Unit 1

Enlightenment Principles

• Enlightenment principles shaped American revolutionary ideals

• Democracy: power is held by the people

• Natural rights: the right to life, liberty, and property, which government cannot take away

• Social contact: people allow their governments to rule over them to ensure an orderly and functioning society 

The Declaration of Independence

• Jefferson’s arguments:

  • British government no longer legitimate

  • Inalienable rights were denied to citizens 

    • “Life, Liberty, pursuit of happiness” - should be self-evident under the law of nature AKA natural rights

    • Long list of grievances against King of England 

      • No representation, justice obstructed, standing armies threatened, unfair taxes imposed 

Government by the People

• Popular sovereignty: the idea that the government’s right to rule comes from the people

• Republicanism: the authority of the government comes from the people

  • Representative government

  • Americans use free, fair, and frequent elections to hold officials accountable

  • Opposes a direct democracy

• Social contract

  • The idea that governments are created with the consent of the citizens 

Liberty and Democracy

• Social, political and economic freedoms

• Freedom from interference by a government 

• Freedom to pursue one’s dreams

• Conflicts with government imposed order 

• Competing Theories of Democracy:

  • Power is held by:

    • Political participation of the masses

    • Competing groups 

    • Elites 

Participatory Democratic Theory

• A theory that widespread political participation is essential for democratic government 

• Citizens can join groups outside of the government control

  • Demonstrates strong civil society 

  • Joining voluntary associations prepares citizens from the democratic process 

  • Work for a common good 

Pluralist Theory 

• Americans have always united for a common purpose with like-minded people

  • America is “a nation of joiners”

• A theory of democracy that emphasizes the role of groups in the policymaking process

  • Groups compete, no one group dominates 

  • Results in bargaining and compromise 

• Americans generally join interest groups who collectively seek to influence policy outcomes 

  • National Rifle Association (NRA)

  • American Association of Retired Persons (AARP)

Elitist Theory

• A theory of democracy that the elites have a disproportionate amount of influence in the policymaking process

• A small minority dominates politics by influencing elected officials 

• Represented by wealthy interest groups and donors 

  • Top 1% of earners

  • Tax exemptions 

  • Lax government regulations

The Articles of Confederation

• Adopted by the Second Continental Congress in 1777

  • Created a loose “league of friendship” among the states

  • Union of sovereign states supreme to national government

• Provided equal representation to all states with one vote in Congress 

• Unicameral (one house) legislature

• No independent executive or judiciary

• Lacked power to tax

• States controlled trade (imports)

• National government intentionally weak 

  • GOAL: avoid tyranny

The End of the Articles

• Annapolis Convention

  • Called in 1786 to address trade and navigation disputes among the states

  • Participation was weak (5 of 13 states represented)

  • Called for another convention in Philadelphia

• Shays’ Rebellion

  • A popular uprising against the government of Massachusetts, led by Daniel Shays

  • Illustrated the weakness of the Articles and led many skeptics to agree to replace the Articles of Confederation 

The Constitutional Convention 

Protecting Freedoms

• Goal: create a strong fiscal and military state while simultaneously protecting individual liberty

• Civil liberties found in the Articles of the Constitution:

  • Writ of habeas corpus: the right of people detained by the government to know the charges against them

  • Bills of attainder: when the legislature declares someone guilty without a trial

  • Ex post facto laws: laws punishing people for acts that were not crimes at the time they were committed 

• Individual freedoms are mostly protected in the Bill of Rights, not the Articles of the Constitution 

Representation in Congress

• Multiple plans emerged as a result of small states and large states arguing for influence in Congress

• Virginia Plan (James Madison - VA)

  • Three-branch government with a bicameral legislature 

  • Larger states had more representation in both chambers 

    • Lower house: elected directly by the people

    • Upper house: nominated by state legislatures and chose by lower house

• New-Jersey plan

  • Unicameral with equal representation

A document of compromise

• Great (connecticut) Compromise)

