INSTRUCTOR'S MANUAL FOR GOVERNMENT BY THE PEOPLE Structure, Action, and Impact 2022 Midterm Electio by welldoneassistant

Instructor's Manual For

GOVERNMENT BY THE PEOPLE Structure, Action, and Impact 2022 Midterm Election Update TWENTY-SEVENTH EDITION By DAVID B. MAGLEBY PAUL C. LIGHT CHRISTINE L. NEMACHECK

All Chapters Supplement files download link at the end of this file.

1 Constitutional Democracy Chapter Overview Politics and government matter—that is the single most important message of this book. By emphasizing the foundations of American politics, Magleby’s text helps students understand the complexity of contemporary U.S. government and politics. To that end, Chapter 1 establishes the foundation for the balance of the text by introducing questions fundamental to the study of politics and government. We begin by exploring the scope and nature of constitutional democracy in the United States. We then trace the historical development of constitutional democracy in the United States, identifying problems under the Articles of Confederation and how those problems were resolved in the Constitution. We conclude by evaluating arguments for and against the ratification of the Constitution. By the end of the chapter, students should have the foundation necessary to begin to explore some of the more complex questions in U.S. politics.

Lecture Suggestions A Grand Experiment in Self-Government (Structure) 1.1

Describe the nature of the “grand experiment in selfgovernment” in America.

LECTURE 1: Government comprises those institutions that make authoritative public policies for society as a whole. In the United States, four key institutions operate at the national level to make such decisions: Congress, the president, the courts, and the federal administrative agencies (the bureaucracy). Lecture on the fundamental questions arising about government from Harold Laswell’s famous definition of politics as “who gets what, when, and how.” How should we govern? What should the government do? Include specific examples in your discussion.

LECTURE 2: Some countries, like the former Soviet Union, claim to be representative democracies. They even hold regular elections boasting near universal voter turnout and resounding victories for the ruling party. Obviously, representative democracy requires more than just holding occasional elections. ▪

Outline the major features of representative democracy, including the requirements that candidates be selected by the voters, that elections are open to competition from candidates and parties with competing ideologies, that candidates and voters have the freedom to express their own views, and that representatives are subject to regular reelection.

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Differentiate such democratic systems with political systems that attempt to legitimate themselves through claims of democracy while masking authoritarian and antidemocratic features.

LECTURE 3: Government is the institution charged with making authoritative decisions that extend to all of society. While other institutions may make decisions that apply to specific groups, only government can make wide-ranging decisions that affect everyone. However, the ability of the state to make binding decisions depends on the legitimacy it enjoys. The source of legitimacy has been a central question of interest to political scientists since the days of Machiavelli, who famously asked if it is better for a prince to be feared or loved. Differentiate between the three sources of authority outlined by Max Weber: ▪

Charismatic authority is based on the personal qualities of the individual. Examples might include Adolph Hitler or Gandhi.

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Traditional authority establishes legitimacy by belief in the sanctimony of immemorial traditions. Most monarchs claim traditional authority, as does the pope.

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Legal-rational authority is based on the consistent performance of impersonal rules through institutions. Most contemporary democracies, and indeed the very notion of the rule of law, are rooted in legal-rational authority.

U.S. Government and Politics in Context (Structure) 1.2

Describe the importance of citizen participation in constitutional democracy.

LECTURE 1: Perhaps the least controversial element of government policy centers on the provision of public goods—things that everyone can share, such as clean air or national defense. Because of the nonexcludability of public goods, people have little incentive to pay for them. Consequently, the nature of public goods makes them difficult for the private sector to provide. Instead, they are often provided by the government and paid for through tax revenues. In recent years, however, a number of alternative mechanisms have been developed to shift public goods into private goods to be provided through the market. The creation of carbon markets, for example, attempts to privatize negative externalities associated with pollution to create a cleaner environment. Similarly, the widespread use of private military contractors changes the historical role of the government in the maintenance of national defense. 3 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Discuss the nature of public goods and the historical role of the government in providing them. Then consider alternative mechanisms for the provision of public goods. LECTURE 2: Contemporary politics often centers on the appropriate role and size of government in American society. The media usually characterize Republicans as favoring a smaller government and Democrats as favoring a larger one. However, such a picture is often overly simplistic, as Republicans and Democrats both favor a government that performs specific functions corresponding to their parties’ platforms and worldviews. ▪

Engage in a lecture and discussion centering on the appropriate role of government in the United States and cover the following questions and information: 

Is the scope of government currently too broad or too narrow? What does government being “too big” mean? Do students think the U.S. government is currently “too big”? Why? 

By what criteria might we measure the size of government? By some measures government today is smaller than it has been historically. In 1988, the year President Ronald Reagan left office, the federal government had approximately 2.22 million employees. By 2014, that number had fallen to 2.07 million. (See the U.S. Office of Personnel Management at www.opm.gov and search “historical tables” for figures since 1940.)

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By other measures, the size of the government has grown. Federal spending was 18.2 percent of gross domestic product in 1988. By 2017, it had risen to approximately 19.2 percent (See the Presidency Project at the University of California Santa Barbara at www.presidency.ucsb.edu/data/budget.php for historical figures from 1930 through 2017.)

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Why, despite evidence to the contrary, do Americans hold the view that the size of the federal government has grown beyond control?

LECTURE 3: Start by asking your students to describe their typical daily schedules. For instance, they wake at 6:00, have breakfast, get ready for school, check their e-mails, and leave 4 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

the house by 7:30. They drive to school and attend classes from 8:00 to 1:00. They work from 1:30 until 6:30 and then do homework. ▪

Put a good generic schedule in place.

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Ask students to identify all the ways in which the government impacts the activities they engage in every day. For example, they can identify how the government ensures our food is safe to consume, regulates (and in many cases directly provides for) the delivery of water to our households, establishes the rules that govern who can drive, builds and maintains the roads, provides student loans and other financial aid programs that help pay for education, and establishes minimum wage and worker protection laws (OSHA) that ensure safe workplaces and fair treatment.

Although students sometimes require prompting, once they get rolling they are often surprised by the vast number of ways we interact, often in very hidden ways, with the government every day.

Defining Democracy (Structure) 1.3

Describe democracy and the conditions conducive to its success.

LECTURE 1: Traditional democratic theory rests on several principles that specify how a democratic government makes its decisions. Democratic theorist Robert Dahl refers to five criteria essential for an ideal democratic process: equality in voting (i.e., one person, one vote), effective participation and representation, a free press and the right of free speech, a collective right to control the government’s policy agenda, and an inclusive citizenship. In addition, democracies must include the principle of majority rule accompanied by protection of minority rights. Students often intuitively grasp these elements of a democratic polis without necessarily being able to specify why they are necessary for democracy. ▪

Outline how Dahl’s five criteria play out in the United States.

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Differentiate between pluralist theories of politics, which argue that many centers of influence compete for power and control in the United States, and elite theories 5 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

of politics, which argue that despite the prevalence of mechanisms for participation, government remains controlled in practice by a relatively small group of ruling elites.

LECTURE 2: Democracy requires the active participation of citizens in making public policy. People in the United States have multiple avenues for political participation to try to influence policy. These include the following: ▪

Electoral politics: people can vote, demonstrate and gather support for candidates, provide campaign funding and other campaign support, or run for office.

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Lobbying: people can present information or persuasive arguments to government officials.

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Judicial action: people can initiate litigation to pursue their goals.

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Cultural change: this form of action involves large-scale changes in public opinion as a result of changes in contemporary values and visions.

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Grassroots mobilization: people can encourage and mobilize other citizens to support their goals and can form groups to show widespread support for their causes.

Consider these two other themes. First, the diversity of the American public plays an important role in defining issues and determining their outcomes. Second, the long-term stability of the American political system is due to several factors, including the existence of pathways to bring about peaceful change and a shared political culture.

LECTURE 3: In a representative democracy, citizens elect officials to make decisions on their behalf. Who they elect and how those official weigh their constituents’ values and preferences matter for understanding what representation means in practice. ▪

In descriptive representation, elected officials are similar to their constituents in their characteristics or backgrounds. Relevant characteristics include age, race, gender, and socio-economic status. While women and minorities have made gains in descriptive representation, these groups are still underrepresented in Congress.

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Compare and contrast these types of representation and review recent trends in the number of women and minorities in Congress. Ask students to evaluate the importance of descriptive representation. For instance, how might it affect the issues that elected officials prioritize and the positions they take?

LECTURE 4: One of the primary responsibilities of the government is to enforce laws. But what happens when the people no longer believe the government is able or willing to perform its basic functions? In recent years, the perceived failure of government to protect the southern borders of the United States has led some groups and citizens to take the law into their own hands to prevent undocumented immigrants from entering the country. ▪

Identify the key functions of government. Then identify ways in which government fails to live up to the expectations of some citizens in those areas.

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Ask your students to consider what they believe are appropriate actions for citizens to take when they feel as though government is not providing essential services. This could also be accomplished as a small breakout discussion during the lecture.

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Conclude your lecture with a discussion of the ways in which expectations placed by citizens on the government may change over time.

LECTURE 5: While students are often comfortable with the idea that the United States is a democracy, they often have more difficulty understanding the forms democracy may take. ▪

Begin by outlining the central features of American democracy: principles of political equality, majority rule and minority rights, and equality before the law.

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Contrast this with authoritarian and totalitarian systems, in which such principles are not in place.

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Contrast direct and representative democracies as competing forms of democratic government.

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Consider why the founders established representative democracy rather than direct democracy in the United States, as seen in the Congress (particularly the election of the U.S. Senate prior to the passage of the Seventeenth Amendment in 1913 and the use of the Electoral College to select the president). 7 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

The Roots of the American Constitutional Experiment (Structure) 1.4

Identify pre-Revolutionary concepts central to the new government and the problems under the Articles of Confederation.

LECTURE 1: The idea of democracy was first articulated by early Greek philosophers, who understood it as “rule by the many.” Critics (perhaps including Thomas Jefferson) have quipped that democracy is nothing more than “mob rule.” ▪

Outline the major principles inherent in democracy, including protection of individual rights, equal protection before the law, opportunities for political participation, and majority rule based on the principle of one person, one vote.

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Be sure to consider the reasons why the founders considered and rejected Athenian notions of direct democracy, based precisely on their concern over “mob rule.”

LECTURE 2: In The Federalist Papers, No. 10, James Madison warned of the dangers of “pure democracy,” noting that such a system “can admit of no cure for the mischiefs of faction.” For Madison, in other words, the danger of direct democracy was that it provides no guarantees against abuse of the minority by the majority. ▪

Explain the specific ways in which the founders sought to check the unlimited power of majority rule in direct democracy.

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Focus in particular on the specific manifestations of limited government expressed in the Constitution and Bill of Rights, including 

the First Amendment (free speech, freedom of religion, freedom of the press),

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the Fourth Amendment (protection from unreasonable search and seizure), and

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the Fifth Amendment (due process protections).

LECTURE 3: Discuss the Declaration of Independence as an instrument of propaganda targeted toward two audiences. ▪

An internal audience: early on, the revolutionaries promoting independence from Great Britain were a minority. The Continental Congress needed to convince its fellow colonists that the Revolution was a cause they should support. The Declaration justified the Revolution and presented a persuasive argument. Copies were made, and it was read from the town square in cities and villages throughout the colonies. Viewed this way, the Declaration was a great success as it shifted public opinion enough that the majority of the colonists supported the Revolution. This approach shows that the colonists used some of the same pathways of change that modern Americans use.

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An external audience: the Congress knew that its only hope for success was if it could engage in commerce abroad and buy weapons openly on the international market. This was only possible if other countries recognized the legitimacy of the rebellion. Copies of the Declaration were sent to foreign capitals with emissaries. England was the superpower of its day, so foreign governments had to be careful not to antagonize the British. The Declaration was successful in this regard as well, as France and Spain ultimately sided with the colonists, which turned the tide in the war. This approach puts the American Revolution in the larger global context and helps students see that foreign relations were as complicated then as they are now.

LECTURE 4: Militia groups; various ranch compounds in Texas, Montana, and Idaho; and radicals have all issued manifestos or declarations that mirror Jefferson’s, declaring their properties to be sovereign states. ▪

Contrast contemporary declarations of independence with the original.

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Discuss whether a right to revolution still exists, and identify what criteria need to be met for such a declaration to be legitimate. Point to the following key differences that made the original Declaration legitimate: 

Most avenues for affecting political change were not available to the colonists. They had attempted the ones that were, so revolution was a last resort. Modern would-be American revolutionaries have many more avenues of change available to them. Losing the policy battle or failing to sway public opinion does not justify rebellion.

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The Declaration was written “out of respect for the opinions of mankind” and was an attempt to gain support for the colonists’ position. Most modern declarations are written by people who hold the opinions of mankind in contempt. They are manifestos rather than attempts to affect broad political change for the benefit of the country.

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The Congress was issuing the Declaration as a public declaration of war. The Congress followed the international norms of the day regarding diplomacy and the rules of war. Many of those issuing modern declarations are criminals or domestic terrorists who do not abide by these norms.

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The most important distinction is that the original Declaration was issued by the Continental Congress. These men were sent as representatives of their constituencies. This gave them a legitimacy to declare on behalf of their communities that the British had violated the social contract. The modern declarations are for the most part issued by small groups and families who were not elected by anybody and can speak for nobody but themselves. They simply do not have the legitimacy to declare for their community that the social contract has been violated.

LECTURE 5: The notion of the social contract, an agreement between a government and its citizens under which citizens cede certain freedoms to the state in exchange for the protection of others, is deeply rooted in American political thought. The founders drew their understanding of the nature, function, and limits of government from Enlightenment social contract theorists like Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Indeed, the Constitution is often read as a social contract document. ▪

Explain what is meant by the social contract, contrasting the three perspectives offered by Hobbes, Locke, and Rousseau.

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Explain how the social contract theories of the Enlightenment were codified in the U.S. Constitution and how they continue to affect our lives today.

The Constitutional Convention of 1787 (Action) 1.5

Identify the issues resolved by compromise during the writing of the Constitution.

LECTURE 1: Students generally take for granted the fundamental principles contained in the Constitution. Build a lecture around some of the basic questions the Framers of the Constitution faced, including ▪

How can individual rights be balanced against the will of the majority?

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What should be the role of the federal government in regulating individual states?

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Who should be able to vote?

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What should be the role of the national executive?

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Should the Constitution contain a Bill of Rights?

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How should the national executive be selected?

LECTURE 2: Charles Beard argued in An Economic Interpretation of the Constitution of the United States that the Framers were motivated mainly by economic self-interest and created a strong national government to preserve economic order, to force the payment of debts, and to enforce contracts. ▪

Summarize for your class the Beard thesis on the economic motives of the Framers and present it as fact.

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Challenge your students to think about whether the motives of public figures are always based on self-interest and whether it is possible for self-interest to be channeled into public good.

LECTURE 3: As the delegates to the Constitutional Convention met in Philadelphia in May of 1787, they had to strike a careful balance. They wanted to establish a national government strong enough to keep the country together while simultaneously keeping it weak enough to avoid trampling individual liberty. Early on, they were forced to arrive at several compromises that came to define the U.S. Constitution in its early days and indeed in some ways even through today. ▪

The delegates to the Constitutional Convention generally agreed on the need for a republican form of government in which elected representatives govern. Most agreed that the franchise should be restricted to male landowners, who they believed to be the best guardians of liberty.

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Two conflicts quickly emerged at the Convention. The first placed small states against large states, with the more populous states favoring a system of proportional representation correlated to the number of people living in each state. The less populous states favored equal representation for all states regardless of population. These two positions were termed the Virginia Plan and the New Jersey Plan, respectively. The Great Compromise (aka the Connecticut Compromise) resolved this tension by establishing a bicameral legislature that provided for both systems to be used, with representation to the House of Representatives to be determined by population and representation in the Senate divided equally among the states. 12 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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The second conflict centered on the question of how to count enslaved people in the apportionment of seats in the House of Representatives. A large proportion of the population of many southern states comprised enslaved people. While they denied the franchise to enslaved people, many southern states wanted enslaved people to be counted as part of the population to ensure greater representation in the House. The northern states opposed this, not wanting to cede a large block of votes to the South. As southern states threatened to leave the convention, the Three-Fifths Compromise (aka the North-South Compromise) was reached. Every five enslaved people would count as three people to determine the number of seats a state would receive in the House of Representatives.

LECTURE 4: The question of how to select the president provides an interesting way to discuss both compromises at the Constitutional Convention and the founders’ fear of direct democracy. Early discussions at the convention centered on letting Congress select the president, much as the British parliament selects the country’s prime minister. However, given the relative weakness of the executive branch under the Articles of Confederation, delegates feared that this would create a weak president unable to stand up to Congress. Delegates briefly considered giving responsibility for electing the president to the state legislatures but quickly rejected that proposal as well, distrusting the states. The compromise position was to establish the Electoral College, a group of people equal to the total congressional representation of each state (representatives plus senators), which would vote for the president. This system for selecting the president continues today. LECTURE 5: Students often forget that for the first 10 years of its existence as a country, the United States was governed by the Articles of Confederation and that the breakdown of the Articles of Confederation led to the Constitutional Convention of 1787. ▪

Explain the basic structure of the U.S. government under the Articles of Confederation. 

Article II established the United States as a “firm league of friendship,” but the vast majority of the government’s real powers were reserved to the states. 13 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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The power of the national government was limited to declaring war, negotiating treaties, printing money, and adjudicating disputes between the states. Importantly, the national government did not have the power to impose taxes, raise an army, or regulate trade. Instead, these powers were reserved to the states.

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The relative weakness of the national government, combined with requirements that legislation proposed at the national level required the approval of 9 of the 13 states and that amending the Articles of Confederation required the unanimous consent of the states, imposed severe limits on the ability of the national government to govern effectively.

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The economic instability of the post–Revolutionary War era also created serious problems for the government. Inflation was high across the states. The national government was saddled with $11 million in debt, and state debts totaled more than $65 million, a huge amount in real terms. To complicate matters, the U.S. gold reserves had been exhausted financing the war, and paper money was virtually worthless.

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The economic situation generated social unrest and tension. Regionally, western farmers felt that eastern bankers were undermining their prosperity by foreclosing on farms and failing to pay a fair price for their commodities. Perhaps the most famous expression of these tensions occurred in the winter of 1786, when farmer and Revolutionary War veteran Daniel Shays led a group to protest bank foreclosure of farms in Massachusetts. Shays and his compatriots demanded that the government impose a moratorium on debt collection and that the seat of government be moved farther west to bring it under closer scrutiny of the people. Shays’ Rebellion, as it came to be known, was eventually put down when John Hancock, who was then governor of Massachusetts, ordered eastern militias to disband the protestors (western militias had already refused his orders).

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Shays’ Rebellion demonstrated the vulnerability of state governments and sparked a debate about the necessary balance between liberty and stability. Notable figures from the day weighed in on both sides of the debate. 14 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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In a letter to John Jay dated 1786, George Washington wrote, “We have probably had too good an opinion of human nature in forming our confederation. Experience has taught us, that men will not adopt and carry into execution measures the best calculated for their own good, without the intervention of a coercive power.” Weighing in on the other side, Thomas Jefferson wrote to James Madison in the same year, “I hold it that a little rebellion now and then is a good thing, and as necessary in the political world as storms in the physical.” LECTURE 6: Explain how the structure of the Constitution reflected the founders’ beliefs in national supremacy, federalism, republicanism, separation of powers, and checks and balances.

To Adopt or Not to Adopt? (Impact) 1.6

Evaluate the arguments for and against the ratification of the Constitution.

LECTURE 1: Students often assume that the adoption of the Constitution was a foregone conclusion. They fail to appreciate the intensity of the debate between the Federalists and the Anti-Federalists. The fierce battle between those who supported adoption of the new Constitution (the Federalists) and those who opposed it (the Anti-Federalists) played a central role in defining the politics of the young country. Outline the positions of the Federalists and Anti-Federalists, contrasting their demographics and their political philosophies. ▪

The Federalists included James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and John Jay. Writing under the name Publius, they authored The Federalist Papers, a series of 85 articles published in newspapers across the country in defense of the Constitution. In addition to defending the Constitution detail by detail, The Federalist Papers also represented an important statement of political philosophy.

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The Anti-Federalists were led by Patrick Henry and included Samuel Adams, James Monroe, George Clinton, George Mason, and Richard Henry Lee. Thomas 15 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Jefferson was sympathetic to the Anti-Federalists, though he was serving as the U.S. ambassador to France during the ratification process and therefore played little role in the Federalist–Anti-Federalist debate. The Anti-Federalists questioned the motives of the writers of the Constitution; they believed that the new government was an enemy of freedom. Many Anti-Federalists felt that the new Constitution was a class-based document, intended to ensure that a particular economic elite controlled the public policies of the national government. They feared that the new government would erode fundamental liberties and weaken the power of the states. ▪

Perhaps the most important outcome of the debate between the Federalists and Anti-Federalists was the development of a Bill of Rights for inclusion in the Constitution. In a compromise to assure ratification, the Federalists promised to add amendments to the document specifically protecting individual liberties. James Madison introduced 12 constitutional amendments during the first Congress in 1789. Ten of the amendments—known as the Bill of Rights—were ratified by the states and took effect in 1791.

LECTURE 2: Perhaps one of the most controversial decisions made at the Constitutional Convention was the decision to permit the new Constitution to come into force once nine states had approved it. The Articles of Confederation established that amendments required the unanimous consent of all states to be approved. ▪

Discuss why the founders would permit the new Constitution to be approved once nine states had ratified it.

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Provide a counterfactual: 

Would the new Constitution have been approved if all states had to ratify it?

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Would that requirement have provided greater incentive for states to hold out in negotiations, thereby undermining the compromises reached at the Constitutional Convention?

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LECTURE 3: Students (and Americans in general) have a tendency to venerate the founders as almost mythical figures. We often fail to understand who they were and what drove them to do what they did. Compare and contrast the Federalists and the Anti-Federalists for your students. ▪

The Federalists were generally drawn from among the property owners, creditors, and merchant classes. They favored a stronger central government established under the new Constitution. They were driven by a fear of “excessive democracy” and generally focused on the importance of order and stability over liberty. Collectively, they wrote under the pen name Publius, Latin for “public.” The most famous federalists were James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and John Jay.

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The Anti-Federalists, by contrast, were generally drawn from among the small farmers, debtors, and shopkeeping classes. They preferred governmental power to be kept at the state level, where the people could keep a closer eye on it. They opposed the new Constitution, favoring a more democratic approach focused on the preservation of individual liberty above all. Collectively, they wrote under the names Brutus, Centinel, and Federal Farmer. Among the most well-known Anti-Federalists were Patrick Henry, George Mason, and George Clinton. Thomas Jefferson also supported the AntiFederalist approach but was ambassador to France at the time and so did not participate in the debates.

LECTURE 4: Compare and contrast the positions argued by the Federalists and the AntiFederalists. ▪

The nature of representation 

The Federalists argued that representatives would operate in the best interest of the represented. They generally held to a trusteeship model of representation, such as that developed by British member of Parliament and political philosopher Edmund Burke. Under this model, representatives should have a great deal of autonomy to deliberate matters and decide—not in the

interests of their constituents—but for the greater common good or in the national interest. 

As Burke wrote in 1774, “His unbiased opinion, his mature judgment, his enlightened conscience, he ought not to sacrifice to you, to any man, or to any set of men living. . . . Your representative owes you, not his industry only, but his judgment; and he betrays, instead of serving you, if he sacrifices it to your opinion.”

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By contrast, the Anti-Federalists were suspicious of representative democracy. They generally favored a more direct form of democracy and, where representation was required, they held to a delegate model of representation in which the representative acts according to the expressed wishes of his constituency.

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The danger of tyranny 

Drawing on the instability and social unrest experienced during the post– Revolutionary War era, the Federalists warned of the dangers of the masses, a tyranny of the majority. These concerns are seen, for example, in the indirect election of senators and the president.

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The Anti-Federalists were far more concerned with the threat posed by a new political elite or aristocracy. They were often anti-elitist in their orientation.

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Scope of governmental power 

The Federalists, responding to the weakness of the national government under the Articles of Confederation, were determined to broadly expand the powers of the national government while still maintaining limits in the form of checks and balances and separation of power.

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The Anti-Federalists continued to desire a weak national government and stronger state and local governments, like what existed under the Articles of Confederation.

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Driving philosophy 

The Federalists were concerned above all with the threat posed by the economic and social instability of the post-Revolutionary era. They viewed 18 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

the new Constitution as an important mechanism to ensure political stability in the young country. 

The Anti-Federalists were more concerned with the maintenance of individual liberty and viewed the powers granted to the national government under the new Constitution as a threat to that liberty.

LECTURE 5: The ratification of the new Constitution was a contested process. Delaware was the first state to approve the Constitution, voting 30–0 to ratify the document on December 7, 1787. Several other states approved it shortly thereafter. However, in many states, approval was hotly contested and the vote was close (see table below). Date of Vote December 7, 1787 December 12, 1787 December 18, 1787 January 2, 1788 January 9, 1788 February 6, 1788 April 28, 1788 May 23, 1788 June 21, 1788 June 25, 1788 July 26, 1788 November 21, 1789 May 29, 1790

State Delaware Pennsylvania New Jersey Georgia Connecticut Massachusetts Maryland South Carolina New Hampshire Virginia New York North Carolina Rhode Island

Votes in Favor 30 46 38 26 128 187 63 149 57 89 30 194 34

Votes Opposed 0 23 0 0 40 168 11 73 47 79 27 77 32

Several interesting stories emerge in the context of the ratification debate. ▪

Although New Hampshire’s ratification of the Constitution met the requirement for adoption implemented at the Constitutional Convention (9 of 13 states approving), many of the most important states had not yet approved the new document. In particular, New York and Virginia were two of the most important states in the union, and neither had adopted the document. Indeed, so important was New York that despite the fact that the Constitution had already been technically adopted, the majority of the debate between the Federalists and Anti-Federalists over approval of the Constitution occurred to convince the state to approve it.

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Notice how close some of the votes were. New York and Rhode Island approved the Constitution by the narrowest of margins. Convincing hesitant states to adopt the new Constitution required compromise, most notably in the form of the inclusion of a Bill of Rights, which became the first 10 amendments to the Constitution.

Class Activities CLASS ACTIVITY 1: What are the strengths and weaknesses of democracy in the contemporary era? What can we do about the American political system’s weaknesses that will not undermine our strengths? This could also be used for a reading and writing connection, asking students to keep a journal or blog that focuses on these questions throughout the semester. ▪

This activity provides a good way to introduce the key themes addressed in the remainder of the course, focusing in particular on the nature of American democracy.

CLASS ACTIVITY 2: The provision of public goods—like national defense and the construction of roads—has long been the least controversial of the government’s basic functions. Ask your students to identify the roles of government and the concept of “public goods.” Are there other institutions, other than government, that might perform these roles and provide public goods? What are they? Is such a consideration realistic? Also, consider what other kinds of goods might be considered “public” goods, especially in an information/knowledge economy. ▪

This discussion item gets students considering the role and basic functions of government. (Structure)

CLASS ACTIVITY 3: The idea of direct democracy has gained traction recently as the Internet could expand the role of citizens in the development of public policy. But the Framers explicitly rejected the idea of direct democracy, even when the United States was a much smaller country. ▪

Why did the founders reject the idea of direct democracy? What were their primary concerns?

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What are the strengths and weaknesses of direct democracy?

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Do recent technological innovations make the idea of direct democracy more attractive and feasible? Would direct democracy improve the American political system? Why or why not?

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This discussion item introduces the idea of direct democracy and highlights some of the key decisions made by the founders in shaping the American political system.

CLASS ACTIVITY 4: The basic concepts of freedom and liberty have wide support in the United States. Yet, controversy often arises when some citizens’ rights are seen as potentially violating other citizens’ rights. ▪

Have your class identify cases in which they believe the exercise of some rights violates the protection of others. If they are having a hard time identifying specific examples, suggest flag burning and the detention of terror suspects without trial.

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Assign each example to a group and ask that group to explain why the case might be violating rights as well as why they might not be.

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Have each group report its findings back to the class. Then have a discussion based around the following themes: 

How do we balance competing rights claims?

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How has our understanding of rights changed over time? What explains the changes you note?

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This question encourages students to think about the basic rights afforded by the U.S. Constitution and how those rights often come into conflict. (Structure)

CLASS ACTIVITY 5: Ask students to find a political cartoon relating to a recent event or issue. Daryl Cagle’s PoliticalCartoons.com website (www.politicalcartoons.com) may provide a useful starting point. Then ask students to bring their cartoons to class and discuss how the cartoons illustrate a central theme in American politics. ▪

This activity provides an engaging way to think about the central themes of American politics. It also engages students who learn best through visual media. 21 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

CLASS ACTIVITY 6: Within the first days of regular classes, ask each student to write a question he or she has about government. Collect all of the questions and “slot” each of them in the chapter concerning its answers. ▪

When one of the written questions falls into the normal sequence of classroom activities, read the question, with the name of the questioner.

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Address the answer, or even devote the entire lecture, to that individual personally. (Note: This will personalize lectures throughout the semester. It seems to be particularly effective with large introductory-format classes.)

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More generally, student-created journals can be effective teaching and learning tools. One method is to ask students to maintain journals of work accomplished during the semester.

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At the end of the semester, the journals should include both the results of assignments made in class and student-initiated research (such as newspaper clippings with key information highlighted and descriptions of Internet resources) and notes on attendance or participation in several political activities (such as attendance at political speeches and forums).

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This activity could also be assigned through Twitter. Ask students to post questions under a hashtag unique to each topic. Then integrate these tweets into a PowerPoint presentation, creating a moment where each student’s thoughts can be aggregated and addressed and allowing students to raise questions as they do work outside of class that can then be addressed in class.

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This activity gets students to examine the role of government in their daily lives and to think about the appropriate role and basic services provided by the state.

CLASS ACTIVITY 7: Divide students into small groups and give each group a different set of assumptions about human nature, the nature of social interaction, preferred goals of social cooperation, and the like. One group, for example, might start with the assumption that human beings are self-interested and cooperation is difficult to achieve without coercion, while another might start with the assumption that human beings naturally seek to cooperate and that violence and conflict are not inherent to human relations. 22 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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Have each group develop a social contract that meets the needs of humans in the context of the assumptions about human nature with which that group started.

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Ask each group to present its results to the class.

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Conclude with a discussion of what assumptions would lead to something like the Constitution of 1787.

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This activity encourages students to think about the assumptions that underlie the American political system and the trade-offs embodied in the U.S. Constitution. (Structure)

CLASS ACTIVITY 8: Debate over the role and size of government is central to contemporary American politics. Is the scope of government too broad, too narrow, or just about right? ▪

Ask students to discuss, using contemporary examples, what is meant by government being “too big.” Have students prepare a list of items that they think constitute government that is too big and jobs that they think government must do.

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Do students disagree as to what “too big” is? Why?

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Ask students to develop a set of criteria, or values, with which they could evaluate what is “too big” about government today.

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Have them reevaluate their list in light of the values they discuss.

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Ask them to find the data they say are necessary to evaluate the statement and continue the conversation based on those findings.

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This debate provides students an opportunity to consider the appropriate role of the government and the wide scope of services people expect from the state.

CLASS ACTIVITY 9: Voter turnout in the United States has long been critiqued as abysmal. Divide the class into two groups (or multiple groups if the class is large). ▪

Have the two groups debate the following proposition: the United States should pass a constitutional amendment requiring all eligible citizens to vote.

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Be sure the discussion considers both the advantages and disadvantages of such a proposal. It may also be useful for students to prepare for the debate by examining other countries where compulsory voting is already in place. The CIA Factbook (www.cia.gov) list 21 countries with compulsory voting, as of 2020. 23 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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This activity provides an opportunity to reflect on the right to vote and the idea that nonvoting may sometimes constitute a form of political participation, and it offers a comparative framework within which the American political culture can be situated. (Action)

Research Activities RESEARCH ACTIVITY 1: Have students visit some websites of civic groups devoted to encouraging political participation or providing election information and some forums for political discussion such as a comments section on a news website. Ask students to write short reflection papers in which they consider what they learned from these sites. Can the Internet improve the quality of democracy in the United States? Why or why not? ▪

This activity encourages students to connect the abstract ideas of democracy examined in the course and text with the real, everyday practice of democracy in the United States. (Action)

RESEARCH ACTIVITY 2: Many people are talking about the impact of social media on democracy. Have students go on Twitter and explore the communications of an elected official, such as the president or a members of Congress. Ask your students to write short reflection papers addressing the following prompts: ▪

What are some of the common themes in the elected official’s tweets?

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What goals does the official seem to be pursuing through Twitter? For instance, is the official trying to educate the public about an important issue, raise money for re-election, or increase his/her appeal with voters?

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Who is the elected official/candidate trying to reach through Twitter? Is the official mainly tweeting to an audience of core supporters, or reaching out to a broader group?

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This activity provides an opportunity for students to consider how recent technological developments might affect American democracy. (Impact)

RESEARCH ACTIVITY 3: Have students prepare annotated bibliographies of three to five popular books published during the past decade concerned with the current American political, social, and economic scene. ▪

As a second step, have them write short essays that summarize the tone of their bibliographical lists. Are they optimistic? Pessimistic? Contradictory? How does current writing about the American future compare with the long-standing hopes and aspirations that make up the American Dream?

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This assignment provides a good opportunity to introduce basic research skills, including scheduling a library visit and orientation for your class.

RESEARCH ACTIVITY 4: Robert Putnam’s Bowling Alone: America’s Declining Social Capital makes the case that Americans are increasingly disconnected from the social networks in which American democracy was based. His work continues a long tradition of analyzing civil society in the United States, a tradition that can be traced to Alexis de Tocqueville’s original observations in Democracy in America. ▪

Ask your students to write reviews of either de Tocqueville’s Democracy in America or Putnam’s Bowling Alone, emphasizing the importance of civil society in the establishment and maintenance of American democracy.

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This research assignment requires students to engage with classic texts on the American political system and to think about the relationship between social networks and political systems.

RESEARCH ACTIVITY 5: One way to get students thinking about the political impact of structural factors (such as raising new issues on the political agenda, altering political dynamics, and balances of power between groups and types of people) is to have them consider how simple social changes—irrespective of individual groups, parties, or people in power—force government to act. ▪

Gather some trends from actual data from the 2010 U.S. Census (either via its web page at www.census.gov or from reference sources in your library) such as changes in median income or age of population, percentages of racial and ethnic groups, regional population shifts, and other trends. 25 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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Break students into groups, each focusing on a different trend, and ask them to think about the possible implications of such trends for future political leaders (perhaps themselves).

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You can use this exercise as the basis for a stimulating discussion or as the basis for a short group report on potential future developments in American politics.

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This assignment gets students thinking about the effects that simple population/demographic, economic, and other changes have on politics. (Impact)

RESEARCH ACTIVITY 6: Satire is often one of the most powerful forms of political critique and engagement. Ask your students to watch a recent episode of a political satire show, like The Daily Show with Trevor Noah (www.thedailyshow.com) or Full Frontal with Samantha Bee (www.samanthabee.com), both of which post recent episodes on their websites. Have them identify the ways in which their critiques engage the themes raised in this week’s lesson. ▪

This activity requires students to apply the themes raised in this chapter to contemporary political debates through the medium of political satire.

RESEARCH ACTIVITY 7: Does democracy require equality of income and wealth? Discuss why democracy might make a country more egalitarian or less egalitarian. ▪

Ask your students to find data from countries around the world to defend their positions. Possibilities might include the Freedom House index (www.freedomhouse.org), the Gini index of economic inequality, the proportion of women in the national legislature, the level of human development as defined by the Human Development Index (http://hdr.undp.org/en/statistics), or other appropriate measures.

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Have them write short papers addressing the question of whether democratic countries are more egalitarian or less.

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This activity provides students an opportunity to develop data literacy skills while simultaneously thinking about the relationship among democracy, economic development, and inequality in a global context.

RESEARCH ACTIVITY 8: In class, ask students for the percentage of the federal budget they think is spent on the following items: foreign aid, Social Security, national defense, education, Medicare and Medicaid, interest on the national debt, and other programs. Have them record their estimates. Then, for homework, tell them to visit the website of the Government Printing Office (www.gpo.gov) and ask them to search for and then review the summary tables at the end of the most recent federal budget to find the actual figures for each of these categories. In short responses, ask them to reflect on ▪

How close they were to the actual figures,

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Where they were inaccurate and why, and

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What the budget allocations say about the priorities of government in the United States.

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This assignment requires students to think about the priorities of the U.S. government as reflected through the budget and encourages them to think about the size, role, and scope of state activity.

Participation Activities PARTICIPATION ACTIVITY 1: Ask students to keep journals of their activities for a day, recording what they are doing every 15 minutes for an entire day. Then ask them to reflect on all the ways in which the government affects their lives on a daily basis. If students have a difficult time making the connection, you can provide a brief starting point. For example, if they say they woke up at 6:00 a.m., ask them how the state influenced the delivery of the basic services (water, sanitation, electricity) to their places of residence? Most students will be surprised to see the numerous ways government influences even the most basic activities. Ask them whether they think these services could be provided without government. ▪

This activity gets students reflecting on the impact that government has on their daily lives. (Impact)

PARTICIPATION ACTIVITY 2: Have students visit the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services website (www.uscis.gov), where they will the list of 100 questions used to orally test those who have applied for U.S. citizenship. ▪

Once students have looked at the questions, ask them to reflect on the reason for the test. In a short response, have them answer one or more of the following questions: 

Why do we require potential citizens to learn about the history, customs, and traditions of the United States?

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Why should they know about the country’s political institutions?

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Should natural-born American citizens be required to take a similar test? Why or why not?

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This assignment encourages students to reflect on the nature of citizenship and the shared knowledge, values, and beliefs of political communities.

PARTICIPATION ACTIVITY 3: Ask your students to write letters to the editor dealing with contemporary political issues as they relate to the themes of this chapter. ▪

This activity provides students an opportunity to engage with the themes and issues raised in this chapter while relating them to topics of interest to them.

Suggested Readings and Films READING 1: Social contract theory is at the heart of the American democratic experiment. This school of thought had a profound influence on Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and the other founders. Thomas Hobbes’s Leviathan (1651) famously argues that people seek escape from an “anarchic” state of nature in which life is “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short” by coming together and forming a state to provide for the rule of law. Perhaps the most influential social contract theorist was John Locke, whose Second Treatise of Government (1689) was widely read by the founders. Indeed, Jefferson’s assertion in the Declaration of Independence that individual freedom should ensure “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” was drawn from Locke’s belief that governments should provide for the protection of “life, liberty, and property.”

Similarly, Jefferson’s assertion that government derives its “just powers from the consent of the governed” is taken directly from Locke’s Second Treatise.

READING 2: Recent work in the fields of behavioral economics and game theory makes an interesting contribution to the field of political science. The two fields of economics suggest very different ways of understanding politics. Some good texts to consider in this context include David Friedman’s Hidden Order: The Economics of Everyday Life (New York: Harper Business, 1996), Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner’s Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything (New York: William Morrow, 2006), and Levitt and Dubner’s followup, Super Freakonomics: Global Cooling, Patriotic Prostitutes, and Why Suicide Bombers Should Buy Life Insurance (New York: HarperCollins, 2009). Cass Sunstein’s How Change Happens (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2019) similarly uses behavioral economics to understand the dynamics of social and political change.

READING 3: Robert Putnam’s Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community (New York: Simon and Schuster, 2000) provides a groundbreaking analysis of the breakup of American civil society. Drawing on an extensive data set, including nearly half a million interviews, Putnam shows how changes to the structures of work, family, and suburban life have led to a decline in the social connections that make American democracy work. His follow-up work with Lewis Feldstein, Better Together: Restoring the American Community (New York: Simon and Schuster, 2003), offers a prescription for restoring civil society and thus American democracy.

READING 4: Originally published in 1835, with a subsequent volume published five years later, Alexis de Tocqueville’s Democracy in America (New York: Penguin, 2003) was among the first books to explicitly analyze the democratic experiment in the United States. In his effort to explain the American experiment to readers in France, de Tocqueville provided arguably one of the finest analyses of American democracy and American political culture. This classic text can also be found online at www.tocqueville.org.

READING 5: Written by former senator Bob Graham (D-Fla.), America, the Owner’s Manual: Making Government Work for You (Washington, D.C.: CQ Press, 2010).targets college students with the message that effective government depends on their involvement. This engaging book then provides examples and “how to” advice for affecting political change.

READING 6: Drawing on extensive research from the fields of psychology and behavioral economics, Derek Bok argues in The Politics of Happiness: What Government Can Learn from the New Research on Well-Being (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2010) that the dismantling of the traditional welfare state, combined with strong antigovernment sentiment in the United States today, is undermining individual happiness and life satisfaction. READING 7: Daniel Q. Gillian’s The Loud Minority: Why Protests Matter in American Democracy (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2020) examines the impact of protests and public activism on democratic governance. Gillian argues that protests not only put pressure on elected officials, but also help voters assess politicians on specific concerns. READING 8: American Political Science Association, “American Democracy in an Age of Rising Inequality” Perspective on Politics 2, no. 4 (2004): 651–66 is the summary report of a blue-ribbon task force commissioned by the American Political Science Association on the impact of increasing inequality on American democracy. The report concludes with a warning that “rising economic inequality will solidify long-standing disparities in political voice and influence, and perhaps exacerbate such disparities.” READING 9: Andrew L. Yarrow and Cecilia M. Orphan’s “Why Students Need to Be Informed about Our Looming Fiscal Crisis: The America’s Futures Initiative,” PS: Political Science and Politics 43 (2010): 319–321, is a brief update on the America’s Futures Initiative and efforts to teach the debt crisis. This article provides useful strategies for teaching about the challenges posed by the increasing national debt.

READING 10: A vast literature in political science has explored representation and its implications for public policy. Jane Mansbridge’s “Clarifying the Concept of Representation,” 30 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

American Political Science Review 105 (2011): 621-630, deals with the nature of representation in democratic political systems. Lowande, Ritchie, and Lauderbach’s “Descriptive and Substantive Representation in Congress: Evidence from 80,000 Congressional Inquiries,” American Journal of Political Science 63 (2019): 644-659, examines how representation affects the daily work of members of Congress.

READING 11: In this contribution to the long-standing debate on the intersection of economic development and democracy, “The Economic Origins of Democracy Reconsidered,” American Political Science Review 106 (2012): 58–80, John R. Freeman and Dennis P. Quinn argue that processes of globalization occurring in the late twentieth century altered the historical relationship between economic liberalization and democratization.

READING 12: A rich array of academic journals covers American politics. While the American Political Science Association’s flagship journal, the American Political Science Review, often employs technical methodologies that may be difficult for undergraduates to work with, its sister journal, PS: Political Science and Politics, is quite accessible. Students can regularly be asked to visit the PS journal website (or the websites of similar journals) and find articles related to themes raised in the course. PS also has outstanding resources for teaching political science.

READING 13: The Immigration and Naturalization Service has a Self-Test for Naturalization (www.uscis.gov). Find out what aspiring citizens need to know to gain their citizenship. Explore the various study materials, including flash cards.

READING 14: The Statistical Abstract of the United States (go to www.census.gov and search for “statistical abstract of the United States”) provides an authoritative and comprehensive summary of social, political, and economic statistics in the United States from 1878 to the present. The U.S. Census Bureau (www.census.gov) also provides detailed demographic, geographic, and economic data at the national, state, and local level.

READING 15: The Initiative and Referendum Institute at the University of Southern California (www.iandrinstitute.org) provides information on direct democracy across the United States. 31 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

READING 16: The Avalon Project at Yale University (http://avalon.law.yale.edu) is a collection of historical documents of importance to the study of American government, ranging from the Magna Carta and the colonial charters to state constitutions, historical variants of the plans put forward at the Constitutional Convention, and ratification debates. The Core Documents of American Democracy project at the Government Printing Office (go to www.gpo.gov and click “Libraries” then “Core Documents of Our Democracy) lists a large number of documents considered integral to American democracy, ranging from the Articles of Confederation, the Declaration of Independence, and the Emancipation Proclamation to judicial decisions and congressional testimony.

READING 17: The National Archives website (www.archives.gov) maintains an outstanding collection of records useful in an American government class, including founding documents like the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution, the Federal Register, and a collection of 100 milestone documents in the history of the United States (www.ourdocuments.gov). The site also has outstanding resources for teaching U.S. politics using primary resources.

READING 18: Many outstanding political cartoon websites can be used as discussion starters throughout the semester. Daryl Cagle’s PoliticalCartoons.com (www.politicalcartoons.com) provides an easy-to-navigate collection drawn from cartoonists across the web. The Association of American Editorial Cartoonists (http://editorialcartoonists.com) also maintains a good collection. For historical cartoons and notes for teaching American government using political cartoons, the Library of Congress’ website (go to www.loc.gov and search under “political cartoons”) is also outstanding. FILM 19: A movie dramatization of George Orwell’s classic novel, 1984 (M. Anderson, director, United Kingdom: Holiday Film Productions Ltd., 1956) depicts a grim perspective on a society where individualism is suppressed and information is distorted by government to achieve ultimate control over its population. The 1956 version (Nineteen Eighty-four, M. Radford, director, United Kingdom: Umbrella-Rosenblum Films Production) is less haunting and grim than the 1984 remake but not nearly as good. (And the 1984 version contains full frontal nudity.) 32 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

FILM 20: An analysis of Tocqueville’s observations and criticisms of American democracy is made in Tocqueville’s Europe: The Paradoxes of Tocqueville’s Democracy in America (1995), Insight Media.

Revel Features Chapter Introduction CURRENT EVENTS BULLETIN Video: WATCH Constitutional Democracy: The Big Picture Author video.

A Grand Experiment in Self-Government (Structure) 1.1

Describe the nature of the “grand experiment in selfgovernment” in America.

Enhanced Image: VIEW Mayflower Compact Signing Students move around the image and can zoom in on particular aspects of it. Caption will direct students on what to look for. Social Explorer: HAPPENING NOW Summary of the siege on the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, and the aftermath of this event. Journal Prompt 1.1 The idea of government by the people is appealing but not always easy. What, in your view, is a necessary condition for effective self-government? QUIZ 1.1 A Grand Experiment in Self-Government

U.S. Government and Politics in Context (Structure) 1.2

Describe the importance of citizen participation in constitutional democracy.

What is one issue dealing with government that matters to you, and why does it matter? QUIZ 1.2 U.S. Government and Politics in Context

Defining Democracy (Structure) 1.3

Describe democracy and the conditions conducive to its success.

Document: READ An excerpt from The Federalist, No. 10 Document: READ The Declaration of Independence Document: READ An excerpt from The Federalist, No. 10 Video: WATCH “Egyptian President Morsi Forced Out of Power” Document: READ This Excerpt from Marbury v. Madison Document: READ The Bill of Rights Social Explorer: TABLE 1.1 CONDITIONS FOR DEMOCRACY Video: WATCH Republican Government vs. Direct Democracy Journal Prompt 1.3 What do you think are a few of the reasons that the United States has succeeded in creating and maintaining a democracy? QUIZ 1.3 Defining Democracy

The Roots of the American Constitutional Experiment (Structure) 1.4

Identify pre-Revolutionary concepts central to the new government and the problems under the Articles of Confederation.

Document: READ Preamble to the Declaration of Independence Video: WATCH “Hamilton” Success May Keep Alexander Hamilton on $10 Bill” ABC footage on musical Hamilton and keeping Hamilton on the $10 bill. 34 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Video: WATCH Economic Upheaval Journal Prompt 1.4 What do you think were the biggest problems with the Articles of Confederation, and why? QUIZ 1.4 The Roots of the American Constitutional Experiment

The Constitutional Convention of 1787 (Action) 1.5

Identify the issues resolved by compromise during the writing of the Constitution.

Audio: LISTEN The Three-Fifths Compromise Controversy Sketchnote Video: WATCH The Great Compromise Journal Prompt 1.5 What was the role of compromise at the Constitutional Convention? Or What do you think is the role of compromise in government and politics? QUIZ 1.5 The Constitutional Convention of 1787

To Adopt or Not to Adopt? (Impact) 1.6

Evaluate the arguments for and against the ratification of the Constitution.

QUIZ: Take the Naturalization Exam Journal Prompt 1.6 Do you think the United States would be any different today if a Bill of Rights hadn’t been included in the Constitution? QUIZ 1.6 To Adopt or Not to Adopt?

How would you describe the level of trust that you have in government? Consider your local and state governments as well as the federal government. Give 2 or 3 examples that support your answer. SHARED WRITING PROMPT: Constitutional Democracy Should the Constitution be made more democratic, and if so, how? Video: WATCH Constitutional Democracy: So What? Flashcards: LEARN THE TERMS Constitutional Democracy CHAPTER 1 QUIZ Constitutional Democracy

2 Constitutional Foundations Chapter Overview A country’s constitution is its basic law; it establishes political institutions, allocates power between them, and often provides basic guarantees of the rights of its citizens. Constitutions thus usually establish how political power is distributed and exercised in a given country. In this chapter, we explore the central principles at play in the U.S. Constitution. Specifically, we consider ideas of limited government, separation of powers, checks and balances, and judicial review. We then turn to consider the ways in which the Constitution evolves over time. By the end of the chapter, students should have a good understanding of how the U.S. Constitution sets the stage for how politics in the United States works today.

Lecture Suggestions Constitutional Framework (Structure) 2.1

Describe the framework for government expressed in the Constitution.

LECTURE 1: Was a Bill of Rights necessary? It’s hard to imagine today, but the Constitution as it was originally drafted identified a very limited number of rights. The body of the Constitution includes only the prohibition against ex post facto laws and the guarantees of the writ of habeas corpus and trial by jury.

The Federalists believed that there is no need for a Bill of Rights. They believed that the powers of the national government are limited to those specifically enumerated in the Constitution—that the national government has only those powers that are specifically and explicitly granted to it. Consequently, they believed that no Bill of Rights is necessary. 37 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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Begin a lecture by asking the class to identify the rights guaranteed by the original, unamended Constitution.

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Then outline the specific protections afforded by the Bill of Rights.

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Ask your students to think about how the American political system might have evolved without the Bill of Rights.

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Students may also be surprised to learn that the protections afforded by the Bill of Rights served only to protect the people against intrusion by the national government; states were not bound by the Bill of Rights and could engage in activities prohibited to the federal government until the Bill of Rights was incorporated.

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It was not until after the Civil War (specifically the passage of the Fourteenth Amendment in 1868) that states were prohibited from depriving individuals of “life, liberty, or property without due process of law.”

LECTURE 2: Review for your students the key structural arrangements articulated in the U.S. Constitution. Your lecture should focus on the following elements: ▪

National Supremacy. Article VI of the U.S. Constitution is the National supremacy clause, which ensures that the Constitution supersedes any conflicting state laws. This was a dramatic change from the Articles of Confederation, under which state laws often conflicted and could even override the decisions of the national government.

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Federalism. Federalism divides power between the national and state governments, reserving specific areas of decision-making authority for each. Federalism provides that states can pass their own laws (so long as they do not conflict with the national supremacy clause) and levy their own taxes. Over time, the relative balance of power between the states and the national government has shifted back and forth. Early in the history of the republic, the federal government was relatively weak and the states were relatively strong. Over time, however, the power of the federal government has gradually expanded, often at the expense of the states. 38 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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Republicanism. Under a republican form of government, the people choose representatives who make political decisions on their behalf. The founders firmly believed that power should be delegated to a small number of elected officials, because a gifted, enlightened political elite—property owners, the educated, and so on—would be better positioned to govern and preserve liberty than the people themselves would be.

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Separation of Powers. To protect liberty, the founders divided political authority across three independent, coequal branches of government (the executive, the legislative, and the judicial) and across two layers (state and national).

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Checks and Balances. To further limit the reach of government and to protect individual liberty, the founders made each branch dependent on the others. As James Madison put it, “The constant aim is to divide and arrange the several offices in such a manner as that each may be a check on the other.” The relationship between the president and the Congress, and indeed the process by which a bill becomes a law, can be used to illustrate this principle.

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Judicial Review. Although not specifically mentioned in the Constitution, the power of judicial review—the ability of the courts to overturn laws passed by Congress and the actions of the president made the judiciary a coequal branch of government.

LECTURE 3: Arguably the most important powers of governments today are economic in nature. The powers to raise taxes and regulate commerce are at the heart of what it means to be a state. Yet when the founders met to draft the Constitution in 1787, the national government lacked many of these important powers. Identify the ways in which the new Constitution expanded the economic and financial powers of the national government, focusing on the following two areas: ▪

Raising Taxes. One of the most important powers the founders granted the Congress was the power to tax. Article I, Section 8 gives the Congress the broad power to “to lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare.” As the new government was formed, the country’s first secretary of the treasury, Alexander 39 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Hamilton, made repaying the debt of the previous government the country’s top economic priority. At the time, the primary source of revenue for the national government was tariffs, or taxes placed on goods imported into the country. It was not until the passage of the Sixteenth Amendment in 1913 that the federal government gained the power to impose a national income tax. ▪

Regulating Commerce. While the Articles left regulation of trade to the states, the new Constitution granted the Congress the power to “regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States” (Article I, Section 8). The commerce clause, as it has come to be known, was arguably the single most important power granted the national government under the new Constitution. The commerce clause has been used to justify the passage of a wide range of legislation, ranging from the civil rights acts of the 1960s to the imposition of stricter federal drug laws in the 1980s.

LECTURE 4: The founders’ understanding of the purpose, nature, and function of government was deeply rooted in Enlightenment thinking. This common understanding led to a remarkable amount of consensus at the Constitutional Convention of 1787. Indeed, while we often focus on the key areas of disagreement—and the resulting compromises that were reached at the Constitutional Convention—the degree to which the founders shared a common worldview is equally striking. ▪

Discuss the common areas of thinking the founders shared in the following areas: 

Natural Rights. Drawing on the works of Thomas Hobbes and John Locke, the founders believed that the primary role of government should be to protect individual liberty and property. They believed that natural, inalienable rights—the rights to life, liberty, and property—exist independent of the state.



Social Contract. The founders believed that an informal or implied contract exists between a government and its people. When a government is formed, the people agree to certain concessions—to obey laws and pay taxes, for example. In exchange for giving up certain freedoms, the people expect the government to protect their basic rights. By extension, the legitimacy of the 40 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

government rests in the consent of the governed. A government that violates the social contract loses its right to rule. 

Classical Republicanism. The founders believed that the people have the right to choose their own government. Republicanism means that the government comprises representatives of the people.

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Limited Government. The founders believed that the scope of governmental power should be limited. They developed a system of separation of powers and checks and balances to prevent power from becoming concentrated in the national government.

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Nationalism. Based on the failures of the Articles of Confederation, the founders supported the idea of a strong national government representing “the people of the United States of America” rather than a decentralized government rooted in state identities.

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Follow up the lecture on these topics with a discussion asking students to identify specific areas in the U.S. Constitution and the Declaration of Independence where these principles are expressed. Alternatively, you could incorporate this into your lecture.

LECTURE 5: Contrast the basic structure the U.S. government under the Articles of Confederation with that established by the U.S. Constitution. ▪

Legislative Branch. Under the Articles of Confederation, there was a unicameral Congress with equal representation (one vote) for each state. Passing legislation required a 9/13 majority of all states. Under the U.S. Constitution, the United States has a bicameral Congress. The lower house, the House of Representatives, apportions representation based on population. The upper house, the Senate, provides for equal representation of all states. Passage of legislation requires the consent of both houses.

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Executive Branch. Under the Articles of Confederation, a very weak executive branch had primarily a caretaker role, appointed by the Congress to oversee government when Congress was not in session. Under the Constitution, the 41 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

executive branch became a coequal branch of government elected (indirectly) by the people. ▪

Judicial Branch. Under the Articles of Confederation, there was no judiciary, although Congress could temporarily create one if necessary. Under the Constitution, a Supreme Court was established and the judiciary was elevated to an independent and coequal branch of government.

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Division of Power between the National Government and the States. Under the Articles of Confederation, the most important powers were reserved for the states. Only states could impose taxes, issue money, or regulate trade. Under the Constitution, the powers to regulate trade and issue money were transferred to the national government, while taxation became a power shared by both the national and state governments.

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Amending the Constitution. The Articles of Confederation required unanimity to amend, making it a difficult process. The U.S. Constitution still requires a supermajority to amend, but not unanimity.

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Sovereignty. Under the Articles of Confederation, sovereignty rested with the states. Under the Constitution, sovereignty is shared between the states and the national government.

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Goal. Perhaps the most important difference between the two documents centers on their purposes. While the Articles of Confederation sought to establish a “firm league of friendship” between the states, the U.S. Constitution sought to unify the relatively independent states into a single, united country.

LECTURE 6: While we rightly celebrate the U.S. Constitution as the single most important document in American politics, the roots of the U.S. Constitution run deep. ▪

Trace the historical evolution of the basic ideas found in the U.S. Constitution for your students, emphasizing the evolving nature of the ideas of government and politics found there. You can focus on five historical documents in particular:

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The Magna Carta (1215). Rebelling lords forced King John to sign the Magna Carta in 1215, which guaranteed the lords certain basic rights and limited the sovereign power of the British monarchy.

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The Mayflower Compact (1620). While still aboard the Mayflower en route to the New World, British colonists signed this historic document, which, among other things, helped to establish the principle of a government based on the consent of the governed.

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The Colonial Charters (1624–1732). Granted by the British king, colonial charters established the basic structure of government in each individual colony and provided the basis for the idea of a written constitution in the United States.

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The Declaration of Independence (1776). Written by Thomas Jefferson in 1776, the Declaration of Independence established a list of grievances against King George. The text of the Declaration reflects a broad understanding of the social contract theory of government and the principle of popular sovereignty.

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The Articles of Confederation (1781–1789). The Articles outlined the first government of the newly independent United States. While the structure of the national government ultimately proved too weak and decentralized to effectively administer the new nation, the document provided the first attempt to develop a unified national country in the United States.

LECTURE 7: In the beginning, only a few explicit limitations on the exercise of governmental power were thought necessary. It was generally believed that personal freedom could be readily secured through the decentralization of power rather than by express command. From thinkers such as France’s Baron de Montesquieu, the Framers derived the notion that centralized power means tyranny, and human rights can best be preserved by fragmenting power and distributing it to competing factions. In the constitutional model the Framers chose, the separation of powers exists both vertically (federal, state, and local authority) and horizontally (legislative, executive, and judicial branches). The Framers’ goal was that no department, branch, or level of government be allowed to dominate all others. 43 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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Review with your class the central tenet of American constitutionalism: all lawful power derives from the people and must be held in check to preserve their freedom.

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Review The Federalist Papers, Nos. 10, 28, 41, 47, and 51.

LECTURE 8: As a “revolution of ideology,” the American Revolution represented an important break from the philosophies of governance that were popular in Europe at the time. ▪

The Social Contract. The founders subscribed to the social contract theory of governance, expressed most directly in the words of the Declaration of Independence. “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.—That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed,—That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.”

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Representation and Taxation. From a very early age, American schoolchildren learn that the Revolution was fought under the expression, “No taxation without representation.” This, of course, is predicated on particular notions of representation. From the British perspective, the American colonists were “virtually represented” in the British Parliament. Although they did not directly elect representatives, they were nevertheless represented by British MPs, who made decisions based on the interests of the British Empire in general. This notion of representation correlated closely with Edmund Burke’s idea of trusteeship representation, in which the people should permit their representatives to make decisions in their best interest. The American colonists, however, were more interested in the idea of delegated representation, in which the job of the

representatives is to faithfully reflect the opinions and beliefs of those who elected them. ▪

Constitutional Rule. The colonists also favored the development of a constitution that clearly demarcated the scope and limits of governmental power. England had a long history of efforts by the Parliament to limit the scope of the sovereign rule of the monarch. The Charter of Liberty in the twelfth century and the Magna Carta in the thirteenth century both guaranteed the rights of individuals against encroachment by the crown. In the seventeenth century, the English Bill of Rights expanded those limits. The American colonists desired similar protections against governmental intrusion on individual liberty.

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Sovereignty and Self-Government. Perhaps most importantly, the colonists had radical views on sovereignty and self-government. In Britain, sovereignty had historically been vested in one national government. The colonists, however, favored a system of divided sovereignty in which supreme political authority would be separated across a number of layers—a system that we would come to know as federalism. The colonists also believed that sovereignty is ultimately rooted with “the people” as an active political force, rather than in the government with the people as its passive subjects. Indeed, the idea of “the people” as a political community came to be a powerful symbolic force during the Revolution.

Judicial Review and Constitutional Interpretation (Action) 2.2

Describe the constitutional foundations of the federal judiciary and judicial review.

LECTURE 1: Interestingly, the U.S. Constitution does not even mention one of the most important checks on the exercise of political power by the federal government. The power of the courts to declare acts of Congress or the executive unconstitutional—the idea of judicial review—is implied but not specifically named in the U.S. Constitution. It was not until the famous 1803 decision of the court in Marbury v. Madison that the court asserted its right to review acts of Congress. 45 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Nevertheless, many Federalists firmly believed that the power of judicial review is essential to the maintenance of limited government. Indeed, in The Federalist Papers, No. 78, Alexander Hamilton wrote that limited government “can be preserved in no other way than through the medium of courts of justice, whose duty it is to declare all acts contrary to the manifest tenor of the Constitution void.” Explain the concept of judicial review to your students, emphasizing its importance in the systems of checks and balances developed by the founders. LECTURE 2: The founders worried that the judiciary would be the weakest branch of government. Alexander Hamilton argued that the judicial branch would be the “least dangerous” branch of government. Inspired by Baron de Montesquieu’s Spirit of the Laws, Hamilton wrote in The Federalist Papers, No. 78, “The executive not only dispenses the honors, but holds the sword of the community. The legislature not only commands the purse, but prescribes the rules by which the duties and rights of every citizen are to be regulated. The judiciary on the contrary has no influence over either the sword or the purse, no direction either of the strength or of the wealth of the society, and can take no active resolution whatsoever. It may truly be said to have neither Force nor Will, but merely judgment, and must ultimately depend upon the aid of the executive arm even for the efficacy of its judgments.” Yet today, many people believe the Supreme Court is an undemocratic and dangerous branch of government. Analyze the ways in which the power of the courts—most importantly the power of judicial review—has evolved over time. Ask your students to think about whether or not the courts are too powerful or not powerful enough. LECTURE 3: In one of the most famous passages from The Federalist Papers, James Madison writes in The Federalist Papers, No. 51, “Ambition must be made to counteract ambition. . . . If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls would be necessary. In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and then in the next place oblige it to control itself.”

This passage illustrates the dual concerns of the founders. They wanted a government strong enough to protect the rights of the individual, but not so strong as to violate those rights. They also wanted the system to protect against both majority and minority factions. The system they developed was rooted in the principles of limited government, separation of powers, and checks and balances. Explain to your students how the system of government established by the Constitution provides both systems of protection envisioned by the founders by using Madison’s famous dictate that “Ambition must be made to counteract ambition.”

LECTURE 4: While courts around the world now regularly claim the power of judicial review, in the years immediately following the adoption of the Constitution, the power remained debated. Even today, in some countries, the idea of parliamentary supremacy grants the legislature, not the courts, the power to interpret the law. Compare and contrast the British and American court systems for your students, emphasizing the way in which judicial review plays out differently in the two countries.

Changing the Letter of the Constitution (Impact) 2.3

Describe the process by which the Constitution can be changed.

LECTURE 1: Our Constitution is really a skeletal document. To illustrate this, you can contrast the U.S. Constitution with the Constitution of South Africa. The U.S. Constitution is relatively brief and specifies relatively few protections for the individual. The South African Constitution, by contrast, contains extensive references to positive freedoms (the right to employment, housing, health care, and a clean environment, for example) that are missing from the U.S. Constitution. But this specificity comes at a price. Because they envisioned the U.S. Constitution as providing only a basic skeletal structure for government and governance, the founders granted to Congress the ability to pass legislation that meets the specific needs of the day without being bound by constitutional restrictions, leading to changes in our understanding of the Constitution over time. 47 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

LECTURE 2: Perhaps the most dramatic way in which our understanding of the Constitution has changed over time is the gradual expansion of executive power in the United States. The founders specified relatively few powers for the president, choosing instead to vest the most important powers in the Congress. Yet, over time, particularly in the twentieth century, the power of the executive has expanded. The use of executive orders, executive privilege, and signing statements, for example, has led to a concentration of power in the executive branch, often at the expense of the Congress.

LECTURE 3: An interesting lecture can be developed around the topic “Which Road to Constitutional Revision: Interpretation or Amendment?” The central thesis here might well be that the difficulty of our amendment process makes it imperative that many changes in governmental powers be made through interpretation. Examples of this kind of change can be drawn from legislation that is based on the power to regulate interstate commerce. ▪

The Framers could not have anticipated such contemporary issues as automobile theft, interstate prostitution, kidnapping, bank robbery, hotel discrimination, or collective bargaining. Yet, by a broad interpretation of the Constitution, we have justified creating laws that deal with these matters under the commerce clause.

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Using the power to “lay and collect taxes” as our base, we have built highways, given college scholarships, curbed the sale of sawed-off shotguns and narcotics, regulated gambling, and tried to expel students who brought firearms to school. Compared to this kind of interpretation, the formal changes embodied in the amendments are often minor. In fact, by the time an amendment secures majority support in three-fourths of the states, the amendment usually confirms common practice. For example: 

Slavery was abolished by the Union Army and the Emancipation Proclamation.

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Women’s suffrage was widespread before the Nineteenth Amendment.

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Prohibition existed in many areas before the Eighteenth Amendment.

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Although the Equal Rights Amendment failed, equal rights for women have increased.

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The conclusion might stress the viability of the Constitution and the political genius of the American people that makes it possible to adapt to the changing world within the framework of this eighteenth-century document. You might also stress the fact that our government is in a state of perpetual evolution, but because of the barriers against rule by a bare majority, most changes do not occur until an overwhelming majority of the people agree. In other words, we normally approach consensus on the street before amendments are enacted. As a practical matter, most amendments are a kind of “mopping up” operation that affect only the holdouts against change.

LECTURE 4: Explain the process of constitutional change, emphasizing the obstacles to amendment. Amending the Constitution is a two-stage process. Amendments can be initiated either by the Congress or by the states. ▪

At the national level, a constitutional amendment may be proposed by the U.S. Congress. Proposed amendments must be passed by a two-thirds majority of each house. Once approved by Congress, the proposed amendment is transmitted to the states for ratification. Proposed amendments must be ratified by three-quarters of the states before they are adopted.

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Alternatively, amendments may begin with the states. The legislatures of the states may apply to Congress for a convention to propose a constitutional amendment. If two-thirds of the states request such a convention, Congress must call the convention. At a constitutional convention, amendments may be proposed and must be ratified by at least three-quarters of the states. This method, likely included by the founders as an additional check on the powers of the federal government in general and of the Congress in particular, has never actually been used.

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Note that, at both levels, the founders required a supermajority to amend the Constitution. The difficulty of amending the Constitution is demonstrated by the fact that there have been more than 10,000 amendments proposed since the 49 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Constitution was adopted, but only 27 have been adopted. It has been amended only 17 times since the first 10—the Bill of Rights—were ratified. LECTURE 5: While the founders made the formal process of amending the Constitution difficult, the Constitution has nevertheless evolved over time. Perhaps the most common method of informal amendment is the use of judicial review. ▪

Explain the process of judicial review and how that process results in a change in the interpretation of the Constitution over time.

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Be sure to explain how the idea of judicial review is rooted in the earliest decisions of the Marshall Court, particularly in its decision in Marbury v. Madison. 

In that case, the court asserted its right of judicial review. This does not mean that any special judicial guardianship of constitutional norms exists, but rather that it is the courts’ duty to decide cases before them in accordance with the relevant law.

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Marshall’s justification for assertion of federal judicial power to interpret and apply the Constitution, though generally accepted, is not conclusive. Critics suggest that the premise of a written Constitution would not be disserved, and the legislative power would be enhanced, if Congress itself were free to judge the constitutionality of its own laws. Under such a system, the argument goes, courts would simply treat legislative interpretation as definitive, and thus leave to Congress the task of resolving apparent conflicts between its own statutes and the Constitution. Historically, this was the model used in parliamentary democracies like Great Britain.

LECTURE 6: Two competing philosophies govern the interpretation of the U.S. Constitution. ▪

One school of thought, usually described as “original intent,” asserts that the courts should generally defer to the legislature and the Constitution, attempting to defer to what they intended the law to accomplish. In other words, advocates of original intent believe that judges should interpret the meaning of the Constitution by deferring to how the provision was understood at the time it was written. 50 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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By contrast, proponents of “contemporary ratification” reject the notion that the drafters of the Constitution should receive special position in interpreting the document today. For them, what the Constitution meant in 1787 may not be relevant in 2012. Rather, we should interpret the Constitution based on our contemporary experiences. This approach often refers to the Constitution as a “living document.”

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Compare and contrast these two approaches for your class. As you do so, ask them to consider how the two approaches would approach similar questions—like that of gun control—in fundamentally different ways.

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Also note how many of the most significant decisions of the Supreme Court, including its decision to desegregate schools (Brown v. Board of Education), and its expansion of equal protection and due process, would fit into this debate.

LECTURE 7: In a 1789 letter to James Madison, Thomas Jefferson famously advocated that a new Constitution should be adopted by every generation so that it belongs to the living rather than the dead. ▪

Ask your students to think about how the United States has changed since the Constitution was adopted. What sorts of issues do we face now that the founders could never have imagined? Given the changes, think about the ways in which the Constitution might be changed. What new rights would be included? How would each of the branches be different? Would federalism look different?

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You could lecture on the possibilities, or divide the class into groups in a miniConstitutional Convention to think about the possibilities: 

Rights. What new rights might we include? Are there any rights in the Bill of Rights that we no longer need? Think, for example, of the Third Amendment’s prohibition against quartering of troops. What about the lack of a formal right to privacy in the Constitution? What about the right to a clean environment? The right to health care or decent housing? The right to a job?

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The Executive. Do we need an Electoral College? Should we elect the president directly? Does a single six-year term make more sense than two four-year terms? Should we divide ceremonial and formal powers into two 51 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

separate offices? Should the role of the vice president be more formalized? Should the president be chosen from and be responsible to the Congress? 

The Legislature. Should we have term limits at the federal level? Should the Constitution include campaign finance restrictions? Should we have more mechanisms for direct participation by the public in the political process, such as the use of referenda, initiatives, and recall that exist at the state level in many states but are missing at the federal level?

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Federalism. Should we more clearly define the balance of power between the federal and state governments? Has the power of the federal government grown too much through broad interpretation of the commerce clause?

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These could make for engaging class discussion topics or possible topics to include in lecture.

Class Activities CLASS ACTIVITY 1: Compare the goals of the Declaration of Independence—especially the phrases “all men are created equal” and “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness”—to the goals of the failed Equal Rights Amendment. ▪

Are the goals expressed in each incompatible or similar?

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Consider the extent to which the ideas embodied in the Declaration of Independence are compatible with the decisions around slavery reached at the Constitutional Convention. How can they reconcile the deep commitment to liberty expressed by the founders with the fact that many of the founders were also enslavers?

This discussion item encourages students to think critically about the basic principles embodied in the Declaration of Independence (Structure) and their application to contemporary areas of inequality in the United States (Action).

CLASS ACTIVITY 2: Role-playing can greatly aid in developing students’ understanding of people and events. Ask some students to research the backgrounds and characters of some of the founders. Set up a panel of these individuals, and arrange a “press conference” with the rest of the students asking the “founders” questions concerning past or present. To be interesting, be sure to include both Federalists (like Alexander Hamilton and James Madison) and AntiFederalists (like Thomas Jefferson and Patrick Henry) on your panel. This activity provides an opportunity to think about the debates that took place over ratification and permits consideration of the foregone conclusions of the document that were highly contested at the time. CLASS ACTIVITY 3: Divide your class into two groups to debate the “original intent” and “contemporary ratification” perspectives on the U.S. Constitution. Each team should be assigned to defend one of the two positions. ▪

Those assigned to argue the “original intent” position could start by examining the writings of Justice Antonin Scalia and various publications by the Federalist Society.

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Those tasked with defending the “contemporary ratification” position might find Cass Sunstein’s Radicals in Robes a useful starting point.

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Afterward, ask your students to consider the following questions: 

In the opinion of the class, is the “original intent” or “contemporary ratification” philosophy toward the U.S. Constitution more valid?

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Which of these two theories is more likely to play itself out in today’s political culture? (Impact)

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Which justices are most likely to favor original intent? Contemporary ratification?

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Is it likely that this debate will continue for the foreseeable future? If so, how will the debate itself change the way the Constitution is interpreted in the future? (Impact)

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Alternatively, similar themes can be illustrated by having each student select a specific case, either historical or hypothetical, and ask them to work through the case from the “original intent” and the “contemporary ratification” perspectives. 53 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

This activity provides students with an interesting way to apply the contesting theoretical approaches to judicial interpretation. CLASS ACTIVITY 4: To simulate the Constitutional Convention, assign roles based on the discussion in the chapter to capture the spectrum of interests and important individuals involved. The Constitutional Convention page at the Teaching American History website (http://teachingamericanhistory.org/convention/) has a wealth of information that will help students prepare, including a background to the major issues at the Convention and short biographical sketches of the attendees. ▪

Each student will receive a profile of the role he or she has been assigned one class in advance. Then, play out the simulation over one or two class periods, finishing the simulation by regrouping and comparing outcomes achieved through group interaction with actual outcomes.

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This simulation could also be held at forums outside of the classroom, with a discussion or question-and-answer session following.

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Alternatively, you may want to focus the Convention on the debates between the key players, organizing the students into the four key delegations (Virginia, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and South Carolina). For the purposes of the simulation, consider the first two large states and the second two small states.

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Ask your students to discuss and reach agreement on the following proposals submitted to the Convention: 

All adult males should be permitted to vote.

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The Convention should restrict its deliberations to revision of the Articles.

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The Congress shall consist of a single house.

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All states should have equal representation in the Congress.

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National taxes may be levied on the basis of the total population of a state.

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The right to import and own enslaved people shall be preserved forever.

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Congress shall have unrestricted authority over foreign and interstate trade.

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Congress shall choose the president.

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While not historically accurate, a fascinating historical counterfactual could be developed by including interests not represented at the original Constitutional Convention. Most notable among those interests would be the Anti-Federalists, enslaved people, women, and Native Americans.

This active learning exercise encourages students to think about the trade-offs and debates that occurred at the Constitutional Convention while also thinking about which perspectives were not considered. CLASS ACTIVITY 5: Ask your class to list specific examples of the application of the concepts of separation of powers and checks and balances among the legislative, executive, and judicial branches. (Impact) ▪

Using modern presidencies as a reference, ask your students to evaluate whether the checks and balances designed by the Framers of the Constitution are adequate to prevent the abuse of executive power.

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Have the students critique both the original Constitution of 1789 and today (with amendments), utilizing the three principles—popular sovereignty (mechanisms for selection of officials, terms of office, etc.); political equality (voting rights, etc.); and political liberty (personal freedoms, especially in Bill of Rights). How well did/does the Constitution promote these values?

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Then, after demonstrating that even the revised document of today falls short of democratic ideals, ask the class to suggest reforms that would make it more democratic, and have the student-delegates defend their proposed changes on the basis of these principles. Could such changes lead to political outcomes that might be unfair or undesirable?

This activity applies the core concepts structuring American government to contemporary debates over the nature and limits of American democracy.

CLASS ACTIVITY 6: Select a current political controversy and explore the constitutional dynamics of that debate. Examples could include health care reform, gun control, immigration, affirmative action, or others. ▪

Have students imagine themselves as Supreme Court justices, asked to determine the constitutionality of particular legislation in these areas. How would they decide each case? On what basis would they make their decisions?

This active learning assignment encourages students to think critically about how basic constitutional principles apply to contemporary hot-button political issues. (Action) CLASS ACTIVITY 7: Assign everyone an amendment to the Constitution and have them prepare short (two-minute) presentations on them. In their presentations to the class, ask them to briefly explain what the amendment does, why it was passed (this may also include the historical context in which it was passed), and how it affects us today. This activity provides an opportunity for students to practice their oral presentation skills while illustrating the ongoing relevance of the decisions made by the founders for the modern American political system. (Impact) CLASS ACTIVITY 8: In his contributions to The Federalist Papers, James Madison famously argued that factions could be used to balance other factions (or, in his words, “Ambition must be made to counteract ambition.”). This idea—reflected broadly in the concept of pluralism and specifically embodied in the U.S. Constitution through the separation of powers and checks and balances—is at the heart of the U.S. political system. But recent technological developments make the idea of direct democracy more feasible. ▪

Ask your students to think about the ways in which contemporary communication technology might negate James Madison’s assumption that a majority faction would be difficult to organize and control. Do technologies like the Internet make direct democracy more viable? Do Madison’s warnings still hold true? Why or why not?

This historical counterfactual encourages students to think about how the historical context affected the development of the U.S. Constitution and how technological change affects political systems. 56 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

CLASS ACTIVITY 9: Why are minority rights important? What types of minorities was Madison concerned about? Are minority rights still important in U.S. politics? ▪

Ask students to provide specific historical and contemporary examples of minorities seeking to protect their rights, being sure to cover both identity-based rights (e.g., race, gender) and nonidentity-based rights (e.g., social class). How is the political system structured to balance minority and majority rights? What values are served by this balance: efficiency, equality, representation?

This discussion item provides an opportunity for students to engage with the central debates faced in any democratic political system: how to protect minority rights in the context of majority rule. (Action)

Research Activities RESEARCH ACTIVITY 1: While the Constitution has been amended only 17 times since it was drafted in 1787, thousands of amendments have been proposed. In recent years, some proposed amendments have included: ▪

A Balanced Budget Amendment, already in place in many states, would prohibit Congress from running a deficit.

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A School Prayer Amendment was proposed on April 9, 2003, to establish that “The people retain the right to pray and to recognize their religious beliefs, heritage, and traditions on public property, including schools.”

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The Every Vote Counts Amendment, which promoted abolishing the Electoral College and allowing the president to be directly elected by the people, was proposed by Rep. Gene Green (D-Tex.) on September 14, 2004.

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The Equal Opportunity to Govern Amendment, which would make naturalized citizens who have been citizens of the United States for at least 20 years eligible for the presidency, was proposed by Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) in July 2003.

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Sen. Zell Miller (D-Ga.) in 2004 proposed to repeal the Seventeenth Amendment, returning to the appointment of senators by state legislatures as originally required by Article I of the U.S. Constitution.

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The Federal Marriage Amendment was introduced in the United States Congress four times (in 2003, 2004, 2005/2006, and 2008). The amendment would define marriage and prohibit same-sex marriage in the United States.

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Sen. David Vitter (R-La.) in 2009 proposed an amendment that would deny U.S. citizenship to anyone born in the United States unless at least one parent is a U.S. citizen, a permanent resident, or a member of the U.S. armed forces. President Trump endorsed a similar proposal during the 2016 presidential election.

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Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) in 2009 proposed a constitutional amendment to impose term limits for the U.S. Congress.

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In 2011, Rep. James P. McGovern (D-Mass.) introduced the People’s Rights Amendment, a proposal to limit the Constitution’s protections to the rights of natural persons and not corporations.

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In 2014, state senator Donna Campbell (R-Tex.) proposed a constitutional amendment protecting a religious right for a company to fire or turn away LGBT employees and patrons, in keeping with existing protections in Texas that allow the “right to act or refuse to act in a manner motivated by a sincerely held religious belief.”

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In 2017, Representative Steve King (R-IA) proposed a constitutional amendment repealing the Sixteenth Amendment and abolishing the income tax.

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In 2017, Representative Al Green (D-TX) proposed a constitutional amendment prohibiting the President of the United States from issuing a self-pardon.

Ask each of your students to research one of these (or some other) proposed amendments to the U.S. Constitution and to write a short briefing on the pros and cons of the proposal to distribute to the class. You could then ask your class to vote on each of the proposed amendments. This activity highlights the challenges of amending the Constitution and contemporary areas in which some citizens believe the Constitution could be improved. You can also use this opportunity to help your students understand how to evaluate the biases of various websites, as many of the sites surrounding the need for a new Constitutional Convention have quite obvious biases. 58 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

RESEARCH ACTIVITY 2: Ask your students to think of themselves as political consultants hired by an organization to develop support for a constitutional amendment. They may either select a proposed constitutional amendment (see the list provided in Question 1 above), or develop their own proposed amendments. Then, ask them to develop political strategies to get their amendments adopted. As part of the assignment, they will need to think about the process by which constitutional amendments are passed and the obstacles to passage at each step. You can either have them present their strategies to you as short strategy briefing papers, or have them make oral pitches to the class. This active learning activity encourages students to apply the concepts raised in class to a specific case and to think about the implications and trade-offs involved in any political decision. (Action) RESEARCH ACTIVITY 3: The Constitution establishes the rules of the political game. These rules decentralize power rather than consolidating power in the hands of the executive or the legislature. In short take-home essay responses, ask your students to reflect on the following questions: would American government be more efficient if power were concentrated within a single branch of government? Would it be more effective? This activity illustrates the trade-off between efficiency and democracy. RESEARCH ACTIVITY 4: Ask your students to research and review the constitutions of at least two other countries using the Internet, preferably choosing one democratic country and one nondemocratic country. ▪

The Comparative Constitutions Project (https://www.constituteproject.org/) provides a comprehensive database of the full texts of constitutions from around the world.

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Have students compare and contrast these documents and explain, either orally or in writing, how they are similar or different and how the differences they note are important.

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Remind them to pay particular attention to the difference between constitutional formalities and the practice of governance in the countries. This is especially important when comparing democratic and nondemocratic countries. 59 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

This activity provides a comparative take on the themes raised in this chapter and highlights the distinction between constitutional (de jure) provisions and the de facto practice of governance in some countries. (Action) RESEARCH ACTIVITY 5: Ask your students to read the Declaration of Independence (available online at the National Archives at www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/declaration_transcript.html) and Frederick Douglass’s speech, “What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?” (available on the Teaching American History website at https://teachingamericanhistory.org/library/document/what-to-the-slave-is-the-fourthof-july/). Ask them to contrast the understanding of liberty expressed in the two documents in short essays. This reading and writing assignment illustrates the limits of early American democracy and provides a powerful example of the often exclusive nature of political community. RESEARCH ACTIVITY 6: Assign your students to watch the classic Schoolhouse Rock videos on colonialism, the Revolution, and the preamble of the Constitution, all of which are available through YouTube. ▪

After the students have watched these videos, have them create short presentations of their own (video, PowerPoint, etc.) that (1) critique the presentations in the videos, many of which are intellectually dated and overlook the downsides of American history; and (2) explore some important aspects of the Constitution that they would like to teach the class about.

This activity provides a fun way to contrast the overly simplistic representations of the American political system often presented in popular culture with the more nuanced and critical presentation offered in this course.

RESEARCH ACTIVITY 7: Surprisingly few students have actually read the founding documents of the nation: the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and its Bill of Rights. ▪

Assign your class to read the key documents.

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In short journal entries, ask them to list three ways the founding documents affect our lives today and three ways they are now irrelevant. (Impact)

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For a more extended assignment, you may also ask them to reflect in short essays on how the documents might be updated for the twenty-first-century United States.

This assignment encourages students to think about the contemporary relevance of the founding documents. RESEARCH ACTIVITY 8: Political scientist Larry Sabato has proposed a new Constitutional Convention (http://amoreperfectconstitution.com/). Have each student select any one of his proposed ideas and write a short list of pros and cons for it. This short writing assignment requires students to practice their skills synthesizing complex arguments in the context of the themes and issues raised in this chapter.

Participation Activities PARTICIPATION ACTIVITY 1: Create a multimedia web or library exhibit. Break your class into several smaller groups and have each group design and assemble a multimedia web or display case exhibit exploring the themes and issues raised in this chapter. ▪

The exhibit should include elements that represent key events from the textbook and any additional primary source documents assigned.

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After the display has been assembled, have students write short reflection pieces about the challenges associated with representing the underlying concepts and historical events to the general public. What perspectives have been included and what has been left out? How might this affect public consumption?

This activity provides students an opportunity to teach the ideas presented in this chapter to others and to challenge the more simplistic representations of American political history often found in such forums. PARTICIPATION ACTIVITY 2: Create an online resource to help nonnative English speakers understand the origins of American government. This could be developed as a wiki by 61 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

the class or separately by individual student teams. The product could also be viewed as a resource for individuals preparing to take the U.S. citizenship exam. This activity provides students with an opportunity to teach the ideas presented in this chapter to others and to think about the requirements for citizenship in the United States. PARTICIPATION ACTIVITY 3: Have your students weigh in on the debate over a recent proposal to amend the U.S. Constitution by posting blog entries or comments to a blog entry on the amendment. Examples could include the Balanced Budget Amendment, the Flag Desecration Amendment, the proposed repeal of the Fourteenth Amendment’s “natural-born citizen” clause, or the amendment prohibiting a president from issuing a self-pardon. This activity requires that students think critically about key contemporary debates over the U.S. Constitution and its shortcomings.

Suggested Readings and Films READING 1: The Federalist Papers (https://guides.loc.gov/federalist-papers/full-text) and The Anti-Federalist Papers (http://www.let.rug.nl/usa/documents/1786-1800/the-anti-federalistpapers/) are both available online and make for outstanding resources for this chapter. If you like, assign them as parallel readings, with students reading the Federalist and Anti-Federalist positions on key debates around ratification. Alternatively, you could select just the most influential and important of the documents, which would include The Federalist Papers, Nos. 10, 51, and 84. If you are interested in assigning them as paired readings, the following subject matter guide may be of assistance.

Executive Power

Federalist Paper No. 10 No. 51 No. 10 No. 84 No. 67

The Judiciary

No. 78

Topic Checks and Balances The Bill of Rights

Anti-Federalist Paper No. 47 (Centinel, “Balance of Departments not Achieved under New Constitution”) No. 84 (Brutus, “On the Lack of a Bill of Rights”) No. 67 (Cato, “Various Fears Concerning the Executive Department”) Nos. 78 and 79 (Brutus, “The Power of the Judiciary”) 62

No. 83 READING 2: Our Undemocratic Constitution: Where the Constitution Goes Wrong and How We the People Can Correct It (New York: Oxford University Press, 2008) by Sanford Levinson. is an engaging text that makes the case that some of our Constitution’s provisions promote ineffective or unjust government. Levinson argues in favor of provisions for the people to remove the president (recall), ending life tenure for Supreme Court justices, and making it easier to amend the Constitution. His controversial premise would make engaging supplemental reading for any U.S. government course.

READING 3: Many outstanding books profile the founders, their debates, and the difficulties they faced as they developed the documents that would be at the heart of the new nation. However, their autobiographies provide particularly interesting insights. ▪

Thomas Jefferson, The Autobiography of Thomas Jefferson (Dover Publications reprint, 1996).

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Benjamin Franklin, The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin (Dover Publications reprint, 1996).

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George Washington, An Autobiography of George Washington (Hay House reprint, 2006).

READING 4: Several engaging texts exploring the time of the founding have been written. Ray Raphael’s Founders: The People Who Brought You a Nation (New York: The New Press, 2010) and Joseph Ellis’s Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation (New York: Vintage, 2002) cover much of that story.

READING 5: Revisionist historians focus on those who have been excluded from the traditional discussion of the founding. These works include Woody Holton’s Forced Founders: Indians, Debtors, Slaves, and the Making of the American Revolution in Virginia (University of North Carolina Press, 1999), Carol Berkin’s Revolutionary Mothers: Women in the Struggle for American Independence (New York: Random House, 2005), and Howard Zinn’s classic, A People’s History of the United States (New York: Harper, 2005 reprint). 63 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

READING 6: Charles Beard’s classic text, An Economic Interpretation of the Constitution of the United States (New York: Dover Publications, 1913), has been reprinted numerous times, most recently in 2017 by Taylor and Francis. In it, Beard argues that “economic elements are the chief facts in the development of political institutions” (p. 6). More concretely, he contends that understanding the economic interests of the founders helps to explain the specific structures of the U.S. Constitution and the U.S. government. Beard’s thesis has generated significant debate, including Forrest McDonald’s We the People: The Economic Origins of the Constitution (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1958) and Jackson Main’s “A Critical Review of Forrest McDonald’s We the People,” William and Mary Quarterly 17, no. 1 (1960): 86–102. Both Beard’s and McDonald’s texts are now available online through GoogleBooks at http://books.google.com.

READING 7: Arguably one of the most powerful critiques of slavery in American history, Frederick Douglass’s speech, “What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?,” delivered on July 5, 1852 (available online at https://teachingamericanhistory.org/library/document/what-to-the-slave-isthe-fourth-of-july/), offers a pointed deconstruction of the long-standing practice of slavery in the United States amid a national celebration of freedom and liberty.

READING 8: Kevin Bleyer, a comedy writer for The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, humorously explores the U.S. Constitution in Me the People: One Man’s Selfless Quest to Rewrite the Constitution of the United States (New York: Random House, 2012).

READING 9: An engaging text written by Akhil Reed Amar, one of the leading constitutional law scholars of the United States, The Bill of Rights: Creation and Reconstruction (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2000) explores the Bill of Rights and the historical context within which it was developed and considers how our use and understanding of the document has evolved over time.

READING 10: In The Politically Incorrect Guide to the Constitution (Washington, D.C.: Regnery Publishing, 2007), Kevin Gutzman offers a conservative interpretation of the U.S. 64 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Constitution, arguing that the Supreme Court has dramatically misinterpreted the intent of the founders, and calling for a return to a conservative vision of limited government and judicial restraint.

READING 11: David O. Stewart provides a personal exploration of the characters of the founders, focusing on George Washington, James Madison, and Benjamin Franklin, and their efforts to develop a new Constitution in the summer of 1787, in The Summer of 1787: The Men Who Invented the Constitution (New York: Simon and Schuster, 2007). READING 12: “Congress, the Supreme Court, and Judicial Review: Testing a Constitutional Separation of Powers Model,” American Journal of Political Science 55, no. 1 (2011): 89–104 by Jeffrey A. Segal, Chad Westerland, and Stefanie A. Lindquist, argues that the exercise of checks and balances through the mechanism of judicial review is weakened when the ideological distance between the Congress and the courts is large.

READING 13: To consider the relationship between democracy and constitutional change, Allan C. Hutchinson and Joel Colón-Ríos use efforts to amend the Constitution of the State of California as a case study in “Democracy and Constitutional Change,” Theoria 58, no. 127 (2011): 43–62. They conclude that formal constitutions and institutions may do more to inhibit democratic participation than to promote it. READING 14: In her article “Challenging the Constitution: Convening a Mock Constitutional Convention for American Government Students,” PS: Political Science and Politics 44, no. 3 (July 2011): 648–51, Michelle C. Pautz provides evidence in support of the use of simulations in the American government classroom and outlines the results of her own simulation. This article provides great background information on running simulations covering any topic in the American government classroom.

READING 15: The full text of The Federalist Papers can be found on several sites online, including the Library of Congress (at http://www.law.ou.edu/ushistory/federalist/). The Anti65 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Federalist Papers are available at http://www.let.rug.nl/usa/documents/1786-1800/the-antifederalist-papers/.

