AMERICAN GOVERNMENT

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AMERICAN GOVERNMENT
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• What is GOVERNMENT?

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• Government is one of the oldest institutions on
  earth.
• Enlightenment philosophers traced its origin to
  ancient Mesopotamia.
• Theistic thinkers trace its origin to Gods early
  dealings with man.

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• What we know for certain is that early man felt a
  need to control to govern
• his actions.
• From the earliest times, it appears that life
  without a controlling influence was, as British
  philosopher Thomas Hobbes later put it, nasty,
  brutish, and short.

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• The 4th century B.C. Greek philosopher Aristotle
  student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the
  Great was among the first to ponder the origin
  and purpose of government.

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• He studied the polis the ancient Greek
  city-state.
• The English terms politics and citizen both
  derive from the Greek term polis.

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• The word polis is little remembered today
  outside of academic circles.
• We are more familiar with the more modern terms
  country and state and we use them
  interchangeably.

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• GOVERNMENT
• The institution through which the public
  policies of a state are made and enforced.
• But this is the formal definition of government

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We encounter many governments in our lives

• Your Family
• Schools
• Jobs
• Churches, Synagogues, Temples, and Mosques

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• In each of these institutions, law (or rule)
  making and law (or rule) enforcing goes on.
• In other words, someone (or a group) acts as
  legislator (rule-maker) and executive
  (rule-enforcer.)

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• In this course, we will largely be speaking of
  government in its more formal sense the
  institutions, offices, and individuals who govern
  us and that as it pertains to the United States
  of America.

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Now, getting back to countries and states

• What political scientists and historians call the
  state is the dominant political institution in
  the world today.

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• The state
• (from the Latin stare, to stand)
• A political community that occupies a definite
  territory and has an organized government with
  the power to make and enforce laws without
  approval from any higher power

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• There are close to 200 states in our world at the
  beginning of the 21st century.
• The United States of America
• is one of them.

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• Now lets look at each of the four characteristics
  of a state

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Population

• States are made up of people.
• Some states have extremely large populations,
  some extremely small.

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The largest state in the world today in terms of
population is

• The Peoples Republic of China
• Population Jan. 2009 just over 1.3 billion
  people.

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The smallest state in the world in terms of
population is

• Vatican City
• Resident Population - 900

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What difference does the size of a countrys
population make?

• It can add to the number of problems the country
  faces overcrowding, housing, food shortages,
  etc..
• It can also be a source of political instability,
  if the government doesnt deal with the problems
  effectively.

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Territory

• States (countries) always have defined borders,
  separating their territory from that of other
  countries.
• The boundaries of a state may be defined by
  natural formations, such as oceans, rivers, or
  mountain ranges.
• They may also be defined simply by artificial
  man-drawn lines on a map.

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• The territorial size of a state may be large or
  small.

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The largest state in the world in terms of
territory is

• Russia
• Over 6,500,000 square miles

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The territorial size of the United States

• 3,718,711 square miles

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The smallest state in the world today in terms of
territory is

• Vatican City
• Size?
• Just under 109 acres!

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Government

• States must be organized politically, which is to
  say that they have a formal government structure.
• States have different types of governments based
  on their unique historical experience.

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Sovereignty

• The ability to make and enforce laws and to set
  policies
• without the approval
• of any higher power.

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In other words

• The Congress of the United States can pass laws
  and the President can sign them into law or
  veto (reject) them without the approval of the
  British or Canadian Parliaments, the Japanese
  Diet, the Israeli Knesset, etc..
• And of course those legislative bodies can do
  the same without our Congress approval!

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Theories for the Origin of the State

• I. The FORCE Theory
• The first government emerged in
• prehistoric times when a strong
• man (or a group of strong men)
• rose up and forced his will on
• others with the threat of violence
• and death.
• Source of power Physical Strength

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• II. The EVOLUTIONARY Theory
• Some scholars believe that the
• state evolved from the family.
• Evolution in this context simply
• means change in a particular
• direction.
• The head of the primitive family
• was the authority that served as
• a government.

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• An extended family might include
• hundreds of people.
• Abrahams descendants in the
• Torah, the Old Testament of the Bible,
  and the Koran are
• an example of the emergence of
• this kind of rule.
• Gradually, over time, the large
• extended family required a higher
• degree of social organization.