  • Bicameral (two house) legislature 

    • Lower house (House of Reps)

    • Upper house (Senate)

  • Three-Fifths Compromise

Branches of Government 

Checking Power

• Separation of powers: a design of government that distributes powers across institutions to avoid making one branch too powerful on its own

  • Spreads power horizontally

• Checks and balances: a design of government in which each branch has powers that can prevent the other branches from making policy

• Federalism: the sharing of power between the national government and the states

  • Spreads power vertically 

  • Multiple access points for citizens

Legislative Branch

• Congress 

• More power than unicameral legislature under Articles of Confederation

  • Enumerated/expressed powers: authority specifically granted to a branch of the government in the Constitution

    • Borrow money, tax, regulate interstate commerce

  • Necessary and proper clause: Article I, Section 8, granting Congress necessary powers to carry out enumerated powers

  • Implied powers: authority of the fed gov that goes beyond its expressed powers

Executive Branch

• Single executive (although debated)

• Four-year term (no limit on terms)

• Job is to carry out the laws that have been passed by Congress

• Most powers shared with Congress to prevent tyranny

  • Veto, commander-in-chief, oversee execution of law by bureaucracy, treaty making

• Selected by the Electoral College – indirectly elected by the people

Judicial Branch

• System of federal courts – responsible for hearing and deciding cases through the federal courts.

  • Supreme Court: highest court in the land

  • Lower court structure determined by Congress

• Jurisdiction to handle disputes between states and national government, between two or more states, and between citizens of different states.

• Supremacy clause: Constitution and all national treaties and laws shall be the supreme law of the land.

• Judicial review, the ability of the courts to overturn a law or executive action, is not explicit in Constitution.

Changing the Constitution

• Amendment: process by which changes may be made to the Constitution

• Changing the constitution is deliberately slow and difficult

• Two-stage process:

  • passage by two-thirds vote in both House and the Senate, or passage in a national convention called at the request of two-thirds of the states.

  • a majority vote in three-fourths of the state legislatures, or acceptance by ratifying conventions in three-fourths of the states

Ratification

Ratification Debates

• The fate of the Constitution was based on state ratifying conventions

• Delegates were torn over whether or not to ratify the new Constitution

  • Some feared too much concentration of power in a central gov

• Two camps emerged: Federalists and Antifederalists

  • Divided over:

    • the feasibility of republican government in a large republic

    • the relative power of states and the national government

    • the lack of a bill of rights in the Constitution

Federalists

• Supporters of the proposed Constitution, who called for a strong national government

• Pointed to the problems under the Articles of Confederation

• Published Federalist Papers to sell the Constitution to the public and push delegates to ratify

  • Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, John Jay under name “Publius”

  • 1787 New York newspapers

Antifederalists

• Opposed to the proposed Constitution, who called for stronger state governments

• Played on the fears that a change in government would bring 

  • The constitution would trample people’s and states’ rights

• Mistrusted powerful elites; mostly rural backgrounds 

Federalist No.10

• Written by Madison 

• Advocated for a large constitutional republic 

• Feared danger of faction, group of self-interested individuals who use the government to get what they want, trampling the rights of others in the process

  • Cannot eliminate cause of factions - that would suppress liberty

  • Natural check is a large and diverse republic - control the effect with more people, more opinions

Federalist No. 51

• Written by Madison

• Antifederalists argued the national government would grow more distant from people and oppress them

• Madison argued people are self-interested, putting their needs above the nation 

  • “If men were angels, no government would be necessary”

• Separation of powers and checks and balances are keys to preventing tyranny - already built in to the structure \

Antifederalist Papers - Brutus No. 1

• Suspicious of power

• The country is too large to be governed as a republic and the Constitution gave too much power to the national government 

  • Excess of power: necessary and proper clause, supremacy clause, federal judiciary, military control (destruction of liberty and prevalence of tyranny)

• All would render the states useless

The Bill of Rights

• A list of rights and liberties that gov cannot take away

Boundaries of power

• The structure of government chosen by the Framers reflects: 

