WHICH ONE IS MORE
IMPORTANT TO YOU, AND
WHY?
WHY SHOULD THIS QUESTION
EVEN MATTER TO ME?

 What do the Millennial’s supposedly support?
 Do you agree?
 American youth are less likely to be informed about government and politics and participate less in politics

The Political Disengagement of College Students
Today
SINCE 9/11, COLLEGE STUDENTS HAVE BECOME A BIT MORE
INTERESTED IN POLITICS


Those who participate in the political process are more likely to benefit from gov’t programs and policies
 It is true that the elderly have more political clout than young people
 Old people vote
 Voter turnout for people under the age of
25 has dropped from 50% in 1972 to 33% in 2000
 There has not been an event that youth have wanted to pay attention to until 9/11




2/3 rds of a national sample reported that they do not understand government
Sample of U.S. Immigration and
Naturalization test

Legitimacy: the degree to which a political system is accepted
Problem: how can the U.S. political system be legitimate, if 66.7% of the population doesn’t understand their own gov’t?

YOU AND YOUR GOV’T DETERMINE
WHETHER THIS WILL BE ACCEPTED!


Fact: the gov’t uses force to rule society

Problem: most people don’t like being controlled

 Americans cherish their FREEDOM
Problem: if the gov’t exists to control its constituents, how can it maintain its legitimacy?
 Answer: people surrender some of their
FREEDOMS in order to obtain the benefits offered by the gov’t

 Definition:
 The institutions and processes through which public policies are made for society
 Legislative-makes the laws
 Executive-enforces the laws
 Judicial-interprets the laws
 This definition leads to two basic questions:
 How should we govern?
 Ideal vs. Real Democracy
 What should government do?

Does gov’t do what we want it to do?

 Definition:
 The process by which we select our governmental leaders and what policies these leaders produce
 Politics produces authoritative decisions about public issues

Also consider Harold D. Lasswell’s definition:
 Who gets what, when, and how
 Who-voters, politicians, interest groups
 Income, safety, and deference drives politics

 Only a minority of people get what they want.
Whatsubstance of politics and gov’t (issues)
 How-voting, compromising, and lobbying
 Political participation and single-issue groups (NRA)


The gov’t is held responsible for the following:
 Maintaining ORDER
 Promoting EQUALITY
 Provide PUBLIC GOODS

Protecting Americans’ FREEDOM


All gov’t policies reinforce certain norms at the expense of others
 FREEDOM-nation defense, collect taxes
 ORDER-national defense ($400 billion a year), collect taxes

 EQUALITY-national defense, collect taxes
Which one do you feel the gov’t needs to focus on promoting, if you had to pick one?
 Explain which one is the most important to you in a one page written explanation




ORDER: establishing the rule of law to preserve life and to protect property

This is the oldest objective of gov’t
Thomas Hobbes (1651) believes life without gov’t would create a society existing in a “ State of Nature .”

Social Contract: people give up some rights to a gov’t in order to receive social order


The contract was irrevocable and humans are selfish
Hobbes believed there is a “war of all against all.”
John Locke (1690) believes unlimited gov’t leads to abuses, and the gov’t should be from the people

Gov’t needs to protect peoples’ “natural rights” of life, liberty, and prosperity
 These ideas are found in the Declaration of Independence


If the state turned itself into a tyranny, Locke argued in favor of a right of rebellion


Locke believed human nature is characterized by reason and tolerance
He also believed the contract could be broken
Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and James Madison regarded
Locke’s ideas as political truths


EQUALITY: gov’t should provide everyone with equal opportunities

This is the newest objective of gov’t and is extremely controversial

 Promoting EQUALITY became an objective of gov’t during the Great Depression (started in 1929 when the stock market crashed)
 Social Security, Medicaid (poor), Medicare (elderly)
How does the gov’t accomplish this task?
 Answer: take from the rich and give to the poor

 PROVIDING PUBLIC GOODS: benefits and services that are available to everyone
 Example: roads, schools, and someday it might include healthcare for all

Basically, it’s an extension of promoting
EQUALITY

 FREEDOM: a measure of the number of things a person can do without interference
 There are two types of FREEDOMS that exist:
 FREEDOM TO: is the absence of constraints on behavior
 Example: FREEDOM of Speech
 FREEDOM FROM: often symbolizes the fight against exploitation and oppression
 Example: FREEDOM from Religion
 Could to much FREEDOM be harmful?

50
40
30
20
80
70
60
10
0
FREEDOM
ORDER
EQUALITY
59% of Americans say they are happy with the U.S. gov’t although 2/3 rds of Americans really don’t understand gov’t

 FREEDOM vs. ORDER
 Should the military be forced to allow homosexuals in the military?

