American Government and Politics Today

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American Government and Politics Today

• Chapter 1
• The Democratic Republic

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Politics and Government

• Key Terms
• Politics who gets what, when,
  and how
• Institution an ongoing organization that
  performs certain functions for society
• Government institution in which decisions are
  made that resolve conflicts or allocate benefits
  and privileges

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Why Is Government Necessary?

• Order the process of maintaining peace and
  security by protecting members of society from
  violence and criminal activity the oldest
  purpose of government
• Liberty the greatest freedom of individuals
  that is consistent with the freedom of other
  individuals in the society can be promoted by or
  invoked against government

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Why Is Government Necessary? (continued)

• Authority the right and power of a government
  or other entity to enforce its decisions and
  compel obedience
• Legitimacy the popular acceptance of the right
  and power of a government or other entity to
  exercise authority

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Schools Are Different
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Forms of Government

• Totalitarian regime a government that controls
  all aspects of a nations political and social
  life
• Authoritarianism a system in which only the
  government itself is fully controlled by the
  ruler, therefore social and economic institutions
  exist that are not under the governments control

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Forms of Government (continued)

• Aristocracy rule is by the best, though in
  reality rule is by the upper class
• Democracy political authority is vested in the
  people derived from the Greek words demos (the
  people) and kratos (authority)

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Direct Democracy

• Political decisions are made by the people
  directly, rather than by their elected
  representatives
• Direct democracy is attained most easily in small
  political communities

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The Dangers of Direct Democracy

• The founders believed in government based on the
  consent of the people
• However, they were highly distrustful of anything
  that might look like mob rule
• Therefore, they devised institutions to filter
  the popular will through elected elites

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A Democratic Republic

• Democratic republic and representative
  democracy mean nearly the same thinggovernment
  based on elected representativesexcept that a
  republic cannot have a vestigial king
• Britain, with its largely ceremonial monarchy, is
  therefore a representative democracy
• The United States, as created by the U.S.
  Constitution, is a democratic republic

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A Democratic Republic (continued)

• Principles of democratic government
• Universal suffrage the right of all adults to
  vote for their representatives
• Majority rule the greatest number of citizens
  in any political unit should select officials and
  determine policies
• Constitutional democracy
• Principle of limited government powers of
  government should be limited, usually by
  institutional checks without such limits,
  democracy could destroy itself

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What Kind of Democracy Do We Have?

• Majoritarianism government ought to do what the
  majority of people want
• Elite theory society is ruled by a small number
  of privileged people who exercise power to
  further their self-interests
• Pluralism politics is made of conflict and
  compromise among interest groups

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Fundamental Values

• Political socialization
• Liberty versus order
• Equality versus liberty
• Economic equality
• Property rights and capitalism
• Capitalism an economic system characterized by
  the private ownership of wealth-creating assets
  and by free markets and freedom of contract

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Tensions Over Big Government

• How much power should the American government
  have and what role should it play in the lives of
  its citizens?
• Example Katrinain this scenario, big
  government was considered desirable
• Example National security
  policiesconcerning issues such
  as domestic surveillance, most
  Americans value limited powers

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Political IdeologiesLiberalism versus
Conservatism

• Conservatives tend to favor limited
  governmental involvement in the economic sector,
  and see economic freedom as a necessity for the
  good of the society regarding social issues they
  support traditional values and lifestyles
• Liberals tend to favor governmental regulation
  of the economy to benefit the societys
  individuals regarding social issues they
  advocate for social freedom, civil rights, and
  social change

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Political IdeologiesThe Traditional Political
Spectrum

• Socialism a political ideology based on strong
  support for economic and social equality
  socialists traditionally envisioned a society in
  which major businesses were taken over by the
  government or by employee cooperatives
• Libertarianism a political ideology based on
  skepticism or opposition toward almost all
  government activities

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Classical Liberalism

• Liberalism once meant limited government and no
  religion in politics
• The term evolved into its modern American meaning
  along with the political evolution of the
  Democratic Party, which was once the party of
  limited government but has become the party of
  (relative) economic equality

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Direct Democracy Today

• Initiative allows voters to propose a law or a
  constitutional amendment
• Referendum allows the legislature to refer
  legislative or constitutional measures to the
  voters for approval or disapproval
• Recall allows the people to vote to dismiss an
  elected official from state office before his or
  her term has expired

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The Traditional Political Spectrum
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A Four-Cornered Ideological Grid

• We can break down the electorate into
• Cultural and economic liberals
• Cultural and economic conservatives
• Cultural liberals/economic conservatives
  (libertarians)
• Cultural conservatives/economic liberals
• Classifying the votersall four viewpoints have
  substantial support based on polling data
• Conservative popularityhowever, the term
  conservative, as a self-applied label, is more
  popular than any other label except moderate

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Other Ideologies

• Communism revolutionary variant of socialism
  that favors a partisan (often totalitarian)
  dictatorship, government control of all
  enterprises, and replacement of free markets by
  central planning
• Fascism a 20th-Century ideology (often
  totalitarian) that exalts the national collective
  united behind an absolute ruler, rejects liberal
  individualism, values action over rational
  deliberation, and glorifies war

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Ideology in the Islamic World

• While communism and fascism are the historical
  ideologies that totalitarianism was coined to
  describe, our current international problem is
  with radical Islamism, as exemplified by al-Qaeda

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The Changing Face of America

• Aging
• Population growth
• Ethnic change
• Changes in Hispanic community
• Women in the workforce
• Increasing levels of education

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U.S. Population
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Questions for Critical Thinking

• Do you think a direct democracy is a rational
  option for governing in the United States?
  Describe the forms of direct democracy that exist
  and discuss the pros and cons of these
  mechanisms.

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Questions for Critical Thinking

• Do you think some people in American society
  equate security and order with protection against
  fellow citizens who are racially, culturally, or
  economically different? Why or why not?
• Do you think protection against discrimination
  should be considered an issue of security as well
  as an issue of equality? Justify your answer.