READING 16: Several websites maintain extensive collections of key documents related to the founding and the U.S. Constitution. An annotated version of the U.S. Constitution, which includes Supreme Court decisions regarding its meaning, is available at the U.S. Senate website (http://www.senate.gov/civics/constitution_item/constitution.htm). The Avalon Project at Yale University (http://avalon.law.yale.edu/) offers an extensive collection of documents related to the debate over developing the new Constitution. The Library of Congress website maintains an extensive collection of primary documents from U.S. history, including documents related to the Constitution (http://www.loc.gov/rr/program/bib/ourdocs/Constitution.html).

READING 17: The Constitutional Convention page at the Teaching American History website (http://teachingamericanhistory.org/convention/) is a treasure trove of information on the Constitutional Convention, its attendees, and the debates that occurred there. It provides an outstanding resource to aid in lecture preparation or to assign as supplemental review material for students.

READING 18: The Comparative Constitutions Project (https://comparativeconstitutionsproject.org/) provides comprehensive data about the world’s constitutions. The text of the U.S. Constitution can be found at the National Archives website (http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/constitution.html/).

READING 19: In The Cult of the Constitution: Our Deadly Devotion to Guns and Free Speech (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2019), law professor Mary Ann Franks develops the concept of constitutional fundamentalism, which she describes as a selective and self-serving reading of the Constitution. She explores this in the context of the First and Second Amendments.

FILM 19: John Adams (Home Box Office, 2008) is an award-nominated HBO miniseries focusing on the life of John Adams and the first 50 years of the United States. 66 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

FILM 20: Hamilton (Disney+, 2020) is the film version of the Broadway musical about the rise and fall of Founding Father Alexander Hamilton.

Revel Features Chapter Introduction CURRENT EVENT BULLETIN Video: WATCH Constitutional Foundations: The Big Picture Author video

Constitutional Framework (Structure) 2.1

Describe the framework for government expressed in the Constitution.

Sketchnote Video: WATCH Constitutional Foundations: Structure, Action, Impact Document: READ The Federalist, No. 47 Video: WATCH Hawaii Judge Puts Hold on Trump’s Travel Ban Document: READ The Federalist, No. 10 Video: WATCH Electoral College Explained Read: HAPPENING NOW Summary of the siege on the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021 and the aftermath of this event.

Journal Prompt 2.1 How often do you think the branches of government ought to check one another? If you were the president, would you veto any law with which you disagreed? Why or why not? QUIZ 2.1: Constitutional Framework (Structure)

2.2

Describe the constitutional foundations of the federal judiciary and judicial review.

Document: READ The Constitution of the United States, Article III, Section 2 Video: WATCH Judicial Review Journal Prompt 2.2 Do you think the Supreme Court’s decision in Marbury v. Madison (1803) gives the judiciary too much power to check the other branches? Why or why not? QUIZ 2.2: Judicial Review and Constitutional Interpretation

Changing the Letter of the Constitution (Impact) 2.3

Describe the process by which the Constitution can be changed.

Video: WATCH Should We Consider the Constitution to Be “Living” or “Dead”? Video: WATCH Politics Hidden in Plain Sight: Pulling Out Your Wallet Sketchnote Video: WATCH Amending the Constitution This sketchnote explains the process for amending the Constitution. Social Explorer: FIGURE 2.2 THE TIME FOR RATIFICATION OF THE 27 AMENDMENTS TO THE CONSTITUTION Bar chart. Social Explorer: FIGURE 2.3 WHAT A WOMAN MAKES FOR EVERY DOLLAR A MAN MAKES Journal Prompt: FIGURE 2.3 Are you surprised by the inequality in the wages paid to men and women across the United States? Why or why not? What did you learn by exploring the income disparities across different ethnic groups? Journal Prompt 2.3 What formal change would you like to see in the Constitution? How would you go about lobbying for that change? QUIZ 2.3 Changing the Letter of the Constitution (Impact) 68 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

SHARED WRITING PROMPT: Constitutional Foundations What do you think is the most important problem facing the nation that might be better resolved if there was an agreed-upon method of interpreting the Constitution? What is the best way to interpret the document? How could you require that method?

Review the Chapter Video: WATCH Constitutional Foundations: So What? Author video. Flashcards: LEARN THE TERMS: Constitutional Foundations CHAPTER 2 QUIZ: Constitutional Foundations

3 American Federalism Chapter Overview “Federalism” refers to the division of power between the national government and the states. Under our federal system, significant government powers are divided between the central government and small governmental units; none completely control the others, and each has some room for independent action. We begin by explaining the constitutional foundations of federalism and distinguishing federalism from other forms of government. We then trace the historical evolution of federalism and analyze the impact of federalism on relationships among national, state, and local levels of government. Next, we analyze the impact of federalism on the budget. We conclude by examining the link between federalism and the growth of the national government.

Lecture Suggestions The Constitutional Foundations of Federalism (Structure) 3.1

Explain the constitutional foundations of federalism.

LECTURE 1: “Dual federalism” refers to the idea that the two levels of government (national and state) have dual sovereignty; that they are both dominant over their separate functions and areas of authority. This model of federalism posits a distinct division between the powers of the national and state governments.

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The idea of dual federalism dominated American politics from the founding until the 1930s, when New Deal–era reforms began to increase the power of the national government at the expense of the states.

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The idea of dual federalism is reflected in the Constitution, which explicitly grants the federal government the power to set tariffs, grant patents, manage the currency, enter into treaties with other countries, and provide for defense and postal services. The Constitution also specifies certain shared powers, possessed by both the national and state governments. These include the power to collect taxes, establish courts, build roads, and borrow and spend money. The Tenth Amendment—often called the reserved powers clause—reserves all other powers for the states.

LECTURE 2: A lecture on several contemporary areas where the idea of dual federalism plays out provides a more concrete grounding for your students to consider the theoretical implications of federalism. The defining feature of dual federalism—that the national and state governments collaborate even when they have separate areas of responsibility and authority—can be demonstrated using several contemporary examples. ▪

Environmental Protection. While the national government takes the lead in some areas, such as the management and disposal of nuclear waste generated by national defense needs, states have primary authority in others, such as limiting noise pollution and managing non-endangered wildlife within their borders. Both of these are environmental concerns, but the two levels of government work on them independently. Similarly, the federal government must approve new pesticides, but a state, or a city if allowed by the state, may decide which of these allowable pesticides can be used within its borders and in what ways.

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Perhaps one of the most striking examples of this tension in recent years has been the debate over immigration policy. Immigration is an area in which the federal and state governments historically collaborate. While the federal government has responsibility for immigration itself, states often pass laws that address issues related to immigration. 71 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, from 2009 to 2019, states enacted an average of 153 immigration-related laws per year. Federal law remains supreme, but states have enforcement roles and can make decisions about which benefits and services immigrants may receive. ▪

Sometimes, dual federalism results in conflicts between the national government and the states. In 2010, for example, the State of Arizona and the federal government clashed over a law passed by the Arizona legislature that authorized police to check the residency status of individuals they were investigating for other behaviors, such as traffic violations. The U.S. Justice Department sued the state, and the case made its way to the U.S. Supreme Court in 2012. The Court struck down most of the Arizona law as a violation of the national supremacy doctrine.

LECTURE 3: The Constitution divides powers between the national and state governments. Explain that division of power to your students and provide examples of those powers. ▪

Delegated, or Enumerated, Powers. These are the powers specifically granted to the national government. Article I, Section 8, for example, specifically grants 17 powers to the U.S. Congress. These include authority over war and foreign affairs, authority over the economy (“interstate commerce”), control over the money supply, and the power to tax and spend “to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare.”

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Implied Powers. Article I, Section 8, of the U.S. Constitution also grants the Congress the power “to make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into execution the foregoing powers, and all other powers vested by this Constitution in the government of the United States or in any department or officer thereof.” This statement, often referred to as the necessary and proper clause, suggests that the national government has additional powers not specified in the Constitution but arising from the exercise of its delegated powers.

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National Supremacy Clause. Article VI of the Constitution provides that the laws and agreements of the national government are binding on the states. 72 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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Concurrent Powers. These are the powers held by both the national and state governments. Examples include the power to tax and spend, the power to enforce laws, and the power to establish courts.

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Reserved Powers. The Tenth Amendment establishes that “the powers not delegated to the United States . . . are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.” This is often referred to as the reserved powers clause. Examples of reserved powers include criminal law, the provision of education, and the enforcement of contract law.

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Prohibited Powers. The Constitution prohibits states from undertaking powers afforded the national government, including the power to coin (print) money, to enter into treaties with foreign nations, to levy taxes on imports or exports, or to engage in war. Other powers are denied to both the states and the national government. Since the ratification of the Fourteenth Amendment in 1868, these have included the power to abridge individual rights.

Federalism and Its Alternatives (Structure) 3.2

Distinguish federalism from other forms of government.

LECTURE 1: A federal system divides power and responsibility between two levels of government authority. Determining the precise distribution of power between the national and state governments can be difficult, as illustrated by a wide variety of issues and comparative examples. ▪

Confederation. Under a confederal system, sovereignty (supreme decision-making authority) rests with the member states. The United States under the Articles of Confederation illustrates some of the inherent challenges posed by confederal systems, as does the European Union today.

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Unitary Systems. Under a unitary system, the national government possesses ultimate authority, and subnational governments (like states or municipal governments) possess only those powers granted to them by the national 73 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

government. The United Kingdom is an example of a unitary system, although one that has devolved considerable political authority in recent years. ▪

Federalism. Under a federal system, sovereignty is constitutionally divided between the central government and subnational political units (usually states or provinces). The defining feature of federalism is that each unit has impendent authority and powers granted to it. Federal states exist on a spectrum of centralization and decentralization. In some, like Belgium, the subnational units have the bulk of power, and the central government is relatively weak. In others, like Russia, the power of the national government dramatically outweighs that of the subnational governments.

LECTURE 2: The word “federalism” does not appear in the Constitution. How, then, does it manifest itself in that document? James Madison, writing as Publius, addressed this question in The Federalist, No. 39. ▪

To understand Madison’s answers, one has to become familiar with the language he used. He, along with the other Framers, was aware of two methods of arranging the two levels of government, nation and state. 

First was confederation, which they also called confederal or just federal. This was the form in operation under the Articles of Confederation when the Framers were drafting the Constitution.

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The other form was called national or consolidation. It was equivalent to what is today called a unitary system.

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In his essay, Madison looked to five components of the Constitution to answer the question, “Did the Framers create a federal (confederal) system or a national (unitary) system?” 

Ratification. Since the Constitution was ratified by states rather than by adding up votes for and against the Constitution nationwide, it exemplifies a federal system.

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The number of representatives a state has is determined by its population. This makes a representative a national officer.

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Each state has an equal number of senators. People are not represented in the Senate, states are. This makes the Senate characteristic of a federation.

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The source of the president’s power is the Electoral College. Since it is based on a state’s representation in Congress, it has the characteristics of both a federal and a national system.

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Operation of Government. In a confederal scheme of government, the central government cannot act directly on the citizens of the subgovernment’s states. In a national scheme, the central government may act directly on the citizens of the states. Since Congress, under the Constitution, can act directly on the citizens, for example by taxing them, the government characterizes a national system.

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Extent of Powers. In a confederation, powers of the central government are specifically listed and others are retained by the subgovernments or states. In a national system, the powers of the central government are indefinite. Since the powers of Congress are enumerated in Article I, Section 8, the system represents a federal system.

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Amending the Constitution. Article V of the Constitution describes two ways of proposing amendments to the Constitution and two ways of ratifying amendments to the Constitution. Ratification of amendments is done by states, and in that sense, the system is federal. But the methods of proposal used to amend the Constitution are through the Congress. Since, as mentioned earlier, the House is national and the Senate federal, proposal of amendments has both national and federal traits.

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Madison ended his essay with the following conclusion: “The proposed Constitution [is] neither a national nor a federal Constitution, but a combination of both.” Notice that Madison did not have a name for the system the Framers created. It later came to be called federalism.

LECTURE 3: Despite its importance to the U.S. system of government, the word “federalism” is not actually found in the U.S. Constitution. Indeed, when the Constitution was drafted, most Americans thought of themselves first in terms of states—as Virginians, Pennsylvanians, New Yorkers, and so on—rather than as Americans. Yet, given the failure of the Articles of Confederation, the founders desired to create a stronger national government. Explain the various reasons for the founders’ decision to create a federal system rather than a unitary government. Specifically, the founders’ decision stemmed from a variety of factors: ▪

Historical. The colonial roots led to diverse forms of state government. Given the historical role of the different state governments, it was unlikely they would cede political power to a new national government. At the same time, the failure of the Articles was rooted, in part, in the weakness of the national government. In developing a federal system for the United States, the founders were seeking to find a middle way between the centralized political authority of a unitary system and the decentralized political authority of a confederation.

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Theoretical. The idea of separation of powers was not limited to dividing political authority among three branches of government at the national level. The founders also sought to pit “ambition against ambition” by dividing political authority between the national and state governments, creating a “double security” in which the layers of government control one another.

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Practical. More practical concerns also motivated the founders. Federalism allows more people to participate in the political system, makes the government more efficient and responsive, respects the diversity of political systems that already exists, enables the states to serve as the “laboratories of democracy,” and garners support for ratification.

The U.S. Courts and Federalism (Action) 3.3

Trace the evolution of federalism from ratification to the present.

LECTURE 1: Since the mid-1990s, several Supreme Court decisions have started to reverse the general trend of increasing federal power that characterized American federalism throughout much of the twentieth century. A lecture on these cases helps to illustrate the Court’s changing thinking on American federalism. ▪

United States v. Lopez (1995). The Supreme Court ruled that the Gun-Free School Zones Act of 1990, which prohibited the possession of a firearm within 1,000 feet of a school, is unconstitutional. The Congress had contended that such regulation fell within its broad authority under the commerce clause. The Court ruled that such a reading is unconstitutional and that policing is generally a power reserved to the states.

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United States v. Morrison (2000). The Supreme Court struck down the Violence against Women Act, passed by Congress in 1994. The act, passed as part of a broader anticrime initiative, permitted women to file suits in federal court against their attackers. Congress justified the legislation on the grounds that fear of violence suppresses women’s full participation in economic life. The Court struck down the law, asserting that the federal government could not extend its reach into local criminal activity by using the commerce clause.

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In a set of controversial decisions, the Court also held that states have sovereign immunity, asserting that states cannot be sued in federal courts unless they agree to permit the case to proceed. These include the following decisions: 

Printz v. United States (1997). The Court declared that the federal government cannot require state officials to perform federal functions; specifically, that the provisions of the Brady Bill that required local officials to run federal background checks on handgun purchasers, are unconstitutional.

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City of Boerne v. Flores (1997). The Court concluded that Congress had exceeded its power under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act by 77 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

attempting to impose restrictions on local zoning, health, and other regulations to prevent perceived threats to religious freedom. 

Various other cases ruled that states could not be sued in federal court for violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act (requiring overtime pay), violations of the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, or the Americans with Disabilities Act.

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Gonzales v. Oregon (2006). The Court ruled that the federal government does not have the authority, under the Controlled Substances Act, to prohibit the use of regulated but legal drugs for physician-assisted suicide in Oregon.

LECTURE 2: Article 1, Section 8, of the U.S. Constitution, usually referred to as the commerce clause, gives the U.S. Congress the power to “regulate commerce with foreign nations, and among the several states, and with the Indian tribes.” The commerce clause has arguably been one of the most important mechanisms through which the power of the federal government has expanded over time. ▪

In Gibbons v. Ogden (1824), the Supreme Court upheld the supremacy of the federal government in dealing with interstate commerce. The case centered on a decision by the State of New York to grant exclusive right to specific steamboat operators to ferry people and goods to and from the state. The Supreme Court ruled that New York could not impose such limits, as the power to regulate interstate commerce falls exclusively to the federal government.

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In 1890, Congress used its authority under the commerce clause to pass the Sherman Anti-Trust Act, which attempted to limit the growing power of monopoly corporations.

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The courts also attempted to limit federal authority in some areas. In its 1892 decision in United States v. EC Knight, the Supreme Court ruled that federal authority is limited to commerce, ruling that the Sherman Anti-Trust Act does not grant the federal government authority to regulate monopolies in manufacturing. Similarly, the Court ruled the Keating-Owen Child Labor Act, which prohibited the interstate shipment of goods produced using child labor, unconstitutional because it regulated manufacturing methods. 78 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

LECTURE 3: Explain how the nature of American federalism has evolved as a result of Supreme Court decisions in various cases. The following list provides a useful starting point for your discussion: ▪

Martin v. Hunter’s Lessee (1816). The Marshall Court ruled that state court decisions in civil cases can be appealed to the federal courts.

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McCulloch v. Maryland (1819). The Marshall Court ruled that the necessary and proper clause means Congress has implied powers that are appropriate to exercising the enumerated powers (rather than Jefferson’s stricter notion of it being indispensable to exercising enumerated powers).

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Cohens v. Virginia (1821). The Marshall Court ruled that the decisions of the state courts in criminal cases can be appealed to the federal courts.

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Gibbons v. Ogden (1824). The Marshall Court ruled that the Congress’s power to regulate commerce among the states is broad enough to include all aspects of economic activity.

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Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857). The Taney Court ruled that states have reserved powers that keep the Congress from interfering with the states’ authority to allow slavery: an early statement for dual federalism.

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Hammer v. Dagenhart (1918). The Court ruled that the Congress cannot indirectly regulate child labor by prohibiting items manufactured by children from interstate commerce, following the doctrine of dual federalism.

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National Labor Relations Board v. Jones and Laughlin Steel Corporation (1937). This is the “stitch in time that saved nine” case in which the Court reversed itself and rejected its earlier dual federalism position and began recognizing that Congress can regulate intrastate commercial activities if they affect interstate commerce.

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Wickard v. Filburn (1942). The Court upheld the New Deal legislation known as the Agriculture Adjustment Act. Even miniscule economic activity (planting of 11 acres of wheat) can be regulated by the Congress because of the cumulative effects on interstate commerce. 79 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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Heart of Atlanta Motel v. United States (1964). The Court upheld the 1964 Civil Rights Act that prohibits certain public accommodations (public hotels, motels, and restaurants) from refusing to serve people on the basis of race. The Congress based its authority to pass this portion of the law on its power to regulate commerce among the states. Evidence was presented to the Congress that showed that African Americans would not travel across state lines as much if they knew they would be denied service in public accommodations.

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Garcia v. San Antonio Metropolitan Transit Authority (1985). The Court overruled its National League of Cities v. Usery decision from just nine years earlier. Both cases dealt with intergovernmental immunity. In Garcia, the city of San Antonio unsuccessfully argued that it was immune from the federal Fair Labor Standards Act as mass transit was a traditional state function, which, based on Usery, would have made it exempt. The Court threw out its traditional– nontraditional standard, stating that in future cases it would leave such decisions to the political process, since the Framers had designed federalism into the political process.

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New York v. United States (1992). The Court ruled that while the Congress can issue conditions or regulations that states must follow to get federal grants, it cannot merely issue an order to states. In this case, Congress had ordered states, in some cases, to dispose of nuclear waste.

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United States v. Lopez (1995). The Court ruled that the Congress cannot prohibit guns within a 1,000-foot radius of public schools on the grounds that it is regulating interstate commerce.

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Jones v. United States (2000). A homeowner cannot rely on a federal law, which makes it a federal crime to “maliciously damage or destroy by means of fire or an explosive, any building . . . used in interstate or foreign commerce or in any activity affecting interstate or foreign commerce, if the residence is not a commercial enterprise,” even if the home is insured by a company that operates nationally or it receives natural gas from across state borders.

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Johnson v. California (2003). California prisoner Garrison Johnson alleged in a federal district court that the California Department of Corrections used race to 80 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

assign temporary cell mates for new prisoners. Johnson alleged this violated the U.S. Constitution’s equal protection clause. The district court and a federal appellate court ruled against Johnson. The appellate court pointed to the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1987 decision in Turner v. Safley, which says a relaxed standard—as opposed to a “strict scrutiny” standard—should be used to determine whether prison regulations are constitutional. The prison’s policies were “reasonably related to the administrators’ concern for racial violence and thus must be upheld,” the appellate court wrote. ▪

Raich v. Gonzalez (2005). Congress may criminalize the production and use of marijuana even if production and use occur entirely within a single state that has approved the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes.

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Obergefell v. Hodges (2014). Same-sex couples challenged the constitutionality of state bans on same-sex marriage. In a 5-4 decision, the Court ruled that these state laws violated the equal protection clause and due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.

LECTURE 4: Explain the limits on federal power under the American federal system using the case of McCulloch v. Maryland (1816) and the clashing perspectives on federalism presented there. Remember that from the outset, the Constitution has been seen as creating a national government of vast, yet limited, legislative powers and that those powers must find their support in the Constitution itself. ▪

The powers of Congress are outlined in 18 enumerated clauses in Article 1. “Powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution” are “reserved to the States respectively, or to the People” according to the Tenth Amendment.

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Article 1 also includes the so-called necessary and proper clause, giving the Congress the power “To make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into Execution the foregoing Powers, and all other powers vested by this Constitution in the Government of the United States, or in any Department or Officer thereof.” 81 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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After the Constitution was adopted, the necessary and proper clause and the issue of implied powers were the subjects of much dispute between those who favored and those who opposed a strong national government.

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The contours of the debate were drawn by a dispute in 1790–1791 between Thomas Jefferson, then secretary of state, and Alexander Hamilton, then secretary of the Treasury, over the constitutionality of the bill creating the First Bank of the United States. 

Jefferson took the narrow view that the only powers Congress has are those without which the express powers would be nugatory.

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Hamilton took the broad view that as long as a power is naturally related to an express power, the Congress could use that power.

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McCulloch v. Maryland involved an 1816 attempt by the Maryland legislature to impose a tax on the Second Bank of the United States, chartered by the Congress. Chief Justice Marshall found the tax unconstitutional and upheld the power of Congress to charter the bank, authoritatively construing the necessary and proper clause, and thus the basic limits of congressional power: “Let the end be legitimate, let it be within the scope of the Constitution, and all means which are appropriate, which are plainly adapted to that end, which are not prohibited, but consistent with the letter and the spirit of the Constitution are constitutional.”

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Whether needed or not, the necessary and proper clause has long been, and still is, a useful tool in sustaining congressional legislation.

Federalism in Practice (Action) 3.4

Analyze the impact of federalism on the relationships among national, state, and local levels of government.

LECTURE 1: In drafting the U.S. Constitution, the founders chose a federal system for several reasons. Outline the benefits of federalism from the perspective of the founders. ▪

Federalism protects the nation against tyranny. Federalism divides political power across a larger number of people at the national, state, and local levels. From their 82 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

perspective, federalism might be seen as the vertical application of the idea of separation of powers. ▪

Federalism allows unity without uniformity by permitting the creation of different policies suited to different regions of the country. People are free to move to a state or community whose values—and thus policy preferences—more closely align with their own.

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Federalism produces innovation. In the words of Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis, federalism encourages states to be “laboratories of democracy,” permitting states to experiment with solutions to a wide range of social and economic problems.

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Federalism gives new leaders a chance to grow, allowing individuals to gain experience in state or local government before advancing to the national stage.

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Federalism promotes public trust. There are more than 89,000 governments in the United States, ranging from local school boards to city and state governments to the national government. Federalism thus increases the opportunities for political participation in the United States.

LECTURE 2: In designing the new government, the founders struggled to create a system in which no one person or small group could exercise excessive power. One way to they accomplished this is the system of checks and balances that divides power among the three branches of the national government. As an additional safeguard, they designed a system of federalism, dividing power and responsibility between the national government and the states. This “double security” provides another measure to keep the government in check. ▪

This topic presents a variety of historical, theoretical, and practical explanations for the founders’ decision to adopt a federal system and identifies the advantages and disadvantages of federalism.

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The courts have played an important role in shaping the way federalism works in the United States. The topic shows how the position of the national courts has shifted over time, from upholding a system of “dual” federalism in the early years, to promoting “cooperative” federalism after World War II, and swinging 83 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

back toward more limited national power and an expansion of state authority in recent years. ▪

This topic also addresses the national government’s use of grants to encourage and, in many cases, pressure states to move in certain policy directions. Another financial source of tension is the unfunded mandate, where the national government imposes regulations that result in increased costs for the states.

LECTURE 3: The recent debate over the decriminalization of marijuana makes an interesting case study with which to illustrate the complexity of federalism in the American system. ▪

Explain the tension between federal and state law in this area. While numerous jurisdictions have legalized the use of medical or recreational use of marijuana, California can be used as a case study. Under the Controlled Substances Act of 1970, the federal government makes it illegal to possess, use, or sell marijuana. But, in 1996, California voters approved the Compassionate Use Act by referendum, legalizing the medical use of marijuana with a physician’s prescription. Since then, 34 states have legalized medical use of marijuana, and 16 states (including California) have gone further, legalizing recreational use. State and federal laws are clearly at odds in this area.

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How does this affect local industry? A thriving industry of small- and mediumscale producers and dispensaries has emerged. These producers and retailers pay substantial fees and taxes to state and local governments. Despite this, the federal government still considers such producers and retailers to be engaged in illegal activity.

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Operating under the principle that national law preempts state law and asserting that the interstate commerce clause grants the federal government authority to regulate marijuana production and sales, the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) has routinely arrested growers and retailers, detained medical marijuana patients, and seized the assets of growers and dispensaries. The Internal Revenue Service also began a crackdown, denying some sellers the right to deduct marijuanarelated business expenses. Yet the California state government continues to assert their activity is legal and should be taxed and regulated. 84 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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Marijuana users contend that the national government has exceeded the power granted it under the interstate commerce clause because the marijuana they use is grown, transported, and consumed entirely within California. In Gonzales v. Raich (2005), however, the U.S. Supreme Court sided with the federal government, ruling that Congress may criminalize the production and use of marijuana even if production and use occurs entirely within a single state that has approved the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes.

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In 2013, the Obama administration announced that it would not stand in the way of state laws legalizing marijuana as long as these laws did not interfere with federal priorities, such as keeping marijuana out of the hands of criminal gangs and children. However, the Trump administration rescinded this guidance. Today, state and national laws remain in conflict, creating ongoing issues and illustrating the complexity of American federalism.

The U.S. Budget and Federalism (Impact) 3.5

Analyze the impact of federalism on the budget.

LECTURE 1: “Grants-in-aid” refers to payments from one level of government (usually the national or state government) to be expended by another (usually lower) level of government for a specified purpose and according to prescribed rules or standards. In theory, governments can refuse to accept grants-in-aid. However, the amount of money allocated by the federal government to state and local governments through grants-in-aid makes it difficult for local governments to decline. Grant programs are divided into several types: ▪

Categorical grants are distributed for specific projects or based on specific formulas. Examples include Medicaid and food stamp programs, both of which are distributed by the federal government to the states based on specific, fixed formulas established by Congress.

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Block grants are used to support a general governmental function, such as maintaining public health, providing for public security, or promoting education. Block grants afford state and local policymakers a much wider degree of latitude in determining where and how funds are spent. 85 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

LECTURE 2: Trace the evolution of state dependence on federal grant aid. ▪

Beginning with President Johnson’s Great Society program, federal spending on social programs increased dramatically. A large portion of Great Society programs, including support for public housing, Medicaid, and other programs, was allocated by the federal government to the states via grants. Consequently, from the 1960s to the 1980s, federal grants as a percentage of state and local spending increased from 14.8 percent to 27.4 percent.

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Under the Reagan administration, federal grant spending was cut dramatically, such that by 1990, federal grants represented only 18.9 percent of state and local spending. Most of this reduction was the result of transforming categorical grants into block grants and then reducing the total amount allocated to the block grant program.

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Under presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama, federal grant spending increased. That trend continued under the Trump administration, despite President Trump’s recommendations against increased grant spending. Today, federal grants represent approximately one-quarter of all state and local government spending, the same proportion they represented in the early 1980s.

LECTURE 3: “Competitive federalism” refers to the theory that federalism treats state and local governments like firms in a competitive marketplace, forcing them to compete against one another across a number of areas. Examples might include competition for residents, businesses, and tax revenue. ▪

Under competitive federalism, state and local governments compete against one another by offering “market baskets” of taxes, land use zoning, and public policies designed to attract residents and businesses. A city might, for example, place a premium on good schools or creating public goods like parks and bike paths to attract residents.

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Competitive federalism most often centers on attracting business investment. For example, a city government might offer a property tax waiver to attract the construction of a new factory or store that will increase taxable sales revenues 86 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

from surrounding communities or to attract a manufacturer who will bring jobs and residents. ▪

Competitive federalism can result in common problems: 

A “race to the bottom” occurs when local governments are so aggressive in attracting potential businesses that the costs to government and the community outweigh the benefits of attracting the new investment.

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A “moat and gate” problem arises from using zoning and public services to make a city or county unattractive or cost prohibitive to many potential residents. By requiring large lots for homes, prohibiting multifamily dwellings, and not offering mass transit or social services, municipalities can limit population density and make their communities unattractive to the poor and the working class. This creates a de facto system of segregation.

LECTURE 4: While the Constitution provides for a specific division of power between the federal and state governments, the national government often makes use of mandates and spending to influence state behavior. ▪

Mandates. Beginning in the 1960s, the federal government began to increase the number of mandates it issued to the states. In education, for example, state governments must abide by certain requirements imposed by the national government. State governments often oppose the introduction of mandates by the federal government. 

Mandates limit the scope of choices available to state governments. The national government may require states to provide services or develop policies they would rather not undertake.

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Even more important, the federal government may introduce a mandate without providing funding to support that mandate. These are often referred to as “unfunded mandates,” and they drew sharp criticism from state officials in the 1990s.

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As a result of reforms introduced at the national level and extensive lobbying by state and local officials, Congress is now required to include estimates of 87 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

the cost of unfunded mandates in any legislation. As a result of the increased attention placed on unfunded mandates, their use has declined in recent years. 

Perhaps the most controversial unfunded mandate in recent years—the No Child Left Behind Act—was not even deemed an unfunded mandate. Indeed, many local government officials complain that the Congress defines unfunded mandates too narrowly, allowing them to continue the practice despite laws limiting their use.

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“Preemption legislation” refers to laws passed by the U.S. Congress that prohibit states from taking certain actions. Examples might include a 2005 federal law that prohibits certain kinds of liability lawsuits from being filed against firearms manufacturers in state courts or the 2009 Family Smoking Prevention and Control Act, which preempts some state laws regulating the production and sale of certain tobacco products.

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Arguably the most common way the federal government influences decisions made at the state level is through fiscal federalism—its power of the purse. The federal government might choose to provide resources to encourage certain actions or may threaten to withhold resources to prevent other actions. 

The federal government provides categorical grants to state and local governments to undertake specific actions. An example is funds to promote science education in certain low-income schools. To receive categorical grants, state or local governments must agree to abide by all restrictions placed on their use. Categorical grants can be either formula based or competitive. ▪

Formula-based grants are based on a formula that determines the amount of funds a state will receive.

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Competitive grants require an application or proposal and are rated based on criteria specified by the granting agency. The highest-rated applications are then funded.

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Block grants provide greater flexibility to state and local decision makers. These grants are provided for broad policy areas—transportation, welfare, 88 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

child services, substance abuse prevention, and so on. States are free to spend these funds—within certain very broad guidelines—as they see fit.

The Politics of Federalism (Impact) 3.6

Link the growth of the national government to federalism.

LECTURE 1: Chief Justice John Marshall led the Supreme Court to strengthen the power of the national government in McCulloch v. Maryland. The case established the principle of implied powers, thus widely expanding the powers of the Congress and of national supremacy over the states. ▪

The principle of implied powers refers to the idea that some powers specifically granted to the federal government under the Constitution rest on the ability of the federal government to take certain actions. In the McCullough decision, Chief Justice Marshall ruled that certain powers are “necessary and proper” to exercise those powers explicitly granted to the federal government.

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But, at the same time, the reserved powers of the states as written in the Tenth Amendment reinforce the independent powers of the states. According to the Tenth Amendment, “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.” The Tenth Amendment thus effectively reserves a large number of powers over a broad area of authority to the states.

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The result was the doctrine of dual federalism, with the national and state governments asserting their powers in separate spheres of activity. Dual federalism was called into question with the secession of the Southern states and the outbreak of the Civil War. The war demonstrated the failure of the available pathways to reconcile conflict

LECTURE 2: The post–Civil War era saw a gradual restructuring of American federalism. ▪

The Civil War amendments (Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments) limit state power and enhance the strength of the national government. In particular, the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment was used to incorporate much of the Bill of Rights so that state governments are bound to observe those protections.

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The growth of industrialization and urbanization in the following years resulted in problems of urban poverty, leading the national government to pass laws addressing the worst excesses of capitalism. However, the Supreme Court invalidated many of the new laws and other social welfare measures as being too restrictive of business interests.

LECTURE 3: Perhaps the most dramatic restricting of American federalism occurred during the early part of the twentieth century, as the federal government responded to the challenges posed by the rapid industrialization of the United States. ▪

As with the earlier laws, the Supreme Court overturned many of the New Deal programs on the grounds that the government does not have the power to intervene in the economy and place restrictions on business interests. President Roosevelt proposed a court-packing plan to increase the size of the Court. Possibly in response to Roosevelt’s plan, the Court shifted slightly and the pendulum began to swing toward greater national power, culminating in the civil rights legislation of the 1960s.

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The post–New Deal era was marked by cooperative (marble cake) federalism— national and state governments working together to solve problems. This ended the notion of separate spheres of interest for each level of authority, and Americans today are more likely to think of problems as national rather than local issues and look to the national government for action. Cooperative federalism can be messy, with overlapping powers and difficulty in determining which level of government should be accountable for action.

LECTURE 4: Explain how state constitutions have evolved over time, reflecting the changing nature of federalism in the United States. ▪

Early in the history of the United States, state constitutions reflected the same distrust of centralized political authority reflected in the U.S. Constitution. 

Most state constitutions include strict limits on the ability of state officials to restrict freedoms of speech and assembly and also include prohibitions against unreasonable search and seizure and cruel and unusual punishment.

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State governments were designed to be weak. Governors usually only served two-year terms, and their powers were primarily ceremonial. Indeed, only 3 of the original 13 colonies—Massachusetts, New York, and South Carolina— granted their governors veto power. Legislatures were part time.

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The general weakness of state governments continued even after the Civil War.

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The Progressive Era reforms instituted early in the twentieth century were intended to prevent the emergence of informal political institutions—political party machines—at the state level, further limiting the power of state governments. These reforms focused on expanding direct democracy. 

Initiatives empowered voters to enact legislation directly, bypassing the state legislatures.

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Recall enabled voters to remove sitting officials from office through popular vote rather than impeachment by the state legislature.

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The tradition of weak state governments only began to reverse in the 1960s. 

A 1962 U.S. Supreme Court ruling mandated legislative redistricting in the states, prompting reforms that give state governments a larger role in policymaking.

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All governors now have the power to veto legislation.

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Except for New Hampshire and Vermont, all governors now serve four-year terms.

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More legislatures are full time.

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LECTURE 5: All too frequently, federalism is discussed in terms of abstract constitutional principles or an ideology such as states’ rights. There is some merit, therefore, in a lecture that begins at the other end of the scale, with a specific national problem: the American environmental crisis. ▪

The crisis attempts to clean up the environment conflict with the need for an adequate supply of cheap energy. Both the national and state governments are attempting to deal with this dilemma. Often, the goals of the two levels of government are in conflict.

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In some states, pollution control is the top priority; in others, economic survival has top billing. For example, the national government has set standards for automobile emissions.

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California has set a more stringent standard; some Pennsylvania urban centers oppose the lower national requirement. Ohio miners protest standards that bar the use of their coal in power plants. Montana levies a heavy tax on the low-sulfur coal that is exported to the East. New York farmers and sportsmen denounce the acid rain that originates from the smoke stacks of Indiana and Illinois. Arkansas residents grumble over the sewage and industrial wastes that come from the upstream Mississippi. Residents of Alabama and Florida complain over Georgia hogging (and polluting) the waters of the Chattahoochee River. Oregonians have protested over the federal protection of old forests.

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In the midst of such confusion, how can a comprehensive program be worked out that combines these conflicting goals? Should states be allowed to develop their own individual plans? Should we have a national super plan into which all of these pieces fit? What criteria should be used? What portion of the total cost should be borne by consumers? The national government? The state governments? City governments?

Class Activities CLASS ACTIVITY 1: Ronald Reagan labeled his proposals on the roles of state and local government “new federalism.” He pictured millions of Americans as resentful of the idea that “a bureaucratic elite in Washington knows best what is best for people everywhere and that you cannot trust local governments. Local government is the government closest to the people; it is most responsive to the individual person; it is a people’s government in a far more intimate way than the government in Washington can ever be.” ▪

In what sense can it be argued that government at the local level is closer to and more responsive to the people? Which people?

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How does Reagan’s understanding of federalism differ from that presented in The Federalist, No. 10?

This discussion item encourages students to think about how federalism has evolved over time. CLASS ACTIVITY 2: Former speaker of the House Tip O’Neill (D–Mass.) once famously quipped that “all politics is local.” ▪

Ask your students what they think he meant by this. Was he correct?

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Explain to your students what Tip O’Neill meant. Then ask them to think about how his view reflects the politics of the American federal system.

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You can make the discussion more meaningful to your students by providing them with a list of issues (for example, gun control, capital punishment, abortion, marijuana decriminalization, or other contemporary controversies) and asking them if it is better to leave these issues to the states to decide (meaning that we will have different policies in different states) or to have a uniform national policy on issues covering the entire country.

This discussion question provides an opportunity to apply theoretical understandings of federalism to contemporary issues of political controversy. (Action)

CLASS ACTIVITY 3: “What if” exercises can push students to shift to a higher level of engagement and critical thinking. ▪

Ask your students the following questions: what if the United States had adopted a unitary system of government instead of federalism at the Constitutional Convention? How would politics and policies in the United States be different?

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Ask them how the U.S. system would be different if we had retained the confederal system that existed under the Articles of Confederation.

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Ask why a political system should be unitary, federal, or confederal. If the United States had another Constitutional Convention, would we keep a federal system or change it? Why?

This critical thinking question contrasts federalism with other systems of organizing relations between national and subnational governments. (Structure)

CLASS ACTIVITY 4: Ask your students to create lists of the ways in which government affects their daily lives (or use the lists developed by your students in the activity in Chapter 1). Then ask your students to think about the level of government that influences or regulates those activities. ▪

Are they more influenced in their daily lives by the national or state and local governments?

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Ask them to think about what daily life would be like in the United States if we had a unitary system in which the national government made most decisions. Could such a system function effectively in the United States? Why or why not?

This activity encourages students to reflect on the ways in which the American system of federalism impacts their daily lives. (Impact) CLASS ACTIVITY 5: Hold a meeting of the editorial board of Publius: The Journal of Federalism. Students may wish to visit the journal’s website (http://publius.oxfordjournals.org/) and explore some recent articles to see what types of issues it addresses. ▪

Have the board discuss what the table of contents should look like for this year’s “State of Federalism” issue.

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Ask students what issues it should address, what trends one can discern, and so on.

This role-playing exercise provides students with an opportunity to engage with contemporary academic literature on federalism while learning more about how the academic community operates professionally.

CLASS ACTIVITY 6: Try to identify all of the governments that have authority and policymaking responsibilities in your area, from the federal and state governments to the types of local governments. At the same time, identify the types of public policies for which they are responsible. ▪

Map each of these policies onto specific grants of or restrictions on power in the Constitution.

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Briefly discuss your impressions of the federal system from your own vantage point. Indicate whether or not you found what you expected, based on your understanding of the American federal system.

This activity gets students to consider how policy responsibilities are divided across the national, state, and local governments under federalism. (Structure)

CLASS ACTIVITY 7: The Northern victory in the Civil War decisively established that the Union was indissoluble. ▪

Ask your students to contrast our views toward the nature of the United States as an “indissoluble union” with our views toward the right of new countries to secede from existing countries, as Croatia and Bosnia did from Yugoslavia in the 1990s.

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Ask for volunteers to look up articles in weekly news journals (or bring them yourself and have your students briefly review them in class) to see how these events were described at the time they were unfolding. Each student who volunteers should review the articles and present one outline of key issues and events to the class.

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This discussion item encourages students to draw connections between historical challenges to federalism (the Civil War) and contemporary challenges both in the United States and abroad.

CLASS ACTIVITY 8: Assign two groups of students to serve as panels to debate the following question: does the American form of federalism increase democracy, or does it have a negative effect on democracy? This activity gives students an opportunity to think critically about the relationship between federalism and democracy in the United States. (Impact)

CLASS ACTIVITY 9: Ask students to brainstorm and develop a short list of the major domestic policy controversies or problems in American politics. Divide students into two groups: cooperative and dual federalists. ▪

Have each group describe how the problem might be addressed in its system of federalism and report back to the whole class on its solution(s).

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Encourage a discussion, critique, and debate of each group’s ideas.

This activity gets students to think about how two types of federal systems (cooperative and dual) have different policy effects. (Impact)

Research Activities RESEARCH ACTIVITY 1: Present Justice Brandeis’s concept of states in a federal system as the “laboratories of democracy.” Assign small groups of students to research online the ways states have tried to improve education outcomes. The Cornell Law School (go to) has useful resources for this activity; go to www.law.cornell.edu and search “state statutes.” This activity provides students an opportunity to explore the variations and experimentations in policy under a federal system. (Action)

RESEARCH ACTIVITY 2: Ask your students to watch either Mississippi Burning (1988) or Murder in the First (1995). Mississippi Burning is a fictionalized account of the 1964 murder of civil rights activists Michael Schwerner, Andrew Goodman, and James Chaney. The film focuses 96 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

on the conflict between state and local authorities during the murder investigation that followed the tragedy. Murder in the First (1995) portrays the story of petty criminals in 1930s Alcatraz and depicts the early stages of the federalization of criminal law in the United States. In short papers, ask your students to reflect on the specific ways in which federalism and the tension between national and state and local governments play out. This video activity provides students an opportunity to reflect on a powerful historical example of tensions between the national and the state governments regarding civil rights. (Action)

RESEARCH ACTIVITY 3: States frequently argue that federal grant money is not distributed fairly. Assign students to gather data on the amount of grant money each state has received for the past five years, either in total or for specific programs. Have them compare data, looking for factors that would explain the differences: population size, poverty levels, business interests, and leadership positions of the congressional delegations. This activity provides students an opportunity to explore the financial and budgetary side of federalism while also developing data literacy skills.

RESEARCH ACTIVITY 4: Conservatives generally support a return of power and responsibility to the states. Liberals wish to maintain the strong role of the national government. Have students write essays in which they present and defend both the liberal and the conservative analyses of American federalism. Useful starting points include Hendrickson’s “Conservative Perspectives on American Federalism,” the introduction to a special issue of the journal Publius, Young’s “The Conservative Case for Federalism,” and Foer’s “The Joy of Federalism.” All are cited in Suggested Readings. This reading and writing activity helps students understand competing perspectives on the benefits and limitations of federalism in the United States.

RESEARCH ACTIVITY 5: In short reaction papers, ask your students to evaluate the federal response to the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill. You may wish to assign additional articles to supplement this discussion. The Guardian’s website offers an archive of extensive coverage of 97 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

the event; go to www.theguardian.com/us and search “Deepwater Horizon oil spill.” Ask students to consider the following questions in their analyses: ▪

The response was largely viewed as a massive failure. Is this a fair assessment? If so, who or what institutions are to blame?

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How much responsibility should the states and BP assume, and how much should the national government assume? What should be their respective roles?

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Should the levels of government react differently than they would in response to the loss of homes or businesses during a national crisis?

This activity encourages students to think about how federalism might undermine more efficient and effective public policy in some areas. (Impact) RESEARCH ACTIVITY 6: Have students research the contemporary debate over immigration reform and enforcement. Start with Arizona’s controversial SB 1070, which is widely viewed as one of the broadest anti-immigration measures in recent U.S. history. ▪

Ask your students to provide short summaries of Arizona’s SB 1070 or similar measures in other states, such as Alabama HB 56.

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Ask them to write short position papers responding to the question, “Should states and cities be responsible for enforcing federal immigration laws?”

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As an alternative, the same prompt could be used for a class debate.

This activity helps students understand the dynamics of federal–state relations in an area of considerable difference in policy preference between the layers of government.

RESEARCH ACTIVITY 7: Have students visit the website of the National Conference of State Legislatures (https://www.ncls.org) and search the state legislation database for state laws related to COVID-19. In short response papers, ask your students to reflect on the range and diversity of state responses to COVID-19. Ask students to consider the pros and cons of variation in state laws dealing with the pandemic. This activity helps students evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of federalism in the context of a pressing policy issue.

Participation Activities PARTICIPATION ACTIVITY 1: Ask your students to attend a local government meeting. This could be a meeting of the city council, a local school board, a local services district meeting, or some other local government organization. While there, ask them to listen to the kinds of issues being considered. ▪

After they attend the meeting, ask them to write short papers in which they reflect on the issues raised. How did that discussion reflect the division of power under American federalism?

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Have students compare the local government’s relationship to the federal government with its relationship to the state government.

This participation activity gives students an opportunity to see firsthand the operation of local government and to reflect on how the American system of federalism affects this operation.

PARTICIPATION ACTIVITY 2: Have students conduct interviews of public administrators responsible for the intergovernmental implementation of policy at the local level (e.g., school principals, teachers, Medicaid administrators, public assistance caseworkers, emergency first responders). Students should ask questions about the nature of the relationships among national, state, and local government agencies, paying special attention to how federal regulations, mandates, and budgeting impact implementation at the local level. ▪

Ask students to prepare organizational charts and/or a policy process charts depicting intergovernmental implementation in their policy areas.

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Have students present their interviewee(s) with posters or pamphlets describing the process. (Local agencies can use these materials when training new workers or communicating with the press or public.)

This participation activity encourages students to think about how federal policies are implemented at the local level. (Action)

PARTICIPATION ACTIVITY 3: To test the relative importance of national, state, and local governments in the day-to-day lives of our people, have students conduct the following experiment: 99 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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Journal their activities for two consecutive days.

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Ask them to determine to what extent and in which ways the levels of government (national, state, and local) influence their daily lives. Results could be presented either in papers or through pie charts with short accompanying descriptions.

This participation activity provides students with an opportunity to reflect on how federalism impacts their daily lives. (Impact)

Suggested Readings and Films READING 1: David Brian Robertson’s accessible history Federalism and the Making of America (New York: Routledge, 2011) explores the evolution of American federalism from the founding though the contemporary debates between liberals and conservatives over the proper scope of the national government. READING 2: There is a rich literature on the comparative politics of federalism. Good starting points to explore this literature include the following: ▪

Gerald Baier, Courts and Federalism: Judicial Doctrine in the United States, Australia, and Canada (Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2007).

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Michael Burgess, Comparative Federalism: Theory and Practice (London: Routledge, 2006).

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Thomas Hueglin and Alan Fenna, Comparative Federalism: A Systematic Inquiry, 2nd edition (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2015).

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Ronald L. Watts, Comparing Federal Systems (Kingston: McGill-Queens University Press, 2008).

READING 3: Saul Cornell’s The Other Founders: Anti-Federalism and the Dissenting Tradition in America, 1788–1828 (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1999) is an engaging text that explores the deeply rooted mistrust of centralized political authority in the early years of the nation. Cornell’s book provides an alternative perspective on the debates over ratification and the role of federalism in the United States, focusing on the debate between those

who supported a stronger national government and those who favored a more local vision of politics. READING 4: The early debates over federalism in the United States provide ample ground for reading. Possibilities include the following: ▪

Samuel H. Beer, To Make a Nation: The Rediscovery of American Federalism (Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1993).

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Stanley Elkins and Erik Elkins McKitrick, The Age of Federalism: The Early American Republic, 1788–1800 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1995).

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Michael C. Remington, Federalism and the Constitution: Limits on Congressional Power and Significant Events, 1776–2000 (Huntington, N.Y.: Novinka Books, 2002).

READING 5: Timothy J. Conlan and Paul L. Posner in Intergovernmental Management for the 21st Century (Washington, D.C.: Brookings Institution Press, 2008) explore the practice of intergovernmental relations in the context of American federalism. Topics covered include fiscal relations, devolution and power-sharing arrangements, and emerging best practices in governmental administration.

READING 6: Tracy Gordon analyzes the effect of the sharp increase in federal spending under the 2009 Stimulus Act through the lens of fiscal federalism in Crisis Federalism: How the Stimulus Reshaped Federal-State Relations (Washington, D.C.: Brookings Institution, 2013). She concludes that the act provides a possible template for future intergovernmental cooperation, rooted in targeted aid and efficient oversight. READING 7: In “The State of American Federalism 2011–2012: A Fend for Yourself and Activist Form of Bottom-Up Federalism,” Publius 42, no. 3 (2012): 357–83, Shama Gamkhar and J. Mitchell Pickerill analyze recent developments in American federalism to explore the ways in which local activism affects policy decisions at the national, state, and local levels. Their article is part of the annual special issue of the journal Publius assessing the state of federalism in the United States. 101 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

READING 8: If one of the strengths of federalism is that it allows a diversity of policy choices to be explored across the country, then the relative differences in political cultures must be part of that consideration. Joel Lieske’s article “American State Cultures: Testing a New Measure and Theory” Publius 42, no. 1 (2012): 108–33, explores the intersection of divergent state cultures, federalism, and policy outcomes in the United States. READING 9: “The State of American Federalism 2007–2008: Resurgent State Influence in the National Policy Process and Continued State Policy Innovation,” Publius 38, no. 3 (2008): 381– 415, John Dinan’s recent assessment of the state of American federalism, focuses on the role of states as “laboratories of democracy.” READING 10: Kimberly Hendrickson’s brief article “Conservative Perspectives on American Federalism: An Introduction,” Publius 31, no. 4 (2004): 1–8, traces the evolution of conservative thought on American federalism from the New Deal through the 1980s. Her article also serves as the introduction to a special issue of the journal Publius that focuses exclusively on conservative political thought and American federalism. READING 11: An interesting paper that explores the “liberal” legacy of the Rehnquist Court’s decisions affecting federalism is Ernest A. Young’s “The Conservative Case for Federalism,” The George Washington Law Review 74, nos. 5–6 (2006): 874–87. It draws from a wide array of issues including freedom of speech, same-sex marriage, and substantive limits on the death penalty. Young argues in favor of a conservative interpretation of national power under American federalism. READING 12: Franklin Foer’s essay “The Joy of Federalism,” New York Times (March 6, 2005) argues that liberals should embrace federalism and the diversity of policy it promotes across states. To access the essay, go to www.nytimes.com and search “the joy of federalism.”

READING 13: The journal Publius: The Journal of American Federalism (http://publius.oxfordjournals.org/) offers coverage and analysis of a wide range of issues arising from the American federal system. It is an outstanding resource for students researching topics related to federalism in the United States.

READING 14: The Council of State Governments (https://www.csg.org/) is an organization that brings together state government officials to foster the exchange of insights and ideas to help state officials develop public policy. Its website offers insights into state and local governments in the United States. Its publication, The Book of the States (available through https://www.csg.org/ by searching “book of the states”) provides excellent analysis of recent developments in state and local politics across the United States.

READING 15: State governments have several avenues to facilitate cooperation and coordination among them. ▪

The National Center for State Courts provides links to the homepages of the court systems of each of the states at www.ncsc.org.

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The National Conference of State Legislatures provides information about state governments and federal relations, including the distribution of federal revenues and expenditures in the states at https://www.ncsl.org/.

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The National Governors’ Council is a nonpartisan organization that looks at solving statefocused problems and provides information on state innovations and practices. The website has stories and articles of interest to the states and provides links to similar issues and organizations at www.nga.org.

READING 16: Information about current and past Supreme Court cases and biographical information about the justices appear at www.oyez.org

READING 17: The Findlaw website offers a searchable database of state constitutions at www.findlaw.com.

READING 18: The American Enterprise Institute offers conservative analysis on federal issues, publications, working papers, and links at www.aei.org.

READING 19: The Federalist Society offers many resources and publications on the current study of modern and past federalism on a great variety of issues in the United States at www.fedsoc.org.

FILM 20: Many films, particularly those that deal with criminal activities, can be used to highlight the challenges of American federalism. Perhaps one of the most salient is Mississippi Burning (Alan Parker, director, Orion Pictures, 1988), which is a fictionalized account of the 1964 murder of civil rights activists Michael Schwerner, Andrew Goodman, and James Chaney. The film focuses on the conflict between state and local authorities during the murder investigation that followed the tragedy. Murder in the First (Mark Rocco, director, Le Studio Canal+, 1995) portrays the story of petty criminals in 1930s Alcatraz and depicts the early stages of the federalization of criminal law in the United States. Both films offer powerful insights into the functioning of American federalism.

Revel Features Chapter Introduction CURRENT EVENTS BULLETIN Video: WATCH American Federalism: The Big Picture Author video. Sketchnote Video: WATCH Federalism Explained

The Constitutional Foundations of Federalism (Structure) 3.1

Explain the constitutional foundations of federalism.

Document: READ The Federalist, No. 9 Video: WATCH Marijuana & Federalism: Who’s in Charge? Video: WATCH Politics Hidden in Plain Sight: Eating at a Restaurant Video: WATCH Politics Hidden in Plain Sight: Pumping Gas Read: HAPPENING NOW Summary of the siege on the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021 and the aftermath of the event. Journal Prompt 3.1 Why were the Framers so concerned about restraining the states, and are there any states that you believe should have more freedom to do what they think without so much national control? QUIZ 3.1 The Constitutional Foundations of Federalism (Structure)

Federalism and Its Alternatives (Structure) 3.2

Distinguish federalism from other forms of government.

Video: WATCH Supreme Court Rules on Arizona Immigration Laws ABC video. Social Explorer: FIGURE 3.1 Units of Government in the United States, 1942–2017 SOURCE: Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Government Units by State, factfinder.census.gov. The national government collects this information only once every five years. Video: WATCH Cooperative Federalism Abandoned in Fight Against Segregation Journal Prompt 3.2 Which form of federalism do you favor, and how might this form affect an issue that you support? QUIZ 3.2 Federalism and Its Alternatives (Structure)

The U.S. Courts and Federalism (Action) 3.3

Trace the evolution of federalism from ratification to the present.

Document: READ Excerpts from the Obergefell Petition Journal Prompt 3.3 Why did the Supreme Court make such a forceful stand on giving the national government power over the states? QUIZ 3.3 The U.S. Courts and Federalism (Action)

Federalism in Practice (Action) 3.4

Analyze the impact of federalism on the relationships among national, state, and local levels of government.

Journal Prompt 3.4 Can you think of any ways that your state is different from the state or states next door in actions such as setting the minimum ware or speed limit? And are the differences good or bad for you? QUIZ 3.4 Federalism in Practice (Action)

The U.S. Budget and Federalism (Impact) 3.5

Analyze the impact of federalism on the budget.

Social Explorer: FIGURE 3.2 “TAKERS AND GIVERS”: HOW STATES RANK ON TAXES PAID TO WASHINGTON AND BENEFITS RECEIVED PER CITIZEN, 2019 Journal Prompt: FIGURE 3.2 Explore your current state of residence on the map. What kinds of connections do you see between your state’s finances and the way residents voted in the 2020 election? Give one or two specific examples of these connections in your state.

Video: WATCH Politics Hidden in Plain Sight: Buying a Drink Journal Prompt 3.5 If you were the governor of a state, which kind of grant would you prefer to receive? And which would be the most expensive for you to spend? QUIZ 3.5 The U.S. Budget and Federalism (Impact)

The Politics of Federalism (Impact) 3.6

Link the growth of the national government to federalism.

Document: READ The Federalist, No. 7 Social Explorer: FIGURE 3.3 APPROVAL OF FEDERAL, STATE, AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT, 1997–2018 Journal Prompt 3.6 Do you think the Framers might have gone too far in giving so much power to the national government in Washington? Or did they provide the right amount of power, but create too many opportunities for gridlock? QUIZ 3.6 The Politics of Federalism (Impact) SHARED WRITING PROMPT: American Federalism Do you think that the balance between national and state powers needs to be rebalanced given the continued gridlock in Washington? Could the states do a better job solving the nation’s problems?

Review the Chapter Video: WATCH American Federalism: So What? Author video Flashcards: LEARN THE TERMS American Federalism Flashcard set of key terms and definitions for the chapter. CHAPTER 3 QUIZ American Federalism

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4 The American Political Landscape Chapter Overview This chapter explores the meaning and types of ideology in American political life and how they are shaped by our political culture. We begin by assessing the role of various factors in shaping a national and local identity, including geography, natural resources, and type of community. Next, we analyze the impact of social and demographic factors such as race and ethnicity, religion, gender, family structure, education, and age on American politics. We conclude by describing the importance of income, wealth, occupation, and social class in American politics. A major goal for this chapter should be helping students to understand what lies behind the common political rhetoric of the day. In addition, you can teach your students to understand the positive role of shared values and ideologies and to clarify their own ideological predispositions.

Lecture Suggestions Geography, Natural Resources, and the Importance of Where We Are From (Structure, Action, and Impact) 4.1

Assess the role of geography, natural resources, and type of community in building a national and local identity.

LECTURE 1: As early as 1830, the French political commentator Alexis de Tocqueville noted that the geography of North America would influence U.S. politics. De Tocqueville observed that the United States has no political or economic rival on its border and is protected by oceans to the east and west. Describe for your students how the unique geography of the United States has affected its historical development and national identity. ▪

Sense of Invulnerability. Apart from English attacks during the War of 1812, the World Trade Center bombing in 1993, and the September 11, 2001, terror attacks, no enemy has been able to successfully strike the continental United States. Early in its history, the relative isolation of the United States granted the country the ability to remain aloof from many international events and conflicts. Since World War II, the United States has engaged more directly on the global scene. More recently, terror attacks have forced the United States to rethink the nature of national defense and homeland security.

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Size. Historically, the western frontier provided opportunity for Americans to migrate west. This also influenced the development of American political culture, reinforcing the “bootstrap myth” and the idea of rugged individualism. The vast western frontier also provided ample resources for American development.

LECTURE 2: Although written in 1981, Joel Garreau’s Nine Nations of North America provides an interesting way to explore regional division in the United States. Garreau argues that nine distinctive regions in North America each have their own political culture and identity: New England, the Foundry (sometimes called the Rust Belt), Dixie (the American South), the Breadbasket (the Midwest), the Island (South Florida), Mexamerica (the American Southwest), Ecotopia (the Pacific Northwest), the Empty Quarter (much of the Rockies and the interior Northwest), and Quebec. An engaging lecture could be developed contrasting these regions. Supplemental information, including graphics and discussion of the relevance of Garreau’s work today, can be found at https://www.smartcitiesdive.com/ex/sustainablecitiescollective/nationsnorth-america-revisited-and-considered/7768/.

LECTURE 3: Outline for your students the primary regional divisions in the United States. ▪

The South. Historically, the primary political division in the United States was between the North and the South. The South relied on agriculture, while the North was centered economically on industry and commerce. From the 1960s onward, the South was solidly Republican. Today, however, the South is becoming less well defined as a region, though there are reasons to think this historical trend is weakening.

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The Sun Belt. Comprising the South plus New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, and Southern California, the Sun Belt has experienced rapid population growth over the past 30 years (largely at the expense of the Rust Belt, which comprises northeastern states like Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Indiana).

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More generally, a strong rural-urban divide also characterizes the United States. Throughout the twentieth century, the rural population of the United States gradually declined, as individuals migrated from the countryside to the cities. In the post–World War II era, migration also occurred from the cities to the suburbs, as individuals fled the central core of cities in favor of less densely populated regions on city outskirts.

LECTURE 4: The idea of a “culture war” has gained influence in recent years, and several books have been published on the topic. James Q. Wilson, for example, contends that the United States is more polarized now than at any time in its history. ▪

The polarization of the United States is usually characterized as the division of the country into red and blue states, corresponding to Republican/Conservative (red) and Democratic/Liberal (blue). Maps displaying the results of the Electoral College are often colored this way.

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However, between 2000 and 2016, twelve states were “purple,” or battleground states, swinging between the two parties in presidential elections. In an effort to reduce the level of partisan division, in his 2004 address to the Democratic National Convention, then-Illinois state senator Barack Obama famously asserted, “There are no red states or blue states, just the United States.” In the 2020 presential election, Joe Biden repeated this statement.

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Explain the idea of the culture war and arguments for and against its existence. In his speech before the 1992 Republican National Convention, presidential candidate Pat Buchanan argued that “There is a religious war going on in our country for the soul of America. It is a cultural war, as critical to the kind of nation we will one day be as was the Cold War itself. . . . The agenda [Bill] Clinton and [Hillary] Clinton would impose on America—abortion on demand, a litmus test for the Supreme Court, homosexual rights, discrimination against religious schools, women in combat—that’s change, all right. But it is not the kind of change America wants. It is not the kind of change America needs. And it is not the kind of change we can tolerate in a nation that we still call God’s country.”

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Divisions on hot button issues have been used to mobilize the electorate in support of particular candidates or parties. For instance, in the 2016 election, Donald Trump made immigration policy a centerpiece of his campaign. In 2020, the Black Lives Matter movement was a source of debate in the presidential election.

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Then ask the students to consider the degree to which the idea of a culture war has influenced American politics over the past decade. 111 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Who We Are (Structure, Action, and Impact) 4.2

Analyze how such social and demographic factors as race and ethnicity, religion, gender, family structures, education, and age affect American politics.

LECTURE 1: Explore the demographic diversity of the American public with your class. You can focus in particular on the experiences of the two largest minority groups in the United States: African Americans and Hispanic Americans. ▪

African Americans. Historically, African Americans constituted the largest minority in the United States; they represented about 20 percent of the country’s population in 1787. The widespread practice of slavery in the American South led to a concentration of African Americans in that region. However, migration patterns in the twentieth century saw African Americans move to the Northeast and Midwest. Today, African Americans constitute a little more than 13 percent of the total U.S. population. Their long political struggle against slavery, segregation, and discrimination helped to shape the American political experience and provided African Americans with a somewhat different perspective on American politics. African Americans disproportionately tend to favor the Democratic Party.

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Hispanic Americans. Fifty-seven million strong, today Hispanic Americans are the single largest minority group in the United States, comprising more than 18 percent of the U.S. population. While the largest numbers of Hispanic Americans are of Mexican ancestry, the group also includes a diverse array of people of Spanish-speaking ancestry, including Cuban Americans, Puerto Ricans, and others of Latin American heritage. The Mexican American population tends to be concentrated in the Southwest. Puerto Ricans tend to be concentrated in the Northeast, particularly in New York City. And Cuban Americans, many of whom fled Fidel Castro’s communist regime, are concentrated in Florida, particularly Miami. The growing number of Hispanic Americans is beginning to shape U.S. 112 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

politics, as both Democrats and Republicans attempt to court the growing Hispanic vote.

LECTURE 2: List and define the four major challenges and alternatives to the American creed. Provide a current example of a group that supports each of these alternative beliefs. ▪

Communitarianism focuses on the society and the community. It argues that individuals are not self-made; they are made by society, and thus they owe something to society in return. Self-improvement should be focused on how we serve the community and society more broadly. Communitarians in history have been influential. 

During the American Revolution and colonial times, classical republicanism was the dominant mode of thought.

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Populists—1875 through 1900—expressed deep concern about the disruption of communities by industrial capitalism and proposed many reforms.

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Movements like progressivism and presidential programs such as the New Deal and the Great Society infused these beliefs into their policies.

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Communitarianism refines the creed, but does not reject it. It argues that the public good should trump private interest when they are in conflict. Individualism is viewed as harsh; communitarian ideas remove the harsh edge by supporting those who fall behind.

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Discrimination is the idea that society is a hierarchy, wherein not all groups deserve all the rights and benefits the creed can offer. The most famous historical example of this is racism, such as the discrimination against African Americans, women, and Native Americans that occurred both officially and unofficially throughout American history.

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Multiculturalism questions the desirability of a common American political culture. It contends that group identity influences political beliefs, and because groups are naturally diverse, a common political culture reflects the imposition of a dominant culture on a group’s beliefs. Some proponents of multiculturalism argue that, given people’s diverse experiences and worldviews, there can be no 113 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

true consensus around a single set of political beliefs and values. Instead, any claim of a unified political culture is better seen as an attempt by a majority group to impose its set of beliefs on minority groups. ▪

Libertarianism argues that individuals are responsible for their own lives and that the role of the government should be severely circumscribed.

LECTURE 3: Describe the evolution of the American population from the early days of the republic, when just a few hundred thousand people were spread out over a relatively large area, to the current population of more than 330 million. ▪

Consider in particular how the changing demographics of the United States have affected its political system. 

A particularly powerful example was the original constitutional mandate that set the number of members of the House of Representative at 1 per 30,000 people. The original House of Representatives thus consisted of just 65 members.

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Today, there are 435 members of the House of Representatives or about 1 for every 770,000 people in the country. If the original formula were still in place, the House would have more than 11,000 members!

LECTURE 4: Political ideology refers to the coherent set of values and beliefs people hold about politics and the role and scope of government. Usually, ideology is divided into a political spectrum, from left to right or liberal to conservative. ▪

Outline the basic tenets of American liberalism and conservatism.

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Explain the four roles of political ideology in the study of politics, namely, explanation, evaluation, orientation, and political program.

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Be sure to provide a breakdown of the U.S. electorate (including moderates) as well.

How Much We Own (Structure, Action, and Impact) 4.3

Describe the importance of income, wealth, occupation, and social class in American politics.

LECTURE 1: Inequality often presents a threat to political stability. Indeed, conflict in society is more often generated by inequalities between people than by absolute levels of hardship or deprivation. Share with your class a graph showing the relative distribution of income in the United States. Excellent graphical representations, including both charts and maps, are available at the Visualizing Economics website (www.visualizingeconomics.com). In your presentation, note that ▪

Overall levels of wealth in the United States have increased steadily since the 1950s. However, since the 1970s, the vast majority of economic growth has been concentrated in the top quintile (20%) of earners. For the bottom 20 percent, there has been virtually no growth since the early 1970s.

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Today, roughly half of total household income in the United States goes to the top 20 percent of households. Less than 4 percent of total income goes to the bottom 20 percent of households.

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In 2019, income inequality was at its highest level in 50 years. During the economic downturn caused by COVID-19, income inequality in the United States increased even further.

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Conflict in society is generated more often by inequalities among people than by hardship or deprivation. 

Material well-being and standards of living are usually expressed in aggregate measures for a whole society.

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Unequal distributions can generate conflict even in a very affluent society with high levels of income and a high standard of living.

LECTURE 2: Explain increases in inequality. Increases in income inequality in the United States are a product of several social and economic trends: ▪

The decline of the manufacturing sector of the economy and the ascendancy of the communications, information, and service sectors;

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The rise in the number of two-wage families, making single-wage, female-headed households relatively less affluent; and

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Demographic trends, which include larger proportions of seniors and larger proportions of female-headed families.

LECTURE 3: Ask your class to think about the historical role of social mobility in the United States. ▪

Social mobility refers to the ability of individuals to move from one social class to another during their lifetimes. In the United States, the idea of upward social mobility is deeply entrenched. The ideas of “pulling yourself up by the bootstraps” and that success is primarily the result of individual initiative and effort, are deeply held. Indeed, the concept of the United States as a “land of opportunity” is a perfect illustration of this.

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The deeply held belief in social mobility in the United States may help to explain why class conflict and class consciousness are less frequently expressed in the here than in many other developed democracies. Class is a central feature of political and social life in the United Kingdom. But it is rarely referenced in the United States, where nearly everyone describes themselves as being part of the “middle class” rather than rich or poor.

LECTURE 4: Explain how the American commitments to liberty and equality were operationalized in the U.S. Constitution. ▪

Then explore how the conception of liberty and equality expressed by the Framers (largely as negative liberty, or “freedom from…”) have evolved into more positive notions of liberty as “freedom to….”

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LECTURE 5: The phrase “American exceptionalism” was first used by Alexis de Tocqueville in 1831 to describe “the perception that the United States differs qualitatively from other developed nations, because of its unique origins, national credo, historical evolution, and distinctive political and religious institutions.” Provide examples for your students, drawing from contemporary events, of how American exceptionalism plays out in practice. ▪

American exceptionalism can refer to the idea that the United States is a just and moral country. This is often seen in the foreign policy sphere as a justification for intervention.

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American exceptionalism is also often evoked in domestic politics. During the 2020 presidential election, President Trump made teaching American exceptionalism a major part of his education policy platform.

Class Activities Questions of political culture and political values are often difficult. Students may be afraid to express their political perspectives for fear that they will differ from those of their professors or classmates. Similarly, they may simply try to echo perspectives expressed by classmates, friends, or family. Getting students to engage critically and respectfully around these questions can thus sometimes be difficult. For that reason, think-pair-share provides a particularly effective way of approaching many of these discussion questions. Think-pair-share is a cooperative discussion strategy that asks students to start by thinking (and often writing down) their own perspectives on a question. It is important at this stage to provide students with ample time just to think about the question. Once students have had a chance to think (and perhaps briefly write) about their own perspectives, have them partner with another student and discuss their answers. After they talk in pairs, they should be well prepared to discuss the topic as a class. CLASS ACTIVITY 1: Assess the political ideology of the classroom. ▪

Use your learning management system to ask your students to identify where they believe they will fall on the political spectrum, both in terms of political identification and policy preferences. Compile and summarize the results for your class. 117 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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Discuss the American political spectrum, contrasting the general spectrum with the distribution of individual perspectives in your class. Ask your students to reflect on the similarities or differences observed.

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You might also ask your students to take the Pew Center’s Political Typology Quiz (go to www.people-press.org and search “political typology quiz”) or the Political Compass Quiz (www.politicalcompass.org), outside of class for a more scientific distribution.

This activity helps students understand the political spectrum and the differences between political ideologies. (Structure)

CLASS ACTIVITY 2: Divide the class into groups of two students each. Give each pair of students a news story on a recent political event. Then ask one member of each group to argue the issue from a liberal perspective and the other from a conservative point of view. Once you are done, ask them to identify any common views or outlooks held across the political spectrum. This activity highlights the distinction between political ideology and political culture and helps students understand how political ideology is operationalized. (Structure and Action) CLASS ACTIVITY 3: Divide your class into several smaller groups of approximately three to four students each. Then ask each group to imagine themselves as the founders of a new nation. Their task is not to design the specific political institutions, but to think about how they would design institutions capable of reflecting the political culture and values of the country while simultaneously accommodating competing political values and perspectives. Once the groups have answered the question, have each present its conclusions to the class. Then ask the class to vote on the system they believe would most effectively accomplish the goal. If you still have time, you could also discuss why that system would be most effective. This activity demonstrates the inherent trade-offs in any political system and encourages critical thinking by separating criticism from patriotism. (Structure, Action, and Impact) CLASS ACTIVITY 4: Given that dissent is an acceptable form of expression and disagreement in the political culture of the United States: ▪

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How will the areas of disagreement be resolved?

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Is this a practical demonstration of conflict resolution? Why? Why not?

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An “open” setting should be established to develop lists of dissent. Open discussion among the students (for example, relating to their interviews, or questions about areas of disagreement) can be very stimulating. Resolution is found in the students’ interpretations of the relationships between their experiences and the political scenario, as visible in the daily news.

This discussion item provides students an opportunity to think about the underlying foundation of American political culture that exists even in areas where deeply held differences surround specific policy issues. (Structure and Action)

CLASS ACTIVITY 5: American national identity is based on the values of the American political culture, which is characterized by respect for individualism, democracy, equality, liberty, private property, and freedom of religion. And yet, activists and protestors often use the American creed as the foundation for their criticisms of American government. Ask students what kinds of ideas they believe are “un-American” and to explain why they think so. This discussion item encourages students to think about areas of conflict and tension within American political culture. CLASS ACTIVITY 6: The operationalization of public policy often places the central values of American political culture into debate. A good example of this is the indefinite detention of suspected terrorists at the U.S. naval facility at Guantanamo Bay. Since the detention center opened in 2002, approximately 780 prisoners passed through its cells. As of 2020, 40 prisoners remained. Ask your students to debate the trade-off between liberty and security in the context of the war on terror. Does the war on terror force us to reconsider the scope of individual liberty in the United States? Do we have to accept restrictions on liberty for greater security? Does the indefinite detention of terror suspects violate the American commitment to the rule of law and the rights of suspected criminals? Why or why not? This discussion question gets at the contemporary application of the central tenets of American political culture. (Action)

CLASS ACTIVITY 7: Are Americans really divided over political culture? ▪

Ask students what the five elements of American political culture—liberty, egalitarianism, individualism, laissez-faire, and populism—suggest about current American politics. (How much liberty do they believe exists today? How much equality? And so on.)

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Ask them to listen carefully to each other’s descriptions and assess whether consensus exists in the classroom about these fundamental values.

This activity requires students to think about and define in their own words the features of American political culture. (Structure)

CLASS ACTIVITY 8: Assign students, in small groups, to write short presentations outlining the key tenets of alternative political perspectives in the United States. You might choose to focus on just a few represented by third parties, such as Libertarian, Populist, Communist, and Green. Once your students have presented, ask the class to consider the following questions: ▪

How does each perspective speak to American political culture?

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In what specific ways does each group’s position work against American political culture? How might that affect the support the group receives?

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How does American political culture limit the scope of political parties and perspectives in the United States?

This activity requires students to apply the abstract, philosophical principles embodied in American political culture to the political platforms of contemporary parties. It also helps highlight the differences between political culture and political ideology. (Structure, Action, and Impact)

Research Activities RESEARCH ACTIVITY 1: Does immigration threaten national cohesion? While acknowledging the contributions of immigrants to society, and often being children or grandchildren of immigrants themselves, many Americans worry that immigration threatens the sense of national identity conveyed by shared values. Advocates for expanded immigration stress that the historical record shows that immigrants are united around core American creed beliefs. 120 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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Ask your students to outline the costs and benefits of immigration to the United States. How does immigration affect the American creed and American political culture?

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As part of their answers, ask your students to consider how immigration has changed in the United States over time. If they oppose expanding immigration today, would they have held the same position 100 years ago? Why or why not?

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Finally, ask your students to consider the extent to which immigrants themselves accept the values of American political culture.

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As an alternative assignment, consider asking your students to visit the Pew Research Center (go to www.pewresearch.org and click on “Topics” and then “Immigration”) or the General Social Survey (https://gss.norc.org/),both of which offer a rich collection of data on political attitudes toward immigration and the political perspectives of immigrants. Have them explore the data to develop answers to these questions.

This activity focuses on the relationship between demographic change and political culture. It also provides an opportunity to assist students to develop data literacy skills. (Action and Impact) RESEARCH ACTIVITY 2: Assign students to list the sections of the Declaration of Independence containing grievances against King George III that deal specifically with natural rights and limited government. Then ask them to prepare thought clouds (or Venn diagrams) detailing how, where, and why the ideas of natural rights and limited government are expressed in the Declaration of Independence. (Structure and Action) This assignment encourages students to think about how political culture was operationalized in the founding documents and how culture affects political institutions more generally. RESEARCH ACTIVITY 3: Have your students visit the Department of State website at www.state.gov. The State Department is responsible for promoting U.S. interests abroad. Ask them to find three specific ways in which the State Department’s operations reflect American political culture and the idea of American exceptionalism. 121 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

This activity gets students to think about how political culture affects policy choices in the United States and around the world. (Impact)

RESEARCH ACTIVITY 4: Have your students visit the Census Bureau’s website (www.census.gov) and research recent demographic changes in your state. The Statistical Abstract of the United States (search “statistical abstract” on the Census Bureau website) is a particularly useful website for this assignment. Then ask them to summarize the demographic shifts taking place in your state over the past decade. Either in short essays or as part of a class discussion, ask your students to reflect on how the demographic changes they note are likely to affect politics in your state in the future. This exercise requires students to use data to develop a political forecast. (Impact) RESEARCH ACTIVITY 5: Divide the students into small groups and assign each a social movement (peace, anti-Vietnam War, women’s liberation, LGBTQ rights, religious fundamentalist, antiglobalization, Tea Party, Occupy Wall Street, or Black Lives Matter). Have each group research the movement’s origins, leadership, tactics, accomplishments, and failures, including legislation and court battles. Each group should prepare a 15- to 20-minute class presentation on its research identifying the factors that encouraged the formation of the movement, the tactics used to build and advance the movement’s concerns, and the degree to which the movement brought about social change. This assignment provides students with an opportunity to think about how the key elements of American political culture have been used to advance concerns by social movements in American history. (Action and Impact) RESEARCH ACTIVITY 6: Ask your students to interview recent immigrants to the United States about what the American Dream and the American creed mean to them. Then have them pose the same question to people born in the United States. In short papers, ask them to reflect on the similarities and differences they observe. This activity gives students an opportunity to relate the key themes of this chapter to the real-world, lived experiences of ordinary Americans. (Action and Impact)

RESEARCH ACTIVITY 7: The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services provides sample questions from the naturalization exam on its website (www.uscis.gov). These questions focus on the shared political knowledge at the heart of American political culture. ▪

Have your students visit the website and review the questions on the quiz.

▪

Then ask them to reflect on how accurately they capture the most important elements of American political culture. What questions would they ask if they were to design new civics tests for potential immigrants?

▪

The USCIS also provides a resource page for teachers wishing to cover this topic in class.

This activity introduces students to the requirements for citizenship and provides a new way of thinking about the features that provide a common sense of belonging in the United States. (Structure and Action) RESEARCH ACTIVITY 8: Ask your students to visit the website of a U.S. political party. Have them select one of the mainstream parties, the Republican Party (www.gop.com) or the Democratic Party (www.democrats.org), or a smaller third party such as the Libertarian Party (www.lp.org), the Green Party (www.gp.org), the Communist Party of the United States (www.cpusa.org), or another political party of their choice. Then, ask them to ▪

Explore the website, focusing on how the party speaks to the shared political values held in the United States, and

▪

Write short papers in which they outline how the party uses the American creed or the shared political culture of the United States to express its platform and values.

▪

Alternatively, you could ask students to perform this research and then bring their findings back to class to inform class discussion on the topic.

This assignment helps students understand the distinction between political culture and political ideology. (Structure and Action)

RESEARCH ACTIVITY 9: Have students listen to a Tucker Carlson or Sean Hannity broadcast on Fox and indicate three views presented that are at odds with liberal beliefs. Then have them watch a Rachel Maddow or Lawrence O’Donnell broadcast on MSNBC and indicate three views at odds with conservative beliefs. 123 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

This assignment helps students understand different points of view in the media and any potential issues with bias in reporting. (Action)

Participation Activities PARTICIPATION ACTIVITY 1: Have each student ask, without explanation, 10 people (including at least three instructors), if they are liberal, middle-of-the-road, or conservative. Ask them to present and tabulate their findings and write short responses in which they consider ▪

How the distribution of their data compares to the figures presented in this chapter.

▪

What their data suggest about the nature of social networks in the United States.

This activity gives students the opportunity to consider regional and location variations in political ideology and will likely illustrate the self-selective nature of social networks. (Structure and Action) PARTICIPATION ACTIVITY 2: Have students select a liberal and a conservative nationally syndicated newspaper columnist. Useful starting points might include Fox News (www.foxnews.com) or the National Review Online (www.nationalreview.com) on the conservative side and MSBNC (www.msnbc.com) or National Public Radio (www.npr.org) on the liberal side. ▪

Each student should read at least one column on the same issue on the conservative side and one on the liberal side.

▪

After reading both perspectives, each student should select a newspaper and write a letter to the editor responding to one of the columns.

This activity highlights the relationship between political ideology and public policy preferences. (Structure and Action)

PARTICIPATION ACTIVITY 3: Ask your students to visit or phone the offices of one of their elected representatives outside of class. Have your students ask how that elected official’s position on a specific contemporary issue reflects their conservative or progressive philosophy.

Their results can either be presented in short essays or provide the basis for a classroom discussion. This activity highlights the connection between political philosophy and positions on specific policy issues. (Structure and Action)

Suggested Readings and Films READING 1: Alexis de Tocqueville’s classic text, Democracy in America (1835), provides the original analysis of American exceptionalism and remains an important text for understanding the unique political culture of the United States even today.

READING 2: Robert Putnam’s Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community (New York: Simon and Schuster, 2001) is arguably the most important work on American political culture since de Tocqueville’s classic text. Putnam argues that civic associations in the United States provide the “social capital” necessary for democracy to function. But, in recent years, America’s social capital has begun to decline, raising questions about the future of democracy in the United States.

READING 3: Seymour Martin Lipset is arguably the best-known analyst of political sociology. In American Exceptionalism: A Double-Edged Sword (New York: W. W. Norton and Company, 1996), he attempts to answer several questions implicit in this book, including why socialism never gained a foothold in the United States in the same way it did in many countries of Western Europe, why Americans hesitate to adopt a more aggressive version of affirmative action, and why American foreign policy often invokes a moralistic or religious overtone.

READING 4: The Civil Culture: Political Attitudes and Democracy in Five Nations (New York: Sage, 1989) is a reprint of Gabriel A. Almond and Sidney Verba classic 1963 text that marked the start of the academic study of political culture. Relying on extensive comparative political data, Almond and Verba argue that political culture and social attitudes—rather than political institutions—are the key variable explaining the success of modern democracy. 125 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

READING 5: In the classic The Conscience of a Conservative (Shepardsville, Ky.: Victor Publishing, 1960), Barry Goldwater outlines his vision for American conservatism. Goldwater’s conservatism was defined by its emphasis on freedom from government and was deeply rooted in the idea of self-reliance. His vision was arguably at the heart of the Reagan revolution and came to define the politics of the Republican Party throughout much of the latter part of the twentieth century.

READING 6: In The Conscience of a Liberal (New York: W. W. Norton, 2007), Paul Krugman seeks to mobilize American progressives in the same way Goldwater galvanized conservatives with his 1960 text. Krugman contends that the success of post–World War II America was rooted in the policies of the Roosevelt administration and the broad policy of equity it facilitated.

READING 7: Robert Putnam and David E. Campbell explore how religion affects politics in the United States in American Grace: How Religion Divides and Unites Us (New York: Simon and Schuster, 2010), arguing that religious-based differences are at the heart of key political debates today.

READING 8: Well-known conservative Newt Gingrich offers his take on American exceptionalism in A Nation Like No Other: Why American Exceptionalism Matters (Washington D.C.: Regnery Press, 2011), arguing that the United States continues to represent “a city on the hill,” a model to which the rest of the world should aspire.

READING 9: A fascinating counterpoint to Newt Gingrich’s more recent book is Geoffrey Hodgson’s The Myth of American Exceptionalism (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2010). Hodgson argues that the idea of American exceptionalism presents a serious threat to U.S. foreign policy. Hodgson contends that the myth of American exceptionalism results in foreign policy that isolates the United States from the rest of the global community and undermines the ability of the United States to achieve its own foreign policy goals.

READING 10: Jason Gilmore uses a survey experiment to test the effects of American exceptionalism messages on U.S. public opinion in “American Exceptionalism in the American 126 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Mind: Presidential Discourse, National Identity, and U.S. Public Opinion,” Communication Studies 66, no. 3 (2015): 301-20.

READING 11: Although written in 1981, Joel Garreau’s classic Nine Nations of North America (New York: Houghton Mifflin) remains relevant today. Garreau provides an interesting way to explore regional divisions in the United States, focusing on nine distinctive regions, each with its own unique flavor and distinctive politics.

READING 12: In Our Divided Political Heart: The Battle for the American Idea in an Age of Discontent (New York: Bloomsbury, 2012), E. J. Dionne argues that America’s hyperindividualism poisons the political atmosphere in the United States. In short, Dionne contends that the common identity that historically united us as Americans has fractured. For him, progress in the United States depends on overcoming our current political and cultural divisions.

READING 13: In Uncivil Agreement: How Politics Became Our Identity (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2018), Lilliana Mason examines how the two major political parties in the United States have divided along racial, religious, and cultural lines. She argues that political polarization is rooted in Americans’ social identities and is growing.

READING 14: Several outstanding journals focus on political culture. Many focus on comparative politics, which has a long tradition of studying political culture in countries around the world, though you can likely find very good coverage of American political culture as well. Among the primary journals are Politics, Culture, and Socialization (www.budrichjournals.de/index.php/pcs) and the International Journal of Politics, Culture, and Society (www.springer.com/social+sciences/journal/10767).

READING 15: Helga Leitner presents an engaging examination of the impact of immigration on small towns in the American Midwest, drawing on a case study of a small town in rural Minnesota in her article “Spaces of Encounters: Immigration, Race, Class, and the Politics of 127 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Belonging in Small-Town America,” Annals of the Association of American Geographers 102, no. 4 (2012): 828–46.

READING 16: Bruce Caswell argues that political scientists have poorly understood popular culture in the United States in “Politics and American Popular Culture,” New Political Science 34, no. 2 (2012): 237–46.

READING 17: Laura R. Olson provides political scientists with a theoretical model for a more complex and accurate understanding of religion in “The Essentiality of ‘Culture’ in the Study of Religion and Politics,” Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 50, no. 4 (2011): 639–53. READING 18: Brendon Swedlow’s article “A Cultural Theory of Politics,” PS: Political Science and Politics 44, no. 4 (2011): 703–10, is the introductory piece to a special issue of the journal exploring the intersection of politics and culture.

READING 19: For articles expressing some of the best current political opinions, consult editions of the following journals, which cover the ideological spectrum from right to left, respectively: National Review, The New Republic, Commentary, The Nation, The Weekly Standard, The American Prospect, The New Yorker.

READING 20: Many websites provide conservative perspectives on contemporary politics in the United States: ▪

The Christian Coalition of America (www.cc.org)

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The Drudge Report (www.drudgereport.com)

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Real Clear Politics (www.realclearpolitics.com)

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Hot Air (http://hotair.com/)

READING 21: Similarly, many websites offer liberal perspectives on contemporary politics in the United States: ▪

▪

Vox (www.vox.com)

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MoveOn (www.moveon.org)

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Daily Kos (www.dailykos.com)

FILM 22: Many contemporary political satires can be used to illustrate the key themes raised in this chapter. Among the best known are The Daily Show, The Colbert Report (which is no longer airing new episodes), Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, and Full Frontal with Samantha Bee, all of which offer a progressive critique of contemporary events. Saturday Night Live frequently satirizes current events. For a conservative take, try The Looking Spoon.

Revel Features Chapter Introduction CURRENT EVENTS BULLETIN Video: WATCH The American Political Landscape: The Big Picture Author video.

Geography, Natural Resources, and the Importance of Where We Are From (Structure, Action, and Impact) 4.1

Assess the role of geography, natural resources, and type of community in building a national and local identity.

Social Explorer: FIGURE 4.1 STATE POPULATION CHANGES AND THE COMING 2022 REAPPORTIONMENT Journal Prompt: FIGURE 4.1 Name at least two ways in which the likely reapportionment of congressional seats following the 2020 census will impact your life. Video: WATCH Trump Slams Massive Federal Land Grab and Calls for Review of National Monuments ABC video. 129 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Video: WATCH Where We Are From Matters Read: HAPPENING NOW Summary of the siege on the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021 and the aftermath of the event. Journal Prompt 4.1 From current news stories, identify and describe two examples of issues where a regional or urban/rural/suburban difference is important and describe why it is important. QUIZ 4.1: Geography, Natural Resources, and the Importance of Where We Are From (Structure, Action, and Impact)

Who We Are (Structure, Action, and Impact) 4.2

Analyze how such social and demographic factors as race and ethnicity, religion, gender, family structures, education, and age affect American politics.

Sketchnote Video: WATCH Reinforcing and Cross-Cutting Cleavages Video: WATCH Who Should Be Allowed to Call Themselves “American”? Social Explorer: FIGURE 4.2 The 2-to-1 Ratio Video: WATCH Highlights from Donald Trump’s Super Tuesday Speech ABC video. Video: WATCH Trump Tweets Illegal Immigration Crackdown Is “Keeping a Campaign Promise” ABC video. Social Explorer: FIGURE 4.3 RELIGIOUS GROUPS IN THE UNITED STATES Pie chart. Document: READ The Nineteenth Amendment Social Explorer: FIGURE 4.4 GENDER AND THE VOTE FOR PRESIDENT, 2020 Bar graph.

Social Explorer: FIGURE 4.6 PERCENTAGE OF POPULATION OVER THE AGE OF 65, 1900-2060 Video: WATCH Age and Voting Behavior Journal Prompt 4.2 Do you hold similar political views to other people of your ethnicity? Why or why not? QUIZ 4.2: Who We Are (Structure, Action, and Impact)

How Much We Own (Structure, Action, and Impact) 4.3

Describe the importance of income, wealth, occupation, and social class in American politics.

Document: READ This Excerpt from The Federalist, No. 10 Video: WATCH Economic Realities in America: By the Numbers Social Explorer: FIGURE 4.7 THE DECLINE OF THE MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY Journal Prompt 4.3 Why are differences in income and wealth important in American politics? QUIZ 4.3: How Much We Own (Structure, Action, and Impact) SHARED WRITING PROMPT: The American Political Landscape Where do you fit into the American landscape, and how does the landscape affect your own views and political actions?

Review the Chapter Video: WATCH The American Political Landscape: So What? Author video. Flashcards: LEARN THE TERMS The American Political Landscape Flashcard set of key terms and definitions for the chapter.

CHAPTER 4 QUIZ The American Political Landscape

5 Interest Groups Chapter Overview Interest groups have long been central to American politics. During the debate over ratification, James Madison discussed the role of “factions” in a democratic polis. His writings, particularly in The Federalist, No. 10, outlined a vision of a political system that checks the power of factions. Today, we generally refer to these “factions” as “interest groups,” the topic of this chapter. We begin our analysis of interest groups by describing why interest groups form and how they attract members. We then describe different types of interest groups and analyze the methods interest groups use to influence politics. Next, we evaluate the factors that affect the relative success of interest groups. We conclude by assessing the effectiveness of regulations designed to control interest groups. By the end of the chapter, students should have a good understanding of the nature and role of interest groups in the United States.

Lecture Suggestions The Reasons Interest Groups Endure and the “Mischiefs of Faction” They Produce (Structure) 5.1

Describe why interest groups form and how they attract members.

LECTURE 1: Interest groups can have a positive and a negative impact on American society. It is important to support organized action but also to understand that sometimes the desires of an interest group may not be in the best interest of the public. ▪

Discuss the undemocratic nature of interest groups. 

The organizations themselves are often undemocratic. They are, for example, unelected and typically comprise members from the middle class.



Not all interest groups are able to exercise the same degree of influence or have the same kind of access. Indeed, groups with stronger membership and more money are frequently more effective in accomplishing their goals than those without.



In promoting their own interests, interest groups also promote the public interest.

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Yet, at the same time, interest groups play a central role in American democracy. 

Pluralist politics depends on the competition between interest groups. This is a key organizing principle of American democracy.



Interest groups provide effective s for individuals to interact with the government and act as checks on the power of the government.

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Many of the most important achievements in American history, such as the expansion of the franchise, the establishment of protections for workers and the environment, and the enactment of government programs like Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, are all the results of pressure brought by interest groups.

LECTURE 2: In The Federalist, No. 10, James Madison addresses the topic of special interests in describing what he calls “factions.” ▪

Madison argues that the design of our republic would not eliminate factions but would limit the influence they might have. Madison could not have foreseen what would happen with interest groups over time.

▪

First is the tremendous expansion of society that contributed to the explosion of groups. Second is the prevalence of logrolling. Logrolling among interests is facilitated by a third development, the rise of professional politicians who, in seeking reelection, broker the group deals in return for the electoral support that interest groups provide. To analyze this, we first must understand exactly what Madison was arguing in The Federalist, No. 10. 

