POS 100 Midterm
1. Foundations
a. America is a government by the people and for the people; if it is to last, the people must use it properly
b. Politics- contest and exercise over power; power- ability to cause someone to do something. Politics exist because power is scarce.
c. Democracy- people rule directly or thorough leaders
i. Direct- citizens rule directly on policy
ii. Indirect- citizens vote on representatives
iii. A republic is an indirect democracy (what the US is)
d. Public goods- something enjoyed by everyone regardless of if they contributed to something. Taxes collect money to provide public goods
i. Collective action problem- group and members benefit, but people prefer to free ride.
ii. Fire dept- ex of a public good
e. Some things from Noel-
i. Economics impact elections, people’s perceptions impact elections
ii. Majority still doesn’t equal all American people
iii. Special interests can be seen as factions
f. Things from Olson-
i. Organizations should work for common interests
ii. State must rely on taxes, not volunteers, people aren’t trustworthy
iii. Groups emerge out of a natural instinct of humans, mostly out of a need
iv. Humans are bad at working together
1. Corporate mergers don’t work- one will leave and make more money, people have no reason to trust each other
a. Reasons to trust others- repeat interactions, possible win-wins, low miscommunication
2. Trust = cooperation
g. Hobbes thought man was evil; Locke thought man was good; Rosseau thought man was naturally good but corrupted by society
2. Classical Liberalism
a. Classic Liberals believe that we should maximize freedoms, its focused on the individual, and it uses elections to get rid of bad leaders, thus making government good.
b. CLs believe in limited and representative government
c. American liberals (not CL) say that the state has a duty to protect people- welfare, state institutions, etc.
d. Fear breeds trust- trenches Christmas
e. Hobbe’s Levithan- people give up things/freedom for the benefits of government
f. Belief that we have government to protect our rights, does this by being limited
3. The Constitution
a. Articles of confederation- first version of the constitution, the national government could barely do anything, didn’t work
i. One branch- 1 chamber of legislative branch of government
ii. Shay’s rebellion
b. Necessary and proper clause- authorizes congress to make whatever law necessary to carry out its duties
c. Federalists- those who supported the constitution
i. Washington, Franklin, Hamilton, Madison
d. Antifederalists- against the constitution
i. Adams, Henry
e. Continental congress- letter writing society- wrote declaration of independence as a letter to Britian
i. Belief that if government doesn’t protect human rights, then you have the right to revolt (CL)
f. Tyranny from above and below
i. Pluralism- solve problems by having more and more groups- makes factions less dangerous
ii. Factions are dangerous when they’re in a majority
g. Tyranny from below (Fed 10)
i. Oppression from citizens- only the voice of the majority is hear, minority is ignored
ii. To prevent- remove causes (reduce liberty) or reduce effects (split them all up so majority isn’t big or add more choices
1. Fight fire with gasoline- more factions is better? IS THIS TRUE?
h. Tyranny from above
i. Legislative branch is the most powerful
ii. Gov controls governed and then controls itself
iii. Branches of government provide security for people’s rights
i. Article 1- legislative, article 2 executive, article 3 judicial
4. Federalism- What?
a. 3 systems of government- unitary (all power in central government), confederal (all power in subnational level), federal (power split up between national and subnational level
b. Enumerated powers- powers explicitly given to the national government- armies, war, $
c. Reserved powers- all other power goes to the states- elections, education, licenses
d. Concurrent powers- power that state and national government have- taxes, laws, courts
e. Privileges and immunities clause- article IV, prohibits states from denying basic rights to citizens of other states