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• III. The DIVINE RIGHT Theory
• Also called the Euro-Asian power model
• The idea that earthly rulers acquire
• their authority from God (or the
• gods) and that God (or the
• gods) has chosen certain special
• people to rule over others by divine
  right
• Important to many
• civilizations throughout human history

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• The Egyptians had their Pharaohs.
• The Chinese had their Emperors.
• Europe had its Kings.
• Each were held to be men endued
• with power from on high to rule
• other men.
• They were believed to be god-men
• and to oppose them was to oppose God!
• (Or, at least, thats what they wanted
• their subjects to believe!)

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• Government Powerful
• The People Powerless
• The American Revolution
• was fought in opposition to this idea!

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• And now we turn to the theory for the origin of
  the state on which the Founding Fathers based our
  country

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The Social Contract Theory

• Beginning in the 1600s, Europeans began to
  challenge rulers who believed their authority
  came from God.
• They were supported by the writings of
  philosophers who believed that the origin of the
  state was in a social contract an agreement
  among the members of society.

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• The most important social contract philosophers
  were
• Thomas Hobbes and John Locke
• of England
• and
• Jean Jacques Rousseau of France.

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• Thomas Hobbes great contribution to social
  contract theory came in his book Leviathan,
  published in 1651.

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• Hobbes wrote that early man lived in a state of
  nature.
• No government existed.
• Without an authority to protect people from one
  another, life was nasty, brutish, and short.

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• By social contract (an agreement among the
  members of society), people surrendered to the
  state the power needed to maintain order.
• The state, for its part in the contract, agreed
  to protect the citizens.
• But the state had absolute power over the lives
  of the people.
• Once they surrendered their freedom, they were
  powerless.

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• and Hobbes did not believe the people had any
  right to break the agreement.
• He acknowledged no right of revolution.

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• John Locke took the social contract an important
  step further.

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• In 1688, the British Parliament forced King James
  II out of office and invited William and Mary of
  Orange to rule an event in British history
  known as the Glorious Revolution.

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• In Two Treatises of Civil Government, published
  in 1689, Locke defended the action taken by
  Parliament and went even further.

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• He wrote that people were naturally endowed with
  the right to life, liberty, and property.
• These rights are born into us, Locke wrote.
• They are part of our very nature as human beings.

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• To preserve these rights, people freely
  contracted with one another to surrender power to
  a governing authority.
• As long as the government fulfilled its
  obligation to protect the natural rights of the
  people, the people permitted it to continue in
  power.

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• But, if government ever failed to protect the
  natural rights of the people, the people had the
  right to break the contract, abolishing the
  government.

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• Nearly a century later,
• the American colonists revolted
• against the rule of
• King George III of England, citing, in the
• Declaration of Independence, the political
  philosophy of natural rights that Locke had
  written about.

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The Sources of the Authority of Modern Government

• (1) LEGITIMACY
• The willingness of people to obey the government.
• In democratic countries, the governments
  legitimacy is based on the consent of the
  governed.

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• (2) COERCIVE FORCE
• Derives from the police, military, and judicial
  institutions of government.
• Government can force people to obey the law, by
  punishing them with fines, imprisonment, even
  death if they do not do so.

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Today governments in general serve several major
purposes for the state

• To maintain social order
• To provide public services
• To provide for national security and
• the common defense
• (4) To provide for and control the
• economic system

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The Framers of the Constitution listed the
purposes of American government in the PREAMBLE
to the Constitution

• We the People of the United States, in order
  to
• Form a more perfect union
• Establish justice
• Insure domestic tranquility
• Provide for the common defense
• Promote the general welfare
• Secure the blessings of liberty to
• ourselves and our posterity
• do ordain and establish this Constitution for
  the United States of America.

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Types of Government

• In order to study them, political scientists
  classify governments according to three criteria
• Where is the power located?
• What is the relationship between the lawmakers
  (the legislative branch) and the law-enforcers
  (the executive branch)?
• How many govern?

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• The answers to these questions comprise various
  forms of government.

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Where Is Power Located?

• UNITARY GOVERNMENT
• - A central or national government
• has supreme power.
• - The central government may create
• lower levels to govern smaller
• units and may give those
• agencies limited powers.

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• CONFEDERATE GOVERNMENT (CONFEDERATION)
• - A loose alliance of independent,
• sovereign states.
• - The states may create a central
• government of strictly limited
• powers.

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• FEDERAL GOVERNMENT
• - The central government shares
• power with regional governments
• - The United States Constitution
• created a federal system of
• government.

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What Is The Relationship Between The Lawmakers
(Legislative) And The Law-Enforcers (Executive)?

