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American Political Culture
What values drive American political decisions? Where do they come from?
Is American politics polarized? Unified? Both?
Lecture
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American Political Culture.
o Political Culture: The deep‐seated beliefs of a particular group of people
regarding the relationship between government and its citizens.
o Culture as expressed through language, values, and ideals.
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A “liberal” political culture
o Classical Liberalism: a political philosophy that empowers the individual, as
opposed to hereditary, religious, or governmental forms of authority.
o Government is instrumental, not divine.
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American Political Values
o What does this lead to?
o American Political Values
 Opposition to elitism.
 “I don’t know the issue, but I’m okay with letting someone like
me, someone who I would camp with, decide for me.”
 Importance of individual initiative.
 Belief in meritocracy
 Putting people in gov’t based on their ability
 Philosophy of limited government
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Principles of Democratic Government
How much “government” is necessary? What do (or should) we expect from
government?
Can individual freedom and a strong government co‐exist? Can you have one without the
other?
Lecture
Why is government necessary?
o “Government:” an entity charged with making and enforcing collective
agreements, and;
 a legal monopoly over the use of force to regulate compliance with such
agreements.
o Three basic functions of government:
 1) Allocating scarce resources
 2) Imposing collective values
 3) Helping societies work toward consensual goals
o Starting assumptions:
 self‐interested (mostly) and rational (‐ish) people
The problem of large societies
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o Why do we care? Self‐interest makes collective action difficult.
 Collective action problems: individuals acting rationally, have combined
to produce an outcome that is worse for everyone involved.
o The most basic function of effective government is to resolve basic collective
action problems among citizens.
 Problems of collective action in large societies:
 why can’t people just “work together?”
o Coordination problems: What side of the road do we drive
on?
o Prisoner’s Dilemmas and the problems of cooperation
 Why does this apply to politics?
 How to encourage cooperation and compromise? Provide enforceable
incentives for cooperation.
o “Tragedy of the Commons” and “Free Rider” Problems
 The best interests of society and the best interests of individuals often
clash, even when everyone agrees on what society’s “best interests” are.
 Society—and everyone in it—gets a worse outcome if citizens don’t
cooperate. But why cooperate?
 How to work towards collective goals? Provide enforceable incentives for
cooperation.
What is a “good” government?
o The broad problem: how to get self-interested people to cooperate in a way that
benefits everyone?
 (At a minimum), Good governments make it easier for large societies to
set and work toward defined goals.
o The broad solution: provide strong, enforceable authority (even to private
agreements).
 Provide ways to align private interests with collective interests.
o So what is a good government?
 Hobbes: “War of all against all.” People must surrender freedom for the
protection of a central authority.
 The most efficient government is one where authority is as centralized as
possible. Solution: monarchy.
o Is this true? Yes.
o But is that really all we care about?
The Politics of democracy
o Democracies allow “the people” to decide what society’s collective goals are, and
how to balance them with private freedoms.
o The key question of Constitutional design (and modern government): how do we
balance collective goals and private freedoms in a way that makes society
successful
The Articles of Confederation
o Confederation: system in which states … retain ultimate authority except for the
powers expressly delegated to central government.
o The logic of confederation Basic principles of Confederation…
o Confederation set up a “firm league of friendship” among states.
 Result: failure.
Reading: People have preferences over what government can potentially provide, and they take
actions to satisfy those preferences (and compete). Politics determines the distribution and
redistribution of resources. Institutions decide how people make collective decisions. Examples:
- Collective action problem: #blacklivesmatter movement; those pay the cost of being
there, those that don’t; each party would be better off if they all cooperated, but any
individual has an incentive not to cooperate as long as others are cooperating
- Prisoner’s dilemma: paying campaign money; each party would be better off if they
cooperated, but they cannot achieve the better collective outcome unless there is a way to
enforce the cooperation
- Coordination problem: driving on one side of the road; a situation in which two or more
people are all better off if they coordinate on a common course of action, but there is
more than one possible course of action to take.
- Unstable coalition: five parking spaces allocated to five people, when there are nine
tenants (minimum winning coalition is best)
o Hard to form a majority in democratic systems, without a coalition
 Without parties, we might just cycle
- Principle agent problem: when a principle contracts an agent, and they have
different preferences (mechanic and car parts).
o Trump, environmental protection policy,
o Paris climate accord
o How does trump control the agents.
Lecture 2
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System is dysfunctional because
(1) Cost
a. 20% of U.S. GDP
b. But really expensive
(2) Access
a. Either no health insurance or unhelpful care
(3) Efficiency
Whakamole: fix 1, worsen 1
o Obamacare: solves (2) access
 Make young people buy insurance
 Make Priv. insurance companies take sick people
The Constitution and Federalism
What does the Constitution have to tell us about current political debates?
Does it matter whether states or the federal government make laws?
Why is the federal government’s power growing?
 The great depression showed that the gov’t may need to take a stronger
role because the economic problems in George may affect montana?
