Comprehensive Study Notes: U.S. Politics, Social Movements, and Foreign Policy (2000-2016)

Administrative and Quiz Guidance

• Presidential Candidates and Election Years: Students must match candidates with their respective election years for the upcoming quiz. The year is the primary method of identification for specific elections.   - Example: Al Gore ran in the $2000$ election.
• Opponents: Students should know who candidates ran against if they were mentioned in class (e.g., Al Gore).
• Notes Submission: Course notes for sections three and four will be collected at the end of class on Friday. If a student is absent on Thursday or Friday, they must ensure their notes are uploaded to the file by Thursday night.

The Tea Party Movement

• Origins: Emerged as a protest movement by Republicans against Democrats and "big government."
• Catalyst: A specific Democratic bill intended to regulate the economy was criticized by Republicans for being too long and confusing. References were made to the bill being $2,208$ pages, with some hyperbolic claims of $20,000$ pages.
• Naming: The movement takes its name from the Boston Tea Party. Just as American colonists protested the tax on tea in the eighth-grade history context, the Tea Party movement protests Democrats taxing and expanding the government.
• Core Beliefs:   - Preference for a smaller government.   - Reduction in taxation.   - Elimination of "bloated," inefficient programs and agencies.
• Internal Conflict: The Tea Party was not representative of all Republicans; members often criticized fellow Republicans who they felt were not extreme or efficient enough.
• Political Impact: The movement gained significant momentum in $2010$ and $2011$, successfully winning many seats in Congress. This shift made it difficult for President Barack Obama to pass legislation as Congress became dominated by Republicans aligned with this movement.

The Occupy Movement and Wealth Disparity

• Context: Emerged in $2012$ primarily among the lower and middle classes.
• Wealth Disparity Statistics:   - The richest $1\%$ of the American population controls $31\%$ of the nation’s wealth.   - The remaining $99\%$ of the population must share $69\%$ of the wealth.
• Educational Analogy: If $100$ students have $100$, one student holds $31$ while the other $99$ students share the remaining $69$. While distributive differences based on effort (e.g., a doctor studying for $10$ years) are expected, the movement protested the extreme concentration of wealth.
• Tactics: Protesters "occupied" downtown financial districts in major cities to show they were fed up with the $1\%$ holding so much wealth.   - Occupied Locations: Washington D.C., Wall Street in New York City, and Downtown Miami (Brickell area).

The Presidential Election of 2012

• Democratic Candidate: Barack Obama was renominated for a second term.
• Republican Candidate: Mitt Romney.   - Romney was a wealthy man and was frequently accused of being part of the "1%."   - Perception: During a time of protest against the wealthy, Romney was perceived as out-of-touch. Pop culture (e.g., SNL) parodied his wealth.
• Election Results:   - Popular Vote: Obama won with $51\%$ of the popular vote.   - Electoral College: Obama won decisively with over $330$ electoral votes because he won major "big states."

The Electoral College System (Civics Overview)

• Mechanism: The President is not elected by popular vote but by the Electoral College.
• Calculation: The number of electoral votes for a state equals its number of Representatives plus its two Senators.   - California: $52$ representatives + $2$ senators = $54$ electoral votes.   - Florida: Currently has $28$ electoral votes.
• Winner-Take-All: In most states, if a candidate wins the popular vote in that state (even by a margin of $51\%$ to $49\%$), they receive all of that state’s electoral votes.
• The Process: Each party chooses a group of civilian electors. The winning party’s electors go to the state capital and then to Washington D.C. in December to cast the actual votes for President.
• Founding Fathers' Intent: The system was created as a "safety net" because the founders did not want the presidency chosen solely by the general public. It also prevents candidates from only catering to large cities (New York, Los Angeles, Miami, Chicago) and ensures the needs of rural areas and farmers are not ignored.

Second Term Challenges and Domestic Issues

• Economic Performance: The stock market improved during Obama's second term.
• Government Shutdowns: Frequent conflicts between the President and the Republican-controlled Congress led to government shutdowns when budgets could not be agreed upon.   - Impact: Federal employees may be placed on hiatus and stop receiving paychecks until the government reopens, at which point they typically receive back pay. It causes inefficiencies, such as longer TSA lines at airports due to fewer active agents.
• Globalization and Job Loss: Many American jobs were lost to overseas markets due to affordable transportation and the internet.   - Wage Comparison: A factory in the U.S. might pay a minimum wage of $15\text{/hour}$, whereas a factory in Indonesia might pay workers $1\text{/hour}$.
• Border Issues: The loss of jobs coincided with an increase in illegal border crossings, leading to the rise of Republican immigrant control efforts, such as Donald Trump’s proposal to build a wall and increase border patrols.

Foreign Policy and Terrorism

• Iraq: Following the withdrawal of U.S. soldiers, the new Iraqi government became unstable, leading to significant violence and police issues.
• ISIS (Islamic State in Iraq and Syria): A terrorist organization that emerged as a major threat.   - Tactics: Used the internet to recruit members (including some Americans) and posted disturbing videos of live beheadings of kidnapped Americans.   - U.S. Response: Retaliatory bombing of ISIS-operated locations.   - Orlando Attack (2016): An ISIS-inspired agent opened fire in a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida, killing $49$ people.
• Syria: Obama faced a difficult situation regarding the civil war in Syria, which he largely attempted to stay out of.

Social Movements: Black Lives Matter (BLM)

• Origins: Sparked by the killing of Trayvon Martin, a $17$-year-old African American teenager.
• The Incident: Martin was walking in a white neighborhood while visiting someone he knew. A neighborhood watch member, George Zimmerman, found him suspicious and ended up shooting and killing him. Zimmerman was found guilty of murder.
• Movement Goals: To highlight systemic racism and the unfair targeting of black people by law enforcement.
• Political Divide: The nation became divided between Black Lives Matter (generally aligned with Democrats) and Blue Lives Matter (a counter-movement supporting the police, generally aligned with Republicans).
• Colin Kaepernick: A quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers who became a face of the BLM movement by "taking a knee" during the national anthem to protest racial injustice. This sparked a debate over respecting the flag versus the right to protest. Kaepernick eventually lost his NFL career over the controversy.

Environmental Policy

• Global Warming: Climate evidence regarding melting glaciers and rising temperatures led to renewed efforts to regulate the environment.
• The Paris Agreement: President Obama moved the United States back into the international community by signing the Paris Agreement (succeeding the Kyoto Protocol, which President Bush had exited).
• Regulations: The agreement focused on regulating toxic waste and $CO_2$ (carbon dioxide) emissions.

Presidential Election of 2016

• Candidates: Donald Trump (Republican) vs. Hillary Clinton (Democrat).
• Significance: Trump’s victory marked a major shift in policy, particularly regarding environmental regulations and immigration.