f. Power is becoming more and more centralized
g. Dual federalism- clear lines, beginning stages of America
h. Shared federalism- authority and boundaries and under question
i. McCulloh V Maryland
i. Congress establishing a bank is within its duties to be able to collect money
1. Elastic clause- expander
2. Supremacy clause- tie breaker
5. Federalism – Why?
a. Advantages- flexibility of standards, religious diversity, experimentation, policies can vary at different levels of government, keeps central government in check, citizens have choices
b. Disadvantages- competition, inefficiency, inequality, accountability,
c. Nat bank fight
i. Federal government has the power to do what’s necessary to do their list
1. Nat bank fight
2. Gibbons V Ogden
a. Interstate commerce- what counts as interstate commerce, and what doesn’t
d. Interstate commerce- almost everything is interstate commerce, this increases national power
i. Negative externality- states invite federal government, people harmed that weren’t originally part of it
ii. Positive externalities- things need to follow all states rules to sell everywhere
1. Ex- California cancer warning
iii. Diffused benefits, concentrated costs
e. Federalism forces state to compete with one another
f. Setting limits on congress
i. US v Lopez- law that banned holding guns in schools, this isn’t interstate commerce
6. Federalism and Civil Rights
a. Slaughterhouse cases- butchers were putting gross things in the water, congress made a monopoly on butchers, people got mad, race got involved. The new slaughterhouse was located downstream. Butchers got mad because they thought that their freedom was infringed upon (1stamendment)
b. The bill of rights is a promise from the federal government, not state governments.
c. Justice miller ended up arguing that the privileges from the 14th amendment are for citizens of America, but they don’t automatically apply to the states.
d. Only fundamental human rights will be incorporated into the states
i. Incorporation- supreme court rules whether bill of rights will apply
7. Civil Liberties (Freedom = liberty) Rights are inherent to us as human beings
a. Right- privilege that a person is entitled to
b. Civil liberty- protection from government overreach that’s essential to democracy
i. To protect liberties, government does nothing (government is inactive)
c. Civil right- something that the government promises to give you
i. Right to vote, free speech
d. Antifederalists were concerned about the national government, they thought that state governments were less threatening.
e. Incitement0 speech that provokes and advocates for lawless action; fighting words- speech direction at someone to provoke violent response “any reasonable person would resort to violence”
f. Civil liberties protect people from themselves, specifically the minority and marginalized people, modifications to these law harm the minority
g. Establishment clause- gov cant set up religion or have laws that disfavor religions; free exercise clause- prevents government from interfering with religion (separation of church and state)
h. What has been incorporated-
i. 6th amendment (speedy and public trial, lawyer)
1. Gideon was sent to jail without a lawyer bc he couldn’t afford one, leads to public defender (civil right to have a lawyer)
ii. 8th amendment
1. Timbs v IN, no excessive fines and punishment
i. Chaplinsky supreme court case- some words inflict injury/breech peace, therefore can be punished by the government
j. Shenk and the draft- Shenk made a speech that was anti draft, the SC decided that he couldn’t do that because of the sedition act made by Woodrow Wilson. Holmes equated that speech to yelling fire in a crowded theatre- the fear of fire can equal the danger of fire. Holmes makes the point that not all speech can be protected.
i. Bad tendency test- something the government sees as being a danger in the future- they can stop it, leads to the issue that the government can control everything.
ii. Holme’s switch- government can intervene only if speech has a clear and present danger
k. Brandenburg test (see if something counts as fighting words)- direct speech to produce lawless action, crowd needs to be likely to listen to the speaker. If those are true, then the speech isn’t protected.
i. Fighting words not really recognized anymore- people control their own actions
l. Burning flag- expresses an opinion, expressions are protected by the first amendment, therefore government can’t limit it
m. Gibson’s bakery v Oberlin University- defamation is real and important
n. Obscenity- can have swear words on things if they express and opinion (F*** Biden or smth like that)
8. Citizen Knowledge
a. Moral virtue makes up for lack of political knowledge
b. American political system is the most complex-its citizens don’t understand it all
c. Heuristic- mental shortcut to things
d. Functionally incorrect- know something that’s untrue; category errors- something that isn’t there; guidance errors- how effectively you get to a result;
e. Tiers of voters in US
i. Informed voters- vote for someone they agree with; vote based on party; uninformed- know nothing
f. Americans are politically ignorant-
i. System is complicated
ii. Weak parties- just want to beat the other side
iii. Geopolitics- doesn’t have neighbors to care about foreign affairs
iv. Representative government- just need to pic smart people who know what they’re doing
v. Rational ignorance- don’t really need to know politics on the daily, so they just don’t
vi. Heuristics- doing a lot with a little bit of info- alphabet bias, etc.
vii. Virtue- help pick candidates for who they are
9. Public Opinion
a. Attitude- predisposition towards an object
b. Opinion- manifestation of an attitude, shift frequently
c. Salience- being readily called to mind, priming, particular considerations made more salient, framing- priming based on how a question is presented
d. Fundamental problem of government -> American solution -> threats from above and below -> federalism (check on above) -> rights and liberties (checks on below) ->how are we qualified to rule?
