Politics Midterm 1

Thomas Hobbes

Leviathan political philosopher

Explained the downfall of society if the government is unable to hold its obligations

“No arts; no letters; no society; and which is worst of all,

continual fear, and danger of violent death: and the life of

man, solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short.”

The Prisoner’s Dilemma

A collective action problem

a variety of settings in which individuals find themselves personally better off by pursuing their private interests and undermining the collective effort even when they want it to succeed.

Bad outcome for both players with no obvious way to improve

“Everyone dopes so I have to as well”

the key to solving prisoner’s dilemmas of all types—involves delegation to a policing agent. It might be the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, or any of the hundreds of other federal, state, and local agencies that make sure that individuals abide by their collective agreements.

Tragedy of the commons

individuals’ costless consumption of a public good (the “commons”) that results in its ruination. (fishery example + cattle)

To solve: Regulation (establish rules and limit access) or Privatization

Coordination Problems

A collective action issue

coordination may become problematic when individual members realize that their contribution may be costly. For instance, individual members may be asked to make a severe contribution such as going to war, and despite their costly effort, the collective effort might fail

“Wanting to work together but unsure of the best path forward”

Unstable coalitions

Undermine collective decision making entirely

Can lead to no decision being made — Undermines decision making

Agenda setters can help by restricting options on the table

Principal-agent Problems

Delegation is so pervasive because it addresses common collective action problems

the principal can never be sure the agent is acting faithfully

the agent knows more about the task than the principal

Elected officials are agentws of teh voters who elected them

elected officals are also principals

elections are the main check on agent behavior in the gov

Institutional Design

Solving Dilemmas

• institutions help solve collective dilemmas

Procedures

• Make decisions

Distributional Consequences

• affects who benefits

How does social capital play a role in the Prisoner’s dilemma and potential non-Hobbesian solutions

Types of Authoritarianism

Dictatorship

• Power in the hands of one leader

Monarchies

• Leaders emerge from ruling family

One-party states

• A ruling party runs the country with no real political competition

Democracy Types

Direct Democracy

• Citizens vote directly on issues

Republic

• Citizens elect representatives who make governing decisions

How do Democracies protect citizens

Extend political rights and civil liberties

The main costs of collective action

transaction costs and conformity costs

Transaction Costs

The time, effort, and resources collective undertakings incur.

Conformity costs

collective decisions obligate participants to do something they prefer not to—and all resolutions of the prisoner’s dilemma involve this—we refer to this necessity as a conformity cost. Conformity costs range from mundane obligations, such as wearing a facial mask during the pandemic, to extraordinary sacrifices, such as serving overseas in the military.

Solutions to the Tragedy of the Commons

Fix: Sell the resource as private property

Fix: Allocate the right to enter to certain individuals

Regulation or privatization T

As with free riding, the solution links the individual’s personal interest to provision (in this instance, preservation) of the collective good. A decision to squander or conserve resources must somehow be made to affect each participant’s personal welfare.

In class - Two collective action problems

The American Free-Ride Problem

Citizens want stimulus programs but want to free-ride (not pay)

Elected officials want to decrease fiscal deficit but cannot because of electoral consequences

Result—the public good of fiscal responsibility is under provided

Individuals’ contributions to a collective enterprise are conditioned by self-interest

Define an Institution

Something that invokes a rule or some type of order people follow

Endogenous vs Exogenous Institution

Exogenous: Imposed on the outside as a fixed Rule

Formed outside the social group

“the Bell”

Endogenous: Created from within the system by the actions, norms and negotiations of its members. Evolves with the participant behavior. An unwritten social norm.