 Things are just different now, so that justified reinterpretation of the
Constituion
 States have less authorty
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Lecture 1 (Constitution)
The drafting of the Constitution
o A new approach: assume people (and states) are self‐interested.
o Goals of the founders:
 1) Popular sovereignty and equality within limits.
 2) Preserve identity of separate states
 3) Strong enough to meet nation’s needs…
 4) Yet not so strong that it can become all‐controlling
 5) Create a lasting document
o Popular sovereignty within limits:
 Old problem: “tyranny of the minority” (aristocracy)
 New problem: “tyranny of the majority”
 Solution 1: representative democracy
 Solution 2: filter majority will through institutional complexity.
o House: direct elections (2 years)
o Senate: indirect elections (6 years)
o President: electoral college (4 years)
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Vote for people to vote for you
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Why? They don’t trust the public; we must trust the
professionals!
o Judiciary: appointed (life)
 Allow for public input, but regulate the degree to which citizens
can quickly and directly affect policy.
o Preserve identity of separate states
 Old problem: unitary rule
 New problem: how to get states to work together?
 Solution: Federalism.
o Supremacy clause
o Necessary and proper (“elastic”) clause
o 10th Amendment: powers not delegated to the United
States by the Constitution… are reserved to the states… or
the people.”
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States have to give up authority  no tax wars (i.e. one size fits all for some,
and not for others)
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Same-sex marriage: state  Fed
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Abortion: Fed  state
o Strong enough to meet nation’s needs
 Problem: the difficulty of collective action (again)
 Solution: Federal enforcement power
o Yet not so strong that it can become all-controlling
 Problem: corruption of power
 Solution: Check power with power.
o “Checks and balances”
o Bill of Rights
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Checks on majority rule
Democratic values
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“cannot be amended” by the majority
Difficulty in changing Constitutional powers
o Lasting document
 Problem: will we care about the Constitution next week?
 Solution: be flexible (and very, very, very vague).
o E.g. “free from ‘unreasonable’ search and seizure”
Lecture 2 (Federalism)
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What are the options?
o Confederation: political system in which states retain ultimate authority except for
powers that they expressly delegate to national government.
o Unitary government: system in which a single national government unit holds the
power to control a nation.
o Federalism: (hybrid) system of government in which power is mixed between
national government and smaller regional governments.
 How to balance “local” and “national” powers?
The founders’ intent
o The goal: Dual federalism: a clear separation of national and state powers
National
Interstate commerce
National defense
Foreign relations
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State
Intrastate commerce
Education
Voting and elections
Govern public health
Both
Lend and borrow $$$
Tax and spend
Law and enforcement
Who has the power to do what?
o But often, the Constitution isn’t that clear.
o So what’s happening?
 A push towards national power. Here is how:
(1) Supremacy clause: National laws are the “supreme law” of the land.
(2) Necessary and Proper Clause: “The Congress shall have power… to make all
laws necessary and proper for (executing) the foregoing powers.”
a. Elastic cause
b. Mcullough v. md (1819)
i. Print money  national power
1. So, national manages
2. Banks across the u.s.
3. MD taxed fed gov.t bank
4. “This is necessary and proper” –
Nat’l gov’t
c. South Dakota v. Elizabeth dole (1987)
i. “unless gov’t incentive is
dangerous/threat, then its within national
right (not overly coercive)
2. 10th Amendment: “powers not delegated to the United
States by the Constitution…are reserved to the states.”
(3) “Commerce clause”
i. Congress (and the national government) has authority to
regulate commerce with other nations, and among the states.
ii. What is “Interstate commerce”
a. Working, local food, real estate?
2. The New Deal
a. Unconstitutional
i. Threatened to add judges until he got
what he wanted
1. How?
a. Redefine “interstate
commerce”
b. “tomato” from local
market, is part of the
broad tomato markt
3. Wickard v. Filburn (1942)
a. If you didn’t grow extra, you would buy wheat
for your cows
4. Gonzales vs. Raich (2004)
a.. supremacy or commerce?
b. the gov’t has an interest in the marijuana market.
Reading.
 Rule of Law: all people in a society are governed by legal codes
 The articles of confederation: constitution drafted by the 2nd continental congress in 1777
o Ratified in 1781
o Set up weak central gov’t consisting of a congress with limited legislative power
and virtually no authority over the execution of its laws
 Constitutional debates
o Liberty versus strong
Centralization of power
- The commerce clause
- The eleastic (necessary and proper) clause
- Article 1, section 10 (lists restrictions on the states)
- Supremacy clause: const, fed law, and u.s. treaties become the supreme law of the land
Decentralization
- Article 1, sec 9 (lists restrictions on federal)
- Bill of rights
o First two amendments places further limits
- Tenth amendement
o Reserved powers are to the states or people
Court decisions
- McCullough v. Maryland
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o The court ruled that congress has the right to create a national bank under the
necessary and proper clause
Gibbons v. Ogden
o Congress has the authority to regulate commerce as long as it involves more than
1 state
 Wickard v. Filburn
 Technically congress has authority because if he didn’t grow extra
wheat, then he’d be getting it from somewhere
United states v. opez
o Regulating firearms in public schools is not regulating interstate commerce
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Public Opinion
Where do our political beliefs come from? Why does it matter?
