The New American Politics

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The New American Politics

• Mr. Greens American Government

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Outline of the Lecture

• The Turn Toward Big Government
• The New Deal
• The New Federalism
• The Rise of Bureaucracy
• Interest Group Liberalism
• Keynesian Macroeconomics
• The Progressive Judiciary
• Majority Culture
• The Imperial Presidency
• The New Ideologies

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Federalism 5
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Federalism 6
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The Depression
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The New Deal
Franklin Delano Roosevelt
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The New Deal

• The Hundred Days
• Bank Holiday
• Agricultural Adjustment Act
• AAA
• National Industrial Recovery Act
• NRA
• Public Works Administration
• PWA
• Federal Emergency Relief Administration
• FERA
• Tennessee Valley Authority
• TVA

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Toward The Single Republic

• The Big Switch
• Schechter Poultry Corporation vs. U.S. (1935)
• Does the emergency of the Great Depression change
  the interstate/intrastate Federal/State power
  relationship?
• NLRB vs. Jones Laughlin Steel Corp. (1937)
• Does the emergency of the Great Depression change
  the interstate/intrastate Federal/State power
  relationship?
• Wickard vs. Filburn (1942)
• How far does Federal power over intrastate
  commerce extend?

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The New Deal

• 1933 The Hundred Days
• Bank Holiday
• Agricultural Adjustment Act
• AAA
• National Industrial Recovery Act
• NRA
• Public Works Administration
• PWA
• Federal Emergency Relief Administration
• FERA
• Tennessee Valley Authority
• TVA

• 1935 Second New Deal
• Emergency Relief Appropriation Act
• Works Progress Administration
• WPA
• Social Security Act
• National Labor Relations Act
• NLRB
• Wealth Tax Act
• Banking Act of 1935
• Public Utilities Holding Company Act
• Rural Electrification Act
• REA
• Resettlement Administration
• Farm Security Administration

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89th Congress and the Great Society

• Medicare
• Federal Aid to Education
• to end discrimination
• to end poverty
• Urban Reform
• Creation of HUD
• Subsidized Housing
• Fair Housing Act
• Model Cities
• Aid to Mass Transit
• The Arts
• PBS
• National Endowments of Humanities and of Arts

• Poverty
• Special Aid to Appalachia
• Increased Minimum Wage
• Head Start
• Medicaid
• Food Stamps
• Legal Services Corporation
• Environment
• Pure Air Standards
• Clean Water Standards
• Wilderness Bill
• Misc
• Truth in Lending
• Auto Safety Requirements

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Federalism 7
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Tocqueville
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The Rise of Bureaucracy
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The Bureaucracy

• Definition
• A large, complex organizational system in which
  tasks, roles, and responsibilities are structured
  to achieve a goal.
• Bureaucrats
• People who work in a bureaucracy

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Organization Structure
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The American Bureaucracy

• The Cabinet

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The American Bureaucracy

• Independent Agencies and Regulatory Commissions,
  Including
• FED (Federal Reserve)
• FCC (Federal Communications Commission)
• SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission)
• NLRB (National Labor Relations Board)
• NTSB (National Transportation and Safety Board)
• EPA (Environmental Protection Agency)

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The American Bureaucracy

• Government Corporations, Including
• U.S. Postal Service
• Corporation for Public Broadcasting
• FDIC (Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation)

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American Bureaucracy

• Civil Service Appointees
• The Pendleton Act of 1883
• Using merit in hiring and promotion for
  government jobs
• Political Appointees
• 3000 Assistant Secretaries, and Under
  Secretaries, and Deputy Secretaries, etc.
• Issue Networks

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Issue Networks

• Need for Experts
• Expanding Government Programs Need Experts Who
  Understand Program Complexity.
• Experts Move In And Out Of Government.

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Issue Networks
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Issue Networks

• Need for Experts
• Expanding Government Programs Need Experts Who
  Understand Program Complexity.
• Experts Move In And Out Of Government.
• Experts Are Not Loyal To Their Bosses
• Status Determined by Other Experts, Not
  Politicians or Electorate
• Loyal To Their Network and Issue Rather Than
  Politicians And Parties.

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Bureaucratic Theory

• Social Efficiency
• Producing Desirable and Necessary Goods and
  Services With the Least Expenditure of Time,
  Effort and Resources
• Max Weber
• Bureaucracies Improve Social Efficiency
• William Niskanen
• Bureaucracies Undermine Social Efficiency

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Webers Thesis

• Specialization
• Expertise and merit
• Hierarchy
• Establishes clear lines of authority
• Facilitates decision making

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Hierarchy
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Hierarchy
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Bureaucracies Improve Social Efficiency

• Specialization
• Hierarchy
• Formal Rules (Red Tape)
• Simplify and Routinize Complex Procedures
• Curtail favoritism
• Improve Decision Making By Creating A Formula For
  A Broad Array Of Situations
• Therefore, Bureaucracies Improve Social
  Efficiency

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Niskanens Thesis

• Self Interested Entrepreneurs and Managers in a
  Competitive System
• Must Lower Prices, Raise Quality, and/or Be
  Innovative to Succeed (Gain Profits)
• This Dynamic Leads to Social Efficiency
• Bureaucratic Managers are Monopolists Motivated
  by Self-Interested
• They Have No Objective Price, Quality, Innovation
  Comparisons To Assess The Relative Costs And
  Benefits Of Their Services
• This Dynamic Leads to Social Inefficiency

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Niskanens Thesis

• Bureaucratic Accountability
• Bureaucratic Managers Seek to Please
  Congressional Subcommittees Rather than Voters
  (Consumers)
• Committee Members self select
• Congressional leadership defers to committees
• They Are Generally Not Personally or
  Professionally Rewarded for Minimizing Costs or
  Maximizing Benefits
• They Are Generally Not Personally or
  Professionally Harmed if They Maximize Costs and
  Minimize Benefits

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Niskanens Thesis

• Bureaucratic Accountability
• They Are Rewarded Or Punished Based on Compliance
  With
• Assessment by self or peers
• Avoidance of negative publicity (and generation
  of positive publicity)
• Complete use of their budgets
• Ability to successfully request and defended
  budget increases.

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Niskanens Thesis

• Bureaucratic Managers Are Self-Interested
• Seek career advancement, higher salaries, and
  perquisites
• They will seek to ensure that their bureau grows
• They will seek to acquire ever larger budgets

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Niskanens Law

• Bureau Budgets Will Be Larger Than the Median
  Voter Would Desire
• Government Agencies Will Be Larger the Median
  Voter Would Desire
• The Economic and Social Benefits of Bureaucratic
  Policies Will Seldom Cover Their Corresponding
  Economic and Social Costs
• Therefore, Bureaucracies Undermine Social
  Efficiency

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System Dynamics

• Government Budgets
• Since They Are Not Forced To Balance Costs vs.
  Benefits, Bureaucrats Will Always Seek Larger
  Budgets
• Interest Group Liberalism
• Since They Looking for Maintaining Their Power
  Positions, Members of Congressional Committees
  Will Always Support Larger Budgets
• Since They Are rent seeking, Interest Groups Will
  Always Advocate Larger Budgets

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Model 2
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The End