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Unit one Introduction To Government 1. Many Americans, especially young people, are apathetic about politics and government. Young people because they pay little attention to public affairs, young Americans are less likely to be well informed about government and politics. 2. The institutions that make authoritative decisions that apply to all of society are collectively known as government. All modern governments have similar functions. These include: (1) Governments maintain national defense. (2) Governments provide public services. (3) Governments have police powers to provide order. (4) Governments socialize the young into the political culture. (5) Governments collect taxes. IV. The Policymaking System (10-13) A. The Policy Agenda The policymaking system begins with people who have interests, problems, and concerns. These interests, problems, and concerns are expressed through linkage institutions, which are the political channels through which people’s concerns become political issues on the policy agenda. Parties, elections, interest groups, and the media are key linkage institutions The policy agenda consists of the issues that attract the serious attention of public officials and other people actually involved in politics at any given point in time. A political issue arises when people disagree about a problem or public policy choice made to combat a problem. Policymakers within the four policymaking institutions (Congress, the presidency, the courts, and the bureaucracy) make policies concerning issues on the agenda. V. Democracy (13-19) B. Defining Democracy 1.Traditional Democratic Theory The writers of the Constitution were not fond of democracy. Most Americans define democracy as “government by the people.” The five cornerstones of an ideal democracy include: (1) equality in voting, (2) effective participation, (3) enlightened understanding, (4) citizen control of the agenda, and (5) inclusion. Democracies must also practice majority rule and preserve minority rights. In a large society a few will have to carry on the affairs of the many. The relationship between the few leaders and the many followers is one of representation. The closer the correspondence between representatives and their electoral majority, the closer the approximation to democracy. 3. Three Contemporary Theories of American Democracy ” Pluralist theory contends that groups with shared interests influence public policy by pressing their concerns through organized efforts. Pluralists believe that through bargaining and compromise, group competition will reflect the public interest. Multiple access points to government allow groups that lose in one arena to take their case to another. The elite and class theory contends that our society is divided along class lines and that an upper-class elite rules. Wealth is the basis of this power and big business is the center of power. Hyperpluralism is a theory that claims that too many influential groups cripple government’s ability to govern. Many groups are so strong that government is unable to act. When policymakers try to placate so many single-issue groups the result is muddled and inconsistent policy. 2. Constitutional underpinnings Protecting our bananas – object lesson John Locke – Second Treatise of Civil Government 1689 State of Nature -- before governments arise, people exist in a state of nature where they are governed only by the laws of nature. Natural Rights Natural law brings natural rights, including life, liberty, and property. According to Locke, the sole purpose of government was to protect natural rights Social Contract -- consent of the governed, and it should be a limited government. Covenant Declaration of Independence (AKA Greatest Dear John Letter Ever)-Remarkable parallels between Locke’s thoughts and Jefferson’s language in the Declaration of Independence. The sanctity of property was one of the few ideas absent in Jefferson’s draft of the Declaration: he altered Locke’s phrase “life, liberty, and property” to read “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” Nevertheless, Locke’s views on the importance of property figured prominently at the Constitutional Convention THE GOVERNMENT THAT FAILED: 1776–1787 Articles of Confederation, which became the new nation’s first governing document. Weaknesses -- Handout Captain Daniel Shays undertook a series of armed attacks on courthouses to prevent judges from foreclosing on farms. Shays’ Rebellion spurred the birth of the Constitution and reaffirmed the belief of the Philadelphia delegates that the new federal government needed to be a strong one. Constitution Convention Factions --James Madison claimed that factions arise from the unequal distribution of wealth. One faction is the majority, composed of the many who have little or no property. The other is the minority, composed of the few who hold much wealth. Compromise Three Fifths Slave Trade Great Compromise -- Connecticut Compromise, under which a bicameral legislature would have equal representation for the states in the Senate and representation based on population in the House of Representatives. Madison and his colleagues feared both majority