How informed do citizens need to be to make good decisions? Are we able to hold our
leaders accountable?
Lecture
Where do political opinions come from?
Political Socialization: the process by which citizens acquire the values which guide
political decisions.
o Developes a lens through which we see the world
o Most of our core political predispositions are (relatively) fixed before cognitive
development is complete.
 Parental influences: “rational adaptation” and politically socializing events
 Non-political socialization: “nation as family” heuristic
 Core personality traits
 Basic physiological characteristics
 Genetics=
Elections and Voting
How do campaigns work to get your vote?
Are campaigns too negative? Do they lie too much?
What do election outcomes tell us about what people want from their government? Do
campaigns even matter?
Lecture 1 (Voting)
Public decision-making
o Are citizens able to make ‘rational’ decisions that hold elected officials
accountable?
o “Bounded rationality”
 Citizens have two motivations: to make a correct decision, and to make a
quick decision.
Heuristics: mental devices that allow citizens to make complex decisions with a small
amount of information (works) (does not work)
o Party identification/affiliation
o Retrospective evaluation
 If economy. Is getting better, then reelect; if worse, kick them out of office
 Results=credit given
o Opinion leadership
 Parrot opinion of trusted respected source
o Single-issue voting
o Ballot order
 Why does this not work
 Who’s listed first is unethical/dumn
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Lecture 2 (reading)
Care
Fairness - Medicare
Loyalty
Authority – something that protects? Or exploits?
Sanctity – evolution  what is disgusting and what is not?
o Deer dead in woods … good or bad to eat?
Leftists: care, fairness, loyalty, authority, sanctity
Rightists: care, fairness, loyalty, authority, sanctity
o Rightists in 2016 primaries: care, fairness, loyalty, authority, sanctity
Lecture 3 (Campaigns and elections)
The puzzle of Presidential elections
o Pre-election polls move all over the place, and campaigns have important
narratives and seemingly decisive moments.
o But we can usually predict the election accurately months in advance.
Three explanations of election results
o The press’s explanation: “Horserace” politics
 Campaigns are won and lost in the day-to-day course of events and
pivotal moments.
 E.g. Nixon versus JFK
 Campaign lost in first debate
o But… this may not account for the big picture
o The campaign strategist’s explanation: campaigns are won and lost based on
who is best at setting and defining a winning image and brand.
o The political science explanation: it’s all about the fundamentals.
 Economic conditions
 Incumbency
Was this year different?
o The assumptions:
 Roughly equally well-funded campaigns
 Skilled, experienced, ideologically “generic” candidates
 Strong party control over the nomination process
 THESE ALL CANCEL EACHOTHER OUT
What usually happens to non-conventional candidates: discovery, scrutiny, decline
Lecture 3?
 Different types of political ads
o Definition
o Association – think of Candidate X, you think of Y
 Obama  white people
o Attribution – connect circumstance (feelings) with Candidate X
o Mobilization – visceral reaction that motivates people to go take action
 Anger (the most mobilizing)  gets you to go do stuff
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Civic Engagement and Civil Rights
Who participates in politics and why does it matter?
Is American civic engagement declining? Can we do anything about it?
Why do people get involved?
o When benefits outweigh cost?
 In politics, (theory)
 P (prob. That candidate wins by your vote) * B > C
o Defines benefits wrong
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Why not participate
o The ‘calculus’ of voting (and participating)
 Rational ignorance and the paradox of participation
 If you vote is not gonna be decisive, then why bother making an effort
and voting.
o “free riding” and the problems of political engagement
Why participate?
o Collective benefits v. selective benefits
 Selective: something you get ONLY if you participate (i.e. vote sticker)
o Types of selective benefits
 Material benefits
 Fried chix
 Solidary benefits
 Feeling like you’re connected to your community
 Iowa caucus
 Expressive benefits
 Stand up and be counted; participate in democracy (won’t get this
feeling unless I get involved)
What does this mean for getting people “to get involved”?
o Some types of people are more willing to get involved than others
Who participates?
o What affects expected benefits and costs? Political resources
 Political Resources: the items, talents, or assets that individuals may use
to participate in politics
o Money (donations), time (volunteer for campaign), skills
(write an article persuading voters)
 Resource + ability to “pay” costs
 Resource + enhanced access to benefits
Education – the most powerful political resource
o Why
 Learning
 Networking
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 Signaling
 Diploma sorts you, gives you access to things you otherwise wouldn’t get
o Result: a voting public that is not representative of the population, and a
participating public that is even less representative
Irony of democracy: required voting (higher quantity of votes) = lesser quality of votes