e. Rights and liberties are promises from our neighbor to us
f. Measuring public opinion- things the government needs to know the public’s will on
g. Public opinion on things is fickle, ex- politicians wear flag because people like the flag, therefore try to get people to like them
h. Cognitive dissonance- hate and love things at the same time
i. Behavior is shaped by beliefs, but beliefs shape behavior
i. If you average out wrong answers, then you get the right thing!
i. Condor Sayes miracle- randomness cancels out, average is close to the truth
10. Interest Groups
a. Interest group- group seeking to influence public policy, doesn’t nominate its own candidates to run in elections. Persuade government officials while outside of government
b. Mostly economically focused
c. Lobbying- attempting to persuade government officials to act a certain way
d. Grassroots lobbying- form of lobbying which interest groups encourage the public to contact and persuade members of congress
e. Interest groups endorse people that they want to win.
f. PAC- raise money and spend it on political campaigns, advertise on behalf of candidates; Super PAC- no finding limits, but cant directly coordinate with parties
g. Interest groups must act collectively to be effective- give time and money
h. Selective incentive- benefit available to those who contribute to a group effort (AARP, AAA)
i. Faction- group of people with shared interests that are distinct from the interests of society as a whole. Pluralism- theory of democracy as a competition among interest groups
i. Interest groups intermediate between citizens and government
j. Iron triangle- mutually beneficial relationship between congressional committee, a bureaucracy agency, and an interest group
k. Madison worried about factions banding together and affection politics
l. Modern interest groups-
i. Expressive (WWF)- no benefits, rely on emotion, join to support cause, wouldn’t exist without its cause
ii. Selective (AAA)- lobbies on behalf of its members (paid members). Has incentives for those who pay to be apart of them
m. Examples of group with shared social interests
i. Moral- right to life
ii. Institutional- Harvard University super PAC
iii. Economic- small business owner association
iv. Social- American federation association
n. Activities- educate politicians
i. Insider- talking directly to politicians- information monitoring, assistance
ii. Outsider- try to attention to your opinion- media blitz, protests, grassroots lobbying
iii. Both- spend time talking to people in office, less time spent on influencing an election- litigation, election endorsements
11. Parties
a. Party- organized group that seeks to influence public policy by nominating candidates
b. The type of system we have lends itself to having a 2 party system
c. Duverger’s law- tendency of electoral systems based on plurality rile and single member districts to produce 2 parties
i. “first past the post,” most votes
ii. Don’t want to Throwaway vote- vote for who’s most likely to win or against who you don’t want to win
iii. Strategically abandon preferred candidate- leads to 2 parties
d. Spoiler effect- minor parties spoil elections by making it harder for their preferred parties
e. Party structure- pig, pie, poe
i. Pig- party in government (players)
ii. Pie- party in electorate (fans)
iii. Poe- party as organization (coach)
f. 3rd parties- win by losing
i. Main party adopts what the 3rd party wants to cut them off so that they win and don’t have the vote split.
g. Ideology- conservative vs liberal; party- republican vs democrat
h. Parties and info
i. Parties make interest go up, but makes it easier to not care
i. Parties are good and bad
i. Vote engagement, politician commitment, collective goods
ii. Bad- just voting republican because you hate democrats
j. Theories of parties
i. Bawn’s theory
ii. Formation out of similar ideology
k. According to Bawn, parties are formed by coalitions that seek to control the government by cooperating with other coalitions in order to win elections
i. coalitions are groups of groups
ii. parties change by dropping groups and adding more
l. parties throughout history
i. system 1- federalists- stronger national government, not very organized, unopposed, they made enemies and then lost the next election
ii. system 2- Jacksonian- electoral college reform, runs campaign with towards the common people, electoral college- states get the vote, not the people
iii. system 3- republican- hated slavery
iv. system 4- reform
v. system 5- new deal
1. FDR builds own coalition
vi. System 6- Nixon and the southern strategy
1. The primary elections used to not matter, the DNC used to pick candidates for the people. In the 1968 election, the DNC picked someone the people didn’t like, so republicans won. Then democrats made it so that people could vote on who the candidates are, republicans followed
vii. Elections started to change- people voted based on who they liked not on policy