• PARLIAMENTARY GOVERNMENT
• - The Executive (the Prime Minister
• and his or her Cabinet) members
• of the Legislative Branch
• (Parliament)
• - The Prime Minister the leader of the
• majority party in the House of Commons
• in Parliament

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• PRESIDENTIAL GOVERNMENT
• - The Chief Executive - the President
• is elected separately from Congress
• and serves a separate term of
• office.

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How Many Govern?

• Political philosophers going back to Aristotle
  have identified five kinds of rule
• (1) Rule of one Autocracy
• Monarchies and Dictatorships
• (2) Rule of a few Oligarchy
• (3) Rule of the many Democracy
• - Rule by majority
• (4) Rule of Law Republic
• - From the Latin res publica the
  public thing (the Law)
• (5) Rule of None Anarchy

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AUTOCRACYRule By One

• ABSOLUTE or TOTALITARIAN DICTATORSHIP
• - The oldest and one of the most
• common forms of government
• - Sources of power Force, Fear
• - Most dictators seize power by force
• and hold on to their power through
• the ruthless use of the military or a
• secret police

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• - The ideas of the dictator are glorified.
• - The government tries to control all aspects
• of social and economic life
• - Exs. of totalitarian dictatorships
• (1) Adolf Hitler Nazi Germany
• (1933-1945)
• (2) Benito Mussolini Fascist Italy
• 
  (1922-1943)
• (3) Joseph Stalin The Soviet Union
• 
  (1924-1953)

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• - Key ideas in a totalitarian dictatorship
• (A) The government is not responsible
• to the people
• (B) The people can in no way limit
• their rulers

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• MONARCHY
• - Source of power Family bloodline,
• inheritance
• - Two types
• (A) Absolute Monarchies
• - EX. King Abdullah of
• Saudi Arabia
• (B) Constitutional Monarchies
• - EX. Queen Elizabeth II
• of England

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But a pure AUTOCRACY where one person truly rules
alone is impossible!

• Monarchs and Dictators must have the help of
  others vassals, lords, a secret police
  organization, a loyal military force, etc. in
  order to rule a country!
• So true Autocracy, as a form of government,
  doesnt really exist!

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OLIGARCHYRule By A Few

• Sources of power Wealth
• Military
  Power
• Social
  Position
• or
• A combination
  of
• the
  three
• Sometimes
  religion

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• - EXS. todays communist powers
• (such as CHINA)
• - Key idea the claim of rule for the
• people
• An oligarchy is the only real way a King or Queen
  or a Dictator or the members of one political
  party can rule a country.

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• So OLIGARCHY, as a form of government, is
  frequently found in history and today.

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DEMOCRACYRule By Majority

• From the Greek language
• demos the people
• kratien (plural form of krater) to rule
• Aristotle coined the term demokratia to mean the
  rule of the people. We have anglicized it to
  democracy.
• Key idea of democracy the people hold sovereign
  power

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• In his Gettysburg Address,
• President Abraham Lincoln
• described democracy as
• government of the people, by the people, and
  for the people

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• But two forms of DEMOCRACY have existed in
  history and only one of them is practical as a
  form of government over a country
• Rule by MAJORITY

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Two Forms of Democracy

• Direct Democracy
• - Suited only for small societies
• - Exs. New England town meetings
• The smaller states or cantons
• in Switzerland
• No country today
• is ruled by
• direct democracy.

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• Majority Rule
• Do we really have majority rule in the United
  States?
• Do we really want majority rule?

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Well Known to the Founding FathersThe Danger of
Rule by Majority

• The Founding Fathers called Democracy mobocracy
  the rule of the mob.
• They knew that true majority rule can lead very
  quickly to tyranny
• - Either a tyranny of the majority
• or a dictator (or other tyrant) that
• the people turn to in order to have
• order and safety

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• The Founding Fathers saw DEMOCRACY as a
  transitional form between oligarchy and anarchy.
• They never intended the United States to be a
  DEMOCRACY.
• The word DEMOCRACY is not used at all in
  Americas Founding Documents (the Declaration of
  Independence and the U.S. Constitution) because
  the Founding Fathers never created a DEMOCRACY.

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The Founding Fathers created the United States to
be a REPUBLIC!

• How do we know that?
• Because they told us over and over again in our
  Founding Documents that, nationally, we were to
  be a REPUBLIC and that republican government
  was guaranteed for each of the States.

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What is a REPUBLIC?

