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PSC 201: American Government.
Janda, Berry & Goldman, Challenge of Democracy
Student Outlines.
compiled from student contributions (thanks) by Jeremy Lewis.  Last revised 9 Aug 2002.

? The Globalization of American Government

o Governments are posed these questions
?  Which is better: to live under a government that allows individuals complete freedom to do whatever they please or to live under one that enforces strict law and order?
? Which is better: to let all citizens keep the same share of their income for to tax wealthier people at a higher rate to fund programs for poorer people?
o Government (standard definition) – the legitimate use of force within a specified geographical boundaries to control human behavior

o National sovereignty – each national government has the right to govern its people as it wishes, without interference from other nations

o Globalization – the increasing interdependence of citizens and nations across the world

? The purposes of Government
? Maintaining order - Establishing the rule of law to preserve life and protect property
? Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679), Wrote Leviathan, Described life without government as a “state of nature” , Anarchy

o Hobbes believed that a single ruler, or sovereign, must possess unquestioned authority to guarantee the safety of the weak, to protect them from the attacks of the strong.

o He believed that complete obedience to Leviathan’s strict laws was a small price to pay for the security of living in a civil society.

o His conception of life in the cruel state of nature led him to view government primarily as a means of guaranteeing people’s survival.

? John Locke (1632- 1704)

o English philosopher who wrote Two Treatises on Government (1690)
? Wrote that the protection of life, liberty, and property was the basic objective of government
? This phrase was closely paralleled in the Declaration of the Independence with the phrase “Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness”
? Locke’s views on unalienable rights became linked with safeguards for individual liberties in the doctrine of liberalism

? Karl Marx (1818 – 1883)

o Rejected the private ownership of property used in the production of goods or services
o His ideas form the base of communism
? Communism gives ownership of all land and productive facilities to the people to the government
? The government owns EVERYTHING

?  Providing Public Goods
? Public Goods – benefits and services, such as parks and sanitation, that benefit all citizens but are not likely to be produced voluntarily by individuals
? They tax citizens to raise money to spend on public goods ex: education, sanitation, and parks
? Promoting Equality
? Issue is government’s role in redistributing income
? Taking from the rich to give to the needy has become a legitimate function of most governments
? There are other ways to promote equality such as non-segregation, and allowing “civil union” which allows same-sex marriages

o The cost of maintaining order and promoting equality usually means a tradeoff on basic values
o Concept – a generalized idea of a set of items or thoughts
o There are five concepts that deal with the fundamental issues of what government tires to do and how it decides to do it

o Freedom
? Freedom is used in two senses “freedom of” and “freedom from”
? Freedom of – the absence of constraints on behavior

o Freedom is synonymous with liberty

? Freedom from – freedom from fear and want

o Often symbolizes the fight against exploitation and oppression

? Civil Rights movement of 1960s

o Often called “equality”

o Order
? Viewed in two senses
? Narrow,  Preserving life and protecting property
? Broader, Preserving social order
? Police power – the authority of a government to maintain order and safeguard citizens’ health, morals, safety, and welfare
? The extent to which government should use this authority is a topic of ongoing debate in the United States
? Order in this book encompasses all three aspects: preserving life, protecting property, and maintaining traditional patterns of social relationships
o Equality
? Equality is used in different senses depending on the situation
? Political Equality – equality in political decision making

o Each citizen has one and only one vote

? Social Equality – equality in wealth, education, and status

o This is necessary for TRUE political equality
o Two routes to promoting social equality

? Providing equal opportunities
? Deeply engrained in American culture

o Public schools and libraries are available to all

? Ensuring equal outcomes
? It is not enough that governments provide people with equal opportunities; they must also design policies that redistribute wealth and status so that economic and social equality are actually achieved.
? Rights – the benefits of government to which every citizen is entitled
? Every citizen is entitled to certain benefits of government
? Two Dilemmas of Government
o The Original Dilemma: Freedom Versus Order
? How much freedom must a citizen surrender to government?
? Jean Jacques Rousseau (1712 – 1778)

o Problem of devising a proper government “is to find a form of association which will defend and protect with the whole common force the person and goods of each associate, and in which each, while uniting himself with all, may still obey himself alone, and remain free as before.

? The original purpose of government was to protect life and property, to make citizens safe from violence.
o The Modern Dilemma: Freedom vs. Equality
? The two values clash when governments enact policies to promote social equality.
? 1960s – Equal Pay Act

o Required employers to pay men and women the same rate for equal work.

? 1970s – Busing of schoolchildren

o The courts ordered a fair distribution of blacks and whites in public schools.

? This was motivated by the concern over educational equality, but it impaired freedom of choice.
? 1980s – Pay Equity

o Equal pay for comparable work.

? Women had to be paid at a rate equal to men’s even if they had different jobs, providing the women’s jobs were of comparable worth.
? 1990s – 1990 Americans With Disabilities Act

o Congress prohibited discrimination within employment, public services, and public accommodations on the basis of a physical or mental disability.