“the triple dog dare”

Main components of politics

Collective decisions

Rules and Norms

Conflict

Purpose of Institutions

Solving collective actions problems in a way that is consistent and predictable

Problem with institutions

Not always fair

Types of Capital

Social Capital

• Network, norms, trust

• Declined in the late 20th century

Monetary capital

Human capital

• Economic value of a worker’s experience, skills, knowledge and health

Competition undermines _________

Agreement

There is never a winner

Falling fertility rate

Below replacement

Aging population

What increases government deficit

An economic downturn

3 most expensive government programs

Medicare

Military

Social Security

Why have interest rates increased

The government keeps borrowing money

During British Rule, how did the colonies function

Home Rule

Low taxes with all the benefits

What led to American independence

Annoyance — Fiscal Crisis in Britain (War with France) causes taxes to increase, increase in restrictive laws

Join or Die

Ben Franklin Quote

Start of the Revolution

British v America troops clash at Lexington and Concord in 1775

When was independence declared

1776

Example of free riding during the war

France entered and won for us

Divine right of Monarchs

Ruling by a power invoked by God

Three sections of the Declaration of Independence

Part I: Argument for rebellion based on lack of consent of governed

Part II: Argument for rebellion based on complaints about King George and British Rule

Part II: Formal Declaration of independence

Articles of Confederation

First US Governing Document

Ratified 1781

No means of enforcement

No executive or judicial branch

Required unanimous consent to amend

• raises cost of collective action

Led to Shay’s Rebellion

The Constitutional Convention

Due to a failure of the AOC

Philadelphia 1787

“How to combine strong national gov with individual liberty

Shay’s Rebellion

War destroyed farmland

Farmer could not pay taxes so the land was seized

A private army had to be hired to defend from the armed farmers

Virgina Plans

Strong legislature apportioned by population

Bicameral legislature: Upper chamber elected by Lower Chamber

Singular executive

New Jersey Plan

Plural executive appointed by legislature

Legislature based on equal representation by states

Similar to AOC

Connecticut Compromise

Bicameral legislature

Representation based on population

• 3/5 rule

Equal representation in Senate

• senators elected by state legislature

Unitary Executive

• President holds authority over the entire executive branch including the power to direct and remove all subordinate executive officers

Consequences of institutional desing

Small states over represented

17.5% of the country can elect the Senate majority

11.2% of the country can sustain a filibuster

How many small states does it take to outweigh California?

22 of the smallest states.

How would you design a federal legislature for the US

How would you determine the number of representatives each state had? Why?

○ Would you have a House and a Senate? Why?

• Who would elect these representatives and why?

• How much power would you give the federal government and why?

Compromises of the Framers

Strength of the national government

Small states v. large states

Slavery

• self interest of public good

  • made Civil War inevitable

Slaver in relation to foundibng

Major issue at convention

North v. South

Congress could not prohibit importation until 1808

Return run away slaves

Commerce —> Congress

What were the 3 branches established in the constitution

Executive brach

Legislative

Judicial

Executive Branch

President is the head

Elected by electoral college in 4-year terms

Bicameral Legislature

Equal representation in the senate with senators chosen by state legislatures

Changed by the 17th ammendment

• senators are now elected by popular vote

House representation based on state population

• 3/5 compromise

Independent Judicial Branch

Establishes one Supreme Court

Emotions behind founding

Culture of fear

• Strong central government

• Fear of other states

• Fear of mob rule

Electoral college

Votes for representative

• Faithless electors

Main and Nebraska vote differently

• congressional district method

  • two electoral votes to the state popular vote winner, and then one electoral vote to the popular vote winner in each congressional district (2 in Maine, 3 in Nebraska).

Who chooses the president if there is no electoral majorty

the house

Corrupt bargain

disputed U.S. presidential election of 1824, in which Henry Clay threw his support behind John Quincy Adams in exchange for an appointment as Secretary of State.

