American Politics: Fundamentals, Collective Action, and the Texas Creed
Defining Government and Its Structures
Establishing a Unified Vocabulary
In the study of American politics, having a shared terminology is essential for effective communication.
Historical and institutional approaches often focus on common terms to ensure all participants are on the "same page."
Primary Definition of Government
Government refers to the institutions and procedures through which people are ruled.
Structures (Institutions): These are the organized bodies that make up the government. Examples include the legislative branch (Congress), the executive branch (the Presidency), and the judicial branch (the courts).
Procedures: These are the rules, guidelines, and mechanisms that dictate how government functions.
Avoiding Tautology: The definition uses the word "ruled" rather than "governed" to avoid being tautological (a definition that defines itself using the same term).
The Textbook Definition
A system for implementing, enforcing, or moving forward decisions that are made through a political process.
No single definition is considered perfect across all political science texts, but they generally converge on the idea of a system for collective decision-making.
Authority vs. Responsibility
Authority: This is the acknowledged right to make a decision.
Example: A professor has the authority to assign grades in their specific class but lacks the authority to do so for other courses or to declare university-wide holidays.
Responsibility: This refers to the specific tasks or duties an office is charged with performing.
Example: The accounting office is responsible for fiscal management, whereas Congress is responsible for passing laws. They do not overlap in these specific duties.
Metaphor: The professor describes their hobby of crocheting, learned during COVID, noting that although they can make a "granny square," it is not their responsibility in a government class. Their task is strictly to teach American politics.
Forms of Government: Classical and Modern Types
Aristotle’s Taxonomy of Government
Aristotle identified three primary forms of government based on how many people hold power:
Monarchy: Rule by one individual.
Named Example: Henry VIII is cited as a famous historical monarch of England/The United Kingdom.
Aristocracy: Rule by a few individuals (typically a hereditary or social elite).
Polity (Polis): Rule by many (the community/politics).
Additional Forms and Definitions
Oligarchy: Rule by a small group of elites. This is very similar to an aristocracy, though an aristocracy implies a specific social class while an oligarchy focuses on elite rule in general.
Theocracy: A government that is religiously run or guided by divine authority.
The Purpose of Government: Prevention of Chaos
Preventing Social Collapse
Governments primarily exist to prevent chaos and "the crazy" from taking over societal life.
Pop Culture Analogy: The speaker references shows like The Walking Dead or movies featuring post-apocalyptic settings where the collapse of government leads to a world defined by the size of one’s gun or armored vehicle.
Government provides order, predictability, and a mechanism for systems to run smoothly.
Factors Shaping Government Development
Governments are shaped by a variety of influences, including different people, ideas, philosophies, religions, and significant historical events.
Personal Narrative: The instructor explains how their identity as a Gen Xer born and raised in Kentucky shapes their perspective.
Generational Events: Events such as the Challenger explosion and shape values and perceptions of what is important in society, with the later event impacting those who were in their formative years more than those who were already in their late at the time.
Core American Ideas: Liberty and Equality
Liberty
Defined primarily as political freedom and protection from government control.
It involves the right to express views and demand things from the government without fear of persecution.
Limitations on Expression: While citizens have a right to assembly and protest, this is limited to public property. One cannot legally stage a protest march on private land, such as inside an individual's apartment or condo.
Equality
The principle that all individuals are the same before the law; no one person is inherently better than another.
Blind Justice: Symbolized by the blindfold on the statue of Justice, meaning the law should not play favorites based on personal preference or status.
Hypothetical Scenario: Even though the professor has degrees in political science, they only receive vote in an election, which is the correct and equitable standard of democracy.
Democracy and Its Variations
Definition of Democracy
A system of government where the people are ruled either directly or through elected leaders.
Types of Democracy
Direct Democracy: Decisions are made by all citizens meeting in small assemblies.
Historical Example: The ancient Greeks used this, though they restricted citizenship to a narrow group of humans.
Modern Examples: Small clubs, fraternities, sororities, or town meetings.
Pop Culture Reference: The town meetings in the television show Gilmore Girls.
Indirect / Representative Democracy: Citizens elect representatives to make decisions on their behalf.
Reasoning: Direct democracy is impractical for large, diverse groups (e.g., a football game crowd at a Texas home game).
The Senate and the House of Representatives
House of Representatives: Members are elected from specific districts to speak for their constituents.
Senators: Two senators are elected from each state "at large," meaning they represent the entire state from corner to corner.
Named Examples: Ted Cruz and John Cornyn are the current senators representing every section of Texas.
Collective Action and the Free Rider Problem
Defining Collective Action
The process of working together and coordinating to achieve common goals that individuals cannot achieve alone.
Example: The power of a crowd shouting a plan versus a single person yelling alone in front of a tower.
The Free Rider Problem
Definition: This occurs when individuals receive the benefits of a group's collective action without participating or contributing themselves.
Theoretical Origin: Mancur Olson wrote about this in the explaining that if people can get benefits for free, they have no economic incentive to join a group.