? These examples illustrate the challenge of using government power to promote equality.
? When forced to choose between the two, Americans are far more likely to choose freedom over equality than are people in other countries.
? Ideology and the Scope of Government

o Political Ideology – a consistent set of values and beliefs about the proper purpose and scope of government
o How far should the government go to maintain order, provide

  I. The Theory of Democratic Government
        A. Autocracy - one individual has the power to make all important decisions
                1. At one extreme of continuum
                2. Iraq
        B. Oligarchy - power is concentrated in the hands of a few people
                1. Military leaders are often the rulers in these countries

 II. The meanings and symbolism of democracy
        A. Demagogue - refers to a politician who appeals to and often deceives the masses by
           manipulating their emotions and prejudices.
        B. Two major schools of thought about what constitutes democracy
                1. Democracy is a form of government
                        a. emphasizes the procedures that enable the people to govern.
                                1. Discuss issues, voting in elections, and running for public office
                                2. Procedural approach focuses on how decisions are made
                2. Democracy in the substance of government policies
                        a. Freedom of religion and the provision for human needs
                        b. Substantive approach is concerned with what government does

III. Procedural view of democracy
        A. Three questions the principles address
                1. Who should participate in decision making?
                2. How much should each participant's vote count?
                3. How many votes are needed to reach a decision?
        B. Universal participation - all adults should participate in government decision making
                1. Everyone within the boundaries of the political community should be allowed to
                   vote.
        C. Political equality - all votes should be counted equally
        D. Majority Rule - group should decide to what the majority of its participants (50% plus
           one person) wants to do.
                1. Plurality Rule - if participants divide over more than two alternatives and none
                 receives a simple majority, the group does what the most participants want.

 IV. Direct vs. Indirect Democracy
        A. Participating Democracy - all members of the group meet to make decisions, observing
           political equality and majority rule.
                1. Commonly rejected on grounds that in large complex societies we need professional,
                   full-time government officials to study problems, formulate solutions, and
                 administer programs.
        B. Representative Democracy - citizens participate in government by electing public
           officials to make decisions on their behalf.
                1. Responsiveness - elected representatives should respond to public opinion.
                        a. Following the general contours of public opinion in formulating complex
                           pieces of legislation
        C. Four Principles of Procedural Democracy
                1. Universal participation
                2. Political participation
                3. Majority rule
                4. Government responsiveness to public opinion
  V. The Substantive View of Democracy
        A. Focuses on the substance of government policies, not on the procedures followed in
           making those policies.
                1. Certain principles must be incorporated into government policies.
        B. Government policies should guarantee civil liberties
                1. Freedom of behavior
                        a. Freedom of religion, expression
                2. Civil rights
                        a. Powers or privileges that government may not arbitrarily deny to individuals
 VI. Procedural Democracy vs. Substantive Democracy
        A. Problem with substantive view
                1. Doesn't provide clear, precise criteria that allows us to determine whether a
                   government is democratic
        B. Problem with procedural view
                1. Although it presents specific criteria for democratic gov't, those criteria can
                   produce undesirable social policies, such as those that prey on minorities.
                2. Minority rights - all citizens are entitled to certain things that cannot be
                   denied by the majority
                3. Protect minority rights by limiting the principle of majority rule
                        a. Require 2/3 majority
VII. Institutional Models of Democracy
        A. Majoritarian model - relies on our intuitive, elemental notion of what is fair
                1. Mechanisms that allow people to participate directly
                        a. Citizens expected to control their representatives behavior by choosing
                           wisely and by reelecting or voting out public officials according to their
                           performance
                        b. Means for deciding government policies
                                1. Referendum - election on a policy issue
                2. Critics say that Americans are not knowledgeable enough for Majoritarian
                   democracy to work
                        a. Only 22% of national sample of votes follow what's going on in government
                3. Deliberate democracy - emphasizes reasoned and full debate by those who immerse
                   themselves in the substance of public policy problems
        B. Pluralist Democracy
                1. Pluralism-modern society consists of innumerable groups that share economic,
                   religious, ethnic, or cultural interests.
                2. Interest group-organized group seeks to influence government policy.
                3. Interprets "government by the people" to mean gov't by people operating through
                   competing interest groups.
                4. Democracy exists when many organizations operate separately from the gov't, press
                   their interests on the gov't, and even challenge the gov't.
                5. 2 major mechanisms
                        a. Decentralized structure
                                1. provides ready access to public officials and that is open to hearing
                                   the groups arguments for or against gov't policies.
                        b. Interest groups
                        c. Majoritarian model vs. Pluralist model
                                1. Majoritarian- mass public controls gov't actions.
                                        a. relies on electoral mechanisms
                                2. Pluralism- requires specialized knowledge only from groups of citizens
                                        a. seeks to limit majority action so that interest groups can be
                                 heard.
                        d. Undemocratic model: Elite theory
                                1. The view that a small group makes the most important gov't decisions.
                                2. The U.S. is an oligarchy
                        e. Elite theory vs. Pluralist theory
                                1. Pluralist theory doesn't define gov't conflict in terms of minority
                                   vs. majority, instead it sees many different interest vying with one
                                   another in each policy area.
                                2. Pluralist democracy makes a virtue of the struggle between competing
                                   interests.
VIII. Democracy and Globalization
        A. Establishing democracies
                1. True democracy- countries that meet criteria for a procedural democracy (Universal
                   participation, political equality, majority rule and gov't responsiveness to
                   public opinion) and have established substantive policies supporting civil
                   liberties.
                2. Democratization- transition from authoritarian government to a democracy
                        a. Ethnic and religious conflict complicates efforts because antagonisms can
                           run so deep that opposing groups do not want to grant political legitimacy
                           to each other.
 