Congressional Powers

Constitution, Article I section 8

• Collect and lay taxes

• borrow money

• regulate commerce with foreign nations

• coin money

• fix standards of weight and measure

• post offices/post roads

• punishment for counterfeiting and piracy

• declare war

• provide/maintain armies

• to make all laws for execution of powers

• levy taxes

Pass all laws which are “necessary and proper” to carry out enumerated powers

How many times has the cnst been ammended

27

How are amendments to the constitution passed

amendment proposed with 2/3 majority vote or convention called at requests of 2/3 of states

ratified by either ¾ state legislatures or conventions held in ¾ of the states

process creates high bar for action

Separation of Powers

Executive, legislative, and judicial branches

Overlapping powers lead to checks and balances between the branches

Federal Supremacy

Federal law trumps state and local law

Which branch was meant to be the strongest and which one actually is

The legislative branch was likely meant to be the strongest due to its ability to make laws and control funding. Today however the executive branch has become the most powerful. The president directs federal agencies, serve as commander in chief, conduct foreign policy, and issue executive orders. It is important to consider party loyalty seen today as those those in the judicial and legislative branches will often go along with the president in order to keep power consolidated in the party.

Bill of Rights

First 10 amendments

Protects free speech, right to counsel, freedom of religion,

1	1791	Speech, religion, press, assembly, petition
2	1791	Right to keep and bear arms
3	1791	No quartering soldiers in homes
4	1791	Limits on searches and seizures
5	1791	Due process, self-incrimination, double jeopardy, takings
6	1791	Rights of the accused in criminal cases
7	1791	Jury trials in many civil cases (federal)
8	1791	No excessive bail or cruel punishments
9	1791	People have rights beyond the text
10	1791	Powers not given to federal government stay with states and people

Examples of constitutional amendments

11	1795	State sovereign immunity limits some federal lawsuits
12	1804	New system for electing President and Vice President
13	1865	Abolishes slavery
14	1868	Citizenship, due process, equal protection
15	1870	Voting rights cannot be denied based on race
16	1913	Federal income tax allowed
17	1913	Direct election of U.S. Senators
18	1919	Prohibition (later repealed)
19	1920	Women’s suffrage
20	1933	New start dates and transition rules
21	1933	Repeals Prohibition
22	1951	Presidential two-term limit
23	1961	Washington, DC gets electoral votes
24	1964	No poll taxes in federal elections
25	1967	Presidential succession and disability rules
26	1971	Voting age set at 18
27	1992	Delays congressional pay raises

Federalists vs. Antifederalists

Federalists argued for ratification

• Federalist Papers

• James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and

John Jay

– Antifederalists urged rejection, thought federal

government was too strong

• Robert Yates was Brutus

Federalist Papers

Outlined arguments that institutions were necessary to solve collective action

problems

– Checks and balances would constrain governmen

Anti-Federalist

Argued new government was too “national”, too strong, and took too much

power from states

Urged more of a “confederation”

Summarize federalist #10

– Argument for a large republic (strong federal government)

• Retort to Brutus I

– The problem of factions

• Remove causes?

  • No—``sown in the nature of man”

• Control effects?

  • Yes, but how?

• Minority factions

  • Controlled by majority rule

• Majority factions

  • Elect proper “guardians”

  • More likely in large republic

Summarize Federalist # 39

Is the new government “republican”

• Power derives directly or indirectly from people

• All offices meet that and have defined terms

– Federal vs. National

• Ratification is federal

• Powers are a mix, states retain many rights

Summarize Federalist #51

– Structure of government

• Government should be effective, yet not out of control

• Ambitious politicians will want to expand their powers

• How to prevent this?

○ Separation of powers!

○ Ambition must counteract ambition

Summarize Brutus II

– Government is necessary (Hobbes)

– Requires some encroachment on liberty

– How does Constitution do?