  • (1) the fact that states could not be sovereign

  • (2) the national government should not have all power 

• Therefore, the new system of government divided authority between multiple levels of government 

• Goal: reduce ability of tyranny at national level

• Outcome: continuous conflict over state versus national authority 

Systems of Government 

• Unitary System

  • National gov has all power

• Federal System

  • National and state govs share power

• Confederation

  • State gov has all power 

National and State Power

• Federalism divides power among the layers of government, which creates conflict between the states and the national government

• The Constitution gives the national government a lengthy set of powers - everything not mentioned in the Constitution is theoretically left to the people (Ninth Amendment) or the states (Tenth Amendment)

National power

• Enumerated or expressed powers refer to those powers granted to the national government in the COnstitution, especially to Congress

• Exclusive powers are powers that only the national government may exercise 

• Implied powers are not specifically granted tot eh fed gov. Under the necessary and proper clause, Congress can make laws to carry out its enumerated powers.

  • Besides describing the enumerated and implied powers, the Constitution denies certain powers to the national government

The Commerce, Necessary and Proper, and Supremacy Clauses

• Commerce clause grants Congress the power to regulate commerce

• Necessary and proper clause/elastic clause 

  • Grants congress the authority to legislate as it sees fit (implied powers)

• Supremacy clause 

  • The Constitution is the supreme law of the land

Powers of State Governments

• The Constitution is much less specific about powers allocated to the states

• Much of the protection for state authority comes from the Tenth Amendment 

  • EFFECT: reserved powers were not given to the national government and are therefore, retained by the states and the people

• Concurrent powers granted in the Constitution allow national and state authority to overlap in the areas of public policy

  • Examples: enforce a tax, create courts, borrow money

Regional and Local Governments 

• As with conflict between national and state government, local governments may become frustrated by policies created by the state government 

• Article IV sets out the relationship between states

  • Full faith and credit clause - requires states to recognize the public acts, records, and civil court proceedings from another state

  • Extradition is the requirement that officials in one state return a defendant to another state where a crime was allegedly committed 

  • Privileges and immunities clause prevents states from discriminating against people from out of state 

McCulloch v. Maryland

• Implied powers 

Dual Federalism

• States do their thing fed gov does their thing

Cooperative federalism 

• Both levels work together in the same areas of public policy 

  • National gov provides funds and sets standards while states implement 

National Expansion - How did it happen?

• The great Depression

  • States could not cope with economic inequities

  • Turned to national policy (and with it, national standards) for help

  • Accepting financial aid meant trading away some authority

The Cost of Federalism

• Tool used by the federal government to achieve policy objectives within states = grants-in-aid

  • Categorical grants: provided to states with specific provisions on their use

    • Limited in how states can spend funding

• Fiscal federalism: the federal government’s use of grants-in-aid to influence policies in the states

  • Highway funds and the drinking age

• Unfunded mandates: the national government requiring states to pay for programs without providing funds 

  • Americans with Disabilities Act (1990)

Devolution

• Devolution - returning more authority to state and/or local governments

• Block grants

  • Tactic of devolution 

  • A form of grant-in-aid that gives the state more control over how to disperse federal funds 

  • Generally more popular with Republican presidents, but not always

• Revenue sharing: when the federal government apportions tax money to the states with no strings attached (ended because too costly)

Federalism and Public Education

U.S. v. Lopez 

Unit 2 - interactions among branches

Congressional Qualifications

• Senate has 2 per state

  • Serves 6 year terms

  • Must be 30 years old

• House has representation based on population

  • Serves 2 year terms

  • Represent smaller districts than senators

  • Must be 25 years old

• Congress can:

  • Enact legislation

  • Pass a federal budget. Raise revenue 

  • Declare war

  • Generate budgets for discretionary and mandatory spending (entitlements)