Should the gov’t (state or federal) be forced to allow homosexuals to get married or disallow gay marriage?
 Korematsu vs. U.S.
 The Patriot Act
 Fahrenheit 9/11

 FREEDOM vs. EQUALITY


Should the gov’t be able to force businesses and colleges to take special steps to ensure that minorities are hired and/or accepted into college?
Should the gov’t be able to tax your earnings and use that money to help a person that is on welfare
 What if that welfare recipient continues to have children while on welfare?
 Regents of the University of California vs. Bakke

 ORDER vs. EQUALITY
 Should the KKK be able to have a parade
 Should homosexuals be able to have a gay parade
 Hurley vs. Irish American GLIB Association
 Gay-Straight Alliance meeting at school
 Buck vs. Bell

EQUALITY
FREEDOM
ORDER
Conduct research on FDR, JFK and/or Bill Clinton, and
Democrats in general

ORDER
FREEDOM
EQUALITY
Conduct research on Warren Harding, Richard Nixon and/or
George W. Bush, and the Republicans in general

 Write down two of your own example of dilemmas the gov’t faces for each of the following:
 FREEDOM vs. ORDER
 FREEDOM vs. EQUALITY
 ORDER vs. EQUALITY
 We will discuss each one in class

 Pick the one you feel is the most important and explain why in a 2 page hand-written explanation
 Work with like minded individuals and do your best to convince your fellow classmates
 You will read this in front of the class, and the group with the most convincing argument, in support of their topic, will receive 10 bonus pts
 The assignment, itself, is worth 50 pts

The process by which policy comes into being and evolves over time

 All Americans have the following:
 Interests
 Problems
 Concerns
 How citizens project these concerns into the political realm becomes the true art
 Martin Luther King, Jr. I have a dream speech!

 Definition: transmitting the preferences of
Americans to the policymakers in gov’t
 Political Parties
 Elections
 News & Entertainment Media
 Interest Groups

Pick a topic/issue you want the gov’t to support and find two interest group that would support your topic/issue





Definition: consists of the issues that attract the serious attention of public officials and other people actively involved in politics at any given time
Political Issues
 These arise when people disagree about a problem and how to fix it.
Some issues will be considered, and others will not.
 If a politician wants to get elected again, he/she needs to pay attention to their constituents
 Dorgan, Pomeroy, Conrad, and a farm bill
A government’s policy agenda changes regularly
 Bailout for many American businesses!

 These institutions have been created by the U.S. Constitution
 Legislature (Congress)
 Executive (President)
 Courts (Federal and State)
 Bureaucracies (Federal and State)
 The fourth policy making institution

Public policy: every law passed, budget established, and ruling handed down

 Impacts of Policies:
 Does it solve the problem?
 Does it create more problems?
 Policies can be established through inaction
 Doing nothing or nothing different can prove to be a very consequential decision

Example: AIDS was considered a gay person’s disease




Definition:

Democracy
Majority rules while protecting minority rights
A system of selecting policymakers and organizing government so that policy represents and responds to the public’s preferences
The founding fathers were not fond of democracy, b/c many of them doubted the ability of ordinary Americans to make informed judgments about what gov’t should do
 Roger Sherman, a delegate to the Constitutional Convention, said the people “should have as little to do as may be with the gov’t.”



Read Federalist #10
Article I Section 3-Senators chosen by the state legislatures
 Elected by the people b/c of the 17 th Amendment (1913)
Article II Section I-electoral system established
An Ideal democratic process should satisfy the following five criteria:
 Equality in votingthe principle of “one person, one vote”
(Wesberry v. Sanders-1964 )
 Effective participation-citizens must have the chance to express their preferences equally



Enlightened understanding-open creation and discussion of ideas by all
Citizen control of the agendacitizens should collectively control gov’t policies
Inclusiongov’t must include, and extend rights to, all those subject to its laws

 Republic

Definition: a form of gov’t in which sovereignty/power rests with the people, who elect agents to represent/govern them in lawmaking and other decisions
 Read Federalist #10
 Representative Democracy

Definition: a form of gov’t in which representatives elected by the people make and enforce laws and policies
 The people hold the ultimate power b/c the people get to elect/re-elect the reps

 Increased Technical Expertise
 Limited Participation in Government
 Escalating Campaign Costs
 Diverse Political Interests (policy gridlock)

 Are the people knowledgeable- and do they apply what they know?
 Do interest groups help the process, or do they get in the way?
 Do political parties offer clear consistent choices for voters?
 Does the President & Congress work in the best interests of ALL the people?

 Individualism is the belief that individuals should be left on their own by the government.
 Individualism is highly valued in the United
States with a strong preference for free markets and limited government.

 How big a role does the Constitution say should be played by the federal government?
 Does a bigger, more involved (active) government limit the people’s freedoms?
 Do we need a bigger, more involved government to protect our freedoms?

 Do competing political parties make for better policies?
 Do more interest groups create a bigger government?
 Does the media help control the size and policies government?

 Can the president control the government, or has it gotten too big?
 Can Congress respond to the needs of the people, or just to the interest groups?
 Do members of Congress expand government by seeking to be re-elected?

 Do the federal courts overstep their bounds and intrude on the powers of other branches of government?
 Are the federal agencies too large and unresponsive to the public they are supposed to serve?


If you don’t understand gov’t, you can’t take a legitimate part in gov’t
 Last but not least, why would you choose not to have say in your future and the future of the U.S.
 Who gets elected often determines whether
ORDER, FREEDOM, and/or EQUALITY will be the United State’s focus for the next four years

 Find out which party you like and research a few other unique/odd parties
 Vote Smart
 Research and pick the top two parties you would be inclined to support and then pick a third odd/unique party of interest.

Explain each of the three party’s beliefs, what they support/oppose, and why you think each party is important in the American political realm