 

  I. The Revolutionary Roots of the Constitution
    A. Freedom in Colonial America
        1. Landowners could control and transport their property at will.
        2. No compulsory payments to support an established church.
        3. No ceiling on wages.
        4. No guilds of exclusive professional associations.
        5. Almost complete freedom of speech, press, and assembly.
    B. Road to Revolution
        1. Colonists didn't want to be taxed by a distant government in which they had no representation.
        2. Sons of Liberty - destroyed taxed items and forced the official stamp distributors to resign.
        3. Daughters of Liberty - spun homespun cloth and encouraged the elimination of British cloth from colonial markets.
        4. Boston Tea Party - mob boarded three ships and emptied 342 chests of valuable tea into Boston Harbor.
        5. First Continental Congress - met in Philadelphia in 1774 to restore harmony between Great Britain and the American colonies.
    C. Revolutionary Action
        1. June 7, 1776 - Continental Congress met to resolve "that these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and and independent states; that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British crown, and that all political connection             between them and the state of Great Britain is and ought to be, totally dissolved.
    D. The Declaration of Independence
        1. People have God-given, or natural rights that are inalienable; they cannot be taken away by any government.
        2. Social Contract Theory - people agree to establish rulers for certain purposes, but they have the right to resist or remove rulers who violate those purposes.
        3. People have a right to revolt if they determine that a government is denying them their legitimate rights.
 II. From Revolution to Confederation
    A. Republic - government without a monarch, whose power is exercised by representatives who are responsible to democracy.
    B. The Articles of Confederation - the compact among the 13 original colonies that established the first government of the U.S. for more than a year.
         1. Confederation - loose association of individual states that agree to cooperate on specified matters.
         2. Four Reasons the Articles Failed
             a. Didn't give the national government the power to tax.
             b. Made no provision for an independent leadership position to direct the government.
             c. Didn't allow the national government to regulate interstate and foreign commerce.
             d. Couldn't be amended without the unanimous agreement of the congress and the assent of all the state legislatures.
III. From Confederation to Constitution
    A. Order was breaking down under the Articles of Confederation.
    B. Congress's inability to confront Shay's rebellion was evidence that a stronger national
government was necessary to preserve order and property.
    C. Virginia Plan - set of proposals for a new government.  Included separation of the
government into three branches, division of the legislature into two houses, and proportional representation in the legislature.
        1. Legislative Branch - making laws.
        2. Executive Branch - enforcing laws.
        3. Judicial Branch - interpreting laws.
    D. The New Jersey Plan - alternative set of resolutions to preserve the spirit of the Articles
of Confederation by amending rather than replacing them.
    E. The Great Compromise - bicameral legislature in which the House of Representatives
would be apportioned according to population and the states would be represented equally in the Senate.
        1. Small states got their equal representation, the big states got their proportional representation.
    F. Compromise on the Presidency
        1. Electoral college - group of electors would be chosen for the sole purpose of
selecting the president.
            a. Eliminated the fear of a popular vote for president.
IV. The Final Product
    A. The basic principles
        1. Republicanism - form of government in which power resides in the people and is
exercised by their elected representatives.
        2. Federalism - division of power between a central government and regional units.
        3. Separation of Powers and Checks and Balances
            a. Separation of Powers - assignment of the lawmaking, law enforcing, and law
interpreting functions to separate branches of government.
            b. Checks and Balances - means of giving each branch of government some
scrutiny of and control over the other branches.
        4. The Articles of the Constitution
            a. The Legislative Article
                1. Enumerated powers - Congress can exercise only the powers that the Constitution assigns it.
                2. Necessary and proper clause - gives Congress the means to execute the enumerated powers.
                    a. Implied powers - those powers that Congress needs to execute its numerated powers.
            b. The Executive Article
                1. Establishes the president's term of office, procedure for electing the president through the Electoral College, the qualifications for becoming president and the president's duties and powers.
            c. The Judicial Article - created a system of federal courts separate from state courts.
                1. Judicial review - authority to invalidate congressional and presidential actions.
                    a. The court does not explicitly have this power.
            d. The Remaining Articles
                1.  Article IV - requires that the judicial acts and criminal warrants of each state
be honored in all other states, and  it forbids against discrimination against citizens of one state by another.
                2. Article V - specifies the methods for amending the Constitution.
                3. Article VI
                    a. Supremacy clause - asserts that national laws, take precedence over state
and local laws when they conflict.
                4. Article VII - describes the ratification process, stipulating that approval by
conventions in nine states would be necessary for the Constitution to take effect.
    B. The Framers' motives
        1. The inability of the national or state governments to maintain order under the loose structure of the Articles of the Confederation.
    C. The Slavery Issue
        1. In apportioning representation in the House of Representatives and assessing direct
taxes, the population of each state was to be determined by adding "the whole number of free persons" and "3/5 of all other persons".
 V. Selling the Constitution
    A. The Federalist Papers
        1. The Federalist: A commentary on the Constitution of the U.S. - defended the Constitution
            a. Best commentary we have on the meaning of the Constitution.
        2. Federalist No. 10 - Constitution was designed to break and control the violence of faction.
            a. Purpose was to demonstrate that the  proposed government wasn't likely to be eliminated by any faction.
        3. Federalist No. 51 - separation of power and checks and balances would control efforts at tyranny from any source.
    B. A Concession: The Bill of Rights
        1. Bill of Rights - restrain the national government from tampering with fundamental
rights and civil liberties and and emphasize the limited character of the national government's power.
    C. Ratification
        1. Constitution took effect on June 21, 1788.
VI. Constitutional Change
    A. The Formal Amendment Process
        1. Two stages to Amendment Process
            a. Proposal
                1. Proposed by a 2/3 vote in both the House of Representatives and the Senate.
                2. National Convention summoned by Congress at the request of 2/3 of the state legislatures.
            b. Ratification
                1. By a vote of the legislatures of 3/4 of the states.
                2. By a vote of constitutional conventions held in 3/4 of the states.
            c. Requires extraordinary majorities - 2/3 and 3/4
    B. Interpretation by the courts
        a. Exercise of judicial review forces the courts to interpret the constitution
            1. Court's main check on the other branches of government.
        b. Guidelines judges should use
            1. Must realize that the usage and meaning of many words here changed during the past 200 years.
            2. Must consider the original intent of the framers.
        c. Political practice
            1. Has altered the distribution of power without changes in the Constitution.
VII. An Evaluation of the Constitution
    A. Freedom, Order and Equality in the Constitution
            1. Federal government - strong enough to maintain order but not so strong that it
could dominate the states or infringe on individual freedoms.
            2. Constitution provides judicious balance between order and freedom, but not equality.
    B. The Constitution and Models of Democracy
        1. Pluralist Model - The Constitution best suits this model.
 