and minority factions. To thwart tyranny by the majority, Madison believed it was essential to keep most of the government beyond their power. Under Madison’s plan, voters’ electoral influence was limited and mostly indirect. Only the House of Representatives were to be directly elected. Senators were to be elected by state legislatures (modified by the Seventeenth Amendment in 1913), presidents were to be indirectly elected by an electoral college, and judges were to be nominated by the president. The Madisonian plan also provided for a system of separation of powers in which each of the three branches of government would be relatively independent so that no single branch could control the others. However, the powers were not completely separate: a system of checks and balances was established that reflected Madison’s goal of setting power against power to constrain government actions. In the battle over ratification, the Federalists supported the Constitution and the Anti- Federalists opposed it. Federalist Papers – 10, 51 CONSTITUTIONAL CHANGE The Constitution may be modified either by formal amendment or by a number of informal processes. Formal amendments change the language of the Constitution in accordance with the procedures outlined in Article V. The Constitution may be informally amended in a variety of ways, such as through judicial interpretation or through custom and political practice. 3. Federalism Federalism is a way of organizing a nation so that two or more levels of government have formal authority over the same area and people. Most governments in the world today are unitary governments, in which all power resides in the central government. Although American government operates under a federal system at the national level, the states are unitary governments with respect to their local governments. In the United States, local governments are legally “creatures of the states” In a confederation, the national government is weak and most or all of the power is in the hands of its components (such as states). The Constitution does not refer directly to federalism, and little was said about it at the Constitutional Convention. However, the framers carefully defined the powers of state and national governments. The framers also dealt with a question that still evokes debate: Which level of government should prevail in a dispute between the states and the national government? Supremacy Clause Article VI Tenth Amendment Necessary and Proper Clause Article I Section 8 Cite an Example of Federalism In McCulloch v. Maryland (1819), the Supreme Court ruled that Congress has certain implied powers and that national policies take precedence over state policies. These two principles have been used to expand the national government’s sphere of influence. Chief Justice John Marshall wrote that, “the government of the United States, though limited in its power, is supreme within its sphere of action.” The “necessary and proper” clause (sometimes called the elastic clause) was interpreted to give Congress certain implied powers that go beyond its enumerated powers. Gibbons v. Ogden – Commercial Powers The Constitution requires states to give full faith and credit to the public acts, records, and civil judicial proceedings of every other state; states are required to return a person charged with a crime in another state for trial or imprisonment (extradition); and citizens of each state are entitled to all the privileges and immunities of any state in which they are located. dual federalism, a system under which states and the national government each remain supreme within their own spheres. The analogy of layer cake federalism The United States moved from a system of dual federalism to one of cooperative federalism, in which the national and state governments share responsibility for public policies. Using the analogy of marble cake federalism When Republicans won Congress in 1994 they placed an emphasis on devolution, the transfer of responsibility for policies from the federal government to state and local governments. Fiscal federalism involves the pattern of spending, taxing, and providing grants in the federal system. Grants-in-aid are the main instrument the national government uses to both aid and influence states and localities. Categorical grants can be used only for specific purposes (or categories) of state and local spending. State and local agencies can obtain categorical grants only by meeting certain qualifications and by applying for the grants. The most common type of categorical grant is a project grant, awarded on the basis of competitive applications. Formula grants are distributed according to a formula based on factors such as population, per capita income, and percentage of rural population. Block grants Congress implemented block grants to support broad programs in areas such as community development and social services. Block grants provide more flexibility since states and communities have discretion in deciding how to spend the money. 