Unit 1 Notes

FOUNDATIONS OF GOVERNMENT

What is government?

“If men were angels, there would be no need of government.” James Madison

Webster defines government as the continuous exercise of authority over a political unit (such as a city, state, county, or nation). A government is an institution through which society makes and enforces public policy. It is made up of those who exercise power –who have authority and control over other people. In our nation the Constitution – in the Preamble – defines the role of the government (see overhead)

What is public policy?

Public policies are those things that a government decides to do – collect taxes, build roads, set a speed limit, declare war, etc. There are 6 general categories:

  • maintain national defense
  • provide public goods
  • police powers to provide order
  • provide public services
  • socialize the young into the political culture through education
  • collect taxes to pay for all these things

What is politics?

Again, Webster defines politics as “the art or science of governing; the art or science concerned with winning and holding control over a government.” “Who gets what, when and how.” It is also defined as the political opinions or sympathies of a person.

What is political power?

Power is the ability of one person to get another person to act in accordance with the first person’s intentions. Power is found in all human relationships, but we are concerned only with power as it is used to affect who will hold government offices & how government will behave.

What is authority?

People who exercise political power may or may not have authority to do so. Authority is the right to use power. In the US we usually say that a person has political authority if his right to act in a certain way is conferred by a law or by a state or national constitution. But what makes a law or constitution a source of right? That is the question of legitimacy. In the US it is widely held that the Constitution is a legitimate source of authority. But that was not always the case. Much of American history has been a struggle over what constitutes legitimate authority. The Civil War was a bloody struggle over the legitimacy of the federal union. Many people felt FDR was overstepping the bounds of his legitimate power when he created the New Deal. Today most Americans believe that for a government to be legitimate, it must be crafted democratically. Again, this was not always the case – many of the Founders did not trust the common man to make good decisions – Alexander Hamilton believed the Constitution was too democratic.

What is a state?

The word state has emerged as the dominant political unit in the world. (The term nation is frequently used to identify a state, but technically “nation” is an ethnic term used to identify a race or other large group of people. The word country is actually a geographic term referring to a particular place, region, or area of land.) The “state” is defined as a body of people, living in a defined territory, organized politically (under a government), and having the power to make and enforce laws without the consent of a higher authority.

There are 266 sovereign states in the world today – they vary in size & type of government, language, etc., but all states share four characteristics:

Two questions about politics:

Who governs? To what end? (How will government affect our lives?) In some ways government has little effect on our daily life – how happy we are, our family life, who we love, our health, etc. But in a longer perspective government actually does have influence on a great deal of our life.) In 1935 only 4% of Americans paid any income tax, 96% paid nothing. Of those who did pay, the average tax rate was only 4% of their income. Today almost all families pay some tax, and the average tax rate is 20%. This course is mainly dedicated to asking – who governs.

What is democracy?

Democracy can be used to describe 3 different political systems – 1. a government that serves the “true interests” of the people whether or not those people actual affect the making of the decisions; 2. those governments that come close to Aristotle’s definition - the “rule of the many” – where all or most of its citizens participate directly in policy making by holding office or making decisions (often called direct democracy or participatory democracy); and 3. the form that is most commonly used today – that institutional arrangement for arriving at political decisions in which leaders acquire power by means of a competitive struggle for the peoples’ vote – also called representative democracy. The word democracy is not used in the Constitution – the word republic is used instead. The authors meant representative democracy when they referred to a republic.

Traditional democratic theory

An ideal democratic process will satisfy 6 criteria:

  • equality in voting - one man, one vote
  • effective participation – citizens are freely able to participate
  • enlightened understanding – ideas are free to flow; there is free speech and free press; citizens have access to accurate information
  • inclusion of all people in the political process
  • majority rule; minority rights; remember the majority is not always right so steps must be taken to express those with the minority opinion

How is Power Distributed in a Democracy?