Structures of Congress

• Committees make congress more efficient

  • Standing committee - permanent and consider legislation, have oversight power

  • Select committee - tends to be temporary and are investigate 

  • Conference committee - temporary joint committees that reconcile bill differences

• House differing powers

  • Senate has confirmation power and can ratify treaties 

  • House can initiate revenue bills

Congressional behaviors

• Divided governments and polarization can lead to gridlock

• Gridlock requires representatives to negotiate and compromise to get things done 

Protocols of Congress

• Important roles: 

  • Speaker of the house, president of the senate, majority leaders, whips

• Filibuster: unlimited debate in the senate that can delay a vote on a bill

  • Cloture: 60 senate votes needed to end a filibuster

• Hold: delays voting and requires unanimous consent in the Senate

• Committee of the Whole> joint session with both chambers

Bill making

• Pork barrel legislation: use of federal funding to finance localized projects typically bringing money to a representatives’ district

• Logrolling: when two legislators agree to trade votes for each other's benefit

Types of Representation

• Trustee 

  • Member of congress who takes into account views of constituents but uses their own judgment

• Delegate

  • Acts as a direct representative always following constituent’s voting preferences

• Politico

  • A member who acts as a delegate on issues constituents care about and trustee other times 

Representation inCongress

• Decided based on population and is updated every 10 years

• This process is called redistricting 

• When redistricting is done to unfairly favor a group of people this is called gerrymandering

• Cracking and stacking 

Baker v. Carr

• Equal protection clause

• Malapportionment - star legislative districts must be as equal as possible

• “One man one vote”

Shaw v. Reno

• Equal protection clause

• Cant gerrymander based on race alone

Role and Formal Powers of the President

• Article II

  • Must be 35 

  • A natural born citizen 

  • Us resident for 14 years prior to election

• Formal powers:

  • Vetoes and pocket vetoes

  • Commander-in-chief and formal head of state

  • Grants reprieves and pardons

  • Nominates and receives ambassadors 

  • Nominates Federal Justices

  • Gives the SOTU

Informal Powers

• Executive agreements:

  • Agreements with heads of states no ratification needed

• Persuasion:

  • Working with congress on legislation

• Executive orders

  • Carries the force of law

• Signing statements

  • Informs congress and public of president’s interpretation of law

• Bully pulpit

  • Use of media coverage to promote an agenda to the public 

Checks on the President

• Senate: 

  • Confirms all nominees

  • Ratify all treaties

  • Confirm judicial appointments 

  • Confirm ambassadors

• Congress

  • Override vetoes

• 22nd Amendment

  • President can only serve 2 terms or 10 years

Expanding presidential power

• Ability to move troops

• Powers are often expanded during times of crisis:

Fed 70

• Hamilton argues in favor of a single executive

  • One president can act more quickly and quietly than a group of leaders

  • It is easier to identity a corrupt individual rather than find one in a council

  • We want an energetic executive 

Judicial Branch 

• Article III

  • Justices serve life terms with good behavior 

  • Role is focused on interpreting the laws and the ways they should be applied

  • Judicial review 

Marbury v. Madison 

• Summary: 

  • Established the principle of judicial review

Fed 78

• Hamilton argues in favor of life terms for justices pending good behavior

  • Ensures judicial independence

  • Strives for SCOTUS to be the “least dangerous” of the branches

• Argues for judicial review as justices will declare all acts in opposition to the constitution as “void”

Legitimacy of the Judicial Branch

• The court has no enforcement power

• Use of precedent or stare decisis pay an important role in decision making

• Rule of four - in order for a supreme court to hear a case, at least 4 justices need to approve

• Changing ideology of the court has resulted in rejection of existing precedent

• How does the ideology of the court change overtime? 