4. Civil liberties Political scientists have discovered that people are advocates of rights in theory, but their support wavers when it comes time to put those rights into practice. Civil Liberties are individual legal and constitutional protections against the government. They are essential to democracy because they concern the basic rights and freedoms that are guaranteed – either explicitly identified in the Bill of Rights and the Constitution, or interpreted through the years by courts and lawmakers. Civil Rights Refers to those things that the government must do to provide equal protection and freedom from discrimination for all citizens. Bill of rights The Bill of Rights is fundamental to Americans’ freedom. The Bill of Rights was written to restrict the powers of the new central government. The First Amendment establishes the four great liberties: freedom of the press, of speech, of religion, and of assembly. In Barron v. Baltimore (1833), the Supreme Court ruled that the Bill of Rights restrained only the national government and not states and cities. 14th amendment 1925 that the Court relied on the Fourteenth Amendment to find that a state government must respect some First Amendment rights (Gitlow v. New York). In Gitlow, the Court announced that freedoms of speech and press “were fundamental personal rights and liberties protected by the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment from impairment by the states.” The Supreme Court gradually applied most of the Bill of Rights to the states, particularly during the era of Chief Justice Earl Warren in the 1960s, developing the concept of the incorporation doctrine. (Selective Incorporation) At the present time, only the Second, Third, and Seventh Amendments and the grand jury requirement of the Fifth Amendment have not been applied specifically to the states. FREEDOM OF RELIGION Establishment clause and the Free Exercise clause Engel v. Vitale Employment Division v. Smith Lemon v. Kurtzman Reynolds v. United States FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION Symbolic Speech Prior Restraint Near v. Minnesota, 1931 Censorship Schenck v. United States (1919) Obscenity “Obscenity is not within the area of constitutionally protected speech or press” (Roth v. United States, 1957) Miller v. California -- Then, Chief Justice Warren Burger wrote that materials were obscene if, taken as a whole, they appealed “to a prurient interest in sex” Libel and slander New York Times v. Sullivan, 1964 Symbolic speech Texas v. Johnson, 1989 FREEDOM OF ASSEMBLY National Socialist Party v. Skokie RIGHT TO BEAR ARMS District of Columbia v. Heller DEFENDANTS’ RIGHTS Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, and Eighth Amendments are primarily applied in criminal justice cases. Mapp v. Ohio Miranda v. Arizona Gideon v. Wainwright Eighth Amendment forbids cruel and unusual punishment, but it does not define the phrase. Furman v. Georgia THE RIGHT TO PRIVACY Constitution does not specifically mention a right to privacy Griswold v. Connecticut Roe v. Wade Webster v. Reproductive Health Services Planned Parenthood v. Casey Civil Rights Most Americans favor equality in the abstract, but the concrete struggle for equal rights has been our nation’s most bitter battle. Civil Rights are policies that extend basic rights to groups historically subject to discrimination. 14th amendment history The only place in which the idea of equality clearly appears in the Constitution is in the Fourteenth Amendment, which prohibits the states from denying “equal protection of the laws” to any person. Three levels of judicial scrutiny reasonable (that bear a rational relationship to some legitimate governmental purpose) are constitutional. inherently suspect Racial and ethnic classifications are presumed to be invalid and are upheld only if they serve a “compelling public interest” that cannot be accomplished in some other way. substantial Classifications based on gender fall somewhere between reasonable and inherently suspect—gender classifications must bear a relationship to an important legislative purpose. Segregation de jure and de facto Plessy v Ferguson Brown v. Board of Education The Civil Rights Act of 1964 made racial discrimination illegal in hotels, motels, restaurants, and other places of public accommodation. The Act also forbade many forms of job discrimination, and Congress cut off federal aid to schools that remained segregated. Suffrage Fifteenth Amendment – White Primaries and poll taxes Voting rights Act of 1965 24th Amendment – poll taxes WOMEN, THE CONSTITUTION, AND PUBLIC POLICY 19th Amendment The Civil Rights Act of 1964 banned sex discrimination in employment; in 1972, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) was given the power to sue employers suspected of illegal discrimination; and Title IX of the Education Act of 1972 forbade sex discrimination in federally subsidized education programs, including athletics. Gay Rights Affirmative Action policies requiring special efforts in employment, promotion, or school admissions on behalf of disadvantaged groups Regents of the University of California v Bakke Adarand Constructors v. Pena, the Court held that federal programs that classify people by race, even for an ostensibly benign purpose such as expanding opportunities for minorities, should be presumed to be unconstitutional. Unit one multiple choice Unit one FRQ