• Republic - from the Latin res publica the
  public thing (the Law)
• Republic the Rule of LAW

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• As Benjamin Franklin was leaving the final
  session of what has come to be called the
  Constitutional Convention, a woman stopped him on
  the street.
• She inquired of the great man,
• Dr. Franklin, what have you given us?
• He responded,
• A Republic, maam, if you can keep it.

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We used to know this by heart!

• It was discussed around our family supper tables,
  celebrated in our literature, taught very
  carefully in our schools.
• We still are given the opportunity every morning
  in this school to place our hands over our hearts
  and pledge our personal allegiance to our flag
  and to the Republic for which it stands.

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Why did the Founding Fathers draw such a
distinction between a democracy and a republic?

• Because they knew a REPUBLIC where the Law
  rules (not single leaders, nor small groups, nor
  even the majority) offered the greatest
  possible protection for individual, personal
  LIBERTY!

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Characteristics of American Democracy

• Individual Liberty
• - Not total freedom, but freedom
• within the law
• Majority Rule but with protections for the rights
  of the minority
• - The Founding Fathers knew that
• any majority can tyrannize a
• minority if minority rights are
• not protected

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• Free Elections
• - Everyones vote weighted equally
• - All candidates can freely express
• their views
• - Citizens are free to help candidates or
• support issues
• - Few legal requirements for voting
• Competing political parties
• - What is a political party?

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In human history, democracies have been
rare.WHY?Because they tend to devolve into
anarchy.

• In addition, because what we know as democracy
  today appears to require a particular environment
  in which to develop and flourish.

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Five General Criteria Needed For The Development
Of Democracy

• 1
• DEMOCRACY REQUIRES CITIZENS WHO ARE WILLING TO
  PARTICIPATE IN CIVIC LIFE.

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• 2
• DEMOCRACY REQUIRES A FAVORABLE ECONOMY.
• Democracy succeeds more in countries without
  extremes of wealth and poverty and that have a
  large middle class.
• Democracy succeeds in an environment of economic
  freedom (a free enterprise economy).
• Democracy succeeds more in countries with stable,
  growing economies.

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• 3
• DEMOCRACY IS MORE LIKELY TO SUCCEED IN COUNTRIES
  WITH AN EDUCATED CITIZENRY.

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• 4
• DEMOCRACY CANNOT EXIST WITHOUT A STRONG CIVIL
  SOCIETY,
• a complex network of voluntary associations,
  economic groups, religious organizations, and
  many other kinds of groups that exist
  independently of government.

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• 5
• Democracy also prospers where there is a general
  CONSENSUS or agreement among the people about the
  social and political values and goals of the
  society.
• Valence issues
• Wedge issues

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Economic Theories

• Economics the study of human efforts to satisfy
  unlimited wants and needs with limited resources.
• The worlds three major economic systems
• A. Capitalism
• B. Socialism
• C. Communism

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Five Characteristics of Capitalism

• Private ownership of property and resources
• Free enterprise
• Business competition
• Freedom of choice
• The possibility of profits

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• Buyers and sellers have unlimited freedom to make
  economic decisions in a free market.
• The government adopts a laissez-faire (French
  Leave it alone) policy.

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• No nation has a pure capitalist system.
• The United States has a mixed economy in which
  free enterprise, or capitalist practices, are
  combined with and supported by government
  influences.
• Major news sources, including Newsweek magazine,
  have suggested that since the economic downturn
  last fall and the election of President Obama in
  November the economic direction we are taking
  is more toward government control and farther
  away from free enterprise.

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Socialism

• Under socialism, the government owns the means of
  production and makes most economic decisions.
• Socialism has three goals
• (1) Public ownership of most land and
• the means of production
• (2) Government control over most economic
• decisions
• (3) Equal distribution of wealth

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• Socialists believe workers should share equally
  in the benefits of production.
• Opponents (like me) say that socialism stifles
  individual initiative and hinders economic growth
  through high taxes.

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Communism

• Based on the conviction that history is a
  struggle between two classes
• The bourgeoisie own the means of production and
  use their economic power to oppress the
  proletariat, or workers.

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• This struggle must end in violent revolution,
  after which government owns the means of
  production and distribution.
• In time one class will evolve, property will be
  held in common, and there will be no need for
  government.
• In a perfect communist system, Karl Marx
  theorized, government would just wither away.
• In communist systems, as they exist today, all
  economic decisions are made at the upper levels
  of a very powerful national government.