Group 2’s Chapter 5 Overview
Eric Ervine, Kenzie Thorpe, Michael
Banerjee, & Zack Springer
Legislative Deliberation
Eric Ervine
Civility in Congress
• Congress is designed to curb passions of
factions
• Congressional practices have been growing
less civil, especially since the 1970’s.
• Increasing partisanship has led to less deliberation
oriented conversation.
• The incivility of Congress has led to a hindrance of
policy.
Speeches of Substance
• Congressional floor speeches are “karaoke”
speeches
• Congressional speeches are not conducive to
deliberation, but to stubborn commonplaces.
• Floor etiquette allows debate, but not
deliberation.
Secret Life of Committees
• The most deliberative part of Congress is
found in small, private Committees.
• Practice in Committees is to have open
dialogue.
• 3 goals of legislator: Virtue, Power, and
Security
Lobbying and the Public Voice
• Lobbying often presents narrow views on an
issue and can slow or stop deliberation.
• Lobbying depends on wealth and influence
• Lobbying is generally exclusive to wealthy
citizens.
• Public voice leads to changes in deliberation
• Deliberation is often absent from certain
factions and groups
Lobbying
Kenzie Thorpe
Lobbying and the Public’s Voice
• Lobbyist: one who works on behalf of a company
or interest group to educate and persuade
members of Congress with the goal of passing
legislation favorable to their company or group
– Lobbying beneifts government deliberation indirectly;
their research and arguments can contribute to
discussion.
– Lobbying itself is nondeliberative discourse;
generally narrow or partisan viewpoints/research/
arguments
Lobbying and the Public’s Voice
(Continued)
– Wealthy lobbying groups can influence policy and
government candidates by witholding or granting the
votes of their members or monetary support in
exchange for beneficial policies.
– Ex: AARP, which lobbys in favor of Social Security and
relevant policies, will use its considerable membership
in the general public and funding to support
candidates who act in favor of the AARP's ideals.
– Lobbyists generaly don't deliberate much. Oftentimes,
the public meetings and televised debates sponsored
by certain interest groups are theatrics that support
existing policy. The groups don't seem to deliberate
amongst themselves, either.
Deliberation in the Executive Branch
• The chapter discusses to main points:
– The Executive branch contributes to deliberation
through research
– The Executive branch can be prone to
"groupthink"
Deliberation in the Executive Branch
(Continued)
• Research:
– Information is critical to deliberation. The executive
branch appoints tons of committies, agencies, offices,
etc. dedicated to research.
– The research is generally objective and neutral, which
makes it more valuable than the frequently one-sided
research provided by lobbyists. However, certain
administrations may be prone to skewing or
ommitting certain research in order to support or
undermine certain ideas. (The book specifically
mentions the Bush administration as being guilty of
"cooking the books"
Deliberation in the Executive Branch
(Continued 1)
• Groupthink:
– Even if the members of an executive cabinet or
advisory council are intelligent professionals, they
can devolve into "groupthinking".
Deliberation in the Executive Branch
(Continued 2)
• Groupthink:
– Symptoms of groupthink:
•
•
•
•
•
•
illusion of invulnerability
unquestioned belief in group morality
rationalization of warnings
stereotyped view of the opposition
self-censorship of doubts
pressing dissenters into accepting group consensus
Deliberation in the Executive Branch
(Continued 3)
• Groupthink:
– Groupthink leads to flawed policies due to lack of
representation from opposing views, which leaves
weak-points in policy undetected by the group.
Some examples of policy made flawed by
groupthink: the Bay of Pigs (failed invasion of
Cuba) and the failure to anticipate the Pearl
Harbor attacks.
Deliberation in the Executive Branch
(Continued 4)
• Groupthink:
– Conditions ideal for groupthink:
• high group cohesion, or a group whose members
generally align with the same ideas
• structural faults (like a partisan or biased leader)
• provocative or high-stress content that demands fast
development of policy
Deliberation in the Executive Branch
(Continued 5)
• Groupthink:
– Ways to avoid groupthink:
• inviting outside experts to contribute opposing
research
• deliberately generating competing proposals to test
policy for weaknesses
• meeting without the committee leader so that the
members feel they can speak more freely
Judicial Deliberation
Michael Banerjee
Deliberation & the Supreme Court
• “The branch of government that serves as the
exemplar of public reason” – John Rawls
• Judicial deliberation is private
– Closed-door meetings and secret cert conferences
– Due to this privacy, it is difficult to gauge the level
of discussion typical at the court
Deliberation & the Supreme Court
• The Supreme Court of 1975
– Underperformance characterized by a “depressing
absence of intellectual content or meaningful
discussion”
– Deliberation?
• The Supreme Court and its members are like
everyone else
Conclusion
Zack Springer