 

I.Theories of Federalism
   A.Federalism- two or more gov’ts exercise power and authority over the same people and the same territory.
      i.The power to coin money belongs to the national gov’t, but the power to
grant divorces remains a state prerogative.
      ii.Although federalism offers an approach that can unify diverse people
into a single nation, it also retains elements that can lead to national disunity.
II.Representations of American Federalism
   A.Dual Federalism
      i.4 essential parts
         1.The national gov’t rules by enumerated powers only
         2.The national gov’t has a limited set of constitutional purposes.
         3.Each gov’t unit is sovereign within its sphere.
         4.The relationship between nations and states is best characterized by
tension rather than cooperation.
      ii.States’ rights- a concept that reserves to the states all rights not
specifically conferred on the national gov’t by the Constitution.
     iii.Implied powers- Those powers that Congress requires in order to
execute its enumerated powers.
      iv.Layer-cake federalism- the powers and functions of the national and
state gov’ts are as separate as the layers of a cake.
         1. Each gov’t is supreme in its own layer, its own sphere of action;
the two layers are distinct, and the dimensions of each layer are fixed by the Constitution.
   B.Cooperative Federalism- acknowledges the increasing overlap between state and national functions and rejects the idea of separate spheres, or layers, for the states and national gov’t.
      i.3 elements
         1.national and state agencies typically undertake gov’t functions
jointly rather than exclusively.
         2.Nation and states routinely share power.
         3.Power is not concentrated at any gov’t level or in any agency.
            a.The fragmentation of responsibilities gives people and groups
access to many centers of influence.
      ii.Marble cake- National and state gov’ts do not act in separate spheres;
they are intermingled in vertical and diagonal strands and swirls.  Their
functions are mixed in the American federal system.
      iii.Elastic clause- Gives Congress the power to “make all Laws which
shall be necessary and proper for carrying into Execution the foregoing Powers”
III.The Dynamics of Federalism
   A.Legislation and the Elastic Clause
      i.The role of the national gov’t has grown as it has responded to needs
and demands that state and local gov’ts were unwilling or unable to meet.
     ii.Legislation is one prod the national gov’t has used to achieve goals at the state level.
         1.The Voting Rights Act of 1965
            a.The act gives the national gov’t the power to decide whether
individuals are qualified to vote and requires that qualified individuals be
allowed to vote in all elections, including primaries and national, state, and local elections.
   B.Judicial Interpretation
      i.The Commerce Clause- The 3rd clause of Article 1, Section 8, of the
Constitution, which gives Congress the power to regulate commerce among the states.
         1.United States v. Lopez- held that Congress exceeded its authority
under the commerce clause when it enacted a law in 1990 banning the possession
of a gun in or near a school.
     ii.The 11th Amendment: The Umpire Strikes Back
         1.Congress has no authority to deny the states immunity from lawsuits in the federal court.
            a.Means that the states will be less accountable to people who believe they have been wronged by a state gov’t in connection with such matters as water pollution or copyright infringement.
      iii.The Brady Bill and the Limits of National Gov’t Authority
         1.1993- a modest gun-control measure.
         2.The bill mandated the creation by November 1998 of a national system
to check the background of prospective gun buyers, to weed out, among others,
convicted felons and the mentally ill.
         3.Printz v. United States- Court concluded that Congress could not
require local officials to implement a regulatory scheme imposed by the national gov’t.
   C.Grants-in-Aid- money paid by one level of gov’t to another level of gov’t,
to be spent for a given purpose.
      i.Two general forms.
         1.Categorical grants- target specific purposes, and restrictions on
their use typically leave the recipient gov’t relatively little discretion.
            a.Formula grants- distributed according to a particular formula,
which specifies who is eligible for the grant and how much each eligible
applicant will receive.
            b.Project grants- awarded on the basis of competitive applications.
         2.Block grants- allow recipient considerable freedom to decide how to
allocate the money to individual programs.
IV.The Developing Concept of Federalism
   A.McCulloch v. Maryland- Court was asked to decide whether Congress had the
power to establish a national bank and, if so, whether states had the power to
tax that bank.
      i.Court conceded that Congress had only the powers conferred on it by the
Constitution, which nowhere mentioned banks. However, Article 1 granted
Congress the authority to enact all laws “necessary and proper” to the
execution of Congress’s enumerated powers.
      ii.The Court clearly agreed that Congress had the power to charter a bank.
      iii.States could not tax the national gov’t because the powers of the
national gov’t came not from the states but from the people.
   B.States’ Rights and Dual Federalism
       i.Dred Scott decision (1857)- Court decided that Congress had no power
to prohibit slavery in the territories.
      ii.Real issue of Civil War was the character of the federal union, of
federalism itself.
     iii.Nullification- The idea that a state could declare a particular action
of the national gov’t null and void.
   C.The New Deal and its Consequences
       i.The problems of the Great Depression proved too extensive for either
state gov’ts or private businesses to handle.
      ii.Under President Franklin Roosevelt Congress enacted various emergency
relief programs o stimulate economic activity and help the unemployed.
          1.The national gov’t offered money to support state relief efforts.
          2.To receive these funds, states were usually required to provide
administrative supervision or to contribute some money of their own.
          3.The legitimate welfare, broadly defined, became a legitimate
concern of the national gov’t.
          4.Congress simply used its constitutional powers to suit the
circumstances.
V.The Revival of Federalism
   A.An evolving federalism
      i.Nixon’s New Federalism called for combining and reformulating
