Introduction to US Government
and Politics
Preview liberty, equality, and democracy
Explore relationship between government
and its people
Principles of government and politics
American political culture
Key American Values
• Liberty
▫ Personal freedom
▫ Govt whose powers are limited
• Equality
▫ Right to participate in political life and society on
equivalent terms
• Democracy
▫ Considerable political power in the hands of
ordinary people
• Principle verses practice
What American’s Think About
Government
• Reluctance to grant too much power
• But crisis, we turn to govt for support
• How much do we rely on government in our
daily lives?
Trust in Government
• Fluctuates
• After 9/11, 60% of college students said they
trusted the govt to do the right thing 60% of the
time.
• Before 9/11, only 36% expressed a similar view
• Trust can also differ according to context like in
2002 an ABC poll
▫ 68% in national security
▫ 38% had the same trust for social issues like the
economy, health care, education, etc…
Does it matter if citizens trust their
government?
Political Efficacy
• Very important trend
• Defined as: the ability to influence government and
politics
▫ Take action
▫ Government will listen
• 2000- 56% govt officials don’t care what people
think
• 1960- 25% felt the same
• 2004- 56% felt “govt is run by a few big interests
only looking out for themselves”
• This applies across the age spectrum
Political Knowledge
• Prerequisite to increase political efficacy
• Tackling political indifference
• Dismal
What Americans Know
• 60% know there are 2 senators
from each state
• 32% know that 2/3rds
majority of both houses of
Congress is needed to overturn
a presidential veto
• 19% correctly identified their
state’s 2 US senators
• 15% correctly named one U.S
House representative from
their own congressional
district
• 35% correctly identified the
position held by Tony Blair
• 11% correctly identified the
position held by William
Rehnquist
• 30% had never heard of the
Patriot Act
• 30% knew Congress had
enacted a medicare
prescription plan
21% of 18 to 29 year olds in 2004 reported that they learned
most of their knowledge about the 2004 presidential campaign
from comedy shows.
“A lot more television viewers, more, quite frankly, than I’m
comfortable with get their news from the comedy channel on a
program called the Daily Show.”
Could the political content on late-night comedy television have
a beneficial effect on political knowledge?
Does the blurring of the line between news and entertainment
mean Americans are less politically active?
Citizenship
• Enlightened political engagement
• To be politically engaged in a meaningful way,
citizens require resources, especially political
knowledge and information
• Democracy functions best when citizens are
informed
Three kinds of political knowledge
• Knowledge of government
• Knowledge of politics
• Knowledge of democratic principles
What do you know?
• Who is your representative? District? Party
affiliation?
• Who are your state senators? What committees are
they on? What legislation have they worked on?
Who are their main supporters? Party affiliation?
• Who are the major leaders from both parties in both
houses of Congress?
• Who makes up President Obama’s cabinet?
• Name our Supreme Court justices?
• Name the leaders of the following countries: Great
Britain, France, Russia, Germany, Mexico, Canada,
China, and India.
Institutions and procedures through which a territory and its
people are ruled
Forms of Government
• Vary in their structure, size, operation
• Who governs?
• How much government control is given?
Autocracy
A form of government in which a single
individual like a king, queen, or dictator
rules
Oligarchy
A form in which a small group like
landowners, military officers, or wealthy
merchants controls most of the
governing decisions
Democracy
A system of rule that permits citizens to
play a significant part in the
governmental process, usually through
the election of key public officials
Constitutional government
A system of rule in which formal and
effective limits are placed on the powers
of the government
Authoritarian Government
A system of rule in which the
government recognizes no formal limits
buy may nevertheless be restrained by
the power of other social institutions.
Totalitarian government
A system of rule in which the
government recognizes no formal limits
on its power and seeks to absorb or
eliminate other social institutions that
might challenge it.