Factions. Madison begins this essay stating, “Among the numerous advantages promised by a well-constructed Union, none deserves to be more accurately developed than its tendency to break and control the violence of faction.” In the first portion of the essay, Madison discusses the desirability and possibility of removing the causes of faction. He rejects that possibility, stating that factions are sown in the nature of man. Madison concludes, “The inference to which we are brought is that the causes of faction cannot be removed and that relief is only to be sought in the means of controlling its effects.”



Controlling Factions. How, then, does a government control the effects of faction? If a faction is composed of a numerical minority, then, in a democracy (Madison uses the word “republic”), it is controlled, since it will be outvoted by the majority. The real problem is majority faction. Part of the cure comes in Madison’s second usage of the word “republic.” Earlier in the essay, Madison used the word “republic” as synonymous with “majority rule.” Now, he defines it as a representative democracy. It helps cure the mischief of faction because it allows for a large republic.



Advantages of a Republic. A republic provides two advantages over a pure (direct) democracy. First, the people themselves do not make decisions. Instead they decide who will make the decisions in elections. Second, a republic can cover a larger area. One effect of this difference is to “refine and enlarge” the public’s views by “passing them through a chosen body of citizens whose wisdom by best discern” the true interests of the citizens. Here Madison is first concerned with a problem experienced in pure democracies: folly. By folly, he means that strict majority-rule democracies often make bad decisions. As stated in another Federalist Paper, citizens may intend good, but they don’t always make decisions in their best interests.

▪

A second major argument made in The Federalist, No. 10 is that a large republic is better than a small republic. Here is the argument from Publius’s perspective. It is probably the most important component behind the Framer’s design of the Constitution. Some would say it is Madison’s major contribution to American political thought, calling it pluralism. 

The Large Republic Argument. Having argued that a republic is better than a pure (direct) democracy, Madison now argues that a large republic is better than a small republic. It is at this point in his argument that Madison is credited with endorsing pluralism. Why is a large republic better than a small republic? Madison asserts that no matter how large or how many people there are in a country, the number in the legislature is not going to vary that much. This is important because it means that a large republic will not have that many more legislators than a small republic. The importance of this point is that legislators in a large republic will represent more people (and, hence, usually larger geographical areas). This will result in a higher caliber of individuals getting elected to the legislature. Remember, Madison had already argued that a republic is better than a pure democracy because, in a republic, legislators will be wiser and thus can refine the public’s wishes.



Prevalence of Logrolling. The authors of the text, quoting the research of others, write, “Rather than check and balance each other, interest groups often cooperate. . . .” The first thing to note about this quote is that it refers to checks and balances in a manner that is inaccurate. When the Framers discussed this concept, they did so by referring to what would go on in the three branches of the national government. They did not see how that could keep interest groups—on the outside of government—from forming alliances. If, however, the point is that the deals made by interest groups are then carried out in the government, what would Madison say about that? Madison would say, “Well done!” Making deals is exactly what he had in mind in designing the large republic. If the voters don’t like the deals, they can elect new officials. Of course, the voters can also hope the president will veto bad deals, or the Supreme Court will find them unconstitutional. In the end, since it is a democracy—albeit a representative democracy—the voters have the final say.



Rise of Professional Politicians. This point ties in with the debate in recent years over term limits. The authors, in quoting the study, argue that politicians are controlled by interest groups, which then ensure they will get elected. The problem with this argument is the one mentioned above. Voters can always refuse to reelect politicians that seem to be more concerned with brokering the interests of major groups than with making decisions that are good for the most constituents. Of course, there is no proof that brokering interests is always bad. Again, that is what Madison wanted the Congress to do: broker the multiplicity of interests in the large republic.



Madison’s Failure. Did Madison not foresee modern developments, or did he underestimate them? Madison did not foresee the technological advancements that changed entirely how campaigns for national office are conducted. How could he? He did not foresee that mass media—particularly television—would reduce the large republic to a technologically small republic. Politicians, with the aid of television, can enter into the public’s living rooms. There, the politician introduces him- or herself (with the assistance of consultants who dictate everything from what to say to how to dress and comb his or her hair), 136 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

his or her family, and perhaps even the family dog. Having overcome one of the large republic arguments with the assistance of television, the burden became greater on the voter. This is because voters do not get to know politicians on a personal basis, but rather for something they achieved. Voters, then, might start judging candidates for office by how they look or what their families look like. Madison didn’t foresee this. 

Alexis de Tocqueville. And then there is Alexis de Tocqueville. The young French aristocrat visited the United States in the 1830s to study its prison system. On returning to France, his book Democracy in America explained the workings of American democracy in detail to an inquisitive Europe. He discussed the workings of democracy in America and its potential in a world undergoing radical change. He, unlike Madison, praised democracy for raising the level of the average person but noted that emphasis on equality—more than liberty—presented a potential for danger. He marveled at the mere fact that people were coming together and associating, which reflected a strong democratic culture.

LECTURE 3: Outline the primary critiques of the pluralist theory of interest groups. ▪

One critique of the pluralist theory is that the system is resistant to change; it is much more difficult to change the status quo than it is to defend the status quo. Thus, there are many stopping points for policy—the apparent openness does not count for much, and multiple access points mean nothing if there are multiple stopping points as well.

▪

Another critique of pluralism is that some people fail to participate, not due to lack of interest but because of insurmountable obstacles to participation; this is not contentment with the status quo but a result of exclusion. Poor people are not represented well; they have no powerful interest group representing them.

▪

Some issues are not actually considered issues by the political elite; when poverty disappeared as an issue in the 1940s and 1950s, elected officials stopped talking about it as though there were no more poor people. Pluralism ignores these nondecisions—as American political scientist Elmer Eric Schattschneider says, 137 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

some issues are “organized out.” If some issues are not heard, then the goodness of the pluralist model breaks down. ▪

Disturbance theory states that when social, political, and economic relationships change, individuals form groups in response. But the problem is that groups do not always form when there is a disturbance—the formation of groups faces the collective action problem. The free rider problem is a barrier to collective action because people can reap the benefits of group efforts without participating.

LECTURE 4: The economist Mancur Olson describes three key barriers facing people who share concerns and want to create formal problem-resolving organizations: ▪

Free riding is more likely to occur with groups that provide public goods or collective goods—things of value that cannot be given to one group exclusively but instead benefit society as a whole. A person will join a group when the benefits outweigh the costs, but if you can reap the benefits without incurring any costs, why join? Organized groups must be conscious of the free-rider problem so that they can provide other benefits to get members to join.

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Less affluent people frequently need to spend their time and energy earning money, including holding second jobs, and they simply cannot volunteer or make large contributions to groups they may support.

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Finally, the absence of a sense that one person can make a difference (political efficacy) is the third barrier to interest group formation identified by Olson.

LECTURE 5: Despite the barriers to association and the problem of free riding identified by economist Mancur Olson, groups attempt to mobilize individuals in support of their efforts. Identify and explain the mechanisms used by interest groups to make membership and participation more attractive. ▪

Selective benefits are benefits that only group members receive, even if the collective good for which they strive remains available to everyone.

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Material benefits are tangible benefits that have value, such as magazines, discounts, and paraphernalia such as tee shirts and plaques.

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Solidary benefits are primarily social, focusing on providing activities and a sense of belonging—meetings, dinners, dances, and other such social activities.

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Purposive benefits of group membership are “the intangible rewards that derive from the sense of satisfaction of having contributed to the attainment of a worthwhile cause.”

Types of Interest Groups (Action) 5.2

Describe different types of interest groups.

LECTURE 1: Differentiate between the primary types of interest groups. ▪

Economic groups include trade associations, labor unions, and professional associations. Trade associations are organized commercial groups, ranging from industrial corporations to agricultural producers. 

Many corporations form their own interest groups, hire lobbyists (professionals who try to influence governmental officials), create political action committees (PACs) to raise and spend money to influence electoral outcomes, and use other techniques to bring their needs to the attention of government and the general public.



Labor unions are groups of workers who have joined together to negotiate collectively with employers and to inform the government and the public of their needs.

▪

Professional associations represent people—who are generally well paid and highly educated—in a specific profession.

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Public interest groups are defined as groups that form in the pursuit of “a collective good, the achievement of which will not selectively and materially benefit the membership or activists of the organization.”

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Think tanks conduct research and often engage in advocacy on issues of public interest, often with a strong ideological viewpoint.

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State- and local-level governmental units form interest groups that petition the federal authorities for help and to otherwise voice their concerns.

LECTURE 2: The blossoming of business and special interest PACs since 1974 is worthy of examination in depth. Begin by outlining provisions of the Federal Election Campaign Law of 1974, followed by a review of court interpretations that have legalized corporation PACs financed through direct solicitation of stockholders and employees. ▪

Unions previously had a virtual monopoly on this type of politics. But, over the past two decades, millions of dollars have flowed into campaigns from these new sources, especially business and trade association PACs.

▪

In 1974, there were 608 PACs, one-third of them labor based. In 1990, there were 4,172 and less than one-tenth were labor based. In 2016, PACs numbered just under 4,000 and spent nearly $473 million on federal elections.

▪

House members typically draw upon PAC contributions for 40 percent of their campaign cash. Senate campaigns are more expensive, and PAC contributions constitute a smaller share of spending (around 20 percent). PAC contributions are concentrated on incumbents, especially members of certain powerful committees dealing with such issues as taxation, clean air, and health.

▪

As Philip Stern titled his book on PACs, Congress is “The best that money can buy.” Some skeptics argue that the impact of PAC money is exaggerated and that the very number of PACs reduces the impact of any one individual PAC. That is, the PACs balance each other out, in proper Madisonian fashion.

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Round off the lecture with an evaluation of the effect of the 2002 Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act on PACs. Today, most lawmakers in Washington have formed leadership PACs. For data on PACs (and on many other items of American electoral politics), see Vital Statistics on American Politics (https://www.brookings.edu/multi-chapter-report/vital-statistics-on-congress/). The Open Secrets PAC website (go to www.opensecrets.org and click on “Political Action Committees”) also offers extensive information. 140 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

LECTURE 3: Organized interest groups channel their campaign contributions through political action committees (PACs) and Super PACs. ▪

Most PACs use their campaign contributions to acquire access and influence with decision makers.

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The pattern of campaign contributions by major industries corresponds closely with the pattern of congressional voting on many key issues.

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Business, trade, and professional PACs usually split their contributions to ensure access to both Democrats and Republicans.

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The role of PACs in elections has declined in recent election cycles. In the 2014 midterms, PAC contributions comprised 15.8 percent of election spending. In 2018, PAC contributions dropped to 11.2 percent of election spending.

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Super PACs have grown significantly as an avenue for organized interests to influence elections. In the 2016 election, Super PACs spent over $1 billion. In 2018, they spent over $822 million to influence the midterm elections.

LECTURE 4: Differentiate between the Republican and Democratic approaches to political action committees. ▪

Point out that Democrats are loath to restrict PACs, the one area of fund-raising where they surpass Republicans.

▪

In addition, note that many Democrats were loath to ban soft money, given the fact that they had raised nearly as much as Republicans had in the 2000 elections and have matched or exceeded Republicans in more recent elections.

▪

As a result of these differences, Democrats generally oppose restrictions on PACs, while Republicans generally support them.

Characteristics and Power of Interest Groups (Action) 5.3

Analyze the methods and activities that interest groups use to influence political outcomes.

LECTURE 1: Identify and describe the iron triangle and the revolving door and how it shapes and reinforces the iron triangle. ▪

Iron triangles are stable relationships among interest groups, congressional committees, and administrative agencies functioning in the same policy area.

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The term revolving door is often used to criticize people who move from a government post (where they acquired experience, knowledge, and personal contacts) to a job in the private sector as a consultant, lobbyist, or salesperson.

LECTURE 2: The iron triangle approach provides a convenient way to look at the interrelationship among interest groups, executive agencies, and congressional committees. ▪

Draw a pictorial representation of an iron triangle. As an example, veterans’ interest groups (the first point on the triangle) work closely with both the Department of Veterans Affairs (an executive agency, and the second point on the triangle) and the House Veterans Affairs Committee (the third point on the triangle). The iron triangle thus connects the legislative branch to the executive bureaucracy and the interest group.

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In another example, congressional defense committees in the House and Senate provide one side of the triangle, the U.S. Defense Department the second, and defense contractors the third. This iron triangle is often referred to as the Military Industrial Complex.

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Working together, the three often come to identify and understand problems in similar ways. In doing so, their interests come to overlap, and the traditional idea of checks and balances between the legislative and executive branches breaks down.

LECTURE 3: Differentiate between inside and outside lobbying. ▪

Inside lobbying refers to appeals directly to lawmakers and legislative staff either in meetings, by providing research and information, or by testifying at committee hearings. 

Because inside lobbying is a matter of personal contact with policy makers, it involves some form of direct interaction—often called gaining access— 142 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

between a lobbyist and an agency official, a member of Congress, or a member of the legislator’s staff. To be influential, a lobbyist must be seen as trustworthy and must develop relationships with individuals who have influence in the relevant policy area. 

Testifying allows an interest group to present its views in public and “on the record,” potentially raising its visibility and appealing to political actors. Although this is a more visible form of inside lobbying than privately meeting with a policy maker in an office or a restaurant, it is often considered window dressing. Most people who follow politics seriously feel it is not an effective tactic.



Organizations spend a great deal of money to lobby the federal government, prompting Congress to pass the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995, which requires lobbyists to register with the federal government and report their activities, and bars certain types of informal lobbying activities that have been used in the past, such as giving expensive gifts, purchasing expensive meals, and paying for trips for members of Congress.

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Outside lobbying (or grassroots lobbying), also known as indirect lobbying, is the attempt to influence decision makers indirectly, by influencing the public. 

In appealing directly to the public, interest groups try to build public sentiment to pressure the officials who will actually make the decisions.



Sometimes escalating conflict surrounding the issue can be a successful means of attracting public interest, in turn forcing elected officials to get involved. Interest groups also lobby other groups and try to form alliances with them to advance common interests on a particular issue. Coalition building—bringing diverse interests together to advance a cause—is frequently successful.



There is evidence that grassroots lobbying is effective in producing real support and is an important tool for getting a group’s message to officials.

LECTURE 4: Examine the traditional tactics of grassroots, or indirect, lobbying. ▪

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Direct Mail. Information is mailed to a large number of people to advertise, market concepts, or solicit support;

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Advertising. Well-heeled interest groups advertise in major newspapers and magazines as well as on TV and the Internet to increase their visibility and improve their public image. Because such ads are frequently designed to resemble editorials, they are sometimes dubbed “advertorials.” Some interest groups sponsor television shows to influence the public.

▪ Web. Organized groups can advance their causes in many ways—from websites and e-mail campaigns to social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter, which allow people and groups to post information to stimulate interest in particular topics, raise public awareness, and influence public opinion. Interest groups use the Internet for multiple purposes, including publicity, public education, communication, volunteer recruitment, research, advocacy, service provision, and fundraising.

What Explains Interest Group Success? (Impact) 5.4

Evaluate the factors that affect the relative success of interest groups.

LECTURE 1: Explore the role of effective leadership in interest groups. ▪

When people believe in the leaders of an organization, they are more supportive of its goals and more likely to support it financially.

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Interest groups use inspirational leadership to build membership.

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Effective leaders “sell” their issues to the public by attracting media attention and membership. 

César Chávez dedicated his life to helping farm workers organize and mobilize to demand fair treatment. In 1962, he organized the National Farm Workers Association, a labor union that later merged with other organizations to form the United Farm Workers of America (UFW). 144 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.



Chávez and his union gained crucial support from middle-class consumers who boycotted grapes and lettuce harvested by nonunion labor, ultimately forcing the powerful agribusinesses to capitulate. The UFW is a good example of a group of low-income people uniting to fight large corporations. By overcoming the barriers to organizing, providing membership benefits, and having solid leadership, groups of all kinds can successfully press for change.

LECTURE 2: What makes an interest group successful? No one thing makes one political interest group more successful than another. However, the most successful interest groups share a number of key features—each of which, all things being equal, makes a group more successful than others. ▪

Access. This means, “Who do you know?” If the goal of an interest group is to affect policy making, then access to the policy maker is critical. Hence, those groups with access tend to be more successful.

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Information. As stated in this chapter, the number-one commodity for interest groups is reliable information. In fact, groups that demonstrate that they have such data can more easily gain access.

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Leadership Skills and Prestige. Some groups (the American Medical Association, for example) have greater prestige than others. Physicians are among the most respected professionals in America. Likewise, some groups have charismatic leaders (Martin Luther King Jr., for example, led the Southern Christian Leadership Conference during the civil rights movement). These traits tend to make a group more successful.

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Numerical Strength. Generally, it is accurate to say there is power in numbers. Policy makers are more inclined to listen to groups with large memberships. However, a law of diminishing returns is at work here. If a group is very large, it most likely will sacrifice another important trait for success: unity.

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Group Unity. Without unity of purpose, groups expend a great deal of energy on internal disputes with little left over for external use. Groups with fewer people tend to be more unified. 145 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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Money. While money is important and those groups with it tend to be more successful, it is not as important as the media would lead people to believe.

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Narrow Goals. Groups with narrow goals can focus their resources in a more efficient manner. The text calls them special interest groups. Groups, like Common Cause, that tackle numerous broad goals—from campaign finance to reforming Congress—often find that they are not as efficient.

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Defensive. Groups that seek to sustain the status quo tend to be more successful than groups seeking change or reform. Part of the explanation for this is the bias built into American political institutions, such as Congress, that make it easier to block the passage of a law than to pass a law.

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Nature of the Issue. Groups are interested in different issues. Some issues are general, while others are technical in nature. When issues are technical, voters are less inclined to notice or care. Hence, groups dealing with highly technical issues tend to be more successful.

LECTURE 3: In addition to money, groups use other tactics to influence public policy and electoral politics. ▪

Endorsements. Groups publicize their support for a candidate.

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Voter Mobilization. Groups dedicate themselves to increasing voter registration and turnout in competitive races.

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Voter Education. Groups disseminate materials to prospective voters.

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Volunteer work Groups provide volunteers to do the work on the campaigns.

Limiting the Mischiefs of Faction (Impact) 5.5

Assess the effectiveness of regulations designed to control interest groups.

LECTURE 1: James Madison was thinking primarily about the tyranny of majority factions when he referred to the mischief of factions in The Federalist, No. 10. We now know that the politics of faction is usually the province of narrow and privileged interests rather than 146 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

majorities. This undermines political equality, which is vital for a functioning democracy, and makes it difficult for the United States to formulate broad and coherent national policies because policies tend to be the work of agreements made between narrow factions. At the same time, the right of the people to form organizations for the purpose of petitioning the government is one of our most fundamental and cherished. ▪

Americans have been concerned about the politics of faction for a long time, and have made a number of attempts to solve some of the problems. 

Disclosure has been the principal tool of regulation, particularly with the Public Utilities Act of 1935 and the Federal Regulation of Lobbying Act of 1946.

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In 1993, the Congress passed a Clinton administration proposal requiring that lobbyists report on virtually all of their activities.

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Reformers have also tried to regulate some of the abuses of the politics of faction.

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The Ethics in Government Act (1978) prohibits ex-officials from lobbying their former agency for one year and from lobbying at all on any issue in which the official was substantially involved.

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Other efforts to alleviate some of the mischiefs of faction include attempts to control some of the campaign practices of PACs. Included in these efforts was the 2002 McCain-Feingold Bill designed to put limits on soft money.

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A lobbying reform bill was passed in 2007 aimed at reducing the anonymity of earmarks and requiring lobbyists to post Internet reports about their activities or special gifts given to members of Congress and their staffs.

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Many worry that these reforms do not get to the heart of the problem, and some political scientists suggest that we focus our efforts on strengthening the institutions of majoritarian democracy such as political parties, the presidency, and the Congress.

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Efforts to reform the interest group system may be frustrated by the inescapable fact that highly unequal resources eventually will find their way into our political life. Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln, for example, worried about the 147 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

possibilities of democracy in a society marked by great inequalities of wealth and income.

LECTURE 2: Three methods have been used to try to control the influence of interest groups: ▪

Disclosure—making sure everyone knows who is lobbying whom—has always been the main method. Requiring interest groups and advocacy groups to disclose their lobbying activities, introduces greater transparency to the system. The Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 is a good example of this. This act requires that lobbyists register and report their activities every six months.

▪

Reform efforts have also focused on trying to limit the revolving door—former government officials who go on to work as lobbyists. The 1978 Ethics in Government Act, for example, attempts to limit that practice. A 2007 update imposed a two-year time-out before retired members of Congress could lobby their former colleagues.

▪

Finally, efforts have also attempted to limit the flow of money into politics. Examples include the McCain-Feingold Act of 2002. However, the courts are generally suspicious of such efforts, and many such restrictions, including several provisions of McCain-Feingold, have been declared unconstitutional restrictions on free speech.

LECTURE 3: Interest groups engage in electoral strategy to try to get people elected who will further their interests. Perhaps the most widely discussed avenue used by interest groups centers on the power of the purse. Examine the role of money in the politics of interest groups. ▪

Political action committees (PACs) are groups that collect money from individuals and make donations to political parties and candidates on behalf of their shared interests.

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Groups can use independent expenditures wherein funds are donated to elect or defeat candidates but are not coordinated with any political campaign. Groups can also use a practice called “bundling”—collecting individual checks and presenting them to a candidate at one time.

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Groups may also form 527 groups, which are independent, nonparty groups that raise and spend money on political activities. These are tax-exempt and have no limits in law.

LECTURE 4: Measuring the real impact of interest groups can be difficult. If groups disappeared, the system would continue. ▪

The challenge is figuring out direct causes—a group engaged in lobbying and the interest may receive a vote, but the connection is very hard to prove. For example, interest groups spend money on elections, but spending increases as the competition does—so there are many groups on both sides, making it hard to parse out whether one group caused the election of a particular member.

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Another problem is that groups know which members agree with them, so they give money to those members. Are those members bought or just supported?

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One study concluded that money buys time—that is, the member will spend time on the issue—but it does not necessarily buy the desired outcome. The problem is that groups probably have the most impact when the outcomes they seek are not contested, so the impact they have is mot measurable—it can’t be seen.

LECTURE 5: The number and levels of activity of groups have grown exponentially in the past few decades. Indeed, between the 1960s and the 1990s, the United States witnessed an explosion in both the number and activity levels of interest groups. Examine the reasons for this trend with your students. ▪

As the country grew in size and began to broaden the range of political power exercised by people of different religions, ethnicities, income levels, genders, and racial makeups, differences deepened to form cleavages—social divisions that have become important in the development of various interest groups. Because many of them strive to gather supporters across social cleavages, they can serve as a unifying factor in a fragmented society.

▪

Disturbance theory states that groups form whenever other interests are perceived as threatening or the status quo is disturbed. Essentially, social change causes the

growth of interest groups. As society becomes more complex, divisions emerge, which then become the basis for new groups. ▪

As government takes on new responsibilities, interest groups arise to attempt to influence how those responsibilities are carried out. Interest groups also form as people try to get a “piece of the action”—that is, attempt to influence how government allocates resources in exercising its new responsibilities.

Class Activities CLASS ACTIVITY 1: Ask students to identify the various ways in which they participate in politics. Then ask them to explain the ways in which their participation relates to the topic of interest groups and their role in U.S. politics. ▪

With appropriate probing to identify groups that they would not think of as being interest groups (auto club, churches, student government associations, their employers), this discussion item provides a good opportunity to illustrate the wide scope of interest groups in the United States and to outline the basic assumptions behind pluralism.

CLASS ACTIVITY 2: Discuss a few of Washington’s most powerful interest groups. ▪

What influence have they been able to exert on politics and decision making?

▪

What are some of the specific laws or regulations you might be able to tie to specific powerful lobbies in Washington?

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As part of the discussion, be sure that students can differentiate between interest groups and political parties.

This discussion item explores the wide scope and influence of interest groups in American politics and helps students understand the difference between political parties and interest groups. (Structure, Action, and Impact)

CLASS ACTIVITY 3: Provide a list of interest groups in the United States to your students. The Project Vote Smart website (go to https://justfacts.votesmart.org/interest-groups) provides a comprehensive list from which you may wish to select a subset. ▪

Have your students list the characteristics of “insider” and “outsider” interest groups and then ask them to classify each of the interest groups you name into one or the other category.

This activity helps students distinguish between inside and outside lobbying. (Action) CLASS ACTIVITY 4: Have the class divide into several sections. Two-thirds of the groups should be lobbyists (pro and con for a given issue), and one-third will be lobbied. This works best if you present them with issues first—for example, one set of groups would be assigned the issue of health care reform, another set of groups gun control legislation, a third set of groups would get taxes and spending cuts as part of an initiative to address the national debt. ▪

Each is then assigned a perspective. To take only the one example (gun control): group one would be a congressional committee taking up the issue, group two would be pro gun control, and group three would be anti gun control.

▪

It is most interesting if you give a scenario in which the answer is not cut and dried. 

For example, after the tragedy at Columbine High School, Congress began to deliberate about measures to keep guns out of the hands of minors. The specific legislation that the group addressed asked all gun sellers to ensure that no minors have access to weapons of any kind. The law required gun sellers to ID all purchasers and double check dates of birth with a federal databank. The NRA and other groups were adamantly opposed. Gun control advocates were for the measure. Congress had a lot of undecided members.

▪

After the simulation, have students write papers about the results.

This role-playing activity exposes students to the complexity of the lobbying process and illustrates the wide range of competing interests that attempt to influence the legislative agenda in Congress. (Action)

CLASS ACTIVITY 5: Divide the class into three to seven different “interest groups,” choosing an identity for each group that would, in all probability, be in opposition to each of the other groups. The goal is to form a coalition of the majority that will succeed in passing legislation acceptable to the majority. No further information or instruction should be given. What happens? ▪

This activity could be repeated with multiple issues to show the constantly shifting nature of coalitions. For example, you could use auto manufacturers, large commercial aircraft manufacturers, and their respective unions to consider secret ballot union elections and trade restrictions on auto imports.

This activity explores the dynamics of pluralism and the challenges associated with developing coalitions in the context of competing interests. (Action) CLASS ACTIVITY 6: Break your class into several small groups and ask each group to imagine that they have been commissioned to start a new interest group. As part of the process, ask them to: ▪

Determine what public policy issue you will advocate.

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Develop a mission statement and a plan of action.

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Identify key constituents that will assist you.

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Determine how you will collect funds.

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Identify what benefits members of the interest group may receive.

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Evaluate obstacles that your interest group will encounter and how you will strategically address them.

This activity illustrates the tactics and trade-offs interest groups face in achieving their policy goals. (Action)

CLASS ACTIVITY 7: Ask the students to prepare an impromptu debate on whether interest groups restrict individual participation rather than enhance it. ▪

Choose two teams of four students to serve as opposing sides in the debate.

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Give them 10 minutes to prepare arguments.

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Allot total debate time according to the demands of your class schedule.

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Ask the remaining students to act as judges.

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As an alternative debate topic, focus on attacks against the interest group system on the grounds that it frequently obstructs the majority from implementing its preferences in public policy. Ask the students to prepare an impromptu debate on the merits of majoritarianism.

This activity examines the relationship between individual and interest group participation in politics and raises questions about the role of interest groups in American democracy. (Impact) CLASS ACTIVITY 8: Conduct a brainstorming exercise with students to elicit examples of interest groups. Ask students to discuss and assess the influence of interest groups on their personal lives. This activity exposes students to the wide variety of interest groups and gives them an opportunity to reflect on how interest groups connect with and influence their daily lives. (Impact)

Research Activities RESEARCH ACTIVITY 1: Have students investigate two candidates for national office in a recent election. The candidates should have been competitors for the same office. For example, students could choose to examine Rick Scott and Bill Nelson, who competed against each other for the Florida seat in the U.S. Senate in the 2018 election. Or, look at the 2020 elections and one of the most hotly contested Senate races that pitted Senator Joni Ernst (R-IA) against challenger Theresa Greenfield. ▪

Ask students to find FECA data on PAC contributions available on the Internet.

▪

Then answer the following questions: 

Who contributed to each candidate? What is the typical size of contributions?



What differences do you note in the sources and level of funding for each candidate? Were there any donors who contributed to both candidates?



▪

Do these data provide any surprising findings?

This activity helps students explore the nature of campaign finance and the role of various sources of interest group funding for political campaigns. It also gets students considering the reasons for interest group donations, particularly if the same groups contributed to both candidates. (Action and Impact) RESEARCH ACTIVITY 2: Have students investigate total expenditures reported to the Federal Election Commission by the two major candidates in the last U.S. Senate race in your state and answer the following questions: ▪

How much did each candidate spend?

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What percentage of the total was PAC money? Who were the major PAC contributors?

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How much money was spent by outside groups like 503(C)4s, which increased dramatically following the Citizens United decision?

Then have them repeat this investigation for the last House race in your district and write a short summary of their findings. This activity explores the role of independent expenditures by PACs and other groups in the electoral process. (Action) RESEARCH ACTIVITY 3: Literally thousands of interest groups advocate specific policies, candidates, and issues. Ask students to ▪

Go to the Internet and search for interest groups. Identify three that interest them.

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Visit each respective site for the three. Write down their mission and other key pieces of information.

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Compare all three sites.

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Determine if they are a PAC or a 527 committee.

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Determine how they receive their funding and what they do with their funds.

This activity gives students an opportunity to reflect on the various types of interest groups and the ways in which different groups attempt to achieve their goals. (Action) RESEARCH ACTIVITY 4: Have your class watch Thank You for Smoking or Casino Jack. Then ask them to review either film, focusing on the degree to which it illustrates the themes raised in this chapter. 154 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

This activity explores Hollywood’s representation of lobbying and gets students to reflect on the degree to which it does or does not accurately capture the nature of lobbying in the United States. (Action) RESEARCH ACTIVITY 5: Ask your students to prepare reports on prominent former congresspersons who now work as lobbyists. Updated information can be found on watchdog websites like www.opensecrets.org. Based on their experiences, ask them to reflect on limits on lobbying by former members of Congress. Do they believe such limits are effective? Necessary? Why? This activity focuses on the role of and limits on members of Congress who lobby their former colleagues. (Action and Impact)

RESEARCH ACTIVITY 6: Have students use the Internet to find political cartoons dealing with the issues raised in this chapter. Sites like www.politicalcartoons.com (hosted by Slate Magazine) or Daryl Cagle’s Professional Cartoonist Index (go to www.cagle.com and click on “Cartoons”) are good places to start. Once they have found their cartoons, have them write short reactions in briefly summarizing the issue and position of the cartoon and discussing its effectiveness. This activity gives students an opportunity to explore popular attitudes toward lobbying and lobbyists as expressed in contemporary political cartoons. (Action) RESEARCH ACTIVITY 7: Have students visit Open Secrets (www.opensecrets.org) and research the source of campaign donations from political action committees to your member of Congress. Ask them to write short papers outlining their findings and evaluating the degree to which such donations influence the electoral and political process. This activity encourages students to reflect on the influence of political campaign contributions on the legislative agenda of the U.S. Congress. (Action and Impact) RESEARCH ACTIVITY 8: As a library assignment, have your class look up early news reports detailing Ralph Nader’s fight with General Motors. Ask for an assessment of how they think the public (and Congress) would react to a similar situation today, contrasted with the 155 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

original reaction. If Nader’s Unsafe at Any Speed is still available in your library, place it on reserve so that interested students can examine it. This activity illustrates the ways in which interest groups can attempt to affect the legislative agenda and public policy outside of the traditional avenue of campaign contributions. (Action) RESEARCH ACTIVITY 9: Have students pick interest groups that they perceive to be unsuccessful. Have them write short papers in which they discuss strategies to make the group more successful and then explain why. This assignment gets students to reflect on the factors that make some interest groups successful. (Action and Impact)

Participation Activities PARTICIPATION ACTIVITY 1: Have members of the class interview your member of Congress or his or her staff members about their views on interest groups and lobbyists (or invite him or her to class to discuss the issue). Have students write papers addressing the following questions: ▪

What do they say? How much access do lobbyists actually have? How much influence?

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What kinds of tactics work best with Congress?

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Has your attitude toward lobbyists changed now that you know more about the process? Why or why not?

This activity examines the influence of lobbying on Congress. (Impact) PARTICIPATION ACTIVITY 2: Have class members interview several lobbyists (or invite several lobbyists to talk to your class). ▪

Discuss how they see their job and what tactics work and which ones do not. What issues do they deal with, and what do they offer to politicians? How do they define a successful lobbyist?

▪

After talking with the professional lobbyists, what do you think about lobbying now? Does it seem less “unsavory”? Do the media do lobbyists justice in their coverage?

This activity examines the perception and daily activities of lobbyists. (Action) PARTICIPATION ACTIVITY 3: Ask your students to volunteer with interest groups of their choice. ▪

Ask students to keep journals or to write short papers reflecting on their experiences as a campaign volunteers and how that experience illustrates (or perhaps does not illustrate) the theoretical material discussed in this chapter.

This activity provides students the opportunity to apply their studies to the real-world activities of interest groups. (Action)

Suggested Readings and Films READING 1: The leading textbook on the subject of interest groups in American politics is Jeffrey M. Berry and Clyde Wilcox’s The Interest Group Society, 6th ed. (New York: Longman, 2018). It provides deep insights from political journalists and scholars of political science. READING 2: The “how-to” of lobbying generates considerable interest. Not surprisingly, numerous books outline tactics employed by lobbyists. Some examples are ▪

Bertram J. Levine, The Art of Lobbying: Building Trust and Selling Policy (Washington, D.C.: CQ Press, 2008).

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Patricia J. Libby, The Lobbying Strategy Handbook: 10 Steps to Advancing Any Cause Effectively (New York: Sage, 2008).

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Deanna Gelak, Lobbying and Advocacy: Winning Strategies, Resources, Recommendations, Ethics and Ongoing Compliance for Lobbyists and Washington Advocates: The Best of Everything Lobbying and Washington Advocacy (Alexandria, Va.: The Capitol, 2008).

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Stephanie Vance, The Influence Game: 50 Insider Tactics from the Washington D.C. Lobbying World that Will Get You to Yes (New York: Wiley, 2012) 157 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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Donald E. DeKieffer, The Citizen’s Guide to Lobbying Congress (Chicago: Chicago Review Press, 2007).

READING 3: Roger H. Davidson, Walter J. Oleszek, and Frances E. Lee present a comprehensive analysis of Congress, including the role of organized interests in the legislative process, in Congress and Its Members, 17th ed. (Washington, D.C.: CQ Press, 2019).

READING 4: A path-breaking study of the winners and losers in the lobbying process can be found in Frank R. Baumgartner et al., Lobbying and Policy Change (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2008).

READING 5: G. William Domhoff provides a good example of the elitist theory of interest groups in Who Rules America? Challenges to Corporate and Class Dominance (New York: McGraw-Hill, 2010).

READING 6: Demosclerosis: The Silent Killer of American Government (New York: Random House, 1994) by Jonathan Rauch offers a good example of the hyperpluralist analysis of interest groups in American politics.

READING 7: Paul S. Herrnson, Christopher J. Deering, and Clyde Wilcox, eds. present a series of case studies examining how interest groups participate in the electoral process in Interest Groups Unleashed (Washington, D.C.: CQ Press, 2012).

READING 8: Several recent popular books focus on the role of lobbying and interest groups in American politics. These include ▪

Jacob S. Hacker and Paul Pierson, Winner-Take-All Politics: How Washington Made the Rich Richer—and Turned Its Back on the Middle Class (New York: Simon and Schuster, 2010).

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Robert G. Kaiser, So Damn Much Money: The Triumph of Lobbying and the Corrosion of American Government (New York: Vintage, 2010).

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Lawrence Lessig, Republic, Lost: How Money Corrupts Congress—and a Plan to Stop It (New York: Twelve, 2011).

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Matt Grossmann, The Not-So-Special Interests: Interest Groups, Public Representation, and American Governance (Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 2012).

READING 9: A classic text from one of the leading figures in political science is Robert A. Dahl’s A Preface to Democratic Theory (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1956). Dahl’s work on pluralism and democracy marks him as the leading scholar on the topic.

READING 10: Lobbying Reconsidered: Under the Influence (New York: Pearson Longman, 2009) presents a fascinating analysis of the role of lobbying in the American political system, written by experienced lobbyist Gary J. Andres.

READING 11: The Logic of Collective Action: Public Goods and the Theory of Groups (Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press, 1965) highlights the challenges of mobilizing individuals into groups. Mancur Olson’s classic analysis is central to most discussions of the free-rider dilemma and the collective action problem. READING 12: “Race and Religion in the Political Problemization of the American Muslim,” PS: Political Science and Politics 44, no. 4 (2011): 768–74, examines changing political identities among American Muslims in the post-9/11 era. Iqbal Akhtar’s analysis illustrates the challenges of understanding political identity in the context of intersecting identities.

READING 13: Lobbyists Info (www.lobbyists.info) is a professional site for Washington, D.C., lobbyists. The site includes a database of lobbying firms and organizations. The National Institute for Lobbying & Ethics (www.lobbyinginstitute.com) focuses on educating the public about the role of lobbyists in the political process.

READING 14: The Federal Election Commission (www.fec.gov) is responsible for regulating campaign financing for federal offices. 159 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

READING 15: Center for Responsive Politics’ website (www.opensecrets.org) lists campaign contributions by sector, individual, and so on to candidates for federal offices. Project Vote Smart (www.votesmart.org) provides a similar service. Its website includes information on interest group campaign contributions to and ratings for all members of Congress.

READING 16: Most major interest groups have a web presence. Examples include ▪

The AFL-CIO (www.aflcio.org) is the largest trade union organization in America. Its website offers policy statements, news, workplace issues, and labor strategies;

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The American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) is an interest and advocacy group devoted to the interests of those over 50 (www.aarp.org).

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The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) offers information on the entire Bill of Rights including racial profiling, women’s rights, privacy issues, prisons, drugs, and so on. Its site includes links to other sites dealing with the same issues (www.aclu.org).

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Common Cause (www.commoncause.org), founded by Ralph Nader, was one of the first public interest groups. It promotes responsible government.

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The Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund (MALDEF) (www.maldef.org) campaigns for the equal rights of Mexican Americans and Latinos in the United States.

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The Native American Rights Fund (NARF) (www.narf.org) advocates for the rights of Native Americans.

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The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) (www.naacp.org) was a central player in the struggle for civil rights in the United States, a campaign it continues today.

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The National Association of Manufacturers (www.nam.org) is a business association.

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The National Organization for Women (NOW) (www.now.org) campaigns for equal rights for women, including military, economic equity, and reproductive rights. 160 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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The National Rifle Association (NRA) (www.nra.org) offers information on gun ownership, gun laws, and coverage of legislation on associated issues.

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People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) (www.peta.org) campaigns for animal rights.

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The Public Interest Research Group (PIRG) (www.uspirg.org) is a public interest group that promotes issues such as the environment and consumer protection.

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The Sierra Club (www.sierraclub.org) is one of the oldest and most well-known environmental groups in the United States.

FILM 17: Friends of God: The Evangelical Movement in America (Films for the Humanities and Sciences, Alexandra Pelosi, director, HBO, 2007) examines the evangelical movement and its influence on politics.

FILM 18: Thank You for Smoking (Jason Reitman, director, Fox Searchlight Entertainment, 2005) offers a satirical take on the role of big tobacco in American politics.

FILM 19: Legally Blond 2: Red, White, and Blond (Charles Herman Wurmfeld, director, MGM, 2003) is a comedy about a recent Harvard Law graduate becoming involved in animal rights advocacy.

FILM 20: Casino Jack (George Hickenlooper, director, Twentieth-Century Fox, 2010), starring Kevin Spacey, is a sordid tale of lobbyist Jack Abramoff and his greedy, felonious power plays during the glory days of the George W. Bush presidency. The film is a portrait of a man whose morals are so corrupt and ego so glorified that he truly believes he’s doing God’s work at the same time he’s swiping cash from every opportunistic situation he can wrangle.

FILM 21: Miss Sloane (John Madden, director, EuropaCorp, 2016), starring Jessica Chastain, is a political thriller about a cutthroat lobbyist who fights to pass gun control legislation, but is thwarted by a Senate ethics investigation into her personal life.

Chapter Introduction CURRENT EVENTS BULLETIN Video: WATCH Interest Groups: The Big Picture Author video.

The Reasons Interest Groups Endure and the “Mischiefs of Faction” They Produce (Structure) 5.1

Describe why interest groups form and how they attract members.

Document: READ The Federalist, No. 10 Video: WATCH Presiden Trump “Proud” to Be the First President to Address the NRA in 34 Years ABC video. Video: WATCH Bernie Sanders Mocks Idea that Wall Street Money Won’t Influence Hillary Clinton ABC video. Document: READ The First Amendment Read: HAPPENING NOW Summary of the siege on the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021 and the aftermath of the event. Journal Prompt 5.1 Do you think Madison’s vision to control the mischiefs of faction works today? Why or why not? QUIZ 5.1 The Reasons Interest Groups Endure and the “Mischiefs of Faction” They Produce (Structure)

Types of Interest Groups (Action) 5.2

Describe the different types of interest groups.

Enhanced Map: MAP Interest Groups and Think Tanks in Washington, D.C. Social Explorer: FIGURE 5.1 UNION MEMBERSHIP IN THE UNITED STATES COMPARED TO OTHER COUNTRIES Social Explorer: FIGURE 5.2 UNION MEMBERSHIP AMONG ALL WAGE AND SALARY WORKERS Sketchnote Video: WATCH Free Rider and Collective Action Problems Journal Prompt 5.2 What interest groups are currently representing your interests? Are they doing an effective job? Why or why not? QUIZ 5.2 Types of Interest Groups (Action)

Characteristics and Power of Interest Groups (Action) 5.3

Analyze the methods and activities that interest groups use to influence political outcomes.

Sketchnote Video: WATCH Issue Networks Journal Prompt 5.3 Imagine that you wanted Congress to increase financial aid to students. What methods described in this section would you utilize? QUIZ 5.3 Characteristics and Power of Interest Groups (Action)

What Explains Interest Group Success? (Impact) 5.4

Evaluate the factors that affect the relative success of interest groups.

Video: WATCH Lobbying and Special Interest Groups Social Explorer: FIGURE 5.3 TOTAL PAC CONTRIBUTIONS TO CANDIDATES FOR U.S. CONGRESS (HOUSE AND SENATE), 1975–2018 (MILLIONS OF DOLLARS) Social Explorer: FIGURE 5.4 PAC CONTRIBUTIONS TO CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDATES, 1996–2018 (MILLIONS OF DOLLARS) Journal Prompt: FIGURE 5.4 Based on the data in the graph, incumbents are clearly favored when it comes to PAC funding. What are some tactics that challengers might use to overcome their comparative lack of funding? Can you think of any examples of this from recent campaigns? Journal Prompt 5.4 What do you think are the advantages and disadvantages of allowing interest groups to use their money to influence political campaigns? QUIZ 5.4 What Explains Interest Group Success? (Impact)

Limiting the Mischiefs of Faction (Impact) 5.5

Assess the effectiveness of regulations designed to control interest groups.

Video: WATCH What Is the Emoluments Clause and Why Should I Care About It? Journal Prompt 5.5 Why is the National Rifle Association seen as a powerful interest group? QUIZ 5.5 Limiting the Mischiefs of Faction

SHARED WRITING PROMPT: Interest Groups What is your largest concern about the current state of interest groups, and what do you think should be done to address that concern?

Review the Chapter Video: WATCH Interest Groups: So What? Author video. Flashcards: LEARN THE TERMS Interest Groups Flashcard set of key terms and definitions for the chapter. CHAPTER 5 QUIZ Interest Groups

6 Political Parties Chapter Overview In his farewell address, President George Washington warned against the growing influence of political parties. From his perspective, parties represented a threat to democracy in the United States. But in spite of his caution, political parties today play a central role in American democracy. In this chapter, we analyze the role of political parties in American politics. We begin by tracing the development of political parties in the United States. Next, we identify the primary functions of political parties and their structure at the national, state, and local levels. We then evaluate the role of minor parties in the U.S. electoral system and describe the significance of party identification in America today. We conclude by assessing the reasons for the persistence of the two-party system. By the end of the chapter, students should have a good understanding of the role of political parties in American politics.

Lecture Suggestions A Brief History of American Political Parties (Structure) 6.1

Trace the development of political parties in the United States.

LECTURE 1: Explain dealignment and realignment in the United States. ▪

Dealignment describes the decline in attractiveness of the political parties to the voters, the growing reluctance of people to identify themselves with either party, and a decrease in reliance on a candidate’s party affiliation in voter choice.

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Despite the decline in partisan identification in the electorate, it is important to note that party identification is a strong influence in voter choice in elections.

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Although Democratic Party loyalty has eroded over the last 30 years, it is not clear whether or not this erosion is a classic party realignment.

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Sectionalism is evident in the strength of the Republican Party in the mountain, plains, and southern states. The Democratic Party is increasingly bicoastal.

LECTURE 2: Students often say that there is no real difference between the two major parties. Are they correct? The answer is yes and no. An engaging lecture can be developed around this question. ▪

Frank Sorauf, in Party Politics in America, divided the two major national parties into three groups: party in electorate, party in organization, and party in government. 

The party in electorate for the two major parties does not differ that much.

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The party in organization and party in government for each major party do differ. This can be clearly seen in studies of the views of delegates attending the national conventions (party in organization) and the views of those holding public office (party in government).

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Perhaps the most recognized document that distinguishes the parties from each other is the party platform, drafted every four years. 167 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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Finally, for those who believe that party platforms are made to be broken, Gerald Pomper’s study of platforms shows that what a party says it believes in matters. He examined the major party platforms from 1944 to 1976 and concluded that about two-thirds of platform pledges are carried out.

LECTURE 3: Why don’t we have a party system based on principles, with a liberal party and a conservative party, each offering the voters a real ideological choice? An engaging lecture can be developed around this question using the median voter theorem. ▪

Let’s assume that voters generally choose the party closest to their own ideological position. If the liberal party takes a strong ideological position to the left of most voters, the conservative party will move toward the center, winning more moderate votes, even while retaining its conservative supporters, who will still prefer it to the more liberal opposition party. Likewise, if the conservative party takes a strong ideological position to the right of most voters, the liberal party will move to the center and win.

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The consequence of this is that both parties must abandon strong ideological positions and move to the center, becoming moderate in the fight for the support of moderate voters.

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In practice, however, the question is more complicated. Donald Trump’s presidential campaigns tended to focus more on the mobilization of the party’s existing voters rather than capturing the median voter. In this case, Trump’s strategy diverged from the median voter theorem.

LECTURE 4: Trace the evolution of the political parties in the United States over the course of American history. ▪

Federalists and Democratic-Republicans were the first political parties. 

Alexander Hamilton, John Adams, and their supporters called themselves Federalists after their leaders’ outspoken defense of the Constitution during the ratification process.

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By the 1790s, Jefferson and Madison, as well as many Anti-Federalists who had initially opposed the ratification of the Constitution, began calling 168 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

themselves Republicans or Democratic-Republicans, terms that had become popular after the French Revolution in 1789. 

Jefferson’s Democratic-Republican Party first saw the importance of organizing voters, circulating literature, and rallying the masses to its causes.

▪

Andrew Jackson led his supporters to found a new party, the Democratic Party, to organize popular support for his 1828 presidential bid. At the same time, Jackson’s opponents formed the Whig Party, named after the British party of that name. 

The new party system that emerged from the Civil War featured a victorious Republican Party that generally represented the northern industrial economy.

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It also included a struggling Democratic Party that generally represented a southern agricultural economy.

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At the GOP (“Grand Old Party,” as the Republicans began labeling themselves) convention in 1912, party regulars rejected the unpredictable Theodore Roosevelt in favor of Taft, even though Roosevelt had won the few primary elections that had recently been initiated. 

By 1932, a majority New Deal Democratic coalition had been formed in American politics consisting of the following groups: o Working classes and union members, especially in large cities; o White ethnic groups who had previously aligned themselves with Republican machines; o Catholics and Jews; o African Americans, who ended their historic affiliation with the party of Lincoln to pursue new economic and social goals; o Poor people, who associated the New Deal with expanded welfare and Social Security programs; and o White southerners, who had provided the most loyal bloc of Democratic voters since the Civil War.

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The American political system underwent massive convulsions in the late 1960s as a result of both the civil rights revolution at home and an unpopular war in Vietnam. 169 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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Since the 1980s, the American political party system has seen a number of important changes. 

Under the leadership of Ronald Reagan, the Republican Party was able to assemble a majority coalition that dominated presidential elections in the 1980s, giving Reagan landslide victories in 1980 and 1984 and George H. W. Bush a convincing win in 1988.

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During the 1980s, Democratic leaders among governors and senators came together in the Democratic Leadership Council to create a “new” Democratic Party closer to the center of the political spectrum. The election of Bill Clinton as president represented the new Democratic Party.

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A political earthquake shook Washington in the 1994 congressional elections, when the Republicans for the first time in 40 years captured the House of Representatives, regained control of the Senate, and captured a majority of the nation’s governorships.

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More recently, the party system has continued to be in flux. 

In the 2000 presidential election, the nation was closely divided. After a month-long battle for Florida’s electoral vote, Republican George W. Bush, former Texas governor and son of the former President Bush, emerged as the winner of the Electoral College vote, 271 to 267.

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During this election, the GOP further consolidated its control over the White House, Senate, and House of Representatives.

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By 2006, the Democrats started to recover. The war in Iraq undermined the Republican Party’s hold on congressional voters in 2006.

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Barack Obama’s victory in 2008 marked a historic and decisive sweep. Obama led his party to control of the House, Senate, and White House, creating unified Democratic Party control of the federal government for the first time since 1994.

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This control, however, was short-lived. In the 2010 midterm elections, Republicans regained control of the House, and the Democratic majority in the Senate fell below the critical 60-vote filibuster-proof majority. 170 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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In the 2014 midterm elections, Republicans retained control of the House and gained a majority in the Senate, making it increasingly difficult for President Obama (re-elected in 2012) to pursue his policy agenda.

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The election of Donald Trump in 2016 led to the reversal of many Obama-era policies, including key elements of the Affordable Care Act and numerous environmental regulations. By the 2018 midterms, however, Democrats regained control of the House of Representatives and sought to push back against Trump’s policy agenda.

LECTURE 5: Early leaders feared the emergence of political parties. ▪

Early parties included the Federalists, who wanted a strong national government, and the Jeffersonians (known as Democratic-Republicans), who feared a strong national government.

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The War of 1812 temporarily ended party politics and brought about the Era of Good Feelings, which lasted from 1815 to 1824. The electoral deadlock of 1824, which many believed ended with a corrupt bargain, concluded this era.

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The corrupt bargain sparked the emergence of a new political party known as the Whigs. The Democratic Party formed out of the National Republican Party. These parties asked the average citizen to take an active role in political life. Political parties avoided the issue of slavery until the formation of the Republican Party in 1854. At the close of the Civil War, the Republican Party was identified with industrial interests in the Northeast, and the Democrats were aligned with White southerners.

▪

Politics at the turn of the twentieth century were corrupt. Muckrakers exposed this corruption and helped to push for reforms. The Great Depression of the 1930s and the growth of suburbs following World War II helped to end individual dependence on political machines. Turbulence during the 1960s was often blamed on failures of political parties. Political candidates began to distance themselves from parties. The candidate-centered era began, with candidates pushing themselves as individuals.

LECTURE 6: There have been seven major eras of party alignment, where one party became dominant. Examine three of the more recent eras with your students. ▪

The New Deal Party Era began during the Great Depression after Franklin D. Roosevelt took office. This Democratic dominance ran from 1934 to 1964. This alliance was built on the coalition of workers, Catholics, Jews, unionists, small and medium farmers, urban dwellers, White ethnics, southerners, and Black people. The idea was to expand government and create safety nets.

▪

The Dealignment Era began with the disintegration of the New Deal Party in the 1968 election. Three things brought this about: 1) the Civil Rights movement, which caused many southern White and working-class people to switch sides, 2) the acceptance of feminists, gays, and lesbians caused many religiously conservative White people to move to the Republican Party, and 3) Democratic opposition to the war in Vietnam turned away many who supported the military. This dealignment had subsided by the mid-1990s.

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The Parties at War Era began in the mid-1990s because of two developments: 1) sweeping Republican victories in the 1994 midterm elections got them control of Congress, and 2) the impeachment of President Bill Clinton. By the 2000 election a third of the voting electorate was Republican, a third Democratic, and a third Independent. The war continues as Democrats won big in 2006 and 2008, lost big in 2010, saw mixed results in 2012, and lost big again in 2014, losing control of the Senate and falling further behind in the House. In 2016, Republicans won the presidency, while in 2018, Democrats retook control of the House of Representatives. There has been very little stability in party control of Congress or the presidency.

What Parties Do for Democracy (Action) 6.2

LECTURE 1: Political scientists in the 1950s developed a theory to help define political parties to a greater extent. This theory is known as the tripartite view of parties. This view states that parties have three interrelated elements: party-in-government (PIG), party-in-the-electorate (PIE), and party organization (PO). ▪

Politicians elected under the same political banner fall under the group of partyin-government. Politicians are further divided by the branch of government in which they serve. Most elected officials will vote with their parties. This has created an increasingly polarized Congress, which some fear will make moderate policies harder to achieve, while others believe this simply gives voters an easier choice on election day.

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Average citizens become part of the party-in-the-electorate when they declare allegiance to a political party. Straight ticket voters are those who always vote for the same party. Split ticket or swing voters change their allegiances from election to election. Still others claim no allegiance and are considered Independents. Some people measure PIE by those who are officially registered in a specific party and take part in primaries or party activities.

▪

The party organization encompasses national and state party officials and workers, committee members, convention delegates, and others active in the party.

LECTURE 2: Functions of political parties are split into two types: overt (visible and measurable) and latent (functions we hope that they will provide). ▪

Parties organize the election process by selecting nominees and helping the public to make informed decisions.

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Parties also often recruit, screen, and help potential candidates.

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Political parties seek to raise public engagement and educate the public about their candidates.

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Finally, they help to bring organization to a complex government, ensure the accountability of its members, and hold social functions.

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Instead of hierarchical organizations run from the top down, American parties are a loose organization of smaller parties, campaign committees, candidates, and officeholders moving in the same general direction. Many times their goals are similar, but the way to get there is different; other times the journey is the same, but the ultimate goals are different.

▪

How do you become a member of an American political party? You normally do not pay dues and get a membership card, but you can do that. Most people just vote for that party more often than not. In some cases, all you do is vote in that party’s primary. For most people, it is identifying with one party over another.

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Since American parties are candidate oriented, the national parties have very little power. They do NOT control candidate nomination or the flow of money to candidates. (Both are crucial for control.)

LECTURE 4: Examine some of the formal structures of parties as political institutions. ▪

National Party Structure. The Democratic and Republican national party conventions possess formal authority over the parties.

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State Party Organizations. State party organizations consist of state committees, state chairs who head the committees, and a staff working at the state capital.

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Legislative Party Structures. The parties organize the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, and they organize most state legislatures as well.

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County Committees. The nation’s 3,000 Republican and 3,000 Democratic county chairs probably constitute the most important building blocks of party organization in the nation.

LECTURE 5: Compared to other Western democracies, the United States has less public funding for parties and candidates. Consequently, parties engage in considerable fund-raising to support their efforts. ▪

Parties are permitted to make contributions to individual candidates.

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Parties can also spend limited amounts in “coordinated expenditures.”

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Parties can spend unlimited funds for or against candidates as long as the spending takes place independent of a particular candidate. 174 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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In recent elections, parties have generally chosen to focus their spending in the most competitive elections.

The Role of Minor Parties (Action) 6.3

Evaluate the role of minor parties in the U.S. electoral system.

LECTURE 1: In the United States, third parties often have difficulty gaining traction with the electorate. Only one minor party has become a major party: the Republicans in 1856. Six have been able to win more than 10 percent of the popular vote, and seven have actually won single states, or more, in our presidential elections. Differentiate with your students the four types of minor parties: ▪

Protest parties usually grow out of social movements to put up candidates of their own to contest current policies.

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Ideological parties organize around those with strong philosophical foundations, like Socialists or the Greens.

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Single-issue parties are concerned about one particular issue, and they are willing to run candidates for office based on that issue. This is usually the most common form of most minor parties, but also the easiest to disperse by simply addressing their issue.

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Splinter parties come about when a major party creates an offshoot based on an argument about policy.

LECTURE 2: Explain why, even though they may not secure political power or elected office, minor parties have an impact on American politics. ▪

Minor parties do serve a purpose. Many times they articulate new ideas for everyone to consider. Ross Perot’s campaign brought up the problem of deficits and debt, so his candidacy helped bring about the surpluses of 1999 and 2000.

▪

Minor parties can also change the outcome of presidential elections by drawing votes away from the candidate who could have won without the minor party challenger. Perot did it in 1992 and 1996. Nader did it in 2000.

LECTURE 3: Though many political scientists claim minor parties are needed to serve as a check and balance on the two-party system, their failures at the ballot box have multiple causes. Besides the historical dualism and political culture, which advance the two-party system, institutional barriers play a significant role in hindering the success of these political vehicles at the local, state, and federal levels. They are as follows: ▪

Ballot access requirements

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Federal financing of campaigns

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Single-member, winner-take-all electoral districts

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Biased media coverage

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Issue co-optation

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The Electoral College

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Here is a good opportunity to discuss Perot’s 1992 and 1996 campaigns, as well as Ralph Nader’s 2000/2004 Green Party/Independent presidential pursuits. Maybe George Wallace was right when he called the Republican and Democratic parties “Tweedledee and Tweedledum.” Regardless, third parties raise issues and offer voters an additional selection at the ballot box—if they are fortunate enough to get on the ballot!

Parties in the Electorate (Impact) 6.4

Describe the significance of party identification in America today.

LECTURE 1: Differentiate between the profiles of the strongest Democratic and Republican Party supporters. ▪

Strongest Republican supporters are White, conservatives, Christians, businesspeople, people in rural areas, and those with high incomes.

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Strongest Democrat supporters are African American, Jewish, non-Cuban Hispanics, secular people, those with graduate education, union households, and those with lower incomes. 176 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

LECTURE 2: Contrast the political ideologies of the Republican and Democratic Parties. ▪

Political ideology is a coherently organized set of beliefs about the fundamental nature of a good society and the role government ought to play in achieving it. On the one hand, parties need to have a pure ideology for their political faithfuls; on the other hand, they need to moderate their ideology to appeal to as many moderates as possible.

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Republicans oppose abortion rights, same-sex marriage, extensive regulations on business, higher taxes, and generous social programs. Democrats are in favor of all these things.

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The basic philosophies of each party are becoming much clearer to most Americans. Republicans oppose active government and prefer a more reactive government. Democrats would like a proactive government.

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We find that party platforms and party activists are very much married to the core beliefs and ideologies of their parties. Significant division exists within both parties. 

Liberal. This political position, combining both economic and social dimensions, holds that the federal government has a substantial role to play in economic regulation, social welfare, and overcoming racial inequality; that abortion and stem-cell research should be legal; and the civil rights of gays and racial minorities should be protected.

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Conservative. This political position, combining both economic and social dimensions, holds that the federal government ought to play a very small role in economic regulation, social welfare, and overcoming racial inequality; that abortion should be illegal; and that family values and law and order should guide public policies.

The Persistence of Political Parties (Impact) 6.5

Assess the reasons for the persistence of the two-party system.

LECTURE 1: Review the factors that contribute to the stability of the two-party system in the United States. ▪

The electoral rules of the United States make it easier for the two parties to stay in control. Unlike other nations, the United States does not have proportional representation.

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The United States does not delegate power to everyone based on the popular vote. In the United States, all the power goes to the majority, or plural, winner. Whoever gets the most votes gets all the power. This is sometimes referred to as the “first past the post” system. Basically, this type of system restricts minor parties from participating as much.

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Ballot access rules also vary across states, with some states limiting ballot access to smaller parties.

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The federal government provides financial support for political parties that receive at least 5 percent of the national vote. However, because smaller parties often struggle to meet the 5 percent threshold for public funding, they are often ineligible to receive federal funding.

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The media also reinforces the two-party system by focusing attention on the two parties and excluding smaller parties from coverage. In presidential election years, for example, presidential debates usually involve only the candidates from the two largest parties, and those debates that include third-party candidates usually receive little media coverage.

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Cultural Consensus. The values of democracy, capitalism, free enterprise, individual liberty, religious freedom, and equality of opportunity are so widely shared that no party challenging these values has ever won much of a following.

LECTURE 2: Explain why a two-party system has dominated American politics, whereas most modern democracies have a multiparty system. Describe in some detail the difference between proportional representation and single-member, simple plurality voting. Other reasons could be discussed for why the United States, unlike most other democracies, has developed and retained a two-party system. ▪

Historical Factors. American history has basically been one of duality. Two groups, for whatever reasons, have dominated most of U.S. history. 

Early in the history of the republic, a major division was whether or not to declare independence (Whigs and Tories).

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The next significant issue was the writing of the Constitution. Two groups developed at the Constitutional Convention: confederationists (states rightists) and nationalists.

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Once the Constitution was written, the nation divided over ratification: Federalists (for ratification) and Anti-Federalists (against ratification).

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When the first parties developed, it was into two: Democratic-Republicans versus Federalists. Probably the most significant issue dividing the nation was slavery: North versus South.

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After the Civil War, the division was primarily between farm (rural) interests and industrial (urban) interests.

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Finally, in recent decades a major division has been that between the Frostbelt (industrial Midwest and Northeast) and the Sunbelt (South and West). Thus, most of the nation’s great issues divided the United States in two.

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Consensus. A marked difference between the United States and most other democracies is the strong agreement as to which “issues” are debatable and which are considered settled. 

For example, no serious candidate for national office in the United States seeks to debate the need to write a new Constitution. The same could basically be said for the place of public education, separation of church and state, and capitalism. These issues are considered “settled.” Although some people, and even candidates, may raise questions over such issues, they are generally not taken seriously. 179 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.



Such is not the case in many other democracies around the world. In many of these democracies, serious discussion takes place over whether or not a new constitution is needed or just what type of economic system is desired. Some have Christian parties and blend religion with politics. These issues are alive and under serious consideration in some countries.



One result of this difference is that parties in America are not “cross-cut” with a variety of significant issues. The parties agree about many significant issues. Their differences are more about the means rather than the ends. In other democracies there are differences not only over means but about the ends themselves. Thus, significantly more issues “cross-cut” each significant issue, with the resulting proliferation of groups and parties.

▪

The Media. Some see a bias in the U.S. media toward the major parties. The evening news, for example, routinely covers Democratic and Republican presidential candidates. Third-party and Independent candidates are given little, if any, coverage. Only a billionaire like Ross Perot, so the criticism goes, can make any headway into challenging the major party candidates because he is capable of purchasing expensive media time, primarily television. In their defense, the media argue that they do not cover third parties because they are not serious challengers and thus not newsworthy. Third-party candidates claim that this places them in a catch-22. They don’t get covered by the media because they are not newsworthy, but they are not newsworthy because they are not covered by the media. In any event, it is a fact that most of the news coverage goes to the Democratic and Republican candidates.

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Rules of the Game. As mentioned earlier, the authors of the text highlight the bias for the two-party system in the single-member, simple plurality rule. 

One might want to introduce Maurice Duverger and his theory connecting the number of parties with the electoral system. Duverger theorizes that countries that have the “single-member, simple plurality” system encourage a two-party system, while proportional representation encourages multiparty systems.

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Beyond this important explanation are others. In every state, the Democratic or Republican nominee for office automatically gets printed on the ballot. 180 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Third-party and Independent candidates must earn places on the ballot. This usually means collecting thousands of signatures, sometimes with strict standards as to how and where they are collected. Each state can also develop other rules that discourage third parties. They might, for example, stipulate that for a third-party vote to count, the voter must list the name of the candidate’s electors on the ballot. 

In 1968, George Wallace ran for president as an American Independent Party candidate. He claimed he spent more money on lawyer’s fees challenging state laws to get on the ballot than he did campaigning. The same held true for John Anderson in 1980. Though he was more successful than Wallace at overturning state ballot access laws, the time he spent in the courthouse severely distracted him from his grassroots effort.

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In contrast, the Ross Perot effort in 1992 overcame the various state ballot access requirements. As the most successful third-party or Independent presidential candidate since Teddy Roosevelt’s unsuccessful Bull Moose pursuit, Perot possessed the resources to establish state directors and volunteers to garner the needed signatures to get on the ballot.

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In 2000 and 2004, Ralph Nader had the same problem with fulfilling access requirements.

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Election rules are written mostly by state legislatures (with some federal laws). Democrats and Republicans dominate state legislatures and Congress. It is not surprising that the rules they write into law tend to discourage thirdparty and independent candidates. A good example of this at the national level is the 1974 Campaign Finance Reform Act. This law was the first to provide public financing for presidential candidates. It allows each presidential candidate to get $10 million (increased every four years to take inflation into account) in tax money in the prenomination phase of the campaign. Once a candidate is nominated, it provides $20 million (again, subject to inflation increase) to the nominee. In both instances, however, the law stipulates the money for the major parties only. Third parties and Independents can get public money under the law but only after the election, and only if they get at 181 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

least 5 percent of the popular vote, after which their funds would be prorated based on the major party vote. ▪

Inertia. A body in motion tends to stay in motion—so states the law of inertia. The same could be said of a two-party system. Once in place, it tends to stay in place. Why? For all of the reasons listed above and one more. Political socialization may also play a role. The fact is that parents who are Democrats tend to raise children who identify with the Democratic Party; likewise for Republicans. Since those two parties have dominated most of American history since the Civil War, they tend to perpetuate themselves.

LECTURE 3: Is a new political party needed? Begin by noting that while many of the old political patterns seem to be wearing a bit thin, the country is faced with unprecedented problems. After a recitation of the difficult problems facing the nation, you can suggest that a new political party is needed. ▪

For illustrative purposes, choose either a party of the right or of the left, or one of your own design. For example, follow the thinking of William A. Rusher, who believes that there must be a realignment of conservatives who make up a significant percentage of the American electorate. A Gallup Survey, for example, has found over the past two decades that at least half of those surveyed identify themselves as conservatives. Hence, according to Rusher, a new majority party is needed.

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Such a party would consist of a coalition of both economic and social conservatives agreeing on a range of issues from the virtues of hard work and traditional family values to the need for a strong defense and a suspicion of the United Nations. (Keep in mind Ronald Reagan’s attempt to apply this formula, Newt Gingrich’s successful strategy in the 1994 congressional elections, and George Bush’s successful reelection campaign in 2004.)

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At the other end of the political spectrum, numerous voices are calling for a more radical party, especially one with strong socialist underpinnings. These individuals bemoan the oligarchical character of corporate capitalism, the inability 182 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

of capitalism to solve pressing economic problems, and the press of the MilitaryIndustrial Complex for greater and greater expenditures for defense and a stronger military stance. ▪

You can then outline the difficulties new parties typically face, including getting on the ballot in 50 states, qualifying for federal matching funds, having to set up a party infrastructure state-by-state, and not having a national convention as a launching pad.

LECTURE 4: An increasing number of writers assert that the two-party system has seen its best days and may be quickly moving toward its demise. Use David Broder’s classic text, The Party’s Over, to outline this argument. ▪

Broder argues that our present party system does not initiate and sustain needed programs or mobilize broad support for important issues. He also notes that because our political parties are “flabby,” the American people have been looking more and more to the president for programs and leadership. Finally, Broder, like others, notes that the disintegration of the two parties can be seen in, among other things, split-ticket voting, the rise of the number of independents, and the growing trend toward the utilization of third parties.

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One could argue that the Ross Perot phenomenon of 1992 (and to a lesser extent in 1996), along with the Ralph Nader candidacy of 2000, brought out some of these points. The public wanted a strong leader, a savior, independent of existing political parties, offering strong, forceful, take-charge leadership. However, the candidacy of Ralph Nader in 2004 and 2008 attracted little interest. Other politicians were seen as craven pawns of partisanship and special interests.

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After making a strong case for the complete decomposition of political parties, you could turn the argument around and assert that parties may stage a comeback. In The Dynamics of the Party System: Alignment and Realignment of Political Parties in the United States, James L. Sundquist suggests that the erosion of parties will be checked in the short run and that a re-identification of party loyalties may likely occur. Sundquist asserts that a party system is always thrown 183 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

into disarray during periods of massive social change. When these periods pass, however, parties become more relevant and attachments to them become stronger. ▪

The success of the Republican Party in the 1994 elections, followed by the comeback election of Democrats to majorities in Congress in 2008, may be a signal of this happening. Increasing partisan polarization and the minor role played by third parties in recent presidential elections may also serve as evidence that the two major parties are, indeed, quite strong.

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In addition, the enduring value of the parties organizationally can be seen by the rise and fall, and then rise of the Perot candidacy. When the candidate folded, the movement folded; when he reentered the fray, the movement reemerged. Perot’s failure to establish a stable organization that recruited candidates for other offices caused the movement to flounder. A party, on the other hand, is not subject to the whims of a single individual, even if that person is the president.

Class Activities CLASS ACTIVITY 1: Ask students to discuss the short-term and long-term consequences of the polarization of the two main parties. ▪

Consider using the election maps at www.electoral-vote.com to illustrate the geographic distribution of party support in the United States. Contrast recent redblue patterns with historical patterns.

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Then ask your students to develop predictions and explain their reasoning for what the electoral map will look like 50 years from now.

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Finally, ask your students to consider the implications of polarization for the U.S. political system, particularly given the multiple veto point structure of the American political system and Madison’s emphasis on compromise in The Federalist, No. 51.

This activity helps students explore the nature of polarization in U.S. politics and illustrates the challenges posed by polarization in the legislative and policy process. (Action and Impact) 184 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

CLASS ACTIVITY 2: It is generally believed that Americans favor a divided party government over a single-party government. An engaging classroom discussion can be built around this tendency. ▪

Why do Americans favor a divided party government? What are the advantages of this type of government? What are the disadvantages?

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Is a divided party government more effective than a government with one party in charge of both the executive and legislative branches?

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How does the preference for divided government reconcile with increasing polarization in Congress?

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Consider using a segment from former President Barack Obama’s address to the 2004 Democratic National Convention, which challenges the idea of polarization. To access the address, go to www.youtube.com and search “Obama 2004 DNC.”

This activity highlights the challenges of divided government and its relationship to political polarization in the United States. (Action) CLASS ACTIVITY 3: Students often express frustration with the two-party system in the United States. Discussing third parties can therefore provide an engaging point of entry into a wide variety of topics, including electoral systems, political efficacy, and legitimacy. Consider the following questions: ▪

How does the electoral system in the United States favor the development of a two-party system? What is the role of minor parties?

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What would need to occur for a viable third party to develop in the United States?

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Would American politics be improved by inclusion of a third party? Why or why not?

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Alternatively, note how the structural “rules of the game” in American politics include single, plurality, winner-take-all district elections; encourage a two-party system; and make it almost impossible for a minor or third party to win. Have the class discuss whether proportional representation electoral rules (at least in the House of Representatives and state legislatures), which would create a multiparty system, would improve politics and democracy in the United States.

This discussion item explores the challenges faced by small parties in the United States and illustrates how the rules and structure of the American political system make it difficult for small parties to emerge. (Structure and Action) CLASS ACTIVITY 4: Ask students whether there is any difference between Republicans and Democrats. Then repeat the question, focusing on specific political issues (e.g., abortion, immigration, gun control, environment, tax policy, etc.) and which social groups identify with each party. This discussion item gives students an opportunity to explore the political platforms and demographic characteristics of the major political parties in the United States. (Action) CLASS ACTIVITY 5: Collect two political cartoons that make fun of the Republican and Democratic Parties. Explain the historical context of the cartoons and indicate whether or not the images in the cartoons are still accurate about the parties today. ▪

Alternatively, ask your students to find political cartoons dealing with parties in the United States. Then ask them to analyze and discuss the cartoons.

This activity explores the differences between the Republican and Democratic Parties and examines the evolution of the parties over time. (Action) CLASS ACTIVITY 6: Run a mock party caucus. Assign students to represent various wings of each party and have them debate which issues should be covered in the presidential platform and how they should be covered. ▪

Be sure that the more ideologically extreme wings of the party are represented, to show how the ideological composition of the primary election affects party platforms.

This activity gives students an opportunity to reflect on the dynamics of party caucuses and the role of political parties in national elections. (Action) CLASS ACTIVITY 7: Have students debate the reasons why parties have declined in popularity. In particular, have them draw comparisons between the benefits of membership in an interest group versus the benefits of membership in a political party.

This activity gives students an opportunity to reflect on the role of political parties in American democracy and to explore how that role has changed over time. (Action) CLASS ACTIVITY 8: Ask the students to prepare an impromptu debate over whether at least one house in Congress should be based on proportional representation (PR). You will need to provide an introductory lecture explaining how PR systems work. ▪

Choose two teams of four students to serve as opposing sides in the debate.

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Give them 10 minutes to prepare arguments.

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Allot total debate time according to the demands of your class schedule.

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Ask the remaining students to act as debate judges.

This activity explores the nature of alternative electoral systems (in this case, PR) and their impact on political parties. (Structure and Impact) CLASS ACTIVITY 9: Divide the class into party groups. Tell each group that they have the funds to run four ads as independent expenditures during the upcoming congressional campaign. Have them craft the four commercials and explain why they further the interests of their parties. This activity gives students an opportunity to reflect on the most pressing electoral issues and to think about how parties select priorities and address issues during the campaign season. (Action)

Research Activities RESEARCH ACTIVITY 1: Ask your students to research the electoral systems of proportional representation and ranked choice voting systems (RCV), also known as instant runoff voting (IRV). Then, have them write short papers contrasting the “first past the post” electoral system used in most of the United States with PR and RCV/IRV systems. ▪

For PR-based systems, students may look at Israel or any number of European countries. For IRV, students could explore local elections in San Francisco or Burlington, Vermont. Maine has had RCV since 2016 for statewide elections and for Congress. Outside the United States, students can also look at IRV in the Australian electoral system. 187 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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Ask students to differentiate between the electoral systems.

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Then ask them to reflect on how the electoral system shapes the relative structure and strength of political parties.

This activity illustrates the connection between the electoral system and party structure and strength. (Structure) RESEARCH ACTIVITY 2: Have students investigate the party system of Canada, trying to identify the major features of the political parties in the system in terms of the party-in-theelectorate, the party as organization, and the party-in-government. Then ask them to briefly describe what they find in comparison to the two-party system in the United States. This activity helps students differentiate between the various roles and functions of political parties. (Action) RESEARCH ACTIVITY 3: Assign students to find copies of the most recent national platforms of the two major parties and compare them on a variety of issues. Next, have them look at public opinion polls to see how the party positions correspond to those of average Americans. What did they find? Why do they think that is the case? ▪

Consider asking students to develop a crosstab on voter status between the parties, especially on whether or not voters participated in the primary election.

This activity helps students understand how party platforms are shaped, the relative influence of more ideologically driven elements of the party in constructing the party platform, and the difficulties “selling” a strong ideological platform in the general election environment. (Action) RESEARCH ACTIVITY 4: Students can create a family tree of political parties, starting with the Federalists and Democratic-Republicans, and concluding with the modern-day parties. ▪

Be sure they differentiate between the various elements of this tree, including organizational continuity, ideological position, and political coalitions.

This activity helps students explore how American political parties have evolved historically. (Action)

RESEARCH ACTIVITY 5: For a reading and writing connection, give students a research assignment to compare and contrast the roles of the parties and their platforms in the 2000 and 2004 elections and in the 1948 election of Harry S. Truman. In particular, ask students to pay special attention to how media, especially television, were used to promote party goals. Because television was still very new in 1948 and was used strategically in 1996 and 1998, the comparisons should result in starkly different images of the parties. In addition, students should see the difference between party-centered and candidate-centered campaigns. This activity highlights the role of the media and the changing nature of “personality” in party politics.

RESEARCH ACTIVITY 6: As a library project, ask students to read editorials for a period of several days following Ronald Reagan’s 1980 and 1984 elections. They should have no difficulty finding a number of articles that speculated on whether or not each was a realigning election. Ask them to write “follow-up” essays reflecting on Bill Clinton’s victories in 1992 and 1996, on George W. Bush’s wins in 2000 and 2004, or on Barack Obama’s wins in 2008 and 2012. Were the journalists correct in describing the early 1980s as a realigning period? Why or why not? This activity explores the idea of electoral realignment and requires students to analyze several historical elections to apply the concept. (Structure) RESEARCH ACTIVITY 7: Have students use the Internet to look up state party organizations in three states that have the potential to be different from one another (for example, a southern state, a New England state, and a western state). Have them compare the Democratic and Republican parties from these states on a variety of indicators, including issue positions, platforms, and organizations. Are they different? How and why? This activity illustrates the important regional differences between party organizations and platforms in the United States. RESEARCH ACTIVITY 8: Since the 2012 election, many observers have questioned whether or not the Republican Party needs to change as a result of the changing demographics of the American electorate. Specifically, they note the poor performance of Republicans with single female, African American, Latino, and urban voters makes future electoral success for the party 189 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

increasingly difficult. While the GOP had wins in 2014 (taking control of Congress) and in 2016 (with the election of Donald Trump), the 2018 midterms led to gains for Democrats. With each election, the non-Hispanic White share of the electorate has dropped, while the percentage of Hispanic voters has increased. ▪

Have students identify the most important demographic changes occurring in the United States and speculate how these demographics will likely affect electoral politics in the future. Based on these facts regarding recent elections, does the Republican Party need to change? Will future electoral success for the party be difficult or do the results of the 2016 and 2018 elections point to gains?

This activity encourages students to reflect on the changing demographics of the United States and to critically assess how those demographics affect party politics. (Impact)

Participation Activities PARTICIPATION ACTIVITY 1: Coordinate with state and/or local political party committees to have students interview party officials. If it is more convenient, you may choose to have party officials visit your classroom. Precinct-level leaders might be especially helpful because they bridge the electorate and the organization. ▪

Have students ask party leaders about their activities on the state and local levels. Students should also ask party officials about their direct and indirect involvement with their national party organizations. Potential questions include the following: 

How often do you communicate with the national party committee?

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What types of coordinated activities are most important for local party success? For national party success?

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Has the nature of the relationship between your local organization and the national party committee changed over time? If it has, how have those changes affected the local party?

This activity exposes students to the role of party officials and the relationship between local/state party organizations and the national party offices. (Structure and Action)

PARTICIPATION ACTIVITY 2: Ask your students to volunteer with political parties of their choice. ▪

Have students keep journals or write short papers reflecting on their experiences as campaign volunteers and how those experiences illustrate (or perhaps do not illustrate) the theoretical material discussed in this chapter.

This activity provides students with the opportunity to apply their studies to the realworld activities of political parties.

PARTICIPATION ACTIVITY 3: Have students examine the platforms of the Republican and Democratic Parties. These can be found at the respective party websites. The Republican Party platform can be found at www.gop.com. The Democratic Party platform can be found at www.democrats.org. Then ask your students to consider the following questions: ▪

What are the key priorities of each party? What policy positions do they espouse to reach those goals?

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You might consider permitting them to include a minor party as well. Examples might include the Green Party (www.gp.org), the Libertarian Party (www.lp.org), the America First Party (www.americafirstparty.org), and the Socialist Party (www.socialistparty-usa.net).

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Have them write letters to the editor about which party’s policies or platform are best for the United States and why.

This activity contrasts the policy platforms of the major parties and helps students develop writing skills through a short, focused writing assignment.

Suggested Readings and Films READING 1: Several recent texts examine the growing frustration expressed by Americans about the role of political parties in U.S. politics. See, for example: ▪

Mike Lofgren, The Party Is Over: How Republicans Went Crazy, Democrats Became Useless, and the Middle Class Got Shafted (New York: Viking, 2012).

Get complete Order ﬁles download link below

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Donald L. Bartlett, The Betrayal of the American Dream (New York: Public Affairs, 2012).

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Mickey Edwards, The Parties Versus the People: How to Turn Republicans and Democrats into Americans (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2012).

READING 2: John H. Aldrich traces the roots of the U.S. political party system and outlines the key functions of parties today in Why Parties? A Second Look (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2011).

READING 3: Arguably one of the most influential texts on political parties and partisanship in the United States is Marjorie R. Hershey’s Party Politics in America, 15th ed. (New York: Longman, 2012).

READING 4: The Partisan Sort: How Liberals Became Democrats and Conservatives Became Republicans (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2009) is an insightful analysis of the growing ideological divide between Democrats and Republicans by Matthew Levendusky.

READING 5: In Engines of Change: Party Factions in American Politics, 1868–2010 (New York: Oxford University Press, 2012), Daniel DiSalvo argues that party factions play a key and overlooked role in nominations, governance, and policy direction.

READING 6: In Culture War? The Myth of a Polarized America (New York: Longman, 2010), Morris P. Fiorina contends that opinion polarization in the United States is more modest than conventional wisdom suggests and that voters have become more consistently partisan due more to the candidates they have to choose between than to any increase in voters’ ideological extremism. Fiorina extends and updates this argument in Unstable Majorities: Polarization, Party Sorting, and Political Stalemate (Stanford, CA: Hoover Institution Press, 2017).

READING 7: Several interesting texts explore the historical evolution of parties in the United States through the various eras of political realignment. See, for example:

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Jessica Trounstine, Political Monopolies in American Cities: The Rise and Fall of Bosses and Reformers (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2008).

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Martin P. Wattenberg, The Decline of American Political Parties, 1952–1996 (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1998).

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Earl Black and Merle Black, The Rise of Southern Republicanism (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2002).

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David R. Mayhew, Electoral Realignments: A Critique of an American Genre (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2002).

READING 8: The journal Party Politics is the primary academic journal on the topic of parties and elections. Its focus covers both the United States and other democracies in a comparative perspective. READING 9: Elin H. Allern and Tim Bale’s “Political Parties and Interest Groups: Disentangling Complex Relationships,” Party Politics 18, no.1 (2012): 7–25, examines the evolving relationship between political parties and interest groups and provides an overview of the special issue of Party Politics dealing with the topic. READING 10: “The Study of Political Parties, 1905–2005: The View from the Journals,” American Political Science Review 100, no. 4 (2006): 613–18, is a comprehensive review and analysis of the major themes of political party research throughout the twentieth century by Howard L. Reiter.

READING 11: Ballotpedia (https://ballotpedia.org/) is a digital encyclopedia of American politics and elections. The site offers information on political candidates, ballot measures, election results, and redistricting, among many other topics.

READING 12: The two major political parties have organizations aimed at bringing young people into politics. These organizations host conferences and provide training in campaign techniques, including how to use social media: 193 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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The College Democrats: https://democrats.org/cda/

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The College Republicans: http://www.crnc.org/

READING 13: The two major parties both have extensive websites, which include membership information, platforms, and other information. ▪

The Democratic National Committee is at www.democrats.org.

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The Republican National Committee is at www.gop.com.

READING 14: Many minor political parties also maintain websites with information about the party and its platform. Examples include ▪

The America First Party: www.americafirstparty.org

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The Green Party: www.gp.org

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The Libertarian Party: www.lp.org

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The Socialist Party: www.socialistparty-usa.net

READING 15: The Cook Political Report (https://cookpolitical.com/) is a non-partisan website that provides information about elections and campaigns for the U.S. Congress, Governors, and the president. READING 16: Five-thirty-eight.com (www.fivethirtyeight.com) offers Nate Silver’s outstanding polling data and predictions for upcoming elections.

FILM 17: The Candidate (Michael Ritchie, director; Warner Bros., 1972) is about packaging a political candidate. In an expose style, it provides a dramatic portrayal of high-tech political campaigning and public manipulation. In particular, it shows how a party-centered campaign can easily turn into a candidate-centered campaign with the help of professional campaign consultants.

FILM 18: An insidiously funny dark comedy, Election (Alexander Payne, director; Paramount Pictures, 1999) starring Matthew Broderick, is far superior to the book from which it was 194 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

adapted. The battle lines are thus drawn, teacher against student, and it’s anybody’s guess who will emerge victorious. Director Alexander Payne, who cowrote the script based on Tom Perotta’s novel, re-creates with amazing fidelity the countless little cruelties, minor disappointments, and petty grievances that often make high school such an interminable ordeal.

FILM 19: Primary Colors (Mike Nichols, director; Universal Pictures, 1998) is a comedy/drama loosely based on the political career of Bill Clinton, as seen through the prism of the 1992 primaries.

FILM 20: A Third Choice (Films for the Humanities and Sciences, 1996) examines third parties in the United States, including interviews with academic experts, campaign memorabilia, and rare archival footage.

FILM 21: Third Parties in American Politics (Films for the Humanities and Sciences, 1996) explores the impact of third parties on presidential elections.

FILM 22: An Unreasonable Man (IFC Films, 2006) is a documentary about the life and career of Ralph Nader, including his run for president as the Green Party candidate in 2000.

Revel Features Chapter Introduction CURRENT EVENT BULLETIN Video: WATCH Political Parties: The Big Picture Author video.

A Brief History of American Political Parties (Structure) 6.1

Trace the development of political parties in the United States.

Document: READ The Seventeenth Amendment Document: READ The Nineteenth Amendment Sketchnote Video: WATCH Party Systems Over Time Read: HAPPENING NOW Summary of the siege on the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021 and the aftermath of the event. Journal Prompt 6.1 Do you think the 2016 election marks a realignment, with women, younger voters, and Hispanics and other minorities becoming more strongly and permanently Democrats? Why or why not? QUIZ 6.1 A Brief History of American Political Parties (Structure)

What Parties Do for Democracy (Action) 6.2

Identify the functions of political parties and their structure at the national, state, and local levels.

Video: WATCH Candidates in Iowa Target the Youth Vote AP video clip. Social Explorer: FIGURE 6.1 DIFFERENCES IN PERCEPTION OF WHAT THE PARTIES STAND FOR, 2016 Journal Prompt 6.2 How do political parties organize government? If parties were abolished, what would take their place? QUIZ 6.2 What Parties Do for Democracy (Action)

The Role of Minor Parties (Action) 6.3

Evaluate the role of minor parties in the U.S. electoral system.

Video: WATCH What’s Next for Political Parties in America? Video: WATCH When Third Parties Make a Difference Video: WATCH Why Minor Parties Fare Poorly 196 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Journal Prompt 6.3 Do you think that the United States would be better off with a system of proportional representation? Why or why not? QUIZ 6.3 The Role of Minor Parties (Action)

Parties in the Electorate (Impact) 6.4

Describe the significance of party identification in America today.

Video: WATCH Donald Trump on GOP Primary: “This is Not Democracy” ABC video. Journal Prompt: TABLE 6.2 Why do you think partisan preferences have stayed relatively steady in the past 50 years? Give two or three reasons why this might be the case. Then explore the graph to find demographic areas that relate to you or someone you know. What kinds of changes have these particular subcategories experienced over time? Accordion Table: TABLE 6.3 COMBINED PARTY IDENTIFICATION BY DECADES, 1950S–2010S Social Explorer: FIGURE 6.2 PRESIDENTIAL VOTE BY PARTY Journal Prompt 6.4 Why do you think more than three-quarters of individuals who say they are Independents with partisan leanings end up voting with the party they lean toward? What explains your partisan identification? If you are different from your parents or close friends, why do you think that is the case? QUIZ 6.4 Parties in the Electorate (Impact)

The Persistence of Political Parties (Impact) 6.5

Assess the reasons for the persistence of the two-party system.

Video: WATCH Bernie Sanders to Superdelegates: “If a Candidate Wins Your State by 40 or 50 Points, Who Are You Going to Give Your Vote to?” ABC video. Video: WATCH Donald Trump Unleashes Attack on Paul Ryan 197 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

ABC video. Journal Prompt 6.5 Why does the political party system endure? Is a system with political parties in America inevitable? QUIZ 6.5 The Persistence of Political Parties (Impact) SHARED WRITING PROMPT: Political Parties What would you do to improve the political parties? Why?

Review the Chapter Video: WATCH Political Parties: So What? Author video. Flashcards: LEARN THE TERMS Political Parties Flashcard set of key terms and definitions for the chapter. CHAPTER 6 QUIZ Political Parties

7 Public Opinion, Ideology, Participation, and Voting Chapter Overview Public opinion is defined as the collective political beliefs and attitudes of the public and groups within the public. Public opinion can be measured to provide insight into what the electorate is thinking about politics. In this chapter, we examine the nature of public opinion and voting in the United States. We begin by exploring the process and agents of political socialization. We then consider the question of measuring public opinion. Next, we explore the various political ideologies that are operational in the United States and identify the factors that influence political participation. We conclude by analyzing why people vote the way they do. By the end of the chapter, students should have a thorough understanding of the role and limits of public opinion, political participation, and voting in American politics.

Lecture Suggestions Forming Political Opinions and Values (Structure) 7.1

Explain how the agents of socialization influence the development of political attitudes.

LECTURE 1: Political socialization is the learning process by which individuals absorb information and selectively add it to their knowledge and understanding of politics and government. This process tends to be governed by two important principles: ▪

Primacy refers to the notion that what is learned first is learned best. Political socialization begins during childhood, and political learning during childhood and adolescence seems to be particularly important in the development of an individual’s core beliefs and political outlook.

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Persistence means that political lessons, values, and attitudes learned early in life tend to structure political learning later on in life.

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The most common expression of values, attitudes, and beliefs is the identification of an individual’s ideology—a consistent set of ideas about a given set of issues.

LECTURE 2: Identify and explore some of the formative political events over the past 50 years. ▪

In the 1960s and 1970s, the Vietnam War, the Watergate scandal, and economic stagnation contributed to a strong antigovernment sentiment that often cut across political divides.

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In the 1980s, the Cold War and Reagan’s anticommunist policies shaped political views.

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The 1990s were a period of steady economic growth and stability.

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The September 11, 2001, terror attacks clearly shaped political opinion and socialization in the United States.

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The economic slowdown of the 2010s likely affected political views, though perhaps in different ways than the Great Depression did in the 1930s.

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Most recently, the COVID-19 pandemic caused dramatic social and economic upheaval.

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Ask your students to identify other events that shaped political socialization in the United States.

LECTURE 3: Political socialization consists of several stages that span from early childhood to adulthood. Socialization occurs through agents of socialization and socializing events. ▪

Children learn first from their families, particularly parents—their most important socializing agents. Parents are more likely to be open about their political beliefs in front of children than are other agents (teachers, friends, etc.). If parents spend little time talking about politics, the mechanisms of political socialization do not work as well. Early time spent with family watching political programs or discussing political values helps children to develop their own political views and ideas. The most reliable area of transmission is political party—partisanship is inherited because it is easy to understand, more so than an opinion on a particular issue.

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Religion is also an important agent of political socialization. While religions are dedicated to the spiritual realm rather than the political, different religions teach different values with respect to punishment and mercy, social justice, and so on. These values play an important role in thinking about politics; Jews tend to vote Democratic, whereas Evangelical Christians tend to vote Republican. Even when churches do not endorse a particular candidate or party, the religious values they preach can inform the values of members of the congregation.

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Peer groups also influence political socialization. The friends that children most closely associate with will also have a significant impact on their development of political views, especially during adolescence. However, the salience of politics is generally low to adolescents, so the transmission is relatively limited.

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Schools can be powerful agents of socialization. Public schools actively seek to inculcate students with a respect for the law, authority, and democratic values. Children learn to appreciate the American political system and learn the rituals and symbolism. Because schools tend to be homogenous (similar kids going to school together), it is hard to parse out the educational system from the family. There is little evidence that school has a significant impact on partisan or issue attitudes.