categorical grants into block grants.
     ii.Block grants were seen as a way to redress the imbalance of power
between Washington nd the states and localities.
    iii.In 1976, Jimmy Carter campaigned for president as aan outsider who
promised to reduce the size and cost of the national gov’t.
     iv.Ronald Reagan took office in 1981, charging that the federal system had
been bent out of shape. Reagan promised a “new New Federalism” that would
restore a proper constitutional relationship among the national, state, and
local gov’ts.
      v.Reagan’s commitment to reducing federal taxes and spending meant that
the states would have to foot an increasing shate of the bill for gov’t services.
     vi.In June 1999, the Supreme Court embraced the idea of dual federalism,
adjusting the balance of power in favor of the states. The Court in effect
immunized state gov’ts from lawsuits brought by individuals claiming state
violations of national laws.
   B.Preemption: The Instrument of Federalism
      i.Preemption is the power of Congress to enact laws that have the
national gov’t assume total or partial responsibility for a state gov’t function.
         1.By 1988, Congress had preempted the power of states to legislate in
certain areas 350 times, and 186 of these acts were passed after 1970.
         2.The Nutritional Labeling and Education Act of 1990- The national
gov’t established food labeling standard and simultaneously stripped the states
of their power to impose food labeling requirements.
     ii.Mandates and Restraints- Congressional preemption statutes infringe on
state powers in tow ways.
         1.Mandate- a requirement that a state undertake an activity or provide
a service, in keeping with minimum national standards.
            a.Medicaid program- the national gov’t requires states to provide
their low-income citizens with access to some minimal level of health care.
         2.Restraint- forbids state gov’t from exercising a certain power.
            a.Bus regulation- to ensure bus service to small and remote
communities, in the past some states would condition the issuance of s
franchises on bus operators’ agreeing to serve such communities, even if the
routes lost money.
            b.1982, Congress passed the Bus Reform Act, which forbade the
states from imposing such conditions.
    iii.Constraining Unfunded Mandates-State and local officials have long
voiced strong objections to the national gov’ts practice of imposing
requirements on the states w/out providing the financial support needed to
satisfy them.
         1.Americans With Disabilities Act (1990)- required all municipal golf
courses to provide a spot for disabled golfers to get in and out of bunkers,
but the national gov’t did not foot the bill for the changes it mandated.
         2.Unfunded Mandates Relief Act of 1995- requires the Congressional
Budget Office to prepare cost estimates of any proposed national legislation
that would impose more than $50 million a year in costs on state and local
gov’ts or more than $100 million a year in costs on private business.
VI.Other Governments in the Federal System
   A.Types of Local Gov’ts
       i.Municipal gov’t- the gov’ts of cities and towns.
      ii.County gov’t- The gov’t unit that administers a county.
     iii.School district- which is responsible for administering local
elementary and secondary educational programs.
      iv.Special districts- gov’t units created to perform particular
functions, typically when those functions spill across ordinary jurisdictional
boundaries.
      v.Home rule- the right to enact and enforce legislation in certain
administrative areas.
         1.Gives cities a measure of self-government and freedom of action.
   B.So Many Govt’s: Advantages and Disadvantages
      i.One benefit of localizing gov’t is that it brings gov’t closer to the
people; it gives them an opportunity to participate in the political process,
to have a direct influence on policy.
     ii.Studies have shown that peole are much less likely to vote in local
elections than national elections.
    iii.The fragmentation of powers, functions, and responsibilities among
national, state, and local gov’t makes gov’t as a whole seem complicated and
hence incomprehensible and inaccessible to ordinary people.
     iv.One potential benefit of having many gov’ts is that they enable the
country to experiment with new policies on a small scale.
      v.The large number of gov’ts also make it possible for gov’t to respond
to the diversity of conditions in different parts of the country.
     vi.Smaller political untis are better able to respond to particular local
conditions and can generally do so more quickly than larger units.
    vii.On the other hand, smaller units may not be able to muster the economic
resources to meet some challenges.
VII.Federalism and Globalization
   A.Nation-state- is a country which defined and recognized boundaries whose
citizens have common characteristics, such as race, religion, customs, and
language.
   B.The creation of a European super state -either in a loose confederation or
in a binding federation- demonstrates the potential for federalism to overcome
long-held religious, ethnic, linguistic, and cultural divisions.
VIII.Contemporary Federalism and the Dilemmas of Democracy
   A.Federalism of the Reagan-Bush variety was used as a tool for cutting the
national budget by offering less money to the states.
   B.In 1990 and 1991, 37 states raised one or more major taxes.
   C.At a time when a conservative national gov’t put little emphasis on the
value of equality, state gov’ts did more to embrace it.
   D.Conservatives thought that the value of freedom would be emphasized if
more matters were left to the states.
   E.Since the 1970’s, state gov’ts have changed.
      i.Their legislatures have become more professional.
     ii.Governors have proved willing to support major programs to enhance the
skills of their state’s work force, to promote research and development, and to
subsidize new industries.
    iii.State gov’ts have become big gov’ts themselves.
   F.To the surprise of liberals, states are now willing to set higher standards than the national gov’t.
   G.President Clinton was sympathetic to states burdened by new and costly mandates and restraints.
IX.Federalism and Pluralism
   A.Each of the two competing theories of federalism supports pluralism, but
in somewhat different ways.
      i.Dual federalism aims to decentralize gov’t, to shift power to the states.
     ii.Cooperative federalism is perfectly willing to override local standards
for a national standard in the interests of promoting equality.
 