  • Judicial Restraint v. Judicial Activism 

Checks on the Judicial Branch

• Congress can pass legislation to modify the impact of SCOTUS decisions

• Constitutional Amendments 

• Judicial appointments and confirmations 

• Ignoring the decision

• Changing court jurisdiction 

Unit 3: Civil Liberties and Civil Rights

Bill of Rights

• 1st Amendment: Free exercise, establishment, speech, assembly, redress, press

• 2nd: bear arms

• 3rd: no quartering

• 4th: search and seizure

• 5th: self-incrimination

• 6th: speedy and public trial, right to layer

• 7th: jury

• 8th: cruel and unusual

• 9th: all rights no listed are given to the people not gov

• 10th: reserved powers

Key concept

• Civil Liberties

  • Constitutionally established freedoms found in the Bill of Rights

  • Protect citizens’ opinions, freedoms, property against government

• Civil Rights

  • Rights of individuals against discrimination based on origin, religion, sex, ability, sexual orientation, age, or pregnancy

  • Found outside of BoR - 14th Amendment basis 

First Amendment: Religion

• Establishment Clause:

  • Prevents federal government from supporting an official religion

  • Often used in cases dealing with school events and religion 

• Free Exercise Clause:

  • Presents federal government from intervening in your religious beliefs and practices

  • Limits: drug use, polygamy, human sacrifice 

Engel v. Vitale

• Establishment Clause 

• Eschool had a non-denominational prayer during the school day

• Court ruled that this was a violation of the establishment clause because the school was endorsing religion

• Holding: Schools cannot sponsor religious activities
  
  

Wisconsin v. Yoder

• Free Exercise Clause

• Amish community wanted to pull students out of school before the age of 16 so they could farm and do domestic work 

• Court held it as unconstitutional because freedom of religion outweighs the state’s interest in education

• Holding: compelling Amish students to attend past 8th grade is illegal 

First Amendment - Speech and Press

• What is Speech?

  • Pure speech: written or verbal communication

  • Symbolic speech: actions or symbols which represent a belief

• When do we limit speech?

  • Clear and present danger 

  • Defamation and offensive/obscene speech 

  • Time and place 

    • Remember Justice Black, what did he say about yelling fire in a theater

Schenck v. United States

• Clause or amendment: freedom of speech

• Schenck handed out anti-draft pamphlets during WWI and was not protected under the 1st amendment

• The pamphlets presented a “clear and present danger” and therefore they could be limited

• Holding: creates the “clear and present danger” test to decide what speech is protected 

Tinker v. Des Moines

• Freedom of speech (Symbolic)

• Tinker and others wore an armband to school as a protest

• Court ruled that students do not “shed their constitutional rights” at the school gate and the school preventing the armbands in unconstitutional

• Students have the right to protest with armbands - its non-disruptive 

NYTimes Co. v. United States

• Freedom of press

• Government can almost never use “prior restraint”

• Newspapers can publish classified documents without risk of censorship or punishment (Pentagon Papers)

• Prevention of this would violate 1st 

• Holding: Establishes “heavy presumption against prior restraint” even in cases involving national security

Second Amendment 

• Right to bear arms

• Supreme Court has been consistent on upholding an individual’s right to own a gun without much interference

• A hot topic today with debate around “well regulated militia”

  • Does this mean some limitations?

  • Where can guns be?

  • Concealed carry and where?

McDonald v. Chicago 

• Due process, Privileges and Immunities and 2nd Amendment

• Individuals have the right to “keep and bear arms” and is incorporated via the 14th

• Chicago could not withhold this right without due process of law

• Holding: right to keep and bear arms for self-defense applies to the states 

Balancing liberty and order

• How do we balance our personal liberties and freedom while maintaining order and safety?