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The media also play a role. Socialization depends on relevant information, which the media provides. What the media choose to cover, how they choose to do so, and the accessibility of coverage all matter.

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Finally, events can also socialize. 

One type of socializing event is a generational effect, when younger members of a body politic are influenced by events in a way that makes their attitudes and beliefs different from those of older generations. Many people coming of age in the 1960s and 1970s reacted to the Vietnam War, which affected their politics. Antiwar protestors tended to vote Democratic, while nonprotestors did not. Those differences often held into adulthood.

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Second, there are period effects; sometimes events exert noticeable impact across political generations and affect everyone.

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Finally, the process of getting older can affect opinion as well—this is known as the life-cycle effect.

LECTURE 4: Polling reveals differences in political attitudes that break along racial and ethnic lines. In the United States, for example, sharp differences can often be found between Black and White Americans. Significant differences can also be found between Hispanic and non-Hispanic White Americans. Explore some of these differences with your students. ▪

While Black and White Americans tend to agree on the core elements of American political culture, significant differences emerge on specific policy issues.

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African Americans tend to believe that the government should play a more important role in helping people and making the United States more equal.

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African Americans tend to be more liberal than White Americans on a number of economic issues, including affirmative action and public support for the poor, government regulation of corporations, and support for labor unions.

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At the same time, African Americans tend to be more socially conservative than other liberals. African Americans tend to be more opposed to abortion and same-sex marriage, for example, than White Americans.

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Important partisanship differences can also be seen, with African Americans breaking greater than 85 percent in favor of Democrats.

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Hispanic Americans are the fastest growing minority group in the United States. Overall, they tend to vote Democratic, with the notable exception of Cuban Americans, who tend to support the Republican Party. Hispanics tend to be more liberal in the areas of immigration rights and support for government-sponsored health care. But they tend to be more socially conservative in areas like same-sex marriage and abortion rights.

LECTURE 5: Other demographic factors also shape political attitudes. ▪

Education. Those with a formal college education, especially graduate programs, tend to be more liberal minded. Education is also the single strongest predictor of political participation.

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Gender. There is a “gender gap,” in that men tend to be more traditional and vote for Republicans, whereas women are more liberal and vote for Democrats.

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Age. Age has less of an effect, but the young tend to favor liberal issues, if they are active. Older Americans are not as set in their ways as previously believed. Newer studies show that they are much more open, which may be because they are more politically active.

7.2

Describe public opinion research and modern methods of polling.

LECTURE 1: Explain the key terminology around sampling and the polling process. ▪

Sampling refers to choosing a small group of people to participate in a survey. For survey data to be valid, care must be taken to ensure that the sample represents the population. For political polls, this mean that pollsters must balance various demographics (young vs. old, men vs. women, various ethnic groups, etc.) and ideologies (conservative vs. liberal, Republican vs. Democrat) in rough proportion to their numbers in the overall population.

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Random samples refer to samples in which every member of the population has an equal chance of being in the sample group. Random sampling is considered the gold standard in survey research. Most polling organizations rely on random sampling techniques. In cases where the random sample does not represent the total population, certain segments of the population can be “weighted” to account for the distribution.

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Sampling error emerges because no matter how good the sample, it is never an exact match for the population. Most surveys report sampling error using the margin of error.

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Nonresponse bias refers to the problems that emerge in samples when certain groups decline to participate in the poll. Depending on who declines, certain groups may be disproportionately represented.

LECTURE 2: Analyze with your students some of the challenges associated with political polling. ▪

Wording. The way in which a question is worded can have a significant influence on the responses received in the survey. 

Questions that give only one option are more likely to be answered by that option. For example, a question that asks, “Do you favor stricter gun control laws?” will receive more answers supporting gun control than the question, “Do you favor or oppose stricter gun control laws?” 204 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.



Similarly, questions that evoke the name of a popular or unpopular official will also affect results. For example, a question asking, “Do you support or oppose President X’s proposal for Medicare reform?” will likely be influenced as much by the respondent’s view of the president as by his or her opinion about Medicare reform.



Surveys that provide a close-ended list of responses (as opposed to asking respondents to formulate their own answers) may also miss some spontaneous responses that fall outside the survey’s immediate focus.

▪

Even a well-designed survey can be affected by the timing and intensity of the issue. 

Individuals may have an opinion but may not feel strongly about it. Most surveys, for example, find that Americans tend to support stricter control over the sale and ownership of firearms. But they do not feel strongly about the issue and rarely cast their ballot based on it. By contrast, individuals who oppose such restrictions more often mobilize around the question. To capture these differences, pollsters will sometimes ask if respondents strongly agree, agree, neither agree nor disagree, disagree, or strongly disagree with a particular proposal.



Timing can also matter. As events unfold, public opinion can shift.

LECTURE 3: Since students will constantly be exposed to polls, a good topic to flesh out in this chapter is polling technique and margin of error. ▪

Margin of Error. This statistical device provides a numerical calculation for how close the results of a poll are to the truth. One hears a lot about scientific sampling. A margin of error should never be applied to any poll except a scientific one.

▪

Scientific Polling. What makes a poll scientific? Almost every aspect of taking a poll can be executed scientifically or not. For example, this chapter highlights the science (or, actually, the lack thereof) of writing good questions so that the truth is revealed. A more fundamental question about polling in terms of whether or not it is scientific is how a sample is selected. From this point of view, a poll is 205 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

scientific if every person in the population is given an equal chance of being selected in the sample. By population, pollsters do not mean all people in a country, state, and so on, but that group of people about whom the pollster is trying to get information. Thus, a population could be the student body at a university. ▪

Sample Size and Margin of Error. Social scientists, relying on statistical models, have developed a model for determining when the result of a poll is believable or true. The model states that if the results from a poll would be the same in 95 cases out of 100, then the results should be considered “true.” Most pollsters, relying on this standard, use sample sizes of about 1,200 people. This means that their margin of error is about plus or minus three percentage points. So, when Gallup reports that 41 percent of Americans approve of how the president is handling the job, and the poll has a margin of error of plus or minus three, this means that almost half of Americans approve of the president. One could be confident that the president’s approval rating falls between a high of 44 percent and a low of 38 percent. Either way, however, by that measure most Americans do not approve of the president.

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Nonscientific Polling and Bias. A classic case of a poll lacking a scientific sample was the Literary Digest poll conducted during the 1936 presidential election. The Digest was a magazine that polled over two million people (compared to Gallup’s typical 1,200) and proceeded to predict that Alf Landon, the Republican nominee for president, would defeat Franklin Roosevelt, the Democratic nominee. Roosevelt defeated Landon in a landslide. Although the Digest’s sample size was one of the largest ever, it had erred in the selection of the sample. Because it polled from lists of people who had automobiles and phones, it got a biased sample dominated by well-to-do Republicans. Several caveats need to be added. 

First, in 5 cases out of 100, the results could be incorrect. That is unlikely, but possible.



Next, the results only apply to when the poll was taken. Public opinion is not always stable. On some issues such as presidential approval, it changes frequently and in a dramatic fashion. 206 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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Polling has come a long way since the Literary Digest debacle. Not only have polling organizations fine-tuned the methods of polling, more information is given to voters about how polls were conducted. Twenty-five years ago, if poll results were given on television or in a newspaper, no mention of the poll’s margin of error would have been made. Now, such reporting is routine. Still, there is one aspect of polling that gets ignored.

▪

Often poll data include not just the overall results of the poll (the number approving or disapproving of the president, for example) but also the data broken into subgroups. Remember, though, that smaller sample sizes generally lead to higher margins of error. Unfortunately, this problem is seldom highlighted when poll results are reported.

LECTURE 4: Years and years of polling show that most Americans do not care about politics. Most have no idea how politics works, or know much about its component parts. So how can our democracy function with all of this apathy and ignorance? ▪

Researchers have found that Americans do follow issues and know enough about them to make their voices heard. So even if they do not know enough about government, they do know about the issues that affect them!

▪

As such, how does polling come up with reliable answers for politicians? When a cross-section of America answers polls, the averages come forth and yield more stable and consistent results. This is called our “collective public opinion.” Even though many are apathetic, misinformed, or extremely irrational, eventually the averages will create a more logical response to the issue.

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Political ideology is a system of interrelated and coherently organized political beliefs and attitudes.

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Collective public opinion is the political attitudes of the public as a whole, expressed as averages, percentages, or other summaries of many individuals’ opinions.

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Rational public is the notion that collective public opinion is rational in the sense that it is generally stable and consistent, and that when it changes, it does so as an understandable response to events, to changing circumstances, and to new information.

LECTURE 5: Point out the fundamental questions about the role of public opinion in making public policy. How much attention should leaders pay to public opinion, given that it is often not informed opinion? ▪

Elitism argues that leaders should shape opinion, rather than being led by it. Note that most of the founders were elitists, and the structure of the American political system reflects their concerns about the excessive power of the masses in a democratic political system.

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Pluralism argues that policy based on informed public opinion adds legitimacy to a democratic system. Most Americans today are likely pluralists, believing that our political leaders should generally abide by the will of the masses.

Political Ideology and Attitudes Toward Government (Structure) 7.3

Assess the influence of political ideology on political attitudes and behaviors.

LECTURE 1: Political ideology refers to a consistent pattern of ideas or beliefs about political values and the role of government, including how it should work and how it actually does work. Differentiate between the two schools of thought that dominate American politics: liberalism and conservatism.

LECTURE 2: Introduce the concept of the political continuum to illustrate the left and right in American politics. ▪

We can classify people’s views on whether they prefer more or less government intervention, first in economic affairs (the vertical axis) and, second, in social affairs (the horizontal axis). The result is a fourfold classification scheme distinguishing types (economic and social) of liberals and conservatives.



In the top left quadrant, the emphasis is on the needs and interests of the community rather than the individual, and the state is relatively weak. Anarchism is the classic example of this perspective.

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In the top right quadrant, a strong state provides for greater social and economic equality, prioritizing the needs of the community. Communism is an extreme example of this perspective. Closer to the political center, the Democratic Party in the United States roughly follows this perspective.

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In the bottom left quadrant, the state is viewed as the single largest danger to individual liberty. The emphasis is on a small state and a free market. Examples here would include libertarianism.

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In the bottom right quadrant, a strong state promotes economic activity, but a strong emphasis is placed on the individual rather than on the community. Fascism is an extreme example of this perspective. Closer to the political center, the Republican Party in the United States roughly follows this perspective. 210 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

LECTURE 3: An ideology is a consistent and integrated system of ideas, values, and beliefs. ▪

A political ideology tells us who should get what, when, and how; that is, it tells us who ought to govern and what goals they ought to pursue.

▪

When we use ideological terms such as conservatism and liberalism, we imply reasonably integrated sets of values and beliefs. 

Modern conservatism combines a belief in free markets, limited government, and individual self-reliance in economic affairs with a belief in the value of tradition, law, and morality in social affairs. Examples of modern conservatives would include Sean Hannity, George W. Bush, and the Tea Party.

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Modern liberalism combines a belief in a strong government to provide economic security and protection for civil rights with a belief in freedom from government intervention in social conduct. Examples of modern liberals would include Rachel Maddow, Barack Obama, and MoveOn.org.

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It is important to note that neither liberals nor conservatives are really consistent in their views of the role of government in society, each differentiating between economic and social affairs.

The polarization of the United States is usually characterized as the division of the country into red and blue states, corresponding to Republican/conservative (red) and Democratic/liberal (blue). Maps displaying the results of the Electoral College are often colored this way.

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However, between 2000 and 2016, twelve states were “purple,” or battleground states, swinging between the two parties in presidential elections. In an effort to reduce the level of partisan division, in his 2004 address to the Democratic National Convention, then-Illinois state senator Barack Obama famously asserted, 211 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

“There are no red states or blue states, just the United States.” During the 2020 presential election, Joe Biden repeated this statement. ▪

Explain the idea of the culture war and arguments for and against its existence.

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Then ask the students to consider the degree to which the idea of a culture war has influenced American politics over the past decade.

LECTURE 5: Describe the landscape of American political ideology and explain how Americans come to hold the views they do. ▪

Political beliefs are relatively stable in the United States, although some generational change is evident. Most Americans share a set of fundamental values, which include freedom, individualism, majority rule, and equality. However, they often disagree on how these values should be put into practice through policy.

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Examine the fundamental values shared by most Americans, and the more specific policy views held by liberals and conservatives.

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Describe the interplay between popular culture and political beliefs.

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Political socialization, the process of acquiring information and beliefs about politics, occurs through a variety of agents of socialization: family, schools, peers and community, religious institutions, media, and exposure to national and world events.

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Political opinion can be correlated with a number of demographic factors, including socioeconomic status, education, religion, race, and gender.

Participation: Translating Opinions into Action (Action) . 7.4

Identify the factors that influence political participation.

LECTURE 1: Political participation encompasses the many activities used by citizens to influence the selection of political leaders or the policies they pursue. Americans have many avenues of political participation open to them.

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The United States has a participatory political culture, but only about 60 percent of the voting eligible population votes during presidential elections, and about 40 percent votes during the midterms. The numbers are even smaller for state and local elections.

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Political scientists generally distinguish between two broad types of participation: conventional and unconventional.

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Conventional participation includes many widely accepted modes of influencing government, such as voting, trying to persuade others, ringing doorbells for a petition, and running for office.

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Unconventional participation includes activities that are often dramatic, such as protesting, civil disobedience, and even violence.

LECTURE 2: Students usually conceptualize voting as a right and responsibility of democratic citizenship. A lecture on the paradox of voting from an economic perspective often provides an engaging (and often surprisingly fresh) way to approach this topic. ▪

The Rational Vote. From a purely “rational” perspective, an individual should vote only if the costs of voting are less than the expected value of having the preferred candidate win, multiplied by the probability that one’s own vote will be the deciding vote. From a purely economic perspective, then, it often makes little sense to vote.

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The Burden of Registration. As of 2020, 21 states allow same-day voter registration. In most other states, voters must register by a given deadline prior to Election Day (usually between 8 and 30 days). In these states, voter registration remains an obstacle to voting.

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Burdensome Voting. The contested 2000 presidential election spotlighted many of the flaws of ballots and vote counting throughout the nation.

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Help America Vote Act. Congress passed a Help America Vote Act in 2002 in reaction to the controversy surrounding the 2000 presidential election.

LECTURE 3: Popular participation in government is part of the very definition of democracy. The long history of the struggle to secure the right to vote—suffrage—reflects the democratizing of the American political system. Examine this history with your students. ▪

The founders could not agree on the wording of property qualifications for insertion into the Constitution, so they left the issue to the states, feeling safe in the knowledge that, at the time, every state had property qualifications for voting. The states themselves eliminated most property qualifications by 1840.

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Ratified in 1870, the Fifteenth Amendment established that “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.”

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Despite passage of the Fifteenth Amendment, voting rights continued to be denied, particularly to African Americans, from 1870 until 1964. There were also many “legal” methods of disenfranchisement, including literacy tests, poll taxes, and the White primary.

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The Civil Rights Act of 1964 made it unlawful for registrars to apply unequal standards in registration procedures or to reject applications.

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The Twenty-fourth Amendment to the Constitution, ratified in 1964, made poll taxes—taxes required of all voters—unconstitutional as a requirement for voting in national elections.

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Congress enacted the strong Voting Rights Act in 1965, granting the U.S. attorney general, on evidence of voter discrimination, the power to replace local registrars with federal registrars, abolishing the literacy test, and registering voters under simplified federal procedures.

LECTURE 4: While students often take for granted that the voting age is 18, it has not always been so. Indeed, efforts to extend the franchise to young Americans and to encourage them to vote are relatively recent. ▪

The Twenty-sixth Amendment, ratified in 1971, established the voting age in the United States at 18 years of age. The amendment was passed in response to

criticisms that many young Americans were being drafted to fight in Vietnam but could not vote in elections affecting that war. ▪

The National Voter Registration Act of 1993, popularly known as the “Motor Voter Act,” mandates that the states offer people the opportunity to register to vote when they apply for driver’s licenses or apply for welfare services. The intent of the law is to encourage more Americans to register to vote.

LECTURE 5: Protests, marches, and demonstrations are important forms of political participation protected by the First Amendment. ▪

Protests are generally designed to call attention to an issue and to motivate others to apply pressure on public officials.

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Civil disobedience is a form of protest that involves breaking what are perceived as “unjust” laws.

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Violence can also be a form of political participation: assassinations, rioting, burning, looting, and so on.

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Protests can be effective in achieving some goals under some conditions, but they are useless or even counterproductive in pursuit of other goals under other conditions.

Voting Choices (Action and Impact) 7.5

Analyze why people vote the way they do.

LECTURE 1: Voter turnout refers to the number of actual voters in relation to the number of people eligible to register and vote. Examine the general trends in voter turnout with your students. ▪

Voter turnout is always higher in years with a presidential election than in byelection years. National elections also tend to have higher levels of voter turnout than do state and local elections.

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Voter turnout has generally declined since 1960, even in presidential election years. The exception came in 1992, when intense interest in the contest between 215 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

George H. W. Bush and Bill Clinton—spiced by the entry of Independent Ross Perot—led to a higher-than-normal turnout. In 1996, fewer than half of voting-age Americans bothered to cast ballots. However, in 2004 and 2008, voter turnout rose to levels not seen since the 1960s. That turnout was short-lived, though: in the 2014 midterm elections, less than half the voting population turned out to cast their votes. The 2018 midterm elections and the 2020 presidential election saw historic increases in turnout, at 50 percent and nearly 65 percent, respectively. LECTURE 2: Explore the politics of voter registration and voter turnout with your students. ▪

Politics drives the debate over easing voter registration requirements.

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Democrats generally favor minimal requirements—for example, same-day registration, registration by mail, and registration at welfare and motor vehicle licensing offices.

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Republicans are often less enthusiastic about easing voting requirements, but it is politically embarrassing to appear to oppose increased participation. Typically, Republicans justify restrictions as means of preventing voter fraud, though Democrats counter that voter fraud is extremely rare.

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As of 2020, 35 states have laws requesting or requiring voters to show some sort of identification at the polls, and 6 of those states have strict photo identification requirements.

LECTURE 3: Examine the factors that drive voter turnout in the United States. ▪

The Stimulus of Competition. The more lively the competition between parties or between candidates, the greater the interest of citizens and the larger the voter turnout.

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Political Alienation. Given the level of political alienation, it is surprising that so many people vote.

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Intensity. People who feel strongly about politics and who hold strong opinions about political issues are more likely to vote than people who do not.

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Age and Turnout. Young people are less likely to vote than older people. This is one reason why the AARP has a relatively powerful lobby while college students do not.

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Party Organization. Strong party organizations can help increase turnout, as the Obama campaign demonstrated in 2008.

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Other Western democracies regularly report higher voter turnout rates than the United States. Yet in an apparent paradox, Americans seem to be more supportive of their political institutions, less alienated from their political system, and even more patriotic than citizens of Western European nations.

LECTURE 4: Nonvoting would generate less concern if voters were a representative crosssection of nonvoters. But the perceived benefits and costs of voting apparently do not fall evenly across all social groups. Voters differ from nonvoters in politically important ways. Examine these differences with your students. ▪

Voters are better educated than nonvoters.

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Older Americans are politically influential in part because candidates know they turn out at the polls.

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High-income people are more likely to vote than low-income people.

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Income and education differences between participants and nonparticipants are even greater when other forms of political participation are considered.

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The greatest disparity in voter turnout is between Hispanics and others.

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Ask students to consider the importance of voting or nonvoting. 

Voting is an expression of good citizenship, and it reinforces attachment to the nation and to democratic government.

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Nonvoting suggests alienation from the political system.

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The right to vote is more important to democratic government than voter turnout.

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It is easier to question whether the government truly represents “the people” when only half of the people vote even in a presidential election.

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Voluntary nonvoting is not the same as being denied suffrage.

Class Activities CLASS ACTIVITY 1: Start by having your students brainstorm the fundamental values shared by all Americans. It may take some time for them to get started, but once they do, they can generally develop a fairly comprehensive list. Examples might include freedom, liberty, tolerance, individualism, and so on. This is often referred to as the American creed. ▪

Once you have a fairly well-developed list, ask your students to identify contradictions within it. For example, the individualism and laissez-faire attitudes frequently expressed as part of the creed are sometimes at odds with the notion of egalitarianism and populism.

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Then ask them to consider how, even when we agree on the general elements of the creed, we can support conflicting policy choices. 

For example, while Americans generally support individual liberty, we sometimes support policies that focus on different elements of liberty. When President Obama’s health care reform law required employers to provide coverage for birth control, for example, both proponents and defenders of the law resorted to claims about liberty. Opponents of the law asserted that it violated the religious freedom of particular employers not to support birth control. Supporters of the law asserted that employers should not be able to dictate the religious choices of their employees. Both sides claimed recourse to liberty, but the same claims of liberty led to different policy choices.

This discussion item sets out the complexities within the American creed. (Structure) CLASS ACTIVITY 2: Have students define both public opinion and political socialization. Then ask them to discuss the following question: what factors influence an individual’s political socialization and help contribute to a person’s political opinions? ▪

You may want to begin this exercise as a short, in-class writing assignment, asking each student to list the most important influences (political socialization) in terms of shaping political opinions. 218 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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Then ask them to discuss the specific agents of socialization and how their roles change over time. For example, it is often noted that the influence of family tends to be strongest at younger ages, while peer groups become more important in the teenage years.

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As part of this discussion, you may also want to ask your students to reflect on specific agents of socialization. Have them explain how specific agents influence an individual’s level of political knowledge, help form personal political opinions, and determine what types of political issues they might be interested in.

This activity explores the process of political socialization and the relationship between political socialization, political ideology, and public opinion. (Structure)

CLASS ACTIVITY 3: Ask your students to bring in examples of recent public opinion polls. For each, discuss the sampling technique, the margin of error, and other relevant information. Then have a more general discussion about the advantages and disadvantages of providing polling data on public opinion. This activity exposes students to the key terms and practices associated with survey research and public opinion polling. (Structure) CLASS ACTIVITY 4: The concept of political socialization is difficult for students to grasp without examples and discussion. Ask students to think about the role of political symbols in society. In particular, ask them to list these symbols and where they are most often seen (for example, the flag, the Constitution, Uncle Sam, etc.). ▪

Discuss the Pledge of Allegiance as a socializing agent for young children as well as the activities of Fourth of July celebrations, which are often used to reinforce public values of nationalism, patriotism, and reverence for the Constitution.

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Once they have listed a variety of these symbols, ask them to explain why the national anthem is sung at sporting events. Ask how many know all of the words, how many stand but do not sing, and how many do not sing or stand while the national anthem is being sung.

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A follow-up exercise may include a short essay debating whether it is more appropriate to recite the Pledge of Allegiance or to sing the national anthem at 219 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

sporting events, given that most people can say the pledge without hesitation, but have trouble singing the national anthem. This exercise provides an unintimidating yet thoughtful way of emphasizing how political socialization has been used to instill principles, values, and beliefs in citizens. (Structure)

CLASS ACTIVITY 5: Stage a debate in class. One side should argue that public opinion polling is inherently problematic and should not be used by government or politicians. The other side should argue that polling is a valid way to determine the will of the people. Each side should do research to flesh out its arguments. This activity explores the role of public opinion polling on political decision making. (Structure and Action) CLASS ACTIVITY 6: Have students think about a controversial, polarizing political issue. ▪

Ask them to devise two opinion poll questions about their issues. One question should be designed to elicit a positive response toward (or response in support of) the policy; the other should be designed to elicit a negative response. Have the students write both of their questions on index cards

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Choose a few cards at random to construct a survey that will be administered during the next class period.

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Compile survey results and present them to the students, pointing out any inconsistencies or discrepancies in opinions on any given issue.

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For an alternative exercise addressing similar problems in polling research, try the following. Divide the class into small groups. Give the entire class a series of topics and have each group write two good survey questions and two bad ones for each topic. Have the class share the results and discuss why certain questions are good and others are bad.

This hands-on activity helps students understand the process of survey design and gets them thinking about how survey design can influence polling data. (Structure)

CLASS ACTIVITY 7: While the number of Hispanics voting in national elections is rapidly increasing, voting statistics show that, overall, they remain among the least politically active groups in the United States. In 2016, for instance, 48 percent of Latino eligible voters said they voted, compared to 61 percent of all eligible U.S. voters who cast a ballot in the election. ▪

Divide your class into groups, with each group given an assignment to collect data on questions related to why this has occurred. For example, one group could compare incomes and occupations with other minorities; another group could look at the impact of illegal immigration and language; and another could contrast the successes of African American interest groups with Hispanic groups.

▪

Each group should select one person to make a brief presentation to the entire class, summarizing the group’s findings.

This data-based activity encourages students to consider the demographic characteristics that influence political participation in the United States. (Action) CLASS ACTIVITY 8: Public opinion surveys consistently reveal an astounding lack of public knowledge about politics. ▪

Give students a pop quiz on several major political issues and have them grade their own quizzes.

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Alternatively, administer a subset of questions from the exam that the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services gives to immigrants applying for citizenship.

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Briefly discuss students’ performance and possible reasons for it.

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Then ask your students to discuss whether the American political system is affected by such a low level of public information.

This activity focuses on the importance of an informed electorate and the relationship between political knowledge and political participation in the United States. (Action)

CLASS ACTIVITY 9: As a class discussion, ask your students to think about how they would gather a representative sample of your college or university. What groups would have to be represented and in what proportions? Be sure to ask them to explain their positions based on their knowledge of surveying techniques developed from this chapter. 221 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

This activity develops an understanding of what constitutes good public opinion and polling methodology. (Structure)

Research Activities RESEARCH ACTIVITY 1: Most people’s opinions are affected by what can be called a “formative political event.” For some people, this event was the Persian Gulf War, and for others it was it was the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. For many young people today, the COVID-19 pandemic will likely be a formative political event. Have students think about their “formative political events” or first political memories. ▪

Have them write papers or discuss: How did that event shape your political ideas and worldview? What about your parents and grandparents? Ask them what major events affected their political perceptions.

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You could also provide time in class for students to compare their events with those of their classmates.

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As an alternative assignment, consider having students write papers based on their own political ideology and opinions. Ask them to consider how their opinions were formed. Consider those who have influenced these opinions and political views. Is the text correct in asserting what the dominant factors of political socialization are? Again, have students compare their experiences with those of their classmates.

This activity explores the nature of political socialization and the role of formative events in that process. (Structure)

RESEARCH ACTIVITY 2: Have students visit Polling Report (www.pollingreport.com) to find recent polling data across a number of issue areas. The interesting thing about these data, though, is that they provide responses for the same question over an extended period of time, sometimes dating back to the 1970s.

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Students should pick one issue. In short papers, they should describe the general trend noted in the poll. Has public opinion remained relatively stable over time? Has it shifted dramatically in one direction or another?

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What do students think is driving the trend’s relative stability or fluctuation?

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How does the trend relate to the idea of political socialization in the United States?

This activity requires students to examine polling data, identify trends, and explain the reasons for patterns they note. (Structure) RESEARCH ACTIVITY 3: Have students find recent opinion polls taken in their state, and compare public opinion with votes by their U.S. senators and congressional representatives. In short papers, they should describe the similarities and differences they noted, and explain the reasons for them. This activity requires students to reflect on the influence of public opinion on the decisions of members of Congress. (Impact)

RESEARCH ACTIVITY 4: Have students watch two weeks of TV news and pay attention to newspapers during the same timeframe. Have them write papers analyzing the ways in which the media use polls. What are the implications of their findings? ▪

As an alternative assignment, particularly during election season, have students look at campaign and related websites to determine how politicians and the media use polls. Have them write short papers or hold a class discussion on the implications of these uses.

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In either case, be sure students discuss the ways we can assess a poll’s reliability and validity.

This activity helps students explore how the media use polls. (Structure and Action) RESEARCH ACTIVITY 5: Have students search online for glaring examples of “bad polls.” Then have them provide a short description of the polls and an analysis of what makes the polls “bad” in written papers or a class discussion.

This activity helps students identify and understand the features of good survey design and public opinion polling methodology. (Structure) RESEARCH ACTIVITY 6: Have students explore ideas about socialization found on the Internet. They can focus on the concept itself or on the ways different disciplines study it. If you choose the latter, ask students to find examples of studies on socialization from fields like anthropology, sociology, education, and political science. Have them discuss the similarities and differences they find. This activity exposes students to a variety of disciplinary and interdisciplinary approaches to the process of political socialization. (Structure)

RESEARCH ACTIVITY 7: Have students read Robert Putnam’s classic text, Bowling Alone (New York: Simon and Schuster, 2001). Putnam contends that Americans are increasingly isolated from one another, creating fundamental problems for American democracy. Once they have read the text, ask students to evaluate Putnam’s thesis in light of their understanding of public opinion. Is Putnam correct in his conclusions? Why or why not? This activity examines the changing nature of political community and the importance of political socialization in democratic politics in the United States. (Structure, Action, and Impact) RESEARCH ACTIVITY 8: Some countries forbid the use of polls in the last few weeks of an election campaign. In the United States, this is not the case. ▪

Assign students different country groups and have them research rules about polling during elections in each country.

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In short papers, have them consider the merits of different ways of regulating polling during elections. Ask them to consider the trade-off between free speech and a free press and meaningful, non-manipulated democracy.

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Consider having them share their findings with the class, either in class presentations or through forum posts in the course LMS.

This activity exposes students to the diversity of electoral rules as they relate to public opinion surveying in democracies around the world. (Structure)

Participation Activities PARTICIPATION ACTIVITY 1: As a class, make a survey of the voting and political participation patterns on campus. Consider addressing the following questions: ▪

How many students are registered to vote?

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How many students voted in the last election?

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What is the political profile of the campus in terms of party identification?

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How does this pattern of party affiliation compare with national patterns?

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Is the number of students who identify with the “Independent” status greater than the number of students who identify with the Democratic or Republican Parties?

This activity gives students an opportunity to construct a public opinion survey and to explore factors that affect political affiliation and participation. (Structure and Action) PARTICIPATION ACTIVITY 2: Have students write personal political biographies. In their biographies, ask them to reflect on the following questions: ▪

What political views and party affiliations do you hold? Where did those views and affiliations come from?

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How influential was your family? Did your family express many political opinions or even discuss their political views?

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What influence does your peer group have on your opinion? Has that influence changed over time? How?

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What are your earliest memories of political or national events?

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What other factors have shaped your political beliefs?

This activity provides an opportunity for students to reflect on the source of their political values and beliefs and to think about the process of political socialization in their own lives. (Structure)

PARTICIPATION ACTIVITY 3: Ask your students to read the local or college/university newspaper and identify any methodological errors in its reporting of polling data. Assign different students different dates to read the paper. If they find an error, have them write letter to the editor explaining the mistake. 225 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

This activity requires students to apply their knowledge of proper polling techniques to evaluate the media’s use of statistics. (Structure and Action)

Suggested Readings and Films READING 1: Editors Theda Skocpol and Morris P. Fiorina, two of the leading scholars of political culture and participation, examine the way in which particular patterns of civil engagement emerge in the United States in Civic Engagement in American Democracy (Washington, D.C.: Brookings Institution, 1999).

READING 2: In Engaging Youth: Combating the Apathy of Young Americans toward Politics (New York: Century Foundation Press, 2003), Kevin Mattson provides an excellent overview of the low levels of political participation among young Americans. He contends that younger Americans are less likely to participate in politics and are more likely to exhibit higher levels of cynicism and political disaffection. Efforts to reverse these trends, he contends, are unlikely to succeed. READING 3: A number of recent texts deal with the question of political engagement, providing a detailed discussion of increasing levels of political apathy and outlining mechanisms to overcome it. ▪

Cliff Zukin et al., A New Engagement?: Political Participation, Civic Life, and the Changing American Citizen (New York: Oxford University Press, 2006).

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Grant Reeher, Steve Davis, and Larry Elin, Click On Democracy: The Internet’s Power to Change Political Apathy into Civic Action (Boulder: Westview Press, 2004).

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J. Eric Wilson and R. Justen Collins, We Surround Them: Our Journey from Apathy to Action (Washington, D.C.: Georgetown Grassroots Publications, 2011).

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Don Quigg, Runaway Debt, Flat Taxes and Voter Apathy (Denver: Outskirts Press, 2009).

READING 4: Edited by Seth Kahn and JongHwa Lee, Activism and Rhetoric: Theories and Contexts for Political Engagement (London: Routledge 2010) explores the intersection between popular rhetoric and political participation through a series of comparative case studies from around the world.

READING 5: An excellent example of contemporary work being done in the area of political socialization is J. Celeste Lay’s A Midwestern Mosaic: Immigration and Political Socialization in Rural America (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2012). Lay’s study focuses on the challenges of increasing immigration from Latin American and Southeast Asia on Iowa’s political culture. READING 6: Robert Erickson and Kent Tedin’s introductory text, American Public Opinion: Its Origins, Content, and Impact (New York: Longman, 2005), provides a wide range of information on measuring and analyzing public opinion in the United States.

READING 7: In Culture War? The Myth of a Polarized America (New York: Longman, 2010), Morris Fiorina’s powerfully argues that claims of a culture war are vastly overstated and that, to quote the words of President Barack Obama, “We are not as divided as our politics suggest.” Fiorina extends and updates this argument in Unstable Majorities: Polarization, Party Sorting, and Political Stalemate (Stanford, CA: Hoover Institution Press, 2017).

READING 8: Several outstanding texts examine the nature and method of political polling. See, for example: ▪

Herbert Asher, Polling and the Public: What Every Citizen Should Know, 9th ed. (Thousand Oaks, CA.: CQ Press, 2017).

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Kirby Goidel, ed., Political Polling in the Digital Age: The Challenge of Measuring and Understanding Public Opinion (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 2011).

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Barbara A. Bardes and Robert Oldendick, Public Opinion: Measuring the American Mind, 5th ed. (Lanham, Md.: Rowman and Littlefield, 2017). 227 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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Samuel J. Best and Brian S. Krveger, Exit Polls: Surveying the American Electorate (Washington, D.C.: CQ Press 2012).

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Paul M. Sniderman and Benjamin Highton, eds., Facing the Challenge of Democracy: Explorations in the Analysis of Public Opinion and Political Participation (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 2011).

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Herbert Weisberg, Jon Krosnick, and Bruce Bowen, An Introduction to Survey Research, Polling, and Data Analysis (Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Sage, 1996).

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John Zaller, The Nature and Origins of Mass Opinion (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1992).

READING 9: The American Association for Public Opinion Research (www.aapor.org) is the professional association for public opinion and survey researchers.

READING 10: The journal Politics, Culture and Socialization (www.budrichjournals.de/index.php/pcs), published by the International Political Science Association, offers a comparative focus on political socialization.

READING 11: Several journals focus on public opinion research. Among the most prominent are ▪

Public Opinion Quarterly (https://poq.oxfordjournals.org/)

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Journal of Elections, Public Opinion and Parties (www.tandfonline.com/toc/fbep20/current)

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International Journal of Public Opinion Research (http://ijpor.oxfordjournals.org/)

READING 12: The Kids in the House website (https://kids-clerk.house.gov/) provides outstanding examples of political socialization in the United States.

READING 13: The major polling organizations all have a strong online presence, with websites that contain recent and historical poll results, analyses, and news briefings. These include ▪

The Gallup Organization (https://news.gallup.com/home.aspx)

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The Pew Research Center (www.pewresearch.org)

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Rasmussen Reports (www.rasmussenreports.com)

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SurveyUSA (www.surveyusa.com)

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Quinnipiac University Polling Institute (https://poll.qu.edu/)

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YouGov (https://today.yougov.com/)

READING 14: The Roper Center for Public Opinion Research (https://ropercenter.cornell.edu/) is located at the University of Connecticut and is the largest library of public opinion data in the world. The center’s mission focuses on data preservation and access, education, and research.

READING 15: The General Social Survey (https://gss.norc.org/) website of the National Opinion Research Center (NORC) offers access to its annual surveys of American attitudes and opinions.

READING 16: The Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE) (www.civicyouth.org) conducts research on the political engagement patterns of young Americans.

FILM 17: Bob Roberts (Tim Robbins, director, Miramax Films, 1992) is a comedy about a Senate candidate who runs a campaign without issues, appealing only to peoples’ feelings.

FILM 18: Constructing Public Opinion: How Politicians and the Media Misrepresent the Public (Media Education Foundation, 2001) examines how the media use polling data to construct, as well as report, public opinion.

FILM 19: Magic Town (William Wellman, director, Robert Risken Productions, 1947) is an amusing movie starring James Stewart about a pollster who finds a town that perfectly mirrors the entire nation. The story is a good illustration of the Hawthorne Effect.

Revel Features Chapter Introduction CURRENT EVENTS BULLETIN Video: WATCH Public Opinion: The Big Picture Author video.

Forming Political Opinions and Values (Structure) 7.1

Explain how the agents of socialization influence the development of political attitudes.

Sketchnote Video: WATCH Party Identification Video: WATCH Let’s Not Talk Politics: Why the 2016 Election Is Dividing Family and Friends ABC video. Social Explorer: FIGURE 7.1 PRESIDENTIAL APPROVAL NUMBERS AND ABORTION ATTITUDES Read: HAPPENING NOW Summary of the siege on the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021 and the aftermath of the event. 230 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Journal Prompt 7.1 What are the biggest influences on your political views and level of interest in political issues? Why do you think that is the case? QUIZ 7.1 Forming Political Opinions and Values (Structure)

Public Opinion: Taking the Pulse of the People (Structure) 7.2

Describe public opinion research and modern methods of polling.

Social Explorer: TABLE 7.2 DIFFERING OPINIONS ON GAY MARRIAGE Journal Prompt: TABLE 7.2 Based on the table, support for gay marriage increased across all subgroups between 2012 and 2016. Which groups show the greatest and least rates of change? Explain why this might be the case for each group. Also note that while support for gay marriage increased, support for civil unions declined over the same time period. Why might this be the case? Journal Prompt 7.2 Do you approve of the job that the current president is doing? Why or why not? What factors influence your assessment? QUIZ 7.2 Public Opinion: Taking the Pulse of the People (Structure)

Political Ideology and Attitudes Toward Government (Structure) 7.3

Assess the influence of political ideology on political attitudes and behaviors.

Social Explorer: TABLE 7.3 DIFFERENCES IN POLITICAL IDEOLOGY Video: WATCH Ben Carson and Senator Elizabeth Warren Spar on Trump Question at Confirmation Hearing ABC video. Video: WATCH Republican Candidates Define “Conservatism” at ABC News GOP Debate ABC video. Social Explorer: FIGURE 7.2 SEVEN-POINT IDEOLOGY SCALE 231 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Journal Prompt 7.3 Which of the political ideologies discussed above do you most closely identify with? Why? QUIZ 7.3 Political Ideology and Attitudes Toward Government (Structure)

Participation: Translating Opinions into Action (Action) . 7.4

Identify the factors that influence political participation.

Video: WATCH GOP Reps Face Towl Hall Protests Over Obamacare Repeal Efforts ABC video. Social Explorer: FIGURE 7.3 POLITICAL PARTICIPATION IN THE UNITED STATES Social Explorer: FIGURE 7.4 VOTER TURNOUT IN PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS, 1789–2016 Video: WATCH Tension Rises Between U.S. and Russia After Recent Hacks ABC video. Social Explorer: FIGURE 7.5 VOTER TURNOUT IN PRESIDENTIAL AND MIDTERM ELECTIONS, 1992–2020 Sketchnote Video: WATCH Types of Elections: Midterm & Presidential, Primary & General Journal Prompt 7.4 In your opinion, what could be done to increase voter turnout in U.S. presidential elections? QUIZ 7.4 Participation: Translating Opinions into Action (Action)

Voting Choices (Action) 7.5

Analyze why people vote the way they do.

For you personally, what is the most important issue that would determine your vote in the next election? QUIZ 7.5 Voting Choices (Action) SHARED WRITING PROMPT: Public Opinion Is public-opinion polling beneficial or detrimental to the democratic process in the United States? Explain your answer.

Review the Chapter Video: WATCH Public Opinion: So What? ABC video. Flashcards: LEARN THE TERMS Public Opinion Flashcard set of key terms and definitions for the chapter. CHAPTER 7 QUIZ Public Opinion

8 Campaigns and Elections Chapter Overview Elections and campaigns are usually viewed as the defining feature of a democratic political system. But Americans often have a weak understanding of how campaigns and elections in the United States actually function, despite their importance. In this chapter, we explore the process of seeking elected office in the United States. We begin by exploring the fundamental election procedures—the rules of the game—that define how candidates are nominated and how winners are determined in American elections. Next, we analyze the conduct of electoral campaigns, focusing in particular on the role of money in political campaigns and elections in the United States. We then consider the presidential and congressional election processes in greater detail. Finally, we conclude by addressing proposed reforms to the American electoral system. By the end of the chapter, students should have a good command of the formal structures and functions—as well as the behind-the-scenes politics—of campaigns and elections in the United States.

Lecture Suggestions Elections: The Rules of the Game (Structure) 8.1

Outline the procedures for presidential and congressional elections.

LECTURE 1: In a primary election, voters decide which candidate will represent the party in the general election. Differentiate between competing types of primaries used in the United States. ▪

In closed primaries, only registered members of the party are allowed to vote. For example, only registered Republicans are permitted to vote for the Republican candidate, and only registered Democrats are permitted to vote for the Democratic candidate. Closed primaries allow the party maximum control and promote party strength.

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In open primaries, anyone is permitted to vote regardless of party affiliation. Republicans and Independents are allowed to vote in the selection of the Democratic nominee and vice versa. Open primaries are considered more democratic since participation is open to all voters, regardless of party affiliation

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Blanket primaries are similar to open primaries, except that voters may choose to vote in either party’s primary, but not both, on an office-by-office basis. The central difference is that in an open primary, a voter must select a single party in whose primary election he or she will participate. In a blanket primary, by contrast, a voter might participate in the Republican primary for president, the Democratic primary for governor, and so on.

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In a runoff primary, the two candidates with the most votes stand in the general election, regardless of party. A runoff primary could result in a general election in which two members of the same political party compete against one another for the office.

LECTURE 2: Explain the changes to the presidential nominating process since 1972. ▪

The process for selecting nominees for president is not governed by the U.S. Constitution but has developed instead through the practices of states and political parties. Prior to 1972, party leaders chose the state delegations responsible for nominating a party’s candidate for president. This change was facilitated by the chaos at the 1968 Democratic National Convention, where Hubert Humphrey secured the party’s nomination despite strong support for Eugene McCarthy. Following the 1968 fiasco, the McGovern-Fraser Commission, sponsored by the Democratic National Committee, recommended reforms to the nomination process to introduce greater transparency. The Republican Party adopted similar reforms.

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Today, the vast majority of delegates to the national party conventions are selected by the voters, either through caucuses or primary elections. In general, these delegates are pledged to vote for a particular candidate. 

Caucuses are meetings of the party where participants select candidates for offices. Iowa, Texas, and Nevada all use party caucuses to decide their presidential nominees.



Primary elections are votes, usually by party members, to select a candidate to represent the party in the general election. Primaries can be open or closed. Most states use primary elections to select their presidential nominees.

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In the Democratic Party, a handful of delegates are appointed by the party at either the national or state level. These delegates, often referred to as “superdelegates,” are members of Congress, governors, and other distinguished party members. They are not promised to a particular candidate and are free to vote for any candidates they choose. In most years, superdelegates are not important, as the party is generally unified behind a single candidate by the time the party convention takes place. In the 2008 election, though, it looked like the competition for the Democratic nomination—between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama—might come down to the decision of a small number of superdelegates. In 2018, the Democratic 236 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

National Committee reduced the influence of superdelegates by preventing them from voting on the first ballot at the Democratic National Convention.

LECTURE 3: Differentiate between the processes used in the Democratic and Republican Party primaries. ▪

The Democratic Party allocates delegates through primary elections on a proportional basis. Thus, if a candidate receives 40 percent of the popular vote in the primary election, he or she will receive 40 percent of the delegates from that state.

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Until 2012, the Republican Party allocated delegates through primary elections on a winner-take-all basis. Thus, no matter how narrow a candidate’s margin of victory, that candidate received all of that state’s delegates. This had the advantage of making elections more decisive and often meant that the Republican nominee was selected earlier than the Democratic nominee. 

Today, some Republican primaries are allocated on a proportional basis. While this makes it easier for candidates to accumulate delegates, it also stretches out the primary campaign season.



In other states, Republican primaries have become more exclusive, with strict requirements for candidates to even make it onto the ballot. In Virginia, for example, candidacy requirements are so strict that only Mitt Romney and Ron Paul even made it onto the ballot in 2012. Other popular candidates— including Newt Gingrich, Rick Perry, Michele Bachman, and Rick Santorum—failed to qualify.

LECTURE 4: Students are often surprised to learn that when they cast their ballots in the presidential election, they are not actually voting for a candidate but are instead selecting a slate of electors who will vote for the president on their behalf. Explain the functioning of the Electoral College to your students. ▪

The Electoral College was put into place by the Framers so that people wouldn’t directly choose the president—which would privilege the large states—and so that 237 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

the House of Representatives would not choose—which would violate the principles of separation of powers. ▪

The Electoral College comprises 538 electors, allocated to the states on the basis of their representation in the U.S. Congress. The most populous state, California, has 55 delegates. The least populous states—those like Wyoming and the Dakotas—have 3.

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States (except for Maine and Nebraska) assign their electoral votes through a winner-take-all system; whoever wins a plurality in a state gets that state’s entire electoral vote.

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To be elected president, a candidate must have at least 270 electoral votes. In most years, this is not a problem. However, under some circumstances—such as when a third-party candidate captures some states—it is possible that no candidate receives a majority in the Electoral College.

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According to the Twelfth Amendment, if no candidate receives a majority in the Electoral College, the president shall be selected by the House of Representatives and the vice president by the Senate. This occurred in 1801 (before passage of the Twelfth Amendment) and in 1825.

LECTURE 5: Students often take the right of political participation for granted and may not always appreciate or understand the voting restrictions that jurisdictions have imposed. Lead an interesting lecture on this topic. ▪

At times, states have limited the right to vote in particular elections to people who have special interests or stakes in the outcome. Such limitations on the franchise develop, ostensibly, from the perception that voters with an interest in the election would cast more fully considered ballots and that such voters should thus be accorded a greater voice in determining the election’s outcome.

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Although the Supreme Court has not declared such limitations on the right to vote unconstitutional per se, it has developed a test of constitutionality that few such restrictions can survive. 

Kramer v. Union Free School District (1969) constituted the Court’s first exploration of this issue. In the case, a childless bachelor who lived with his 238 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

parents and thus neither owned nor leased property challenged a New York statute that limited the vote in certain school district elections to property owners or lessees and parents of children in the school district. The state attempted to justify the law by invoking the need to confine the franchise to the group that was “primarily interested in school affairs.” The state argued, among other things, that the issues involved were complex and that materials explaining these issues were sent home with the children; therefore, nonparents were less informed than parents. The Court, applying vigorous equal protection scrutiny, found the statute unconstitutional because it was not carefully tailored to affect that interest. The statute, said the Court, included many people who have only a remote and indirect interest in school affairs and excluded others who have a distinct and direct interest in school affairs. The dissenting judges said that the state had the right to limit those who could vote in the manner it did and that if this person was entitled to vote, then the same argument could be made by any other person who expressed an interest in voting but would not normally be allowed to vote in school district elections, such as minors and those living in another state. 

In other similar cases, the Supreme Court has ▪

Overturned a statute permitting only real property owners to vote on a bond issue;

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Overturned a state statute that included a durational residency requirement;

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Upheld a state statute denying convicted felons the right to vote;

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Upheld statutes allowing only real property owners to vote in “water storage district” elections; and

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Upheld a state statute denying those awaiting trial in jail the right to vote by absentee ballot.

Counting Votes (Structure) 8.2

Assess how well American elections are administered.

LECTURE 1: The rules of the game—the electoral game—make a difference. Although the Constitution sets certain conditions and requirements, state law determines most electoral rules. ▪

In our system, elections are held at fixed intervals that the party in power cannot change. It does not make any difference if the nation is at war, as we were during the Civil War, or in the midst of a crisis, as in the Great Depression; when the calendar calls for an election, the election is held.

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Our electoral system is based on fixed terms, meaning the length of a term in office is specified, not indefinite. The Constitution sets the term of office for the U.S. House of Representatives at two years, the Senate at six years, and the presidency at four years.

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Our system also has staggered terms for some offices; not all offices are up for election at the same time. All House members are up for election every two years, but only one-third of senators are up for election at the same time.

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The Twenty-second Amendment to the Constitution, adopted in 1951, limits presidents to two terms. Knowing that a president cannot run again changes the way members of Congress, the voters, and the press regard the chief executive. A politician who cannot, or has announced he or she will not, run again is a lame duck. Lame ducks are often seen as less influential because other politicians know that these officials’ ability to bestow or withhold favors is coming to an end.

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An important feature of our electoral system is the winner-take-all system, sometimes referred to as “first past the post” in other countries. In most U.S. electoral settings, the candidate with the most votes wins. The winner does not need to have a majority (more than half the votes cast); in a multicandidate race, the winner may have only a plurality (the largest number of votes).

LECTURE 2: We elect our president and vice president not by a national vote but by an indirect device known as the Electoral College. ▪

The Framers of the U.S. Constitution devised this system for two reasons. 

First, it presented a way to balance the influence of small states and large states. Without the Electoral College, candidates would focus exclusively on citizens in populous states, effectively cutting the small rural population out of the electorate.



Second, the founders were also suspicious of the electorate and did not want to leave the choice of president to a direct vote of the people.

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Each state legislature is free to determine how it selects its electors. Candidates who win a plurality of the popular vote in a state secure all of that state’s electoral votes, except in Nebraska and Maine, which allocate electoral votes to the winner in each congressional district plus two electoral votes for the winner of the state as a whole. It takes a majority of the electoral votes to win.

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As we were reminded in 2000 and again in 2016, our Electoral College system makes it possible for a presidential candidate to win without receiving the most popular votes.

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Questions about the Electoral College arise every time a serious third-party candidate runs for president. The Electoral College sharply influences presidential politics. To win a presidential election, a candidate must appeal successfully to voters in populous states such as California, Texas, Ohio, Illinois, Florida, and New York. California’s 55 electoral votes in 2008 exceeded the combined electoral votes of the 14 least populous states plus the District of Columbia.

LECTURE 3: The 2020 election not only saw historic voter turnout (at nearly 65 percent of the voting-eligible population), but also a record number of votes cast by mail (approximately 65 million). Use this lecture to highlight the benefits and drawbacks of mail-in voting. ▪

The increase in mail-in voting in 2020 was due mainly to the coronavirus pandemic; to avoid exposing voters and poll workers to COVID-19, many states expanded options for absentee and mail-in voting. However, four states— 241 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Oregon, Washington, Colorado, and Utah—had already adopted all mail-in voting well before the pandemic. ▪

The 2020 election brought several issues with mail-in voting into focus: 

First, mail-in voting depends on the functioning of the U.S. Postal Service. Delays in mail delivery can mean that some voters might not receive their requested ballots, or that their completed ballots may not be delivered to election offices in time to be counted. As a way around this limitation, voters have the option of delivering their ballots directly to county election offices or placing them in designated drop boxes.



Second, votes cast by mail face a small, but non-trivial risk of being rejected. In the 2016 election, more than 400,000 votes (or 1.2 percent of the total votes cast) were rejected. The most common reasons include missing a state’s deadline for getting ballots in, failing to sign one’s ballot, or a mismatch between the signature on the ballot and the one on file at the election office.



Third, state laws regulating vote-by-mail vary from state to state, and even from county to county within states. For instance, 31 states use signature matching as a fraud prevention measure, yet there is no uniform procedure or set of standards for evaluating signatures to determine whether they match. Similarly, 18 states mandate a process for “curing” rejected ballots, but methods of reaching out to voters to fix problems with their ballots are also a patchwork.



Fourth, mail-in voting has become politicized. During the 2020 campaign, President Trump claimed without evidence that mail-in voting leads to voter fraud. Such statements may have undermined voters’ confidence in the election process and the outcome.

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Despite these issues, mail-in voting offers numerous benefits, including accessibility of voting to individuals who have difficulty voting in person. It also allows voters to avoid waiting in lines to cast their ballots.

Money in U.S. Elections (Action) 8.3

Evaluate the influence of money in elections and the main approaches to campaign finance reform.

LECTURE 1: The U.S. ideal that anyone—even a person of modest or little wealth—can run for public office and hope to win has become more of a myth than a reality. ▪

One reason for escalating costs is television. Organizing and running a campaign is expensive, limiting the field of challengers to those who have their own resources or are willing to spend more than a year raising money from interest groups and individuals.

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Unless something is done to help finance challengers, incumbents will continue to have the advantage in seeking reelection. The high cost of campaigns dampens competition by discouraging people from running for office. Potential challengers look at the fund-raising advantages incumbents enjoy—the campaign war chests carried over from previous campaigns that can reach $1 million or more and the time it will take them to raise enough money to launch a minimal campaign—and they decide not to run.

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In addition, unlike incumbents, whose salaries are being paid while they are campaigning and raising money, most challengers have to support themselves and their families throughout the campaign, which for a seat in Congress often lasts more than one year.

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For most House incumbents, campaign money comes from political action committees (PACs). PACs and individuals spend money on campaigns for many reasons. Most of them want certain laws to be passed or repealed, certain funds to be appropriated, or certain administrative decisions to be rendered.

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Campaign finance legislation cannot constitutionally restrict rich candidates—the Rockefellers, the Kennedys, the Perots, the Clintons, the Romneys—from spending heavily on their own campaigns.

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Big money can make a big difference, and wealthy candidates can afford to spend big money. The Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act (BRCA) included a 243 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

millionaire’s provision that the Supreme Court later declared unconstitutional. The provision allowed candidates running against self-financed opponents to have higher contribution limits from individuals or parties contributing to their campaigns. ▪

Another development that has made individual donors more important is the Internet. Starting in 2000 with the McCain presidential campaign and then expanding with the Howard Dean candidacy for president in 2004, people started giving to candidates via the Internet. But it was the Obama campaign in 2008 that demonstrated the extraordinary power of the Internet as a means for reaching donors and a way for people to contribute to a candidate. Obama continued to use the Internet to raise funds in the 2012 election. Combining the power of the Internet and a focus on small donors, Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders became the poster child of this fundraising strategy during the 2016 election cycle. It was Donald Trump more than Hillary Clinton who used the Internet to tap into small donors in the 2016 general election. The Trump 2020 campaign again emphasized social media and the Internet for fundraising and messaging.

LECTURE 2: Explain the difference between hard money and soft money, and examine the role of each in political campaigns. ▪

The 1976 and 1978 elections—the first after the Federal Election Campaign Act—saw less generic party activity and prompted parties to seek legislation allowing individuals or groups to avoid contribution limits if money is given to political parties for “party-building purposes,” such as voter registration drives or generic party advertising. This money came to be defined as soft money, in contrast to the limited and more-difficult-to-raise hard-money contributions to candidates and party committees committed to candidate-specific electoral activity. Banning soft money became the primary objective of reformers and is one of the more important provisions in the BRCA.

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Another way the post-Watergate election reforms were undermined was with the upsurge of interest groups running election ads. These ads typically attack a 244 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

candidate, but the sponsor can avoid disclosure and contribution limitations because the ads do not use electioneering language, such as “vote for” or “vote against” a specific candidate. Under BCRA, an electioneering communication was “any broadcast, cable, or satellite communication which refers to a clearly identified candidate for Federal office [and in the case of House and Senate candidates is targeted to their states or districts], that is made within 60 days before a general, special, or runoff election for the office sought by the candidate; or 30 days before a primary or preference election.” ▪

In 2007, the Supreme Court in a 5–4 decision declared the BCRA “electioneering communication” definition too broad and substituted a new definition that an ad is considered “express advocacy” only if there is no reasonable way to interpret it except “as an appeal to vote for or against a certain candidate.”

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One predictable consequence of BCRA’s ban on soft money, while leaving open the possibility of some electioneering communications, is increased interest group electioneering through so-called 527 or 501(c) groups. These groups get their names from the section of the Internal Revenue Service code under which they are organized. Section 501(c) groups include nonprofits whose purposes are not political. Money given to Section 501(c)(3) groups is tax deductible, and the groups can engage in nonpartisan voter registration and turnout efforts but cannot endorse candidates. BCRA restricted the way 527 groups communicate with voters. Any 527 organization wishing to broadcast an electioneering communication within one month of a primary or two months of a general election must not use corporate or union treasury funds; it must report the expenditures associated with the broadcast; and it must disclose the sources of all funds it has received since January 1 of the preceding calendar year. The 527 group that may have had the greatest impact on the 2004 campaign was Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, which attacked Senator Kerry’s war record. 245 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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The Supreme Court made clear in its ruling on FECA in 1976 that individuals and groups have the right to spend as much money as they wish for or against candidates as long as they are truly independent of those candidates and as long as the money is not corporate or union treasury money. BCRA does not constrain independent expenditures by groups, political parties, or individuals, as long as the expenditures by those individuals, parties, or groups are independent of candidates and fully disclosed to FECA.

LECTURE 3: Each year, the money raised and spent in national elections hits new highs and raises more controversy. Develop an interesting lecture by concentrating on the financial base of presidential campaigns. ▪

Explore the decline of political parties as sources of funds; Nixon’s creation of the Committee to Re-Elect the President (CREEP), which became the source of most of the Watergate scandal; and the 1974 FECA Amendments that led to partial public funding of presidential campaigns.

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Additionally, the increase in “independent expenditures” by private groups coordinated suspiciously well with the candidate’s campaign efforts, and the role soft money played before 2002 (money given free of FECA restrictions to state and local parties for “party building”), are major topics.

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The functioning of House and Senate campaigns is worthy of special emphasis, especially the rapid rise of PACs since 1974: 600 PACs in 1974; 2,200 by 1980; and just under 4,000 in 2016. In the 2016 elections, for example, PACs spent nearly $473 million on federal elections.

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In 2010, a new type of PAC, known as a Super PAC, was created following a federal court decision. These PACs, which numbered nearly 2,400 in 2020, can raise and spend unlimited sums of money to advocate for or against political candidates. In the 2016 election cycle, Super PACs raised $1.8 billion and spent over $1 billion.

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Congressional campaign costs have increased significantly since the 1974 FECA. Several cynical journalists have commented that we have the best Congress money can buy. 246 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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The costs of campaigning and the purported impact of PACs and other special interests, such prominent parts of the most recent campaigns, are often cited as major causes of voter discontent.

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Close the lecture with efforts to reform campaign finance and the decisions of the courts to limit those efforts. Perhaps the most notable effort was the 2002 Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act. That act, however, has been blunted by decisions of the U.S. Supreme Court in Federal Election Commission v. Wisconsin Right to Life (2007), Davis v. Federal Election Commission (2008), and perhaps most famously in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission (2010).

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Discuss whether real change or reform came from this legislation. Did the bill “have teeth,” or was it simply an idea that is far from being realized in modernday elections? A discussion on “which party is more likely to push for further legislation” or “closing the loopholes in the current legislation” is also appropriate. Does campaign finance reform favor one party over the other?

LECTURE 4: Concern about campaign finance stems from the possibility that candidates or parties, in their pursuit of campaign funds, will decide it is more important to represent their contributors than their consciences or the voters. ▪

Scandals involving the influence of money on policy are not new. In 1925, responding to the Teapot Dome scandal—in which a cabinet member was convicted of accepting bribes in 1922 for arranging the lease of federal land in Wyoming and California for private oil developments—Congress passed the Federal Corrupt Practices Act, which required disclosure of campaign funds but was effectively toothless.

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The 1972 Watergate scandal—in which people associated with the Nixon campaign broke into the Democratic Party headquarters to steal campaign documents and plant listening devices—led to media scrutiny and congressional investigations that revealed that large amounts of money from corporations and individuals had been deposited in secret bank accounts outside the country for political and campaign purposes. 247 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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The public outcry in response to these discoveries prompted Congress to enact the body of reforms that still largely regulate the financing of federal elections.

Running for Congress (Structure) 8.4

Assess the influence of redistricting, incumbency, partisanship, and candidate appeal on the outcome of congressional elections.

LECTURE 1: Explain the influence of partisan gerrymandering on congressional elections in the United States. ▪

“Partisan gerrymandering” refers to the drawing of electoral district lines to favor one party over another.

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In the United States, the vast majority of congressional districts strongly favor either Republicans or Democrats. In those districts, the favored party’s nominee usually wins reelection easily. Consequently, electoral competition tends to occur at the level of the party nomination rather than in the general election.

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Seats in these electoral districts are generally termed “safe seats,” since the incumbent officeholder generally retains the seat in elections by wide margins.

LECTURE 2: The election process is supposed to be fair and unbiased, but disproportional wealth, media coverage, and lack of opposition to incumbents are all factors in an increasingly limited election process. Explain the importance of each of these variables for your students.

LECTURE 3: Many groups support incumbents because they have more experience and are more likely to succeed. Some critics, however, would like to establish term limits for incumbents. Examine the role and potential impact of term limits for Congress. ▪

Supporters of term limits for Congress assert that preventing elected officials from being entrenched in political office is a good way to lessen their influence. 248 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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Critics claim that limits hurt the voting process by forcing voters to elect someone new and possibly unfamiliar with the position over a highly qualified incumbent.

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States with legislative term limits—like California—often have quick turnover of legislators. In California, many believe that term limits have actually increased the influence of interest groups and lobbyists, who often have a better understanding of the legislative process than newly elected legislators.

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In 1990, the Supreme Court ruled that term limits could not be placed on members of Congress. Imposing term limits on members of Congress would thus require a constitutional amendment.

LECTURE 4: How candidates run for Congress differs depending on the nature of their districts or states, on whether candidates are incumbents or challengers, on the strength of their personal organization, on how well known they are, and on how much money they have to spend on their campaigns. ▪

In districts where most people belong to one party or where incumbents are popular and enjoy fund-raising and other campaign advantages, there is often little competition.

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Districts are typically drawn in ways that enhance the reelection prospects of incumbents or one party, a process called partisan gerrymandering. Those who believe that competition is essential to constitutional democracy are concerned that so many officeholders have safe seats.

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Competition is more likely when both candidates have adequate funding, which is not often the case in U.S. House elections.

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Elections for governor and for the U.S. Senate are more seriously contested and more adequately financed than those for the U.S. House.

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The boost candidates get from running along with popular presidential candidates from their parties is known as the coattail effect.

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In midterm elections, presidential popularity and economic conditions have long been associated with the number of House seats a president’s party loses. These same factors are associated with how well the president’s party does in Senate races, but the association is less strong. 249 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

LECTURE 5: Examine the importance of the invisible primary with your students. ▪

The “invisible primary” refers to the period between which a candidate announces an intention to run for a particular office and the time at which the actual primaries take place.

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During the invisible primary, candidates seek to accomplish two things: 

First, they want to raise money and lay the infrastructure for their campaigns, recruiting volunteers, establishing field offices, and so on. The increasingly compressed timeframe of the primary season makes this even more difficult, as candidates must focus on all of the competitive primaries rather than being able to focus on just a few states at a time as they could during a more spread out primary season.

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Second, they want to establish momentum for their candidacies, establishing themselves as viable candidates in the eyes of the electorate and the media.

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In many primary seasons, the candidate who most successfully finishes the invisible primary handily wins the actual primary and the party’s nomination.

LECTURE 6: Explain the process of developing an electoral campaign. ▪

The first step for would-be candidates is to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars (or even more) to mount a serious campaign.

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Another early step is to build a personal organization. Congressional candidates can build an organization while holding another office, such as a seat in the state legislature, by serving in civic causes, helping other candidates, and being conspicuous without being controversial. A candidate’s main hurdle is gaining visibility. Candidates work hard to be mentioned by the media. Political scientists describe this dimension as candidate appeal.

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Issues can also be important in general elections, but the issues are often more local than national. Occasionally, a major national issue arises that can help or hurt one party. Candidates who have differentiated themselves from their parties or their leaders can reduce the impact of such a national tide if it is negative.

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Note that most incumbent members of Congress win reelection. Incumbents are generally better known than challengers—something called name recognition— and benefit from years of media coverage of their generally positive efforts on behalf of their districts. Incumbents also win so often because they are able to outspend challengers in campaigns by approximately 3 to 1 in the House and about 2.37 to 1 in the Senate. In addition, incumbents generally win because their district boundaries have been drawn to be made up of voters who favor their parties. Retirements and redistricting create open seats, which can result in more competitive elections.

Running for President (Action) 8.5

Outline how presidential campaigns are organized and evaluate methods for reaching voters.

LECTURE 1: Differentiate between the three stages of the presidential campaign process. ▪

People seeking a viable chance at winning the presidency must first secure the nomination of one of the two major political parties in the United States. Part of this process includes raising money and developing a campaign infrastructure that will carry the candidate through the nomination process and into the general election. This is often referred to as the invisible primary. During this first stage, candidates develop name recognition and campaign in primary elections and party caucuses to secure their parties’ nominations.

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The party’s nominee is formally named at the national party convention, generally held in late summer of a presidential election year. The party conventions mark the formal launch of the presidential campaign season, with each party rallying behind its nominee. Party conventions generate excitement and energize the party base. In addition to formally nominating the party’s candidates for president and vice president, the party convention also adopts the official party platform and provides plenty of opportunities for rising party stars and distinguished party 251 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

veterans to address the party membership and the American electorate more generally. ▪

After the party conventions comes the general election. During this period, candidates generally crisscross battleground states, seeking to lay out a path to secure the minimum 270 electoral votes necessary to win the presidency. Television and radio advertising usually play a more important role during the general election. Fund-raising is also critical, as advertising, campaign staff, getout-the-vote drives, and other campaign-related expenses mount.

LECTURE 2: Running for president is a long and complex task, involving hundreds of paid campaign staff members (and often tens of thousands of unpaid volunteers) and costing hundreds of millions of dollars. Securing the party’s nomination is just the first step in this process. Examine the presidential campaign process with your students and outline the politics of presidential campaigns after party nomination. ▪

The presidential campaign finance system provides funds to match small individual contributions during the nomination phase of the campaign for candidates who agree to remain within spending limitations.

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Presidential hopefuls face a key dilemma. To get the Republican nomination, a candidate has to appeal to the more intensely conservative Republican partisans, those who vote in caucuses and primaries and actively support campaigns. Democratic hopefuls have to appeal to the liberal wing of their party as well as to minorities, union members, and environmental activists. But to win the general election, candidates have to win support from moderate and pragmatic voters, many of whom do not vote in the primaries.

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Selection of a vice presidential nominee usually garners a campaign considerable attention. The vice-presidential candidate is often used to address a liability in the presidential campaign or to shore up support from a particular region or group.

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Televised presidential debates are a major feature of presidential elections. Since 1988, the nonpartisan Commission on Presidential Debates has sponsored and produced the presidential and vice-presidential debates. Minor-party candidates often charge that those organizing debates are biased in favor of the two major 252 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

parties. To be included in presidential debates, such candidates must have an average of 15 percent or higher in the five major polls the commission uses for this purpose. ▪

Presidential candidates communicate with voters in a general election and in many primary elections through the media: broadcast television, radio, cable television, and satellite radio.

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Candidates must also be legally eligible and on the ballot in enough states to be able to win at least 270 electoral votes.

LECTURE 3: Discuss Electoral College myths and half-truths with your students. The Electoral College is misunderstood by many people, including political scientists. Here are some myths concerning it: ▪

The Electoral College was designed late in the Constitutional Convention when the delegates could not agree on other methods of electing the president. Actually, within the first two weeks of the Convention, James Wilson of Pennsylvania proposed electing the president by special electors.

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The Electoral College system prohibits the election of a president and a vice president from the same state. This misconception comes from the language of the Constitution, which prohibits an elector from casting both of his or her votes for individuals from the same state. It does not, however, prevent the election of a president and a vice president from the same state.

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Five times the Electoral College has elected a president that got fewer popular votes than his rival. Not exactly. 

This has happened only once, in 1888, when Grover Cleveland got more popular votes but lost to Benjamin Harrison due solely to the Electoral College.

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The other two times that are usually lumped in with the 1888 election are the 1824 and 1876 elections. In 1824, Andrew Jackson got more popular votes 253 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

than John Q. Adams, but it was the House of Representatives that elected Adams, not the Electoral College outright. 

In 1876, Democrat Samuel Tilden got more popular votes than Rutherford Hayes, but it was a special commission that allocated disputed electoral votes to Hayes, giving him the victory; again, not the Electoral College outright.

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In 2000, Texas governor George W. Bush won the U.S. presidency without winning the popular vote, even though the state of Florida and its over 400 votes that gave Bush the state were contested for his entire term. The Supreme Court decided the outcome.

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In 2016, Donald Trump won the Electoral College (with 304 votes to Hillary Clinton’s 227), despite losing the popular vote by 2.9 million votes.

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The Electoral College system stipulates that the plurality winner of a state’s popular votes gets all of the state’s electoral votes. The Framers did not stipulate how electors would be chosen. The method of selection was left to states. All but two states use the general ticket system, in which the plurality winner of a state’s popular votes gets all of the state’s electoral votes. This produces the risk that the person winning the national popular vote may lose the election. But such a winner-take-all system is not required by the Constitution. Two states (Maine and Nebraska), in fact, do not use it, relying on the district plan instead.

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The Framers designed the Electoral College because they didn’t think the public was intelligent enough to elect a good president. Some sentiment similar to this was expressed at the convention. But probably the primary concern with popular election of the president was the significant population differences among the states. In other words, it was a political decision. To rely solely on population would have guaranteed that the president (at least early on) would have been selected by three or four of the most populous states. Under this arrangement, it would have been difficult to get nine states to ratify the Constitution.

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Technically, they generally can. But of the thousands of electors who have cast votes for presidents and vice presidents, very few (about .04 percent) have “defected.” This is because the parties usually select people to be electors on the basis of their faithfulness to the parties. Furthermore, the Supreme Court has ruled (Ray v. Blair, 1952, and Chiafalo v. Washington, 2020) that states may restrict the discretion of electors.

LECTURE 4: In The Federalist, No. 68, Alexander Hamilton, writing as Publius, provides the theoretical justification for the delegates’ design for electing the president and the vice president: the Electoral College. Below is a brief outline of the essay with crucial or provocative quotes that should spark class discussion. Also, the Framers did not designate in the Constitution how electors would be selected, but at least five times in this essay, Hamilton expresses the view that electors ought to be selected by the voters. ▪

The method of selecting the president had not been criticized much by the AntiFederalists. This was because it is such a well-crafted system. “I venture somewhat further; and hesitate not to affirm, that if the manner of it be not perfect, it is at least excellent,” Hamilton writes.

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In designing the system, the delegates were guided by the desire that the people have a say in deciding who would hold this important office. This was accomplished by giving the choice to some men chosen by the people for this special purpose, not to a pre-established body of men, like Congress.

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The Framers also wanted to ensure that that those making the decision would be best capable of analyzing the qualities needed in a president. Hamilton writes, “A small number of persons, selected by their fellow citizens from the general mass, will be most likely to possess the information and discernment requisite to so complicated an investigation.”

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The system, as designed by the Framers, also provides an efficient check on mob violence and disorders by requiring that the electors meet in their respective state capitals. 255 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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It is highly desirable that every obstacle guard against cabal, intrigue, and corruption.

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These problems are most likely to come from foreign nations seeking to influence the election outcome. To prevent this, the Framers kept the decision from any preestablished body, which foreign agents could seek to influence, constitutionally excluding office holders from serving as electors and by having electors meet all in one place. “Thus, without corrupting the body of the people, the immediate agents in the election will at least enter upon the task, free from any sinister bias,” says Hamilton.

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The Framers also desired that the president be independent of all but the people. If the Congress elects the president, he or she will hardly be independent of the legislative branch.

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Each state has a number of electors equal to its representation in Congress (House and Senate). To win the presidency, a person has to receive a simple majority of all the electors. If no person does receive a simple majority, the House of Representatives will select from the top five (changed to the top three with the Twelfth Amendment) electoral vote getters, with each state casting one vote.

Improving Elections (Impact) 8.6

Describe common criticisms of presidential elections and evaluate proposed reforms to address them.

LECTURE 1: Among the unresolved issues in campaign finance is how presidential campaigns will be financed. Examine proposals for campaign finance reform with your students. ▪

The role of Super PACs and 501(c) groups, the adequacy of disclosure, and the long-term strength and viability of the political parties are all outstanding topics.

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Some press for more aggressive reforms than those in BCRA. Included in this agenda will be reining in 501(c) groups, restructuring the public financing of presidential elections, providing incentives for people to contribute to candidates 256 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

and parties, and denying foreign corporations and those doing business with the government the ability to spend money on federal elections.

LECTURE 2: The presidential nomination process often comes under criticism for privileging a relatively small number of states. Iowa and New Hampshire, for example, play a pivotal role in presidential nomination campaigns because they are always the two states scheduled for the first primaries. Examine the implications of the current nomination process and proposals for reform with your students. ▪

What would the critics substitute for state presidential primaries? Some argue in favor of a national presidential primary that would take the form of a single nationwide election.

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A more modest proposal is to hold regional primaries, possibly at two- or threeweek intervals across the country. A different proposal is to drastically reduce the number of presidential primaries and make more use of the caucus system.

LECTURE 3: The Electoral College is often criticized as an archaic institution, out of touch with the realities of contemporary life in the United States. Particularly after the outcome of the 2000 presidential election, when Al Gore won the popular vote but lost the Electoral College to George W. Bush, calls for reform have been growing. Examine possible reforms with your students. ▪

The Florida ballot counting and recounting after the 2000 election and the fact that the winner of the popular vote did not become president prompted a national debate on the Electoral College. The most frequently proposed reform is direct popular election of the president.

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Another alternative to the Electoral College is sometimes called the National Bonus Plan. This plan would add another 102 electoral members to the current 538. These 102 members would be awarded on a winner-take-all basis to the candidate with the most votes, so long as that candidate received more than 40 percent of the popular vote. 257 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Finally, two states, Maine and Nebraska, have already adopted a district system in which the candidate who carries each congressional district gets that electoral vote and the candidate who carries the state gets the state’s two additional electoral votes.

LECTURE 4: Outline efforts to impose greater transparency in political campaigns. ▪

In 1971, Congress passed the Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA), which limited amounts that candidates for federal office could spend on advertising, required disclosure of the sources of campaign funds and how they are spent, and required political action committees to register with the government and report all major contributions and expenditures. In 1974, the Watergate scandal helped push Congress to amend FECA in what was the most sweeping campaign reform measure in U.S. history. These amendments established more realistic limits on contributions and spending by candidates and party committees, strengthened disclosure laws, created the Federal Election Commission (FEC) to administer the new laws, and provided for partial public funding of presidential primaries and a grant to major-party presidential candidates in the general election. 

The 1974 law was extensively amended after the Supreme Court’s 1976 Buckley v. Valeo decision, which overturned several of its provisions on grounds that they violated the First Amendment free speech protection.

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One of the success stories of FECA is that presidential candidates of both parties for 20 years chose to accept the limitations on fund-raising and campaign spending that were part of the public financing provisions.

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Congress passed and President Bush signed into law in 2002 the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act (BCRA). 

This legislation, often known as the McCain-Feingold Bill after its two chief sponsors in the Senate, was written with the understanding that it would immediately be challenged in court—and it was. The Supreme Court upheld most of the provisions of BCRA in McConnell v. FEC. 258 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.



It continued the public financing of presidential campaigns with funds from the income tax check-off. It left unchanged the limits on spending by candidates for presidential nominations (on a state-by-state basis and in total) and in the presidential general election for those candidates who accept public funding. The limits under BCRA for 2007–2008 for contributors to candidates were $2,300 for each primary, general, or runoff election. In 2014, it was $2,600.

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In 2010, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down limitations on corporate campaign spending in its controversial decision in the case of Citizens United v. FEC.

Class Activities CLASS ACTIVITY 1: Voter identification requirements have become more common since the 2010 election. ▪

The opponents of these measures typically charge their proponents with “voter suppression.” What does that mean?

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The opponents of the measures seek relief from these state restrictions in federal court. What was the basis of their argument for relief? What was the legal argument of the proponents of these proposals?

This activity uses recent elections to highlight the debates over electoral strategies and voter turnout. (Structure)

CLASS ACTIVITY 2: Some political scientists argue that low voter turnout is due to electoral rules, frequency of elections, and other causes. ▪

Ask your class to explain each of these theories and how they might explain voter turnout.

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Hold a class discussion centering on proposals to change these impediments to voting and the impact of increased voter turnout on the electoral process.

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Conclude by asking your students to consider whether or not low voter turnout is a bad thing. Should we be concerned if everyone does not vote? Why or why not? 259 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

This activity explores the importance of voting and the dynamics that affect voter turnout. (Structure, Action, and Impact)

CLASS ACTIVITY 3: Ask students to reflect on the factors that determine electoral outcomes. How, in short, does one go about winning an election? This activity requires students to synthesize the campaign and election processes and to reflect on the common features of successful campaigns. (Structure and Action) CLASS ACTIVITY 4: Campaign finance remains a controversial topic, particularly in light of the Citizens United decision. Focus an engaging class discussion on the role of money in politics. ▪

Why would some groups and individuals want to avoid disclosing their spending on campaigns?

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What are some ways voters might access information on who is funding campaigns?

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Should campaign communications be required to disclose who paid for them?

This discussion explores the role of money in elections and examines the impact of the Supreme Court’s decision in Citizens United. (Action)

CLASS ACTIVITY 5: Stage a candidate debate. Meet in groups to determine the format of the debate, who should be allowed to participate, and where the debate will be held. ▪

Each group should prepare its candidate to “perform well” in the debate.

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Students should choose a strategy and message for their campaigns. They should decide what tactics will help them win the debate?

This activity explores the role of debates and the features that define a “successful” debate performance in the context of political campaigns. (Action)

CLASS ACTIVITY 6: Run a party convention in class. Nominate candidates, write a platform, and deal with media coverage of the event. Compare various methods of running a party convention and discuss which ones work “best.” This activity focuses on the role of party conventions in the electoral process. (Action)

CLASS ACTIVITY 7: Divide your class into two sections and ask them to take opposing positions on the following question: is it reasonable for voters to look at personality and “character” traits as a basis for judging candidates for public offices? Class discussion on this topic is often animated and responsive. This discussion encourages students to reflect on the relative importance of personality to party or issues in political campaigns. (Action)

CLASS ACTIVITY 8: As a class project, run someone (or several people) for Congress. Call both local political parties and ask for copies of their grassroots electioneering materials or candidate training course materials. Using these materials, write up a campaign plan for a candidate for the House or Senate. Be sure students can explain why they chose their tactics and strategies. ▪

As an alternative, run someone (or several people) for the presidency. Begin with the primary season to choose the parties’ nominees and then square off a Republican, a Democrat, and, if you like, a third-party candidate. Have a plan for media, fund-raising, scheduling and travel, get-out-the-vote, and other aspects of the campaign.

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This activity is most useful if groups must win both the primary and the general election in a competitive district, demonstrating the liability of a consistent ideological position.

This activity illustrates the electoral process and provides students with insights into the tension that often emerges when candidates must win different electorates in the primary and general elections. (Structure and Action)

CLASS ACTIVITY 9: Propose a scenario in which Puerto Rico (or a fictitious entity) becomes the fifty-first state. Have students develop and debate proposals outlining the type of primary election system they believe the new state should use. ▪

You could follow up this assignment in class by having students discuss the various proposals. Assign sides for the debate (Democratic pro-caucus, Democratic pro–open primary, Republican pro–closed primary, and so on).

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This activity encourages students to reflect on the ways in which the type of primaries used affects the candidates selected to run in the general election. (Structure)

Research Activities RESEARCH ACTIVITY 1: Ask students to compare pundits’ advice about what wins campaigns to the success of poll aggregators such as Nate Silver (www.fivethirtyeight.com) in predicting election outcomes. Then have them write a short paper using their findings to analyze the relative influence of campaigns and conditions in elections. This activity examines the tension between political campaigns and pollsters about the factors that determine the outcome of national elections. (Structure and Action)

RESEARCH ACTIVITY 2: Have your students visit the Open Secrets website (www.opensecrets.org) and review the data presented there for a specific member of Congress. Then ask them to write short papers in which they evaluate the importance of the “money primary” in U.S. politics. (Action) ▪

An alternative assignment asks students to consider the massive amount of money that must be raised to stage a successful political campaign. Ask them to devise a fund-raising strategy for a nonincumbent seeking office.

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Yet another alternative assignment asks students to research how campaigns are financed in other countries. Ask them to explain an alternative system of campaign finance used abroad and evaluate how such a system, if adopted in the United States, would affect campaigns and elections here.

This activity considers the importance of campaign finance in electoral politics in the United States. (Action)

RESEARCH ACTIVITY 3: Have students develop issue advocacy ads for congressional and presidential elections and present them in class. This assignment works particularly well in interdisciplinary student groups. If they are unable to develop ads, then have them develop storyboards for ads instead. 262 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

This activity focuses on the composition and function of issue advocacy ads. (Action)

RESEARCH ACTIVITY 4: For a reading and writing connection (and if teaching in an election year), have students keep clipping files on candidates for offices of their choice. ▪

Using broadcast and print media sources and descriptive journal entries for each item, have students identify the policy positions of their candidates from these sources.

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In short analytical essays, have them compare the information they obtained through news coverage of their candidates with information they obtained in campaign advertisements about the candidates’ issue positions.

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Alternatively, students could compare media images between competing candidates using the same format.

This activity examines the role of the media and media image in campaigns and elections. (Action) RESEARCH ACTIVITY 5: In the aftermath of the Supreme Court’s decision in Citizens United, some observers became increasingly concerned with the impact of “dark money” in the political process, as newly formed 501(c) groups were created to shield donor disclosure. ▪

Have your students investigate how much money these groups raised and spent in the 2020 election cycle.

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Ask them to write short papers reflecting on the following questions: 

Should the political spending of 501(c) groups be regulated or reformed? Why or why not?

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If so, how would the Supreme Court likely view the constitutionality of their proposed reforms, particularly given its decision in Citizens United?

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How would their proposed reforms play out politically? Would they benefit one party over another? Why?

This activity explores the changing dynamics of campaign finance and efforts to regulate campaign spending after Citizens United. (Action)

RESEARCH ACTIVITY 6: Ask students to create a time line of amendments, legislation, and Supreme Court decisions that have impacted the conduct of campaigns and elections in the United States. ▪

This can be organized as an individual or group assignment.

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Alternatively, have your class develop a wiki that examines major developments in this area over time.

This activity highlights the importance of the legislature and courts in influencing electoral politics in the United States. (Action and Impact)

RESEARCH ACTIVITY 7: Have students look at several sources discussing the Electoral College. (There are many on the web. Consider having them start with ballotpedia.com or www.nationalpopularvote.com) Then ask them to write short papers considering the following questions: ▪

What reforms have been proposed?

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How useful is the Electoral College now? Would you advocate a different approach?

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How should we think about the 2000 and 2016 presidential elections, in which one candidate won the popular vote, but lost the Electoral College?

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What are the merits of the Electoral College system? Is the Electoral College even necessary today? Why or why not?

This activity examines the structure and function of the Electoral College and explores recent proposals to reform it. (Structure and Impact) RESEARCH ACTIVITY 8: Ask your students to read the proposal by the National Association of Secretaries of State (NASS) to divide the country into four regions and rotate primaries throughout the country on a more equitable basis. NASS first proposed this reform in 2000, and it has since been endorsed by the Council of State Governments and National Lieutenant Governors’ Association. More information about the proposal can be found at: https://www.nlga.us/wp-content/uploads/3.14.08-LT.-GOVERNORS-WANT-NEW-WAY.pdf and https://www.csg.org/knowledgecenter/docs/Regional%20Primary%20Resolution.pdf.

In short essays, ask them to reflect on how the NASS’s proposed changes would affect the dynamics of presidential nominations and campaigns in the United States. This activity explores the current dynamics surrounding the timing of presidential primaries and engages students with real-world efforts to reform the primary system. (Structure and Action)

Participation Activities PARTICIPATION ACTIVITY 1: Have your students visit the office of a local House member or visit the member’s website to request a copy of the House member’s newsletter. Then ask them to analyze the newsletter and evaluate its effectiveness both as a vehicle for communicating with constituents and as a tool for self-promotion of the incumbent. This activity explores the advantages of incumbency in congressional elections. (Structure)

PARTICIPATION ACTIVITY 2: In an election year, have students volunteer for campaigns of their choice. They may choose to work for specific officials or on campaigns for or against a ballot measure. Ask students to keep journals or to write short papers reflecting on their experiences as campaign volunteers and how those experiences illustrate (or perhaps do not illustrate) the theoretical material discussed in this chapter. This activity provides students with the opportunity to apply their studies to the real world of political campaigns. (Action)

PARTICIPATION ACTIVITY 3: In an election year, have students organize a voter education event. Invite speakers representing various ballot measures or candidates for local elected office to speak at an event open to the college or university community. Afterward, ask students to reflect on what they learned about the campaign process as a result of the event. This activity provides students with the opportunity to connect the theoretical lessons and issues discussed in the text with the current political campaigns at the local level. (Action) 265 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Suggested Readings and Films READING 1: Focus on the Electoral College seems to ebb and flow. After the 2000 presidential election, in which Al Gore won the popular vote but George W. Bush won the Electoral College, the institution came under increasing scrutiny. Similarly, the 2016 election, in which Hillary Clinton won the popular vote by 2.9 million votes but lost to Donald Trump in the Electoral College, caused many to conclude that the institution is undemocratic. Some texts examining this topic include the following: ▪

Tara Ross, Enlightened Democracy: The Case for the Electoral College (Los Angeles: Colonial Press, 2012).

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George C. Edwards III, Why the Electoral College Is Bad for America, 3rd ed. (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2019).

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Paul D. Schumaker and Burdett A. Loomis, Choosing a President: The Electoral College and Beyond (Washington, D.C.: CQ Press, 2002).

READING 2: A Perfect Tie: The True Story of the 2000 Presidential Election (New York: Rowman and Littlefield, 2001) is a detailed examination of one of the most controversial presidential elections in contemporary American politics by James W. Ceaser and Andrew E. Busch.

READING 3: Barbara Norrander writes an engaging study of the evolving process and politics of presidential nominations in the United States in The Imperfect Primary: Oddities, Biases, and Strengths of U.S. Presidential Nomination Politics (London: Routledge, 2010). READING 4: Perhaps not surprisingly, the presidential nomination process has come under scrutiny in recent years, as scholars and political pundits debate the merits of privileging Iowa and New Hampshire in the nomination battles. Several engaging texts and reports have been published on the nominating process. Examples include the following:

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David P. Redlawsk, Caroline J. Tolbert, and Todd Donovan, Why Iowa? How Caucuses and Sequential Elections Improve the Presidential Nominating Process (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2010).

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Marty Cohen, David Karol, Hans Noel, and John Zaller, “Party Versus Faction in the Reformed Presidential Nominating System,” PS: Political Science and Politics 49, no. 4 (2016): 701-708.

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Peverill Squire, ed. The Iowa Caucuses and the Presidential Nominating Process (New York: Routledge, 2019).

READING 5: In “The Gerrymanderers Are Coming! Legislative Redistricting Won’t Affect Competition or Polarization Much, No Matter Who Does It,” PS: Political Science and Politics 45, no. 1 (2012): 39–43, Seth E. Masket, Jonathan Winburn, and Gerald C. Wright argue that despite the considerable attention given to the importance of redistricting state legislative and congressional boundaries, the real effect of partisan redistricting is limited, and any gains from gerrymandering are likely offset by other developments in the political environment.

READING 6: While the size of the House of Representatives was fixed in 1912, the number of people in the United States has increased dramatically since then, leading to a large increase in the population of congressional districts. Michael G. Neubauer and Margo G. Gartner argue in “A Proposal for Apportioning the House,” PS: Political Science and Politics 44, no. 1 (2011): 77–79 that it is time to rethink how seats in the House of Representative are allocated.

READING 7: In Is This Any Way to Run a Democratic Election? (Washington, D.C.: CQ Press, 2010), Stephen J. Wayne contrasts the idealism expressed in the U.S. commitment to democracy with the practical politics of fund-raising and lobbying in the United States. READING 8: Engaging books written by key operatives and political candidates in recent elections provide insight into the internal operations of campaigns. Recent examples include the following: ▪

David Plouffe, The Audacity to Win: The Inside Story and Lessons of Barack Obama’s Historic Victory (New York: Penguin, 2009). 267 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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Karl Rove, Courage and Consequences: My Life as a Conservative in the Fight (New York: Simon and Schuster, 2010).

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Hillary Rodham Clinton, What Happened (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2017).

READING 9: John B. Holbein and D. Sunshine Hillygus examine the puzzle of low youth voter turnout and explore possible solutions rooted in civic education and electoral reform in Making Young Voters: Converting Civic Attitudes into Civic Action (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2020).

READING 10: The American National Election Studies website (www.electionstudies.org) is a key source of data on voting behavior.

READING 11: On its website, C-SPAN (www.c-span.org) shows up-to-date information about the workings of Congress and includes information on elections.

READING 12: Several sites attempt to track the growing amount of money in political campaigns. Among the best established are the following: ▪

The Center for Public Integrity (www.publicintegrity.org), an especially good site for following the money trail, tracks how campaign money is gathered and spent.

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The Center for Responsive Politics (www.opensecrets.org) is a nonpartisan organization that tracks money given from PACs.

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Common Cause (www.commoncause.org) offers information on soft money donations, PAC contributions, and voting records on campaign finance issues as well as other information.

READING 13: The Museum of the Moving Image (www.livingroomcandidate.org) is an online archive of presidential campaign ads from 1952 to the present. For each election, visitors can watch the ads and read an overview of the candidates, the historical context, and the result.

READING 14: Campaigns and Elections magazine (www.campaignsandelections.com) is oriented toward campaign professionals but is also useful to teachers and students. It offers articles, job opportunities, a blog, and more.

READING 15: Both parties maintain an extensive web presence in support of their electoral operations. In addition to the countless websites created for individual candidates, party sites include the following: ▪

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, the DCCC: www.dccc.org

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The Democratic National Committee (www.democrats.org) is the official site of the Democratic Party with information on party positions and candidates, how to work as a volunteer or contribute money, and more.

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The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, the DSCC: www.dscc.org

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The National Republican Congressional Committee, the NRCC: www.nrcc.org

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The National Republican Senatorial Committee, the NRSC: www.nrsc.org

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The Republican National Committee (www.rnc.org) is the official site of the Republican Party with information on party positions and candidates, how to work as a volunteer or contribute money, and more.

FILM 16: Debating Our Destiny: 40 Years of Presidential Debates (MacNeil/Lehrer Productions, 2000) includes clips of some of the most compelling debate exchanges over the past 10 years.

FILM 17: . . . So Goes the Nation (Adam Del Deo and James D. Stern, directors, Endgame Entertainment, 2006) examines the role of Ohio in the 2004 presidential election.