Representative democracy is any system of government in which leaders are authorized to make decisions by winning a competitive struggle for the popular vote. Obviously, such a government can be highly influenced by who is allowed to become a leader, how the struggle for votes is carried out (including how long between elections, length of the campaign, & how the campaign is financed), etc. Is there an “Elite” group of people who possess a disproportionate share of political power?

Four Theories of Who Governs:

  1. Pluralist theory – resources are scattered so widely in our diverse democracy that no single elite group can ever have a monopoly over any substantial area of policy. Further there are so many governmental institutions (federal, city, state, county, etc.) that no single group has the ability to control all of them. All of these various political groups vie for power & no one group is able to dominate. This generally positive view argues that power is, therefore, dispersed – if a group loses their case in one arena, they can simply take their issues to another arena. This is possible because there are multiple access points to our government. This theory furthers the argument that a great deal of diversity leads to the necessity of compromise in decision making – thus no group is able to control policy. Policy is shaped by conflict & bargaining among organizations representing the affected groups. Years ago many groups in society (blacks, women, laborers) had little effective representation in the political process. Today more and more groups are represented in Washington – either in Congress or in the bureaucracy. All legitimate groups are able to make themselves heard.
  1. Elite or class theory – important policies are set by a loose coalition of three groups that sometimes overlap among each other – corporate leaders, military leaders, and a small group of key governmental leaders. Some argue that the media ought to be included in this group (does the media manipulate public opinion & policy or is the media merely manipulated by the “elite” leaders?). Elite theory argues that government is in dominated by a few top leaders who enjoy great advantages in wealth, status, and/or position – wealth is the basis of power & big business is at the center. They act in concert and create policies that serve their own interests. Some people have such leaders in mind when they refer to “the establishment.” In one sense almost all politics is elitist in that all government decisions are made by the few rather than the many. But elitist theory asserts that it is always the same elite that makes policy & that they act in concert to protect themselves even if it means ignoring the public will. A popular version of elitist theory argues that career politicians in Congress make decisions without regard for social reality or public opinion. But of course, these politicians are elected by popular vote (often by big margins) – is it fair to complain of an elite group that have been chosen by the people?
  1. Hyperpluralism – pluralism gone bad. There are so many different groups that are so strong that the government is literally helpless to move against them. Nothing can get done or change because the vast number of govt. agencies work counter to one another. The groups themselves have become sovereign and the government is helpless to stop them. Hyperpluralism includes all the various govt. agencies as well as lobbies, interest groups, etc.

Another version of this theory is bureaucratic theory – because government institutions have become so complex, the experience & competence of the bureaucrats (those who operate govt. agencies from day to day) allows them to wrest powers from others, especially elected officials. Supporters of this theory argue that elected officials are powerless to affect policy when faced with the control these bureaucrats have over government institutions. In some instances bureaucrats do exercise great control – such as over which weapons systems to purchase, which civil rights laws to enforce, what foreign policy to create, etc. This wide area of discretion is necessary because Congress could not possibly dictate policy to such precis specifications as to make the bureaucrats powerless. However, in other instances, such as the Social Security Administration – bureaucrats are given very specific direction as to who will receive money, when, and how much.

  1. (Marxist theory – whichever class controls the means of production will control the government and policy making. In modern society there are 2 major classes – capitalists & workers. Marx argued that the government is merely the tool for managing the affairs of the bourgeoisie. This theory argues that economic structure shapes politics & determines political outcomes. For instance a firm that produces military goods may seek to influence a war declaration. One problem with this theory is that it can be used to explain the derivation of policies that influence the economy, but it doesn’t necessary explain what influences non-economic issues such as abortion, women’s issues, civil rights, etc.)

The Scope of Government in America

  • The government spends over 2 trillion dollars a year – and that is just the federal government.
  • The federal government employs nearly 5 million people (including military).
  • The federal government owns 1/3 of the land in the United States
  • The US government occupies 2.6 billion square feet of office space (4 times the office space located in the 10 largest cities in the US)
  • The US government owns 437,000 non-military vehicles

Is there too much government or too little??

If you think there is too much – what should be cut? Defense? Medical? Social Security? Education?

If you think there is too little – what else should be added?

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