Solutions to Free Ridership:
Selective/Material Benefits: Giving members items like free T-shirts or bumper stickers that can only be obtained by joining.
Internal Motivation: People may join because they share a strong goal or want to socialize with like-minded individuals, moving beyond purely economic motives.
Tragedy of the Commons
A famous example of collective action failure where a shared resource is overexploited and destroyed.
Scenario: If all farmers graze their cattle or sheep on the same public field simultaneously, the grass is stripped, the animals starve, and the community faces a crisis.
Resolutions to the Tragedy:
Privatization: Selling the resource (the field) to a single owner (e.g., "Farmer Smith"), who then controls access and may charge fees.
Government Regulation: Establishing rules for usage (e.g., rotating days based on last names) or charging a fee to fund the maintenance and reseeding of the land.
Major Functions of the National Government
Enforcement of Law and Safety
Government creates and enforces laws to prevent social chaos and protect personal property (e.g., preventing car theft).
Regulation of Currency
Historical Context: Originally, the U.S. Constitution only referred to "coining" money. Paper money was largely issued by private banks (e.g., "Jones Bank") backed by gold in their vaults.
The Civil War Impact: The federal government began issuing significant amounts of paper money during the Civil War to raise funds. This effectively supplanted private bank notes because it was a unified national currency.
Provision of Non-Market Goods
Mail Service: The postal service provides communication to remote areas (e.g., Alaska) for the same price as local delivery. A private company like FedEx or UPS would charge significantly more for remote locations.
National Defense: Entities like the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, and Space Corps are provided by the government. A private military would not function efficiently or fairly on the free market.
Market and Product Safety Regulation
Pollution and Toxins: Government regulates substances like lead in paint and toys.
Scientific Detail: Lead is a "sweet" metal that children may consume if paint flakes. Because a child's brain is still growing, lead can swap out with calcium, leading to permanent neurological damage and a lower IQ.
Food Safety and History:
Scenario: In the parents sought white bread for health. Dishonest bakers used "Plaster of Paris" to whiten bread cheaply. This led to children dying of malnutrition because the filler had no nutrient value.
Government now regulates butchers and bakeries to ensure that product labeling is accurate (e.g., ensuring beef is truly beef and not cat or rat).
Protection of Civil Liberties
Enforcing rights like Freedom of Religion, Speech, and Assembly.
Limitations for Harm: Freedom of speech does not protect actions that cause physical harm.
Case History: The standard example of "yelling fire in a theater" stems from a real event where over children were killed in a stampede on Christmas Eve caused by a false alarm.
The Nature of Politics and the Republic
Defining Politics
Politics is the process that determines what a government does.
It is inherently conflictual because people have different preferences and ideas.
Success in politics requires bargaining and compromise.
The Importance of Process
Government does not happen by magic (referenced as "not Harry Potter"); it requires following specific institutional steps and procedures.
Republic vs. Democracy
Republic: A system that allows for the indirect representation of the popular will and features a limited government with specific participation restrictions.
Examples of Non-Democratic Republics: North Korea and China are republics because they limit participation (e.g., only allowing members of the ruling political party to vote).
U.S. Restrictions: In the modern American system, participation is restricted to citizens who are at least years of age and who have not had their rights revoked via felony conviction.
Founding Era Restrictions: Historically, participation was restricted predominantly to white, male landowners.
Political Ideology and Consumption
Ideology
A cohesive and gelled-together set of ideas and beliefs used to organize and evaluate the political world.
Most people do not "flip-flop" daily between being liberal and conservative; they may "wobble" or change slowly over time.
Nuance in Ideology: There is a distinction between social and economic dimensions. One can be socially liberal but economically conservative, or vice versa.
Evaluating Political Information (Misinformation)
Being a good consumer of politics involves skepticism of crazy claims.
Analogy: Historically, tabloid magazines like Star, National Enquirer, and Weekly World News (mocked in Men in Black) featured outlandish headlines.
Evaluation Criteria:
Check the track record of the source.
Search for verifiable information or evidence in multiple locations.
Be wary of overly simple explanations ( ) for a complex world.
The Texas Creed and Regional History
The Texas Creed and Values
Samuel Huntington identified the "American Creed" as a belief in individualism, liberty, constitutionalism, equality, and democracy.
Texas Emphasis: The "Texas Creed" places higher emphasis on individualism and liberty.
Historical Influence: The settlement of Protestant Germans in the mid brought a desire for land ownership and a "stay off my lawn" mentality that resisted government interference.
Texas Tidbits (UT Alumni and Culture)
Six Flags Over Texas: Created by Angus Wynn, a University of Texas graduate. The amusement park celebrate Texas history through the six flags: Spain, France, Mexico, The Republic of Texas, The Confederate States of America, and The United States.
The first park opened in Arlington in
Fess Parker: A UT history graduate in who became a national sensation as Davy Crockett for Walt Disney. His popularity led to the coonskin cap craze and the development of Frontierland at Disney parks.