FILM 18: Unprecedented: The 2000 Presidential Election (Richard Ray Perez and Joan Sekler, directors, Los Angeles Independent Media Center, 2002) is a 50-minute examination of the controversial occurrences in Florida during the 2000 presidential election, leading up to the eventual administration of George W. Bush. The filmmakers investigate what went wrong before, during, and after the disputed election decision. The film explores the topics of voter rolls, ballot design, vote recounting, and actions of the Supreme Court. 269 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

FILM 19: The War Room (Chris Hegedus and D. A. Pennebaker, directors, Cyclone Films, 1993) looks inside the 1992 presidential race and explores the backstage side of national politics by examining the day-to-day operations of Bill Clinton’s campaign staff.

FILM 20: You Are There: Jefferson Makes a Difference (Woodhaven Entertainment, 1953) discusses the role of the Electoral College in the election of Thomas Jefferson.

FILM 21: All In: The Fight for Democracy (Liz Garbus and Lisa Cortéz, directors, Amazon Studios, 2020) examines the 2018 election controversy surrounding gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams and the history of voter suppression in America.

Revel Features Chapter Introduction CURRENT EVENTS BULLETIN Video: WATCH Campaigns and Elections: The Big Picture Author video.

Elections: The Rules of the Game (Structure) 8.1

Outline the procedures for presidential and congressional elections.

Video: WATCH What Is the Electoral College and Is It Still Relevant in Our Democracy? Sketchnote Video: WATCH The Electoral College Social Explorer: EXPLORE THE MAP 2004, 2008, 2012 and 2016 Battleground States Journal Prompt: 2004, 2008, 2012 and 2016 Battleground States Select a state in a different geographic area from where you currently reside and explore how it has changed from 2004 to 2016. What kinds of shifts do you see? How do these shifts compare with those that occurred in your current state of residence? 270 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Read: HAPPENING NOW Summary of the siege on the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, and the aftermath of the event. Journal Prompt 8.1 How do you think proportionally allocating offices based on the percentage of the vote their party receives statewide would change the election process and outcome? QUIZ 8.1 Elections: The Rules of the Game (Structure)

Counting Votes (Structure) 8.2

Assess how well American elections are administered.

Video: WATCH President Trump Tells ABC News’ David Muir Alleged Voter Fraud Probe Has “A Lot to Look Into” ABC video. Journal Prompt 8.2 What are the best arguments for and against the Electoral College? QUIZ 8.2 Counting Votes (Structure)

Money in U.S. Elections (Action) 8.3

Evaluate the influence of money in elections and the main approaches to campaign finance reform.

Social Explorer: FIGURE 8.1 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES AND OUTSIDE MONEY SPENDING THROUGH JUNE 30, 2016 Sketchnote Video: WATCH PACs and Super PACs Journal Prompt 8.3 What are the most compelling arguments for and against Super PACs? QUIZ 8.3 Money in U.S. Elections (Action)

8.4

Assess the influence of redistricting, incumbency, partisanship, and candidate appeal on the outcome of congressional elections.

Social Explorer: FIGURE 8.2 SAFE AND COMPETITIVE HOUSE SEATS, 2000–2020 Social Explorer: FIGURE 8.3 SEATS GAINED OR LOST BY THE PRESIDENT’S PARTY IN MIDTERM ELECTIONS, 1942–2018

Sketchnote Video: WATCH Candidate Appeal: Positive and Negative Social Explorer: FIGURE 8.4 AVG CAMPAIGN EXPENDITURES, U.S. HOUSE CANDIDATES: DEM (TOP), REP (BOTTOM) Social Explorer: FIGURE 8.5 RISING CAMPAIGN COSTS FOR WINNING CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDATES, HOUSE, SENATE, TOTAL FOR 1976-2018 (MILLIONS OF NOMINAL DOLLARS) Journal Prompt 8.4 What does it mean for our political system that so few incumbents are defeated? QUIZ 8.4 Running for Congress (Structure)

Running for President (Action) 8.5

Outline how presidential campaigns are organized and evaluate methods for reaching voters.

Video: WATCH Donald Trump Fuming at GOP ABC video. Video: WATCH U.S. Presidential Candidates Richard Nixon and John F. Kennedy Appear on a Televised Debate Video: WATCH President Trump and Biden Spar in Noisy First Presidential Debate ABC video. Video: WATCH Real Reactions: St. Louis Bar Patrons Analyze Second Debate ABC video. Social Explorer: EXPLORE THE MAP 2012 vs. 2016 Midwest Election Results 272 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Journal Prompt 8.5 What factors were most important in determining the winner of the 2016 presidential election?

QUIZ 8.5 Running for President (Action)

Improving Elections (Impact) 8.6

Describe common criticisms of presidential elections and evaluate proposed reforms to address them.

Social Explorer: FIGURE 8.6 SPENDING BY OUTSIDE GROUPS IN 2012, 2014, 2016, AND 2018 Social Explorer: FIGURE 8.7 HOW PACS AND OTHERS ALLOCATED CAMPAIGN CONTRIBUTIONS TO HOUSE CANDIDATES, 2015–2016 Social Explorer: FIGURE 8.8 VOTER TURNOUT IN THE 2020 PRESIDENTIAL PRIMARIES Journal Prompt: FIGURE 8.8 What factors have either motivated you to vote in a primary election or not to vote? Do you think your vote in the most recent presidential primary would have made a difference in your state? Journal Prompt 8.6 What do you see as the consequences of our privately funded candidate campaigns where people and groups can spend unlimited amounts to defeat or elect a candidate? QUIZ 8.6 Improving Elections (Impact) SHARED WRITING PROMPT: Campaigns and Elections Given what you have learned about the presidential election process in general and the most recent presidential election in particular, what would you recommend as ways to improve the process?

Review the Chapter Video: WATCH Campaigns and Elections: So What? Author video. Flashcards: LEARN THE TERMS Campaigns and Elections Flashcard set of key terms and definitions for the chapter. CHAPTER 8 QUIZ Campaigns and Elections 273 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

9 The Media and U.S. Politics Chapter Overview The power of the mass media has expanded dramatically since the beginning of the twentieth century. In this chapter, we examine how the mass media function as part of the American political process. We start by examining the origins, structure, and functions of the news media, and the nature of constitutional protections of Freedom of the Press. We then describe the effect of recent trends in how Americans get their news. Next, we assess the influence of the news media on American public opinion and elections. We conclude by describing the news media’s relationship to governance in the United States. By the end of the chapter, students should have a good understanding of how the media function as a political institution and how they interact with other political actors and institutions to affect politics in the United States.

Lecture Suggestions The Structure and Functions of the News Media and the Constitutional Protections of Freedom of the Press (Structure) 9.1

Explain the origins, structure, and functions of the news media, and the nature of constitutional protections of freedom of the press.

LECTURE 1: The news media have changed dramatically throughout the course of U.S. history. ▪

When the Constitution was being ratified, newspapers consisted of a single sheet.

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The new nation’s political leaders, including Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson, recognized the need to keep voters informed. Political parties as we know them did not exist, but the support the press had given to the Revolution had fostered a growing awareness of the political potential of newspapers. Hamilton recruited staunch Federalist John Fenno to edit and publish a newspaper in the new national capital of Philadelphia.

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Jefferson responded by attracting Philip Freneau, a talented writer and editor and a loyal Republican, to do the same for the Republicans. (Jefferson’s Republicans later became the Democratic Party.) The two papers became the nucleus of a network of competing partisan newspapers throughout the nation. They became a model for future partisan papers.

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Some newspaper publishers began to experiment with a new way to finance their newspapers. They charged a penny a paper, paid on delivery, instead of the traditional annual subscription fee of $8 to $10, which most readers could not afford. The “penny press,” as it was called, expanded circulation and increased advertising, enabling newspapers to become financially independent of the political parties. 276 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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By the early twentieth century, many journalists began to argue that the press should be independent of the political parties. Objective journalism was also a reaction to exaggeration and sensationalism in the news media, something called “yellow journalism” at the time. Journalists began to view their work as a profession, and they established professional associations with journals and codes of ethics.

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Radio and television nationalized and personalized the news. People could now follow events as they happened and not have to wait for the publication of a newspaper.

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Beginning in 1933, President Franklin Roosevelt used radio with remarkable effectiveness. Television added a dramatic visual dimension. Cable television brought round-the-clock news coverage.

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News reporters today do more than convey the news; they investigate it, and their investigations often have political consequences. In many ways, the best example of the power of investigatory journalism is in the role the media played in the Watergate scandal. Without persistent reporting by columnist Jack Anderson and two young Washington Post reporters, Robert Woodward and Carl Bernstein, the story would probably have been limited to a report of a failed burglary at the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee in the Watergate building.

LECTURE 2: Although the First Amendment frees the press from government influence, the media had to work hard to gain their full freedom. Examine the historical evolution and contemporary status of the rights of a free press in the United States. ▪

The most famous early restriction was the 1798 Sedition Act, which criminalized criticism of Congress and the president. During the Civil War, the government limited telegraph transmissions from Washington, D.C. After the war, the federal government jailed reporters who criticized Reconstruction.

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In the early twentieth century, laws prevented the press from invading privacy. During World War I, the Espionage Act declared illegal publications that would undermine recruiting efforts. In the 1930s, the Supreme Court began to develop a more expansive understanding of the First Amendment, and by the end of the 1970s, current press freedoms had been established in law.

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The media do not necessarily have free rein, however. 

First, they cannot defame someone—that is, they cannot make a false or unsubstantiated attack on someone’s good name or reputation.

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Second, they cannot be compelled to cover something.

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There are more restraints on the broadcast media, which are considered semimonopolies. Print media have fewer restraints because of their many outlets.

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Reporters can be compelled to reveal the names of confidential sources when the information is germane to a legal matter. 

For example, in 2003, Time magazine published the name of a CIA officer. The media were not at fault, but the person who leaked the information was in trouble. One reporter gave his source: Karl Rove.

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Another reporter, Judith Miller, went to jail for 85 days for failing to reveal that Dick Cheney’s chief of staff had given her the name.

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To avoid jail time, reporters advocate shield laws granting them certain exemptions. While some states protect reporters, the federal government does not.

LECTURE 3: Mass media refers to media designed to transmit information to a large audience across a large region. ▪

The media are often described as the basis for the marketplace of ideas. This refers to the concept that ideas and theories compete for acceptance among the public through the media.

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The founders viewed a free media as a central pillar of American democracy, as reflected by the protections for freedom of speech and the press in the First Amendment.

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Authoritarian regimes, by contrast, assume that the government knows what’s best for its citizens and thus seek to control all flows of information, thereby molding what the public thinks about and believes. Authoritarian governments also believe that news and entertainment programs should not question government or its policies and should instead build support and loyalty.

LECTURE 4: The battles between American politicians and the media are as old as the country. Examine this relationship by focusing on the conflict between Thomas Jefferson and John Adams over the presidency. ▪

In 1799, Jefferson prepared to challenge John Adams in the election of 1800 by hiring controversial political journalist and pamphleteer James Callendar to discredit Adams in the press. Callendar declared that Adams was determined to make war with France and that only Jefferson would keep the nation at peace. He also attacked Adams’s character, trashing him as a “strange compound of ignorance and ferocity, of deceit and weakness.”

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Jefferson established Callendar as the editor of the Republican Richmond Examiner. Callender began work on The Prospects before Us. He dug up promonarchy charges that always dogged Adams, then charged Adams with being “mentally deranged,” planning to crown himself king, and grooming John Quincy as his heir to the throne. Adams was a “hideous hermaphroditical character, which has neither the force of a man, nor the gentleness and sensibility of a woman.”

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This story demonstrates how politicians need the media to convey their messages. However, politicians don’t want to hear the opposite side of an argument, the criticism and editorial comment the press offers. Politicians are constantly looking to control the media, and the press wants to appear independent.

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Consequently, informed citizens need to understand the filters their news passes through, all the way down to the personal filters they apply. In the final analysis, do citizens apply selective perception, and simply, in the words of Simon and Garfunkel, “hear what they want to hear and disregard the rest”?

LECTURE 5: The primary functions of the media generally center on a few key areas. Examine these with your students. ▪

Entertainment. Most Americans turn to the media for entertainment. But even in its entertainment function, the media also affect politics. During the 2008 campaign, Tina Fey’s portrayal of Republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin defined Palin in ways the campaign was never able to overcome. Indeed, some of the most famous lines from the campaign—for example, “I can see Russia from my house,” were from Fey’s character rather than the real Sarah Palin. Nevertheless, many voters came to view Palin as unprepared for office.

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Surveillance. As Harold Lasswell noted, media are “the eyes and ears of the world.” They often assume responsibility for mentoring and reporting on issues. The more coverage an issue draws, the more likely it becomes an issue that political leaders will view as serious and in need of attention. In this sense, the media sometimes help set the political agenda.

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Interpretation. The media also help people make sense of the events taking place, framing issues in ways that resonate with consumers.

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Socialization. Finally, the media also act as agents of political socialization, teaching us about the world around us. Media help form our political belief structures and our political culture. The media also reinforce economic and social values. Adults can easily find programming to reinforce their ideology and political views; children are more susceptible to what they learn from TV.

LECTURE 6: The business of the media is to gather mass audiences to sell to advertisers. Examine the business of the media with your students. ▪

Economic interest drives all media to try to attract and hold the largest numbers of readers and viewers so as to sell time and space to advertisers. 

Over one-quarter of all primetime television (8:00 p.m.–11:00 p.m.) is devoted to commercial advertising.

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Television networks and commercial stations charge advertisers on the basis of audience estimates made by ratings services. 280 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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Newspaper and magazine advertising revenue is based primarily on circulation figures.

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As a result, lightweight entertainment—“soft fluff”—prevails over serious programming in virtually all media, particularly on television. 

As part of this process, the dividing line between news and entertainment, particularly on television, has become conflated.

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Recent years have seen a dramatic increase in entertainment-oriented, quasinews programming, sometimes referred to as the “soft news media.”

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Soft news comes in various formats: talk shows, both daytime and nighttime, and tabloid news programs.

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Politicians themselves have come to understand the importance of soft news programming in reaching segments of the public that seldom watch news programs, speeches or debates, or campaign advertising.

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This distinction can be illustrated more clearly for your students. Use the Internet to find videos illustrating the various formats that disseminate soft news. 

Sampling a daytime talk show like The View, a nighttime talk show like Tucker Carlson Tonight, a satirical program like The Daily Show, and a soft news segment from a network evening newscast would aid in illustrating the characteristics of “soft news.”

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Most major media outlets have videos available for download on their websites.

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For further discussion of the business of media, hand out a copy of the weekly Nielsen ratings.

LECTURE 7: Explore the decline of federal rules governing broadcast media. ▪

The Equal Time Rule requires the broadcast media to offer all major candidates competing for a political office equal airtime. The station can refuse to sell time to any candidates from any political party (including minor parties) for particular offices, but if it sells to one, it must sell to the others.

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The Fairness Doctrine, in effect from 1949 to 1985, was broader than the Equal Time Rule, requiring the broadcast media to allow “reasonable positions” to be presented on controversial issues of public interest. Therefore, we often see or hear news shows on which one person represents one side of an issue and another person speaks for the other side. While it is not required any longer, it is still a common practice.

How Americans Get the News (Action) 9.2

Describe the effect of recent trends in how Americans get their news.

LECTURE 1: Trace the history of the mass media in American politics. ▪

Newspapers were the first mass medium intended to communicate information in a timely fashion to a large audience. Early papers generally tried to avoid controversial issues. Later, they were used to promote public support for ratifying the Constitution.

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Later, party presses, as they came to be known, were seen as the arms of competing political factions but were relatively expensive and did not have many subscribers. After the Constitution’s ratification, political leaders thought it very important to promote newspapers, which informed citizens of major issues facing the new government.

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By the early 1830s, there were 12 daily newspapers published in Philadelphia and 6 in New York City. The number of newspapers published across the country soared, from around 200 in 1800 to around 1,200 in the mid-1830s.

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In a fierce competition to sell papers, yellow journalism, featuring sensationalism, comics, and scandal, became popular at the end of the nineteenth century.

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In the early twentieth century, the ownership of newspapers became more centralized, the result of competition that forced many papers to close or merge; by 1933, 6 newspaper chains owned 81 daily papers. 282 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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The first radio stations were strictly local, but the formation of radio networks with syndicated programming began in the late 1920s. Like the newspaper industry, radio has experienced significant consolidation.

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Unlike newspapers and radio stations, which first were independently owned and only later consolidated into chains and networks, high costs dictated that almost from the beginning, TV stations were affiliated with networks, thus centralizing ownership. Today, however, the ownership of television broadcasting is becoming more competitive and diverse. With the advent of cable networks, the nature of watching TV changed, reducing the audience for network programming.

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By the 1990s, the Internet was coming into widespread public use. Today, virtually all elected officials and organizations maintain websites to provide information and enable citizens to reach them directly. They also maintain accounts on social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

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Today, many believe the media have become more democratized. Anyone with basic computer skills and the interest can create a website and a blog—and there is no mechanism to differentiate irrelevant, biased, or intentionally manipulative information from that which is reliable and accurate, other than to be an informed consumer of information.

LECTURE 2: Discuss recent changes and trends in the news media with your students. ▪

As television and other mass media have become more specialized, the targeting of specific audiences, known as “narrowcasting,” has become far more common.

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The increasing ease of access and declining costs of communication technologies have encouraged a massive increase in the number of people writing about politics. Some see citizen journalism as a positive mechanism that allows for more variety of content, promotes diversity, and enhances participatory democracy, while others view it as dangerous for democracy, since it mostly lacks

regulation of content or quality—in essence, anyone can become a “citizen journalist” with no training or qualifications. ▪

The news media have become increasingly concentrated. As media ownership becomes more centralized, there is a tendency to promote a sameness of opinion and experience. 

It is a cause for concern that much of the news comes from national news services and minimal or no competition exists between papers in major cities— especially between two or more morning or evening papers.

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Media observers enthusiastically approve of competitive news markets where two or more news organizations can check each other’s accuracy and neutrality of reporting. They regard news monopolies with single news firms controlling all the media in a given market as potentially dangerous. Newspaper ownership in recent decades has tended toward monopolies and away from competitive markets.

LECTURE 3: Technology has had a profound impact on how people interact with the world around them. ▪

First, in 1440, Gutenberg invented the printing press, which made it possible to distribute large quantities of printed materials. In 1837, the telegraph was invented; in 1866, the transatlantic cable was laid, meaning that people could know what was happening in Europe within minutes. In the 1920s, radio offered instant and immediate news, and in the 1940s, television offered instant pictures.

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While newspapers lost readership to television, they still continued to flourish.

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At the dawn of the twenty-first century, a fourth wave of technology shook the foundations of media—e.g., smartphones, social media—and newspapers and magazines began to go bankrupt. Network news lost millions of viewers to cable news and the Internet. As of 2018, 34 percent of Americans reported getting their news primarily from online sources.

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People can now self-select what they hear and watch; conservatives and liberals can hear and watch only those items that already fit their worldviews. 284 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

LECTURE 4: For many students, satire is the primary point of entry for engaging with the news media. The Colbert Report (no longer airing new episodes but available online), The Daily Show With Trevor Noah, and Full Frontal With Samantha Bee provide good opportunities to discuss many of the themes raised in this chapter. For example, a discussion of Stephen Colbert’s concept of “truthiness” captures several important concepts. Colbert first introduced the idea of “truthiness” on his October 17, 2005, show. The idea refers to a “truth” that someone holds intuitively “from the gut” or because it “feels right,” even in the face of facts.

LECTURE 5: For a lively consideration of the topic, ask your students to explore the roles of various media in their daily lives. ▪

Start by asking your students to list the media they consume on a daily basis. Have them note and compare the frequency with which they use each medium. For a more detailed assignment, you could also ask them to journal their consumption of media for a week.

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Then, go online with your class and explore the different types of media available through the Internet.

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You may want to encourage students to use their own personal devices (smartphones, tablet computers, etc.). This may engender greater participation and enthusiasm.

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Finally, examine the advantages and disadvantages of traditional versus new media.

The Influence of the News Media on Public Opinion and Elections (Impact) 9.3

Assess the influence of the news media on American public opinion and elections.

LECTURE 1: When the media focus on front runners in polls and stories, lesser-known candidates often encounter many difficulties, especially with fund-raising, and are often forced to 285 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

withdraw early from the race. Moreover, the media often declare winners based not on the absolute vote total but on how well a candidate does compared to what had been expected. ▪

Research shows that “horse race coverage” affects voters’ decisions. By paying the most attention to front runners (and giving them more positive coverage than their competitors), the media put lesser-known candidates at a disadvantage.

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To counter negative advertising and shrinking news coverage, one key aspect of media usage in campaigns is the need to purchase paid advertising. TV coverage of campaigns has also shrunk, now consisting chiefly of tiny, frequently repeated visual snippets called “sound bites.”

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Televised debates can also be important in affecting the public’s perception of candidates. Television puts charismatic, telegenic candidates at an advantage; hence candidates for high-profile positions usually hire coaches to teach them how to behave when appearing on television.

LECTURE 2: Media play an important role in government elections. They can anoint the “front runner” in a political race and give more news coverage to that candidate. Televised debates are also key factors in influencing public opinion. Examine key debate moments with your students and consider how they affected presidential politics. ▪

In the first presidential debate in 1960 between Kennedy and Nixon, people listening to the debate on the radio thought Nixon won. He had won debating awards in college. Those viewing it on television thought Kennedy won. In subsequent debates, with most people watching them on television, the lesson was clear: it doesn’t matter what you say, it is how you look or project to your audience.

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Perhaps the most memorable moment in President Carter’s debate with Ronald Reagan in 1980 was Reagan’s line during his summation: “Are you better off now than four years ago?” This was a brilliant strategy since he knew the answer for most of those viewing would be “no,” and he was appealing to the tendency of most voters to engage in retrospective voting.

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Kennedy-Nixon, 1960: go to www.youtube.com and search “Kennedy-Nixon”

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The 1980 Reagan-Carter debate had several memorable moments, including Reagan’s “There You Go Again” (go to www.youtube.com and search “Reagan-Carter debate there you go again”) and “Are You Better Off…” (go to www.youtube.com and search “Reagan-Carter debate are you better off”) lines.

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Although his ticket was unsuccessful, Democratic vice-presidential nominee Lloyd Benson in 1988 delivered an outstanding one-liner in his debate with Republican Dan Quayle, telling Quayle, “Senator, you’re no Jack Kennedy” (go to www.youtube.com and search “Senator you’re no Jack Kennedy”).

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President Bill Clinton was known to be an outstanding debater and speaker, as his 1992 debate with President George H. W. Bush illustrated (go to www.youtube.com and search “Clinton’s debate moment”).

LECTURE 3: In recent campaign seasons, many candidates for office made great efforts to bypass the traditional news media and to communicate directly—but electronically—with the voters. ▪

The concept behind the approach is that the news media are biased against politicians, particularly conservative politicians. Reporters, intentionally or not, distort the messages that candidates are trying to get across, especially if that message goes against what passes for journalistic liberal conventional wisdom.

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Ross Perot in 1992, Newt Gingrich in 1994 (and even Bill Clinton in 1992) tried several alternative ways of communicating with the voters, with messages unfiltered through the lens of reporters. Methods such as distribution of videotapes, two-way interactive teleconferencing, and appearing on talk shows such as Larry King Live were commonly used.

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Ross Perot had great success with the 30-minute infomercial, a direct challenge to the conventional 30-second advertising spot or the 60-second sound bite on network news.

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In 1994, Gingrich had millions of copies of the congressional Republican Contract with America printed in TV Guide magazine and distributed hundreds of videotapes of his college course on renewing the American Dream.

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In 2004, John Kerry and George Bush made prominent appearances on talk shows in an attempt to circumvent journalistic interpretation.

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Both John McCain and Barack Obama used the Internet to build social networks and solicit donations during the 2008 campaigns, as did several of the primary candidates during the nomination process. The Obama mobilization effort appears to have been more focused on young voters and, as such, was more effective in building volunteer networks to register new voters, encouraging neighborhood meetings, and soliciting small donations that together exceeded the fund-raising efforts of the McCain campaign.

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In 2012, both campaigns made extensive use of direct contact with voters, echoing many of the mobilization efforts used in the 2008 Obama campaign.

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In 2016 and 2020, the campaigns utilized social media—including Facebook and Twitter—to reach out to voters. Donald Trump’s tweets were especially effective in drawing attention due to his confrontational communication style. During the 2020 election, Donald Trump had more than 88.1 million Twitter followers, while Joe Biden had 13.2 million followers.

LECTURE 4: One controversial question in American politics is whether media coverage of politics exhibits bias—that is, favorable treatment of certain politicians, policy positions, groups, or political outcomes. Certain media—talk radio, for instance—are decidedly biased. But this is not where to look for bias, as objectivity standards only apply to hard news reporting. ▪

Much of the evidence of media bias is anecdotal, and the findings are inconclusive; they contradict each other.

▪

One way to detect media bias is to ask journalists what they think. Journalists also contradict themselves; they say that liberals get a better view in the press, but then they say that labor unions are not as positively covered as the wealthy.

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Journalists are more likely than the general public to call themselves liberal—even though still more say that they are moderate, the liberals outpace the conservatives by quite a bit.

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Political scientists use content analysis, a technique for identifying themes, categories, and other logical groupings in written materials or transcripts. Generally, the studies look at presidential election coverage. Studies that looked at gatekeeping, coverage, and statement bias found nothing in the aggregate. This does not mean that every channel was unbiased in every election; it just means the net result was zero bias.

LECTURE 5: Outline the primary sources of media power and influence. ▪

Deciding what is “news” and who is “newsworthy”—news making—is the most important source of media power.

▪

The media also have the power of agenda setting, deciding what will be discussed. Indeed, the real power of the media lies in their ability to set the political agenda for the nation.

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The media not only decide what will be news; they also interpret the news for us.

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The media have the power to socialize audiences to the political culture.

▪

The media, in both paid advertising and news and entertainment programming, engage in direct efforts to change our attitudes, opinions, and behavior.

LECTURE 6: The influence of the media in American politics results from the two primary functions of the media in our political system. Explain the idea of agenda setting and gatekeeping as they relate to the media. ▪

Many people believe that the media’s ability to select how and what they report is their greatest source of influence. Called “agenda setting,” this consists of determining which issues will be covered, in what detail, and in what context—and also deciding which stories are not newsworthy and therefore not covered.

▪

The media also act as gatekeepers, determining which stories will receive their attention and from which perspective.

LECTURE 7: Television strongly influences the public’s idea of what traits are important in a candidate. Candidates schedule events—press conferences, interviews, and “photo ops”—in settings that reinforce their verbal messages and public images. The most successful politicians skillfully use patriotic backdrops and “typical” Americans to generate publicity and popularity. ▪

Although the expense associated with television advertising has contributed to the skyrocketing costs of campaigning, it has also made politics more accessible to more people. Now with satellites, candidates can conduct local television interviews without having to travel to local studios. They can target specific voter groups through cable television or low-power television stations that reach homogeneous neighborhoods and small towns. All serious candidates for Congress and governor now make themselves and their positions available through a web page on the Internet. Citizens can now interact with each other online on a wide range of political topics.

▪

At the same time, the influence of visual media often serves to make image more important than content. 

Consistent with the media’s focus on personality is their highlighting of mistakes and gaffes by candidates and officeholders.



This ability of television to reach a mass audience and the power of its visual images have contributed to the rise of new players in campaigns. Media consultants coach candidates about how to act and behave on television and what to discuss on the air. They report the results of focus groups and public opinion polls, which in turn determine what a candidate says and does.

▪

As television became increasingly important to politics—and reforms such as primary elections weakened the political parties and made news coverage of candidates more important—the question arises, what difference do the media make? 

Some critics think reporters pay too much attention to candidates’ personalities and backgrounds and not enough attention to issues and policy.



▪

The influence of the media varies depending on the level of sophistication of the voters. Better-informed and more-educated voters are more sophisticated and therefore less swayed by information that focuses on personality, character, and so on.

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A common tendency in the media is to comment less on a candidate’s position on issues than on a candidate’s position in the polls compared with other candidates—what is sometimes called the “horse race.” 

Reporters focus on the tactics and strategies of campaigns because they think such coverage interests the public.



The media’s propensity to focus on the “game” of campaigns displaces coverage of issues.

▪

Paid political advertising, much of it negative in tone, is another source of information for voters. Political advertising has always attacked opponents, but recent campaigns have taken on an increasingly negative tone. 

Voters say the attack style of politics turns them off, but most campaign consultants believe that negative campaigning works.



This seeming inconsistency may be explained by evidence suggesting that negative advertising may discourage some voters who would be inclined to support a candidate (a phenomenon known as vote suppression) while making supporters more likely to vote.

LECTURE 8: Examine the importance of selecting a theme or message for a political campaign, using key themes from historical campaigns. You may also find powerful commercials that illustrate some of these themes. ▪

In 1964, President Lyndon Johnson campaigned on a platform arguing that his opponent, Barry Goldwater, was too unstable to defend the country and deal with the threat of communism in Southeast Asia. His “Daisy” ad (go to www.youtube.com and search “daisy girl ad”) remains one of the most powerful political commercials in campaign history.

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President Ronald Reagan chose to run a more upbeat campaign in 1980. His “Morning in America” (go to www.youtube.com and search “morning in America”) commercial illustrates the hopefulness of his campaign.

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In 2012, President Barack Obama used a speech by Mitt Romney to paint him as out of touch with American voters (go to www.youtube.com and search “My Job Obama for America”).

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An outstanding collection of ads is available at the Living Room Candidate website (www.livingroomcandidate.org).

LECTURE 9: Explore the law of minimal effects, which describes how effective political ads on television are in changing voters’ minds. ▪

When candidates buy television time for political ads, one assumes they are trying to convince those who are going to vote for someone else, or who are undecided, to change or make up their minds and vote for them. The law of minimal effects posits that the chance of this happening is slim.

▪

If this law is true, it would appear that when candidates spend large sums of money on television ads, they are not getting their money’s worth. Is this true? 

First, why would television have a minimal effect on changing people’s minds? It has to do with the political interest and knowledge of the average voter. Most people are politically ignorant and apathetic. In the 1950s and a great deal of the 1960s, when candidates wanted to advertise on television, they would buy large chunks of time (often 30 minutes) to explain their views to the voters.



Yet, most voters did not want to listen to a candidate talk about issues for 30 minutes, so they would switch channels. Only two types of people watched these political ads: those who really liked a candidate and those who really disliked a candidate.

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The candidate running the ads obviously did not want to change the mind of the former, and it would be nearly impossible to change the mind of the latter. The people whose minds were most susceptible to change were the people 292 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

who would not watch the ads. These would be the moderates, fence-straddlers, or undecideds. Thus, this describes the law of minimal effects, if, by effect, one means changing the viewer’s mind. ▪

So television has no effect? It would be incorrect to believe this. While television is less effective in the sense of getting viewers to change their opinions, it still plays an important role as a reinforcer. People who like a candidate often watch his or her ads. These people are important to the candidate, who needs their votes. Television can serve the important function of reminding them that the candidate is in a battle and needs them to try to persuade others and certainly to get out and vote. In close elections, TV could make the difference.

The News Media and Governance (Impact) 9.4

Describe the news media’s relationship to governance in the United States.

LECTURE 1: Use video clips to illustrate the importance for political leaders of having strong communication skills. ▪

President Ronald Reagan was known as “the Great Communicator.” 

Reagan’s 1980 campaign: “Are you better off than you were four years ago?” (go to www.youtube.com and search “Reagan 1980 are you better off”).



Reagan’s 1987 speech at the Brandenburg Gate: “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall” (go to www.youtube.com and search “Reagan 1987 Mr. Gorbachev”).

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Reagan’s 1989 farewell address (go to www.youtube.com and search “Reagan 1989 farewell”).

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President Bill Clinton was an effective orator, but he excelled in interpersonal communication, projecting a sense of connection with the average voter. 

His performance in the 1992 debate with George H. W. Bush illustrated this ability to connect (go to www.youtube.com and search “Clinton’s debate 293 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

moment”). His performance contrasted with that of President Bush (go to www.youtube.com and search “Clinton v Bush in 1992 debate”). 

His response to the Oklahoma City bombing, perhaps most notably his “I feel your pain” (go to www.youtube.com and search “American Experience Oklahoma City bombing”) speech also illustrates this skill.

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President Barack Obama evoked memories of historic figures like Martin Luther King Jr. and the Kennedy brothers (John and Robert). 

In 2004, Barack Obama, who was running for the U.S. Senate at the time, delivered the keynote address at the Democratic National Convention. His “Red State, Blue State” speech (go to www.youtube.com and search “Obama 2004 DNC”) represented his oratorical skills.



Even more powerful was Obama’s “We Are One People” speech (go to www.youtube.com and search “Obama 2nd place in New Hampshire”) delivered after taking second place to Hillary Clinton in the New Hampshire primary.

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Screen video footage of these speeches and discuss the importance of strong oratorical skills for elected leaders.

LECTURE 2: Examine the restrictions on freedom of the press in the United States. ▪

In terms of the right to privacy, two standards apply—those for public figures and those for private individuals. Public “personalities” are assumed to have lower expectations for privacy and consequently have less protection.

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To help ensure a fair trial, gag orders can be issued, ordering all participants to refrain from discussing the case. In extreme circumstances, the venue can be changed (to hold the trial in another city), or the judge might even sequester (put into seclusion) jurors to prevent them from consuming news reports and other media coverage of the trial.

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The media are prohibited from publishing material that they know to be incorrect. Libel laws are designed to protect the reputations of individuals from negative and false reporting.

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The courts have ruled that prior restraint (censorship) is allowed only in the most extreme cases. Prior restraint refers to the power of the government to prohibit in advance the publication or broadcast of certain materials.

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Regulation of the broadcast media falls to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), an independent regulatory agency created by the Communications Act of 1934 to “serve the public interest, convenience, and necessity.” Section 315 of the Communications Act of 1934 (and its many subsequent amendments) provides the central rules regarding censorship of the broadcast media.

LECTURE 3: This topic provides an outstanding opportunity for a guest lecture. If there is a local newspaper in your town, contact the editor and ask if one of the reporters would be willing to speak to your class. This is often seen as good public relations for the newspaper and can enliven a class by bringing in the “real world” of reporting. Editors are often particularly interested in discussing the importance of freedom of the press.

LECTURE 4: Especially in light of some of the important work the media have done in exposing government abuses, it is important to convey to students the idea that free expression is valuable in part because of the function it performs in checking the abuse of official power. ▪

Start with a specific example. For instance, the media were an effective force in challenging wrongheaded government policies in Vietnam, Watergate, and the Iran-Contra affair. There is some indication that the media are playing a similar role in coverage of the current war in Iraq.

▪

This theme was explained with clarity and power by Michigan law professor Vincent Blasi in his article, “The Checking Value in First Amendment Theory,” 1977, American Bar Foundation Research Journal. The idea that free speech serves as a check on the behavior of incumbents arose first in England in the late seventeenth century, according to Blasi, and appeared dramatically in the colonies with the 1735 seditious libel trial of John Peter Zenger. In his closing argument, Zenger’s attorney defended the right of all free men “publicly to remonstrate the 295 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

abuses of power in the strongest terms, to put their neighbors upon their guard against the craft or open violence of men in authority.” Zenger’s attorney was a renowned Philadelphia lawyer named Alexander Hamilton. ▪

James Madison, author of the First Amendment, wrote that one of the principal purposes of freedom of the press is to permit intensive scrutiny of the behavior of public officials. Thomas Jefferson also tended to view liberty of the press in terms of its checking value. Blasi argues that the First Amendment was based on many values, but that, in the eyes of the Framers, the checking value was among the most important.

▪

The checking value approach tends to give the greatest protection to a specific type of speech, that dealing with governmental misbehavior. But Blasi suggests other speech should be protected as well under different First Amendment theories.

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Blasi states that the checking value was never expressed more eloquently than in the last opinion Hugo Black wrote in New York Times v. United States, 403 U.S. 713 (1971): “The Government’s power to censor the press was abolished so that the press would remain forever free to censure the Government.”

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The lecture might end with some unanswered questions. 

Is there a direct relationship between the degree of press freedom and democracy in every country? If so, why?



Who would challenge elected officials if the media were silent?



Is the media a planned or unplanned part of the American system that helps to preserve democracy?



What role do fact-checking sites on the Internet play in keeping candidates and officeholders accountable for their claims?



How does recent media censorship in South Africa, Nicaragua, and Serbia demonstrate the link between a free press and democracy?

Class Activities CLASS ACTIVITY 1: Short audio or video clips can often provide a powerful way to illustrate key themes or issues: ▪

Download a podcast or transcript of The Mark Levin Show (www.marklevinshow.com). Then, download the same from a left-wing talk show host like Thom Hartmann (www.thomhartmann.com).

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Play or read segments of both to illustrate the contrasting rhetoric.

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Ask students to discuss the effectiveness, legitimacy, and political and social impact of this style of journalism.

This activity explores the rise of narrowcasting and its effects on politics in the United States. (Action and Impact) CLASS ACTIVITY 2: Discuss the question of bias in the context of the news media. ▪

Are the mass media biased in their presentations of the news? If so, do they tend to favor liberal or conservative viewpoints? Be sure to differentiate between various forms of media, such as newspaper, television, radio, and Internet.

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Is it true that there is a liberal bias in media reporting? In which medium is this assertion most accurate?

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News anchors, editors, reporters, producers, and others involved in the presentation of political information state that they are only “mirrors” of reality, that they are not presenting their personal biases in their productions. Ask students if they believe this to be an accurate assessment. Why or why not? Remind them to consider biases other than political partisanship and ideology. How, for example, does the need to attract an audience or please advertisers influence coverage?

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Selection of subjects deemed as “newsworthy” may certainly exclude a good deal of other, less worthy, news from presentation. Ask students what their criteria would be for selecting “newsworthy” subjects.

This discussion focuses on the question of bias in the news media and encourages students to reflect on the nature and source of media bias. 297 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

CLASS ACTIVITY 3: In recent years, the Internet has become the most important source of news for many citizens. Examine this trend with your students through a class discussion. ▪

Is information on the Internet likely to be as reliable as that of print media? Why or why not?

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How does the public’s increasing reliance on the Internet relate to the idea of narrowcasting and the problem of selection bias?

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How can Internet users differentiate reliable and biased sources of news?

This question explores the rise of the Internet as a news source and helps students develop their ability to discern reliable and unreliable sources of information online. (Action) CLASS ACTIVITY 4: Hold a class press conference on an issue or the week’s events. Assign some students to be reporters, others government officials, and others “spin” doctors. Discuss what happened afterward. This activity helps students understand how press conferences function and how officials shape the news process. (Action) CLASS ACTIVITY 5: Have your class examine a selection of the most effective or groundbreaking campaign ads from the modern era. ▪

Consider the following ads: Johnson’s “Daisy” ad (1964), Ronald Reagan’s “Morning in America” ad (1984), George H. W. Bush’s “Willie Horton” ad (1988), the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth’s “Pessimism” ad (2004), and Barack Obama’s “Big Bird” and “47 percent” ads (2012). Most of these ads are available on the Living Room Candidate website (www.livingroomcandidate.org) or via YouTube.

▪

You can also ask them to identify interesting ads from historical or contemporary campaigns.

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Then ask them to consider what makes an effective campaign ad. It is interesting to note that many of the ads listed above appeared only a handful of times. Johnson’s “Daisy” ad, which many argued is the most effective political commercial ever, aired only once.

This activity encourages students to think about the role of television advertising in political campaigns and illustrates the power of effective political ads. (Action and Impact) CLASS ACTIVITY 6: Give students a list of news stories from the previous day. Divide students into groups. Each group, using the same list, should operate as a news director/producer and determine which items will go—in what order, and at what length—into the 24 minutes of news that evening. They should be prepared to defend their choices. This activity helps students understand how news directors decide how much coverage to give particular news stories and illustrates the agenda-setting function of the news media. (Action and Impact) CLASS ACTIVITY 7: Ask the students to prepare an impromptu debate on whether there should be any limits whatsoever on First Amendment press rights. ▪

Choose two teams of four students to serve as opposing sides in the debate.

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Give them 10 minutes to prepare arguments.

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Allot total debate time according to the demands of your class schedule.

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Ask the remaining students to act as debate judges.

This activity highlights the constitutional protections afforded to the press and considers potential limits on those rights. (Structure) CLASS ACTIVITY 8: For class discussion, ask students to evaluate whether American mass media have become too powerful. ▪

In particular, ask students to debate whether mass media’s impact on public opinion and political outcomes is consistent with the concepts of limited government and balanced power.

▪

Is there any democratic way to hold mass media organizations accountable for their behavior?

This discussion encourages students to reflect on the relative influence and importance of the press in shaping American political opinions and outcomes. (Impact)

Research Activities RESEARCH ACTIVITY 1: Ask the students in your class to watch the evening news on the same network every night for one week. Have them keep a tally to indicate each topic where they think they can detect some bias in the coverage. Students should mark each incident as conservative, moderate, or liberal. ▪

Either as part of a class discussion or in short written responses, ask students to summarize their findings. If possible, have them conduct the same experiment a week later, using another network.

▪

An interesting comparison might also be made by asking students with different ideologies to explore whether the bias is in the media or in the viewer (in the form of selection bias).

This activity explores the question of media bias. (Action) RESEARCH ACTIVITY 2: Have students create first pages of newspapers that reflect time periods in American history. Their newspaper pages should reflect the way news was reported during that time and the contemporary issues important to the American public. This activity illustrates how the nature of media and public opinion evolved over time. (Structure and Action)

RESEARCH ACTIVITY 3: A media content analysis can serve as an excellent tool for illustrating the framing or interpreting aspect of journalism. ▪

Select three contrasting opinion pieces from different publications addressing the same political news story.

▪

Issue the following instructions: 

Analyze the tone (positive, negative, neutral) of each article.



Using information from the articles (word choices, sources, titles, order of information, missing information, etc.) and concepts from the chapter, explain why you reached your conclusion.



Does each article favor a particular political viewpoint? If so, what viewpoint?



This activity highlights the important role the media play in framing and agenda setting in American politics. (Action and Impact) RESEARCH ACTIVITY 4: Have your students watch the same political news story on three different media sources. Compare the accuracy of the different ways the story was reported. What does this suggest about political news coverage in general? ▪

As an alternative assignment, ask your students to look at the lead stories on ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, FOX News, and MSNBC and explain their findings. Then examine differences in the coverage of one story that they all ran.

▪

Or, as another alternative assignment, have students choose a current event and compare its coverage in the local press and the national press, and on network news and cable news. How and why do the ways each of these types of media cover the issues differ? How are they similar? What media outlets do you find most useful?

▪

Have your students present their findings, either as short written assignments or through a discussion forum in the LMS. Ask the students to consider whether, in their opinions, the media are effectively performing their primary roles.

This activity exposes students to the wide array of functions performed by the media, including their agenda-setting and watchdog roles. (Action and Impact)

RESEARCH ACTIVITY 5: Have students visit the Pew Research Center project on Journalism & Media (www.journalism.org ) and find the annual “State of the News Media” publication. Ask them to prepare short reports in which they summarize the main findings of the annual publication. Then ask them to reflect on what those findings mean for the health of the American political system. This activity familiarizes students with contemporary research on the role of the media in American politics. (Impact)

RESEARCH ACTIVITY 6: Ask students to compare American media to the media in other countries, such as those featured at the Newseum (www.newseum.org) and have them report on their findings. By going to the “Today’s Front Pages” exhibit 301 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

(https://www.newseum.org/todaysfrontpages/ ), they can view frontpage coverage from newspapers around the world and compare and contrast topics and coverage across countries. Alternatively, students can visit the websites of various newspapers around the world, such as www.theguardian.com, www.aljazeera.com, www.theglobeandmail.com, and www.nytimes.com. This assignment gives students the opportunity to contrast the structure and function of the news media in the United States with those of other countries around the world. (Structure) RESEARCH ACTIVITY 7: The popularity of political satire on television, most notably The Daily Show and The Colbert Report, has garnered academic attention. Have your students read and reflect on one of the following outstanding books on this topic: ▪

Jeffrey P. Jones, Entertaining Politics: Satiric Television and Political Engagement (New York: Roman and Littlefield, 2009).

▪

Jonathan Gray, Jeffrey P. Jones, and Ethan Thompson, Satire TV: Politics and Comedy in the Post-Network Era (New York: NYY Press, 2009).

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Amber Day, Satire and Dissent: Interventions in Contemporary Political Debate (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2011).

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Amarnath Amarasingam, ed., The Stewart/Colbert Effect: Essays on the Real Impact of Fake News (Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland and Company, 2011).

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Dannagal Goldthwaite Young, Irony and Outrage: The Polarized Landscape of Rage, Fear, and Laughter in the United States (New York: Oxford University Press, 2019).

This activity helps students understand the idea of “infotainment” and how the intersection of entertainment and news has shaped the American media landscape. (Impact)

RESEARCH ACTIVITY 8: Have students locate three or four credible news sites on the Internet. In short papers, ask them to explain how they determined reliability. What type of information is found there? Does it differ from more traditional types of media? How and why? This assignment helps students critically analyze information and understand the criteria by which to assess the reliability of information found online.

RESEARCH ACTIVITY 9: Have your students review a story covered by one of the mainstream news stations and the parallel coverage of the story on one of the political news satire shows like The Daily Show. Then ask them to write short papers contrasting the approaches. Does satire offer any additional insights not provided by the mainstream coverage? Why or why not? This assignment provides an engaging way for students to think about the power of satire and the blurring of the lines between entertainment and news media. (Action)

Participation Activities PARTICIPATION ACTIVITY 1: Have your students get copies of the written codes of ethics your local or campus newspapers and television stations use. Have them review these codes and consider the following questions in short response papers: ▪

Do they seem realistic?

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Are they being followed?

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Are they vague and general or tightly written and specific?

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Can you think of examples of how each issue addressed in the codes might arise?

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How do the various codes differ?

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Then ask them to interview journalists from the local newspaper, campus newspaper, or local television station, about the code of ethics journalists follow.

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Have them summarize their findings in short papers.

This activity explores the role of the press in a democratic society and exposes students to the ethical code of journalists. (Action)

PARTICIPATION ACTIVITY 2: Have your students organize a campus screening of a film dealing with the role of the press in a democratic society. Examples might include Wag the Dog, Good Night and Good Luck, The Post, or Manufacturing Consent. ▪

After screening the film, ask them to talk with the audience about the role of the media and whether or not the media are living up to our expectations.

▪

This activity encourages students to reflect on the role of the media in American politics. (Impact) PARTICIPATION ACTIVITY 3: Ask your students to participate in online discussions of politics, either by commenting on existing blogs or creating their own. Afterward, ask them to contrast blogs and traditional newspapers as media of political communication in short reflective papers. This activity highlights the changing nature of political communication and the role of communication in developing community. (Action)

Suggested Readings and Films READING 1: David J. Jackson’s engaging text, Entertainment and Politics: The Influence of Pop Culture on Young Adult Political Socialization, 2nd ed. (New York: Lang, 2009), considers the roles of the media and pop culture in the process of political socialization.

READING 2: W. Lance Bennett’s classic text, News: The Politics of Illusion, 10th ed. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2016), examines the changing role of the media in contemporary American politics.

READING 3: The role of the media in American politics is, perhaps not surprisingly, a popular topic. In addition to Bennett’s classic text mentioned above, others include ▪

Doris A. Graber and Johanna Dunaway, Mass Media and American Politics, 10th ed (Washington, D.C.: CQ Press, 2018).

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Doris A. Graber, Media Power in Politics (Washington, D.C.: CQ Press, 2011).

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Gadi Wolfsfeld, Making Sense of Media and Politics: Five Principles in Political Communication (New York: Routledge, 2011).

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Robert McChesney and Victor Pickard, eds., Will the Last Reporter Please Turn Out the Lights: The Collapse of Journalism and What Can Be Done To Fix It (Philadelphia: New Press, 2011). 304 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

READING 4: Shanto Iyengar’s text, Media Politics: A Citizen’s Guide (New York: W. W. Norton, 2019), teaches students how to be critical consumers of media, focusing in particular on how political leaders use the media to influence the political process.

READING 5: The popularity of political satire on television, most notably The Daily Show and The Colbert Report, has garnered academic attention. Several engaging books deal with the topic, including ▪

Jeffrey P. Jones, Entertaining Politics: Satiric Television and Political Engagement (New York: Roman and Littlefield, 2009).

▪

Jonathan Gray, Jeffrey P. Jones, and Ethan Thompson, Satire TV: Politics and Comedy in the Post-Network Era (New York: NYY Press, 2009).

▪

Amber Day, Satire and Dissent: Interventions in Contemporary Political Debate (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2011).

▪

Amarnath Amarasingam, ed., The Stewart/Colbert Effect: Essays on the Real Impact of Fake News (Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland and Company, 2011).

▪

Dannagal Goldthwaite Young, Irony and Outrage: The Polarized Landscape of Rage, Fear, and Laughter in the United States (New York: Oxford University Press, 2019).

READING 6: Robert McChesney has been one of the most ardent critics of the American media, advancing the argument that the primary bias of the media has not been liberal or conservative but the profit motive. Several of his books examine this theme in greater detail, including ▪

Rich Media, Poor Democracy: Communication Politics in Dubious Times (New York: New Press, 2016).

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Digital Disconnect: How Capitalism Is Turning the Internet Against Democracy (New York: New Press, 2013).

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The Problem of the Media: U.S. Communication Politics in the Twenty-First Century (New York: Monthly Review Press, 2004).

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The Death and Life of American Journalism: The Media Revolution that Will Begin the World Again (co-authored with John Nichols). (Philadelphia: Nation Books, 2010).

READING 7: In “Understanding the Rise of Talk Radio,” PS: Political Science and Politics 44, no. 4 (2011): 762–67, Jeffrey M. Berry and Sarah Sobieraj reject the notion that the rise of conservative talk radio over several years is due to a sharp increase in conservative popular opinion. Rather, Berry and Sobieraj argue that the deregulation and mainstreaming of digital music technologies have transformed talk radio, resulting in a concentration of radio management at the national rather than local level.

READING 8: Several outstanding journals focus on the questions and themes raised in this chapter. Examples include ▪

Political Communication (https://www.tandfonline.com/toc/upcp20/current), the journal of the Political Communications Division of the American Political Science Association;

▪

The International Journal of Press/Politics, https://us.sagepub.com/enus/nam/the-international-journal-of-presspolitics/journal201283; and

▪

Journal of Information Technology and Politics, https://www.tandfonline.com/toc/witp20/current

READING 9: Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR) (www.fair.org) is a liberal watchdog group looking for media bias. In its own words: “FAIR believes that independent, aggressive, and critical media are essential to an informed democracy. But mainstream media are increasingly cozy with the economic and political powers they should be watch-dogging. Mergers in the news industry have accelerated, further limiting the spectrum of viewpoints that have access to mass media.” Its website offers examples of bias and more. Accuracy in Media (www.aim.org) performs a similar function on the conservative side.

READING 10: The Living Room Candidate website (www.livingroomcandidate.org) offers an outstanding collection of classic and contemporary political commercials from the 1950s through today.

READING 11: Most major news outlets maintain an extensive web presence. See, for example, ▪

ABC News: www.abcnews.go.com

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CBS News: www.cbsnews.com

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NBC News: www.nbcnews.com

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Fox News: www.foxnews.com

READING 12: The Annenberg Center for the Digital Future (www.digitalcenter.org) at the University of Southern California offers outstanding analysis of contemporary developments in digital communications, particularly the Internet. The Annenberg Public Policy Center (www.annenbergpublicpolicycenter.org) of the University of Pennsylvania conducts content analysis on TV coverage of politics.

READING 13: The Pew Center maintains several outstanding sites dealing with the themes raised in this chapter. ▪

The Pew Center for Civic Journalism (www.civicjournalism.org) works to encourage “good journalism.” The institute is trying to battle cynicism and re-engage citizens in the political process.

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The Pew Research Center project on U.S. Politics & Policy (www.peoplepress.org) is an independent opinion research group that studies attitudes toward the press, politics, and public policy issues. Its website offers the results of numerous surveys, including those of public attitudes toward the media’s coverage of politics, and information trends in values and fundamental political and social attitudes.

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The Pew Research Center project on Journalism & Media (www.journalism.org) is sponsored by Pew, the Columbia School of Journalism, and the Committee of Concerned Journalists. They are trying to raise the standards of journalism and are

running several projects, including one on local TV news and the state of newspapers in America. This and more are available through their website. READING 14: Newseum (www.newseum.org) is a museum dedicated to the history of news and media. While it closed its doors to the public in 2019, Newseum continues to maintain a website with interesting cyber-exhibits, including front-page stories from around the country and a journalist memorial.

FILM 15: Based on the book of the same name, All the President’s Men (John Schlesinger, director, Warner Bros., 1976), examines the story of Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, who uncovered the Watergate scandal.

FILM 16: Bill Moyers Journal: Buying the War (Films for the Humanities and Science, 2007) examines how the Bush administration marketed and sold the war in Iraq and the role of the media in the process.

FILM 17: Broadcast News (James L. Brooks, director, Twentieth-Century Fox, 1987) is a romantic comedy about reporters and anchors in a newsroom.

FILM 18: Orson Welles’s classic movie, Citizen Kane (Orson Welles, director, RKO Radio Pictures, 1941) depicts the life of newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst.

FILM 19: Disconnected: Politics, the Press and the Public (Films for the Humanities and Sciences, 2000) focuses on the extent to which the media, with their emphasis on profit, deadlines, and entertainment, compromise coverage of elections and disconnect the public from the political system.

FILM 20: Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch’s War on Journalism (Robert Greenwald, director, MoveOn.org, 2004) alleges that Fox News is little more than an unprofessional and propagandistic corporate mouthpiece for Murdoch and his right-wing political beliefs. Greenwald bases much of his evidence on interviews with Fox employees themselves. 308 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

FILM 21: The Post (Steven Spielberg, director, Twentieth-Century Fox, 2017) depicts the true story of attempts by journalists at the Washington Post to publish the “Pentagon Papers,” a set of classified documents about U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War.

FILM 22: Several films highlight the role of the media in contemporary politics. ▪

The 1972 classic The Candidate (Michael Ritchie, director, Warner Bros.) explores the growing influence of television and its transformative role in U.S. politics.

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Wag the Dog (Barry Levinson, director, New Line Cinema, 1998) is a political satire in which the U.S. president attempts to divert attention from a sexual scandal by pretending to start a war. Although released in 1997, the film bore a striking resemblance to President Bill Clinton’s 1998 decision to launch attacks on terrorist targets in Afghanistan and Sudan while enmeshed in the Monica Lewinsky scandal.

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Power (Sidney Lumet, director, Twentieth-Century Fox, 1986) is an extraordinarily relevant primer by director Sidney Lumet on what goes on behind the scenes of a political campaign and the power brokers who dictate each move. Richard Gere stars as Pete St. John, a savvy but opportunistic and unscrupulous media consultant who has a way of packaging candidates to turn the polls in their favor—regardless of political ideology.

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Good Night, and Good Luck (George Clooney, director, Warner Independent Pictures, 2005) harkens back to the era of early television that featured Edward R. Murrow and Sen. Joe McCarthy. Clooney raises some issues that were thorny then and, despite much debate, have yet to be resolved.

Video: WATCH The Media and U.S. Politics: The Big Picture Author video.

The Structure and Functions of the News Media and the Constitutional Protections of Freedom of the Press (Structure) 9.1

Describe the origins, structure, and functions of the news media, and the nature of constitutional protections of freedom of the press.

Read: HAPPENING NOW Summary of the siege on the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, and the aftermath of the event. Journal Prompt 9.1 What do you think will be the consequences of print media being separated from TV and digital media in large media corporations? QUIZ 9.1 The Structure and Functions of the News Media and the Constitutional Protections of Freedom of the Press (Structure)

How Americans Get the News (Action) 9.2

Describe the effect of recent trends in how Americans get their news.

Social Explorer: FIGURE 9.1 PEOPLE’S MAIN SOURCE OF NEWS BY AGE GROUP Video: WATCH Politics Hidden in Plain Sight: Using Your Cellphone Social Explorer: FIGURE 9.2 ANNUAL NEWSPAPER AD REVENUE FROM ADVERTISING AND CIRCULATION Audio: LISTEN U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt Gives 1933 Fireside Chat on Banking Audio: LISTEN President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Fireside Chat Following the Declaration of War on Japan, 12/9/1941 Video: WATCH President Johnson’s Emotional Campaign Ads Changed American Politics 310 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

ABC video. Social Explorer: FIGURE 9.3 AMERICANS TURNING MORE TO MOBILE DEVICES FOR NEWS Video: WATCH How Is a Rapidly Changing Media Affecting Democracy? Video: WATCH United Reaches “Amicable” Settlement with Doctor Dragged Off Flight ABC video. Journal Prompt 9.2 What media do you use to track the news, and do you think it is accurate? QUIZ 9.2 How News Is Reported and Consumed (Action) How Americans Get the News (Action)

The Influence of the News Media on Public Opinion and Elections (Impact) 9.3

Assess the influence of the news media on American public opinion and elections.

Sketchnote Video: WATCH Agenda Setting and Issue Framing Video: WATCH Bush at Ground Zero ABC video. Journal Prompt 9.3 How has social media changed the role of the media in elections? QUIZ 9.3 The Influence of the News Media on Public Opinion and Elections (Impact)

The News Media and Governance (Impact) 9.4

Describe the news media’s relationship to governance in the United States.

Video: WATCH President Elect Donald Trump to CNN—“You are fake news” Social Explorer: FIGURE 9.4 PRESIDENTIAL PRESS CONFERENCES: JOINT AND SOLO SESSIONS, 1913–2020 Social Explorer: FIGURE 9.5 IDEOLOGY AND TRUSTED NEWS SOURCES 311 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Sketchnote Video: WATCH Selective Exposure/Selective Perception Social Explorer: FIGURE 9.6 DOES THE NEWS MEDIA REPORT WITHOUT BIAS? Journal Prompt: FIGURE 9.6 Do you think the current news media report without bias? Give one or two examples from recent reporting that show either bias toward a particular political perspective or that are truly neutral. What are some consequences of reporting the news from a particular political perspective? Journal Prompt 9.4 Why is the president generally able to command more media attention than the Congress or Supreme Court? QUIZ 9.4 The News Media and Governance (Impact) SHARED WRITING PROMPT: The Media and U.S. Politics What is the relationship between the media and each of the branches of government? How do personal characteristics affect the choices we make about what media to access and what to ignore?

Review the Chapter Video: WATCH The Media and U.S. Politics: So What? Author video. Flashcards: LEARN THE TERMS The Media and U.S. Politics Flashcard set of key terms and definitions for the chapter. CHAPTER 9 QUIZ The Media and U.S. Politics

10 Congress Chapter Overview Congress was intended by the founders to be the “people’s branch.” Its members are directly elected by the people to make decisions on their behalf. In this chapter, we examine the role of Congress in U.S. politics. We begin by describing the constitutional foundations of Congress. We then examine the congressional election process and the advantages of incumbents. Next, we explore the inner workings of Congress, assessing the committee, party, and other resources and structures that affect Congress and explaining the lawmaking process. We then describe the factors that influence how members of Congress make decisions. Finally, we conclude by analyzing the ability of members to represent their constituents. By the end of the chapter, students should understand the complex role and functions of Congress in the context of American government.

Lecture Suggestions The Constitutional Foundations of Congress (Structure) 10.1

Describe the constitutional foundations of Congress.

LECTURE 1: A good exercise at the beginning of the topic on Congress is to draw a vertical line on the board and ask the class to give differences between the House and Senate. Not only can this be used to branch off onto other topics in more depth, it can also be a good gauge of how knowledgeable students already are. 313 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Here is a list of differences between the House and Senate. ▪

Size. Since 1929, the House of Representatives has been capped at 435 members. The Senate has two members per state, for a current total of 100.

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Term. Members of the House of Representatives serve two-year terms, and the entire House is up for election every two years. Senators serve six-year terms, with one-third of the Senate up for election every two years.

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Exclusive Powers. The power to impeach the president or sitting judges rests with the House. All tax bills must also originate in the House. The Senate tries all impeachments and provides advice and consent for some presidential appointments and for all treaties.

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Leadership. The House elects its own Speaker. The vice president of the United States formally presides over the Senate, though the Senate also selects a president pro tempore from among its membership who serves as the presiding officer on a day-to-day basis.

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Prestige. The Senate is considered by most to have more prestige. It is not uncommon for a member of the House to resign and run for the Senate; presidential candidates often come from the Senate.

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Flexibility of Rules. The House is less flexible than the Senate. There is no filibuster in the House. The size of the House makes adherence to rules a must.

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Constituency. Except for the few states with one representative, representatives’ constituencies are smaller than those of senators, who are elected “at large” and are thus more homogeneous.

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Power. Power is less evenly distributed in the House than in the Senate. Fewer members in the Senate means greater possibility of achieving a position of power on a committee, subcommittee, or as part of party leadership.

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Media. There is greater media coverage of the Senate than the House (C-SPAN I and C-SPAN II).

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Staff. Generally, there is a greater reliance on staff in the Senate than the House (due to differences in specialization).

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Ideology. The Framers designed the Congress thinking the House would be more liberal and the Senate more conservative; most scholars today think that all things being equal, the Senate is more liberal than the House.

LECTURE 2: Under the necessary and proper clause of Article I, Section 8, any constitutionally granted power implies a power to delegate authority under it sufficient to affect its purposes. But the separation of powers principle underlying the Constitution limits congressional delegation powers. ▪

Congress may grant authority to an administrative agency to specify rules in an area where Congress itself has declared only general principles. In other words, Congress can speak in generalities and leave it to an administrative agency to fill in the details.

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But an agency can assert as its objectives only those given to it by Congress.

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The power to determine objectives is a power that Congress cannot delegate. This notion goes back at least as far as John Locke, who, in his “Second Treatise of Civil Government,” published in 1690, wrote that “(t)he power of the legislative, being derived from the people by a positive voluntary grant and institution, can be no other than what that positive grant conveyed, which being only to make laws, and not to make legislators, the legislative can have no power to transfer their authority of making laws and place it in other hands.” Put another way, the delegation doctrine requires that the delegated power include at least roughly intelligible standards to guide the administrative agency.

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As Justice Brennan noted, “Formation of policy is a legislature’s primary responsibility, entrusted to it by the electorate, and to the extent Congress delegates authority under indefinite standards, this policy-making function is passed on to other agencies, often not answerable or responsive in the same degree to the people.”

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Interestingly, this problem occurs not when Congress is battling with the executive branch but, rather, when Congress attempts to give the executive branch too much power. Thus, in the past, the Supreme Court has rejected broad delegations of congressional power on separation-of-powers grounds. For an eloquent defense of the delegation doctrine, see former chief justice Rehnquist’s concurrence in Industrial Department v. American Petroleum Institute, 448 U.S. 607 (1980).

LECTURE 3: The nation’s founders envisioned Congress as the first and most powerful branch of government. They equated national powers with the powers of Congress and gave Congress the most clearly specified role in national government. Consequently, the Constitution gives very broad powers to Congress: “All legislative Powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives.” Outline these powers for your students. ▪

The Power of the Purse. Congress’s real power in both domestic and foreign (defense) policy centers on its power of the purse—its power over federal taxing and spending.

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Oversight of the Bureaucracy. Congressional oversight of the federal bureaucracy is a continuing process by which Congress reviews the activities of the executive branch.

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Senate Advice and Consent and Confirmation of Presidential Appointments. The Constitution provides that the president must obtain the advice and consent of the Senate for treaties “provided that two-thirds of the Senators present concur.”

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Agenda Setting and Media Attention. Congressional hearings and investigations often involve agenda setting—bringing issues to the public’s attention and placing them on the national agenda.

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Impeachment and Removal. The House of Representatives has the sole authority to bring charges of impeachment, by a simple majority vote.

LECTURE 4: Explain how Congress’s power is rooted in its powers of appropriation, lawmaking, and oversight and hearings functions. ▪

Lawmaking. The most obvious example of congressional power is its ability to pass laws. The Constitution grants Congress wide latitude in legislating. Article I, Section 8, grants Congress the power to tax, spend, regulate commerce, mint money, and make “all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into Execution” those powers. In general, the Courts have interpreted the necessary and proper clause with deep regard for the power of Congress.

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Appropriation and Budgeting. Perhaps Congress’s clearest power is the power of the purse. Congress has ultimate authority in setting the budget of the national government, and there is considerable evidence that the founders intended this power to serve as a check on the ability of the executive to operate independently. The budget process used today has been in place since 1974, when the Congressional Budget Act was passed.

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Oversight. The final power of Congress rests in its role as watchdog. Congress is charged with maintaining oversight on the executive. Oversight hearings are frequently televised, expanding this function in important ways. Congress’s oversight function is also at the heart of the requirement that the Senate approve many presidential appointments. Impeachment is the ultimate form of oversight.

LECTURE 5: Three decisions were made at the Constitutional Convention of 1787 that relate to Congress and demonstrate the nationalist position of most of the delegates. ▪

Pay. Who should pay the salaries of members of Congress? The founders were concerned that the source of congressional salaries might influence how they approached governing the new nation. 

Confederationists (for states’ rights) at the Convention wanted each state to pay members of Congress. This was clearly an attempt to keep members of Congress tied to the states rather than thinking “nationally.”

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Nationalists, on the other hand, wanted the pay of members of Congress to come from the national treasury. They understood that if states paid congressional salaries, this could be used as leverage to get members of Congress to think in terms of states’ interests rather than the interests of the nation. Hamilton argued at the Convention, “Those who pay are the master of those paid.”

 ▪

In the end, the nationalists won the debate.

Per Capita Voting. How would votes be counted in the Senate? It is taken for granted now that each senator has a vote (per capita voting). But this was not an assumption at the Convention. After all, under the Articles of Confederation, states had different-sized delegations, but each state’s delegation cast a single vote. 

Confederationists at the Convention wanted the two senators to cast a single vote for the state.

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Nationalists wanted per capita voting to enable measures with a nationalistic support to more easily pass.

 ▪

The nationalists won the debate.

Recall. The Framers were not unfamiliar with the recall. It is a device used to end a politician’s term before it has expired. Although the recall was in the original Virginia Plan, it was stricken from that proposal on June 12 with no objections. The issue never surfaced again during the remainder of the Convention. Had recall been approved, it would have provided states with tremendous leverage in keeping members of Congress tied to the states’ interests.

Congressional Elections (Structure) 10.2

Describe the congressional election process and the advantages it gives incumbents.

LECTURE 1: Since 1913, the size of the House of Representatives has been fixed at 435. Because the number of seats allocated to each state is determined by the state’s population, seats in the House of Representative must be reapportioned following the census every 10 years. ▪

The Constitution states that “Representatives . . . shall be apportioned among the several states . . . according to their respective Numbers” and orders an “actual enumeration” (census) every 10 years. It provides that every state shall have at least one representative, in addition to two senators, regardless of population.

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The term “apportionment” refers to the allocation of House seats to the states after each 10-year census.

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Historically, state legislatures were notorious for their malapportionment: congressional (and state legislative) districts with grossly unequal numbers of people.

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The Court has ruled that inequalities in voters’ influence resulting from differentsized districts violates the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.

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“Redistricting” refers to the drawing of boundary lines of congressional districts following the census.

LECTURE 2: Gerrymandering is the drawing of district lines for political advantage. ▪

The term “gerrymander” immortalizes Governor Elbridge Gerry (1744–1814) of Massachusetts, who in 1811 redistricted the state legislature to favor Democrats over Federalists. A district north of Boston was designed to concentrate, and thus “waste,” Federalist votes. A political cartoon from the Boston Gazette, March 26, 1812, depicted the new district lines as a salamander, dubbing the process the “gerrymander.” Gerrymandering can take several forms. 

Partisan gerrymandering does not violate federal court standards for “equal protection” under the Fourteenth Amendment. In Rucho v. Common Cause (2019), the Supreme Court held that federal courts cannot intervene in partisan gerrymandering cases given that these cases present political questions beyond the reach of the Court.

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Another problem confronting state legislatures in redistricting is the preservation of incumbent Congress members; that is, incumbent gerrymandering.

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In Thornburg v. Gingles (1986), the Supreme Court interpreted the effects of requiring state legislatures to redistrict their states in a way that maximizes minority representation in Congress and the state legislatures. The effect of this ruling is to require affirmative racial gerrymandering—the creation of predominantly African American and minority districts (labeled “majorityminority” districts) whenever possible.

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However, partisanship often interacts with race. If African American voters are concentrated within districts, the effect is to “bleach” surrounding districts of Democratic-leaning Black voters and thus improve the chances for Republican victories.

LECTURE 3: Discuss the qualifications of members of Congress. ▪

Constitutional Qualifications. The Constitution lists the following qualifications of the members of the Congress: 

House. “No person shall be a Representative who shall not have attained to the age of twenty-five Years, and been seven Years a Citizen of the United States, and who shall not, when elected, be an inhabitant of that State in which he shall be chosen” (Article I, Section 2, clause 2).

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Senate. “No person shall be a Senator who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty Years, and been nine years a Citizen of the United States, and who shall not, when elected, be an Inhabitant of that State for which he shall be chosen” (Article I, Section 3, clause 3).

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Thus, the three requirements for being a member of the House or Senate are age, citizenship, and residency.

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Judging Qualifications. Article I, Section 5, states, “Each House shall be the Judge of the Elections, Returns, and Qualifications of its own members.” What does this phrase mean? Does it mean that each house of Congress can decide who 320 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

is worthy of being a member of Congress? If this is so, then each house would be able to add to the qualifications listed above. 

This clause was interpreted this way for a number of years. In the early 1860s, Congress required duly elected members to take an oath that they had not participated in rebellion against the United States. In 1900, the House refused to seat a polygamist from Utah. In 1919, the House refused to seat a dulyelected Socialist.

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In 1920, a man was elected to Congress who was raised believing he was Jesus Christ. His parents named him Immanuel. While still a teenager, he tried to rob a train but was disarmed by the conductor. When he first arrived in Washington, he described the women living there as “so ugly, it makes a fellow think he had died and woke up in Hades.” Although the House did not try to deny him his seat, the election of Immanuel Herrick makes one wonder if the House should have done so, if it thought it had the power. (This fascinating story is told in the book The Okie Jesus Congressman by Gene Aldrich.)

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Did this clause confer on each house of Congress the power to judge dulyelected members on qualifications other than those explicitly listed in the Constitution?

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In 1967, when the House voted to exclude incumbent Adam Clayton Powell from taking a seat in the House, Powell sued. The House was upset, among other things, with what was viewed by many as Powell’s poor performance of his congressional duties. Ultimately, the case reached the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled in Powell’s favor. The Court ruled that Article I, Section 5’s grant to each house to judge election returns was limited solely to the three specified in the Constitution: age, citizenship, and residency.

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This reasoning was used to strike down states placing term limits on their members of Congress (U.S. Term Limits v. Thornton, 1995).

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Exclusion versus Expulsion. In Powell v. McCulloch (1969), the Court did note that while the House could not exclude a duly-elected member, it could expel any 321 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

member. Article I, Section 5, states, “Each house may . . . punish its Members . . . and, with the Concurrence of two-thirds, expel a Member.” 

Due to the norms of Congress, expulsion is rare. Members are not inclined to expel a fellow member who has been duly elected. The feeling is that if the voters want to elect someone, they should not be denied their intent.

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Expulsion, to some extent, makes the Congress look bad, and the possibility always exists that if expulsion is easy, one might end up on the receiving end.

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Framers’ Intent and Length of Terms. House members have two-year terms and senators serve six-year terms. Here are the reasons why: 

House. Some delegates to the Constitutional Convention desired a one-year term for members of the House. Many at this time knew well the adage, where annual elections end, tyranny begins. Madison favored a three-year term. He thought this would give stability to the House. Fewer elections would mean fewer chances of new members elected. Also, members would need time to learn on the job about national issues, and three years would allow members to educate themselves in this regard. The delegates approved two-year terms as a simple compromise between these two proposals.

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Senate. The same arguments Madison and others used for a three-year term for members of the House were used to argue for a longer term for members of the Senate. It was argued that stability (fewer elections would mean fewer new members) and more time for acquiring knowledge were needed.

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The argument was more persuasive here than with the House for several reasons. ▪

First, the Senate was designed to provide a check on the House. As such, it was to operate with more deliberation. On June 7, Madison stated, “The use of the Senate is to consist in its proceeding with more coolness, with more system, and with more wisdom, than the popular branch.”

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Second, to provide for stability and continuity in the Senate, it was decided that only one-third of the members would be up for election at a time. Thus, the length of term needed to be divisible by three. A three-year 322

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term was clearly too short, while a nine-year term was viewed as too long; hence, a six-year term. ▪

Note that in the first Senate, lots were drawn to determine which senators would have two-, four-, or six-year terms to provide for an initial staggering of elections.

LECTURE 4: To the Framers, one of the fundamental characteristics distinguishing democracy from the systems of tyranny that characterized the monarchies of Europe was that elected leaders only served for a specified term. ▪

The Framers were particularly concerned with the potential abuses of power that can occur when a single ruler serves for life. While term limits were not initially written into the Constitution, by gentlemen’s agreement, presidents Washington, Adams, and Jefferson established a tradition in which the chief executive did not run for president for more than two terms.

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This tradition continued until Franklin D. Roosevelt was elected for four terms. After President Roosevelt, our nation and states passed the Twenty-second Amendment, which limits all presidents to two terms.

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Several states have term limits for state officers.

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A chief argument for term limits is that without them, instead of having a government of the people, by the people, and for the people, the government will be more loyal to serving and protecting the status quo.

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Other arguments for term limits include the following: 

They will give more qualified people an opportunity to serve.

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They will encourage elected officials to act on matters at hand and not put them off.

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They will keep new blood in office and keep people from becoming “career politicians.”

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They will allow elected officials to worry about the business of government, rather than worrying about their next election.

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The arguments against term limits include the following: 

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They would make every elected official a lame duck.

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They would cut down on congressional expertise, giving administrative agencies even more power.

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They are impossible to sidestep, so even the most popular and effective elected officials must give up their seats when their terms are up.

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In addition, note the 1995 Supreme Court ruling (Term Limits v. Arkansas), which held that an Arkansas constitutional amendment limiting the terms of congressional representatives is unconstitutional. A state cannot change the terms of office delineated in the U.S. Constitution. However, a constitutional amendment could be passed that would obviate the Court’s ruling. The chance of this occurring is remote.

LECTURE 5: The notion of term limits has been very popular in recent years. Although the Supreme Court ruled that states could not set term limits on their members of Congress (U.S. Term Limits, Inc. v. Thornton, 1995), the push for such limits continues at the national level. The Twenty-second Amendment (ratified in 1951) did put a limit on the number of times one could be elected president, but what follows are five reasons Publius (Hamilton, in The Federalist, No. 72) gives for why the delegates to the Convention originally decided against these term limits. Could the argument Publius makes concerning term limits on the presidency apply to Congress too? ▪

Publius argues that people take more interest in their work if they know that by doing a good job they will be rewarded: “One ill effect of the exclusion would be a diminution of the inducements of good behavior.” If they know that no matter how they perform, they must leave office at a designated point, they will not take their jobs as seriously. Publius concludes, “The most to be expected from the generality of men, in such a situation, is the negative merit of not doing harm, instead of the positive merit of doing good.”

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Publius argues that term limits tempt politicians toward corruption: “A second ill effect of the exclusion would be the temptation to sordid views, to peculation, and in some instances, to usurpation.” Realizing that they will soon be stripped of the 324 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

position, they will be more inclined to, as one delegate at the Constitutional Convention put it, “make hay while the sun shines.” If a man has a lust for power or money, he might hold these in check if by doing so he could get reelected. Take the temptation of reelection away, which is what term limits do, and the temptations of ambition and avarice can be overpowering. Describing how members would behave with term limits, Publius explains, “But with the prospect before him of approaching an inevitable annihilation, his avarice would be likely to get the victory over his caution, his vanity, or his ambition.” ▪

Publius continues, “A third ill effect of the exclusion would be depriving the community of the advantage of the experience gained by the Chief Magistrate in the exercise of his office.” He goes on, “Experience is the parent of wisdom. Can it be wise to put this desirable and essential quality under the ban of the Constitution, and to declare that the moment it is acquired, its possessor shall be compelled to abandon the station in which it was acquired, and to which it was adapted?”

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Publius warns, “A fourth ill effect of the exclusion would be the banishing of men from stations in which, in certain emergencies of the State, their presence might be of the greatest moment to the public interest or safety.” A good example of what Publius is referring to is the election of Franklin Roosevelt in 1940. Just as the war in Europe was really heating up, would it have been wise to have a prohibition that made Roosevelt ineligible to continue as president? Clearly the public wanted him to remain president, since he was the only president elected more than twice to that office. In fact, one such emergency mentioned by Publius is war: “. . . it is evident that a change of the Chief Magistrate, at the breaking out of war, or any similar crisis, for another, even of equal merit, would at times be detrimental to the community, inasmuch as it would substitute inexperience to experience, and would tend to unhinge and set afloat the already settled train of the administration.” 325 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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Publius recognizes that when new people come into office they are going to think differently, and even if they don’t, they still want to leave their unique imprints behind: “A fifth ill effect of the exclusion would be that it would operate as a constitutional interdiction of stability in the administration. By necessitating a change of men, in the first office of the nation, it would necessitate a mutability of measures.” Thus, a change of men would cause a change of policy. Publius concludes, “And we need not be apprehensive there will be too much stability, while there is even the option of changing; nor need we desire to prohibit it from continuing their confidence where they think it may be safely placed, and where, by constancy on their part, they may obviate the fatal inconveniences of fluctuating councils and a variable policy.”

Organizing Congress (Action) 10.3

Compare and contrast the leadership systems used in the House and Senate, and explain how work is done through congressional committees.

LECTURE 1: Aside from naming the Speaker of the House as head of that body’s operations and the vice president as the overseer of Senate deliberations, the Constitution is silent on the organization of Congress. Examine how this void has been filled by political parties with your students. ▪

Both majority and minority parties have their own leadership, which governs the appointment of members to the various committees, where much of the work of Congress actually takes place. Indeed, parties are the primary base for organizing the work of Congress and for providing congressional leadership.

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In the House of Representatives, the key leadership figure is the Speaker of the House, who serves as both presiding officer of the chamber and leader of the majority party. The minority party selects a minority leader, whose duties correspond to those of the majority leader, except that the minority leader has no authority over the scheduling of legislation. In both parties, whips assist leaders in 326 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

keeping track of the whereabouts of party members and in pressuring them to vote the party line. ▪

In the Senate, the vice president of the United States is the formal leader. But actual day-to-day leadership is provided by the Senate majority leader, who assumes the position of president pro tempore of the Senate. The minority party chooses a minority leader. But because the rules of the Senate afford greater flexibility, and because party discipline is weaker in the Senate, the positions of majority and minority leader are not as powerful in that body as the Speaker is in the House.

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Movement up the party hierarchy in each house is the most common way to achieve a leadership position. House and Senate leaders—and members who aspire to become leaders—often ingratiate themselves to their colleagues by distributing campaign funds to them.

LECTURE 2: Differentiate the committee structures and key committees in the House and Senate with your students. ▪

Congress has a system of standing committees (permanent committees that specialize in a particular area of legislation) where most of the day-to-day work of the Congress is actually done.

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The most powerful standing committees—and therefore the most sought-after committee assignments—are the appropriations committees in the House and the Senate. Standing committees consider bills and make recommendations to their respective chambers. They also frequently have oversight responsibility. Standing committees also frequently have several subcommittees within each standing committee that further decentralize the legislative process.

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As of 2016, there are 20 standing committees in the House and 16 in the Senate. However, because of the larger size of the House, House committees tend to be larger.

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Select (or special) committees are usually charged with conducting a specific study or investigation under a fixed timeframe. Examples include the House committees on agriculture, foreign affairs, or veterans’ affairs or the Senate committees on armed services, foreign relations, or budget.

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Joint committees are permanent committees comprising members from both chambers. There are currently four joint committees (economic, library, printing, and taxation) in addition to the conference committee, which is a special type of joint committee formed to reconcile differences between competing House and Senate versions of the same bill.

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Members strive for assignments that will give them influence in Congress, allow them to exercise power in Washington, and ultimately improve their chances for reelection. However, in most cases, the seniority system governs most movement into committee leadership positions.

LECTURE 3: Explore with your students the primary support agencies that aid Congress with its work. ▪

The Library of Congress and its Congressional Research Service (CRS; www.loc.gov/crsinfo) are the oldest congressional support agencies. While the Library of Congress has a broader mandate, the CRS works exclusively for the U.S. Congress and provides nonpartisan policy and research analysis to committees and members of both houses.

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The Government Accountability Office (GAO; www.gao.gov) has broad authority to oversee the operations and finances of executive agencies, to evaluate their programs, and to report its findings to Congress.

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The Congressional Budget Office (CBO; www.cbo.gov) was created by the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Act of 1974 to strengthen Congress’s role in the budgeting process.

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The Government Publishing Office (GPO; www.gpo.gov) distributes over 20,000 government publications in U.S. government bookstores throughout the nation.

How a Bill Becomes a Law (Action) 10.4

Describe the process of lawmaking in Congress.

LECTURE 1: While students often have a basic understanding of the legislative process, some of the more arcane rules used in the lawmaking process in Congress warrant greater exploration. ▪

The vast majority of legislation proposed to Congress dies in committee. A favorable “report” by a standing committee of the House or Senate places a bill on the “calendar.” The word “calendar” is misleading because bills on the calendar are not considered in chronological order and many die on the calendar without ever reaching the floor.

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Even after a bill has been approved by a standing committee, getting it to the floor of the House of Representatives for a vote by the full membership requires favorable action by the Rules Committee, which sets the terms under which the proposed legislation will be debated.

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The Senate has no rules committee but relies instead on a unanimous consent agreement negotiated between the majority and minority leaders to govern consideration of a bill. Senators may speak as long as they wish or even try to filibuster a bill to death by talking nonstop. Debate may be ended only if 60 or more senators vote for cloture, a process of petition and voting that limits the debate.

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Other key rules and provisions include the following: 

A rider is an amendment to a bill that is not germane to the bill’s purposes.

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A roll call vote involves the casting of individual votes, which are reported in the Congressional Record and are available to the media and the general public.

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About 15 percent of the time, serious differences arise and bills are assigned to conference committees to reach agreement on single versions for resubmission to both houses.

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Few bills survive the legislative process. Indeed, fewer than 10 percent of the bills submitted to Congress ever reach the president for approval or veto. Most die in committee from inaction rather than being voted on.

LECTURE 2: Explain the appropriations process to your students. ▪

To spend money, Congress has to work to commit funds so that the law can be set in motion—Article I, Section 9, of the Constitution states that no money can be drawn from the Treasury except as a result of an appropriations bill. This process has two steps: 

First, Congress must authorize programs and agencies to continue. This is separate from the program and agency budgets and is intended to make sure that Congress does not use money to alter the operations of the agencies. Committees can add entitlements through the process of authorization. Authorization committees help determine the kinds of programs within their jurisdiction that will be funded.

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Appropriation is the actual granting of funds to federal agencies and programs. Appropriations committees determine the exact amount of moneys to be disbursed. ▪

Regular appropriations have an enacting clause that designates the fiscal year for spending, a breakdown of budget authority by accounts, and general provisions that apply to all the accounts.

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Continuing resolutions disburse funding when regular appropriations have not been set by October 1—stop-gap measures put into place because from 1977 to 2006, the appropriations schedule was only completed on time four times.

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Supplemental appropriations are used when regular appropriations do not cover certain activities or are deemed insufficient. To avoid spending caps, Congress designates supplements as emergency funds.

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Appropriating funds is different from passing laws in that appropriations are streamlined because failing to pass them closes government. Appropriations also follow a strict timetable. 330 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

LECTURE 3: Explain the lawmaking process in Congress to your students. ▪

The lawmaking process is very long. The first step is the introduction: a sponsor, any member of Congress, offers a bill into either the House or the Senate. The bill is then referred to the appropriate committee for consideration. In the House, the Speaker decides where the bill goes; in the Senate, the president pro tempore or the vice president decides.

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Once a bill is assigned to a committee—typically the relevant policy domain—it is assigned by the committee chair to subcommittees. The substance of a bill is first considered by a subcommittee. In a process called markup, members rewrite portions of the bill, delete others, and add still more—the subcommittee then reports the bill back to the full committee when it is ready. The full committee then also does markup and offers revisions. In the House, the bill is then reported to the Rules Committee. In the Senate, the bill is reported to the floor.

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In the house, the Rules Committee decides how a bill will be debated on the floor: when the bill goes to the floor, how long members will debate on a bill, and what kind of amendments (if any) can be offered. There are two types of rules: open rule, which allows for a wide range of amendments, and closed rule, in which the types and number of possible amendments are more restricted. Supporters typically prefer a closed rule on their bill. Then the Rules Committee submits the bill to the floor.

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In the Senate, the process for getting a bill passed can have a higher threshold. The convention in the Senate is that any member can speak for as long as he or she wants on any given issue, and the speaking does not have to be germane to the bill. This is usually referred to as a filibuster.

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Once each chamber has passed a bill, each version has to be reconciled to the other—meaning that the president only gets one piece of legislation to sign or to veto. To get the bills reconciled, the chambers send members to a conference committee which only exists to iron out the differences between the bills. The more complex or significant the legislation, the more members in the conference. 331 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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Once the identical bill passes both chambers, it heads down the road to the White House for presidential action. The president has a few choices. 

First, he or she can sign the bill and it becomes law.

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Second, he or she can ignore the bill, and it becomes law in 10 days without his or her signature.

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Third, he or she can ignore the bill, and when the Congress goes into recess, the bill is vetoed without his or her signature—this is known as a pocket veto.

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Finally, he or she can veto the bill, at which point it goes back to the originating chamber; if two-thirds of both chambers agree to override the veto, the veto is overridden and the bill becomes law.

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Given the length of this process, most bills fail. Committees have substantial gatekeeping authority and keep many bills from ever getting to a vote. In the Senate, the filibuster is a powerful tool that allows a single senator to slow legislation down.

Making Legislative Choices (Impact) 10.5

Describe the factors that influence how members of Congress make decisions.

LECTURE 1: From an almost limitless number of considerations that go into congressional decision making, a few factors recur across a range of voting decisions: party loyalty, presidential support or opposition, constituency concerns, interest group pressures, and the personal values and ideologies of members themselves. Consider the ways in which various interests affect the legislative process in Congress. ▪

Party Loyalty. Party votes are roll call votes on which a majority of voting Democrats oppose a majority of voting Republicans. Party unity is measured by the percentage of Democrats and Republicans who stick by their parties on party votes. While bipartisanship has traditionally been a goal of both presidents and congressional leaders on foreign and defense policy issues, domestic affairs tend to be much more divided, often along party lines. 332 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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Presidential Support or Opposition. Policy gridlock is often associated with divided party government (either a Democratic president and a Republicancontrolled House or Senate or a Republican president and a Democraticcontrolled House or Senate). This form of divided government, which has characterized U.S. politics for much of its recent history, makes governing more difficult.

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Constituency. Constituency influence on congressional voting is most apparent on issues that attract media attention and discussion and generate intense feelings among the general public.

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Lobbyists and Interest Groups. These have their greatest effects on the details of public policy. They also tend to be most effective lobbying on issues when the public is uninterested or inattentive.

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Personal Values. English political philosopher Edmund Burke defended the classic notion of representatives as trustees who feel obligated to use their own best judgment about what is good for the nation as a whole. This notion contrasts with the idea of representatives as delegates who feel obligated to vote according to the views of “the folks back home” regardless of their own personal viewpoints.

LECTURE 2: Members of Congress work long hours, generally putting in from 12 to 15 hours per day. But what exactly do they do? Explore some of the key job responsibilities of members of Congress with your class. ▪

Making Decisions. Perhaps the most obvious responsibility of members of Congress is to make decisions. Members cast hundreds of recorded and unrecorded votes—both on the floor and in committee—every session. Some of these decisions receive considerable attention from constituents and the media, while others are virtually neglected.

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Making Policy. Arriving at policy decisions requires members of Congress to work together, often bridging deep geographic or partisan divides. Making policy also requires members to stay informed about current local, national, and international developments, particularly with issues related to a member’s committee assignments. Part of policy making also involves oversight.

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Committee Work. Representatives in the House serve on an average of two committees, while senators serve on an average of four. In doing so, members of Congress are expected to develop a level of expertise in the subjects dealt with by their respective committees. In committee, members will often question witnesses and participate in the development and revision of proposed legislation, a process known as markup.

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Floor Work. While debates on the floor of the House or the Senate represent the most exciting part of the work of the Congress, it actually represents a relatively small portion of a member’s workload.

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Running an Office. Members of Congress rely on extensive support staff, including offices in Washington as well as district offices that provide outreach to constituents. Members must oversee their own offices.

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Casework. Members of Congress and their staffs also engage in extensive casework, or assistance provided to constituents. People will often contact the offices of their member of Congress when a Social Security check doesn’t arrive, when they are denied a claim by the Veteran’s Administration, when their student loans aren’t processed, or in countless other situations. Members of Congress are often expected to assist constituents in resolving (or at least understanding) their problems.

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Securing Reelection. Not surprisingly, members of Congress must also concern themselves with retaining their positions. Political campaigns can be expensive and complex affairs. Consequently, members of Congress spend time organizing their campaigns, raising money for reelection, and staging media events and public appearances.

LECTURE 3: Contrast congressional styles, differentiating in particular between “Hill style” and “home style.” ▪

“Home style” refers to the activities of senators and representatives in promoting their images among constituents and personally attending to constituents’ problems and interests. These activities include members’ allocations of their personnel and staff resources to constituent services, members’ personal appearances in their home districts or states to demonstrate personal attention, and members’ efforts to explain their Washington activities to the voters back home.

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In recent years, Hill-style leadership has become more common. Hill-style legislators present themselves as powerful players in Congress who can deliver goods or services back to their district because of their positions in Congress. This can happen in several ways: 

Casework is really a form of “retail” politics, where members of Congress can win votes one at a time by helping constituents on a personal level.

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“Pork barreling” describes the efforts of senators and representatives to “bring home the bacon”—to bring federally funded projects, grants, and contracts that primarily benefit a single district or state to their home constituencies.

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Earmarks in these appropriations bills specify the particular projects for which federal money is to be spent.

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Members of Congress must maintain good images among their constituents. Again, there are multiple ways in which members of Congress do this. 

Pressing the Flesh. Senators and representatives spend a great deal of time in their home districts, meeting with constituents and making public appearances.

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Puffing Images. Newsletters “puff” the accomplishments of the members, questionnaires are designed more to flatter voters than to assess opinions, and brochures tout federal services that members claim credit for providing and defending.

LECTURE 4: Explain the ways in which Congress does and does not represent the nation’s citizens. ▪

The number of women in Congress was miniscule before the 1950s. The number has steadily increased since the 1980s, but women are still significantly underrepresented (about 23 percent of Congress versus 51 percent of the population).

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African Americans comprise about 13 percent of members of Congress (close to their share of the U.S. population). Hispanics make up roughly 17 percent of the population and approximately 10 percent of Congress.

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Lawyers make up approximately 49 percent of Congress. This concentration of one occupation does not necessarily mean that Congress cannot adequately represent the interests of the average citizen, but the legislators’ backgrounds may influence both their choice of agenda and their positions on the issues.

LECTURE 5: The Congress is designed to represent a very diverse nation—but members cannot work alone, so they have to rally support among people who disagree with them. Review some of the challenges to members of Congress working together. ▪

Regional differences play an important role in Congress. Party affiliation isn’t everything; Republicans from Utah look very different from Republicans from California.

