U.S. GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS, SPRING 2011

FOUNDATIONS OF AMERICAN POLITICAL CULTURE

OSY chapter 1; Gordon Wood, “Republicanism” (distributed in class on Feb. 9)

Friday, February 11

Key terms/concepts from OSY chapter 1: reasons why Europeans began colonizing America, importance of religious freedom, growth of religious tolerance; direct democracy, indirect democracy, and republic; social contract theory, ideas of Hobbes and Locke; political culture; basic tenets of American democracy (pp. 10-12): personal liberty, political equality, popular consent, majority rule, popular sovereignty, individualism, religious faith and religious freedom (plus regional differences, population diversity, dynamism); functions of government (pp. 12-13): establishing justice, insuring domestic tranquility, providing for common defense, promoting general welfare, securing blessings of liberty; major changes in characteristics of American people, implications of these changes (pp. 13-17) including ethnicity/race, aging, regional differences; political ideologies: conservatives, social conservatives, liberals, moderates, libertarians; basic division of U.S. citizens by ideology (Figure 1.4, p. 18); changes in Americans’ views toward government and other institutions

Key terms/concepts from Wood, “Republicanism”: why the early Americans wanted to establish republics, sources of their optimism about self-government, why republican citizens had to be patriots, importance of owning property for full citizenship rights

TODAY’S MAJOR POINTS

1. KEY PRINCIPLES BEHIND U.S. GOVERNMENT: social contract theory, ideas of Hobbes and Locke

2. ELEMENTS OF AMERICAN POLITICAL CULTURE: Add these points to the list on pp. 10-12:

- regional differences; as noted on p. 16 of OSY, the U.S. has always had differences across regions of the nation; the most obvious early one is between North and South (slavery, economic base), but the South remained politically distinctive for a century after the Civil War (we’ll discuss this later in the semester); western states have traditionally held more anti-federal government views

- population diversity; chapter 1 talks about this process, and note that the U.S. has always maintained population diversity – ethnically for certain, and today we see more racial as well as ethnic diversity

- dynamism; it’s important to remember that change is somewhat constant in American society, and not surprisingly change is constant in American politics as well. Scholars use the term ‘dynamism’ to describe the energy that seems to drive Americans to be highly productive, innovative, and eager to take steps to improve aspects of their lives (including, when appropriate, political action to achieve goals)

Questions: Does current American society and politics value or uphold some of these elements of political culture more than others? Which ones, and why?

3. CHANGING CHARACTERISTICS OF AMERICANS: Note that U.S. society has always reflected ongoing changes due to immigration, internal migration, major events (e.g. the Civil War, 9/11) and social movements (e.g. Prohibition, the civil rights movement). Major shifts today: age composition, demographics, total population, regional growth or decline, family size and composition.

What issues become more important and visible as a result of these changes?

4. POLITICAL IDEOLOGIES IN THE UNITED STATES: The basic ideological terms used to describe Americans are: liberal, conservative, moderate, and libertarian. Some issues show a clearly distinguishable difference between liberals and conservatives (polarizing issues), but on some issues the terms don’t really help to sort out opinion (cross-cutting issues, which we discuss more later on).

Key point: most Americans do NOT have a consistent set of issue preferences that can be labeled liberal or conservative. “Moderate” means having views in the “middle of the road,” holding views but not very strongly, AND having a mix of conservative and liberal views – these are three very different ways to think about the term ‘moderate,’ but it’s important since a large percentage of Americans fall in this category (see Figure 1.4, p. 18).

What purpose do political ideologies serve for Americans? Why have one?

5. ATTITUDES TOWARD GOVERNMENT

These concerns (pp. 19-21) are shaped by several recent events:

- Less trust of government, politicians, institutions in general (chart, p. 20)

- Voter apathy, although voter turnout has risen since 2000

- Little sense that government works (e.g. Hurricane Katrina response)

- Uncertainty about future (job losses in the Great Recession, ongoing concerns about terrorism)

- 2008 election bred optimism with a new president and an historic election, shifting to concerns about not progressing forward (partisan disputes, slow economic recovery, health care reform controversies) or moving further apart over contentious issues (same-sex marriage, size of government)

What evidence gives Americans hope about the nation’s political future? What is going right in the U.S. today?

6. PULLING THIS TOGETHER, BACK TO THE BEGINNING: Wood’s reading on “Republicanism” offers a general perspective about Americans’ views on politics: optimism about the future combined with skepticism about government. This perspective incorporates several of the elements of political culture from OSY ch. 1. Wood discusses how the U.S. founding generation viewed its goals and dreams, and what it meant then to be a republican (note this is NOT related or the same as today’s Republican Party). “Society is produced by our wants and government by our wickedness” (quoting T. Paine, p. 24 of Wood reading).

What was revolutionary about the American Revolution? Why did the founding generation consider themselves patriots and republicans, what did those terms mean to them? What risks to their liberties did they perceive? What elements of U.S. political culture (discussed in OSY 1 for today) are found in Wood’s discussion of the founding generation?