 

I. Executions are Different
    A. The history of public thinking on the death penalty reveals several characteristics of
public opinion.
        1. The public's attitudes toward a given government policy can vary over time, often
dramatically.
        2. Public opinion places boundaries on allowable types of public policy.
        3. If asked by pollsters, citizens are willing to register opinions on matters outside their
expertise.
        4. Governments tend to respond to public opinion.
        5. The government sometimes does not do what the people want.
II. Public Opinion and The Models of Democracy
    A. Public opinion is simply the collective attitude of the citizens on a given issue or
question.
        1. The founders wanted to build public opinion into our government structure by
allowing the direct election of representatives to the House and apportioning representation there according to population.
        2. The framers never intended to create a full democracy, a government completely
responsive to majority opinion.
    B. According to the classic majoritarian model, the government should do what a majority
of the public wants.
    C. Pluralists argue that the public as a whole seldom demonstrates clear, consistent
opinions on the day-to-day issues of gov't.
        1. At the same time, they recognize that subgroups within the public do express
opinions on specific matters.
        2. Pluralist model requires that government institutions allow the free expression of
opinions by these "minority publics".
    D. The Supreme Court has ruled that no state or local government can require the reading
of the Lord's Prayer or Bible verses in public schools.
        1. Yet surveys continually show that a clear majority of Americans do not agree with
that ruling.
    E. The majoritarian model assumes that a majority of the people hold clear, consistent
opinions on gov't policy.
    F. The pluralist model assumes that the public is often uninformed and ambivalent about
specific issues, and opinion polls frequently support that claim.
III. The Distribution of Public Opinion
    A. Shape of the Distribution
        1. Skewed distribution- an asymmetrical by generally bell-shaped distribution.
            a. mode- the most frequent response.
            b. tail- lies off to one side.
        2. Bimodal distribution- respondents choose 2 categories with nearly equal frequency,
dividing almost evenly.
        3. Normal distribution- a symmetrical, bell-shaped spread around a single mode.
            a. the mode (moderate) lies in the center.
    B. Stability of the Distribution
        1. Stable distribution- shows little change over time.
            a. Public opinion on important issues can change, but it is sometimes difficult to
distinguish a true change in opinion from a difference in the way a question is worded.
            b. Sometimes changes occur within subgroups that are not reflected in overall
public opinion.
            c. In trying to explain how political opinions are formed and how they change,
political scientists cite the process of political socialization, the influence of cultural factors, and the interplay of ideology
and knowledge.
IV. Political Socialization
    A. Political Socialization- a complex process through which individuals become aware of
politics, learn political facts, and form political values.
    B. The Agents of Early Socialization
        1. 2 fundamental principles that characterize early learning
            a. The primary principle- What is learned first is learned best.
            b. The structuring principle- What is learned first structures later learning.
        2. Family- In most cases, exposure, communication, and receptivity are highest in
parent-child relationships.
            a. One of the most politically important things that many children learn from their
parents is party identification.
            b. 2 crucial differences between party identification and religion may explain why
youngsters are socialized into a religion much more reliably than into a political party.
                i. Most parents care a great deal more about their religion than about their politics.
               ii. The second is that religious institutions recognize the value of socialization.
        3. School- According to some researchers, schools have an influence on political
learning that is equal to or greater than that of parents.
            a. Elementary schools prepare children in a number of ways to accept the social order.
                i. They introduce authority figures outside the family.
               ii. They teach the nation's slogans and symbols and they stress the norms of
group behavior and democratic decision making.
              iii. High schools attempt to build "good citizens" by taking field trips to the state
legislature or the city council.
        4. Community and peers- the makeup of a community has a lot to do with how the
political opinions of its members are formed.
            a. Homogeneous communities- those whose members are similar in ethnicity, race,
religion, or occupation- can exert strong pressures on both children and adults to conform to the dominant attitude.
            b. Peer groups sometimes provide a defense against community pressures.
    C. Continuing Socialization
        1. Peer groups assume a greater importance in promoting political awareness and
developing political opinions.
        2. Media emerges as socialization agents.
V. Social Groups and political values
    A. No two people are influenced by precisely the same socialization agents or in
precisely the same way.
    B. Education- increases people's awareness and understanding of political issues.
        1. People with more education tend to favor freedom over equality.
        2. The higher their level of education, the less likely respondents were to support
government-guaranteed jobs and living
         standards.
    C. Income- wealth is consistently linked to opinions favoring a limited government role in
promoting order and equality.
        1. Those with higher income are more likely to favor personal choice in abortion and to
oppose government guarantees of
         employment and living conditions.
    D. Region- For nearly a hundred years after the Civil War, regional differences continued
to affect American politics.
        1. Northeast- thought to control the purse strings of capitalism
        2. Midwest- was long regarded as the stronghold of isolationism in foreign affairs.
        3. South- was virtually a one-party region, almost completely Democratic.
