Download 10 Things I Hope You Will Take Away From This Course

Lecture #21
10 Things I Hope You Will Take from
this Course (And Use in Your Life in
Politics)
I. Organize!
Bitching about politics with your friends, and even voting, won't
change much. The American political system is heavily pluralist,
so to get anything done in American politics you must be part of a
group. And to make that group really effective, it must engage
people. If you can get people to actively participate you can do
amazing things in American politics.
II. Lead by Persuasion, not Command
Separation of powers, bicameralism and federalism mean that
persuasion is particularly important in American government.
American politicians have to be incredibly skilled at bargaining
and persuasion to be effective, as we saw in the case of Lyndon
Baynes Johnson, the master persuader. (Even judges have to
worry about persuading others.) But to lead in any position, in
government or out, it is usually preferable to persuade rather than
command.
III. Don't Give Up Hope, Politics Can
Change Fast
Who would have thought, in 1950, half a decade after
Reconstruction had fizzled, that by 1968 African-Americans would
have won full legal equality in the United States? Who would have
thought twenty years ago that Americans would be seriously
considering gay marriage? Who would have thought in 1992 that
Republicans would control all three branches by 2001? (Or that
Arnold Schwarzenneger would be governor of California?) Politics
is much more fluid than it sometimes appears.
IV. But Don't "Spit Into the Wind"--Pay
Attention to Institutions
Politics is fluid but the institutions--the rules--aren't. I've spent a lot
of time in the course talking about the basic institutions of
American government (separation of powers, federalism,
bicameralism, for example) because are very likely to shape
American politics for many years to come. The institutions of any
political system make some strategies effective and others stupid.
(Institutions create incentives, remember?) In the United States
spending a lot of energy creating a third party in the hopes of
winning a lot of elections is a long-shot, or just plain dumb,
because of Duverger's Law. (First-past-the-post elections lead to
two party systems.) Trying to improve primary and secondary
education at the national level is also likely a dumb move because
American federalism puts most of the power over this area in
states and localities. Before you "make a move" think about the
incentives created by American institutions.
V. Think About Ways to Combat
Excessive Individualism
Some of my fellow social scientists, like Everett Ladd, are
skeptical of claims of declining social capital and growing
individualism in American life. They argue that new forms of
association and social capital are replacing older forms, like the
PTA (parent-teacher association). Perhaps they're right, but I'm
inclined to believe that social capital is not simply changing forms
but is diminishing, and that Tocqueville's worries about the
dangers of excessive individualism ring true today.
Whether I'm right or not, you should always aim to be a social
capital builder. Indeed, because of your education, skills, and
consequent privileged position in society, one might argue that you
have an obligation to be a social capital builder. Look particularly
for ways to bring diverse people together, to create "bridging"
social capital. It need not be through an avowedly political group;
Tocqueville argued that even non-political associations have
important political effects.
VI. Be Skeptical, But Not Scornful, of
"Public Opinion"
I've tried to suggest some major problems with polls and "public
policy by public opinion" in this course. That's because I think
American political culture unthinkingly accepts the plebiscitary
vision of democracy as the only true vision--indeed I'll bet most of
you still think the true test of democracy is whether public policies
are approved by a majority of the citizenry. When we see that
many Americans can't name the vice-president, or locate Iraq on a
map, we're tempted to scorn all expressions of public opinion.
Sometimes among political scientists skepticism about public
opinion degenerates into a kind of contempt for the people--their
ignorance about politics, their seemingly blind support for leaders
(or alternatively, simple-minded cynicism) and their lack of
sophistication about public policy. I hope you do not leave the
course with that attitude. Rather, I hope you see that American
political institutions, especially our intermediary institutions,
together with the scale and complexity of American politics, make
it hard to see what role individual Americans should have in public
policy formation. It's not that Americans are dumb, it's just, as
Lippman said, they are hard-pressed to play the role that classical
or plebiscitary democracy suggests for them. Polling, focus groups
and other techniques of gathering public opinion should not be
ignored, or scorned, but their findings should be critically
analyzed and weighed against other considerations.
VII. Be a Critical Consumer of the News
Media
Patterson's book provides a good primer on how to consume the
news. The media do now simply reflect the reality of American
politics; they filter that reality in fairly predictable ways. Politics is
not simply about winning, and politicians aren't constantly
fighting, but when they do fight and when they worry most visibly
about winning the media will be sure to cover them. Fortunately
there are an array of methods by which you can get a fuller, more
meaningful understanding of politics and public policy. The
internet, elite public policy magazines, even C-Span fills in some
of the gaps. Of course the best way to understand politics is
through direct participation.
VIII. Pick a Party--And Don't Give Up on
Parties
It's tempting to dismiss the two-party system as a hopeless muddle.
How can two parties possibly reflect the range of views of a very
diverse nation? As I think I've shown you, there are very legitimate
concerns about the weaknesses of the two-party system, but unless
we enact fundamental and wide-ranging election reforms we are
likely stuck with two parties. I agree with McWilliams that parties
are just about the only mechanism capable of connecting (or reconnecting) the "two tiers." Remember also that American parties
are highly permeable. They are no longer controlled by
longstanding "party bosses." If you organize and get others to
follow you can gain power in state parties, so I would argue that
for most purposes it makes much more sense in the United States
to work within the party system than to work outside it, or (worse
yet) to spend energy on a third party.
IX. Scale is Important--and Small-Scale
Politics May be Most Rewarding
If democracy is rule by the people, than democracy seems much
harder as scale increases. Classical democracy becomes
impossible, and the other three visions--pluralism, plebescite and
trusteeship--become very difficult as scale increases. In our course
this point was first noted by Centinel, but it's been a consistent
theme ever since. We rely on the news media to tell us what is
going on in our democracy, but arguably the media aren't up to the
task (Patterson). We "should" be keeping up on all the details of
the legislation but there's just not enough time (Lippman on the
Phantom Public). Polling seems to be a way to aggregate public
opinion economically in a large nation--until you realize all the
problems with polls, especially "nonattitudes." We grow
distrustful of public officials because we simply can't follow what
they're doing (McWilliams), and though we all belong to interest
groups, we hate "special interests."
If politics was organized at the face-to-face level, most of these
problems would disappear. As politics becomes "global" and ever
more complex, these problems are exacerbated. I see no easy
solution. But I would exhort you to consider spending the bulk of
your energy in politics at the local and state levels, where arguably
you can do the most good. Students often choose the glamor of
national and international politics over the workaday world of the
local. But the local and state levels do a lot of governing in the
United States, and you can rise very quickly to prominence and
influence at these levels. If you're most worried about education,
crime, welfare, health--all the core functions of governance except
security--try working at the small scale.
X. Politics is Good!