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The things that help one member get elected do not necessarily help another member get elected. Even though they have that goal in common, they need to sort through their differences to satisfy their different constituents and retain seats.

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Members of Congress have to keep track of everything from the domestic economy to crime to international trade to transportation—they then have to figure out how to solve various problems. To do this, they need lots of information.

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Once members have the information, they then need to work together to write laws. They have a short time to build a long list of accomplishments, so they must use their resources accordingly—it is easy to take credit for the work others have done. This is known as the collective action problem; people are better off if someone else does work that they can take credit for.

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A majority of members prefer an alternate solution to the current law. Among that majority are groups that prefer different alternatives. As a result, members cannot settle on a single change to existing policy—this is known as cycling. They need to stop talking at some point and make the change.

LECTURE 6: Over time, institutions develop customs and norms of behavior to assist in their functioning. These are not merely quaint and curious folkways; they promote the purposes of an institution. Congressional customs and norms are designed to help members work together, to reduce interpersonal conflict, to facilitate bargaining, and to promote compromise. Examine some of the key customs and norms influencing the business of Congress with your students. ▪

Civility. Traditionally, members of Congress understood that uncivil behavior undermines the lawmaking function.

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The Demise of the Apprenticeship Norm. Years ago, “the first rule” of congressional behavior was that new members were expected to be seen but not heard on the floor, to be studious in their committee work, and to be cooperative with party leaders. This tradition has weakened significantly in recent years.

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Specialization and Deference. Members are likely to defer to specialized committee members when the issues are technical, complicated, or outside of their own area of policy specialization, but deference is increasingly rare on major public issues.

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Bargaining. A willingness to bargain is a long-standing functional norm of Congress.

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Logrolling. Logrolling is mutual agreement to support projects that primarily benefit individual members of Congress and their constituencies. 337 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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Leader-Follower Relations. Because leaders have few means of disciplining members, they must rely heavily on their bargaining skills to solicit cooperation and get the work of Congress accomplished.

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Gridlock. Congress is often criticized for legislative gridlock—the failure to enact laws, including appropriations acts, that are widely perceived to have merit.

Congress at a Crossroads (Impact) 10.6

Analyze the ability of members to represent their constituents.

LECTURE 1: Although critics might consider the term “congressional ethics” an oxymoron, the moral climate of Congress today is probably better than in earlier eras of American history. Nevertheless, Congress as an institution has suffered from well-publicized scandals that continue to prompt calls for reform. Explore how Congress addresses the ethics of its members. ▪

Congress has an interest in maintaining the integrity of the institution itself and the trust of the people; thus Congress has established its own rules of ethics.

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However, the rules leave several gray areas, particularly around services for and contributions from donors. Congress members are expected to perform services for their political contributors, which can lead to compromising situations.

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The Constitution gives Congress the power to discipline its own members: “Each House may . . . punish its members for disorderly Behaviour, and, with the Concurrence of two thirds, expel a Member.” 

Expulsion is the most powerful form of reprimand available to the Congress. Since 1784, only 20 members of Congress have been expelled—15 from the Senate and 5 from the House. Seventeen of those 20 were expelled for their support of the Confederacy during the Civil War. The other three expelled members were the following:

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In 1797, Senator William Blount of Tennessee was expelled for treason on charges that he supported British plans to capture Spanish territory in west Florida.

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In 1980, Representative Michael Myers of Pennsylvania was expelled for bribery.

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In 2002, Representative Jim Traficant of Ohio was expelled after being convicted on charges of bribery, racketeering, and tax evasion.

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Censure is a public reprimand for wrongdoing given to a member standing in the chamber before Congress. During censure, a member of Congress must listen as a resolution condemning his or her behavior is read aloud on the floor. In the history of the U.S. Congress, 9 senators and 23 representatives have faced censure.

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Many, but not all, members of Congress censured or reprimanded lose their seats in subsequent elections.

LECTURE 2: Outline the historical successes and failures of the Republican and Democratic Parties in Congress. ▪

For 40 years (1954–1994), Democrats enjoyed an advantage in congressional races; in fact, the Democratic Party was said to have a “permanent majority” in the House of Representatives. The historic Democratic dominance of Congress was attributed to several factors: 

Party identification plays a significant role in congressional voting.

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Many voters considered local rather than national conditions when casting congressional votes, and Democratic candidates appeared more creditable on the promise to “bring home the bacon.”

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Democratic congressional candidates over those years enjoyed the many advantages of incumbency.

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Subsequently, Congress has changed hands regularly. 

The GOP’s capture of control of both houses of Congress in 1994 for the first time in 40 years raised conservatives’ hopes of a “revolution” in public policy.

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In the 2000 congressional elections, Republicans barely held on to their majority in the House of Representatives. The election produced a historic 50–50 tie in the Senate.

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Bush led the GOP to congressional victories in 2002 and 2004. President George W. Bush’s high approval rating throughout the year following the 9/11 terrorist attacks on America made him a highly welcomed campaigner in districts and states across the nation.

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However, by the 2006 election, the war in Iraq had seriously eroded President George W. Bush’s popularity and led to the election of a Democraticcontrolled House and Senate in the 2006 midterm congressional elections.

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In 2008, Democrats not only won the White House but also strengthened their control of both the Senate and the House of Representatives.

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The 2010 congressional elections saw the Democrats lose control of the House but maintain a very narrow majority in the Senate.

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The 2012 congressional elections saw the Democrats retain majority control in the Senate but House Republicans kept a 234- to 201-seat majority.

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In the 2014 midterm elections, Republicans gained control of the Senate, picking up the six seats they needed for a majority.

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In the 2016, Republicans won the White House and preserved their majorities in both chambers of Congress.

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In 2018, Democrats gained 41 seats in the House, regaining the majority, while the Republicans preserved their majority in the Senate.

Class Activities CLASS ACTIVITY 1: Surveys consistently show a high level of dissatisfaction with Congress. Indeed, recent surveys give Congress a job approval rating of around 10 percent. Yet voters continue to reelect members by extraordinary percentages (especially in the House of Representatives). ▪

Provide recent polling data illustrating this point to your class. You can find recent data on the websites of many polling agencies or at PollingReport.com (go to www.pollingreport.com and click on “Congress”).

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Ask your class to consider possible reasons for what seems to be a contradiction. Is it simply the advantage of incumbency? Is the American public more satisfied with its own representatives than with Congress as an institution?

This discussion question focuses on the challenges of and reasons for Congress’s low job approval rating.

CLASS ACTIVITY 2: Distribute several copies of the Congressional Record to your class. ▪

Ask students to look for the main features of the Record: the “Proceedings of the House” and “Proceedings of the Senate,” which contain an official account of the floor proceedings of each chamber; the “Extension of Remarks,” which contains various documents (some of them extraneous) inserted by members; and the “Daily Digest,” which contains a list of meetings and hearings of committees and subcommittees and summarizes the day’s congressional activities.

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Point out the black dots known as “bullets” that are used to designate speeches that were not made in person.

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Solicit views from the class about the practice whereby members may revise or edit speeches that were made from the floor.

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Alternatively, you could ask your students to perform this exercise online by visiting the Congressional Record website (go to www.congress.gov and click on “Congressional Record”).

CLASS ACTIVITY 3: Divide students into small discussion groups based on shared characteristics (e.g., sex, academic standing/year, region of the country they are from). ▪

Ask them to discuss the policy issues that concern them the most. Have each group share its concerns. Point out differences and/or similarities across groups.

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Direct a debate centered on questions of symbolic representation: does a group feel that its interests would be better represented by a congressperson who shares the group’s basic characteristics? Why or why not?

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An alternative way of addressing many of the same points is to note that members of Congress can obviously not claim descriptive representation since they come primarily from occupations with high status and usually have substantial incomes. Moreover, women and minorities are underrepresented. Ask your class to consider whether the personal characteristics of members of Congress are important. Can members of Congress effectively represent the concerns of their constituents when they do not share their constituents’ economic and social backgrounds?

This activity encourages students to think about the nature and competing models of representation.

CLASS ACTIVITY 4: Hold a mock legislative session in which students play members of Congress. ▪

Assign each student the role of a member of the House of Representatives; be sure to divide students in a way that approximates the current ratio of the majority and minority parties in the House.

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Have the students research their roles, paying special attention to the representative’s ideology and voting history, as well as to the nature of the member’s constituency.

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Assign four students to the roles of majority leader, majority whip, minority leader, and minority whip. Direct those students to research the responsibilities of the leadership in the congressional voting process.

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Select an actual or fictitious House bill that is scheduled for a vote. Ask students to decide for themselves how to vote on the bill; students may base their decisions on personal conscience, constituent preferences, personal ideological preferences, or party preferences.

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Direct the House leadership to take a preliminary vote count. If the leaders are not pleased with the outcome, they may choose to caucus with the party members.

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After the party caucus, have the leadership take another count. If necessary, provide the leadership with time to negotiate or bargain with individual members who are holding up the party vote. Hold an official roll call vote.

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Discuss the results of the vote. Ask the leadership what it took to marshal a partyline vote. Have individual members discuss what did or did not influence their vote decisions.

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Alternatively, you could have students draft legislation and take it from the committee phase to the debate phase. Then ask them to write short papers analyzing their experiences and reflecting on what they learned about the legislative process.

This active learning assignment provides an opportunity for detailed reflection on the legislative process. (Action)

CLASS ACTIVITY 5: Select several bills from the last legislative session. Divide your class into several small groups and have each group trace the path of one bill through the legislative process. The Library of Congress website is a good source to begin the search (go to www.congress.gov and click on “Legislation”). Each group should elect a spokesperson to report on the bill in class. This activity explores the process by which a bill becomes a law. (Action)

CLASS ACTIVITY 6: Provide students with a map of your state’s congressional districts. Divide students into groups and ask each group to research the demographic composition of one district. This information is readily available via the Census Bureau (www.census.gov), House of Representatives member websites (www.house.gov), and a myriad of other public interest group, media, or research foundation websites (e.g., www.cnn.com and www.ballotpedia.org). ▪

During the next class period, have groups share their findings. Using those findings, ask students to point out districts that might raise questions about geographic compactness, communities of interest, packing, cracking, or other district irregularities.

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Have students deduct the influence that your state’s redistricting plan might have on electoral outcomes. If your state has clear, noncontroversial congressional districts, you might choose to have your students analyze a state with a more complicated or irregular map. Ohio is a good example of this, but many other states have similarly complicated districts. If you would like this activity to take place during one class period, be sure to provide students with demographic information when you hand out the congressional map.

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This could also be used as the basis for a short research assignment on gerrymandering.

This activity gives students an opportunity to reflect on the impact of gerrymandering. (Structure)

CLASS ACTIVITY 7: Show video clips of Congress in session (go to c-span.org or youtube.com and search “congressional session”). ▪

Use the clip in class to discuss congressional functions. For example, you could show advice and consent hearings, a roll call vote, debate, and even a brief procedural segment.

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Alternatively, assign students to watch C-SPAN outside of class and discuss the nature of the proceedings they observe in class.

This activity exposes students to the legislative process and gives them an opportunity to see Congress in action. (Action) 344 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

CLASS ACTIVITY 8: Divide your class into several groups and ask each to prepare a lecture on the history of sensationalized congressional hearings. Examples might include McCarthyism, Watergate, or the Anita Hill/Clarence Thomas affair. More recent examples could include the murder of U.S. ambassador Christopher Stephens in Benghazi, Libya, or the investigation into the relationship between General David Petraeus and the journalist Paula Broadwell. This activity explores the oversight function of the Congress and encourages students to think about the ways in which that process might become politicized. (Action)

Research Activities RESEARCH ACTIVITY 1: Students often assume that because seats in the House are allocated on the basis of population, a greater degree of “fairness” exists in the House than in the Senate, where each state receives just two seats regardless of population. Is this the case? ▪

Have your students calculate the average number of citizens per senator and per representative for the following states: California, Montana, New York, Texas, and Wyoming. You could also add your state to the list if it is not already there.

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In short essays, ask your students to reflect on what their findings say about the equality of representation in the U.S. Congress. Are some citizens more represented than others?

This activity helps develop data literacy skills and gets students to think about the relationship between demography and representation in the U.S. Congress.

RESEARCH ACTIVITY 2: Have your students find the proportion of women, African Americans, Hispanic Americans, Asian Americans, and openly gay or lesbian members of Congress. Ask them to contrast their findings with the broader demographic patterns of the United States. ▪

If you are in a state with a large congressional delegation, you could ask your students to find the proportion of the same groups in your state’s congressional delegation instead.

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In short essays, ask your students to reflect on what these patterns say about the nature of representation. Why do some groups tend to be underrepresented in Congress? How does the underrepresentation of women and minorities affect Congress’s business? How might that situation be addressed?

This activity helps develop data literacy skills and gets students to think about the relationship between demography and patterns of representation in the U.S. Congress. It also provides an opportunity to consider the different models of representation.

RESEARCH ACTIVITY 3: The Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network, available on most community cable systems throughout the country and online at www.c-span.org, can be used in a variety of ways. It can be especially helpful in giving students a better picture of congressional procedures. Reading or being told in a lecture about those procedures is good, but seeing them as they occur is invaluable. Assign students to observe floor and/or committee action as homework and report on the procedures used, the style of leadership, the identity of those presiding and speaking, and the general demeanor of those taking part in the action. This activity explores the formal and informal dynamics that govern the operations of the House and the Senate. (Action)

RESEARCH ACTIVITY 4: Ask students to locate information on the voting behavior of a specific member of Congress. The GovTrack website (www.govtrack.us) provides a useful starting point. Then ask students to consider the following questions in short papers: ▪

What factors help determine a congressperson’s voting decisions? How do members of Congress balance the competing interests of their constituents, the interests of their parties, and the lobbying efforts of interest groups?

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The Library of Congress website (www.congress.gov) is a particularly good website for an introduction to congressional research on the Internet. Some other good websites useful for this assignment include www.votesmart.org and www.ballotpedia.org.

RESEARCH ACTIVITY 5: Ask your students to examine the rate at which American voters reelect members of Congress by identifying the members of their states’ congressional delegations and researching when they were first elected to Congress and the margin by which they most recently won reelection. ▪

Point out the obvious paradox concerning Congress: that the American public often shows a low level of respect for Congress as an institution, and yet we continue to reelect members at very high rates.

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In short papers, ask your students to reflect on the following questions: can the incumbency advantage be enough to explain this discrepancy? Or are there other forces at work? For example, it has often been suggested that legislators may serve their own districts well. Do voters make decisions based on the well-being of the nation or on localized needs and priorities?

This assignment illustrates the advantages of incumbency and the high reelection rate among members of Congress. (Structure)

RESEARCH ACTIVITY 6: Ask each student to prepare a briefing sheet for a member of Congress from his or her state’s congressional delegation. Large classes may have to select members from more than one state. Ask each student to prepare a sheet providing the following information: committee service, location of district offices, bills introduced or sponsored, newsletters published and their frequency, scheduled meetings with public constituents, and political action committee support in the last election, including major donors by category and amounts contributed. ▪

If nearby, have your students visit the regional office to discover the number of personnel and the services they provide to constituents.

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Have your students share their briefing sheets on the course LMS.

This activity exposes students to the diversity of congressional representation and encourages students to think about how members of Congress relate to their constituents and to political action committees. (Action)

RESEARCH ACTIVITY 7: Have your students visit the websites for the House of Representatives (www.house.gov) and the Senate (www.senate.gov). Ask them to list the ways in which the information found on the websites reflects the differences between the two bodies in terms of their size, their relative prestige, and/or the level of party discipline or control. This activity develops students understand the similarities and differences between the two chambers of the U.S. Congress. (Structure) RESEARCH ACTIVITY 8: Ask your students to review James Madison’s argument in The Federalist, No. 51. To access the document, go to https://avalon.law.yale.edu/ and search “Federalist, No. 51.” In it, Hamilton argues that “in republican government, the legislative authority naturally predominates. The remedy for this inconvenience is to divide the legislature into different branches.” ▪

Ask students to prepare short papers in which they analyze the structural and political changes evident since the Constitution was written.

▪

How would they evaluate Hamilton’s arguments about the legislative branch from a current perspective?

This activity exposes students to the writings of the Federalists and provides an opportunity to reflect on how the U.S. Congress has evolved since the founding. (Structure and Action)

Participation Activities PARTICIPATION ACTIVITY 1: Ask students to write letters to their members of Congress about issues they feel strongly about. As an alternative assignment, note that political science professors frequently ask their students to write letters to members of Congress, sometimes on an assigned topic. Legislators’ staff members can usually recognize the source of such letters. Ask your students to consider whether legislators should give the same weight to letters written as an assignment as to those independently written.

This participation activity gives students a chance to interact with the offices of their congressional representatives. It also encourages them to think critically about the nature of that interaction.

PARTICIPATION ACTIVITY 2: Have your students watch the School House Rock video “I’m Just a Bill” available on YouTube (go to www.youtube.com and search “I’m just a bill”). ▪

Ask students to prepare, either in the written form of “scripts” or actual videos, their own supplements that add to the simple version presented. Ask them to include a more sophisticated understanding of committees, the multiple veto points, the nature of congressional decision making, and the role of interest groups and constituencies.

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Have them discuss their revised scripts with local elementary or high school civics teachers. Afterward, ask them to discuss the challenges of presenting an accurate and detailed picture of the work of Congress to young Americans.

This participation activity helps students develop a more nuanced understanding of the legislative process while considering the challenges of popular education around American government. (Action)

PARTICIPATION ACTIVITY 3: Have your class visit the Project Vote Smart (www.votesmart.org) website and review the voting records of your school’s local congressperson(s) with respect to education. ▪

Based on the representative’s voting record, ask students to decide where he or she stands on the important education issues facing your university or college.

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Does your member of Congress represent the views and opinions of you and your fellow students? Does he or she adopt education-related policies you support?

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Ask your students to write stories for submission to the university or college newspaper based on their findings.

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Alternatively, this exercise may be used either as the basis of class presentations or individual written assignments.

This participation activity connects student research on congressional voting behavior with the broader college or university community. (Action) 349 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Suggested Readings and Films READING 1: Several classic texts deal with congressional politics. Among the best known are the following: ▪

Robert H. Davidson, Walter J. Oleszek, and Frances E. Lee, Congress and Its Members, 11th ed. (Washington, D.C.: CQ Press, 2011).

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Richard F. Fenno, Home Style (Boston: Little, Brown, 1978).

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Walter J. Oleszek, Mark J. Oleszek, Elizabeth Rybicki, and Bill Heniff, Jr., Congressional Procedures and Policy Processes, 11th ed. (Washington, DC: Sage Publications, 2019).

READING 2: Congressional dysfunction has been a popular topic in the press lately, as Americans grow increasingly frustrated with the apparent lack of action by the legislative branch. Books exploring this theme include the following: ▪

Thomas Mann and Norman Ornstein, The Broken Branch: How Congress Is Failing America and How to Get It Back on Track (New York: Oxford University Press, 2006).

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Thomas Mann and Norman Ornstein, It’s Even Worse than It Looks: How the American Constitutional System Collided with the New Politics of Extremism (New York: Basic Books, 2012).

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Robert Draper, Do Not Ask What Good We Do: Inside the House of Representatives (New York: Free Press, 2012).

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Ryan King, CONgress (New York: Bookstand, 2012).

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Lawrence Lessig, Republic, Lost: How Money Corrupts Congress—and a Plan to Stop It (New York: Hatchette, 2011).

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Jasmine Farrier, Constitutional Dysfunction on Trial: Congressional Lawsuits and the Separation of Powers (Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press, 2019).

READING 3: Norman J. Ornstein, Thomas E. Mann, and Michael J. Malbin, Vital Statistics on Congress (available from https://www.brookings.edu/multi-chapter-report/vital-statistics-oncongress/). Originally published biennially in print, this volume migrated online in 2013. The site 350 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

provides a rich source of information on members of Congress and their staffs, congressional elections, and campaign finance. It is a vital resource for those interested in knowing more about what members of Congress actually do.

READING 4: An interesting book that provides a different take on the polarization of Congress in recent years is Frances Lee’s Beyond Ideology: Politics, Principles, and Partisanship in the U.S. Senate (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2009). Lee argues that the increasing polarization of Congress reflects the contestation of power rather than deeply held ideological disagreements.

READING 5: Gregory Koger traces the historical evolution of the filibuster in the Senate in Filibustering: A Political History of Obstruction in the House and Senate (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2010), focusing in particular on its expanded use in recent years.

READING 6: In Unorthodox Lawmaking, 5th ed. (Washington, D.C.: CQ Press, 2016), Barbara Sinclair dismisses the idealized Schoolhouse Rock version of the legislative process, replacing it with the messy, real-world process of legislating. Using detailed case studies, she explains the various detours and shortcuts a major bill is likely to take in Congress.

READING 7: In Ideology and Congress (New York: Transaction Press, 2007), Keith Poole and Howard Rosenthal present an interesting analysis using roll call vote records to examine historical changes in the level of ideological partisanship in Congress.

READING 8: Charles S. Bullock III analyzes the controversial politics of redistricting and reapportionment in Redistricting: The Most Political Activity in America (Lanham, Md.: Rowman and Littlefield, 2010).

READING 9: An impressive text covering the structures and functions of Congress in great detail is Steven S. Smith, Jason M. Roberts, and Ryan J. Vander Wielen’s The American Congress, 10th ed. (New York: Rowman & Littlefield, 2019). 351 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

READING 10: Lawrence C. Dodd and Bruce I. Oppenheimer’s Congress Reconsidered, 11th ed. (Washington, D.C.: CQ Press, 2016) is a rich text examining key questions in the business of Congress. READING 11: In “Lobbying as Legislative Subsidy,” American Political Science Review 100 (February 2006): 69–84, Richard L. Hall and Alan Deardorff develop a new theoretical model to understand lobbying in Congress. Hall and Deardorff conclude that lobbying has less to do with vote buying than with supporting like-minded legislators who share policy outlooks. READING 12: Dave’s Redistricting Simulator (https://davesredistricting.org/maps#home) provides an engaging and interactive tool that demonstrates the challenges of congressional redistricting based on real-world districts and maps.

READING 13: Both the House of Representatives (www.house.gov) and the Senate (www.senate.gov) maintain websites that provide general information, current legislation, committee reports, and contact information for members of Congress. READING 14: The Dirksen Center’s website (www.dirksencenter.org) provides an outstanding collection of Congress-related information, including a guide to Congress, information on how to write members of Congress effectively, and information on the current business of Congress, including calendars, proposed legislation, and links to the Congressional Record.

READING 15: The Congressional Record provides extensive coverage of congressional activities, including speeches, reports, transcripts, and legislation (go to www.congress.gov and click on “Congressional Record”). This website traces bills from their introduction through the entire legislative process.

READING 16: The Congressional Research Service is charged with providing nonpartisan analysis for committees and members of Congress. Many of its reports are available via its website at www.loc.gov/crsinfo. 352 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

READING 17: C-SPAN (www.c-span.org) provides a rich source of video footage from congressional debates, hearings, and investigations across three stations. FILM 18: Ken Burns’s America: The Congress (Florentine Films, 1989) was first broadcast in 1989 on PBS. The program chronicles the careers of some of Congress’s most notable members.

FILM 19: Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (Frank Capra, director, Columbia Pictures, 1939) is the classic story of an idealistic reformer running into the harsh realities of the Senate. The following are also worth seeing: ▪

Bulworth (Warren Beatty, director, Twentieth-Century Fox, 1998) is a critical comedy about a burned-out senator running for reelection.

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A Day in the Life of a Senator (Films for the Humanities and Sciences, 1999) focuses on three senators, examining what politicians really do.

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Advise and Consent (Otto Preminger, director, Otto Preminger Films, 1962) depicts the controversies over a nominee for secretary of state as found during Senate confirmation hearings.

Revel Features Chapter Introduction CURRENT EVENTS BULLETIN Video: WATCH Congress: The Big Picture Author video.

The Constitutional Foundations of Congress (Structure) 10.1

Describe the constitutional foundations of Congress.

Document: READ The Federalist, No. 59 Video: WATCH Paul Ryan: John Roberts Contorted “Logic and Reason” With Health Care Ruling 353 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

ABC video. Audio: LISTEN History of Impeachment Document: READ The Federalist, No. 33 Read: HAPPENING NOW Journal Prompt 10.1 Thinking of the most important public problem you think the nation faces today, which congressional power would you use to address it? QUIZ 10.1 The Constitutional Foundations of Congress (Structure)

Congressional Elections (Structure) 10.2

Describe the congressional election process and the advantages it gives incumbents.

Video: WATCH What Is Gerrymandering and What Does It Mean for Me as a Voter? Sketchnote Video: WATCH Reapportionment and Redistricting Social Explorer: FIGURE 10.1 PUBLIC APPROVAL OF CONGRESS, 1996–2018 Social Explorer: FIGURE 10.2 CONGRESSIONAL DIVERSITY Journal Prompt 10.2 Is there any way to give challengers the same advantages incumbents use for reelection? QUIZ 10.2 Congressional Elections (Structure)

Organizing Congress (Action) 10.3

Compare and contrast the leadership systems used in the House and Senate, and explain how work is done through congressional committees.

Sketchnote Video: WATCH House and Senate Role Differences Video: WATCH What Is the Filibuster and How Is It Being Used? Journal Prompt 10.3 354 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Does the current structure of Congress give leadership positions to the right people? What would you change about it? QUIZ 10.3 Organizing Congress (Action)

How a Bill Becomes a Law (Action) 10.4

Describe the process of lawmaking in Congress.

Social Explorer: FIGURE 10.3 TRENDS IN LEGISLATIVE PASSAGE (1973–2020) Video: WATCH The Legislative Process: Introduction and Referral of Bills Video from www.congress.gov. Journal Prompt 10.4 Where in the lawmaking process would you expect your opponents to try to stop a bill that might solve the most important problem you think the United States faces? QUIZ 10.4 How a Bill Becomes a Law (Action)

Making Legislative Choices (Impact) 10.5

Describe the factors that influence how members of Congress make decisions.

Video: WATCH Constituents and Hollywood React to President Trump’s Early Actions ABC video. Social Explorer: FIGURE 10.5 PARTY UNITY SCORES, 1961–2018 Journal Prompt 10.5 Why is the number of moderates falling, and what might be done to reverse the trend? QUIZ 10.5 Making Legislative Choices (Impact)

Congress at a Crossroads (Impact) 10.6

Social Explorer: FIGURE 10.6 MODERATES IN CONGRESS, 1879–2015 Journal Prompt: FIGURE 10.6 Can you think of a recent legislative issue before Congress in which the role of moderates would have been particularly important? Briefly outline the issue, explain the outcome if one was achieved, and describe the role moderates played in achieving that outcome. Might the outcome have been different if the percentage of moderates in Congress was higher? Journal Prompt 10.6 What can be done to encourage voters to support moderates who might bring liberals and conservatives together on divisive issues such as the budget or immigration reform? QUIZ 10.6 Congress at a Crossroads (Impact) SHARED WRITING PROMPT: Congress Given all that you now know about the structure, action, and impact of Congress, what would you do to restore public trust in the institution and its members?

Review the Chapter Video: WATCH Congress: So What? Author video. Flashcards: LEARN THE TERMS Congress Flashcard set of key terms and definitions for the chapter. CHAPTER 10 QUIZ Congress

11 The Presidency Chapter Overview In this chapter we cover the office of president of the United States, who serves both as the head of the government of the United States and the ceremonial representative of the country. We begin by considering constitutional foundations and historical evolution of the office of the presidency. We evaluate the gradual expansion of presidential power and consider the various roles played by the president, the Executive Office of the President, and the cabinet in contemporary U.S. politics. We then explore the relationship between the president and the public and between the president and Congress. Finally, we conclude by considering the factors that define presidential success and presidential greatness.

Lecture Suggestions The Constitutional Foundations of the Presidency (Structure) 11.1

Identify the constitutional foundations of the presidency.

LECTURE 1: Explain the separation of the roles of chief of state and chief of government in parliamentary systems with both a president and a prime minister. ▪

Draw a comparison between the British parliamentary model, which separates the ceremonial chief of state (the queen) from the actual chief of government (the prime minister) and the U.S. presidential model in which the two offices are fused.

▪

Highlight the other key difference between the U.S. and British models: the separation of powers between legislative and executive functions in the United States and their fusion under the British model.

LECTURE 2: When covering the evolution of presidential power, it is useful to distinguish between two classical models. The Whig model, popular early in the history of the United States, was deeply suspicious of presidential power, arguing that the role of the presidency should be confined to exercising those powers specifically outlined in the U.S. Constitution. Over time, the role of the presidency gradually expanded. Later, scholars argued in favor of a stewardship model, which argued that the powers of the president should be more broadly interpreted, limited only by the specific provisions of the U.S. Constitution that restrict presidential power. The modern presidency has greatly expanded presidential powers. Since Franklin D. Roosevelt’s presidency, even presidents who are critical of the expansive reach of the presidency have often sought to expand their own roles once in office.

LECTURE 3: The founders understood that the executive would need sufficient power to effectively carry out his responsibilities, but their experience with tyrannical monarchs made them wary of granting too much power to the presidency. The provisions of Article II of the Constitution, which spell out the role of the president, are thus intentionally vague. To a large extent, presidents have been able to define their own powers by broadly interpreting Article II. ▪

Discuss the changes in the presidency, emphasizing how the institution gained more power as it evolved. The president’s powers in both domestic and foreign policy, for example, have grown as assertive personalities in the office responded to crises with decisive action.

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Be sure to detail the various roles that the president must play: chief of state, chief legislator, chief diplomat, commander in chief, and chief executive, and outline the formal and informal powers that contribute to each of those roles.

The President’s Job Description (Structure) 11.2

Analyze the scope of presidential power.

LECTURE 1: Historically, many important and dramatic policies enacted by the U.S. government have been undertaken unilaterally by the president using executive orders. Examine some of the most important executive orders, including the following: ▪

EO 9066, issued February 19, 1942, by President Franklin D. Roosevelt resulted in the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II.

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EO 9981, issued July 26, 1948, by President Harry S. Truman ended segregation in the armed forces.

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EO 10730, issued September 23, 1957, by President Dwight D. Eisenhower ordered the use of the National Guard to enforce school desegregation.

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EO 10925, issued March 6, 1961, by President John F. Kennedy mandated the use of affirmative action and nondiscriminatory hiring practices by governmental agencies and contractors.

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EO 11615, issued August 15, 1971, by President Richard M. Nixon imposed wage and price controls in an attempt to prevent stagflation in the United States. 359 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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EO 13379, issued December 12, 2002, by President George W. Bush established the Office of Faith Based Initiatives and increased participation of religious organizations in federal social programs.

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EO13780, issued March 6, 2017, by President Donald Trump banned travel from six countries (Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen) and suspended the U.S. refugee program for 120 days.

Be sure to explain the unique nature of executive orders, the reasons for their use, and the criticism their use often engenders. LECTURE 2: The phrase “executive power” itself tells us little about the actual powers of the office of the president. Indeed, several lectures could be developed around the meaning and scope of the powers of the president. ▪

The Meaning of Executive Power. There are two schools of thought concerning what the Framers meant when they used the phrase “executive power.” 

The first holds that the phrase “executive power” was intended to summarize the powers that are enumerated in Article II. According to this point of view, all presidential power is listed in Article II and the executive power clause does not add any power to the list. It is merely descriptive. Presidents taking this view are said to be exercising the role of literalist. Some also refer to it as the Whig role. Examples would be William Howard Taft and Dwight Eisenhower.



The second contends that the phrase “executive power” confers power. That is, it does not describe other powers but is itself a grant of additional power. What power? Viewed in this way the clause became a kind of necessary and proper clause for the executive. This is the interpretation that has come to accurately describe the modern presidency. There is no mention in the Constitution of the president’s power of removal. There is no mention of executive privilege, or executive agreements, or executive orders. Yet, presidents exercise all of these and with the blessing of the U.S. Supreme 360 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Court. Presidents taking this view are said to be exercising the stewardship role. Examples would be Abraham Lincoln and Franklin Roosevelt. ▪

Tensions in the Scope and Exercise of Executive Power. Years ago, Barbara Hinckley, in Outline of American Government: The Continuing Experiment, argued for a kind of synthesis of these two views. In her opinion, the Framers constructed a duality when designing the presidency. 

On the one hand, they desired an energetic (strong) executive, as outlined by Hamilton in The Federalist Papers. They listed very few specific powers in Article II. Rather, they purposely left presidential powers ambivalent or undefined so that the executive could exercise needed powers when certain occasions presented themselves.



On the other hand, the Framers worried that the president could be too strong. Thus they provided numerous checks on the president. The Senate must approve certain appointments and all treaties. The president does not have an absolute veto; it can be overridden. Only Congress could declare war or appropriate funds. Seen in this light, the presidency, by design, is both strong and weak. By setting up such broad parameters, the Framers allowed some presidents to be strong (Lincoln) and others to be weak (Carter). Of course, the personality of the president matters here, but the tension in the office is there purposely.

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Justice Jackson’s Three Groups. Finally, in Youngstown Sheet and Tube Company v. Sawyer (1952), Justice Jackson discussed presidential power in relationship to Congress. He provided three different groups or categories under which presidents can act, with different amounts of power for each. The Youngstown case dealt with the question of whether or not the president has the constitutional authority to seize private steel mills to prevent a nationwide steel strike. In taking this action, President Truman did not follow the Taft-Hartley Act, which provided for the seeking of an injunction to halt a strike. Jackson’s description of power under the Constitution sounds very much like Barbara Hinckley’s. For example, he states, “While the Constitution diffuses power the better to secure liberty, it also contemplates that practice will integrate the dispersed powers into a workable 361 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

government.” He continues, “Presidential powers are not fixed but fluctuate, depending upon their disjunction or conjunction with those of Congress.” Here are the three groups as he described them. 

First, when the president acts pursuant to an expressed or implied authorization of Congress, his authority is at its maximum, for it includes all that he possesses in his own right plus all that Congress can delegate. In these circumstances, and in these only, may he be said (for what it may be worth) to personify the federal sovereignty. If his act is held unconstitutional under these circumstances, it usually means that the federal government as an undivided whole lacks power. A seizure executed by the president pursuant to an act of Congress would be supported by the strongest of presumptions and the widest latitude of judicial interpretation, and the burden of persuasion would rest heavily on any who might attack it.



Second, when the president acts in absence of either a congressional grant or denial of authority, he can only rely on his own independent powers, but there is a zone of twilight in which he and Congress may have concurrent authority, or in which its distribution is uncertain. Therefore, congressional inertia, indifference, or quiescence may sometimes, at least as a practical matter, enable, if not invite, measures on independent presidential responsibility. In this area, any actual test of power is likely to depend on the imperatives of events and contemporary imponderables rather than on abstract theories of law.



Third, when the president takes measures incompatible with the expressed or implied will of Congress, his power is at its lowest ebb, for then he can rely only on his own constitutional powers minus any constitutional powers of Congress over the matter. Courts can sustain exclusive presidential control in such a case only by disabling the Congress from acting on the subject. Presidential claim to a power at once so conclusive and preclusive must be scrutinized with caution, for what is at stake is the equilibrium established by our constitutional system. 362 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

LECTURE 3: The expanding power and reach of the presidency has been defined not just by individual presidents but by broad political changes over time. Consequently, the nature of presidential leadership has also evolved. In the early years of the republic, the relatively small size and population of the country meant that government was necessarily small. Consequently, presidential leadership was most often exercised through personal relationships among the political elite. From the 1830s through the late 1800s, political parties became increasingly institutionalized, and political power was largely exercised through party bosses. Presidential leadership often depended on the ability to mobilize party bosses in support of their agenda. Progressive era reforms in the early 1900s greatly weakened political parties, and from the early 1900s through the 1970s, presidential leadership effectively depended on the ability of the president to negotiate agreement among competing interests in an increasingly pluralistic political system. The rise of television as a vehicle for direct communication with the public in the 1960s led to a decline in the classical form of pluralism. By the 1970s, the president could communicate directly with the American people, mobilizing them in support of his agenda. The effectiveness of presidents thus depended largely on their personal charisma and their ability to speak directly to the American people. The popularity of presidents like Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton, both of whom maintained incredibly effective media images, speaks to this model. ▪

Discuss how broader political and cultural trends outside the office itself have affected the nature of the presidency.

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Consider the extent to which political leaders might be hostages to circumstances beyond their control.

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Ask your class to consider the possibility that we hold our leaders to too high a standard.

LECTURE 4: List and define the powers of the president as defined in the Constitution. These powers can be divided into five broad areas: ▪

The Powers of the Chief Executive. These include the powers to “take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed” (Article II, Section 3), to supervise the executive branch of government, to appoint and remove executive officials (Article II, Section 2), and to prepare an executive budget for submission to Congress (by law of Congress).

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The Powers of the Chief Legislator. These powers include the power to initiate policy by “giv[ing] to the Congress Information of the State of the Union, and recommend[ing] to their Consideration such Measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient” (Article II, Section 3); the power to veto legislation passed by Congress, subject to override by a two-thirds vote in both houses; and the power to convene special sessions of Congress “on extraordinary Occasions” (Article II, Section 3).

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The Powers of the Chief Diplomat. This includes the power to make treaties “with the Advice and Consent of the Senate” (Article II, Section 2), to exercise the power of diplomatic recognition: “receive Ambassadors” (Article II, Section 3), and to make executive agreements (by custom and international law).

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The Powers of the Commander in Chief. This includes the power to command U.S. armed forces: “The president shall be Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy” (Article II, Section 2), and to appoint military officers.

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The Powers of the Chief of State. This is vested in the president by Article II, Section 1 of the U.S. Constitution. In addition, the president’s role as chief of state includes the power to grant reprieves and pardons (Article II, Section 2), to represent the nation as chief of state, and to appoint federal court and Supreme Court judges (Article II, Section 2).

LECTURE 5: The use of the presidential veto is perhaps the most dramatic example of the president’s role as chief legislator. ▪

Explain the veto process, being sure to differentiate between the line-item veto, the pocket veto, and the traditional veto.

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Discuss some examples of the use of the veto by the president and efforts by Congress to override presidential vetoes. Note, however, that the president often only needs to threaten a veto to affect proposed legislation. Given the relative rarity of Congressional overrides (Congress has overridden only 4 percent of the 2,564 presidential vetoes issued to date), many members of Congress will shape legislation to meet presidential preferences.

LECTURE 6: The president’s role as chief executive means that he or she is the top of the federal bureaucracy, heading departments totaling approximately 2.1 million employees. ▪

In this role, the president is charged with executing the laws passed by Congress. While the legislation itself instructs much bureaucratic action, the president can use tools such as executive orders and signing statements to shape public policy through the bureaucracy.

▪

In recent years, some presidents have made extensive use of signing statements in particular to thwart legislative initiatives. Indeed, the increased use of signing statements led the American Bar Association in 2006 to issue a report concluding that the use of such statements threatens to “undermine the rule of law and our constitutional system of separation of powers.”

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An engaging lecture could be developed examining the use and role of signing statements by recent administrations. The 2012 report by the Congressional Research Service, entitled Presidential Signing Statements: Constitutional and Institutional Implications, can help in the preparation of your lecture. To access the report, go to www.fas.org and search “presidential signing statements.”

LECTURE 7: The special responsibility of the president in the area of foreign affairs was demonstrated in the case of United States v. Curtiss-Wright Export Corp., 299 U.S. 304 (1936). ▪

A joint resolution of Congress in 1934 authorized the president to prohibit the sale of arms and munitions to countries engaged in armed conflict in South America. President Roosevelt immediately proclaimed such an embargo.

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Curtiss-Wright challenged the embargo as an unconstitutional delegation of legislative power to the president.

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In upholding the president’s authority, Justice Sutherland wrote, “In this vast external realm, with its important, complicated, delicate, and manifold problems, the president alone has the power to speak or listen as a representative of the nation. He makes treaties with the advice and consent of the Senate but he alone negotiates. Into the field of negotiation the Senate cannot intrude; and Congress itself is powerless to invade it.”

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According to Sutherland, federal power in the international area does not depend on the powers specified in the Constitution.

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The case stands for the proposition that limits on the delegation of powers are less restrictive in the foreign affairs field than in the domestic area. One problem with this case is that while the national government’s power in foreign affairs is clearly broad, it is less clear how these powers are to be divided between Congress and the president. Nonetheless, the broad powers given to the executive branch in the area of foreign affairs remain largely unchallenged today.

▪

For more on the Curtiss-Wright case, see Berger, “The Presidential Monopoly of Foreign Affairs,” Michigan Law Review 71, no. 1 (1972).

LECTURE 8: Explain the extensive powers afforded the president in conducting foreign affairs. These include appointing and receiving ambassadors, making treaties, and executive agreements. More recently, presidents have been granted fast-track trade authority to streamline the passage of foreign trade legislation through Congress. A discussion of fast-track authority in the context of international economic agreements may generate a lively class discussion.

How the Presidency Works (Action) 11.3

Describe the organization and functions of the Executive Office of the President.

LECTURE 1: Although specific responsibilities are assigned to the vice president in the Constitution (acting as president of the Senate and breaking tie votes), the main role of the vice president is to stand as backup in case the president dies or becomes incapacitated. Consequently, early vice presidents were often relegated to minor roles in policy making. Indeed, many vice presidents have commented on the office’s irrelevancy. John Adams, Washington’s vice president, said of the office, “My country has in its wisdom contrived the most insignificant office that ever the invention of man contrived or his imagination conceived.” John Garner, who served as Franklin Roosevelt’s vice president, said, “The vice presidency isn’t worth a pitcher of warm spit.” In the mid-1800s, Senator Daniel Webster famously declined his party’s vice-presidential nomination, declaring he did not intend to be buried until he was dead. Benjamin Franklin even asserted (only half tongue-in-cheek) that the vice president should be addressed as “Your Superfluous Excellency.” Since the 1950s, however, vice presidents have played a more important role in the administration, often acting as part of the president’s inner circle of advisers. This also helps to make sure they will not have to assume the office of the presidency without full knowledge of ongoing events. But, in spite of the growing role of the office, a number of myths continue to dominate our understanding of the vice presidency. An engaging lecture could be developed dispelling those myths. ▪

Myth 1: The vice presidency is a good training ground for the presidency. It is difficult to accept this as true. First, until very recent presidential terms, vice presidents did not even have an office in the White House. Second, until after World War II, vice presidents typically did not even attend cabinet meetings. One study found that presidents who had previously served as vice presidents got poorer ratings than those coming from other positions. (See Danny M. Adkison,

“The Vice Presidency as Apprenticeship,” Presidential Studies Quarterly [Spring 1983].) ▪

Myth 2: The vice president plays an important role in balancing the presidential ticket. One study found that most people vote against a ticket because of the vicepresidential candidate rather than for the ticket because of the vice-presidential candidate. Richard Nixon, once commenting on his selection process for a vicepresidential candidate, stated that his selection could not help him. So Nixon looked for the running mate that would hurt him the least: Agnew. (See Danny M. Adkison, “The Electoral Significance of the Vice Presidency,” Presidential Studies Quarterly [Summer 1982].)

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Myth 3: Presidents choose their vice presidents to groom future presidential candidates. The uppermost concern on a presidential candidate’s mind when selecting a vice-presidential running mate is whether or not the person would make a good successor to the presidency. As one congressman once put it, rather than picking someone to succeed them, presidents pick someone they think will help them succeed (i.e., to get elected). Indeed, there are numerous examples of presidents selecting vice-presidential running mates in an attempt to pick up votes (balance the ticket). John Kennedy (an easterner) chose the southerner Lyndon B. Johnson as his vice president. Jimmy Carter (a southern moderate) chose Walter Mondale (a northern liberal) as his vice president. Ronald Reagan (a western conservative) chose George H. W. Bush (an eastern moderate) as his vice president. And George H. W. Bush (an eastern moderate) in turn chose Dan Quayle (a midwestern conservative) as his vice president.

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Myth 4: The United States needs a vice president. First, there is evidence that the Framers did not create the vice presidency to provide a successor to the presidency. The delegates at the Convention had already designated someone to be a successor when the idea for a vice president emerged. The idea came about when discussing the method of electing the president. Once the discussion shifted to electors casting two votes each, delegates thought a second office was needed. Once that idea caught on and the vice presidency was created, then the delegates had to create a job description for the office. 368 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Second, the national government does need someone who can succeed to the presidency in the event of a vacancy or disability. That would not have to be a vice president. It could easily be someone of, typically, greater stature. For example, the secretary of state is usually someone of stature, and this person could be the successor. It might be interesting to see how many worthy successors your students can name. Third, Arthur Schlesinger Jr. describes the vice presidency as a maiming experience. He thinks that any person that would serve in such an office for four or possibly eight years is going to have problems later as president.

LECTURE 2: Numerous analyses of the decision-making process surrounding the Cuban missile crisis have been written, and the events themselves make for a compelling case study of presidential decision making and the powers of the office. Set the stage by describing the events that led up to the crisis (the Cold War context, the placement of Soviet missiles inside Cuba, their discovery by the United States, and so on). Focus your lecture on the decision-making dynamics. If you are unfamiliar with the model, Robert Kennedy’s Thirteen Days and Graham Alison’s The Essence of Decision are outstanding references. Your lecture should focus on the role of presidential advisers and the president’s reliance on small-group decision making. LECTURE 3: The role of the first lady has evolved from that of a behind-the-scenes adviser to her husband to that of a more public activist, promoting certain policy initiatives. •

Develop a lecture considering the various roles played by first ladies, from Eleanor Roosevelt’s traveling across the country on behalf of her polio-stricken husband, Franklin Roosevelt, to Lady Bird Johnson’s environmental initiatives, to Nancy Reagan’s antidrug initiatives, to Hillary Clinton’s health care reform initiatives, to Barbara Bush’s and Laura Bush’s childhood literacy campaigns, to Michelle Obama’s focus on childhood obesity.

•

The resources on the White House website (www.whitehouse.gov) and the First Ladies site at the National Library (www.firstladies.org) can aid in lecture preparation.

LECTURE 4: Explain how the president manages the federal bureaucracy. Be sure to describe the 15 departments that constitute the cabinet and its function.

Presidents and the Public (Action) 11.4

Examine the relationship between the president and public.

LECTURE 1: Despite the fact that the powers of the presidency have gradually expanded over time, due in part to the vagueness of Article II of the U.S. Constitution, Americans often express frustration that presidents fail to meet their expectations. Explain how popular expectations of presidential leadership often exceed the formal powers of the office. The failure of President Barack Obama to deliver on campaign promises to close the U.S. detention facility at Guantanamo Bay provides a compelling case study of precisely this issue. LECTURE 2: The informal powers of the president, principally the power to persuade, are as important as the more formal constitutional powers. Presidents use their power of persuasion both on other policy makers and in appealing to the public to support their initiatives. ▪

List the major sources of power for the president, differentiating between formal and informal powers.

▪

Using specific examples, discuss how the president might use each to achieve his or her policy goals.

LECTURE 3: Presidential approval ratings often rise and fall during a president’s tenure in office. However, with the exception of presidents Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton, all presidents since World War II have left office with lower approval ratings than they entered with. ▪

Share the graphic on presidential approval ratings at the Pew Research Center website (go to www.pewresearch.org and search ‘presidential job approval ratings”) with the class.

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Discuss the sources of presidential approval. 

Point out that George H. W. Bush, for example, enjoyed a 90 percent approval rating after the start of the first Persian Gulf War. 370 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.



Discuss how his son, George W. Bush, enjoyed a 90 percent approval rating after the September 11 terror attacks, because both enjoyed a “Rally Round the Flag” bump.



Note that President Trump’s job approval remained consistently low (around 40 percent), despite numerous scandals and an impeachment.



Find disaggregated data based on demographic variables and historical data at the Gallup Poll’s Presidential Job Approval Center. To access the website, go to https://news.gallup.com/home.aspx and click on “Politics,” and then “Presidential Job Approval.”

▪

Discuss the importance of approval ratings to presidents in their efforts to achieve their agendas. 

Point out that, after the 2004 elections, for example, President George W. Bush famously declared, “Let me put it to you this way: I earned capital in the campaign, political capital, and now I intend to spend it.”



Explain how presidents with high approval ratings can often accomplish policy reforms that presidents with lower approval ratings cannot.



Discuss the sources of approval ratings, noting that presidents often benefit (or suffer) from political events outside their control, such as a poor or strong economy or political developments abroad.

Presidents and Congress (Impact) 11.5

Describe the relationship between the president and Congress.

LECTURE 1: Discuss the efforts by Congress to limit the powers of the president, particularly in the area of war making. As early as 1967, Congress was searching for ways to curtail presidential authority to commit armed forces to hostilities. The steps moved from a “sense of the Senate” resolution to funds cut-offs to, ultimately, the War Powers Resolution. The resolution links congressional power under the necessary and proper clause with the commander-in-chief clause to restrain 371 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

executive deployment of U.S. armed forces. It does so by enumerating the circumstances in which deployment abroad is permitted and by limiting any such deployment to 60 days. The resolution’s purpose, said the drafters, was to “fulfill the intent of the Framers and ensure that the collective judgment of both Congress and the president will apply to the introduction of U.S. Armed Forces into hostilities.” Some have argued that the War Powers Resolution is an unconstitutional delegation of congressional power, in that it permits 60 or 90 days of unilateral presidential war making before any specific congressional consent is required. Another question is the constitutionality of §5(b), which essentially allows Congress to terminate the use of any American armed forces. Does this conflict with the constitutional language making the president commander in chief of the armed forces? In response to §5(b), President Nixon said that this section was “without force” and amounted to an attempt to amend the Constitution through legislation. The act took effect in November of 1973, several months after hostilities had subsided, and President Nixon had agreed to use any appropriations for financing U.S. combat activities in Southeast Asia. So no direct showdown occurred as a result of the enactment of this law. The legislative veto provisions in the War Powers Resolution of 1973 were indirectly challenged in INS v. Chadha, 462 U.S. 919 (1983). The case was the Supreme Court’s first full encounter with the constitutionality of legislative vetoes, and the Court, in sweeping language, questioned their validity. Nonetheless, Congress has continued to enact legislative veto provisions in a number of statutes. And, in 1983, the House Judiciary Committee held hearings on legislative vetoes and issued a formal report concluding that Chadha had not overruled the War Powers Resolution. More recently, controversial wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the dramatic expansion of the use of drone strikes in Pakistan and elsewhere have led to calls for new restrictions on the warmaking powers of a president. Expanded versions of the War Powers Resolution have been suggested, including provisions that all fiscal support for the military be reapproved on a monthly basis after a certain expiration date set in initial war authorization legislation. No changes have passed, but the mood is to restrict the latitude of presidents to use the military to pursue objectives without the ongoing approval of Congress. The War Powers Resolution is almost always used during emergencies, such as when President Obama decided in June 2014 to 372 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

“trade” five Taliban prisoners being held at Guantanamo Bay for Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl, then being imprisoned somewhere in Afghanistan. LECTURE 2: The president’s ability to influence legislation combines the formal powers of the office (veto, recommending legislation, delivering the State of the Union address) with the informal powers of the individual in that office, such as his or her persuasive abilities and command of the legislative process. ▪

Discuss how presidents use formal and informal powers to influence Congress.

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Analyze the conditions under which a president may be more or less successful in achieving his or her policy goals vis-à-vis Congress.

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Provide specific examples of both presidential success and failure in this respect.

LECTURE 3: The ability of a president to deliver on campaign promises often depends on factors outside his or her direct control. Congress, for example, can hinder efforts by the president. This often leads Americans to complain about “broken government.” ▪

Provide examples of situations when Congress blocked presidential initiatives. This might include Bill Clinton’s health care reform initiative or various proposals by the Bush administration to lower taxes.

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Ask students to consider how such divided government might hurt the president and how it might also help.

LECTURE 4: James MacGregor Burns in his book, Presidential Power, develops three models of presidential power: the Hamiltonian, the Madisonian, and the Jeffersonian. Burns believed that virtually all presidents fall within these models or a combination of them. The patterns are useful for talking about particular presidents and trends in the presidency. The Hamiltonian model revolves around Alexander Hamilton’s concept of the active presidency. Hamilton anticipated what now might be termed “Presidential Government.” The president as chief of state and chief of government has to take the initiative in policy matters. As Hamilton argues in The Federalist Papers, energy in the executive is the primary element of good government. He believed that the president could and should exercise implied powers to promote his version of the national interest. 373 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

The Madisonian model is based on the idea of checks and balances. It stems from Madison’s ideas on law and constitutional theory. John Adams implemented the Madisonian idea, and it has become the traditional model. The Madisonian approach stresses prudent government, balanced powers, countervailing interests, and concurrent majorities. It is not as creative or as active as either the Hamiltonian or the Jeffersonian model. The Jeffersonian model is based on a strong national party system in which political parties are able to put forth programmatic policies and implement them. It implies, says Professor Burns, “majority rule, under strong presidential leadership, with a highly competitive two-party system and with a more popular, democratic and egalitarian impetus than the Madisonian model.” ▪

After exploring the various presidential styles, turn to Congress and review congressional government, described by Woodrow Wilson and practiced in the latter part of the nineteenth century. Instruction can include a model in which Congress is an ally of the president, responding to presidential initiatives and concentrating on oversight and representation.

Attempt to forecast the role of Congress that seems to be emerging—a combination of various styles and models.

Presidential Greatness (Impact) 11.6

Identify the sources of presidential greatness.

LECTURE 1: Who are the “great” presidents? In three Schlesinger polls, historians and political scientists have rated presidents. A discussion of the source and criteria for these rankings could make an engaging lecture, and debating the rankings could make for a lively discussion concerning how one judges a president. Here are the results of the three Schlesinger polls. The third one appeared in the New York Times Magazine, December 15, 1996.

Great

1948

1962

1996

Lincoln

Washington

F. D. Roosevelt

Washington

Wilson

Jefferson

Jackson Near Great

Average

T. Roosevelt

Jackson

Jefferson

Cleveland

T. Roosevelt

Jackson

J. Adams

Polk

Wilson

Polk

Truman

T. Roosevelt

J. Q. Adams

Madison

Eisenhower

Monroe

J. Q. Adams

L. B. Johnson

Hayes

Kennedy

Madison

McKinley

J. Adams

Van Buren

Taft

Cleveland

Taft

Van Buren

McKinley

Arthur

Monroe

Madison

McKinley

Hoover

Monroe

A. Johnson

Harrison

Reagan

Hoover

Arthur

J. Q. Adams

Harrison

Eisenhower

Carter Clinton Van Buren GHW Bush Taft Hayes Arthur Harrison Ford

Sub-

Tyler

Taylor

Coolidge

Average

Coolidge

Tyler

Fillmore

Taylor

Coolidge

Fillmore

Buchanan

Pierce

Buchanan

Grant

Hoover

Harding

Nixon

Failure

Pierce A. Johnson Grant Buchanan

(Note: In the 1996 poll, 32 jurors cast votes. The rankings listed here were determined by calculating the total score for each president using the following: Great = 4; Near Great = 3; Average = 2; Below Average = 1, and Failure = 0.) ▪

Outline the political and policy resources that contribute to successful presidential leadership as part of your lecture.

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Ask your students to predict how they think Presidents George W. Bush, Barack Obama, and Donald Trump will be rated by historians 20 or 30 years from now.

LECTURE 2: A lecture dedicated to leadership styles and skills becomes much more realistic if it concentrates on two or three American leaders, illustrating strengths and weaknesses in their behavior patterns. The thumbnail sketches set forth below are a commentary on some characteristics of two American presidents during the twentieth century. Obviously, they are suggestive, rather than a complete analysis. You will want to expand the material in directions that enlarge on some points or reach out to other facets. ▪

Herbert Hoover: President Hoover (1929–1933) came to the office with an impressive backlog of successful experience in private and public life. He had risen to the top of his field as a mining engineer. He had organized a national effort to conserve and allocate American food supplies during World War I and 376 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

had gone on to feed the hungry of Europe after the war. He had been a vigorous secretary of commerce under Warren Harding. At the time of his election to the presidency, he was nationally acclaimed as a great humanitarian and won the electoral votes of 40 states. But Hoover had defects of skill and style that political adversity heightened. Basically, he was the exemplary bureaucrat, relying heavily on organization, rules, and efficiency. He was thin-skinned. As the Great Depression of the 1930s developed, he became more and more withdrawn. He disliked the give-and-take of politics. He did not feel comfortable in direct contact with voters and other politicians. He lacked persuasive powers. His political-economic philosophy allowed little room for compromise. With such handicaps, it was easy for his critics to picture him as cold and unfeeling. In March 1933, he left the White House in disgrace, having fallen in four short years from dizzying heights to abysmal depths in public esteem. Much later, as an elder statesman, Hoover headed the highly successful Hoover Commission, whose recommendations for reorganization of the national government were largely adopted. ▪

Lyndon B. Johnson: Lyndon Johnson (1963–1969) was born, like Hoover, in humble circumstances and rose to national prominence by way of political office. After a short spell as a teacher, Johnson went to Washington as a Texas congressman’s assistant. Soon he became a protégé of House Speaker Sam Rayburn, who got him an appointment as head of the National Youth Administration in Texas. From that base, he was elected to a congressional seat; 11 years later he narrowly won a Senate seat. Within four years, he was the Senate majority whip; in 1952 he became the Senate minority leader; Senate elections in 1954 made him majority leader. He was then 47 years old. In many ways, Johnson’s Senate career displayed his political talents at their height. He constantly “pressed the flesh,” working out personal alliances with other senators and creating a unified Democratic party, with himself at the center. His vigor was phenomenal. One biographer writes: “He was smoking at least three packs of cigarettes a day, sometimes more. He never had lunch unless a 377 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

legislative matter was being discussed, he missed dinner more often than not, and when he did make it home, usually as late as ten or eleven, he was almost never alone” (Merle Miller, Lyndon, p. 179). In 1960, John Kennedy chose Johnson as his running mate. Three years later, Johnson succeeded to the presidency on Kennedy’s assassination, and in 1964, he won the office in his own right. Many think Johnson was the epitome of the political broker. He was the ultimate persuader, using the carrot and the stick with equal skill. He was an eloquent stump orator (although on television he was stiff and preachy), with a flair for down-home phrases. Beyond all question, he was consumed by ambition, using every friendship as a stepping stone to personal advancement. He had a magnetic quality that quickly drew people to him. Yet, in the end, he lost his golden touch. His dogged determination to win the Vietnam War eventually put him at odds with the voters. In 1968, his support fast eroding, he chose not to run for reelection. Leaving the White House an embittered man, he died in January 1972, his successes in domestic politics (the Great Society programs and civil rights legislation) forgotten in the political passions of the time. LECTURE 3: The historian and presidential scholar Robert Dallek suggests that five qualities are constants in the men who have most effectively fulfilled the presidential oath of office. •

Vision. All the great presidents have had a clear understanding of where they wanted to lead the nation in its quest for a better future.

•

Pragmatism. All the great presidents have been realists, leaders who understood that politics is the art of the possible and that flexible responses to changing conditions at home and abroad are essential.

•

Consensus Building. All the great presidents understood that their success depended on the consent of the governed. Moving government in a new direction, often down a difficult path, requires building a national consensus first.

•

Trustworthiness. All truly the successful presidents have had credibility and have earned the faith of their fellow citizens.

Discuss the importance of these qualities for presidential leadership. Be sure to use specific examples of each, such as Clinton’s charisma, FDR’s vision, LBJ’s pragmatism, and so on. You could also ask students to identify which of these characteristics are most important and which presidents they would rate highest in each category.

Class Activities CLASS ACTIVITY 1: The president wears many hats, serving as head of state, head of government, commander in chief, chief diplomat, and numerous other roles. Review the following day from President Harry S. Truman’s schedule book from June 29, 1950. You may wish to provide the following background for students. On June 24, 1950, the Korean War began, as communist forces from the North crossed the 49th parallel and invaded pro-Western South Korea. On June 27, President Truman responded by expanding U.S. military assistance to South Korea and appealing to the United Nations Security Council for assistance. On June 30, President Truman ordered the deployment of U.S. ground forces in South Korea and appointed General Douglas MacArthur to command both U.S. and U.N. operations in Korea. On June 29, President Truman was busy making preparations for that auspicious announcement. An excerpt from his schedule from that day (available at his presidential library online by going to www.trumanlibrary.org and clicking on “Library Collections” and then “Appointment Calendar”) includes the following appointments: ▪

11:00 a.m. Honorable Frederick Lawton, Director, Bureau of the Budget.

▪

12:00 a.m. Honorable Edward R. Dudley, American Ambassador to Liberia.

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12:15 p.m. The President received a group of overseas employees of the State Department and engaged in work on the International Information and Educational Exchange Program.

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12:30 p.m. The Secretary of State, Honorable Dean Acheson, a standing Thursday appointment.

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5:00 p.m. Conference with Secretary of State, Secretary of Defense, and Secretaries of the Air Force, Army, and Navy, and other advisers.

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7:00 p.m. President departs for Statler Hotel where he attended dinner of Finance Committee of the Democratic National Committee.

On one day, Thursday, June 29, 1950, President Truman performed seven distinct roles of the president: commander in chief, chief executive, chief diplomat, ceremonial head of state, head of government, manager of the economy, and party leader. ▪

Ask students to describe each of various roles played by the president and identify which role President Truman was playing in each appointment.

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Then discuss the complexity of the job of president. How do the various roles played by the president contradict and overlap? Which presidential role do you believe is the most important? Why?

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You could also perform a similar assignment using the daily schedules of President Jimmy Carter (go to www.jimmycarterlibrary.gov and search “diary”).

This activity illustrates the multiple roles played by the U.S. president. (Structure) CLASS ACTIVITY 2: Ask students to review the current budget proposals being debated between Congress (available at www.house.gov) and the president (available at www.whitehouse.gov). You may need to provide a bit of background on the budget process and main categories of federal spending. ▪

After students have reviewed the budget proposals, ask them to identify the major points of contention and agreement between the two branches on the proposed budget figures.

▪

Ask students what ideological differences or similarities are at work in the current budget deliberations?

This activity exposes students to the politics surrounding the U.S. budget and the budget process and highlights the separation of powers between the U.S. Congress and the president. (Structure and Action)

CLASS ACTIVITY 3: History tends to center on great or near-great presidents. Perhaps as much can be learned by examining the administration of a “failed” president, one that historians 380 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

judge not to have measured up to the office. Among frequently mentioned presidents in this category are James Buchanan, Ulysses Grant, Calvin Coolidge, Herbert Hoover, and Jimmy Carter. ▪

Ask students to examine the presidential career of one of these presidents and report back to the class. What personal flaws seemed to handicap his administration? Did he have bad advisers? What major mistakes did he make? Why he was originally selected? Could he have succeeded under different circumstances?

▪

Hold a class discussion about what common features emerge across the various “failed” presidencies.

This activity highlights the challenges of measuring presidential effectiveness and also helps develop critical thinking skills by encouraging students to think about the importance of variation in the dependent variable. (Impact) CLASS ACTIVITY 4: The vice president’s role is often to help advance the president’s legislative agenda. Ask students to discuss the different ways vice presidents can be used to enhance the president’s opportunities to advance his or her agenda in Congress. Be sure to consider the ways in which recent vice presidents, in particular Al Gore, Dick Cheney, and Joe Biden, have shaped the office. ▪

Ask students to consider the concept of a copresidency or the abolition of the vice presidency as an alternative to the current system. What would the consequences be?

▪

This activity could also be organized as a debate.

This assignment focuses on the evolving role of the vice president under recent administrations. (Action)

CLASS ACTIVITY 5: The constitutionality of the War Powers Resolution has long been debated, with Congress asserting its power to limit the war-making powers of the president and the president asserting his preeminence as commander in chief. Nevertheless, the constitutionality of the War Powers Resolution has never been tested before the U.S. Supreme Court. 381 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

•

Hold a mock Supreme Court hearing on the constitutionality of the War Powers Act.

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Assign students the roles of Supreme Court justices, lawyers briefing the court, and expert witnesses submitting amicus curiae briefs to the court.

•

Have students use Congressional Research Service’s 2012 report on the War Powers Resolution (go to https://fas.org/sgp/crs/natsec/RL33532.pdf) as a starting point for their preparation.

This activity examines the War Powers Resolution as a vehicle to understand the complex relations between the three branches of government. (Structure) CLASS ACTIVITY 6: Have students simulate a portion of the Constitutional Convention to rewrite Article II. They should discuss what specific powers of the president should be enumerated in the Constitution. Students could also hold a debate on ratifying the Constitution, focusing on the powers of the presidency. Useful preparatory reading for this assignment would include The Federalist, No. 69 and Anti-Federalist Papers, No. 70, both of which are available online. This activity highlights the source and scope of presidential authority and lets students explore the competing understandings of presidential power the founders debated. (Structure)

CLASS ACTIVITY 7: Assign the class roles as members of the National Security Council. This includes the vice-president, secretary of state, the secretary of the treasury, the secretary of defense, the assistant to the president for national security affairs, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the director of national intelligence, the White House chief of staff to the president, the counsel to the president, and the assistant to the president for economic policy. Other attendees might include the attorney general, the director of the Office of Management and Budget, and the heads of other executive departments and agencies, as well as other senior officials, as appropriate. ▪

Ask students to prepare a National Security briefing on a contemporary global conflict or issue, such as the Iranian nuclear program.

▪

Require students to brief you, the president, on the policy options available to the United States and to make a recommendation on a specific course of action.

This active learning assignment develops students’ understanding of the National Security decision-making process and the role of the president and other key administration officials in foreign and national security policy. (Action) CLASS ACTIVITY 8: Ask students to form into groups of three. One student in each group should be assigned the role of the president, White House chief of staff, and chief campaign adviser. ▪

Ask them to develop the rest of the White House staff. Students may need to research the current White House staff (available at www.whitehouse.gov) and their roles.

▪

Ask students to identify the heads of at least 15 cabinet offices and the key leadership positions that constitute the Executive Office of the President.

▪

Ask each group to identify the criteria it would use to fill each position. What positions might be added or eliminated?

▪

Be sure that each group identifies both the characteristics of the individuals it would choose to fill the positions as well as identifying the positions and titles necessary, in its opinion, for running the executive office.

▪

Alternatively, focus on the following discussion questions: 

After President Obama was reelected, he found himself with at least four major cabinet vacancies. What sort of procedures did he follow in selecting these important nominees?



Do we know of people who were not put forward because of background checks? What kind of credentials did they seem to need? Were they political people or professional people?



Did the Republican threat of a filibuster against one prospective nominee deter Obama from making that nomination?

This assignment examines the considerations that influence presidential appointments. (Action)

CLASS ACTIVITY 9: Discuss the line of presidential succession as outlined in the U.S. Constitution and the Presidential Succession Act of 1947. The process of succession moves from president to vice president to Speaker of the House, to president pro tempore of the Senate, to the secretaries of the cabinet in the order of the creation of their departments (e.g., State, Treasury, Defense, Attorney General, Interior, Agriculture, Commerce, etc.). While the line of succession was created to help establish stability in the event of a political crisis, it also raises some interesting questions. Ask your students to discuss the challenges presented by the line of succession. In particular, how would they feel if an unelected cabinet secretary further down on the line of succession, say, the secretary of housing and urban development, were to assume the office of president? Similarly, because the Speaker of the House and president pro tempore of the Senate are second and third in line of succession respectively, it is entirely possible that one party’s control of the presidency could be replaced by another’s in the event of a transition. A Democratic administration could be replaced by a Republican administration, or vice versa. Ask your students what political challenges such transitions might create. This discussion item focuses on the question of presidential succession. (Structure)

Research Activities RESEARCH ACTIVITY 1: Ask students to survey 10 of their friends about the characteristics of a “great leader.” Also, ask them to survey 10 of their friends about whom they believe were the greatest U.S. presidents. •

Ask students to present their findings in short papers and compare their findings to the results of one of the historical rankings, such as the list found on the Wikipedia page “Historical Rankings of Presidents of the United States (go to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page and search “Historical Rankings of Presidents”).

•

Ask students to consider what makes a president “great” using one or more examples from their own survey data.

This activity gives students an opportunity to reflect on the characteristics that define effective presidencies. (Impact)

RESEARCH ACTIVITY 2: For a reading and writing connection, have students analyze newspaper coverage of the president for at least one week. ▪

Have them categorize the articles into stories about the president’s domestic and international roles and personality. Then have them assess the tone and nature of the coverage.

▪

Once they have analyzed their news stories, have them write analytical essays concerning the presidential news coverage and bias in the media.

This activity explores the relationship between the presidency and the media and examines the various activities and functions of the president. (Structure and Action)

RESEARCH ACTIVITY 3: Have students do media analyses of presidential coverage. For one month, they should watch a variety of network and cable news programs, read a variety of newspapers and weekly news magazines, listen to talk radio (be sure they get right- and left-wing stations), and check out Internet news sites. After they have collected their data (their notes from listening), ask them to write short papers considering the following questions: ▪

How is the president covered? What gets the attention of the media and why?

▪

Is the president “staging” or “spinning” any of the coverage or are the media in control? What implications do your findings have for how we perceive the president?

This activity explores the relationship between the president and the media. (Action)

RESEARCH ACTIVITY 4: In times of crisis, the American public frequently “rallies around the flag,” providing a sharp spike in presidential approval ratings. Yet, the willingness of the American public to continue to support the president often rests on the ability of the president to mobilize them. ▪

Ask students to review the speeches given by President Franklin Roosevelt following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941 (go to www.google.com and search “Roosevelt joint address to Congress”) and the speech delivered by President George W. Bush following the September 11, 2001, terror attacks (go to www.google.com and search “Bush’s 9/11 speech”).

▪

Ask them to write short papers comparing and contrasting the two speeches. Which do they believe was more effective? Why?

This activity highlights the impact of the “rally round the flag” phenomenon and gives students the opportunity to think about the importance of effective presidential communication. (Action and Impact)

RESEARCH ACTIVITY 5: Ask students to view a recent State of the Union address, available through the White House website (www.whitehouse.gov). Then ask them to evaluate how effectively the speech set the congressional agenda. What factors might enhance or undermine the president’s ability to lead Congress? This activity explores the importance of agenda setting for the president. (Action)

RESEARCH ACTIVITY 6: Ask students to revisit the agreement over presidential power expressed in the The Federalist Papers, particularly The Federalist, No. 69, written by Alexander Hamilton (go to https://avalon.law.yale.edu/ and click on “18th Century Documents,” then “Federalist Papers”). In it, Hamilton argues that the power of the presidency would be strictly limited under the new Constitution. You can also have them read Anti-Federalist Paper, No. 70 (go to http://resources.utulsa.edu/law/classes/rice/Constitutional/AntiFederalist/70.htm) in which critics of the new Constitution argue that the powers of the presidency are too broad and create the danger of centralizing power in an “elected king.”

Ask students to write short papers in which they compare and contrast the two perspectives and then analyze how the evolution of the modern presidency either confirmed or undermined the arguments of the Federalists and the Anti-Federalists. This activity exposes students to the founders’ debates over the presidency and gives students a chance to think about how those perspectives and debates helped to shape contemporary U.S. politics. (Structure)

RESEARCH ACTIVITY 7: Numerous films have been produced centering on the power, prestige, and drama of the presidency. Ask your students to review one and assess how accurately it captures the nature of presidential politics or campaigns. Possible films might include All the President’s Men (1976), The American President (1995), Bob Roberts (1992), Dave (1993), Frost/Nixon (2008), The Ides of March (2011), Nixon (1995), LBJ (2017), Primary Colors (1998), Thirteen Days (2000), W. (2008), or Wag the Dog (1997). An engaging class discussion could also derive from their viewings, centering on the challenges presented by Hollywood representations of the presidency. This activity gives students an opportunity to reflect on how Hollywood portrays the president and the how closely these representations correspond to the real powers of the office.

RESEARCH ACTIVITY 8: The Miller Center at the University of Virginia maintains an extensive collection of presidential speeches from the early days of the country through today. ▪

Ask students to visit its website (go to www.millercenter.org and click on “The Presidency,” then “Presidential Speeches”) and select a speech to analyze.

▪

Ask them to create a word cloud using TagCrowd (go to https://tagcrowd.com/). The program will create a word cloud that gives more frequently used words in the speech greater prominence.

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Ask them to write short reactions based on their findings, focusing in particular on analyzing the major themes that emerge and assessing the degree to which those themes help set the Congressional agenda.

This activity gives students a way to analyze major themes emerging from presidential speeches and exposes students to the importance of the president’s State of the Union speech in helping to set the agenda of the Congress. (Action) 387 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Participation Activities PARTICIPATION ACTIVITY 1: Ask your students to visit the White House website (www.whitehouse.gov) and click the “contact” link. Have them write notes to the president about a specific policy or political issue that interests them. Be sure they send a copy to you as well. This activity allows students to express their own views on issues they believe are important and exposes students to one of the avenues of political engagement available to them.

PARTICIPATION ACTIVITY 2: Have your students to look at the White House petitions site started by President Barack Obama’s administration. The site is available at https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/. ▪

They should review the issues that petitioners are raising. While at the site, ask them to find at least one petition they would consider signing and explain why they would consider singing it.

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Ask them to write short papers in which they reflect on the extent to which the topics of the petitions, including the ones that interest them, are within the president’s powers to address or whether they would require legislative action.

This activity explores the limits on presidential power and the ways in which the presidency attempts to mobilize popular support to achieve its political objectives. (Action)

PARTICIPATION ACTIVITY 3: Have students interview senior citizens about their recollections of past presidents as part of an oral history project. They should collect additional recordings of presidential speeches, many of which are available online, including State of the Union addresses and radio addresses. Ask them to write papers discussing how perceptions of the presidency and its powers have changed over time, referencing interviews, presidential speeches, and other appropriate materials. This activity engages students with their community and reflecting on the evolving nature of the presidency.

READING 1: The Paradoxes of the American Presidency (New York: Oxford University Press, 1989), an update of Thomas E. Cronin’s classic 1980 text, The State of the Presidency, Cronin and Michael A. Genovese explore the complex institutional structures of the American presidency through a series of paradoxes that define the office. These paradoxes include the public’s demand for a strong leader accompanied by a suspicion of power and for bold vision and effective governmental programs at low social and economic cost. The most recent (5th) edition, published in 2018 and authored by Cronin, Genovese, and Meena Bose, updates the classic text to include the George W. Bush and Barack Obama presidencies and the 2014 and 2016 elections.

READING 2: Presidential Power: The Politics of Leadership (New York: Free Press, 1991), an updated version of Richard Neustadt’s classic 1960 text, develops the argument that presidential power is derived not from the Constitution, which provides for a relatively limited role for the president and a much more expansive role for the Congress. Neustadt contends that presidential power is primarily the result of the president’s power of persuasion. READING 3: Offering a counterargument to Richard Neustadt’s classic work, William G. Howell focuses in Power Without Persuasion: The Politics of Direct Presidential Action (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2015) on presidents’ ability to act unilaterally. He argues that presidents routinely set public policies over the objections of Congress, interest groups, and the bureaucracy.

READING 4: In The Politics Presidents Make: From John Adams to George Bush (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2008), another classic work on the power of the presidency, Stephen Skowronek argues that the relative influence of any given president depends largely on the political context of the time.

READING 5: George Edwards argues in The Strategic President: Persuasion and Opportunity in Presidential Leadership (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 2012) that the most successful presidents are effective not at transforming their political environments, but rather at taking advantage of opportunities that present themselves to effect political change. For 389 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Edwards, the oft-cited “bully pulpit” of the presidency may not be as strong or effective as observers contend. READING 6: The Polarized Presidency of George W. Bush (New York: Oxford University Press, 2007) by George Edwards and Desmond King examines the domestic and foreign policies of the George W. Bush presidency in the context of an increasingly polarized electorate. The trend of increasing executive powers certainly predated the Bush administration and continued into the Obama administration. This text offers valuable insights into this historical process and sets the stage for understanding contemporary trends.

READING 7: In The Black Presidency: Barack Obama and the Politics of Race in America (New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2016), Michael Eric Dyson explores how the politics of race shaped Barack Obama’s identity and his groundbreaking presidency.

READING 8: In Trump, the Administrative Presidency, and Federalism (Washington D.C.: Brookings Institution Press, 2020), Frank J. Thompson, Kenneth K. Wong, and Barry G. Rabe examine Donald Trump’s use of the “administrative presidency,” including executive orders and regulatory changes, to advance his policy agenda. The authors show that Trump continued the expansion of executive branch power since the Reagan era.

READING 9: In this accessible book, The Presidents Club: Inside the World’s Most Exclusive Fraternity (New York: Simon and Schuster, 2012), Nancy Gibbs and Michael Duffy explore the complex relationship between current and former presidents, and the fellowship of former presidents (and political rivals) after they leave office. The book focuses on post–World War II presidents, from Truman and Hoover through the close personal friendship between Bill Clinton and George H. W. Bush, up to former president George W. Bush.

READING 10: Nearly every president has produced at least one autobiography, and some can make compelling reads. Among the more recent are ▪

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George W. Bush, Decision Points (New York: Random House, 2011).

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Bill Clinton, My Life (New York: Vintage, 2005).

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George H. W. Bush, All the Best: My Life in Letters and Other Writings (New York: Touchstone Books, 1999).

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Ronald Reagan, An American Life: The Autobiography. New York: Pocket Books, 1990).

READING 11: In this humorous little book, White House Confidential: The Little Book of Weird Presidential History, Revised and Expanded Edition (Nashville: Cumberland House, 2006), Gregg Stebben and Austin Hill provide a light diversion into the less covered side of the presidency, emphasizing the seedy history, strange family relationships, scandals, and questionable financial dealings that never made the mainstream press.

READING 12: Bob Woodward has made a name for himself over a 30-year career covering the presidency, including his Pulitzer-Prize–winning coverage of the Watergate scandal. Among his most well-known works are All the President’s Men (with Carl Bernstein, New York: Simon & Schuster, 1994), which recounts the Watergate scandal; The Final Days (with Carl Bernstein, New York: Simon & Schuster, 1976), which depicts the final days of the Nixon administration; Bush at War (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2002), which examines the lead up to the War in Iraq; and Obama’s Wars (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2011), which explores Obama’s early strategy in dealing with the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Woodward wrote two books about the Trump presidency, Fear: Trump in the White House (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2019), which focuses on Trump’s decisions on major domestic and foreign policy issues, and Rage (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2020), which examines Trump’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic and racial unrest.

READING 13: In Presidential Leadership: 15 Decisions that Changed the Nation (Amherst, N.Y.: Prometheus Books, 2011), Nick Ragone explores some of the most significant decisions made by U.S. presidents—from Truman’s decision to drop the atomic bomb on Japan, to Jefferson’s decision to purchase the Louisiana Territory, to Nixon’s decision to visit China. 391 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Ragone argues that what defined many of these decisions was the willingness of the president to reject the counsel of his advisers and take political risks.

READING 14: In a new edition of his classic text The Presidential Difference: Leadership Style from FDR to Barack Obama, 3rd ed. (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 2009), Fred Greenstein explores the qualities that define effective presidential leadership. He evaluates presidents in terms of political skill, vision, cognitive style, organization, communication ability, and emotional intelligence, and he argues that the most effective presidents are able to speak to the needs and desires of the people. READING 15: In “The Six-Year One-Term Presidency: A New Look at an Old Proposal,” Presidential Studies Quarterly 18, no. 1 (1988): 129–42, Bruce Buchanan evaluates the proposal to establish a single, six-year presidency similar to the model employed in Mexico. He concludes that while the proposal continues to attract interest, several important challenges remain, most importantly, a lack of faith in the political judgment of the mass electorate by the political elites. READING 16: In “‘Greatness’ Revisited: Evaluating the Performance of Early American Presidents in Terms of Cultural Dilemmas,” Presidential Studies Quarterly 21, no. 1 (1991): 15– 34, Richard Ellis and Aaron Wildavsky offer a fresh take on the question of presidential greatness by establishing a clear set of criteria on which to base assessment. Based on this model, they reevaluate U.S. presidents from the founding to the Civil War.

READING 17: Richard Pious turns the question raised by Ellis and Wildavsky on its head in “Why Do Presidents Fail?,” Presidential Studies Quarterly 32, no. 4 (2002): 724–42, exploring not what defines presidential greatness, but what leads to presidential failure, and the paradox that, as the modern presidency has increased in power and experience, it has seen more rather than fewer dramatic failures.

READING 18: Recent issues of the journal Presidential Studies Quarterly, published by the Center for the Study of the Presidency and Congress, provide engaging material and outstanding 392 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

recent scholarship. Recent tables of contents can be accessed through the journal’s website (http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/(ISSN)1741-5705).

READING 19: The Miller Center (www.millercenter.org) at the University of Virginia is a nonpartisan institute that seeks to expand understanding of the presidency. Its website provides numerous resources, including an extensive database of presidential speeches, historical analyses of presidential campaigns, and biographies of U.S. presidents and their cabinets.

READING 20: The Library of Congress website (go to www.archives.gov and search “presidential libraries”) maintains links to presidential libraries from Herbert Hoover to George W. Bush. Many of the individual libraries have extensive collections of executive documents available electronically. Additionally, the Library of Congress website has its own outstanding collection.

READING 21: The White House website (www.whitehouse.gov) provides the public face of the presidency and includes both contemporary and historical documents, such as presidential briefings, biographies, and agendas. It also has e-tours of the White House itself.

FILM 22: While numerous films have been made about the presidency, a few films stand out. All the President’s Men (Alan J. Pakula, director, Warner Bros., 1976) is a political thriller based on Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein’s investigation of the Watergate scandal that eventually forced President Richard Nixon to resign from office. Frost/Nixon (Ron Howard, director, Universal Pictures, 2008) is a fascinating retelling of President Nixon’s 1977 interview with David Frost, his first following his resignation. Thirteen Days (Roger Donaldson, director, New Line Cinema, 2000) deals with the decision-making process of ExComm during the Cuban Missile Crisis. More recently, The Ides of March (George Clooney, director, Cross Creek Pictures, 2011) stars George Clooney as a charismatic governor with his eyes on the White House, a plot line not dissimilar to Primary Colors (Mike Nichols, director, Universal Pictures, 1998). In the realm of nonfiction, the PBS Series The American President (2000) provides engaging biographies of U.S. presidents from George Washington to George Bush. 393 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

FILM 23: The TV series The West Wing (1999–2006, NBC) ran for seven seasons and produced many episodes considering themes raised in this chapter. Among the most engaging were “Shutdown” (Season 5, Episode 8), which deals with budget politics and the challenges of divided government; “Enemies” (Season 1, Episode 8), which explores the relationship between president and vice president; and “20 Hours in L.A.” (Season 1, Episode 16), which examines the nature of presidential campaigns.

Revel Features Chapter Introduction CURRENT EVENTS BULLETIN Video: WATCH The Presidency: The Big Picture Author video. Video: WATCH Politics in Plain Sight: Using the Vending Machine

The Constitutional Foundations of the Presidency (Structure) 11.1

Identify the constitutional foundations of the presidency.

Document: READ The Federalist, No. 68 Document: READ The Federalist, No. 70 Video: WATCH President Trump Falls Short in His First 100 Days Sketchnote Video: WATCH Impeachment Read: HAPPENING NOW Summary of the siege on the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, and the aftermath of the event. Journal Prompt 11.1 Which of the president’s powers would you most like to have? How would you use it to improve the lives of average Americans? 394 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

QUIZ 11.1 The Constitutional Foundations of the Presidency (Structure)

The President’s Job Description (Structure) 11.2

Analyze the scope of presidential power.

Video: WATCH American citizens listen to U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Fireside Chat concerning America’s banking system Social Explorer: FIGURE 11.1 AVERAGE NUMBER OF EXECUTIVE ORDERS ISSUED PER YEAR FROM DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER TO DONALD J. TRUMP Video: WATCH What Are “Executive” Actions and Do They Give the President Too Much Power? Sketchnote Video: WATCH Presidential Veto Video: WATCH “Watergate 40th Anniversary Interview” ABC video Video: WATCH President Lyndon Johnson Calls for Passage of the Voting Rights Act Social Explorer: FIGURE 11.2 PRESIDENTIAL VETOES AND CONGRESSIONAL OVERRIDES, FROM KENNEDY TO TRUMP Journal Prompt 11.2 Which of the president’s powers do you think gives the president the greatest chance to address the problems most important to your future? QUIZ 11.2 The President's Job Description (Structure)

How the Presidency Works (Action) 11.3

Describe the organization and functions of the Executive Office of the President.

Why does diversity matter among presidential appointees? And why does it matter for government as a whole? QUIZ 11.3 How the Presidency Works (Action)

Presidents and the Public (Action) 11.4

Examine the relationship between the president and public.

Social Explorer: FIGURE 11.3 PRESIDENTIAL PUBLIC APPROVAL RATINGS, 1961 TO 2020 Journal Prompt: FIGURE 11.3 Which two presidents have reached the highest approval ratings over the past 60 years? Which two have reached the lowest levels of approval? Do you see any correlation between presidents with particularly stable or particularly volatile approval ratings and their ability to achieve policy results? Social Explorer: FIGURE 11.5 WHAT AMERICANS WANT IN THEIR PRESIDENT, 2016 Journal Prompt 11.4 Why have Americans become more comfortable with a president who has no government experience? And what difference might the lack of experience make in the next administration? QUIZ 11.4 Presidents and the Public (Action)

Presidents and Congress (Impact) 11.5

Describe the relationship between the president and the Congress.

Journal Prompt 11.5 Is there anything a president can do to increase cooperation with Congress, especially given the deep division between the Republican establishment in the House and its much more conservative wing? QUIZ 11.5 Presidents and Congress (Impact)

Presidential Greatness (Impact) 11.6

Identify the sources of presidential greatness.

Journal Prompt 11.6 What qualities do you think make an effective president? Using your knowledge of American history, which president do you think was the greatest of all time? Do you think your rating will change over time, and what might change your mind? QUIZ 11.6 Presidential Greatness (Impact) SHARED WRITING PROMPT: The Presidency Does the presidency have enough power to deal with global problems such as terrorism, immigration, and the environment?

Review the Chapter Video: WATCH The Presidency: So What? Author video. Flashcards: LEARN THE TERMS The Presidency Flashcard set of key terms and definitions for the chapter. CHAPTER 11 QUIZ The Presidency

12 The Federal Bureaucracy and Public Policy Chapter Overview Bureaucracy is probably the most misunderstood system of the American government. Most of the public views bureaucracies in negative terms, yet the work of the Federal bureaucracy is essential to meeting all of the needs and requirements Americans demand. In this chapter, we examine the role and functions of the overarching federal bureaucracy and the constituent bureaucracies that comprise it and consider its growth and evolution over time as well as contending approaches for overseeing and reforming it. Then, we turn to consider the public policy process. We examine the types of public policy and the key steps in its formation. We conclude by identifying the challenges the federal government faces in implementing public policy. By the end of the chapter, students should have a solid understanding both of the historical and contemporary nature and debates surrounding the federal bureaucracy and of the process by which public policy is formulated and implemented.

Lecture Suggestions The Constitutional Foundations of the Bureaucracy (Structure) 12.1

Outline the development of the federal bureaucracy.

LECTURE 1: While students are often familiar with the idea of bureaucracy as “red tape,” they are less familiar with Max Weber’s idea of bureaucracy as a rational system of organizing government, which represented a dramatic improvement over the system that preceded it. Explain Weber’s understanding of bureaucracy, focusing in particular on the characteristics he identified with it. ▪

Weber conceived of bureaucracy as a hierarchical organization with clearly delineated lines of authority dealing with a fixed area of activity. Structure was important to Weber. He believed that a professional bureaucracy has to be divided into distinctive areas, each with its own charge. A separate institution is needed, for example, to deal with national defense apart from the Treasury. Within each, clear lines of authority demark who is responsible for what.

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Bureaucratic decision making is based on written rules and procedures. Weber argued that one of the most important achievements of modern bureaucracy is that it operates on an impersonal basis. Decisions are thus uniform; there are not different standards for different groups of people. Further, the criteria on which decisions are made are recorded and available, providing greater transparency to the decision-making process.

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Professional and neutral staff in a bureaucracy must achieve career advancement based on technical prowess or expertise rather than connections. Remember, Weber’s conception of bureaucracy rejected the spoils system that defined bureaucracies historically. Weber thought that bureaucrats should be experts in their fields, who achieve their positions due to knowledge and skill rather than who they know.

Organizing the Bureaucracy (Structure) 12.2

Describe how the federal bureaucracy is organized and staffed.

LECTURE 1: Contrast the spoils and merit systems for your students. ▪

Historically, government employment was allocated by the spoils system; that is, employees were selected on the basis of party loyalty, electoral support, and political influence.

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During the administration of Andrew Jackson, the spoils system was perhaps more overt than at any other time in the history of the U.S. federal government. Jackson claimed he was trying to involve more of the “common folk” in the government, but his selection of advisers on the basis of personal friendship rather than qualifications sometimes caused him difficulties.

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The merit system (government employment based on competence, neutrality, and protection from partisanship) was introduced in the Pendleton Act of 1883.

LECTURE 2: During the Progressive Era, the federal bureaucracy was again reformed. In 1939, Congress passed the Hatch Act, which prohibited federal employees from engaging in partisan political activity, including running for public office, soliciting campaign funds, or campaigning for or against a party or candidate. However, the Hatch Act created other challenges. ▪

The Problem of Responsiveness. The federal bureaucracy is a large and complex institution, and getting it to change direction can be difficult. Presidents who are elected on campaign promises of reform often find their agendas stymied by bureaucratic inertia and resistance.

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The Problem of Productivity. Even more troubling can be the problem of productivity, notably the inability to improve job performance because of the difficulties in rewarding or punishing civil servants. Before firing a federal employee, for example, the following steps must be taken: 

The employee must receive written notice at least 30 days before a hearing to determine incompetence or misconduct.

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A statement of cause—indicating the specific dates, places, and actions cited as incompetent or improper—must be provided.

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The employee has the right to a hearing and decision by an impartial officer. The burden of proof falls on the agency seeking to dismiss the employee.

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The employee has a right to an attorney and to present witnesses in his or her defense at the hearing.

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The employee has the right to appeal any decision to the Merit Systems Protection Board.

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If dissatisfied with the decision of the board, the employee has the right to appeal the decision to the U.S. Court of Appeals.

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Until the final decision is made and all appeals are exhausted, the employee has the right to remain on the job and continue to draw pay.

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As of 2012, 17.8 percent of the total federal civilian workforce is African American, and about 8 percent is Hispanic. However, a close look at top bureaucratic positions reveals far less diversity. Only 6.4 percent of federal “executive” positions (levels GS 16–18) are filled by African Americans and only 3.7 percent by Hispanics.

LECTURE 3: The federal bureaucracy—officially part of the executive branch of the U.S. government—consists of about 2.1 million civilian employees (plus 1.3 million persons in the armed forces) organized into 15 cabinet departments, more than 60 independent agencies, and a large Executive Office of the President. Examine the key types of bureaucratic institutions in the U.S. system with your students.

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Departments are familiar to the general public, since they are led by the president’s cabinet-level secretaries. Each department can have numerous agencies and bureaus associated with it. Some agencies are tightly controlled, but some have almost complete autonomy. Cabinet departments employ about 60 percent of all federal workers. The functions of the 15 cabinet-level departments of the executive branch cover an enormous range (everything from providing mortgage insurance to overseeing the armed forces of the United States). Examples include the Department of Defense and the Department of Health and Human Services.