        4. West- pioneered its own mixture of progressive politics.
        5. Regional effects on public opinion are weaker than the effects of most other
socioeconomic factors.
    E. The "Old" and "New" Ethnicity: European
        1. Old ethnicity- an older outlook on the people comprising America's "melting pot"
with focus on religion and country of
          origin.
        2. New ethnicity- a newer outlook on the people comprising America's "melting pot"
with focus on race.
        3. Socioeconomic status- Position in society, based on a combination of education,
occupational status, and income.
    F. Religion- today almost 60% of the population are Protestant, about 25% are Catholic,
only about 2% Jewish, and about 15% deny any religious affiliation or choose some other faith.
        1. Protestants were more conservative than Catholics.
        2. Catholics tended to be more conservative than Jews.
        3. Religiosity has little effect on attitudes about economic equality but a powerful
influence on attitudes about social order.
    G. Gender- Differences in sex are often related to political opinions, primarily on the issue
of freedom versus equality.
        1. Women are much more likely than men to favor government actions to promote
equality.
VI. From Values to Ideology
    A. The Degree of Ideological Thinking in Public Opinion
        1. Some people think the terms liberal and conservative are no longer relevant to
American politics.
        2. Ideological labels are technical terms used in analyzing politics and most citizens
don't play that sport.
        3. Scales and typologies-despite their faults, they are essential for classification.
            a. No analysis, including the study of politics, can occur without classifying the
objects being studied.
        4. People's personal political socialization experiences can also lead them to think
ideologically.
        5. True ideologues hold a consistent set of values and beliefs about the purpose and
scope of government, and they tend to evaluate candidates in ideological terms.
    B. The Quality of Ideological Thinking in Public Opinion
        1. At one time, the liberal-conservative continuum represented a single dimension:
attitudes toward the scope of gov't activity.
        2. Liberals were in favor of more government action to provide public goods, and
conservatives were in favor of less.
        3. But now: Many people who call themselves liberal no longer favor government activism in
general, and many self-styled conservatives no longer oppose it in principle.
        4. Two themes run through people's minds when they are asked to describe liberals
and conservatives.
            a. People associate liberals with change and conservatives with tradition.
                i. The theme corresponds to the distinction between liberals and conservatives on
the exercise of freedom and the maintenance of order.
            b. The other theme has to do with equality.
                i. The conflict between freedom and equality was at the heart of President Roosevelt's
New Deal economic policies in the 1930's.
    C. Ideological Types in the United States
        1. Classify people as liberals if they favor freedom over order and equality over freedom.
        2. Conservatives favor freedom over equality and order over freedom.
        3. Libertarians favor freedom over both equality and order-the opposite of
communitarians.
        4. We can classify respondents according to their ideological tendencies.
        5. Respondents who readily locate themselves on a single dimension running from
liberal to conservative often go on to
            contradict their self-placement when answering questions that trade freedom for
either order or equality.
        6. A two-dimensional typology allows us to analyze responses more meaningfully.
        7. Communitarians are prominent among minorities and among people with little
education and low income, groups that tend
            to look favorably on the benefits of government in general.
        8. Libertarians are concentrated among people with more education and higher
income, who tend to be suspicious of gov't
           interference in their lives.
VII. The Process of Forming Political Opinions
    A. How do those who are not ideologue form political opinions?
        1. Self-interest
            a. Self interest principle states that people choose what benefits them personally.
            b. Taxpayers tend to prefer low taxes to high taxes
            c. Farmers tend to favor candidates who promise them more support over those who
promise them less.
            d. Members of minority groups tend to see more personal advantage in government
policies that promote social equality
                than do members of majority groups.
            e. When moral issues are involved, people form opinions based on their underlying values.
        2. Political Information
            a. American citizens can obtain information from a variety of daily and weekly new publications.
            b. Yet the average American displays an astonishing lack of political knowledge.
            c. When opinions are based on little knowledge, however, they change easily in the
face of new information.
                i. The result is a high degree of instability in public opinion poll findings.
        3. Opinion Schemas-a network of organized knowledge and beliefs that guides the
processing of information on a particular subject.
            a. Change as we acquire new information.
            b. The main value of schemas for understanding how opinions are formed is that
they remind us that opinion questions
                trigger many different images, connections, and values in the mind of each respondent.
            c. Can pertain to any political figure and to any subject- race, economics, or international relations.
            d. If many citizens view politics in terms of governing style, the role of political leadership becomes a more important determinant of public opinion than the leader's actual policies.
        4. Political Leadership
            a. Public opinion on specific issues is molded by political leaders, journalists, and
policy experts.
            b. The researcher concluded that "a highly conciliatory move by a president known
for long-standing opposition to just such action" can override expected sources of opposition among the public.
            c. The ability of political leaders to influence public opinion has been enhanced
enormously by the growth of the broadcast media, especially television.
 