• 8th amendment

  • Government cannot enforce excessive bails and fines

  • Gov cannot inflict cruel and unusual punishment

• 4th amendment

  • Protects from unreasonable search and seizure 

  • What info can the gov take or have

  • Mapp v. Ohio

• 2nd amendment: what regulation is allowed 

Selective Incorporation

• Applies provisions of the Bill of Rights to the States

• Due Process: 

  • Used and commonly cited in selective incorporation cases

• Not all rights or provisions of the Bill of Rights have been incorporated

  • 3rd Amendment

  • 7th Amendment 

Due Process and Rights of the Accused

• Due Process Clause (5th and 14th)

  • Limit the government from denying “life, liberty, or property” without following proper legal procedure 

• Miranda rights

  • Created after Miranda v. Arizona

  • Requires police to inform citizens of their rights under the 5th and 6th amendment at the time of arrest 

• Pre-Trial Rights

  • Includes the rights of the accursed 

  • Prohibits unreasonable search and seizures

  • Right to a lawyer, speedy and public trial and an impartial jury

• Exclusionary rule:

  • Any evidence found during an illegal search or seizure cannot be used and is “excluded” from trial 

Gideon v. Wainwright 

• 6th Amendment - Right to Counsel

Due Process and Rights to Privacy 

• Not explicitly stated but found in a “penumbra” of the Amendments

  • 1st, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 9th 

• Cases that have dealt with this potential right:

  • Roe v. Wade

  • Lawrence v. Texas 

  • Griswold v. Connecticut 

Social Movements and Equal Protection

• Social movement including the Civil Rights movement, Women’s rights, LGBTQ+ people have all challenged discriminatory practices using the Equal Protection Clause

• Leaders and events of these movements are evidence for how the equal protection clause can support and motivate movements!

Letter from a Birmingham Jail

• Main ideas:

  • Nonviolent direct action brings “constructive tension”

  • Tension is needed to make meaningful change

  • Progress is not inevitable and equal rights should not have to “wait”

  • There is a moral responsibility to ignore unjust laws

  • White moderates who do not act and Black nationalists are both dangerous to the movement of equal rights 

Government Response to Social Movements

• Judicial: Court Rulings

  • Brown v. Board of Education

• Legislative: New Laws

  • Civil Rights Act of 1964 

  • Title IX

  • Americans with Disabilities Act

• Executive: President action

  • Executive orders (ends ‘don’t ask don’t tell’)

  • Signing Statements 

Brown v. Board of Ed

• Equal Protection Clause 

• Reversed “separate but equal” clause 

• Ended racial segregation in schools 

Balancing Minority and Majority Rights

• Rights of minorities have been both restricted and protected at different times

  • Plessy v. Ferguson Restricted

    • “Separate but equal”

  • Brown v. Board protected

  • Majority rights are upheld or protected in cases that limit or prohibit majority-minority districts 

Affirmative Action

• Created under LBJ

  • As a hiring practice in the fed gov 

Unit 4: American Political Ideologies and Beliefs

Core American Political Principles

• Equality (of Opportunity)

• Individualism: individuals should be responsible for themselves and for the decisions they make

• Free Enterprise: laissez-faire capitalism and less government regulations

• Rule of Law: no one is above the law and its equally applied

• Limited government: constitutional government, powers are defined and not overstepping the guidelines

Political Socialization

• The process of how we develop our political values and beliefs

• Factors:

  • Family, school, peers, media, social environment, events

• Globalization 

  • Influences American political culture

  • Values from other countries mesh or conflict with traditional American politics

    • Individualism vs. collectivism 

How does our ideology change?

• Generationally:

  • Generally more liberal among younger generations, conservative among older generations

• Life-cycle effects:

  • As you age, marry, buy homes, have children, retire

  • Events may influence politics

• Major Events (especially political):

  • May more strongly or quickly influence your politics (ex. 9/11 or Covid-19)

Measuring Public Opinion

• Tracking polls: opinions overtime

  • Ex. approval ratings

• Exit/Entrance Polls: polls on election day used to predict the outcomes

• Focus Groups: smaller groups that are asked more in-depth questions

• Benchmark Polls: often used when running for office to gauge their starting point 

What Makes Polling Scientific?

• Random Sampling: 

  • Not just polling your friends

• Representative Sampling 

  • Usually 400-2200 people and representative of the overall population

• Sampling error 

  • A low sampling error is best!

