elections rather than violence ● Democracy depends on the consent of the governed: if the views of the people change, then the government must eventually respond to the views or people will choose new leaders ● Citizens must then accept election results as authoritative, you have to obey the laws of Congress despite who you voted for Liberty ● Liberty- political freedom ● The Bill of Rights protects liberties such as freedom of speech, press, assembly, religion ● People are free to determine what they want from the government and to organize themselves to demand preferred policies from officials

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System in which individuals are free to form their own views about what the government should do James Madison “suppressing conflict by limiting freedom was worse than a disease”

Equality ● Equality- “all men are created equal” ● Equality of opportunity ● Political equality, all people are treated the same in the political system ● Like democracy, political equality also contributes to resolving conflict ★ Democracy, liberty, and equality are essential to American politics, core values

How to Be a Critical Consumer of Politics ● Hard to decide who you should believe ● Learning about politics is a lot easier nowadays due to numerous sources ● A lot of disagreeing sources out there, who do you believe? ● Trust the more objective source over the one that is trying to shape the conclusions ● Focus on sources that use evidence to back up their claims ● “Analysis without numbers is just opinions” ● Some sources are better than others, pollsters are not always accurate, estimated guess ● Be skeptical about simple explanation answers for political outcomes, complex outcomes are rarely explained by a single factor Unpacking the Conflict ● “Fake news” → Americans can’t agree on what is “fake news”, how can we know what to trust?

Chapter 2: The Constitution and the Founding The historical context of the Constitution ● The Constitution was created through conflict and compromise ● The first act that created the desire for self-governance from Britain was the Stamp Act ● The Stamp Act of 1765-imposed a tax on many publication and legal documents in the colonies, in efforts to pay for the French and Indian War ● Was seen as “taxation without representation” ● Other escalating events: Boston Tea Party, Coercive Acts ● No political solution so the Continental Congress declared independence from Britain on July 4, 1776 The Articles of Confederation:the first attempt at government

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Uncertain future of America because the population was divided into three sections: revolutionaries,Tories, or just wanted it to all to go away The Articles of Confederation-the first attempt to structure an American government, consisted of a decentralized and limited government AOC served as the basis of organizing the government during the Revolutionary War AOC did not include a president or executive leader, rejection of a monarchy All power to Congress, no executive or judicial branch Congress lacked real authority over the states

Republicanism/Human Nature and its Implications for Democracy ● Understood by James Madison and the framers ● Belief that the best form of government is one where the interests of the people are represented through elected leaders ● American government is known as a republican democracy ● Governments cannot control the causes of factions because of difference in opinions ● Governments must try to control the effects of factions because people are driven by self interest Economic Interests ● During the time the constitution was created there were not significant class inequalities as Europe because there was no history of feudalism in the colonies ● Significant regional economic differences, north and south had different forms of business and agriculture ● Division between strong national or state government known as Federalist and Anti Federalists

The politics of compromise at the Constitutional Convention ● Broad consensus that the AOC needed to be changed but there were still tensions over the following: - Majority rules vs minority rights - Large states vs small states - Legislative power vs executive power - National power vs state and local power - Slave states vs non slave states ● Eventually gave up the idea of revising the AOC and decided to start from scratch Majority rules versus minority rights ● In a system ruled by majority it is hard to protect minority rights ● Not racial and ethnic minorities but regional and economic minorities ● Faction (according to Madison)- a group motivated by selfish interests against the common good

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If the interests of majority prevailed it could produce the tyranny the country was trying to avoid tyranny by majority factions, the majority could simply vote out the minority factor If too much protection was provided to minority interests than the collective interest would not be served because constructive changes could be vetoed too easily To avoid this problem Madison presented checks and balances Political theory: Pluralism- the idea that having a variety of parties/interests in a govt will strengthen the system, ensures not one group could posses total power Madison’s ideas pleased federalists and antifederalists State governments would maintain some autonomy and the national government would become stronger

Small states versus large states ● Under the AOC each state had one vote but larger states did not find this fair ● Virginia Plan- plan proposed by larger states, based representation on population, other proposals to strengthen national government ● New Jersey Plan-response to the Virginia Plan, proposed by smaller states, each state should receive equal representation regardless of size ● Great Compromise-compromise between large and small states, Congress would have two houses: senate with 2 representatives per state & House of Representatives where representation would be based of population Legislative power versus executive power ● Extremely challenging figuring out how to divide power at the national level ● Issues revolved around the president ● How should power be split by the president and legislative branch

Limiting Presidential Power ● Did not want a king ● Many believed it was impossible to have an executive who would not be oppressive ● Single executive would be the “fetus of monarchy” ● Constrain presidents power through checks and balances ● President could veto but Congress can override but only with the support of ⅔ of both chambers ● John Locke saw the need for a government of laws created by legislatures but Locke also saw the need for an executive with more flexible leadership powers ● President has the right to grant reprieves and pardons, the president can forgive any crimes a...