 

I. People, Government, And Communications
    A. Communication- is the process of transmitting information from one individual or group to another.
    B. Mass communication-is the process by which information is transmitted to large, heterogeneous. widely dispersed audiences.
    C. Mass media- refers to the means for communicating to these audiences.
        1. Print media- communicate information through the publication of words and pictures on paper.
            a. newspapers and popular magazines.
        2. Broadcast media- communicate information electronically, through sounds and images.
            a. radio and television.
    D. Modern politics also use the fax and computers linked over the internet.
        1. Group media.
    E. In totalitarian governments, information flows more freely in one direction  than the other.
    F. In democratic governments, information must flow freely in both directions.
        1. Can only respond to public opinion only if its citizens can make their opinions known.
II. The Development of the Mass Media in the United States.
    A. Newspapers
        1. The first newspapers were mainly political organs, financed by parties and advocating party causes.
        2. According to the 1880 census, 971 daily newspapers and periodicals were then published in the United States.
        3. By the 1960's, under pressure from both radio and television, intense competition among big-city dailies had nearly disappeared.
    B. Magazines
        1. News-oriented magazines cover the news in a more specialized manner than do daily newspapers.
        2. Many magazines are forums for public opinions.
        2. Attentive policy elites- group leaders who follow news in specific areas.
            a. Policy elites are more likely to influence public opinion and other leaders by airing their views in the media.
            b. Public deliberation on issues is highly mediated by these professional communicators.
        3. Two-step flow of communication- the process in which a few policy elites gather information and then inform their more numerous followers, mobilizing them to apply pressure to government.
 C. Radio
        1. The first radio network, the National Broadcasting Company (NBC) was formed in 1926.
        2. Millions of Americans were able to hear President Franklin D. Roosevelt deliver his first "fireside chat" in 1933.
        3. The first coast-to-coast broadcast did not occur until 1937.