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Independent regulatory agencies are designed to protect the general public. These commissions are empowered by Congress both to make and to enforce rules, and they thus function in legislative and judicial fashions. However, they generally operate outside the president’s cabinet. Examples include the Central Intelligence Agency and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

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Independent executive agencies report directly to the president, but the president’s control is limited only to appointing the heads of the agencies. Like cabinet departments, these agencies are hierarchically organized with a single head (usually called an “administrator”) who is appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate. Such agencies generally deal with a specific set of issues, such as telecommunications (the Federal Communications Commission), or the stock market (the Securities and Exchange Commission).

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Government corporations are supposed to be run in a manner similar to private companies. They have a great deal of autonomy and independence and are designed to pay for themselves. Examples include the U.S. Postal Service and Amtrak, the National Railroad Passenger Corporation.

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Quasi-governmental organizations are both public and private. The Federal Reserve Board is probably the best known of these agencies.

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Foundations are designed to be separate from government, to protect them from the political aspects of government. The National Science Foundation is one, as are the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities. 402 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

The Bureaucracy’s Job (Action) 12.3 3

Describe the roles and responsibilities of the federal bureaucracy.

LECTURE 1: Being a good “bureaucratic politician” involves cultivating a good base of support for requests among the public at large and among interests served by the agency; developing attention, enthusiasm, and support for one’s program among top political figures and congressional leaders; winning favorable coverage of agency activities in the media; and following strategies that exploit opportunities. Perhaps above all, it requires a solid understanding of the politics of the budgeting process. ▪

Contrast the three forms of budgeting used.

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Explain their implications for bureaucratic politics in the United States. 

Incremental budgeting focuses on requested increases in funding for existing programs, accepting as legitimate their previous year’s expenditures. Because of this, incremental budgeting tends to be relatively conservative and stable, distrusting dramatic shifts in funding allocations. Consequently, long-standing and well-established programs tend to favor incremental budgeting, as this method preserves their advantages.

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Zero-based budgeting demands justification for the entire budget request of an agency, not just its requested increase in funding.

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Program budgeting requires agencies to present budgetary requests in terms of the end products they will produce or at least to allocate each expense to a specific program.

LECTURE 2: Examine the critiques of bureaucracy with your students. ▪

The concept of iron triangles refers to the relationships among interest groups, congressional committees, and bureaucratic agencies that share an interest in a policy area. The iron triangle model argues that bureaucratic agencies, seeking to expand their own power, will operate in ways that advance the interests of those 403 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

they seek to regulate rather than in the best interest of the people. This can occur either because of corruption or, more frequently, because of regulatory capture. ▪

Regulatory capture occurs when regulatory agencies created to make decisions in the public interest instead advance the interests of those agencies they regulate.

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The iron triangles framework as an explanation of policy outcomes has been replaced by the idea of issue networks (or policy committees), reflecting a broader group of actors focused on an issue and the interactions that take place among them, including lobbying and other influence-making activities.

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Issue networks also include the “revolving door” experience that accompanies iron triangles. The “revolving door” refers to the movement of key personnel between private industry and the agencies that regulate those industries. For example, Anne Veneman, who served as secretary of agriculture from 2001 to 2005, had previously served on the board of directors for Calgene, a subsidiary of the agricultural seed and chemical company Monsanto. And, prior to joining Monsanto, she had been the secretary of food and agriculture for the State of California.

LECTURE 3: Bureaucratic power has grown with advances in technology and increases in the size and complexity of society. Explain the sources of bureaucratic power to your students. ▪

Implementation is the development of procedures and activities to carry out policies legislated by Congress.

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Regulation involves the development of formal rules for implementing legislation.

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Adjudication involves decision making by the federal bureaucracy as to whether or not a person or organization has complied with or violated government laws and/or regulations.

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Administrative discretion is greatest when cases do not exactly fit established rules or when more than one rule might be applied to the same case, resulting in different outcomes.

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Budget maximization—expanding the agency’s budget, staff, and authority as much as possible—becomes a driving force in government bureaucracies. This is 404 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

especially true of discretionary funds, which bureaucrats have flexibility in deciding how to spend, rather than money committed by law to specific purposes.

LECTURE 4: Using the example of energy policy, discuss the complexity of federal bureaucratic politics. ▪

In 1977, Congress consolidated all energy programs under the jurisdiction of the Department of Energy. Its chief mission was defined as reducing the demand for oil and gas, while encouraging greater production of energy.

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Very quickly, the administration found itself in a tug-of-war on three fronts that involved agencies such as the Environmental Protection Agency, the national government versus state governments, and one state or region versus another. Questions arose, such as the following: 

Which is more important, cleaner air or full employment?

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Is our first priority to reduce air pollution caused by automobiles, or is it to create cars with higher gas mileage?

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Should Montana low-sulfur coal be mined, without regard for the scarred landscape?

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What is the respective authority of the national and state governments over drilling off the East Coast?

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Should we ration gasoline, restrict oil imports, or let the price soar?

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Do we really need a national speed limit? Why?

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What should be done about acid rain? The new Energy Department found itself in the eye of this energy crisis.

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When the goals of agencies conflict, which has priority?

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Why is it impossible for Congress to legislate energy policy in detail?

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Are the courts technically qualified to decide cases of this nature? Are they more apt to provide justice and equity than regulatory agencies?

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How can we protect the democratic process in policy questions such as these?

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Particularly interesting to note is that following the creation of this department, the nation’s dependence on oil increased—the very thing the department was originally designed to prevent. This continued until 2018, when the U.S. became a net exporter of oil.

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President Reagan proposed eliminating the Department of Energy, and it was only heated protests from Congress that saved it then. Again in the last decade, there have been calls for its elimination (along with other agencies such as Housing and Urban Development and Education) as a budget-cutting measure. In the 2011 GOP presidential primary campaign, candidate Rick Perry proposed abolishing the department. Ironically, President Trump later appointed Perry as Secretary of Energy.

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Part of the lecture can review the reasons for cabinet agencies being established and being abolished. Basically, it is a question of who is allowed seats at the policy-making table and the relative political strength of opponents and proponents.

LECTURE 5: Political conflict does not end after a law has been passed by Congress and signed by the president. The arena for conflict merely shifts from Capitol Hill and the White House to the bureaucracy. Explain both the technical functions and political role of the bureaucracy in American politics. ▪

The federal bureaucracy consists of a myriad of departments, agencies, and bureaus of the federal executive branch responsible for implementing the law, themselves smaller bureaucracies.

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Despite the popular impression that policy is decided by the president and Congress and merely implemented by the federal bureaucracy, in fact, policy is also made by the bureaucracy. Policy decisions regarding implementation usually involve establishing how policy will be implemented. These are referred to as guidelines. Indeed, legislation usually establishes general goals that leave the bureaucracy with considerable latitude in determining how those goals will be achieved. 406 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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Bureaucracies also frequently possess quasi-judicial powers to resolve some disputes and hear some appeals over policy. These decisions usually have the force of law unless overturned on appeal by a federal court. An example is the National Labor Relations Board, which has the authority to adjudicate disputes between labor and management in the area of federal labor law.

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The Washington bureaucracy is a major base of power in the American system of government—independent of Congress, the president, the courts, and the people.

Controlling the Federal Bureaucracy (Action) 12.4

Identify the means of controlling the federal bureaucracy.

LECTURE 1: Although the president is the nominal head of the executive agencies, Congress can also exercise considerable influence over the federal bureaucracy. Through its power to create or eliminate and fund or fail to fund these agencies, Congress can exert its full share of control. ▪

Congress has the constitutional power to create or abolish executive departments and independent agencies, or to transfer their functions, as it wishes.

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Congress can, by law, expand or contract the discretionary authority of bureaucrats. It can grant broad authority to agencies in vaguely written language, thereby adding to the power of bureaucracies, which can then determine themselves how to define and implement their own authority.

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The U.S. Senate’s power to confirm presidential appointments gives it some added influence over the bureaucracy.

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Congress has the power to grant or to withhold the budget requests of bureaucracies. This is perhaps Congress’s most potent weapon in controlling the bureaucracy.

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Congressional investigations perform a political function for Congress, assuring voters that the Congress is taking action against bureaucratic abuses. Congress also exercises oversight, justifying its oversight activities on the grounds that its lawmaking powers require it to determine whether the purposes of the laws it passed are being carried out.

LECTURE 2: Contrast the roles of the president and the legislature with respect to the federal bureaucracy. ▪

Although the president has constitutional authority over the operation of the executive branch, Congress creates departments and agencies and appropriates their funds.

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Many high-ranking federal bureaucrats, including the heads of most federal agencies, report to and serve at the pleasure of the president. However, Senate approval is needed for presidential appointees to head departments. In recent years, the confirmation process has become more partisan and divisive, with the Senate conducting lengthy investigations and holding public hearings on presidential cabinet nominees.

LECTURE 3: Outline the ways in which all three branches of government exercise some control over the federal bureaucracy. ▪

The president wields power through political appointments.

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Congress engages in oversight through hearings about policy issues and bureaucratic actions by passing legislation to direct bureaucratic action and by control over the budget.

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The courts have a say when lawsuits involving agencies are brought before them and through appeals of administrative decisions to higher levels.

LECTURE 4: The Constitution places the president at the head of the executive branch of government, with the power to “appoint Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, Judges of the Supreme Court, and all other Officers of the United States . . . which shall be established by Law.” If the bureaucracy is to be made accountable to the president, we would expect the president to directly appoint policy-making executive officers. But it is difficult to determine exactly how many positions are truly “policy making”. Examine the limits on presidential control over the federal bureaucracy with your students. ▪

The president retains direct control over about 3,000 federal jobs. Most of these positions are at the highest level of cabinet departments, which have become topheavy with administrators over time. The same multiplication of layers of executive management has occurred in independent agencies as well.

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Significant limits are placed on the ability of the president or of high-level officers to dismiss federal bureaucrats. These limits were imposed to protect federal employees from facing dismissal for political reasons. Most federal employees, for example, are not replaced by successive Republican or Democratic administrations. Whatever political changes might occur in Congress or the presidency, the bureaucracy largely continues to function.

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Whistle-blowers are federal employees (or employees of a firm contracting with the government) who report government waste, mismanagement, or fraud to the media or to congressional committees, or who “go public” with their policy disputes with their superiors. Rules also exist to protect whistle-blowers.

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Over time, every bureaucracy tends to develop its own “culture”; that is, beliefs about the values of the organization’s programs and goals and close associations with the agency’s client groups and political supporters. These cultures can impose real limits on the ability of a president or the Congress to accomplish their own goals.

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Presidents can create some new agencies by executive order. However, in recent years, the general mistrust of government and the growing belief that the federal bureaucracy is already too big have limited the desire of presidents to be seen creating new layers of bureaucracy. A notable exception was the creation of the Department of Homeland Security after September 11, 2001. 409 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

LECTURE 5: Consider the advantages and drawbacks of red tape as a method of controlling bureaucracy. The following are some points to elaborate on concerning red tape. ▪

Why is it called “red tape”? 

According to William Safire (Safire’s Political Dictionary), Charles Dickens supposedly first used the phrase. “Official documents in England were tied with a string or tape of a reddish color, and many lawyers followed the practice in packaging their briefs.”

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In his Dictionary of American Politics, Eugene McCarthy explains the pejorative connotation of the phrase this way: “The expression arose from dissatisfaction with the time taken to tie and untie the red tape used to bind official documents.”

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Is red tape bad? 

Strictly by definition, one would have to say yes. The phrase suggests excessive paperwork and the like. Yet, as pointed out by the authors of the text, “One person’s red tape may be another’s treasured procedural safeguard.” This is a 1977 quote of Herbert Kaufman’s about the liberal think tank, the Brookings Institution. Kaufman goes on, “We are ambivalent about the appropriate trade-offs between discretion and constraint, each of us demanding the former for ourselves and the latter for our neighbors” (Safire’s Political Dictionary).

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According to Kaufman, if we own a construction company that is about to get a million-dollar contract to construct a dam and we learn that the project has been halted due to our failure to file an environmental impact statement, we throw up our hands at such outrageous red tape! However, those people whose farms (which have been in the family for eight generations) would be submerged due to the damming of the river and who wrote letters to their representatives in an effort to halt the project would applaud the government for finally getting something right.

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In other words, those who see government regulations as getting in their way (usually meaning keeping them from getting what they want) see those 410 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

regulations in a negative light (red tape). Those who view government regulations as advantageous would not call them red tape. ▪

What is red tape supposed to do? 

Few people, if any, make a case for excessive government regulations. What is the purpose of red tape? Ironically, the purpose of red tape is to protect citizens, but it ends up causing many inefficiencies in government.

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How does red tape protect citizens? 

If people buy and consume in great quantities a popular drink that contains saccharin, only to learn, 10 years later, that they have developed a certain type of cancer, their first reaction might be, “How did the government let this happen?” There was a time when the prevailing marketplace philosophy was caveat emptor: let the buyer beware.

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Today, however, we expect the government to protect us from such things before it is too late. In fact, we don’t just want to be warned about possible side effects of chemicals placed in food or food products. To help us with our diets, we demand to know things such as fat content and the number of calories a food contains. The government’s position could be that if some manufacturer causes us injury, our only recourse would be to use the courts to seek restitution. But we want the government to protect us before we are injured.

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These demands mean that the government must collect data and perform inspections. This means that people must be hired and forms must be filled out concerning the production, storage, transportation, packaging, and selling of goods. Guess what some call this? Red tape!

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Getting back to the drink with saccharin, the government is placed in a no-win situation. If there are no regulations of such drinks or if the government does not make the manufacturer issue warnings, when people get sick they see the government as not doing its job. Yet if the government issues regulations in an attempt to prevent such things, it is criticized for being mired in red tape.

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What does red tape have to do with efficiency? 

Suppose the government created a program to aid (perhaps financial assistance) those that are blind. It seems as though a lot of people would see this type of program as legitimate.

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To make sure only those who are truly disabled with blindness get the aid, the government might come up with lengthy definitions as to what constitutes blindness. Furthermore, it might require that those applying for the aid have their blindness certified by several specialists. Those seeking the aid would probably call all of this paperwork red tape. Yet if the government did not follow such procedures and it was discovered (probably reported on 60 Minutes) that people who were not truly blind were getting taxpayer money, the general public would be upset. Again, the government is placed in a no-win situation. If it has rules and regulations, it is accused of creating red tape, and, if it does not, then it is accused of inefficiency or incompetence.

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Why is there so much red tape? 

Because everyone wants it. Of course, few people want all of it. They merely want the part that protects them.

LECTURE 6: Examine some “laws” governing bureaucracies as organizations. ▪

Parkinson’s Law. This law states that work expands to fill the time allotted to complete it. This law can be brought home to students by asking how many times they have turned in a research paper early.

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Peter Principle. This principle states that in any organization people get promoted until they reach their level of incompetence. Taken to its logical conclusion it means that eventually, in any organization, people will be performing tasks that they are least capable of performing. It works like this: a person just starting work at an organization gets a lower-level job. If the person does a good job, he or she will get a promotion when there is a vacancy above him or her. This situation keeps repeating itself until the person is finally promoted into a position where he or she does not 412 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

perform well. Not having performed well at this position, the person is passed over for future promotions. ▪

In a more serious vein, Anthony Downs has presented the set of propositions that follow about bureaucratic behavior. 

Law of Increasing Conservatism. “All organizations tend to become more conservative as they become older, unless they experience periods of very rapid growth or internal turnover.” This could be called the law of inertia. “In every bureau, there is an inherent pressure upon the vast majority of officials to become conservers in the long run.”

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Law of Imperfect Control. “No one can fully control the behavior of a large organization,” and, “The larger any organization becomes, the weaker is the control over its actions exercised by those at the top.”

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Law of Countercontrol. “The greater the effort made by a top-level official or sovereign to control the behavior of subordinate officials, the greater the efforts made by those subordinates to evade or counteract such control.”

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Law of Control Duplication. “Any attempt to control one large organization tends to generate another organization.” (Note: This law could explain the duplication of the bureaucracy found in the White House Office and Congress. Even though there is a State Department and a Defense Department, the president has a National Security Council. Furthermore, even though there is a Treasury Department and a Commerce Department, Congress has a Budget Office and the president has the Office of Management and Budget.)

Defining and Making Public Policy (Impact) 12.5

Explain public policy and identify the key steps in making public policy.

LECTURE 1: Differentiate between politics and public policy. ▪

“Politics” refers to the interaction between the people and their government.

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“Public policy” is the result of that interaction.

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If politics, as Harold Laswell famously argued, is a question of who gets what, when, where, and how, then policy is a formal process whereby those decisions are reached.

LECTURE 2: When government decides to solve a problem, it does so through public policy, a specific course of action that government takes to address a challenge. There are three specific types of public policy. ▪

Distributive policies provide benefits to all citizens. Examples might include the national parks, Social Security, or education. Although benefits may not be evenly distributed, every citizen receives at least some benefit from distributive policies.

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Redistributive policies involve a shift or transfer of resources in society, usually funded through taxes. Programs targeting specific groups generally fall into this category. For example, food stamp programs, financed through taxes, provide relief for poor Americans. This type of program is zero-sum, meaning one group’s gain is another group’s loss.

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Reverse distributive policies impose rules on everyone and are usually used to address common problems shared by large groups. When government benefits are taxed or when Social Security payments are reduced to provide more money for specific programs, it becomes a reverse distributive program by taking away from all citizens.

LECTURE 3: Policies are organized by issues to help determine problems and solutions. To help further explore public policy, political scientists break down government according to the following functions: distribution, regulation, and redistribution as outlined earlier. Policies can also be broken down depending on whether they produce tangible benefits or symbolic benefits. ▪

Tangible benefits refer to real, material benefits to individuals or society. Examples might include hospitals or bridges for a local community or tuition assistance or food stamps for individuals.

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Symbolic benefits are intended to highlight an emerging issue or note the need for further action. In reality, though, symbolic benefits are often used to hide nondecision. Examples of symbolic benefits might include public education campaigns or empowering a panel to study an issue further.

LECTURE 4: Explain the public policy process to your students. You might consider illustrating the general outline provided here with specific examples from current policy issues or debates. ▪

First, people assume there is a problem.

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Second, the agenda is set—the list of issues the federal government should pay attention to is laid out by agenda setters, such as elected officials, think tanks, and the media.

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Third, the government decides to act. This is the most difficult step—problems can exist, but most often the status quo is less dangerous than any changes, and Congress has a hard time acting anyway.

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Fourth, the government decides how much to do—incremental policy makes small adjustments while punctuating policy radically changes the way government handles an issue. Note here how issue networks usually correspond with punctuating change, while iron triangles correspond with incremental change.

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Fifth, the government chooses a solution that generally involves one of five tools: spending money, using taxes to regulate the economy, providing goods and services directly, providing protection against risk, and creating standards, incentives, or penalties. 415 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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Sixth, the government decides who will implement the policy—government bureaucracies or contracts with other players such as private businesses or universities.

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Seventh, the bureaucracy creates rules for implementation. This part of the process tends to be invisible to most citizens but certainly is the most essential step in taking an abstract idea and making it real.

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Finally, the policy is implemented.

LECTURE 5: Differentiate between incremental and punctuating policy. ▪

Incremental policy makes minor adjustments to existing policy. The decision regarding reimbursement rates to Medicare providers or small changes in federal support for higher education are examples. In general, incremental policy is easier to make because it builds on existing policy frameworks and institutions.

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Punctuating policy refers to more dramatic changes in government policies. President Obama’s health care reform is an example of punctuating policy. Punctuating policy is much more difficult to develop because it often provokes a sharp response from numerous interest and citizen groups.

LECTURE 6: The policy process is defined by five or six steps: identifying the policy problem, setting an agenda, formulating a solution, legitimizing the solution, implementing the solution, and (in some versions) evaluating the solution. These steps are simply the starting point; many consider the true core of policy decisions to be how people interpret values. ▪

The idea of a process suggests that separate actions lead to a goal. There is an order to the process that helps to create an intended result.

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The first step is to identify a problem. Some may identify a problem where others see no problem at all. Pluralists believe that our open government allows every voice to be heard. Others, known as elitists, believe that wealth and power drive policy decisions. Events such as September 11, 2001, shine a spotlight on problem areas and are known as focusing events. These events serve as trigger mechanisms that will identify problems, resulting in a push for solutions. 416 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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Solutions cannot be found until a government authority recognizes a problem and places it on the institutional agenda. Citizen action can force the government to recognize an issue and place it on the agenda. The issue-attention cycle states that some issues will stay on the agenda and be dealt with, while others will simply slip away.

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This step of the process involves the suggestion of possible solutions. Laws, court decisions, and executive orders are all forms of policy. The federal bureaucracy, Congress, the Supreme Court, and the president represent the four avenues to create new policies. If the policy-making actions are legitimate, the public will accept them even if they do not support them.

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Good policy should not be hurt by biased implementation. Once a policy is in place, it should be carried out without regard to the personal feelings of those implementing it. A policy should be carried out if it is reasonable and if discretion is used by those in power. Legislatures can review policies through oversight, when they can reauthorize and investigate. The courts are also responsible for evaluating policy.

LECTURE 7: The garbage-can model states that issues, solutions, and government are thrown together, and problems can exist without solutions and vice versa. Others see problems, solutions, and policy makers as separate streams that do not merge.

LECTURE 8: Explain the development and implementation of the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act, the main law for K-12 education from 2002 to 2015. Discuss the impact of accountability measures on public schools, in particular the testing, attendance, and graduation requirements. Critics argued the act levied several unfunded mandates on school districts. Others charged that the focus on underperforming schools drew resources away from gifted and talented programs.

Even after NCLB, states continue to mandate standardized testing. “Teaching to the test” is viewed by many educators as a problem in curriculum, as it overemphasizes test preparation and diminishes comprehension, critical thinking, and subjects not tested (e.g., music, physical education, art). Ask students to discuss their school experiences. ▪

Are there differences between students from private and public schools?

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Do students think they had effective teachers? Why or why not?

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What would they suggest be done to improve K–12 education?

Does the Bureaucracy Work? (Impact) 12.6

Identify the challenges the federal government faces in implementing public policy.

LECTURE 1: Public policy is not made in a vacuum—it takes place in a confusing dance that engages citizens, interest groups, political parties, legislators, judges, and government institutions. Thus, to make change, voting is not enough. Citizens need to be informed.

LECTURE 2: Conservatives believe that government should establish the basic policies but not interfere with personal freedoms. Liberals or progressives believe that the government should be a more active agent of change to correct inequalities and protect freedoms. Social movements and public lobbying have helped change policy.

Class Activities CLASS ACTIVITY 1: Perhaps more than any other topic covered in this course, students arrive at the topic of federal bureaucracy with strong preconceptions. “Bureaucracy” is a bad word that likely evokes a strong, negative reaction. Overcoming that reaction and getting students to think about the benefits of a strong federal bureaucracy can be challenging. ▪

Begin by asking your students to think about the following questions: do you feel the federal government is spending money in such a way as to provide assistance and services to the greatest number of citizens, across the greatest possible spectrum? Why or why not?

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Ask them to consider the services provided by the government. Which do they think the government should not provide? Why? How would such services be provided instead?

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How would Weber approach the topic of bureaucracy? Why did he view bureaucracy so positively?

This discussion item gets students thinking about the nature and role of the bureaucracy in American politics and helps to break down some of their preconceptions about it.

CLASS ACTIVITY 2: One of the key challenges that faced the Obama administration was the implementation of the health exchanges under the Affordable Care Act. In some instances, the state is taking on the task, while in others the state is defaulting to the federal government. ▪

Ask your students to think about why health care exchanges were established. What is their purpose? Have they been successful?

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How did the expansion of the government into health care under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) change the nature of government in the United States, if at all? Is the ACA different from other government health programs like Medicare and Medicaid? How?

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Have the Trump administration’s efforts to roll back the ACA affected its implementation? How has the repeal of the individual mandate affected the success of the policy?

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This discussion can also lead to broader questions about how the federal government has changed over the past 10 years: has it grown larger or smaller? Strengthened or weakened? Become more centralized or less centralized?

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Similar questions can also be examined using the slightly more historical example of the Office of Homeland Security.

This discussion question highlights the expansion in the scope and power of the federal bureaucracy over time. (Action)

CLASS ACTIVITY 3: Maximizing democratic accountability in the bureaucracy may conflict with other things we care about. Ask your class to consider the following questions: ▪

Are there ways in which decreasing the scope of bureaucratic discretion could also have the effect of reducing the efficiency and effectiveness of bureaucratic institutions?

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How do bureaucracies prioritize decision making? On what basis, in other words, are decisions made? Ask them to think in particular about how the priorities of bureaucracy differ from the priorities of the private sector. These might include fairness to customers and standardization of process in bureaucracy and profitability in the private sector.

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Ask them to reflect on the extent to which organizations other than government are bureaucracies. What do we gain by making government run like a business instead of a bureaucracy when most businesses are also bureaucracies?

This discussion question explores the themes of bureaucratic operation, privatization, and efficiency. (Action) CLASS ACTIVITY 4: Stage a cabinet meeting. Assign students to play the roles of each secretary and the president. ▪

Give them a contemporary issue to address. The best simulation topics draw from contemporary news stories but require coordination across multiple agencies to effectively address. For example, addressing the situation in Iran would require cooperation across the defense, intelligence, and foreign policy communities.

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Let them have the agenda a few days before the meeting so they can prepare their positions and hold an in-class cabinet session.

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In large classes, other students can be aides or the press, or multiple cabinet sessions can be held.

This activity illustrates the challenges of bureaucratic politics and the difficulty of coordinating policy choices across multiple agencies. (Action)

CLASS ACTIVITY 5: Divide the class into interest groups, representing business, low-income citizens, and high-income citizens. Maintaining these groups throughout the semester, periodically identify a bureaucracy or an issue associated with a bureaucracy and have each group formulate its policy on the issue. ▪

Have students do this either in writing or in class discussion.

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Have students identify the specific type of equality outcome that the policy addresses.

This activity explores the dynamics of interest group lobbying of the bureaucracy. (Action) CLASS ACTIVITY 6: Because much of the budget deficit is associated with programs administered by bureaucracies—particularly entitlement programs—have the class determine a way to cut deficit spending. ▪

Provide students with a list of major entitlement programs, their costs, and numbers of people served.

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Ask students to develop a list of a series of cuts intended to balance the budget. List the cuts and identify the groups that will oppose them.

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In class discussion after the lists are complete, talk about the potential impact these groups will have on upcoming elections.

This activity highlights the challenges of budgetary politics in the bureaucracy. (Action)

CLASS ACTIVITY 7: Have several groups of students analyze the following scenario: the fiscal cliff and ongoing budget deficits are necessitating a rethinking of federal spending across

all areas. The Department of Defense (DoD) is asked to evaluate the size and scope of its operations, focusing in particular on duplication across the branches of service. Previous efforts to cut military spending have been unsuccessful. Base closings in the 1980s didn’t work, and efforts to shrink spending on superfluous programs like the multiple engines for the J22 Joint Strike Fighter—which the Pentagon itself doesn’t want but Congress continues to fund anyway—remain high. Congress members bringing home pork managed to thwart any real savings. It is now up to the bureaucracy to come up with a plan to streamline DoD while maintaining our military readiness. ▪

Using whatever resources it likes, each group should attempt a reorganization of DoD.

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Have each group explain how its plan meets the twin goals of efficiency and readiness.

This activity emphasizes the dynamics of bureaucratic politics and the challenges of reforming the federal bureaucracy. (Action) CLASS ACTIVITY 8: Identify the class as a small agency, describing its role or service, clientele, number of employees, and budget. Select an agency head from the class and have that student lead the class through the development of a budget for next year. Observations about the process will aid students’ understanding, even on such a small (make-believe) basis, of the problems associated with budget cutting and job security in the bureaucracy. (Action)

Research Activities RESEARCH ACTIVITY 1: Ask students to evaluate the organization and efficiency of your university or college. How is it organized? Who is employed in what types of positions? Who are the bureaucrats, and how efficiently do they perform their jobs? Do these bureaucrats face the same challenges in implementing policy that federal bureaucrats do? Have students prepare brief reports or presentations on their findings This activity teaches students that bureaucracy is not found only in government, the difficulties of policy implementation, and the structure of a bureaucracy using a real-world example that is close to home. (Structure) 422 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

RESEARCH ACTIVITY 2: Have your students research implementation of a particular health exchange under the Affordable Care Act. Students could choose either their home states or other states of particular interest to them. Students should write short papers answering the following questions: ▪

What benefits are prescribed by the federal government? How many people in your state have benefited from the program?

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How do the state and the federal government manage the system? How does the system function?

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What happens if someone fails to secure health insurance either through their employer, a health exchange, or some other form of governmental or private insurance?

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Given what you now know about the health care exchange system, do you support or oppose the Affordable Care Act? Why?

This activity highlights the challenges of policy implementation in a highly politicized environment using a contemporary example. (Action and Impact)

RESEARCH ACTIVITY 3: Ask your students to keep journals addressing the following question: how does the bureaucracy affect you? Consider the innumerable ways that government helps or hinders your life. ▪

Ask students to report back at the end of the week detailing their findings.

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Alternatively, have students keep journals for the semester and note ways they interact with bureaucracy and government.

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At the end of class, have them compare notes with friends and colleagues.

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Discuss whether, in total, their experiences with government are positive, negative, or neutral.

This activity should highlight the extent to which students should not think about “the” bureaucracy as much as multiple bureaucracies. (Impact)

RESEARCH ACTIVITY 4: Have students investigate the qualifications for a job in a federal agency of their choice using the government documents section of the library or government agency websites. ▪

Starting with the top appointed position to the street-level civil service positions, have them detail the qualifications stated in the government literature.

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Have them examine, from biographical resources, who fills those positions now.

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Have students write essays comparing the standards set with the qualifications of those in office. In particular, ask them whether they think merit standards have been met, at least in the civil service positions.

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As an alternative assignment, consider encouraging students interested in potential future employment with the federal government to secure answers to the following questions: 

How does one apply for a civil service position?

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What is the average starting salary for college graduates?

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How is promotion determined?

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Assuming average advancement, what salary and fringe benefits would a person be eligible for in 10 years?

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How do these standards compare with those of private industry? Be sure to note differences in both qualifications and responsibilities, not just job titles.

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Would you recommend that any of your friends consider a federal position? Why or why not?

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What change do you feel would make the federal service more attractive?

This activity illustrates the professionalization of the bureaucracy and the importance of merit appointments. Additionally, it may provide some insights about future employment possibilities for some students. (Structure)

RESEARCH ACTIVITY 5: Compare the American civil service to that of another developed nation in the West. ▪

There are several useful starting points for research. The CIA World Fact Book (go to www.cia.gov and search “world fact book”) and the BBC Country Profiles 424 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

(go to www.google.com and search “BBC Country Profiles”) both provide useful overviews of national governments. ▪

More advanced data are available through the World Bank’s Data Market (http://data.worldbank.org), which provides an outstanding array of useful data for countries around the world.

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Students may also find it useful to think about broader measures of governmental effectiveness, such as the World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Report (go to www.weforum.org and search “global competitiveness”) or the World Happiness Report (https://worldhappiness.report/ed/2020/).

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Have students analyze their findings in short essays that respond to the following prompt: is the United States’ bureaucracy any more or less efficient? Outline the areas where the American civil service system is more or less efficient than the nation to which it is compared.

This research activity provides students with an opportunity to engage in data collection and analysis using the themes raised in this chapter.

RESEARCH ACTIVITY 6: The 1985 science fiction film Brazil provides an interesting way to explore the limits of bureaucracy. The film follows Sam Lowry, a man working a mind-numbing job in a dystopian future where bureaucratic procedure has run amok. After viewing the film, ask students to consider the ways in which it highlights some of the benefits and limits of our federal bureaucracy. This assignment provides students with an opportunity to draw on other media to explore the themes raised in this chapter, particularly around questions of democracy and democratic control of the bureaucracy. (Impact)

RESEARCH ACTIVITY 7: Have each student select one of the independent regulatory agencies and write a brief essay on its history and powers. Ask students to focus on the “capture” theory to try to determine how well—or how poorly—the theory fits the agency the student selected. This research activity requires students to apply the theoretical discussion of regulatory capture to a specific, real-world example. 425 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

RESEARCH ACTIVITY 8: Ask your students to keep journals addressing the following question: how does the bureaucracy affect you? Consider the innumerable ways that government helps or hinders your life. ▪

Ask students to report back at the end of the week detailing their findings.

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Alternatively, have students keep journals for the semester and note ways they interact with bureaucracy and government.

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At the end of class, have them compare notes with friends and colleagues.

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Discuss whether, in total, their experiences with government were positive, negative, or neutral.

This assignment encourages students to think about the themes raised in this chapter and to apply them to their daily lives. It also illustrates the broad scope and reach of bureaucracy in contemporary society. (Impact)

RESEARCH ACTIVITY 9: For a reading and writing connection, have students conduct interviews with civil service employees at three different local bureaucratic agencies, preferably at the same levels. ▪

Have students design sets of survey questions about the qualifications for the jobs of the employees they interview. What preparation is needed to secure those jobs?

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Encourage students to explore the popular myths about bureaucrats.

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Have students ask questions about how much discretion each respondent has and how much pressure interest groups and political appointees place on them, if at all.

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Have students write essays comparing and contrasting their respondents’ answers with the material in the text as well as with each other.

This assignment encourages students to think about the requirements for public service, the nature of bureaucratic operations, and the benefits and limits of the merit system. (Structure and Action)

PARTICIPATION ACTIVITY 1: Have students write to or visit their congressional offices and speak with a caseworker who deals with bureaucratic snafus and red tape. They should find out how the caseworker intervenes, how effective he or she is, how many constituents avail themselves of this service, and the caseworker’s impressions of the bureaucracy. Have students write papers or discuss in class what they have learned. This activity gets students to reflect on the relationship between their individual representative, his or her constituents, and the bureaucracy.

PARTICIPATION ACTIVITY 2: To see the role of bureaucracy at the local level, have students visit with a county government. ▪

Ask them to visit a specific agency (Health Department, Job and Family Services) to learn about its projects and its mission.

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Have them read some of the laws that the agency is responsible for implementing and explain what the agency has done to implement them.

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Be sure to have them ask to read the agency’s strategic plan and interview an employee. They should critique the agency by applying their knowledge from this chapter, paying special attention to such items as slack, red tape, and drift.

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Have your students either present their findings to you in written briefs or as short class presentations.

This activity applies the concepts raised in the chapter to local cases, requiring students to engage in the research and interviewing process. PARTICIPATION ACTIVITY 3: Have your students interview “street-level bureaucrats” (such as teachers, police officers, and firefighters) or federal bureaucrats in the community about their jobs. ▪

They should consider the following questions: what values predominantly guide decision making in these agencies or organizations—accountability, efficiency, equity, or technical expertise? How do these jobs embody the advantages and practical problems of a bureaucracy? What issue networks exist in connection with these agencies?

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Ask them to write short analyses comparing their responses to stereotypes and preconceptions about bureaucracy.

This activity applies the concepts raised in the chapter to local cases, requiring students to critically think about their preconceptions about “the bureaucracy.”

Suggested Readings and Films READING 1: Written by James Q. Wilson, one of the foremost scholars of public policy, Bureaucracy: What Government Agencies Do and Why They Do It (New York: Basic Books, 2000) is widely considered to be the seminal work in the analysis of American bureaucracy.

READING 2: Several recent books and articles examine the nature and impact of congressional oversight of the federal bureaucracy. See, for example, the following: ▪

Jason A. MacDonald and Robert J. McGrath, “Retrospective Congressional Oversight and the Dynamics of Legislative Influence over the Bureaucracy,” Legislative Studies Quarterly 41:4 (2016): 899-934.

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Joshua D. Clinton, David E. Lewis, and Jennifer L. Selin, “Influencing the Bureaucracy: The Irony of Congressional Oversight,” American Journal of Political Science 58:2 (2014): 387-401.

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Sean Gailmard and John W. Patty, “Slackers and Zealots: Civil Service, Policy Discretion, and Bureaucratic Expertise,” American Journal of Political Science 51, no. 4 (2007): 873–89.

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John D. Huber and Charles R. Shipan, Deliberate Discretion? (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2002).

READING 3: Part of the Oxford Handbook of American Politics series, editor Robert F. Durant’s The Oxford Handbook of American Bureaucracy (New York: Oxford University Press, 2010) offers an extensive and critical overview of the state of the field. Topics addressed range from the history and development of the federal bureaucracy from the founding through the present, to contemporary debates over public/private partnerships and performance-based budgeting. 428 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

READING 4: Kenneth J. Meier and Laurence O’Toole’s Bureaucracy in a Democratic State: A Governance Perspective (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2006) advocates a governance-based approach that emphasizes broad, institutional complexity while simultaneously maintaining a focus on the fine details of bureaucratic management, Meier and O’Toole arrive at the controversial conclusion that efforts to control the bureaucracy from the top are often limited in their effectiveness, but that shared values and democratic norms help facilitate a more responsive bureaucracy.

READING 5: Now in its fourth edition, Steven J. Balla and William T. Gormley’s text Bureaucracy and Democracy: Accountability and Performance (Washington, D.C.: CQ Press, 2017) argues that systematic assessment of bureaucracy can improve policy implementation and accountability. The authors focus on four key perspectives of bureaucratic politics—bounded rationality, principle-agent theory, interest group mobilization, and network theory—in their effort to develop a comprehensive understanding of the challenges posed by bureaucratic politics.

READING 6: In The Case for the Bureaucracy, 4th ed. (Washington, D.C.: CQ Press, 2003), Charles T. Goodsell makes a persuasive case for the efficiency and professionalism of American bureaucracy from a comparative perspective. Goodsell contends that—contrary to popular opinion—bureaucracy is critical to the success of American democracy. READING 7: Cops, Teachers, Counselors: Stories from the Front Lines of Public Service.(Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2003) presents an engaging take on bureaucracy in the United States. By focusing on the front lines of American bureaucracy—the teachers, police officers, and other public servants Americans come into day-to-day contact with— Steven William Maynard-Moody and Michael Craig Musheno humanize the politics of bureaucracy in the United States.

READING 8: In The Dynamics of Bureaucracy in the U.S. Government: How Congress and Federal Agencies Process Information and Solve Problems (New York: Cambridge University 429 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Press, 2015), Samuel Workman uses a vast dataset of regulatory policymaking across the entire federal bureaucracy to examine the dynamics of congressional agenda setting and bureaucratic problem solving.

READING 9: In Bending the Rules: Procedural Politicking (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2019), Rachel Augustine Potter contends that rulemaking is an intensely political activity. In the face of demands from Congress, the president, and the courts, bureaucrats use their deep knowledge of the regulatory process to shield their proposals from interference.

READING 10: Perhaps not surprisingly, many books offer deep criticisms of the federal bureaucracy, and some offer proposals for change to improve it. Examples in this genre include the following: ▪

John D. Donahue, Richard J. Zeckhauer, and Stephen Breyer, Collaborative Governance: Private Roles for Public Goals in Turbulent Times (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 2011).

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Stephen Goldsmith and William D. Eggers, Governing by Network: The New Shape of the Public Sector (Washington, D.C.: The Brookings Institution, 2004).

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Janet V. Denhart and Robert B. Denhart, The New Public Service: Serving Not Steering (New York: M. E. Sharpe, 2011).

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Lloyd G. Nigro, Felix A. Nigro, and J. Edward Kellough, The New Public Personnel Administration, 6th ed. (Belmont, Calif.: Wadsworth, 2006).

READING 11: D. P. Carpenter’s The Forging of Bureaucratic Autonomy: Reputations, Networks, and Policy Innovation in Executive Agencies, 1862–1928. (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 2001) examines how the bureaucracy can use reputation to influence public policy formation.

READING 12: In his extensively documented study, The Politics of Presidential Appointments: Political Control and Bureaucratic Performance (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 2008), David Lewis argues that the federal bureaucracy in the United States has become increasingly politicized over time. 430 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

READING 13: In “Political Control and the Power of the Agent,” Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization 22, no. 1 (2006):1–29, Terry M. Moe critiques classical understandings of the principle-agent problem by arguing that, in the case of teacher-administration relations, agents can affect the decision-making process through the ballot box.

READING 14: The Project on Government Oversight (https://www.pogo.org/) is a nonpartisan watchdog organization focused on the regulatory and budgetary processes of the federal bureaucracy.

READING 15: Several publications are considered must-reads by key players in the federal bureaucracy. These include Washington Monthly (www.washingtonmonthly.com), the National Journal (www.nationaljournal.com), and The Hill (www.thehill.com).

READING 16: Every major federal agency now has a significant web presence. On their respective websites, you can find additional information about the agency’s responsibilities, areas of operation, key personnel, and so on. ▪

The Central Intelligence Agency: www.cia.gov

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Department of Agriculture: www.usda.gov

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Department of Commerce: www.commerce.gov

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Department of Defense: www.defenselink.mil

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Department of Education: www.ed.gov

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Department of Energy: www.energy.gov

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Department of Health and Human Services: www.hhs.gov

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Department of Homeland Security: www.dhs.gov

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Department of Housing and Urban Development: www.hud.gov

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Department of Interior: www.doi.gov

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Department of Justice: www.usdoj.gov

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Department of Labor: www.dol.gov

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Department of State: www.state.gov

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Department of Treasury: www.ustreas.gov

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Department of Veterans Affairs: www.va.gov

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The Environmental Protection Agency: www.epa.gov

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Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA): www.fema.gov

READING 17: The USA.gov website (go to www.usa.gov and click on “Government Agencies and Elected Officials”) provides an extensive list of major departments, agencies, and commissions of the federal bureaucracy, including many not listed here.

READING 18: The executive branch includes several agencies chiefly responsible for overseeing the federal bureaucracy. Examples include the following: ▪

Government Accountability Office: www.gao.gov

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The Office of Management and Budget: https://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/

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The Office of Personnel Management: www.opm.gov

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The President’s Cabinet: go to www.whitehouse.gov and search “Cabinet.”

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While not part of the executive branch, the Congressional Budget Office (www.cbo.gov) also plays a central role.

READING 19: The Federal Register (https://www.federalregister.gov) is the official publication of the federal government, publishing rules, proposed rules changes, executive orders, and other presidential documents, as well as acting as a clearing house for notices from federal agencies and organizations.

READING 20: FedWorld (http://fedworld.ntis.gov) is a comprehensive index of federal government agencies, searchable by keyword. It provides access to thousands of U.S. government websites and more than a half million U.S. government documents, databases, and other information products, with links to the FedWorld File Libraries and other sources. FILM 19: Thirteen Days (Roger Donaldson, director, New Line Cinema, 2001) is a dramatized account of the Kennedy administration’s handling of the Cuban missile crisis.

FILM 20: Brazil (Terry Gilliam, director, Embassy International Pictures, 1985) is a dystopian satire focusing on the power of a runaway bureaucracy. Similar themes are raised by the film 1984 (Michael Radford, director, Umbrella-Rosenblum Films Production, 1956).

Revel Features Chapter Introduction CURRENT EVENTS BULLETIN Video: WATCH The Federal Bureaucracy and Public Policy: The Big Picture Author video. Video: WATCH The Pervasiveness of the Federal Bureaucracy

The Constitutional Foundations of the Bureaucracy (Structure) 12.1

Outline the development of the federal bureaucracy.

Document: READ The Federalist, No. 68 Document: READ The Federalist, No. 76 Read: HAPPENING NOW Summary of the siege on the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, and the aftermath of the event. Journal Prompt 12.1 Which of Hamilton’s requirements for good government is the most important to you? And which one can you affect directly? QUIZ 12.1 The Constitutional Foundations of the Bureaucracy (Structure)

Organizing the Bureaucracy (Structure) 12.2

Describe how the federal bureaucracy is organized and staffed.

Social Explorer: FIGURE 12.1 NUMBER OF FEDERAL EMPLOYEES & DEFENSE EMPLOYEES AS % OF TOTAL, 1981–2018 Social Explorer: FIGURE 12.3 FEDERAL EMPLOYEES BY LOCATION Video: WATCH President Obama’s 2011 State of the Union address Video: WATCH Federal Employee Celia Rivas-Mendive Talks about Her Work Journal Prompt 12.2 Should government corporations be privatized? Support your argument with specific examples. QUIZ 12.2 Organizing the Bureaucracy (Structure)

The Bureaucracy’s Job (Action) 12.3

Describe the roles and responsibilities of the federal bureaucracy.

Sketchnote Video: WATCH Job of Bureaucracy Social Explorer: FIGURE 12.4 PAGES IN THE FEDERAL REGISTER Social Explorer: FIGURE 12.5 UNCONTROLLABLE SPENDING, 1962–2020 Journal Prompt 12.3 Given that the government will eventually run out of money to pay for all of its entitlements, do you think we should reduce benefits or increase taxes? QUIZ 12.3 The Bureaucracy’s Job (Action)

Controlling the Federal Bureaucracy (Action) 12.4

Identify the means of controlling the federal bureaucracy.

Journal Prompt 12.4 Do you think that congressional oversight actually works to control the federal bureaucracy, or is it too political to discipline actual decisions? QUIZ 12.4 Controlling the Federal Bureaucracy (Action)

Defining and Making Public Policy (Impact) 12.5

Explain public policy and identify the key steps in making public policy.

Sketchnote Video: WATCH Steps in Policy Process Slideline: FIGURE 12.6 THE EIGHT STEPS IN MAKING PUBLIC POLICY Journal Prompt 12.5 Which of the eight steps is the best place to block action? QUIZ 12.5 Defining and Making Public Policy (Impact)

Does the Bureaucracy Work? (Impact) 12.6

Identify the challenges the federal government faces in implementing public policy.

Social Explorer: FIGURE 12.7 DOES THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT HAVE TOO MUCH POWER? Journal Prompt: FIGURE 12.7 Name a specific area in which you feel the government has too much power. Explain why this is the case, and outline an alternative solution. Journal Prompt 12.6 Can you name four ways that federal policy affected you yesterday? QUIZ 12.6 Does the Bureaucracy Work? (Impact)

SHARED WRITING PROMPT: The Federal Bureaucracy and Public Policy Do you think the federal bureaucracy is too big? How would you measure its size if you were running for president as a Democrat or Republican?

Review the Chapter Video: WATCH The Federal Bureaucracy and Public Policy: So What? Flashcards: LEARN THE TERMS The Federal Bureaucracy and Public Policy Flashcard set of key terms and definitions for the chapter. CHAPTER 12 QUIZ The Federal Bureaucracy and Public Policy

13 The Judiciary Chapter Overview The observation that all political questions eventually move into the judicial system was made in the nineteenth century. It was a true statement at the time, and it is even more accurate today. The judicial system extends into the lives of almost all Americans. In this chapter, we explore how the judiciary operates in the United States. We begin by explaining the differences between criminal and civil cases and the role of the adversarial system in resolving disputes. Next, we outline the structure of the federal judiciary and explain the process of appointing federal judges and Supreme Court justices. We then outline the process by which the Supreme Court makes decisions, contrasting competing perspectives and philosophies on this process. We conclude by evaluating the role of the Supreme Court in national policy making. By the end of the chapter, students should have a good understanding of the fundamental dynamics, powers, and debates of the American judiciary.

Lecture Suggestions Understanding the Federal Judiciary (Structure) 13.1

Explain the differences between criminal and civil cases and the role of the adversarial system in resolving disputes.

LECTURE 1: Differentiate between criminal and civil cases. ▪

Criminal cases involve violations of the criminal code, statutes intended to protect public health, safety, and morality. In criminal cases, the state is always the plaintiff (or prosecutor) and the defendant is accused of committing a crime. The standard of evidence required for conviction is “beyond a reasonable doubt.” The rights of accused criminal cases are protected by the Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Eighth, and Fourteenth Amendments.

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Civil cases concern violations of the civil code, which encompasses the legal rights and obligations individuals have toward other individuals. Contract law, divorce law, and business law are all examples of civil law. In civil cases, the plaintiff need only show a “preponderance” of the evidence. Punishments generally involve monetary award rather than jail time or other criminal punishments.

LECTURE 2: Examine the historical evolution of liberal and conservative voting blocs on the U.S. Supreme Courts with your students. ▪

The Warren Court. Between 1953 and 1969, the U.S. Supreme Court under the leadership of Chief Justice Earl Warren, the Court generally maintained a liberal orientation. Progressive justices like Thurgood Marshall, William Brennan, Abe Fortas, and Hugo Black provided a strong liberal orientation, while John Marshall Harlan was the Court’s lone conservative voice. The Warren Court is sometimes pointed to as the pinnacle of judicial power. During this period, the Court moved to expand civil rights protections, often by a unanimous vote. Key decisions issued by the Warren Court include Brown v. Board of Education (1954), Mapp v. Ohio (1961), Baker v. Carr (1962), Gideon v. Wainwright (1963), New York 438 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Times Co. v. Sullivan (1964), Griswold v. Connecticut (1965), Miranda v. Arizona (1966), Loving v. Virginia (1967), and Brandenburg v. Ohio (1969). ▪

The Burger Court. Between 1969 and 1986, under the leadership of Chief Justice Warren Burger, the role of the Court began to narrow. More conservative justices like Warren Burger and William Rehnquist sought to limit the influence of the Court’s more progressive wing, which included William Douglas, Thurgood Marshall, and William Brennan, all veterans of the Warren Court. Key decisions issued by the Burger Court include Lemon v. Kurtzman (1971), Roe v. Wade (1973), Miller v. California (1973), and United States v. Nixon (1974). Unlike the Warren Court, where decisions were often unanimous, under Burger, the Court’s decisions were increasingly split.

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The Rehnquist Court. From 1986, when Chief Justice William Rehnquist took over leadership of the Court, until his death in 2005, the Court increasingly took a more conservative perspective. During this period, the majority of the justices were Republican appointees. Indeed, of the four justices comprising the Court’s “liberal” wing—John Paul Stevens, Stephen Breyer, David Souter, and Ruth Bader Ginsberg—three were Republican appointees. The Court’s conservative wing—William Rehnquist, Antonin Scalia, and Clarence Thomas—became more vocal, and the Court’s center shifted to the right. Decisions of the Rehnquist Court often limited the authority of the Congress. Key decisions of the Rehnquist Court include Texas v. Johnson (1989), Lee v. Weisman (1992), Lawrence v. Texas (2003), and United States v. Lopez (1995). Perhaps the most well-known (and political) case from this era, though, is Bush v. Gore (2000).

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The Roberts Court. Following Rehnquist’s death in 2005, John Roberts assumed the position of chief justice. The Roberts Court has been characterized by a strong partisan divide. Through 2016, many of the Roberts Court’s decisions were narrow 5 to 4 outcomes. This was the result of a sharply divided Court where the liberal wing (Ruth Bader Ginsberg, Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor, and Elena Kagan) and the conservative wing (John Roberts, Samuel Alito, Antonin Scalia, and Clarence Thomas) both vied for the vote of the Court’s sole swing vote, Anthony Kennedy, a Reagan appointee. The composition of the Roberts court changed significantly when President Trump took office. He appointed conservative Neil Gorsuch (following the death of Antonin Scalia) in 2017, conservative Brett Kavanaugh (following the retirement of Anthony Kennedy) in 2018, and conservative Amy Coney Barrett (following the death of Ruth Bader Ginsberg) in 2020. Some of the most important decisions of the Roberts Court have been District of Columbia v. Heller (2007), Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission (2010), National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius (2012), Obergefell v. Hodges (2015), and Bostock v. Clayton County, Georgia (2020).

LECTURE 3: Students sometimes assume our political system is similar to other political systems around the world. They have a hard time thinking about how democratic political systems might be organized differently. Contrasting decision making under adversarial and inquisitorial legal systems provides an opportunity to highlight the way different democratic countries can organize their legal proceedings. ▪

The U.S. judiciary is organized as an adversarial system. Under this system, competing parties (like prosecuting and defense attorneys) make their cases to a neutral third party (a jury), while a neutral arbiter (the judge) ensures the process unfolds fairly. The primary role of the judge is to maintain procedural fairness. The United States and other common law jurisdictions rely on adversarial systems.

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In an inquisitorial system, which is used in most civil law jurisdictions, the judge is involved in the investigation of facts. He or she may ask questions of witnesses 440 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

and can even call witnesses. The primary role of the judge in an inquisitorial system is to ensure the truth is reached. The French legal system and other civil law jurisdictions are inquisitorial systems.

The Three Types of Federal Courts (Structure) 13.2

Describe the structure of the federal judiciary.

LECTURE 1: Explore the structure of the federal judiciary with your students. ▪

The federal court system of the United States is divided into three levels: the courts of original jurisdiction (state courts, military courts, tax courts, district courts, claims courts, and international trade courts), U.S. courts of appeals (which hear appeals from all lower courts except state and military panels), and the U.S. Supreme Court, which can hear appeals from all sources.

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Federal District Courts 

District courts are the original jurisdiction trial courts of the federal system. District courts hear cases in which the prosecutor is the government of the United States. Examples might include criminal matters like kidnapping and bank robbery, both of which are federal offenses, or some civil matters, like bankruptcy (which is handled by special district courts). Approximately 350,000 cases are filed in federal district courts every year. About one-quarter of these are criminal cases.

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For administrative convenience, the U.S. district courts are organized into 12 circuits (regions), plus the Federal Circuit (Washington, D.C.). Within each region, circuit court judges form panels to hear appeals from district courts. U.S. district courts are named for geographical regions of the states (Eastern, Western, Northern, Southern, Middle), for example, the U.S. District Court for Northern California.

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Circuit Courts of Appeals 

Federal circuit courts are appellate courts that do not hold trials or accept new evidence but consider only the records of the trial courts and oral or written 441 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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arguments (briefs) submitted by attorneys. Approximately 60,000 petitions of appeal are filed with the U.S. courts of appeals each year, but only about 8,000 of these reach the formal hearing stage. U.S. circuit courts of appeals are numbered. ▪

. The U.S. Supreme Court 

The Supreme Court is the “court of last resort” in the United States, but it hears only a very small number of cases each year. Of the 7,000–8,000 petitions filed with the U.S. Supreme Court every year, the Court generally hears about 70.

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The vast majority (about 80 percent) of cases that reach the U.S. Supreme Court come from the federal court systems. A smaller proportion (about 18 percent) are appealed from the states.

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In very few (about 2 percent) cases heard by the Supreme Court does the Court exercise original jurisdiction. These cases generally involve disputes between states (or states and residents of other states), disputes between a state and the federal government, and disputes involving foreign dignitaries.

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Most Supreme Court cases are appellate decisions involving cases from state supreme courts or cases tried first in U.S. district courts.

LECTURE 2: Contrast the appellate and original jurisdictions of the federal courts. ▪

Original jurisdiction refers to the authority of a court to hear a case for the first time. Courts with original jurisdiction are often referred to as trial courts. 

In the United States, federal district courts are the primary trial courts. They are divided into 94 judicial districts.

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Other trial courts include the U.S. Bankruptcy Courts and the U.S. Courts of Federal Claims.

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Traditionally, federal crimes were offenses directed against the U.S. government, its property, or its employees or involved the crossing of state lines. Over the years, however, Congress has greatly expanded the list of federal crimes so that federal and state criminal court jurisdictions often overlap. 442 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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Appellate jurisdiction refers to the power of a court to review decisions and change the outcomes of the decisions of lower courts. 

In the United States, decisions of the federal district courts can be appealed to the U.S. circuit courts of appeals. There are 12 regional circuit courts of appeals. An additional court of appeals exists for the Federal Circuit.

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The U.S. Supreme Court generally exercises appellate jurisdiction, reviewing the decisions of the lower courts for constitutionality. However, Article III, Section 2 of the U.S. Constitution grants the U.S. Supreme Court original jurisdiction in cases affecting ambassadors and other public ministers or consuls and in disputes between the states. The Supreme Court generally defers cases involving ambassadors to U.S. district courts.

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Appeals from state supreme courts go directly to the U.S. Supreme Court and not to a federal district or circuit court.

LECTURE 3: A question that frequently comes up in class is which cases go to federal courts and which cases go to state courts. Below is a description of the jurisdiction of federal courts. All other cases begin in state courts. ▪

Original Jurisdiction. If a court has jurisdiction, it means it can hear a case. Original jurisdiction means a court can hear a case before any other court has heard the case. Students will be surprised to learn that the Supreme Court has original jurisdiction. This is specified in Article III, Section 2, clause 2. “In all Cases affecting Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, and those in which a State shall be Party, the Supreme Court shall have original Jurisdiction.” Congress may not add to this original jurisdiction (Marbury v. Madison, 1803). It may, however, reassign these cases to lower courts. Congress has done this. Today, the only cases in which the U.S. Supreme Court has exclusive original jurisdiction are cases in which a state is suing another state. On average, the Court gets about one of these a year. When it does, it usually assigns the fact-finding of the case to what is called a special “master” in Rule 53 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. This individual is usually a retired federal judge, who then issues a ruling to the Court that it may follow or ignore. 443 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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Appellate Jurisdiction. Most federal cases begin and end at the federal district court that has original jurisdiction. Those losing a case in these courts can appeal them to the U.S. circuit courts of appeal. There are two categories of cases that can be brought to federal courts: those dealing with a particular subject and those involving particular parties.

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Subject Matter. Any case involving a federal question can be brought to a federal district court. A federal question would be one that requires (1) an interpretation of a federal law, (2) an interpretation of the U.S. Constitution, or (3) an interpretation of a treaty; or cases dealing with admiralty and maritime laws.

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Particular Parties. Even if a case does not raise a federal question, it may still be brought to federal court if particular parties are involved in the case. It is federal court jurisdiction if 

The United States is a party to the suit;

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A state is a party to the suit;

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An ambassador or other foreign representatives is involved;

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A citizen of one state is suing a citizen of another state (called “diversity of citizenship” cases; federal law stipulates that such cases must also involve damages of $50,000 or more to be brought to federal courts);

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Citizens of the same state are parties to a suit, if the dispute involves land grants claimed under two or more states; or

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A state and a citizen of another state are parties to a suit (as modified by the Eleventh Amendment).

LECTURE 4: While discussions of policy making tend to focus on the legislative and executive branches, the courts also play a role. Over time, however, this role has changed. Explore the evolving role of the U.S. Supreme Court as a national policy maker in the United States. ▪

In the early history of the country, the role of the Court was relatively limited. Chief Justice John Marshall presided over the Court with a goal of establishing “maximum protection to property rights and maximum support for the idea of nationalism over states’ rights.” 444 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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A second phase can be identified starting with the end of the Civil War. The rapid increase in industrialization and the concentration of wealth and power in huge corporations raised important issues, many of which made their way to the courts. While the Court initially took the position of protecting the corporations from regulation, the Great Depression forced the Court to reverse itself to protect individuals and to regulate business.

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Beginning in the 1950s, the Court gradually expanded protections for free expression and association as well as religion and civil rights. This phase lasted into the 1990s. It also marked a sharp increase in the use of judicial review to strike down a wide variety of laws in a number of landmark cases like Brown v. Board of Education (1954).

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Following the death of Warren Burger, a new conservative majority under William Rehnquist took control of the Court. Rehnquist, and then John Roberts, presided over a 5 to 4 conservative majority that began deciding cases in favor of the states. It also seems to be against certain applications of affirmative action and leans more in favor of business/corporate interests.

The Politics of Appointing Federal Judges (Structure) 13.3

Explain the criteria for selecting and the process of approving federal judges and Supreme Court justices.

LECTURE 1: The appointment of federal judges has increasingly become an arena of conflict between presidents and their political opponents in the Senate. Outline the judicial recruitment process, noting in particular how it is politicized. ▪

Presidents have a strong motivation to select judges who share their political philosophies, and they almost always appoint members of their own parties to the federal courts.

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While political leaders and judges frequently reject the idea of a “litmus test,” a single issue (often abortion) on which a judicial nominee will be assessed, the appointment of judges has become more politicized in the past decade. Political philosophy now plays a major role in the selection of judges.

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The Senate’s involvement in federal district judgeships traditionally centered on the practice of senatorial courtesy (a custom of the U.S. Senate with regard to presidential nominations to the judiciary to defer to the judgment of senators from the president’s party from the same state as the nominee).

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In 2013, Senate Democrats eliminated the filibuster for federal judicial nominations (with the exception of Supreme Court nominees). In 2017, Senate Republicans went one step further and eliminated the filibuster for Supreme Court nominees.

LECTURE 2: Despite often holding very different views of the law, the Constitution, and their interpretation, the justices of the U.S. Supreme Court tend to share a common background of education at the nation’s most prestigious law schools and prior judicial experience. ▪

While there is no constitutional requirement that Supreme Court justices be attorneys, every person who has ever served on the high Court has been trained in law. Most have law degrees from Ivy League institutions.

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Historically, most Supreme Court justices have been federal or state court judges. Eight of the nine justices sitting in 2014 came from the U.S. court of appeals. Nearly every justice ever to serve on the Supreme Court had been a federal or state court judge.

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Most justices have been in their fifties when appointed to the Court. Amy Coney Barrett is an exception; she was appointed to the Court at age 48.

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Historically, the Supreme Court has not represented the racial or gender diversity of the United States. There have been two African American justices (one sitting) and four female justices (three sitting).

LECTURE 3: The role of the Senate in the exercise of its constitutional “advice and consent” function in the confirmation process became the subject of debate during the Senate confirmation hearings of Robert Bork to be an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court in 1988. In fact, the treatment of Bork resulted in an addition to the national lexicon for the confirmation process— nominees could now be “borked.” Answer the following questions with your students: What are the different ways the Senate can exercise this role? What role is usually used? What role would seem to be the one intended by the Framers? ▪

One way the Senate could approach its role of advice and consent is to see its job as one of uncovering any bad behavior on the part of the nominee that might disqualify him or her from serving on the Court. In other words, when guided by this role, the Senate is basically searching for any skeletons that might exist in a nominee’s closet. If none are uncovered, then the nominee should be confirmed. Perhaps the driving force behind this approach is the assumption that the president should be able to select whomever he or she wants as long as the person has not smoked marijuana, abused his or her spouse, had shock treatments, and so on.

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Another approach to the Senate’s role of advice and consent includes the above role, but goes further in its scope. According to this approach, certainly the Senate might want to vote against a nominee if serious enough “skeletons” were uncovered, but there would be additional reasons for rejecting a nominee as well. The Senate should also consider what kind of justice the nominee will be and what changes he or she might bring to the Court. Thus, even without disqualifying “skeletons,” the Senate might refuse to confirm a nominee deemed too extreme in his or her beliefs (one of the accusations made against Bork) or not of the proper judicial temperament. In exercising this approach, the Senate operates under the assumption that the president should not be the sole judge of a nominee’s ability to perform well as a justice. The Senate feels free to independently examine this question.

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What approach is usually used? Until the nomination of Robert Bork, one would have to say the first role of merely examining a nominee for skeletons was the predominant role. It does, of course, depend on how you look at it, but Republican outrage at how the Senate Judiciary Committee treated Bork indicate that they did 447 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

not think it was normal. Indeed, up to the time Reagan nominated Bork, the Senate confirmed 80 percent of presidential nominees to the Court. Of course, one could focus on the 20 percent and see this as a sign that the Senate had not, over the years, merely played dead with Court nominees. ▪

What would the Framers say? The Framers did not say anything. They gave literally no guidelines as to what the Senate should do. In The Federalist, No. 76, Publius writes that the procedure should be used to prevent the appointment of unfit individuals. Unfortunately, Publius does not explain what he means by “unfit.”

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Some evidence from the Constitutional Convention could help answer the question. The Virginia Plan stipulated that the Congress would select the members of the national judiciary. Four attempts were made at the convention to place the appointment process in the hands of the president alone. Madison, considered the father of the Constitution, wanted the Senate to act alone in selecting justices. The president was not added to the process until the latter part of the convention. In fact, had the convention adjourned just two weeks earlier, judicial appointment would have been the Senate’s job exclusively.

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Given this history of the appointment process, it seems unlikely that the Framers would have approved of the Senate approaching its advice and consent function as one of basically letting the president appoint any nominee as long as there were no skeletons in his or her closet.

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One final note: Even Hamilton, an advocate of an energetic executive, defended the role of the Senate in presidential appointments as a way of preventing the seating of justices who would be “obsequious instruments of [the president’s] pleasure.”

LECTURE 4: In 1986, William Rehnquist became the Supreme Court’s chief justice, and with the appointments of Antonin Scalia, Anthony Kennedy, David Souter, and Clarence Thomas, the composition of the Court moved noticeably to the right. Take a couple of important issues— affirmative action, voting rights, abortion, the exclusionary rule—where prominent cases have

arisen and trace the differences and similarities of Rehnquist Court rulings and Burger Court rulings. ▪

After exploring these issues, ask your students to consider the following questions: has there been a break with the past, as has been charged in the area of affirmative action, or is there simply further movement along the path charted by the Burger Court? Have the Clinton nominees (Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen Breyer) changed the tone of the Court? Have the Bush nominees (John Roberts and Samuel Alito) changed the tone of the Court? Have the Obama nominees (Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan) changed the tone of the Court? Rehnquist’s successor as Supreme Court chief justice was John Roberts. How has the Roberts regime differed from that of Rehnquist?

How the Supreme Court Decides (Action) 13.4

Outline the process by which the Supreme Court makes decisions and the factors that influence judicial decision making.

LECTURE 1: The Supreme Court sets its own agenda: it decides what it wants to decide. Outline the process by which a case makes it to the Supreme Court. ▪

Of the 7,000–8,000 requests for hearings that come to its docket each year, it only hears and issues opinions on about 70 cases.

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Most cases reach the Supreme Court when a party in a case appeals to the Court to issue a writ of certiorari (literally to “make more certain”), a decision by the Court to require a lower federal or state court to turn over its records on a case.

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The rule of four by which the Court operates means that at least four justices must agree to grant a writ of certiorari before the case will be heard by the U.S. Supreme Court. Generally, the Court will only hear cases that have already been decided by the U.S. circuit courts of appeals. They tend to select cases with national significance or cases in which divergent decisions have been rendered by different courts of appeals. 449 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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A refusal to rule also creates law by allowing the decision of the lower court to stand, making the U.S. circuit courts of appeals powerful bodies.

LECTURE 2: Granting a writ of certiorari is only the first step in the Court’s legal process. Once the Court agrees to hear a case, the process begins. Explain the judicial process by which the Supreme Court operates once it agrees to issue a writ of certiorari. ▪

Once the justices decide to grant a writ for certiorari, the case is added to the Court’s docket. The Court notifies the petitioner (the individual who filed the request for a writ from the Court), and the petitioner has a set time to write a brief, maximum of 50 pages in length, in which he or she outlines the case for the Court. Once received, the respondent has a set amount of time to write a response, also capped at 50 pages.

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Once both petitioner and respondent have filed their briefs, each is permitted to file a follow-up brief to respond to the other’s case. Additionally, the Court permits the solicitor general, who represents the government of the United States, to file a brief in cases in which the U.S. government is neither petitioner nor respondent. The Court may also allow other individuals or groups that have an interest in the outcome of the case to file an amicus curiae, or “friend of the court,” brief providing their own arguments.

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After written briefs are filed, the Court schedules oral arguments. The Court typically hears cases from October to April. Oral arguments are open to the public, though the Court has historically prohibited cameras from televising its proceedings. Typically, the justices hear oral arguments for two cases per day. During oral arguments, lawyers for the petitioner and respondent each have 30 minutes to make their cases. Most of this time, though, is spent responding to questions from the justices, which are developed in response to their reading of the written briefs. If the U.S. government is not a party to the case, the solicitor general may still require time to address the court to present the government’s interest in the case.

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After oral arguments, the justices convene a Justices’ Conference to decide the case. By tradition, only justices are present during this discussion. Justices can 450 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

speak and raise questions or concerns, though they speak without interruption. The chief justice makes the first statement, followed by each justice in descending order of seniority. After every justice has had the opportunity to speak, they vote in order of descending seniority, again beginning with the chief justice. ▪

A majority must decide which party wins or loses and whether a lower court’s decision is to be affirmed or reversed. In the rare event of a tie vote, the decision of the lower court stands.

LECTURE 3: Differentiate between the various types of opinions issued by the U.S. Supreme Court. ▪

Once the U.S. Supreme Court reaches a decision, it must develop a written brief outlining the decision and its logic. Who writes the decision can be an important political question. If the chief justice is part of the majority, he or she assigns the justice to write the majority opinion. If not, the most senior justice in the majority decides.

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The opinions of the Court are generally handed down in late June, but there are no specific rules governing how decisions are released. The Court will often issue noncontroversial and unanimous decisions earlier.

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Several types of opinions exist. 

The majority opinion contains the official decision of the Court.

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A concurring opinion agrees with the decision about which party wins the case but sets forth a different reason for the decision, proposing, in effect, a different policy position.

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Justices in the minority often agree to present a dissenting opinion that sets forth the views of justices who disagree with both the decision and the majority reasoning.

LECTURE 4: Courts are political institutions that resolve conflict and decide about public policy. But, unlike Congress, the presidency, and the bureaucracy, the courts employ highly

specialized rules in going about their work. Explain how these rules play out in judicial decision making. ▪

Courts do not initiate policy but rather wait until a case or controversy is brought to them for resolution. This is perhaps the most important restriction on the power of the courts in the United States. The U.S. judiciary is thus not proactive.

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Bringing a case into court requires standing. Individuals, firms, or interest groups must have standing; that is, they must be directly harmed by a law or action.

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Class action suits are cases brought into court by individuals on behalf not only of themselves but also of all other persons “similarly situated.”

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The most common arrangement for the payment of legal fees is the contingency fee, which means plaintiffs agree to pay expenses and share one-third or more of the money damages with their lawyers if the case is won.

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Underlying judicial decision making is the assumption that the best way to decide an issue is to allow two disputing parties to present arguments on each side. Proceedings are thus adversarial.

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Following a decision, a court orders remedies and relief designed to correct the wrong.

LECTURE 5: Examine the importance of stare decisis with your students. ▪

Stare decisis refers to the idea that the courts should generally defer to the precedent established by previous court decisions. The phrase derives from the Latin maxim Stare decisis et non quieta movere, or “stand by decisions and not disturb the undisturbed.”

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In common law legal systems like that of the United States, stare decisis encourages courts to decide similar cases in similar ways. In this way, it is closely linked to the principle of equality before the law.

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In the United States, the decisions of higher courts generally establish binding precedents that lower courts are compelled to follow. However, stare decisis also holds that even the Supreme Court should generally follow its own precedents, an idea known as persuasive precedent.

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Stare decisis also conveys a degree of certainty and consistency in the courts’ decision-making processes.

Power and Its Limits (Impact) 13.5

Evaluate the role of the Supreme Court in national policy making.

LECTURE 1: Some people object to what they perceive as “judicial tyranny” and claim that judges are running this country. Examine these concerns with your students. ▪

In the last three decades, the courts have expanded the constitutional guarantees of due process and equal protection. In some quarters, this has been greeted with complaints about judicial activism.

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As the courts have recognized the rights of African Americans and other minorities; given procedural rights to those accused of crimes; required busing to achieve desegregation; announced that every person’s vote should be weighted the same; and expanded a host of other civil liberties, people have begun to object to judicial intrusions into their lives.

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When judges take on the job of running a statewide prison system, supervising a mental health institution, or overseeing the busing of thousands of schoolchildren, members of the public ask, “Who elected them to do these things?” After all, no one elected the judges to these positions, and most have little in their background to suggest they are competent to handle these jobs.

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In part, the answer is that activist judges feel duty bound to give meaning to the Constitution and may perceive a need to fill a vacuum created by the inability or unwillingness of other governmental entities to do their jobs. Those in favor of judicial activism argue that the problem with judicial restraint is that people favor judicial restraint until their ox is being gored.

LECTURE 2: Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter once wrote: “The only check upon our own exercise of power is our own sense of self-restraint. For the removal of unwise laws from the statute books, appeal lies not to the courts but to the ballot and to the processes of democratic government.” His concerns are at the heart of competing judicial philosophies of judicial activism and judicial restraint. Contrast these philosophies for your students. ▪

Judicial Restraint 

The idea behind judicial self-restraint is that judges should not read their own philosophies into the Constitution and should avoid direct confrontations with Congress, the president, and the states whenever possible.

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Advocates of judicial restraint contend that judges should not equate the wisdom of a law with its constitutionality. The role of the Court is only to decide constitutionality; wisdom should be left to the other branches.

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The doctrine of original intent takes the values of the founders as expressed in the text of the Constitution and attempts to apply these values to current conditions.

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Judicial Activism 

The idea behind judicial activism is that the Constitution is a living document and its strength lies in its flexibility, and judges should shape constitutional meaning to fit the needs of contemporary society.

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The principle of stare decisis, which means the issue has already been decided in earlier cases, is a fundamental notion in law; reliance on precedent gives stability to the law.

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Even an activist Supreme Court adheres to some general rules of judicial selfrestraint.

LECTURE 3: The Constitution grants “the judicial Power of the United States” to the Supreme Court and other “inferior Courts” that Congress may establish. The primary power of the court, however, is not found in the Constitution itself. Judicial review is the power to invalidate laws of Congress, the executive, or of the states that conflict with the U.S. Constitution.

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Judicial Review of State Laws. The Constitution specifically obligates state judges to be “bound” by the Constitution and federal laws and to give these documents precedence over state constitutions and laws in rendering decisions. Historically, the most common form of judicial review exercised by the federal courts has been to strike down state laws that violate constitutional protections. Overall, the Court has used its power of judicial review to strike down actions of the states more than 1,100 times.

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Judicial Review of Laws of Congress. By contrast, the Court has been relatively restrained in its rejection of federal laws; over two centuries, the Court has struck down fewer than 150 of the more than 60,000 laws passed by Congress.

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Judicial Review of Presidential Actions. The Court has overturned presidential policies both on the grounds that they conflicted with laws of Congress and on the grounds that they conflicted with the Constitution.

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Interpreting Federal Laws. The courts also make policy in their interpretation of statutory laws—the laws of Congress.

LECTURE 4: Many people are concerned about the extent to which we now rely on a nonelected judiciary to decide key policy issues rather than depending on a democratically elected president or Congress. But there are several formal and informal checks on the power of the Court. ▪

Legitimacy as a Restraint on the Judiciary. The courts depend on their authority being seen as rightful, on people perceiving an obligation to abide by court decisions whether they agree with them or not.

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Compliance with Court Policy. Federal and state court judges must apply Supreme Court policies when ruling on cases in their own courts.

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Presidential Influence on Court Policy. Using the office’s powers of appointment, presidents have effectively modified the direction of Supreme Court policy and influenced lower federal courts as well.

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Congressional Checks on the Judiciary. The Constitution gives Congress control over the structure and jurisdiction of federal district and appellate courts, but congressional use of this control has been restrained. 455 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

LECTURE 5: Students generally understand the idea of judicial review over congressional legislation and actions of states. However, they often have difficulty understanding the judicial review of executive actions. Present the cases of Korematsu v. United States and Hamdi v. Rumsfeld to illustrate this power. ▪

Korematsu v. United States (1944). The Korematsu case concerned the constitutionality of Executive Order 9066, which ordered the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II. In its 6 to 3 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the need to protect against espionage outweighed Fred Korematsu’s individual rights. The Korematsu case remains controversial even today. In 1983, a U.S. district court overturned Korematsu’s conviction of evading internment. In 2011, the U.S. Justice Department issued an official notice conceding that it erred in the case, and the solicitor general prosecuting the case was alleged to have withheld evidence from the Court. Nevertheless, Korematsu remains one of the few instances where the Court has ruled the government met its strict scrutiny standard in a situation of racial discrimination.

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Hamdi v. Rumsfeld (2004). The Hamdi case originated in a petition for habeas corpus brought on behalf of Yaser Esam Hamdi, a U.S. citizen being detained indefinitely as an “illegal enemy combatant.” Because Hamdi was captured in Afghanistan, the Bush administration asserted that he could be detained as an enemy combatant without oversight of presidential action and without access to the courts. In its decision, the U.S. Supreme Court recognized the authority of the government to detain enemy combatants, but ruled that detainees who are U.S. citizens must have access to an impartial judge to challenge their classification.

LECTURE 6: Justices are swayed primarily by their own ideological views; but public opinion, the president’s position, and the arguments of interest groups all contribute to the outcome of cases. Outline the impact of these various factors on decision making in the Court. ▪

Liberal and Conservative Voting Blocs. Although liberal and conservative voting blocs on the Court are visible over time, on any given case, particular justices may deviate from their perceived ideological position. 456 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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Public Opinion. On the liberal-conservative dimension, it can be argued that Supreme Court decisions have generally followed shifts in American public opinion.

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Presidential Influence. The Office of the U.S. Solicitor General is charged with the responsibility of presenting the government’s (the president’s) views in cases not only to which the U.S. government is a party, but also in cases in which the president and the attorney general have a strong interest and present their arguments in amicus curiae briefs.

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Interest Group Influence. Interest groups have significant influence in bringing issues before the Supreme Court through their sponsorship of cases. But several studies have found that interest group briefs have had very little effect on Supreme Court decisions.

Class Activities CLASS ACTIVITY 1: Have students take sides in the Bush v. Gore presidential election debate. Was the case a political question or a legal, constitutional question? Did the Supreme Court, in effect, decide the presidency in 2000? What flaws, if any, exist in the majority opinion? What flaws, if any, are within the dissent’s argument? What likely would have happened had the Supreme Court refused to hear the case? This activity uses an important historical case to explore the political questions doctrine. (Action and Impact)

CLASS ACTIVITY 2: Discuss with students how the numerous television crime dramas like Law and Order and CSI affect our understanding of the criminal process in the United States. ▪

Contrast the sensationalized view of criminal procedure in television with the real-life process used in the courts. What do the shows get correct? What do they get wrong?

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What about the “CSI Effect”? The CSI Effect argues that juries demand more forensic evidence, raising the burden of proof, as a result of popular television series in which there is always a proverbial “smoking gun.”

This activity gets students to move away from the sensationalized criminal proceedings developed by Hollywood and to reflect on how those representations may affect the real-world application of justice in the United States. CLASS ACTIVITY 3: Describe a case, either using a real case or a hypothetical one, perhaps associated with some local or national news headline. Split the class into two sections and assign one as an activist court, the other as a court practicing judicial restraint. Have each group make a decision on the described case, using only those qualities associated with its assigned method of reaching decisions. How do the outcomes compare? This activity requires students to apply the broad judicial philosophies outlined in the text to analyze a specific case. (Action) CLASS ACTIVITY 4: Hold a mock Senate confirmation hearing for a Supreme Court nominee, based on the Neil Gorsuch hearing. Assign students to act as the president’s chief of staff, the nominee, the committee members, and representatives of several interest groups that both favor and dislike the nominee. ▪

As an alternative assignment, use a fictional nominee. The president has just nominated a new member to the Supreme Court. Have students stage a confirmation hearing.

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In preparation, students should research previous hearings and the Senate Judiciary Committee.

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Afterward, ask them to discuss the implications of such a hearing on how it affects people’s desire to serve and on the integrity and independence of the judiciary.

This activity explores the politics of the judicial appointment and confirmation process. (Structure) CLASS ACTIVITY 5: Assign several topics (perhaps choosing issues that are on the current docket of the Supreme Court) to students in the class and divide students into groups to write 458 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

briefs as litigants, amici, and the solicitor general. You may even want to simulate the circuit court decision by creating panels of three to rule on the case before it is appealed to the Supreme Court. For the final stage, assign the roles of the justices to nine students, provide them with the briefs, and have them play out the rule of four. All students can then write responses discussing whether they agree with the Court’s decisions on certiorari, the reasons why the Court acted as it did, and what changes in the appealed cases might make them more or less likely to be brought up on certiorari. This activity helps students understand the process whereby a case reaches the U.S. Supreme Court. (Action) CLASS ACTIVITY 6: In her confirmation hearings before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Sonia Sotomayor was questioned about this statement she made during a Berkeley Law School lecture in 2001: “I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experience would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a White male who hasn’t lived that life.” In addressing the Senate question, she testified that a judge must always follow the law regardless of personal background (in effect contradicting her earlier controversial statement). ▪

Divide your class into small groups. Ask each group to think about the way in which identity and ideology affect the decisions made by justices on the Supreme Court.

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Ask them how identity might influence decision making on the court.

This discussion question encourages students to think about the role of diversity on the U.S. Supreme Court and to interrogate the role of identity and ideology on the decisions of the Court. (Structure and Action)

CLASS ACTIVITY 7: Provide students with a list of several Supreme Court cases that include majority, concurring, and dissenting opinions. Choose “hot topic” cases such as those related to flag-burning, holding terror suspects incommunicado, or other civil liberties questions. Have each student find one case on the FindLaw website (http://caselaw.findlaw.com), read the opinions, and present a brief summary to the class. This activity highlights the differences between types of opinions issued by the Court and helps students understand why justices may issue concurring or dissenting opinions. (Action) 459 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

CLASS ACTIVITY 8: Ask your students to consider the power of the courts. The following guided discussion questions can be used to move from one level to the next. ▪

In The Federalist, No. 78, Alexander Hamilton asserted that the judiciary is “the least dangerous branch.” Can the Court still be described this way?

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How did the assertion of the power of judicial review expand the power of the Court? Does the power of judicial review affect Hamilton’s calculation?

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What limits are there on the interpretation of the law and the Constitution by federal judges?

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Do judges have too much latitude to interpret laws and thus influence public policy? For example, judges’ rulings have determined under what conditions speech can be limited and how businesses can be regulated. Can you think of other avenues for making such decisions?

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Imagine that the Supreme Court does not have the power of judicial review. What person, branch, or level of government do you think would determine what was constitutionally permissible?

This discussion focuses on the powers of the courts and the role of judicial review in U.S. politics. (Structure)

CLASS ACTIVITY 9: For an interesting class discussion, have students debate how democratic the Supreme Court is, compared to other institutions. The discussion should integrate the material learned in other chapters about the role of representation and elections in enforcing accountability and responsibility in policy making. ▪

How well does the Supreme Court conform to the criteria for democracy? What changes would need to be made to make the Court more democratic? Would these changes have any impact on the effectiveness of the Court?

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How would such changes affect the independence of the judiciary? Would the Court be less willing to protect unpopular positions, for example?

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Given all of this, do you believe the Supreme Court should be elected? Why?

This discussion explores the nature and importance of an independent judiciary and the role of the Court in protecting unpopular positions. (Structure) 460 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Research Activities RESEARCH ACTIVITY 1: In class, ask your students to identify the most influential members of the U.S. Supreme Court. Potential nominees might include John Marshall, Felix Frankfurter, Hugo Black, William Douglas, Thurgood Marshall, Warren Burger, Earl Warren, and William Rehnquist. Ask students to identify a justice of interest to them and read his or her biography or autobiography. Sample works are included in the bibliography below. ▪

Then, have students prepare short papers in which they explain how the experiences, identities, and political philosophies of their justices affected (or is reflected in) their decisions.

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Consider having students present their findings in class, then vote on the most important personalities of the U.S. Supreme Court.

This activity gives students an opportunity to learn more about the influential figures that shaped the U.S. judiciary and to explore the competing judicial philosophies that shaped the Court. (Action and Impact)

RESEARCH ACTIVITY 2: It is the Senate’s responsibility to confirm presidential nominees to the courts. Have your students write essays discussing how limited the opposition party should be in preventing nominees it doesn’t like from taking the bench. Should they be able to filibuster nominees who would be confirmed if a vote were allowed by the entire body? If the Senate majority opposes a president’s nominee, should they be able to refuse to vote on the nominee? This topic focuses on the politics that surround the judicial appointment process. (Structure) RESEARCH ACTIVITY 3: The Supreme Court has always insisted on maintaining complete secrecy over deliberations among the justices in conference. Therefore, there was great controversy when the Library of Congress released the papers of the late Justice Thurgood Marshall shortly after his death in 1993. Marshall’s papers provide a rare look at behind-thescenes maneuvering by the Court. ▪

Divide your class into several groups and assign each group to review newspaper accounts of Marshall’s files (May 1993). One or two groups should focus on key 461 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

cases (particularly in the area of civil liberties), while another group should focus on the controversy over the decision to release the papers to the press. ▪

You can either have the groups submit their findings in writing or as oral presentations in class.

This activity gives students an opportunity to explore the internal deliberations that guided the Supreme Court’s decisions during one of the most important periods in the history of the Court. (Action) RESEARCH ACTIVITY 4: Have students choose two well-known Supreme Court cases. They should do some research online to determine how much interest group activity and how many attempts at public persuasion there were on the Court during those cases. Using those examples and the text, have students write papers (or prepare short talks) about the impact of public opinion and lobbying on the Supreme Court. This assignment highlights the impact of interest groups and public pressure on the decision-making process of the Court. (Action)

RESEARCH ACTIVITY 5: Having your students do briefs on Supreme Court cases can be used in several ways. You can either assign the cases directly or pass around a sheet and let the students sign up for cases that interest them without duplicating each other. Or, you could have students actually present their briefs before the class in a more formal setting. This could help students feel more comfortable with giving speeches and could also provide an additional grade, which would probably help the scores of most students. Share the instructions below for briefing a case with your students. ▪

How do you find a Supreme Court case? 

First, find a case citation in your textbook.

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Second, go to the legal reference area of your library.

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The official government document containing Supreme Court opinions is United States Reports. A typical case citation, such as for Roe v. Wade, will look like this: Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113 (1973). This means that the case of Roe v. Wade can be found in volume 410 of the United States Reports, on page 113. The case was decided in 1973. Another citation often used will look 462 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

like this: Roe v. Wade, 93 S.Ct. 705 (1973). This means this case can be found in volume 93 of the Supreme Court Reporter, on page 705. This is not a government document, for it is published by West Publishing, but it contains the same text of the opinion. 

Before you select a case (if one has not been assigned to you), go to the library and look up three cases that interest you. Examine them for content, length, and so on, and then rank them in order of your preference. Then you can return to class to sign up for a case with alternatives, in case someone else has already signed up for the one you want.

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What information goes in a brief? 

Do not quote extensively from the case. Write your brief in their own words.

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There are five basic parts to a brief: o The Facts of the Case. Give the “who, what, when, how, and why” of the case. This will probably be one of the longer sections of your brief, depending on the case. o The Law Involved in the Case. This is usually a brief section. It should include references in the case to the U.S. Constitution, federal law, state law, executive orders, treaties, or other legal references that enter into the decision of the case. References should be specific. If a reference is made to the Constitution, give the Article, Section, and Clause of the passage referred to. o The Legal Question of the Case. This is usually just one sentence, but it can be a difficult part of the brief, because it takes some skill to summarize an entire case covering the significant facts and law in one sentence. o The Ruling of the Court and the Its Reasoning. This will probably constitute the bulk of the brief. Again, do not quote the justices but rather to use your own words. You may be required to include concurring and dissenting opinions as part of your brief. o An Evaluation of the Case. This should not merely be something like, “I really enjoyed reading this case,” or, “I learned a lot from reading 463 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

this case.” You should consult the text to be able to analyze the case. If necessary, you can consult other sources such as constitutional law texts or The New York Times to provide an informed evaluation. This activity gives students good exposure to the documents produced by the courts, helping them to learn to navigate the Supreme Court’s briefs.

RESEARCH ACTIVITY 6: Have your students investigate the composition of the current Supreme Court in terms of the different types of individuals it comprises. They should find out who appointed them, their political party affiliations, their ages, their ethnicities, their religions, their home states, their previous occupations, and other such defining characteristics. Finally, have them sort the members into conservatives, liberals, and moderates. Then, in short written papers, ask your students to consider the following questions: ▪

What makes an ideal justice? Ask the students to devise a list of criteria for the make-up of an ideal Supreme Court justice.

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What types of diversity beyond race and gender should the Court reflect?

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What fields outside of law would provide satisfactory backgrounds for a justice?

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Then ask the students to evaluate the impact of increased diversity on Court rulings.

This assignment encourages students to think about the characteristics Supreme Court justices share and to reflect on the role of identity, ideology, background, and demographics on the decision-making process of the Court. (Action) RESEARCH ACTIVITY 7: Have each student identify a recent decision by the U.S. Supreme Court using one of the online databases like FindLaw (http://caselaw.findlaw.com) or Oyez (www.oyez.com). Ask them to review their cases and identify the following information: ▪

What was the primary issue at stake?

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How did the Court decide? Who wrote the majority and dissenting opinions? Which justices were on each side of the decision?

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What was the logic of their decision? On what argument was the decision based?

This activity engages students with the decisions of the Court and allows them to explore the impact of judicial philosophy on the decisions of the Court. (Action) 464 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Participation Activities PARTICIPATION ACTIVITY 1: If your class is not too large, you may want to make arrangements to visit a trial court while it is in session (either trial or voir dire proceedings). Contact the court administrator to arrange for visitation and follow up with class discussion. You may want to divide your class into jury panels the day following the court visit. ▪

Have each panel select a foreperson and give them some time to meet in small groups to deliberate the case. As a foundation for general class discussion, the foreperson should announce the decision and briefly state the reasoning for each group.

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If it is not practical to arrange for a court visit, you may be able to suggest watching some televised proceedings or ask your students to visit and review a session on their own.

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As an alternative assignment, have some students visit a federal district court and others visit either a state or a local court. Have each group report back to class and discuss any differences in procedures in the different courts. How, for example, did the procedures compare with court scenes portrayed on television or in motion pictures?

This activity gives students a chance to see the U.S. judicial system in action and to reflect on the processes by which it operates. (Action) PARTICIPATION ACTIVITY 2: Have your students prepare letters to the editor dealing with a recent judicial decision of interest to them. Supreme Court decisions tend to be particularly popular, but the decisions of state supreme courts or federal courts of appeals are also often relevant. Be sure to provide guidance on how to write a letter to the editor. While individual newspapers may have their own requirements, in general, letters should be short (no longer than 200 to 250 words) with well-focused paragraphs of no more than two to three sentences each. Letters should also focus on a single point, should be timely, should provide facts and figures to support the point, and should avoid too much emotion. Consider encouraging your students to submit their letters to a local or national newspaper for possible publication. 465 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

This activity requires students to examine the real-world decisions of the courts and helps them develop focused writing skills. PARTICIPATION ACTIVITY 3: Given the high proportion of students in many political science courses who are interested in attending law school, an interesting activity can be developed around asking them to research future job opportunities related to the practice of the law. ▪

Start by having students identify the educational and career backgrounds of 10 judges. These could be judges in the federal, state, or local court systems. For students not interested in law school, the U.S. Supreme Court makes a particularly fascinating case study. For students who might like to be lawyers or judges one day, state and local courts are probably the more appropriate choices.

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Have students write short analyses of their findings. Where did the judges/justices attend school? What did they do before they became judges/justices? Can students identify any patterns in their findings?

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Ask what their findings suggest about the study of law? For students who are considering law school, how might these findings affect your plans?

This activity highlights the requirements to become a judge or justice and illustrates the common background many judges and justices share.

Suggested Readings and Films READING 1: In Radicals in Robes: Why Extreme Right Wing Courts Are Wrong for America (New York: Basic Books, 2005), Cass Sunstein attempts to dismantle the popular rhetoric of outof-control progressive judicial activists, describing how conservatives and liberals both use judicial activism to advance their own perspectives.

READING 2: Cass Sunstein develops the argument that original intent is a misguided political philosophy in A Constitution of Many Minds: Why the Founding Document Doesn’t Mean What It Meant Before (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 2011). 466 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

READING 3: The increased attention paid to judicial activism has resulted in several texts on the topic. See, for example: ▪

Erwin Chemerinsky, The Case Against the Supreme Court (New York: Penguin, 2015).