• Does not protect rights as many states do

• No bill of rights

– Supremacy effectively ends state power

Summarize Brutus V

– Congress has too much power

• ”necessary and proper” means at will

• Can tax in an unlimited way

• Can absorb and render state gov’t ineffective

• Would much prefer a confederation

Summarize Brutus VI

– Everything can be taxed

– To tax something you have to count it

– Therefore everything (cider, ale, etc.) will have to be regulated

– Common defence and general welfare too vague to constrain

Consequences of the Constitution

– Immediate problems resolved

– American democracy has been remarkably stable

– Presidential authority has grown, especially in foreign policy

– Country has been successful, but not perfect

Why is federalism needwed

helps solve collective action problems

Prevents states from war

Protects states from outside aggression

Sets national standareds

can lead to the race to the bottom

10th Amendment

powers not delegated to the federal government nor prohibited to the states are reserved to the states or the people.

Nullification

• The action by a state not to enforce a federal law as improperly encroaching on the scope of state power.

• A theory justifying such action.

• The act of nullifying; a rendering void and of no effect, or of no legal effect.

What led to the Civil War

Southern States had a high investment in slavery compared to northern sates. Southern states claimed they were not bound by laws unless they were assigned by congress “nullification"

McCulloch v Maryland (1819)

a landmark U.S. Supreme Court case that expanded federal power by holding that Congress can use implied powers to create a national bank. The Court also ruled that Maryland could not tax the Second Bank of the United States because state taxes could undermine the federal government’s constitutional operations.

State cannot tax national bank

Gibson v Ogden (1824)

National government can regulate commerce within states, so federal authority takes priority over a state monopoly that interfered with navigation between states.

Progressive Era

1896-1913

Expansion of federal government

16th amendment

17th amendment

Federal Reserve act

Regulation of food, medicine, clothing

16th Ammendment

grants Congress the power to levy an income tax without apportioning it among the states based on population. It overruled the Supreme Court's 1895 Pollock v. Farmers' Loan & Trust Co. decision, which had struck down earlier federal income taxes.

17th Amendment

The Seventeenth Amendment established the direct election of U.S. senators by the people in each state, instead of choosing senators by state legislatures. It was proposed in 1912 and ratified on April 8, 1913, going into effect for senators chosen after the existing terms ended

Federal Reserve Act

a 1913 U.S. law that created the Federal Reserve System, the central banking system of the United States, and was signed into law by President Woodrow Wilson on December 23, 1913.

New Deal era

Great Depression

Roosevelt

1930

Economic regulation + relief programs to fight great depression

Great Society Act

Lyndon Johnson

1964-1977

War on Poverty

Clean air act

Led to new programs like Medicaid and no child left behind

Recent trends in government

Some retrenchment in federal power'

Gun control

Violence against women act

Recent Federal Gains

Raich v. Gonzales

Airport security (9.11)

Financial reform (2008 collapse)

COVID

Raich v. Gonzales

The commerce clause gave Congress authority to prohibit the local cultivation and use of marijuana, despite state law to the contrary

Grants in aid

A grant in aid is an amount of money given by the government to a government department or social organization to support specific services or projects, often with certain conditions on how the funds are to be used.

General Programs

Race to the Bottom

The race between states to provide the minimum amounts of service or regulation

can also go the opposite way to try and attract corporations into the state

Categorical Grants

Categorical grants are federal grants given to state or local governments that can only be used for a narrowly defined purpose, and they come with strict rules about spending.

School lunches

Revenue Sharing

a government program where a federal unit apportions part of its tax income to other units of government, such as states sharing funds with local governments or the U.S. federal government sharing revenue with states, with minimal restrictions on how the money is used.

Interstate Highways

Block Grants

gives a fixed amount of money to U.S. states and local governments for broad purposes, with more flexibility than many other grant types. In the U.S., this kind of funding is used to support broad areas like community development and social services.

How are grants used for control

Raising legal drinking age to 21 - In 1985 Congress passed legislation that instituted a simple, effective way to regulate drinking age laws. If a state failed to raise its drinking age to twenty-one in 1986, it would lose 5 percent of its federal highway funds. Failure to do so in 1987 would trigger a 10 percent deduction. All the states got the message and promptly raised the drinking age by 1988.