Problems with Polling

• Bias or leading questions:

  • Should not contain compound questions or judgemental language

• Phantom Opinions

  • False opinions respondents give because they want to appear informed

• High Sampling Error

  • Something is very wrong!!

Political Ideologies

• Liberal

  • More regulation economics, less for social behavior

• Conservative

  • Tends to want less regulation over economics and more over social

• Libertarian

  • Little to no government regulation on both

• Political ideology is what you believe the role of the government is - party identification is just your party

Ideologies of Political Parties

• The republican party (GOP)

  • Generally align with conservative ideological positions

  • Focus on tradition, family values, laissez faire

• Democratic party (DEM)

  • Generally align with liberal ideology

  • Focus on regulating economics, not regulating social behaviors 

Ideologies and Policy-Making

• Public policy will reflect the ideology of those who participate in politics

• Policies and ideology change overtime as parties and their platforms also change

  • You may agree with one party on one topic and another on a different topic 

    • This shifts overtime

Ideologies and Economic Policy

• Liberal ideology favors more government regulation in the marketplace

• Conservatives favor little to no regulation (beyond property rights and voluntary trade)

• Ideological differences on the marketplace stem from 2 major economic theories 

Economic Theories

• Keynesian 

  • Encourages government spending to promote growth 

    • Ex. creating jobs, distributing benefits, creating public projects 

• Supply-side economics:

  • Encourage tax cuts and deregulation to promote economic activity 

    • Tax cuts tend to focus on wealthy and corporations 

Who’s Making Policy, and What Is It?

• Fiscal Policy: taxing and spending 

  • Controlled by Congress and President 

  • Tends to follow the economic theories

• Monetary policy: money supply and interest rates 

  • Controlled by the Federal Reserve Board (FED)

  • Tend to prefer higher unemployment instead of higher inflation 

Ideologies on Social Policy

• Liberal

  • Stress on personal privacy where gov shouldn’t go 0 extending further than conservative ideology (minus religion)

• Conservative 

  • Favor less involvement to ensure economic equality 

  • Some regulation okay (ex. Same-sex marriage or drugs)

• Libertarian 

  • Disfavor any government intervention

Unit 5: Political Participation

Voting Rights Evolve

• 15th amendment: cant deny voting rights based on race

• 17th amendment: direct election of Senators

• 19th amendment: gave women the right to vote 

• 24th amendment: federal poll tax is illegal

• 26th amendment: lowered voting age to 18

How do we decide who to vote for?

• Rational choice: voting based on what is perceived to be in the citizen’s best interest

  • Ex. a college student votes for a candidate advocating for free tuition

• Retrospective voting: voting based on the candidate’s recent past

  • Ex. they voted against a bill you supported previously

• Party-line voting: voting based on party 

How do we decide who to vote for?

• Prospective voting: voting based on predictions of how the candidate will perform or the promises being made

• Split-ticket voting: voting for different parties on the same ballot

  • Ex. vote for a democrat for mayor and republican for senate 

Voter turnout

• Structural barriers, political efficacy, and demographics can predict differences in voter turnout

  • Structural barriers: voter registration and voting itself (voter ID)

• One of the best predictors is a citizen’s political efficacy 

Voter Turnout - Demographics

• Education and age are the best indicators of voting

• Other influencing factors:

  • Party identification and political ideology

  • Candidate characteristics

  • Contemporary political issues 

  • Religious beliefs or affiliation, gender, race, and ethnicity 

Voter behavior

• Presidential elections typically have higher voter turnout compared to local or state

• Federal laws can help encourage voting:

  • Voting rights act of 1965 

  • Motor voter act

    • Allowed voter registration at all motor vehicle locations 

Linkage Institutions 

• Institutions that allow individuals to communicate their preferences with policy-makers

  • Political parties

  • Interest groups

  • Elections 

  • Media 

Political parties function

• Voter mobilization and education: encourage people to vote and campaign

• Platforms: the main agenda and goals of a party (easy to find out main policies)

• Candidate Recruitment: parties will try to find most likely to win candidates and support them

• Organization:  

  • National, state and local

  • National can help fund and support smaller elections 

Parties changing over time

• Parties have moved to candidate-centered campaigns 

• The party’s role in nominating has weakened

• Parties increasingly use technology (communication and voter data) to increase outreach and mobilization

• Party structure changed by: 

  • Regional realignment

  • Campaign finance laws 

  • New technology (social media!) 

