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Origins and Purposes of
American Government and
Political Culture
Origins and purposes of government
• Evaluate the statement: “Government
is a necessary evil.”
• Purpose of government
• Examine the Preamble
• Who?
• Why?
• What?
• Extent of success?
• Define “politics.”
• Politics in your life?
Types of government
• Explain Aristotle’s classification system,
including definitions and examples of
the six forms of government in your
explanation
Roots of American
Government
• Classical Greece and Rome
• Enlightenment
• Reformation (Luther, Calvin, Pilgrims)
• Thomas Hobbes (Leviathan)
• Life is “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short”
• Strong government vs. life in the “state of nature” ie war
• John Locke (Second Treatise on Civil
Government; Essay Concerning Human
Understanding)
• Consent of the governed
• Social contract
• Natural rights
• Influence on Declaration of Independence
Early American experiments and
experiences with governance
• Self-government
• Mayflower Compact
• House of Burgesses
• Town Meetings
• Types of democracies: Compare, considering
strengths and weaknesses of each
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Direct
Indirect
Republic
What would Locke, Hobbes prefer?
• Strong or weak central power
• Articles of Confederation
• Constitution
American Political Culture
• Personal liberty
• From “freedom from” to “freedom to”
• Equality – “one person, one vote”
• Popular consent and majority rule
• Consent of the governed –Locke
• Majority rule and minority rights
• Popular sovereignty
• Power to the people
• Uses in history
American Political Culture (continued)
• Civil Society
• Created when people have the right to openly
organize and debate public policy
• Individualism
• Each individual possesses unalienable rights
• Rugged individualism changes – for the better?
• Religious faith
• Role in politics
• Impact on social issues
Attitudes towards Government: Take this
True false quiz for a class profile:
1. Our government does a good job, given the many
responsibilities it has
2. Government is generally ineffective in its efforts to improve
societal concerns
3. Some government programs are very effective at resolving the
issues they target
4. I will definitely vote regularly in the future
5. Most of the people in the senior class care about political
issues
6. Individuals and local charities should take primary
responsibility for addressing social issues
7. Politicians are most interested in getting re-elected or
improving their own economic situation so they are not
concerned with helping the people
8. Less government is better
9. Government must get involved otherwise certain problems will
never be addressed
10.Frequent news about scandals reflects both better
governmental oversight and media hype
American Attitudes Towards Government
• High expectations
• Dwelling on the negatives
• Mistrust of politicians
• Voter apathy
Identify a significant
trend.
Develop theories
concerning the
significance and impact
of the numbers
The Impact of American Demographics:
http://www.census.gov/prod/www/abs/briefs.html has
great summaries of data!
• Increased population
• Changes in racial and ethnic
composition
• Role of immigration
• Impact of Hispanic-Americans
• Changes in the age pyramid
• Impact on Social Security
• Families: size and structure
Political Ideologies: Go to
www.politicalcompass.org to find out
where you stand!
• Functions
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•
•
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Explanation
Evaluation
Orientation
Political Program
• Common American Ideologies
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•
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Liberalism
Moderate
Conservativism
Libertarian
• Labels can gloss over divergent views
• i.e. a social liberal who is fiscally conservative
Political Ideologies
Video on libertarianism: see hotchalk.com nbcnews-gov/pol – pol
beliefs –libertarian – ed clark
Listen to the roundtable discussion on
self-government to fill in the chart
Professor
Obasohan
Reece
Falcon
Ideology
Evidence
As you think about the arguments
given by each, consider the strategies
employed to convince the listener:
emotional appeal, appealing to your
values, using facts and reason, or
using humor (inc. satire, parody, or
irony)
Consider the relative merits as well as the
weaknesses in their respective arguments.