United States v. Windsor

The Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), enacted in 1996, states that, for the purposes of federal law, the words "marriage" and "spouse" refer to legal unions between one man and one woman. Since that time, some states have authorized same-sex marriage. In other cases regarding the DOMA, federal courts have ruled it unconstitutional under the Fifth Amendment, but the courts have disagreed on the rationale.

Edith Windsor is the widow and sole executor of the estate of her late spouse, Thea Clara Spyer, who died in 2009. The two were married in Toronto, Canada, in 2007, and their marriage was recognized by New York state law. Thea Spyer left her estate to her spouse, and because their marriage was not recognized by federal law, the government imposed $363,000 in taxes. Had their marriage been recognized, the estate would have qualified for a marital exemption, and no taxes would have been imposed.

On November 9, 2010 Windsor filed suit in district court seeking a declaration that the Defense of Marriage Act was unconstitutional. At the time the suit was filed, the government's position was that DOMA must be defended. On February 23, 2011, the President and the Attorney General announced that they would not defend DOMA. On April 18, 2011, the Bipartisan Legal Advisory Group of the House of Representatives filed a petition to intervene in defense of DOMA and motioned to dismiss the case. The district court denied the motion, and later held that DOMA was unconstitutional. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit affirmed.

Obergefell v Hodges

Michigan, Kentucky, Ohio, and Tennessee define marriage as a union between one man and one woman. Plaintiffs challenged the laws as violating the Fourteenth Amendment. The district courts ruled in their favor. The Sixth Circuit consolidated the cases and reversed. The Supreme Court reversed. The Fourteenth Amendment requires a state to license a marriage between two people of the same sex and to recognize a marriage between two people of the same sex when their marriage was lawfully licensed and performed out-of-state.

Controlled Substances Act

The Controlled Substances Act (CSA) is a U.S. federal law that regulates the manufacture, importation, possession, use, and distribution of certain narcotics, stimulants, depressants, hallucinogens, anabolic steroids, and other chemicals.

NFIB v Sebelius

This case is the most important of the Supreme Court’s recent cases expounding on Congress’s powers to regulate interstate commerce and to tax and spend. At issue are two provisions of the Affordable Care Act. First is the individual mandate, which required individuals to purchase health insurance and, if they did not do so, to pay a penalty. Second is the Medicaid expansion, which made federal funding for Medicaid contingent upon state expansions of their eligibility requirements for that program. The Court determined that the individual mandate was not valid under the Commerce Clause because Congress cannot use that power to require someone to buy health insurance. However, the Court did uphold it as a valid use of Congress’ taxing power, treating the penalty for failure to purchase insurance as a tax. Lastly, the Court concluded that the Medicaid expansion was an unconstitutional use of the spending power because it did not offer states a genuine choice on acceptance and thus was coercive.

Arizona V United States

On April 23, 2010, the Arizona State Legislature passed S.B. 1070; Governor Jan Brewer signed the bill into law. On July 6, 2010, the United States sought to stop the enforcement of S.B. 1070 in federal district court before the law could take effect. The district court did not enjoin the entire act, but it did enjoin four provisions. The court enjoined provisions that (1) created a state-law crime for being unlawfully present in the United States, (2) created a state-law crime for working or seeking work while not authorized to do so, (3) required state and local officers to verify the citizenship or alien status of anyone who was lawfully arrested or detained, and (4) authorized warrantless arrests of aliens believed to be removable from the United States.

Arizona appealed the district court's decision to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. The appellate court affirmed the district court's decision, holding that the United States had shown that federal law likely preempted: (a) the creation of a state-crime for violation of federal registration laws, (b) the creation of a state-crime for work by unauthorized aliens, (c) the requirement to verify citizenship of all detained persons, and (d) the authorization for police officers to effect warrantless arrests based on probable cause of removability from the United States. Arizona appealed the court's decision.

Medicare vs Medicaid

Medicare = elderly

Medicade = Poor

Roe v Wade

Portected abortion rights in all 50 states (1st trimester)