Third Parties 

• Minor parties typically do not win nationally due to various barriers

  • Ex. electoral college, media coverage, fundraising, major parties incorporating their platform 

• Winner-takes-all system is a major barrier for 3rd parties who may only receive small parts of the vote

  • Only 3 currently serving in Congress 

Influence of Interest Groups

• Use collective action through voting, fundraising, and education to elect officials

• Interest groups map represent very specific issues or more general interests 

• What do they do?

  • Educate voters and office holders, conduct lobbying, draft legislation, apply pressure to gov

• Also use their relationships with other groups!

Iron triangles and issue networks

• Iron triangles and issue networks help interest groups exert influence

  • Iron triangles 

    • Longstanding mutually beneficial relationship between interest groups, congressional committees and bureaucratic agencies

  • Issue networks

    • Group of public officials, interest groups formed around particular issue that propose public policy to support or defeat 

Interest Groups Problems

• Inequality of political and economic resources

• Unequal access to decision makers

• “Free rider” problem

  • Individuals can receive public benefits without making personal contributions or effort

  • Ex. all teachers get a raise not just union members

  • Solution: AARP provides special discounts to paying members 

Electing a President - primaries

• Incumbents 

• Closed primaries 

  • Primary where only registered party members may vote

• Open primaries 

  • Primaries allowing for independents to vote for whichever party they choose

• Caucuses 

  • Local party members choose nominees for office after hours of speeches and debate 

• Electoral college

  • Candidates need 270 votes to win

  • Winner take all

  • Popular vote vs. electoral vote

• Swing states and battleground states 

  • Candidates spend the most time in a few states trying to gain support 

    • Pennsylvania, Georgia, Michigan

Congressional elections 

• Incumbency advantage is real

  • Fundraising is easier

  • More recognizable

  • Casework and staffer help

  • Gerrymandering

• Midterms have low turnout compared to general elections 

Modern campaigns

• Campaigns are more expensive than ever

  • Long campaign timelines increase and intensify fundraising efforts 

• Depend on campaign professionals 

Campaign finance

• Debate is ongoing about the role of money in politics

• Money as free speech?

• BCRA of 2002

  • Effort to reduce soft money and reduce attacks ads (and I approve this message)

  • Later pieces are struck down as unconstitutional 

• Citizens United v. FEC

Understanding PACs

• PACs

  • Organizations that represent interest groups or corp that raises money to support or defeat candidates/parties/legislation

  • Limits are placed on the amount allowed to be donated

• superPACS

  • May raise unlimited funds in support of a candidate with no coordination or direct donations

• Independent expenditures

  • Money raised by individuals spent in support of a candidate or issue but not given to the candidate or party (SuperPACs)

Citizens United v. FEC (2010)

• 1st amendment 

  • Speech

• Struck down restrictions on independent expenditures 

• Money as free speech 

• overturned the 2002 bipartisan campaign reform act which banned soft money

• Holding: political spending by corporations, associations, and labor unions protected and cannot be limited

The Media

• Role

  • Watchdog

    • Investigative journalism allows for deep detailed work sometimes exposing secret information or corruption

  • Gatekeeper 

    • Sets the political agenda by drawing public attention to issues 

• Increased use of polling results can impact elections and return them into “horse races”

Changing Media Landscape

• Media consolidation

  • Few companies acquire the majority of news sources in the US (6 companies own 90% of outlets!)

• Media bias 

  • Perceived and real bias is on the rise!

• Political knowledge of the public is impacted by:

  • Increased media choices, ideologically oriented programming, consumer-driven media, uncertainty over credibility