AMERICAN IDEALS and the AMERICAN CONSTITUTION

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AMERICAN IDEALS and the AMERICAN CONSTITUTION

• Contd
• May 14th, 2003

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3.) Limits on Government

• Bill of Rights
• the first Ten Amendments (1789)
• Congress shall make no law...

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Amending the Constitution (Article V)

• Methods of Amending the Constitution
• Proposing Amendments...
• 2/3 of both Houses of Congress
• or 2/3 of state legislatures
• Ratifying Amendments...
• 3/4 of states (either by the state legislature or
  special convention)

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Recent Amendments/Proposals for Amendment

• 27th Amendment (1992) -- Congressional Pay
• Equal Rights Amendment
• Flag Amendment
• Balanced Budget Amendment

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Assessing the American Constitutional Framework
(...from a democratic perspective)

• bicameral legislature
• indirectly elected president (e.g. electoral
  college)
• unelected Supreme Court
• separation of powers/checks and balances
• federalism
• formal limits on the powers of government
• rigid constitution

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Democracy -- Protection of Individual Rights
Protection of Individual Rights
Low (Emphasis on General Welfare)
High
UNITED STATES
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Final Point...

• American Constitution grounded in emphasis on
  rights of individual and limits on government
• American emphasis on mass political participation
  emerged out of American political context,
  political culture and political practice

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AMERICAN POLITICAL CULTURE

• American Political Ideals
• May 14th, 2003

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POLITICAL CULTURE What is It?

• value consensus regarding the appropriate method
  of making political decisions and the appropriate
  spheres subject to political decision-making
• constitution (formal rules of the game)/political
  culture (operational rules of the game)
• both about process and outcome

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POLITICAL CULTUREWhat is It?

• CHARACTERISTICS
• consensus -- not monolith
• enduring -- not transitory
• different from (but related to) political
  ideology
• more complex, less consistent than ideology

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Elements of American Political Culture

• liberty
• egalitarianism
• equality of opportunity
• mass democracy/populism
• individualism and individual responsibility
• voluntarism
• moral absolutism
• patriotism

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POLITICAL CULTUREWhere Does It Come From?

• IMMIGRATION
• religious/ethnic background
• fleeing religious persecution
• emphasis on liberty
• puritanism
• moral absolutism
• protestantism
• distrust of hierarchy
• protestant work ethic
• voluntarism

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POLITICAL CULTUREWhere Does It Come From?

• GEOGRAPHY
• more land than labour
• undermined development of rigid social hierarchy
• reinforced emphasis on individualism
• frontier imagery
• settlement preceded authority

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POLITICAL CULTUREWhere Does It Come From?

• HISTORICAL EVENTS
• American Revolution
• patriotism
• emphasized liberty and democracy
• American Civil War
• emphasized idea of one nation

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POLITICAL CULTUREWhere Does It Come From?

• ECONOMY
• dynamic, rapidly growing economy
• reinforced notions of equality of opportunity,
  individualism, and individual responsibility

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POLITICAL CULTUREWhere Does It Come From?

• POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS
• reflect political culture but also reinforce it
• constitutional emphasis on individual rights and
  limited government
• political practice emphasizing mass participation

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POLITICAL CULTUREWhere Does It Come From?

• PLACE IN THE WORLD
• major superpower
• doctrine of isolationism ultimately unsustainable
• reinforced patriotism and moral absolutism

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Main Point!

• American politics is shaped by various values
  (sometimes contradictory) which arose out of the
  historical context in which the US political
  system developed
• these values and the historical context have been
  self-reinforcing
• this political culture is widely shared and
  deeply embedded
• commitment to these values is often shared by
  those critical of American political practice

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