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Nathan Tucker, We the People: The Only Cure to Judicial Activism (Fraser, Mich.: InArena Publishing, 2010).

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Stephen P. Powers and Stanley Rothman, The Least Dangerous Branch? Consequences of Judicial Activism (New York: Praeger, 2002).

READING 4: Many engaging biographies and autobiographies of the personalities that have defined the high Court have been written. These include ▪

Ruth Bader Ginsberg, My Own Words (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2016).

▪

John Paul Stevens, Five Chiefs: A Supreme Court Memoir (New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2011).

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Stephen Breyer, Making Democracy Work: A Judge’s View (New York: Knopf, 2010).

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Linda Greenhouse, Becoming Justice Blackmun: Harry Blackmun’s Supreme Court Journey (New York: Times Books, 2006).

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Sandra Day O’Connor, The Majesty of the Law: Reflections of a Supreme Court Justice (New York: Random House, 2004).

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Melvin Urofsky, Louis D. Brandeis: A Life (New York: Pantheon Books, 2009).

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Jim Newton, Justice for All: Earl Warren and the Nation He Made (New York: Riverhead Books, 2007).

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Roger K. Newman, Hugo Black: A Biography (New York: Fordham University Press, 1997).

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Seth Stern, Justice Brennan: Liberal Champion (New York: Houghton Mifflin, 2010).

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Clarence Thomas, My Grandfather’s Son: A Memoir (New York: Harper, 2008).

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Jean Edward Smith, John Marshall: Definer of a Nation (New York: Holt, 1996).

READING 5: Many other texts also explore the inner workings of the Supreme Court. Examples include ▪

Robert Woodward and Scott Armstrong, The Brethren: Inside the Supreme Court (New York: Simon and Schuster, 2005).

▪

Jeffrey Rosen, The Supreme Court: The Personalities and Rivalries that Defined America (New York: Times Books, 2007).

▪

Todd C. Peppers and Artemus Ward, In Chambers: Stories of Supreme Court Law Clerks and Their Justices (Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2012).

▪

William Rehnquist, The Supreme Court (New York: Vintage, 2002).

READING 6: Several interesting books deal with the limits on the decision making of the court. See, for example, ▪

Tom S. Clark, The Limits of Judicial Independence (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2011).

▪

Michael A. Bailey and Forrest Maltzman, The Constrained Court: Law, Politics, and the Decisions Justices Make (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 2011).

READING 7: Sarah A. Binder and Forrest Maltzman have written an outstanding analysis of the politics of judicial nomination and confirmation in Advice and Dissent: The Struggle to Shape the Federal Judiciary (Washington, D.C.: Brookings Institution, 2009).

READING 8: Laura P. Moyer and Susan B. Haire, Diversity Matters: Judicial Policy Making in the U.S. Court of Appeals (Charlottesville, VA: University of Virginia Press, 2015). Drawing from oral histories and data from appellate decisions through 2008, Haire and Moyer examine how diversity on the bench influences judicial decisions and the overall character and quality of judicial deliberations.

READING 9: Hannah Brenner Johnson, Renee Knake Jefferson, Shortlisted: Women in the Shadows of the Supreme Court (New York: New York University Press, 2020). Johnson and 468 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Jefferson tell the overlooked stories of nine women considered, but not selected, for the United States Supreme Court.

READING 10: Disrobed: An Inside Look at the Life and Work of a Federal Trial Judge (New York: Thomson Reuters Westlaw, 2012) is an engaging and humorous look at the work of a federal trial judge written by Frederic Block, who was appointed to the bench in 1994 by President Bill Clinton. READING 11: In “What Can We Learn about the Ideology of the Newest Supreme Court Justices?,” PS: Political Science and Politics 44, no. 3 (July 2011): 524–29, Stephen A. Jessee and Alexander M. Tahk outline a model for understanding the ideological perspectives of Supreme Court justices using Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Samuel Alito and Sonia Sotomayor as case studies.

READING 12: The American Bar Association (www.americanbar.org/aba.html) is the professional association for lawyers in the United States.

READING 13: The website of the Supreme Court Historical Society (www.supremecourthistory.org) covers basic history of the Court and has a gift catalog. The official website of the U.S. Supreme Court is www.supremecourtus.gov.

READING 14: Court decisions can be found at several online locations. ▪

Legal Information Institute, Cornell University Law School (www.law.cornell.edu) is a gateway to a world of information that offers links to associated law and court sites on the web. Among its sections, you will find the Supreme Court calendar; biographies and opinions of the justices; directories of law firms, law schools, and legal associations; constitutions and codes, including U.S. statutes, regulations, and judicial rules of procedure; and court opinions, including state supreme courts.

▪

FindLaw (http://caselaw.findlaw.com) is a searchable database of Supreme Court decisions plus legal subjects, state courts, law schools, bar associations, and international law.

▪

Oyez (www.oyez.com) is a comprehensive database of major constitutional cases, including multimedia features such as audio.

READING 15: United States Courts (www.uscourts.gov) contains information and statistics about the activities of the U.S. district courts, the circuit courts of appeals, and the Supreme Court.

FILM 16: The Pelican Brief (Alan J. Paluka, director, Warner Bros., 1993) is a drama depicting efforts to assassinate members of the U.S. Supreme Court, based on the novel by John Grisham.

FILM 17: The TV movie Separate but Equal (George Stevens Jr., director, George Stevens Productions, 1991) is an excellent portrayal of how Chief Justice Warren secured unanimity in Brown v. Board of Education.

FILM 18: The Supreme Court (PBS Video, 2007) is a four-part series that explores the role of the Court throughout American history.

FILM 19: The First Monday in October (Ronald Neame, director, Paramount Pictures, 1981) is a comedy about a conservative woman appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court and the issues the Court faces in a variety of civil liberties cases. FILM 20: A special two-hour report from inside the real-life workings of America’s criminal justice system is featured in Frontline: Real Justice (PBS Video, 2004).

FILM 21: The HBO film Recount (Jay Roach, director, HBO, 2000) deals with the politics of the Supreme Court’s decision in Bush v. Gore. Additional materials on the film can be found at www.hbo.com by searching “Recount.”

Revel Features Chapter Introduction CURRENT EVENTS BULLETIN Video: WATCH The Judiciary: The Big Picture

Understanding the Federal Judiciary (Structure) 13.1

Explain the differences between criminal and civil cases and the role of the adversarial system in resolving disputes.

Sketchnote Video: WATCH The United States Dual Court System Read: HAPPENING NOW Summary of the siege on the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, and the aftermath of the event. Journal Prompt 13.1 Should attorneys be provided to defendants in civil cases as well as criminal cases? Why or why not? QUIZ 13.1 Understanding the Federal Judiciary (Structure)

The Three Types of Federal Courts (Structure) 13.2

Describe the structure of the federal judiciary.

Social Explorer: FIGURE 13.1 THE U.S. CIRCUIT COURTS OF APPEALS Journal Prompt 13.2 If you were to lose a case in a trial court, what factors might affect whether you decide to appeal the decision? QUIZ 13.2 The Three Types of Federal Courts (Structure)

The Politics of Appointing Federal Judges (Structure) 13.3

Audio: LISTEN Amy Coney Barrett Nominated to the Supreme Court Sketchnote Video: WATCH Federal Judicial Appointments Video: WATCH McConnell Doubles Down: No SCOTUS Hearing for Garland This Year ABC footage of Senate resistance to hearing for Judge Merrick Garland. Document: READ Marbury v. Madison Hotspot: VIEW U.S. Supreme Court Journal Prompt 13.3 Senate delay in confirming (or refusing to confirm) federal judicial candidates has become the norm. Do you think the process should be reformed? If so, how? QUIZ 13.3 The Politics of Appointing Federal Judges (Structure)

How the Supreme Court Decides (Action) 13.4

Outline the process by which the Supreme Court makes decisions and the factors that influence judicial decision making.

Social Explorer: FIGURE 13.3 THE SUPREME COURT CASELOAD Journal Prompt: FIGURE 13.3 According to the data in Figure 13.3, the Supreme Court’s caseload has remained relatively stable since 2000. What might be a contributing factor to this stability? Can you name a recent case the Court did agree to review? Document: READ Excerpts from the Obergefell Petition Journal Prompt 13.4 If you were a Supreme Court justice, how would you go about encouraging as many of your colleagues as possible to sign on to an opinion you were writing? QUIZ 13.4 How the Supreme Court Decides (Action)

Power and Its Limits (Impact) 13.5

Video: WATCH Pres. Franklin Roosevelt’s fireside chat on reorganization of the judiciary Journal Prompt 13.5 Should Supreme Court justices be required to be reappointed or reelected after 8 or 10 years? QUIZ 13.5 Power and Its Limits (Impact) SHARED WRITING PROMPT: The Judiciary What do you think is the most pressing problem with the American judicial system? What would be the best way to go about fixing that problem?

Review the Chapter Video: WATCH The Judiciary: So What? Flashcards: LEARN THE TERMS The Judiciary Flashcard set of key terms and definitions for the chapter. CHAPTER 13 QUIZ The Judiciary

14 Civil Liberties Chapter Overview This chapter explores the nature of civil liberties—those individual legal and constitutional protections against the government—afforded in the United States. We begin by exploring the roots of the Bill of Rights in the political philosophy of the founders. We then explore the specific protections afforded the people and trace the process by which these protections increasingly came to limit the powers of both the national and state governments. Next, we turn to examine the scope of specific rights, including freedom of speech and religion, freedom of the press, the right to privacy, the protection of private property, the right to bear arms, and the rights of criminal defendants. By the end of the chapter, students should understand the scope and nature of their rights under the U.S. Constitution and how these rights have evolved over time.

Lecture Suggestions The Basis for Our Civil Liberties (Structure) 14.1

Explain the roots of civil liberties in the Constitution and their development in the Bill of Rights.

LECTURE 1: Explain how the individual liberties guaranteed by the Bill of Rights resulted from the founders’ belief in the social contract and classical liberalism. ▪

To the authors of the Declaration of Independence, individual liberty was inherent in the human condition. It was not derived from governments or even from constitutions. Rather, governments and constitutions existed to make individual liberty more secure.

▪

The authors of the Bill of Rights (the first 10 amendments to the Constitution) thus did not believe they were creating individual rights but rather were recognizing and guaranteeing rights that belonged to people by virtue of their humanity.

▪

To avoid the brutal life of a lawless society, where the weak are at the mercy of the strong, people form governments and endow them with powers to secure peace and self-preservation. This is reflected most clearly in the second paragraph of the Declaration of Independence, which asserts, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed . . .”

▪

The “great object” of the Constitution, according to James Madison, was to preserve popular government yet at the same time protect people from “unjust” majorities.

LECTURE 2: Students often assume that the Bill of Rights protected the liberty of Americans against all forms of government intrusion. They are often surprised to learn that, until relatively recently, many of those protections only limited intrusion of the federal government. Explain the process of incorporating the Bill of Rights. ▪

While states often had similar protections written into their own constitutions, the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights said nothing about protection from state government. In Barron v. Baltimore (1833), the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Bill of Rights applied only to the federal government and not to state governments.

▪

The Fourteenth Amendment, ratified in 1868, includes two important clauses that protect the liberty of the people from intrusion by state governments. 

The due process clause prohibits state and local governments from depriving people of life or property without due process of law.



The equal protection clause requires that states provide equal protection under the law to all people in their jurisdiction.



The Fourteenth Amendment, particularly the due process clause, has played an important role in the incorporation of the other rights afforded under the U.S. Constitution.

LECTURE 3: Beginning in the 1920s, the U.S. Supreme Court gradually interpreted individual protections afforded under the Bill of Rights as applying to the states. Today, most of those rights have been incorporated. Trace the process of incorporation of the Bill of Rights for your students. ▪

All of the protections afforded by the First Amendment have been incorporated. 

Freedom of speech was incorporated in Gitlow v. New York (1925).



Freedom of the press was incorporated in Near v. Minnesota (1931).



Freedom of assembly was incorporated in DeJonge v. Oregon (1937).



The free exercise clause was incorporated in Cantwell v. Connecticut (1940).



▪

The Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms was only incorporated to the states in 2010, under McDonald v. Chicago.

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The Third Amendment freedom from quartering of soldiers has never been incorporated nationally, though the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit did incorporate the right to its jurisdiction (Connecticut, New York, and Vermont). However, its opinion was only advisory for the other parts of the United States.

▪

The Fourth Amendment prohibition against unreasonable search and seizure has been incorporated to the states through a series of decisions, most importantly by Wolf v. Colorado (1949) and Mapp v. Ohio (1961). The warrant requirement was incorporated under Aguilar v. Texas (1964).

▪

Most but not all of the Fifth Amendment protections have been incorporated. 

The prohibition against taking of private property without just compensation was one of the first protections to be incorporated. It was incorporated in the Supreme Court’s 1897 decision in Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad Co. v. City of Chicago.



The protection against self-incrimination was incorporated under Malloy v. Hogan (1964).



The prohibition against double jeopardy was incorporated under Benton v. Maryland (1969).

 ▪

The right to indictment by grand jury has never been incorporated.

The Sixth Amendment has been incorporated. 

The right to a public trial was incorporated by In re Oliver (1948).



The right to confront one’s accusers was incorporated by In re Oliver (1948) and Pointer v. Texas (1960).

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The right to counsel was incorporated by Gideon v. Wainwright (1963).

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The right to a speedy trial was incorporated by Klopfer v. North Carolina (1967).

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The right to an impartial jury was incorporated by a series of cases, including Duncan v. Louisiana (1968) and Williams v. Florida (1970). 477 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

▪

Most but not all of the Seventh Amendment has been incorporated. 

The reexamination clause was the earliest part of the Bill of Rights to be incorporated under The Justices v. Murray (1869).

 ▪

The right to jury trial in civil cases has not been incorporated.

Most but not all of the Eighth Amendment has been incorporated. 

The prohibition of cruel and unusual punishment was incorporated under Robinson v. California (1962).



The protection against excessive bail was incorporated under Schib v. Kuebel (1971).



The protection against excessive fines has not been incorporated.

LECTURE 4: The Bill of Rights is so much a part of American culture that restrictions on arbitrary government action are taken for granted. Most students have only a very superficial historical background on the Bill of Rights and know next to nothing about conditions that first prompted its enactment. Examine the roots of the Bill of Rights with your students. ▪

Start by explaining what the liberties protected by the Bill of Rights are protecting us from. 

Contrast the limitations on the exercise of eminent domain with the ruthless seizure of land and goods by English kings (e.g., Henry VIII and church lands).



Contrast the right to remain silent versus the horrors of the rack and screw and other excruciating physical torments.



Contrast prohibitions against cruel and unusual punishment against egregious torture practiced historically (e.g., drawing and quartering, hanging in chains, burning at the stake, cutting off arms and legs, branding).



Contrast the right to confront adverse witnesses versus anonymous accusers (even in the American colonies).

▪

Round out the lecture by contrasting American restraints on government with the disregard for basic human rights displayed in the old Soviet Union (the Gulag), Nazi Germany, Idi Amin’s Uganda, the People’s Republic of China (not just under Mao—don’t forget the spring 1989 student uprisings), the Sudan, and the former Yugoslavian states during their civil wars. The regular reports of Amnesty International are filled with violations of basic rights around the world.

LECTURE 5: The civil liberties established in the Bill of Rights provide the foundation of American individual freedom. Explore how the proponents of a Bill of Rights pressed for the adoption of these measures to guarantee citizens protection from the kind of arbitrary and excessive government power they had experienced under British rule. You can focus in particular on the following essential rights: ▪

The First Amendment rights to freedom of religion, speech, press, and assembly;

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Protections against excessive police power, such as prohibitions on unreasonable searches and self-incrimination;

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Trial rights, such as the rights to counsel and trial by jury; and

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Rights that ensure privacy, including the rights of adults to use contraceptives, choose an abortion, or engage in sexual activity.

After you have outlined the basic liberties afforded by the U.S. Constitution, consider how the boundaries of American civil liberties are continually being tested through state and national court decisions. This topic highlights the major cases that have shaped our current understanding of how far individual rights extend and points out where government and societal interests require limits on those freedoms. It explains how civil liberties have been incorporated, protecting people from violations by state and local governments. You can also discuss current controversies on civil liberties related to capital punishment, gun control measures, abortion rights, and sexual conduct.

Religious Liberties: Establishment and Exercise (Structure, Action, and Impact) 14.2

Distinguish between the establishment and the free exercise clauses of the First Amendment.

LECTURE 1: Explain the establishment clause and the free exercise clause of the First Amendment. ▪

The establishment clause provides for the separation of church and state. The courts have applied various standards, notably the Lemon test (Lemon v. Kurtzman), to determine whether specific activities may violate the establishment clause. Many of the cases involving this issue are related to whether prayer or other religious activities are permissible within public schools or other public venues.

▪

The free exercise clause guarantees that people can freely practice their chosen religion. Cases related to the free exercise clause address whether people can use religious rationales to engage in activities that would otherwise be considered illegal, such as polygamy or the use of hallucinogenic drugs.

LECTURE 2: Analyze with your students the possible tensions between the free exercise clause and the establishment clause of the First Amendment. The relevant text of the First Amendment reads as follows: “Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” ▪

Ask your students to consider the following situation, often referred to as a hybrid rights case. What happens when the free exercise rights of one person are in direct opposition to the rights of others to be free from state-sponsored religion? The inherent rights exercised by one person would necessarily be at odds with the rights of the other.

▪

After you explore the tension in theory, review with your students the relevant case law. Some sample cases might include the following: 

Santa Fe Independent School District v. Doe (2000). In this case, the Court ruled that a vote of the senior class to have a prayer before the start of a football game violated the establishment clause, even though the class voted to have the prayer.



Good News Club v. Milford Central School (2001). In this case, the Good News student club, a student religious group, sued the school district after its club was denied use of school facilitates for after-hours meetings, claiming its members’ freedom of speech and free exercise rights had been denied. The Court decided in favor of the group, ruling that no establishment clause claims could be exercised despite the group meeting in a public school space.



Zelman v. Simmons-Harris (2002). This case centered on the question of whether school vouchers paid for by the state could be used to support religious-based schools. This case perhaps most clearly illustrates the tension between the two clauses. The use of taxpayer money (through school vouchers) to pay for religiousbased schools could be seen as a violation of the establishment clause. At the same time, by denying the use of vouchers for particular schools, individual free exercise rights could be violated. In the end, the Court ruled that the secular purpose of supporting education for needy students overrides concerns over the establishment clause. (This also echoes the Lemon test.)

First Amendment Freedoms (Structure, Action, and Impact) 14.3

Outline the First Amendment rights to and limitations on the freedoms of speech, press, assembly, and petition.

LECTURE 1: The founders recognized that democracy depends on the free expression of ideas and that a free press is central to the expression of those ideas. Indeed, Thomas Jefferson once famously quipped that “the basis of our government being the opinion of the people, the very 481 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

first object should be to keep that right; and were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers, or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter.” Explore the key elements of the freedom of the press as protected by the Bill of Rights with your students. Specific emphasis could be placed on the following elements: ▪

The No-Prior-Restraint Doctrine. Long before the Bill of Rights was written, English common law protected newspapers from government restrictions or licensing prior to publication—a practice called prior restraint.

▪

Film Censorship. The Court has approved government requirements for prior submission of films to official censors, as long as the burden of proof that the film is obscene rests with the censor, a procedure exists for judicial determination of the issue, and censors are required to act speedily.

▪

Radio and Television Censorship. Broadcasters, unlike newspapers and magazines, are licensed by the government and are subject to government rules.

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Media Claims for Special Rights. Congress has passed the Privacy Protection Act, which sharply limits the ability of law enforcement officials to search press offices, and many states have passed shield laws specifically protecting reporters from giving testimony in criminal cases.

LECTURE 2: Construct an engaging lecture around the competing theoretical perspectives on First Amendment free speech protections. ▪

Alexander Meiklejohn (1961, Supreme Court Review, p. 245) and many others argue that freedom of expression serves essentially political ends. In this view, freedom of speech and the press is needed to maintain an effective democracy. This view finds support in the philosophy of John Locke, Edmund Burke, and the pragmatists.

▪

Others, such as Thomas Emerson (1963, Yale Law Journal 72, p. 877), while agreeing that free expression is instrumental to a successful democracy, argue that freedom of expression is also essential to individual fulfillment. This view, that the inherent dignity of man is maintained in part through his ability to express

himself, can be traced back to the writings of Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Thomas Jefferson. ▪

The implications of this debate are important. The view one holds of the purpose of the First Amendment affects one’s view of the scope of First Amendment protections. Those who see the First Amendment as crucial to democratic decision making limit the scope of First Amendment protections to political expression. Those who see a self-fulfillment aspect to the First Amendment assign First Amendment protections to a much wider scope of content.

LECTURE 3: The essence of freedom of speech is the right to express political viewpoints, especially unpopular ones. Yet, the courts have ruled that a person’s freedom of speech is not absolute but can be limited under specific circumstances. ▪

Speech that presents a “clear and present danger” may be limited. This is often expressed under the idea that “you can’t shout ‘fire’ in a crowded theater.” In times of perceived national crisis, the courts have been willing to permit greater government restrictions of speech, press, and assembly.

▪

The Supreme Court has also fashioned a “fighting words doctrine,” which holds that words that “ordinary men know are likely to cause a fight” may be prohibited.

▪

Libel and slander (written or spoken statements conveying false and disparaging remarks about a person) are not protected speech.

Finally, obscenity has not been protected as free speech.

Fundamental Liberties: Property and Arms (Structure, Action, and Impact) 14.4

Explain how the Constitution protects property rights and the right to bear arms.

LECTURE 1: Explain how the Fifth Amendment protects people against takings.

▪

The Fifth Amendment provides specific protection for private property against government confiscation: “nor shall private property be taken for public use without just compensation.”

▪

This takings clause recognizes that occasionally governments—federal, state, or local—may be obliged to take property from private owners for public uses; for example, streets, roads, public buildings, parks, and the like.

▪

Taking land from private owners who do not wish to sell it to the government is known as eminent domain.

▪

The Fifth Amendment’s takings clause guarantees that the taking of private property by the government for public use can only be done with just compensation paid to the owner. 

Public Use. Traditionally, “public use” referred to goods that served the general public, including schools, highways, public buildings, public memorials, and other facilities open to the public generally; over time, however, the public use clause was given expanded meaning.



Takings. In 1992, the Supreme Court held that a regulation that denies a property owner of all economically beneficial use of his or her land is a “taking” that requires just compensation to the owner to be constitutional.

LECTURE 2: Explore the implications of the Supreme Court’s decision in Kelo v. City of New London (2005). ▪

Susette Kelo’s house was condemned by the City of New London as part of a comprehensive redevelopment plan. The city planned to turn the land over to a private developer to develop the area.

▪

Kelo sued the city, arguing that it had misused its power of eminent domain, violating the takings clause of the Fifth Amendment and the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.

In a 5 to 4 decision, the Supreme Court ruled that the city could exercise its power of eminent domain for economic development even in the absence of blight, expanding the power of local governments and limiting the rights of property owners under the Fifth Amendment. 484 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

LECTURE 3: The Second Amendment provides that “a well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.” ▪

The Second Amendment’s “right to bear arms” was interpreted by the Supreme Court to guarantee a person’s right to own guns and not merely as a grant of power to the states to maintain National Guard units.

▪

Bearing arms. The history surrounding the adoption of the Second Amendment reveals the concern of colonists with attempts by despotic governments to confiscate the arms of citizens and render them helpless to resist tyranny.

▪

An individual right. After years of controversy, the Supreme Court finally decided the issue in 2008: “The Second Amendment protects an individual right to possess a firearm unconnected with service in a militia, and to use that arm for traditionally lawful purposes, such as self defense within the home.”

▪

In McDonald v. Chicago (2010), the Supreme Court established that the individual right to bear arms applies to the states, thereby incorporating the Second Amendment.

Privacy Rights and Due Process (Structure, Action, and Impact) 14.5

Explain the origin and significance of the right to privacy.

LECTURE 1: Distinguish between procedural and substantive due process. ▪

Procedural due process is a constitutional requirement that governments proceed by proper methods.

▪

Substantive due process is a constitutional requirement that governments act reasonably and that the substance of the laws themselves be fair and reasonable.

▪

The most important extensions of substantive due process in recent decades has protected the right of privacy, especially marital privacy. Examples include Roe v. Wade (1973), in which the Supreme Court held that the right to privacy extends to 485 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

a woman’s decision to have an abortion in consultation with a doctor in the first trimester, and Lawrence v. Texas (2003), in which the Supreme Court struck down Texas’s law that homosexual activity is a crime, thus extending privacy to the rights in the bedroom as well. LECTURE 2: Students are often surprised to learn that the U.S. Constitution does not afford an explicit right to privacy. Nevertheless, the Ninth Amendment provides a foundation for reading a right to privacy into the Constitution. Indeed, the Ninth Amendment has an interesting history that speaks to what the Framers thought of individual rights. Here briefly are the facts surrounding the origin of the Ninth Amendment. ▪

In The Federalist, No. 84, Alexander Hamilton explains why the Framers did not include a bill of rights in the Constitution, giving two broad reasons. First, Hamilton states that a bill of rights would be unnecessary. 



Rights are already included in the Constitution as written in 1787. ▪

Art. I, Sec. 9, cl. 2: privilege of habeas corpus

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Art. I, Sec. 9, cl. 3: no bill of attainder

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Art. I, Sec. 9, cl. 3: no ex post facto law

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Art. I, Sec. 9, cl. 7: no title of nobility

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Art. III, Sec. 2, cl. 3: trial by jury in all crimes

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Art. III, Sec. 3, cl. 3: definition, proof, and punishment for treason

Another reason Hamilton believed a bill of rights would be unnecessary is due to the democratic nature of the U.S. Constitution. Here is how Hamilton puts it: “It is evident, therefore, that, according to their [Bills of Rights] primitive signification, they have no application to constitutions, professedly founded upon the power of the people and executed by their immediate representatives and servants. Here, in strictness, the people surrender nothing; and as they retain everything they have no need of particular reservations.”

▪

Surprisingly, Hamilton also argues that a bill of rights would be dangerous. Why? Hamilton knew that not all rights could be listed in the Constitution. Even if one were to try to list all rights, it is likely that some would inadvertently be omitted. 486 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

This would be dangerous because those in government could infringe on rights not listed in the Constitution, claiming that any such list could be read as exhaustive of all rights afforded the people. ▪

James Madison, the father of the Bill of Rights, also believed that a bill of rights would be unnecessary. He was, however, eventually persuaded by Thomas Jefferson that a bill of rights would not hurt, though he thought Hamilton’s argument about the danger of a bill of rights was a good one. Thus, he proposed what became the Ninth Amendment, or what has been called “the forgotten amendment.” This is the only sentence in the Constitution that tells the reader how to interpret the Constitution. It basically states that the reader should not take the listing of rights in the first eight amendments to imply that these are the only rights that the government must respect.

▪

This is why some found it ironic that Robert Bork, an advocate of original intent, told the Senate Judiciary Committee during his confirmation hearings that if confirmed as a Supreme Court justice, he would not respect the right to privacy. His reason was that the right was not explicitly mentioned in the Constitution. Yet it was to prevent this kind of reasoning that the father of the Constitution and the father of the Bill of Rights wrote, and the Congress included, the Ninth Amendment in the Bill of Rights.

LECTURE 3: While several provisions of the Constitution imply a right to privacy, nowhere is it explicitly stated. Nevertheless, the Supreme Court has asserted that a right to privacy exists, particularly in the area of private sexual contact. Explore some of the relevant case law with your students. ▪

Griswold v. Connecticut (1965) recognizes the right of married couples to privacy in their sexual conduct.

▪

The 1973 landmark case of Roe v. Wade uses the established right of privacy as a basis for a woman’s right to make choices about an abortion.

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Bowers v. Hardwick (1986) upheld the right of states to prohibit homosexual activity between consenting adults but was overturned when the court decided in 487 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Lawrence v. Texas (2003) that laws that restrict private, noncommercial sexual activity between consenting adults violate the right to privacy.

LECTURE 4: Discuss with your students the nature of the right to privacy in the U.S. Constitution. ▪

Start with Justice Brandeis’s dissenting opinion in Olmstead v. United States (1928), in which Brandeis asserts, “The makers of our Constitution understood the need to secure conditions favorable to the pursuit of happiness, and the protections guaranteed by this are much broader in scope, and include the right to life and an inviolate personality—the right to be left alone—the most comprehensive of rights and the right most valued by civilized men.”

▪

Ask your students to identify where, specifically, this right to privacy might be found. You may have to guide them. Once they have identified several places, explore the remainder in lecture. Possibilities include the following: 

The Fourth Amendment



The Fifth Amendment



The Ninth Amendment

LECTURE 5: The scope of civil liberties also changes when the Court finds new rights in the Constitution. There are two methods by which this occurs: the Ninth Amendment, which states that rights not specifically mentioned are reserved to the people, and the due process clause. ▪

The right to privacy is not explicitly found in the Constitution, but the Court decided that the Ninth Amendment applied. In 1965, the Court ruled in Griswold v. Connecticut that there is a constitutional right to privacy for married couples to use birth control; this was later applied to unmarried heterosexual couples. The Supreme Court found the right to privacy based on the Ninth Amendment, combined with the First, Third, Fourth, and Fifth amendments, establishes a “zone of privacy.” This discovered right was then used in Roe v. Wade (1973) to guarantee a woman’s right to terminate a pregnancy.

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The next area of law was gay rights. Did the right to privacy extend to protect a homosexual couple’s rights? In 2004, the Court ruled in Lawrence v. Texas that 488 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

the right to privacy for homosexuals is tantamount to freedom—they do not lose their dignity as free persons when they enter their home. ▪

In addition to using the Ninth Amendment, the Court has used the Fourteenth Amendment’s general guarantee of life, liberty, and property to find new rights. These rights include the right to supervise the education of one’s children and the right to procreate. These rights come from due process. Can the law just restrict some aspect of life, liberty, or property? The answer is no. Substantive due process says that the Fourteenth Amendment provides a means to discover new rights not mentioned elsewhere in the Constitution and that these rights exist at both the state and local levels.

Rights of Criminal Suspects (Structure, Action, and Impact) 14.6

Outline the constitutional rights of defendants and the issues involved in protecting defendants’ rights.

LECTURE 1: Americans are often frustrated when a criminal gets away on a “technicality.” But they often fail to understand how those technicalities exist to protect our basic constitutional rights. Explain how the exclusionary rule affects police procedure and how those procedures are structured in an effort to protect our civil liberties. ▪

As long ago as 1916, in Weeks v. United States, the Supreme Court barred the use in a federal prosecution of evidence seized illegally by prosecutors. The security of one’s privacy against arbitrary intrusion by the police, which is at the core of the Fourth Amendment, is basic to a free society. There is no question about it, if a government sanctions such an intrusion into individual privacy, it runs afoul of the Fourth Amendment.

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But the question is this: if an illegal search takes place, and the government knows it, how should it respond? The Fourth Amendment does not explicitly answer this question. 

One argument for the exclusionary rule is that it eliminates any incentive to conduct illegal searches, because the fruits of those searches will not be admissible in court. The problem is that no empirical evidence exists to support the claim that the rule actually deters illegal conduct by law enforcement officers.

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The other argument in favor of the exclusionary rule is that to allow the tainted evidence in court would compromise the integrity of the courts. “Nothing can destroy a government more quickly than its failure to observe its own laws,” said Justice Brandeis.

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Most of the English-speaking world does not have an exclusionary rule. Are there other ways to get at the problem? Two that are used are allowing the victim of the illegal search to sue the police officers for damages and to leave the matter to the internal discipline of the police.

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The problem with the exclusionary rule is that, by definition, the rule only protects those on whose person or premises something incriminating has been found.

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One argument against the exclusionary rule is that while it may be an effective way of deterring unreasonable searches knowingly undertaken, it has no such effect when the police acted in good faith but simply made a mistake.

LECTURE 2: Explore the complexity of the protections afforded criminal defendants, using the Fourth Amendment’s search and seizure clause as an example. Note the many exemptions and limitations the courts have imposed on the Fourth Amendment over the years. ▪

Consent Search. If police ask a person for permission to search, say, an apartment, and if a person gives it, then the police do not need a warrant. Any incriminating evidence the search turns up could be used in court (not subject to the exclusionary rule). 490 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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Search Incidental to a Valid Arrest. Police may, when serving an arrest warrant, search the person being arrested. If they find incriminating evidence, they may seize it and use it in court (not subject to the exclusionary rule).

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Plain-view Exception. Police may, when serving an arrest warrant, seize evidence in the immediate vicinity of the person being arrested that is in plain view. They may do this without a warrant, and the evidence may be used in court (not subject to the exclusionary rule). They may not go ransacking through the house or apartment without a warrant. The rationale for this exception, in addition to preserving easily destroyed evidence, is the protection of police officers.

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Stop and Frisk. Police may, if they have a high suspicion that a crime has taken place or is about to take place, stop people and pat down their outer garments. If they clearly detect incriminating evidence, they may seize it without a warrant and are not subject to the exclusionary rule. This is the only exception that does not require “probable cause.” Police may not, however, as part of this search, reach inside pockets.

LECTURE 3: Outline for your students the specific rights afforded criminal defendants under the Constitution. ▪

The Fourth Amendment protection against unreasonable search and seizure has led to limiting the powers of law enforcement officials in order to protect individual rights, exemplified most clearly by the exclusionary rule. Students need to understand the dangers of unchecked police power as the basis for this provision. The exclusionary rule prohibits the use of illegally obtained evidence in court, although the courts have established numerous exceptions to the rule. The courts have also established a list of conditions under which police may search property without first obtaining a warrant.

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The Fifth Amendment protects against double jeopardy and compelled selfincrimination. The Supreme Court ruled in Miranda v. Arizona (1966) that people under arrest must be informed of their right to remain silent during questioning. 491 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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The Sixth Amendment provides several protections for people facing criminal prosecution. These include the right to confront witnesses, a speedy and public trial, and the right to have a lawyer. Only a small percentage of criminal cases are decided by jury trials; some involve bench trials, but the vast majority of convictions are obtained through plea bargaining.

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The Eighth Amendment offers protection from cruel and unusual punishment.

LECTURE 4: The Eighth Amendment protection against cruel and unusual punishment has been debated most hotly in regard to capital punishment. Explore the questions that arise in the context of capital punishment and the Eighth Amendment with your students. ▪

By a 5 to 4 vote, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the Missouri Supreme Court’s decision to overturn the death penalty in Roper v. Simmons (2005). The majority opinion declared that death sentences for juveniles under the age of 18 are inconsistent with contemporary societal values and therefore violate the Eighth Amendment prohibition on “cruel and unusual punishments.” At the time of the Roper decision, 20 states had laws on the books that allowed for juvenile execution.

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In the context of the Roper decision, ask your students to think about what other exceptions to the death penalty should be considered. In Ford v. Wainwright (1986), for example, the Supreme Court ruled that states could not execute the mentally insane.

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Other issues related to capital punishment to explore in lecture include whether states may execute minors or mentally impaired murderers and whether application of the death penalty is racially biased.

LECTURE 5: Some of the protections afforded criminal defendants under the Bill of Rights have their roots in English common law traditions, while others were developed in response to British practices in the colonies. Explain the nature of these rights and why they are important under the American legal system. ▪

The guarantee of the writ of habeas corpus is one of the oldest and most revered rights in English common law. A writ of habeas corpus is a court order directing public officials who are holding a person in custody to bring the prisoner into court and explain the reasons for confinement. The first clear example of the writ of habeas corpus can be found in the Magna Carta (1215) and was reasserted by various acts of the British Parliament in the seventeenth century. In the United States, habeas corpus is guaranteed under Article 1, Section 9.

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The Constitution also prohibits bills of attainder and ex post facto laws. A bill of attainder is a legislative act inflicting punishment without judicial trial. An ex post facto law is a retroactive criminal law that works against the accused. 

Bills of attainder were used against citizens of the British colonies in America throughout the eighteenth century, provoking much resentment. Indeed, one of the causes of the Revolution was anger at the perceived injustice of attainder. Consequently, the practice was prohibited by Article 1, Section 9, of the U.S. Constitution.

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Ex post facto laws are prohibited under Article 1, Section 9. of the U.S. Constitution but are legally permitted (though not commonly used) under the British system.

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Unreasonable searches and seizures are prohibited by the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Judges cannot issue a search warrant just to let police see if a person has committed a crime; there must be “probable cause” for such issuance. The Fourth Amendment was included in the Bill of Rights largely as a response to the British practice of issuing a writ of assistance, which permitted broad searches without specific search warrants. 493 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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Freedom from self-incrimination had its origin in English common law; it was originally designed to prevent persons from being tortured into confessions of guilt.

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The right to counsel is guaranteed by the Sixth Amendment.

LECTURE 6: Benjamin Franklin once famously quipped, “They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.” Yet this trade-off is at the heart of many recent initiatives. Examine federal policies designed to enhance security and consider how they affect individual liberty in the United States. Examples could include the following: ▪

Wiretapping and Electronic Surveillance. The government may not undertake to eavesdrop where a person has “a reasonable expectation of privacy” without first showing probable cause and obtaining a warrant.

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FISA and Domestic Surveillance. The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) of 2008 

Allows the government to undertake warrantless surveillance of suspected terrorists for seven days before obtaining a FISA warrant;

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Allows wiretapping of international calls and intercepts of international emails;

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Removes requirements for detailed descriptions of the information sought in a request for a FISA warrant;

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Protects telecommunications companies from lawsuits for “past or future cooperation” with the government in electronic surveillance; and

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Denies the president’s claim that his war powers supersede FISA laws.

Drug Testing. The courts have ruled that mandatory drug testing in occupations affecting public safety and drug testing in schools to protect children are reasonable. At the same time, courts have held that drug testing of the general public without probable cause violates constitutional protections.

LECTURE 7: The PATRIOT Act provides an interesting lens through which to explore the intersection of civil liberties, democracy, and security in the United States. ▪

In the aftermath of the September 11, 2001, terror attacks, the Department of Justice’s first priority was to prevent future terrorist attacks. Since its passage following the September 11, 2001, attacks, the PATRIOT Act has played a key part—and often the leading role—in a number of successful operations to protect innocent Americans from the deadly plans of terrorists dedicated to destroying America and our way of life.

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While the results have been important, in passing the PATRIOT Act, Congress provided for only modest, incremental changes in the law. Congress simply took existing legal principles and retrofitted them to preserve the lives and liberty of the American people from the challenges posed by a global terrorist network.

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Discuss with your students their opinions. What do the they think? Are they willing to sacrifice more freedom and liberty to maintain order?

Class Activities CLASS ACTIVITY 1: Short video clips can often be used to illustrate debates and provide specific material to which students can apply the more abstract or theoretical ideas raised in the text. ▪

Show a short video clip from the Congressional Prayer Caucus, available from its website (go to cpcfoundation.com). You should also explain that the Congressional Prayer Caucus was established in 2005 to recognize the role of prayer in uniting us as a people; to collect, exchange, and disseminate information about prayer as a fundamental and enduring feature of American life; and to use the legislative process to assist the nation and its people in continuing to draw on and benefit from prayer.

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Show a short clip of the opening prayer at the House of Representatives. You can find the most recent opening prayer at the C-SPAN website (www.c-span.org). Historical prayers, such as Jack Graham’s 2011 prayer (go to www.youtube.com and search “Jack Graham 2011 prayer”). 495 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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Once you have watched the videos, ask your students to think about whether this practice represents an unconstitutional violation of the separation between church and state or an acknowledgment of the importance of freedom of religious practice in American civil liberties. Have students discuss their views on this question.

This activity highlights the challenge posed by the separation of church and state and provides an opportunity to consider the nature of religious freedom in the United States.

CLASS ACTIVITY 2: One task government must perform is to resolve conflicts between rights. ▪

Encourage your students to think about potential conflicts within the Bill of Rights. Examples might include the tension between the free exercise and establishment clauses or between the right to a fair trial and the freedom of the press.

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Ask your class to develop criteria by which conflicting rights might be balanced.

This discussion encourages students to think about the trade-offs and tensions embodied in the rights afforded under the Bill of Rights.

CLASS ACTIVITY 3: Supreme Court role-play: choose a Supreme Court case as the basis for an in-depth study of a civil liberties issue. ▪

Divide the class into groups representing the Supreme Court justices and the key stakeholders in the case outcome.

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Allow each group to confer about its position on the issue in question. Tell each group to refer to the textbook, class notes, or text of the case to prepare its best arguments and/or questions in support of its position.

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Conduct a moot court activity with each side presenting its case; allow justices to interrupt the oral arguments for questions.

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After both sides present their arguments, have the justices deliberate the case in front of the class and cast their votes. Debrief by having the class identify the most compelling arguments on both sides. 496 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

This active learning exercise gives students an opportunity to explore the role of the courts in the protection of civil liberties in the United States.

CLASS ACTIVITY 4: Hold a debate on adopting a constitutional amendment to prohibit burning the American flag. One side should prepare arguments supporting a person’s right to freedom of expression; the other should focus on potential negative consequences to the public interest of burning the flag. This activity highlights the debate over flag burning and freedom of speech.

CLASS ACTIVITY 5: Reporters argue that freedom of the press guarantees them certain rights that other potential witnesses cannot claim, such as the right to protect confidential sources, even in criminal trials. ▪

Divide the class into sections, with one section assigned the task of defending the right of journalists to shield confidential sources and the other section assigned the task of showing that reporters have no more rights than other citizens.

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Each section should select a spokesperson to present the group’s analysis.

This activity highlights the tension between the rights of the free press and the rights of criminal defendants.

CLASS ACTIVITY 6: Selective incorporation provides an engaging way to consider the nature of our civil liberties. Ask your students to consider the fact that the founders did not directly require guaranteed freedoms to be included in state constitutions and did not impose the limitations on government intrusion on civil liberties afforded by the Bill of Rights on the states. Then ask your students to discuss the following questions: ▪

Why do you think the founders did not believe the Bill of Rights should limit the scope of government at the state level? Does this suggest that they were comfortable with restrictions on freedoms of speech, religion, and the press, for example, if they were imposed by the states rather than by the national government? Why or why not?

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Did the founders believe states would develop guarantees much like those of the national government? Did they believe that the national government would, in time, nationalize the Bill of Rights? Or can you think of other reasons why the founders did not extend the Bill of Rights into all states?

This activity encourages students to think about how understandings of civil liberties have evolved over time.

CLASS ACTIVITY 7: Have your class engage in the following exercise. Suppose that the government suspects you of terrorist activities. Have students indicate whether the government has the following rights by checking yes or no next to each action: ▪

Search your home without a warrant,

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Tap any telephones you use,

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Keep your computer under surveillance,

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Put you in prison indefinitely without specific charges while it looks for evidence,

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Listen in on your conversations with your lawyer,

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Use hearsay evidence against you in your trial, and

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Prevent you from appealing the decision.

Once completed, have students share and discuss their answers. This activity encourages students to think about the trade-offs between security and liberty.

CLASS ACTIVITY 8: Have students research the 1971 case New York Times v. United States (the Pentagon Papers case) as background. Then ask them to research the Chelsea Manning/Wikileaks case. Assign several students to play the roles of the attorneys and the justices and present the case in class. This activity examines the limits on freedom of speech in the context of claims of national security.

Research Activities RESEARCH ACTIVITY 1: Although the Supreme Court has ruled that obscenity is not protected by the First Amendment, it has been difficult to determine precisely what is obscene. ▪

In short papers, ask your students to list and explain the Lemon test.

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Ask them to write definitions that could be used by a court or censorship panel to distinguish obscenity from legally protected art.

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If the campus environment permits it, have students apply the Lemon test to some form of potentially obscene expression and decide whether the expression is permissible.

This activity develops students’ understanding of the Lemon test and the challenges surrounding regulating obscenity.

RESEARCH ACTIVITY 2: The rights guaranteed under the First Amendment have gradually been expanded by the courts over time. In addition to the rights specified in the Constitution, the Supreme Court has determined that the protections of the Constitution extend to other fundamental rights, such as the right to privacy, which builds on (but is not directly found in) the First, Third, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Eighth, Ninth, and Fourteenth Amendments. Other examples might include the Warren Court protection of the right to travel and the right to reproductive privacy, which are not mentioned in the Constitution. Even the more conservative Burger Court recognized new liberties such as the right to abortion and the right of families to remain together. ▪

Ask your students to think about the ways in which the rights granted by the Constitution have greatly expanded over time. Remind them that the founders did not include these rights, and there is debate about whether or not such rights should have ever been recognized.

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Ask your students to select one of the following cases and explain how it affected the rights granted by the U.S. Constitution: 

Shapiro v. Thompson (1969), which asserted a “freedom to travel,”

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Griswold v. Connecticut (1965), which granted “reproductive freedom,”

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Roe v. Wade (1973), which granted the “right to abortion,” or

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Moore v. City of East Cleveland (1977), which granted a “right for families to remain together.”

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In short reflection papers, ask your students to review the Court’s decision in one of these cases. Students should read both the majority and dissenting opinions.

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Ask them to summarize the majority and dissenting opinions as they relate to the creation of rights not otherwise found in the Constitution.

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Ask them to reflect on the nature of our rights under the Constitution. Based on what they have learned, do they think that the courts should interpret the Constitution in light of contemporary society and demands, or should judges narrowly interpret the Constitution only to the specific protections afforded there?

This activity gives students an opportunity to think about how civil liberties have expanded in the United States and from where new liberties are derived.

RESEARCH ACTIVITY 3: Ask students to read the list of grievances of the colonists against the British government in the Declaration of Independence and note which grievances are addressed by provisions of the Bill of Rights. This activity provides students with an opportunity to reflect on the historical sources and roots of civil liberties in the U.S. Constitution.

RESEARCH ACTIVITY 4: State constitutions include bills of rights. In many states, the constitution is becoming important in framing human rights beyond those incorporated in the U.S. Bill of Rights. ▪

Have students read the bill of rights in your state’s constitution.

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Ask them to write short papers in which they compare the wording there with that in the U.S. Constitution. Is the state or national bill of rights more specific? Are there more rights listed in the state constitution? Are there any surprises (inclusion or omission of rights that strike the student as unusual)?

This activity requires students to reflect on how the protection of civil liberties plays out under the system of American federalism.

RESEARCH ACTIVITY 5: The war on terror has generated a considerable number of books examining the trade-off between liberty and security. Have your students write book reviews exploring one of these texts and how it approaches this trade-off. Possibilities might include the following: ▪

A. C. Grayling, Liberty in the Age of Terror: A Defense of Civil Liberties and Enlightenment Values (London: Bloomsbury, 2011).

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Richard A. Posner, Not a Suicide Pact: The Constitution in a Time of National Emergency (New York: Oxford University Press, 2006).

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Susan N. Herman, Taking Liberties: The War on Terror and the Erosion of American Democracy (New York: Oxford University Press, 2011).

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M. Katharine Darmer and Richard D. Fybel, eds., National Security, Civil Liberties, and the War on Terror (New York: Prometheus Books, 2011).

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Michael P. Colaresi, Democracy Declassified: The Secrecy Dilemma in National Security (New York: Oxford University Press, 2014).

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Karen J. Greenberg, ed., Reimagining the National Security State: Liberalism on the Brink (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2019).

This activity gives students an opportunity to engage in the contemporary debates over liberty and security in the war on terror.

RESEARCH ACTIVITY 6: Ask your students to review the Ninth Amendment, which can be found many places online, including the National Archives website (www.archives.org) by searching “Bill of Rights.” ▪

In short papers, ask them to explain in their own words what they think the Ninth Amendment means. Are people entitled to some rights not mentioned in the Constitution? If so, what are they?

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How does Jefferson’s assertion of inalienable rights expressed in the Declaration of Independence fit into this context? To access the document, go to www.archives.org and click on “American’s Founding Documents.”

This activity asks students to reflect on the reasons for the inclusion of some liberties and the exclusion of others in the Bill of Rights. (Structure)

RESEARCH ACTIVITY 7: There is a fine line between permissible and nonpermissible aid to parochial schools. ▪

Ask your students to create lists of the merits and problems of government aid to church-related schools.

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Ask them to write short papers in which they discuss how the establishment clause and the free exercise clause relate to government aid to church-related schools.

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In more advanced classes, you could also encourage students to research how recent Supreme Court decisions have modified these policies.

This activity explores freedom of religion and the challenges of implementing the establishment clause in particular policy areas. RESEARCH ACTIVITY 8: Have your students watch recent films dealing with the issues raised in this chapter. ▪

Possibilities include You Don’t Know Jack (the right to privacy in the context of the debate over physician-assisted suicide); The People vs. Larry Flynt (freedom of speech; obscenity); The Post (freedom of the press); Monster’s Ball, The Green Mile, or Dead Man Walking (the rights of criminal defendants, Eighth Amendment prohibition of cruel and unusual punishment); Just Mercy or If Beale 502 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Street Could Talk (racial bias in the criminal justice system); and The Majestic or Guilty by Suspicion (freedom of assembly). ▪

After watching their selected film ask your students to write short papers in which they reflect on the way in which the themes explored in the film illustrate the challenges of protecting the civil liberties guaranteed under the Constitution.

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An alternative (but more ambitious) assignment asks students to develop their own lists of films illustrating key themes from the chapter. Ask them to develop the program for a “Civil Liberties Film Festival,” in which they select five to ten films illustrating key civil liberties issues. For each film, they should provide a short (one paragraph) description of how the film relates to the themes raised in this chapter.

This activity provides students with an opportunity to think about how discussions of civil liberties play out in mainstream films.

RESEARCH ACTIVITY 9: Students can check a list of current issues related to freedom of speech at www.aclu.org (click on “Issues,” then “Free Speech”). Ask students to write oneparagraph briefings on a contemporary dispute over freedom of speech. This activity highlights contemporary debates over freedom of speech in the United States.

Participation Activities PARTICIPATION ACTIVITY 1: Find out if your campus has a “speech code.” (If it doesn’t, find one from a nearby college or university.) Ask your class to review the code and to reflect on the following questions: ▪

What is the purpose of the speech code?

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Would this code stand up to a constitutional test? Why or why not? According to your understanding of the First Amendment, are speech codes constitutional?

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Ask students to do some research at the campus newspaper to see if there was any controversy surrounding the adoption of the speech code and discuss it in class.

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Have them organize a student panel to educate their fellow students about the college or university’s speech code.

This activity requires students to examine the legality of limits on freedom of speech in their local college or university context.

PARTICIPATION ACTIVITY 2: In general, criminal trials are open to the public. Ask students to visit a local courtroom and sit in on an open trial there. You may wish to brief them on procedure before they go, reminding them to enter quietly and not to speak. After their visits, ask them to write short papers reflecting on how the rights afforded criminal defendants under the Constitution were illustrated during their visit. Were they surprised by anything they saw? This activity gives students first-hand insight into the legal processes intended to protect the civil liberties of accused criminal defendants. PARTICIPATION ACTIVITY 3: Have your students prepare letters to the editor dealing with a recent civil liberties issue or court case. Be sure to provide guidance on how to write a letter to the editor. ▪

While individual newspapers may have their own requirements, in general, letters should be short (no longer than 200 to 250 words) with well-focused paragraphs of no more than two to three sentences each.

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Letters should also focus on a single point, be timely, provide facts and figures to support the point, and avoid too much emotion.

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Consider encouraging your students to submit their letters to a local or national newspaper for possible publication.

This activity requires students to examine the scope of civil liberties and helps them develop focused writing skills.

Suggested Readings and Films READING 1: In You Can’t Say That! The Growing Threat to Civil Liberties from Antidiscrimination Laws (Washington, D.C.: Cato Institute, 2004), published by the conservative Cato Institute, David E. Bernstein argues that antidiscrimination legislation undermines the 504 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

central freedoms afforded under the Constitution, including the rights of free speech, free exercise of religion, and freedom of association. Bernstein focuses in particular on the expansion of speech codes on university campuses. READING 2: Conservatives frequently contend that activist judges have developed new rights not found in the Constitution and that ironically, the expansion of such rights undermines other rights the founders held dear. Texts dealing with this theme include the following: ▪

Randy E. Barnett, Restoring the Lost Constitution: The Presumption of Liberty (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 2005).

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David Mayer, Liberty of Contract: Rediscovering a Lost Constitutional Right (Washington, D.C.: Cato Institute, 2011).

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Robert A. Levy and William Mellor, The Dirty Dozen: How Twelve Supreme Court Cases Radically Expanded Government and Eroded Freedom (Washington, D.C.: Cato Institute, 2009).

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Martin Garbus, The Next 25 Years: The New Supreme Court and What It Means for Americans (New York: Seven Stories, 2007).

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Timothy Sandefur, The Conscience of the Constitution: The Declaration of Independence and the Right to Liberty (Washington, D.C.: Cato Institute, 2013).

READING 3: William N. Eskridge, Jr. and Christopher R. Riano, Marriage Equality: From Outlaws to In-Laws (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2020). A comprehensive history of America’s debate over same-sex marriage, exploring religious, administrative, and constitutional issues.

READING 4: In James Madison and the Struggle for the Bill of Rights (New York: Oxford University Press, 2008), Richard E. Labunski has crafted an engaging telling of the debate between Patrick Henry and James Madison over the need for development of the Bill of Rights and the ratification of the U.S. Constitution.

READING 5: All the Laws but One: Civil Liberties in Wartime (New York: Vintage, 2000) is William H. Rehnquist’s fascinating analysis of several key decisions affecting civil liberties 505 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

during wartime. In it, the former chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court focuses on President Abraham Lincoln’s decision to suspend the writ of habeas corpus during the Civil War and on President Franklin Roosevelt’s internment of Japanese Americans during World War II.

READING 6: Drawing contributions from several prominent constitutional scholars, Geoffrey R. Stone, Richard A. Epstein, and Cass R. Sunstein, eds., provide an analysis of the evolving scope of protections under the Bill of Rights in The Bill of Rights in the Modern State (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1992). READING 7: Richard W. Levy’s fascinating retelling of the origins of the Bill of Rights, Origins of the Bill of Rights (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2001), focuses on the behindthe-scenes maneuvering, public rhetoric, and political machinations of James Madison and the other founders who sought ratification of the U.S. Constitution.

READING 8: Numerous books deal with the trade-off between the promotion of security and the protection of civil liberties in the post–9/11 world. See, for example, the following: ▪

A. C. Grayling, Liberty in the Age of Terror: A Defense of Civil Liberties and Enlightenment Values (London: Bloomsbury, 2011).

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Richard A. Posner, Not a Suicide Pact: The Constitution in a Time of National Emergency (New York: Oxford University Press, 2006).

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Richard A. Posner, Terror in the Balance: Security, Liberty, and the Courts (New York: Oxford University Press, 2007).

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David Cole and James X. Dempsey, Terrorism and the Constitution: Sacrificing Civil Liberties in the Name of National Security (New York: First Amendment Foundation, 2006).

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Susan N. Herman, Taking Liberties: The War on Terror and the Erosion of American Democracy (New York: Oxford University Press, 2011).

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Anthony D. Romero, In Defense of Our America: The Fight for Civil Liberties in the Age of Terror (New York: Harper, 2008).

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M. Katharine Darmer and Richard D. Fybel, eds., National Security, Civil Liberties, and the War on Terror (New York: Prometheus Books, 2011). 506 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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Michael P. Colaresi, Democracy Declassified: The Secrecy Dilemma in National Security (New York: Oxford University Press, 2014).

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Karen J. Greenberg, ed., Reimagining the National Security State: Liberalism on the Brink (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2019).

READING 9: Cass Sunstein begins The Second Bill of Rights: FDR’s Unfinished Revolution— And Why We Need It More Than Ever (New York: Basic Books, 2006) with President Franklin Roosevelt’s call for a “second Bill of Rights” to protect the economic rights at the heart of political liberty and participation in the United States as a starting point for his argument in favor of rethinking the protections afforded by our founding documents.

READING 10: Several journals offer extensive analysis of issues related to the protection of civil rights in the United States and abroad. ▪

The Harvard Civil Rights and Civil Liberties Law Review is an online publication of Harvard University, available at http://harvardcrcl.org.

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Stanford Journal of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties is an interdisciplinary journal focused on civil rights and civil liberties issues in the United States and abroad at http://sjcrcl.stanford.edu.

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Texas Journal on Civil Liberties and Civil Rights focuses more extensively on civil rights and civil liberties issues in the United States (go to https://law.utexas.com and search “Texas Journal on Civil Liberties and Civil Rights”).

READING 11: Freedom House, a nongovernmental organization focused on analyzing civil liberties around the world, maintains an extensive publication database on its website at www.freedomhouse.org. Its flagship publication, Freedom in the World, provides an annual survey of (and Excel database measuring) civil liberties across 195 countries.

READING 12: American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU; www.aclu.org) offers information on the entire Bill of Rights, including racial profiling, women’s rights, privacy issues, prisons, and drugs.

READING 13: Americans United for Separation of Church and State (www.au.org) promotes a strong interpretation of the establishment clause.

READING 14: The conservative Cato Institute (www.cato.org) argues in favor of a broad interpretation of individual liberty, particularly economic liberty.

READING 15: The Criminal Justice Legal Foundation (www.cjlf.org) works to advance the rights of crime victims through its interpretation of the criminal justice provisions of the Bill of Rights.

READING 16: Oyez (www.oyez.com) provides a comprehensive database of major constitutional cases, including multimedia features such as audio. Findlaw (www.findlaw.com) is a searchable database of Supreme Court decisions plus legal subjects, state courts, law schools, bar associations, and international law.

READING 17: The Gay and Lesbian Alliance against Defamation (GLAAD) (www.glaad.org) advocates fair, accurate, and inclusive representation in the media. Its website includes links to related issues as well as news and opinion. The Lambda Legal Defense Fund (www.lambdalegal.org) offers extensive coverage of legal action related to gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgendered, and HIV-infected people’s rights.

READING 18: The Legal Information Institute (LII) of Cornell University has an excellent site that offers extensive information about civil liberties (www.law.cornell.edu). One section focuses on the First Amendment with definitions, historical background, Supreme Court decisions, and links to many First Amendment–related sites. There are also sites at LII for prisoners’ rights, employment rights, and general constitutional rights.

READING 19: Given the intense debate over abortion in the United States, it is not surprising that both sides maintain an extensive web presence. NARAL Pro-Choice America (www.naral.org) advocates a broad interpretation of such rights, while the National Right to Life Committee (www.nrlc.org) seeks to prohibit abortion in the United States. 508 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

FILM 20: There are many films dealing with the protection of the rights of criminal defendants, questions of due process, prohibitions against cruel and unusual punishment, and racial bias in the criminal justice system. Some of these include the following: ▪

Murder in the First (Marc Rocco, director, Le Studio Canal+1994) dramatizes the true story of a petty thief condemned to solitary confinement in Alcatraz after attempting to escape.

▪

Dead Man Walking (Tim Robbins, director, Havoc, 1995), based on the book of the same name, recounts the true story of Sister Helen Prejean, a progressive nun who serves as a death row inmate’s spiritual advisor.

▪

A Georgia corrections officer administers death by electrocution to a condemned inmate, only to fall in love with the dead man’s widow in Monster’s Ball (Marc Forster, director, Lee Daniels Entertainment, 2002).

▪

In The Green Mile (Frank Darabont, director, Castle Rock Entertainment, 1999), a condemned Black inmate convicted of murdering a child changes the lives of his guards.

▪

Just Mercy (2019). Based on a true story, this film highlights the life and work of civil rights attorney Bryan Stevenson and his efforts to exonerate wrongly convicted individuals.

Many films also touch on other key issues raised in this chapter. These include the following: ▪

The Majestic (Frank Darabont, director, Castle Rock Entertainment, 2001) is the McCarthy-era story of a Hollywood writer struggling against the power of the blacklist.

▪

A successful movie director is forced to appear before the House Un-American Activities Committee in the 1950s in Guilty by Suspicion (Irwin Winkler, director, Warner Bros., 1991).

▪

In Brazil (Terry Gilliam, director, Embassy International Pictures, 1985), an Orwellian tale that centers on a futuristic society, a paperwork error leads to the arrest of the wrong man, and attempts to correct the mistake only make the situation worse. 509 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

▪

An attorney who unknowingly possesses evidence of a governmental conspiracy is tracked by the state in Enemy of the State (Tony Scott, director, Touchstone Pictures, 1998).

▪

Based on George Orwell’s classic novel, 1984 (Michael Radford, director, Umbrella-Rosenblum Films Production, 1956) tells the story of a dystopian society where the state watches everything and prohibits free thought and free speech.

▪

Gattaca (Andrew Niccol, director, Columbia Pictures Corporation, 1997) is a futuristic film in which a person’s genetic code provides the basis for legal discrimination.

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Although somewhat idealized, The People vs. Larry Flynt (Milos Forman, director, Columbia Pictures Corporation, 1996) raises questions about freedom of speech and debates over obscenity in an engaging way. Be sure to screen the film ahead of time and be aware that the film may not be appropriate for all audiences due to strong sexual material, nudity, language, and drug use.

▪

You Don’t Know Jack (Barry Levinson, director, HBO, 2010) is a dramatization of Dr. Jack Kevorkian’s (played in the film by Al Pacino) efforts to bring attention to the right to physician-assisted suicide. The film’s website offers additional resources covering the debate (go to www.hbo.com and search “You Don’t Know Jack”).

▪

The Post (2017). A re-telling of the legal battle stemming from the Washington Post’s 1971 publication of top-secret information in the Pentagon Papers.

Revel Features Chapter Introduction CURRENT EVENTS BULLETIN Video: WATCH Civil Liberties: The Big Picture Document: READ The Sixth Amendment 510 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

The Basis for Our Civil Liberties (Structure) 14.1

Explain the roots of civil liberties in the Constitution and their development in the Bill of Rights.

Document: READ The Fourteenth Amendment Sketchnote Video: WATCH Selective Incorporation Read: HAPPENING NOW Summary of the siege on the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, and the aftermath of the event. Journal Prompt 14.1 Which liberty, of those that the Supreme Court has applied to the states, is most fundamental to our system of government? How would you exercise that liberty to affect government policy? QUIZ 14.1 The Basis for Our Civil Liberties (Structure)

Religious Liberties: Establishment and Exercise (Structure, Action, and Impact) 14.2

Distinguish between the establishment and the free exercise clauses of the First Amendment.

Journal Prompt 14.2 If you wanted to show that a particular state statute violated your free exercise rights, how would you frame your case? QUIZ 14.2 Religious Liberties: Establishment and Exercise (Structure, Action, and Impact)

First Amendment Freedoms (Structure, Action, and Impact) 14.3

Outline the First Amendment rights to and limitations on the freedoms of speech, press, assembly, and petition.

Video: WATCH Can Totally Free Speech Lead to Less Inclusive Discussion? Video: WATCH Politics in Plain Sight: Getting a Tattoo Journal Prompt 14.3 Are there certain types of speech that should be restricted because Americans overwhelmingly find them offensive? If so, how should these restrictions be determined? 511 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

QUIZ 14.3 First Amendment Freedoms (Structure, Action, and Impact)

Fundamental Liberties: Property and Arms (Structure, Action, and Impact) 14.4

Explain how the Constitution protects property rights and the right to bear arms.

Journal Prompt 14.4 Is the protection of property rights as important today as it was when the Bill of Rights was ratified? Why or why not? QUIZ 14.4 Fundamental Liberties: Property and Arms (Structure, Action, and Impact)

Privacy Rights (Structure, Action, and Impact) 14.5

Explain the origin and significance of the right to privacy.

Sketchnote Video: WATCH Substantive and Procedural Due Process Social Explorer: FIGURE 14.2 PUBLIC OPINION ON ABORTION ACCESS Journal Prompt: FIGURE 14.2 How well does U.S. public opinion on the issue of abortion match up with what the Supreme Court affirmed in Planned Parenthood v. Casey (1992)? As a result of the Court’s decision, who currently decides the circumstances under which abortions are legal? Video: WATCH How the Supreme Court Ruling Will Impact Abortion Laws in the US ABC video. Journal Prompt 14.5 What is your opinion on the Gallup Poll question about abortion access (Figure 14.2)? If you were a lobbyist, how might you try to influence others’ views on the issue? QUIZ 14.5 Privacy Rights (Structure, Action, and Impact)

Rights of Criminal Suspects (Structure, Action, and Impact) 14.6

Outline the constitutional rights of defendants and the issues involved in protecting defendants’ rights.

Video: WATCH “Stop and Frisk” Backlash ABC video. Video: WATCH When Is It Legal for the Police to Search and Seize My Property, or Me? Video: WATCH The Fifth Amendment: Rights of the Accused Document: READ Gideon’s Petition Science Explorer: FIGURE 14.3 NUMBER OF EXECUTIONS BY YEAR, 1976–2020 Journal Prompt 14.6 How has changing technology affected criminal suspects’ rights? Has it affected your own expectation of privacy? In what ways? QUIZ 14.6 Rights of Criminal Suspects (Structure, Action, and Impact) SHARED WRITING Civil Liberties What would you do to provide better, and more consistent, representation of indigent defendants in the United States? Is it preferable to have a single, uniform model of indigent defense, or should states experiment with different systems?

Review the Chapter Video: WATCH Civil Liberties: So What? Flashcards: LEARN THE TERMS Civil Liberties Flashcard set of key terms and definitions for the chapter. CHAPTER 14 QUIZ Civil Liberties

15 Civil Rights Chapter Overview Civil rights refer to the central rights necessary to ensure full participation in the political and civil life of a society. In this chapter, we explore the development of civil rights in the United States. We begin by explaining the concepts of equality, citizenship, and the rights of U.S. citizens and comparing and contrasting the efforts of various groups to obtain equal protection of the law. Next, we evaluate the standards by which civil rights are protected today. We then examine developments in the twentieth century that led to an expansion of civil rights protections afforded to a diverse array of groups in the United States. We conclude evaluating the history of school integration and the current state of affirmative action. By the end of the chapter, students should have a solid understanding of the historical development and current status of civil rights in the United States.

Lecture Suggestions Equality and Equal Rights (Structure) 15.1

Explain why the concept of equality is integral to our understanding of civil rights.

LECTURE 1: Equality has been the central issue of American politics throughout the history of the nation, sparking the nation’s only civil war. Even today, it continues to be the nation’s most vexing political concern. ▪

Traditionally, equality meant “equality of opportunity”: an equal opportunity to develop individual talents and abilities and to be rewarded for work, initiative, merit, and achievement.

▪

Over time, the issue of equality has shifted to “equality of results”: an equal sharing of income and material rewards.

▪

With this shift in definition has come political conflict over the question of what, if anything, government should do to narrow the gaps between rich and poor, men and women, Blacks and Whites, and all other groups in society.

LECTURE 2: In penning the Declaration of Independence in 1776, Thomas Jefferson affirmed that “All men are created equal.” Yet from 1619, when the first enslaved people were brought to Jamestown, Virginia, until 1865, when the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution outlawed the practice, slavery was a way of life in the United States. Trace with your students the early views on slavery and equality in the United States. ▪

The Constitution of 1787 recognized and protected slavery in the United States, stipulating that enslaved people were to be counted as three-fifths of a person for purposes of representation and taxation.

▪

The abolition movement was a social movement before the Civil War whose goal was to abolish slavery throughout the United States.

▪

On September 22, 1862, Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, claiming his right as commander in chief of the army and navy, declaring that, as of January 1, 1863, “all persons held as slaves within any State, or designated part of a State, the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States, shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free.”

LECTURE 3: In the Declaration of Independence, Jefferson wrote that all men are created equal. Given the fact that Jefferson enslaved people, what might he have meant by this statement? ▪

Jefferson might have penned this phrase to express the idea that no person has a God-given right to rule over another. Most recognize that Jefferson was relying on the writings of Locke when he wrote the Declaration of Independence. In his Two Treatises on Government, Locke provided an extensive argument against the divine right of kings. Thus, Jefferson might have been trying to summarize this argument in this brief statement. Of course, the argument, broadly taken, could also be used to attack the institution of slavery.

▪

Jefferson might have meant that all are equal before the law. Under this interpretation, there would not have to be an inconsistency between equality and slavery. At a time when most enslaved people were illiterate, it would have made sense to treat them differently. The same could be said for any group (women and children) that could, for different reasons, be considered disqualified from certain benefits. In short, the phrase might mean that equals are to be treated equally and unequals are to be treated unequally.

▪

Jefferson might have been stating that all people are equal in that all humans have a sense of right and wrong. Jefferson did want to include in the Declaration of Independence a statement criticizing the Crown for the trading of enslaved people, but southerners insisted on taking it out.

Citizenship and the Rights It Affords (Structures) 15.2

Explain the concept of citizenship and the rights of U.S. citizens.

LECTURE 1: Discuss the concept of birthright citizenship and explore its recent politicization in the context of the 2016 presidential campaign. ▪

The constitutional basis of this right is the Fourteenth Amendment, which states, “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.”

▪

This clause is generally interpreted to mean that all persons born in the United States are U.S. citizens, regardless of the citizenship of their parents.

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Opposition to birthright citizenship stems from broad concerns about illegal immigration, including the possibility that some parents-to-be enter the United States specifically to ensure that their children will be U.S. citizens.

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In the 2016 presidential election, the Republican candidate, Donald Trump, called for an end to birthright citizenship, while the Democratic candidate, Hillary Clinton, supported birthright citizenship.

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Proposed changes to birthright citizenship include limiting citizenship to children with at least one parent who is a citizen or permanent resident.

The Quest for Equal Justice (Action) 15.3

Compare and contrast the efforts of various groups to obtain equal protection of the law.

LECTURE 1: The initial goal of the civil rights movement was to eliminate segregation laws, especially segregation in public education. Only after this battle was well underway could the civil rights movement turn to the fight against segregation and discrimination in all sectors of American life, private as well as governmental. 517 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

▪

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and its Legal Defense and Education Fund led the fight to abolish lawful segregation; its chief legal counsel, Thurgood Marshall, would later become the first African American to sit on the U.S. Supreme Court.

▪

On behalf of the NAACP, Thurgood Marshall argued what might be the most famous case to come before the Supreme Court: Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka. On May 17, 1954, the Court rendered its historic decision in the Brown case, striking down the “separate but equal” doctrine it had established in its 1896 Plessy decision. In its unanimous opinion, the Court ruled that “Segregation of white and colored children in public schools has a detrimental effect upon the colored children,” holding that separate can never be equal.

▪

Despite the unanimous decision of the Court, local governments often delayed the process of desegregation. Indeed, as late as 1969, the Supreme Court rejected a request by Mississippi officials for further delay in desegregation, declaring that all school districts were obligated to end their dual school systems “at once” and “now and hereafter” to operate only integrated schools.

LECTURE 2: In exploring the developments of the 1950s and 1960s, it is easy to overemphasize the role of landmark court decisions and congressional legislation, effectively forgetting that progress in these areas was the result of a long and powerful struggle on the part of those who claimed these rights. Examine the civil rights struggle with your students. ▪

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s Nonviolent Direct Action. Under King, the civil rights movement developed and refined political techniques for use by American minorities, including nonviolent direct action: a form of protest that involves breaking “unjust” laws in an open, “loving,” nonviolent fashion. King was also a powerful motivator for the civil rights movement, as demonstrated by several of his most famous protests. 

In the 1955 Montgomery bus boycott, African Americans protested the segregation of buses in Montgomery, Alabama, following Rosa Parks’s arrest. The boycott lasted almost one year and ended only after buses were 518 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

effectively desegregated. The boycott also sparked the national civil rights movement and catapulted King into the national spotlight. 

During the 1963 Birmingham campaign, King helped draw attention to nonviolent protests taking place across the city, including the occupation of public spaces, marches, and sit-ins. King was arrested during these protests (and 28 other times). During his incarceration, he wrote Letters from a Birmingham Jail.



In the 1963 march on Washington, 200,000 people peacefully marched on the city to demand an end to segregation. During this march, King delivered his famous “I Have a Dream” speech, which can be screened in class and is available online by going to www.youtube.com and searching “King 1963 speech.”

▪

Students in the Civil Rights Movement. Students were centrally involved in the civil rights struggle. For example: 

In the 1950s, students challenged school segregation, demanding their right to receive an education equal to that of their White peers. In 1957, for example, nine Black students enrolled in the all-White Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. The governor mobilized the National Guard to keep the black students out of the school, and President Eisenhower sent in 1,000 soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division to protect the school. Inside the school, the Black students faced abuse, beatings, insults, and constant humiliation from the other students. Across the South, hundreds of other Black students faced similar challenges as schools were begrudgingly integrated.



The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) was involved in numerous campaigns for desegregation across the American South.

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SNCC helped organize King’s 1963 March on Washington.

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SNCC organized a 1964 campaign known as “Freedom Summer,” in which numerous SNCC members came to Mississippi to help organize local Black communities, register Black voters, and aid the Black population. Freedom Summer was marred by violence directed against the SNCC workers, 519 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

including perhaps most famously the murder of three SNCC workers by the Ku Klux Klan, cinematized in the movie Mississippi Burning. 

The Greensboro Sit-ins. In 1960, four Black students from the Agricultural and Technical College of North Carolina sat down at the “whites only” lunch counter at Woolworth’s Department Store. The “Greensboro Four,” as they came to be known, ordered coffee and stayed, waiting for their coffee, until the store closed. Their protest quickly expanded, drawing hundreds of students in similar protests across the American South.

LECTURE 3: Explain the idea of Native American sovereignty and how it affects the civil rights issues faced by Native Americans in the United States. ▪

Before the passage of the 1924 Indian Citizenship Act, American Indians were not considered citizens of the United States. Rather, they were considered citizens of the tribal nation into which they were born.

▪

Consequently, efforts to protect the civil rights of Native Americans under the Fifteenth Amendment were unsuccessful. American Indians consequently were denied the right to vote.

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Native American tribal authorities are actively involved in using the courts to pursue civil rights claims. They also use the courts and negotiate with federal and state governments to preserve and restore tribal interests in land, mineral, and water resources.

LECTURE 4: Trace the history of Native Americans from colonial times to the present, citing relevant historical events and legislation. ▪

Following the arrival of European settlers and throughout the westward expansion of the United States, Native Americans faced unspeakable hardships. Indigenous institutions were destroyed, native religions were suppressed, and the American Indian population was relocated to reservations to make room for settlers.

▪

In the twentieth century, efforts have been made to address the long-standing injustices resulting from the treatment of Native Americans.

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The right to vote was conferred when Native Americans were finally granted U.S. citizenship by the 1924 Indian Citizenship Act. In practice, though, states regularly denied the right using poll taxes, grandfathering clauses, literacy tests, and other discriminatory practices outlawed by the 1965 Voting Rights Act. The Indian Citizenship Act also ensured the free movement of Native Americans within the United States, a practice often prohibited before it.

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The Indian Civil Rights Act of 1968 (sometimes referred to as the Indian Bill of Rights) extend many of the protections afforded under the U.S. Bill of Rights to Native Americans residing on reservation lands. These include the rights of freedom of speech, press, and assembly; the rights of equal protection and due process; and many of the rights afforded criminal defendants, including the prohibition against unreasonable search and seizure, the right to a speedy trial, the right to a jury trial, the right to confront witnesses, the right to legal counsel, and prohibitions against cruel and usual punishment, double jeopardy, and ex post facto laws.

LECTURE 5: Civil rights issues facing Hispanics in the United States include low pay for physically demanding jobs; discrimination in housing, employment, and education; and discrimination by law enforcement officials. In addition, voter identification laws and practices such as limiting the availability of Spanish ballots and closing polling places in minority neighborhoods have had the effect of suppressing voting rights of Hispanic Americans. Outline some of the challenges Hispanics face in the United States and examine some of the organizations devoted to fighting discrimination against them. ▪

Because of migration patterns and the historical acquisition of Texas and portions of the American Southwest from Mexico under the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848, the settlement of Hispanics in the United States has tended to be heaviest in the Southwest. Consequently, many of the segregation laws that affected Blacks in the South operated against Hispanics in the Southwest. Separate hotel and restaurant accommodations, employment discrimination, and restrictions on voting rights were common.

▪

Today, while de jure discrimination has been outlawed, de facto discrimination in jobs, housing, employment, education, and law enforcement often continues.

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While discrimination continued, demand for Hispanic labor, particularly on American farms, continued. Several efforts, including the 1923 and 1965 Immigration Acts, and the Bracero Program during World War II, recruited Mexican laborers to American farms. Consequently, many of the earliest initiatives to address the unequal treatment of Hispanics in the United States were rooted in labor unions.

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Perhaps the most famous of these labor unions is the United Farm Workers (UFW), especially under the leadership of Cesar Chavez. While the UFW garnered attention for the cause of migrant workers, it has not always been effective in achieving its goals.

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Today, the National Council of La Raza (www.nclr.org) is the largest Hispanic civil rights and advocacy organization in the country. Its mission is to provide a Hispanic perspective on political and policy issues in the United States.

Equal Protection of the Laws: What Does It Mean? (Structure and Impact) 15.4

Evaluate the standards by which civil rights are protected today.

LECTURE 1: Differentiate between the various standards employed by the courts in determining the constitutionality of group classifications. ▪

Government creates classifications of individuals in groups to make decisions: for example, full-time students versus part-time students. Policies discriminate against groups, and people have no problem with that—but some discrimination is different.

▪

The courts have held that certain types of groups, such as racial and ethnic, should be subject to particularly strong review. In this category, referred to as “strict 522 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

scrutiny,” the courts closely review and view with suspicion any classification system. Under the strict scrutiny standard, the state must show that a compelling government interest is at stake, that the specific interest requires distinctions to be drawn between groups, and that the proposed course of action is narrowly tailored and the least restrictive way to meet that interest. This standard is very difficult to meet. ▪

The second category is usually referred to as “intermediate scrutiny.” Intermediate scrutiny is usually applied to sex and gender divisions. It requires the state to demonstrate that the proposed action furthers an important government interest. In other words, if a proposed government program or law discriminates on the basis on sex, the government must demonstrate that sex has a substantial relationship to an important government interest. In recent years, the courts have also referred to this as “exacting scrutiny.”

▪

The least onerous standard is referred to as “rational basis review.” Under this standard, the state must simply demonstrate that a proposed action is a reasonable means to achieve an end that may be legitimately pursued by the government. The rational basis review is used for policies that discriminate on the basis of categories like age, income, or disability. Examples here could include restricting drivers’ licenses to individuals at least 16 years of age.

LECTURE 2: The expansion of civil rights to the LGBTQ community in the United States has been uneven. While the Supreme Court ruled that the 1964 Civil Rights Act prohibits same-sex sexual harassment, it also held that private organizations like the Boy Scouts can prohibit gays from joining. Outline for your students some of the recent developments with respect to the civil rights of gays and lesbians in the United States. ▪

In 1996, the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) was enacted. The act defined marriage as the legal union of one man and one woman and permitted states to deny recognition of same-sex marriages performed in other states. DOMA also denied recognition of same-sex marriages for all federal purposes, including insurance benefits for government employees, Social Security survivors’ benefits, and the filing of joint tax returns. 523 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

▪

Recently, many more states have legalized either gay marriage or civil unions for same-sex couples. The Supreme Court aided this process in 2013 by declaring DOMA unconstitutional.

▪

Under the Obama administration, several new initiatives were undertaken to protect the civil rights of gays and lesbians. 

The Family and Medical Leave Act was extended to same-sex partners.



The Violence Against Women Act, which had always in practice protected any victim of domestic violence regardless of gender, was clarified to protect victims of domestic violence in same-sex relationships.

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Federal employee health insurance, day care, and other benefits were extended to same sex-couples.

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The federal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy, which prohibited gay and lesbian Americans from serving openly in the military, was repealed.



▪

In 2016, the ban on transgender people serving in the military was repealed.

In 2009, President Obama signed into law the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act. This act extended existing hate crime legislation to include crimes committed as a result of a victim’s actual or perceived gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability.

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In 2019, President Trump announced that the transgender military ban would be reinstated, thus rolling back some protections for LGBTQ individuals.

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Between 2017 to 2019, several states introduced “bathroom bills,” requiring transgender and non-binary individuals to use the bathroom corresponding to their sex assigned at birth. Most of these bills did not progress.

LECTURE 3: Trace the history of the women’s rights movement, citing relevant Supreme Court cases and legislation. ▪

In its decision in Bradwell v. Illinois (1893), the U.S. Supreme Court established a precedent for upholding laws that discriminate against women based on the notion of women’s “natural role in the family.” Even after the Nineteenth Amendment (1920) granted suffrage to women, many laws continued to enforce discriminatory practices. Indeed, the courts permitted laws restricting women’s 524 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

working hours and prohibiting women’s employment in certain fields in an effort to “protect the weaker sex.” ▪

In the 1970s, the Supreme Court began to apply the equal protection clause to prohibit gender-based discrimination. The Court applied three tests to examine discrimination claims: the strict scrutiny test for cases alleging discrimination on the basis of racial or national origin; the intermediate scrutiny test for gender discrimination claims; and the rational basis test for other discrimination cases.

▪

Reed v. Reed (1971) marked the first time the Court struck down a law on the basis of sex discrimination. In Reed, the state of Idaho passed a law dictating that if parents of a deceased sibling were equally fit to control an estate, preference should be given to the father. The state argued that the law was simply established as a matter of administrative convenience. The Supreme Court struck the law down.

▪

Craig v. Boren (1976) originated in Oklahoma and addressed sex discrimination. The case dealt with an Oklahoma law that permitted females aged 18 to purchase “nonintoxicating” beer (3.2% alcohol by volume), while simultaneously requiring males purchasing the same beer to be at least 21. In its decision, the Court ruled that such a law was unconstitutional. In its decision, the Court issued a new “intermediate scrutiny” standard. 

Ruth Bader Ginsburg wanted the Court to strike it down using the same test the Court was then using and continues to use in race discrimination cases: the strict scrutiny test. Under this test, the Court strikes down a law discriminating on the basis of race (or violating a constitutional right) unless the government can demonstrate a compelling need for the law. Although a majority of the Court voted to strike the law, a majority did not agree to use the strict judicial scrutiny test. Instead, a majority of the Court specifically recognized a middle test that would be used in sex discrimination cases. Sometimes the test is referred to as the “heightened scrutiny” test. The Court will only uphold a law treating men and women differently if it furthers important governmental objectives. 525 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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

No longer would sex discrimination come under the only remaining test used in equal protection cases: the rational basis test. All the government need do in cases arising under this test is demonstrate a rational basis for the different treatment under the law.

▪

Since the 1970s, the Court has generally relied on civil rights statutes (such as the 1964 Civil Rights Act) rather than on the broader equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.

LECTURE 4: Explain the strict scrutiny standard applied to racial classification laws. ▪

The Supreme Court has ruled that any racial classification in laws must be subject to “strict scrutiny.” In practice, this means that any actions by the government based on race must be shown to remedy proven past discrimination or further a legitimate and compelling government interest.

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Further, race-based actions must be “narrowly tailored” and “least restrictive” to minimize the effects on the rights of other individuals.

Voting Rights (Structure) 15.5

Trace the evolution of voting rights and their waning protection due to the Supreme Court’s interpretation of the 1965 Voting Rights Act.

LECTURE 1: Following the Civil War, poll taxes and literacy tests prevented most formerly enslaved people from voting. Significant change did not arrive until the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Corruption at the polls prompted new laws concerning residency and registering to vote. Outline some of the mechanisms that were used to limit the franchise, and explain how the Voting Rights Act of 1965 ended those practices. ▪

Although the Fifteenth Amendment extended the franchise to all males over 21 in the United States, states commonly used several mechanisms to restrict the franchise. These included: 526 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.



In many jurisdictions, voter registration was dependent on the ability of potential voters to pass a literacy test of basic knowledge. Often, Whites were exempt from the test if they could show a basic political competence, which was determined at the discretion of the registrar of voters.

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Grandfather clauses were sometimes used to restrict the franchise to individuals who could demonstrate they were descended from someone who was eligible to vote prior to the passage of the Fifteenth Amendment in 1870. This practice, known as grandfathering, effectively restricted the franchise to Whites.

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White primaries were often held as a way to limit the influence of potential Black voters. Voting in primary elections to nominate the candidates to run for political office were restricted to White voters only.

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Poll taxes, or fees paid to vote, were also selectively applied to Black voters to prevent them from casting ballots.

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The 1965 Voting Rights Act prohibited all of these practices.

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A copy of the literacy test given to potential voters in Alabama in 1965 is available online at https://www.ferris.edu/HTMLS/news/jimcrow/pdfsdocs/origins/al_literacy.pdf or at https://www.crmvet.org/info/lithome.htm. It provides a powerful way to introduce the material to your students.

LECTURE 2: Trace the expansion of the franchise and efforts to protect the constitutionally established right to vote in the United States. ▪

Early in the history of the United States, the franchise was generally restricted to free, White, adult males. However, specific voter registration requirements were generally left to the states, meaning that different states would have different standards.

▪

Over time, the federal government has gradually expanded the right to vote. Specifically, five constitutional amendments limit the basis on which the right to vote may be abridged. The Fifteenth Amendment (1870) prohibits denying or abridging the right to



vote on the basis of “race, color, or previous condition of servitude.” 

The Nineteenth Amendment (1920) expanded the franchise to women.

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The Twenty-third Amendment (1961) gave American citizens residing in Washington, D.C., the right to vote for the president and vice president.

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The Twenty-fourth Amendment (1964) made poll taxes illegal.

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The Twenty-sixth Amendment (1971) lowered the voting age in the United States to 18 years of age.

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Still, many states attempted to limit the impact of these reforms, instituting measures like grandfather clauses and literacy tests to limit the franchise. These measures were made illegal under the 1965 Voting Rights Act.

Rights to Equal Access: Accommodations, Jobs, and Homes (Structure) 15.6

Describe congressional legislation forbidding discrimination in housing, employment, and accommodations.

LECTURE 1: The early goal of the civil rights movement was to eliminate discrimination and segregation practiced by governments, particularly states and school districts. Because the government was instituting such policies, challenges could be rooted in civil rights claims pursued through the courts. However, when the civil rights movement turned to private discrimination, it had to take its fight to the Congress. Only Congress at the national level could outlaw discrimination in the private sector. Outline the key acts of Congress with respect to the protection of civil rights.

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The Civil Rights Act of 1964 is perhaps the most important piece of legislation ever passed by the Congress with respect to civil rights. It quickly became the cornerstone of antidiscrimination efforts. 

Title II makes it illegal to discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, or national origin, in the provision of public accommodation (including hotels and motels, restaurants, theaters, sports arenas, and other places that offer to serve the public). The prohibition affects any business whose operations affect interstate commerce or whose practices are supported by state action.

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Title VI prohibits discrimination in all programs or activities receiving federal financial assistance in any form.

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Title VII prohibits employment discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. It also established the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to monitor and enforce this provision.

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The Civil Rights Act of 1968 prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, or national origin in the sale or rental of residences (houses, apartments, etc.).

LECTURE 2: This section details the provisions of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. These landmark pieces of civil rights legislation were more effective and enforceable than previous measures. Outline the effects of each for your students. ▪

The Civil Rights Act of 1964 contained several important provisions intended to end discrimination and segregation in the private sector. Congressional legislation in this area is rooted in the commerce clause, which gave Congress the power to regulate interstate trade. Consequently, its efforts to address discrimination started with businesses whose operations affected interstate commerce. 

Title II prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, or national origin, in the provision of public accommodation (including hotels and motels, restaurants, theaters, sports arenas, and other places that offer to serve the public).

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The Civil Rights Act of 1968 prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, or national origin in the sale or rental of houses, apartments, or other dwellings.

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The Voting Rights Act of 1965 was an effort to end voting restrictions that had been imposed on African Americans and other minority groups. In passing the Voting Rights Act, Congress prohibited literacy tests, grandfathering clauses, poll taxes, and other practices which had been used to restrict the franchise.

LECTURE 3: Discuss the major laws protecting the rights of the disabled in the United States. ▪

The Rehabilitation Act of 1973 bars the federal government from discriminating on the basis of physical or mental disability in its employment decisions, requires that the federal government and its contractors make reasonable accommodations for the disabled, and effectively instituted affirmative action for disabled individuals in federal hiring practices. The act was also of symbolic importance, sparking a movement to advance disability rights and presenting the struggle for disability laws as a civil rights rather than a welfare or benefits issue.

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The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) expanded the requirements of the 1973 Rehabilitation Act to the private sector. Unlike other civil rights laws, though, the ADA can be circumvented if remedies would be too costly or impose “undue hardship” in implementation. Because of the exemptions afforded under the ADA, considerable debate over the definitions of “accommodation” (particularly of “reasonable accommodation”) and of “disability” has ensued.

Education Rights (Impact) 15.7

Evaluate the history of school integration and the current state of affirmative action.

LECTURE 1: Differentiate for your students de facto and de jure segregation. ▪

De jure segregation refers to systems of segregation and racial discrimination established by the state. The Jim Crow laws and the “separate but equal” doctrine established by the Supreme Court in its decision in Plessy v. Ferguson are examples of de jure segregation.

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De facto segregation refers to racial imbalances not directly caused by official actions but rather by informal practices, such as residential patterns.

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In the United States, de jure segregation was more common in the South until the 1950s. States passed numerous laws in an effort to maintain racial segregation and prevent Blacks from exercising their rights. In the North, de facto segregation was commonly used for similar purposes. De facto segregation in the North was maintained by practices such as restrictive housing covenants, discriminatory bank-lending practices, and job discrimination.

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Only after the last vestiges of state-sanctioned (de jure) discrimination had been removed “as far as practicable” would the Supreme Court allow lower federal courts to dissolve racial balancing plans, even where imbalance due to (de facto) residential patterns continued to exist.

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In other words, overcoming de jure segregation has proven to be much easier than addressing de facto patterns of racial inequality that continue to exist even today.

LECTURE 2: The Supreme Court’s 1954 decision in Brown v. Board of Education was an important moment in history. Before the Brown decision, there is evidence that the Court was beginning to emphasize the “equal” portion of the “separate but equal” doctrine. Explore two cases with your students. ▪

Sipuel v. Board of Regents of University of Oklahoma (1948) 

In 1946, Miss Ada Louise Sipuel, a Black woman who had graduated with a bachelor’s degree from all-Black Langston University, applied for admission to the University of Oklahoma Law School. Although she was academically qualified, the university informed her that it was illegal to admit a black into an all-White university. The university president could be fined, professors teaching classes with mixed races could be fined, and students could be fined for attending class with students of a different race. Thus, the university could not admit her if it wanted to since this would be against state law.

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The NAACP offered to provide her with counsel to test the law in question. She agreed, and the NAACP assigned her a lawyer: Thurgood Marshall. Eventually the case came before the U.S. Supreme Court.

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In its decision, the Court ruled that the separate but equal doctrine meant Oklahoma had to provide her with a law education or else close the University of Oklahoma School of Law. There was no law school for Blacks.

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From the Court’s perspective, this was not a rejection of the Plessy decision; rather, it was enforcing Plessy. The Court was not demanding racial integration for law schools. In enforcing separate but equal it was merely pointing out the obvious: there was no separate law school for Sipuel.

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Rather than admit Sipuel to the main law school, the regents established the Langston School of Law. They used a room at the state capitol building as the entire law school. One dean and two professors were assigned to the school. Sipuel was told she could use the county law library for her research. The NAACP sued again, arguing that this was in violation of the “equal” component of the separate but equal doctrine.

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Meanwhile, six other Black students who were also graduating from Langston saw the game being played by the university and decided to play along. On the last day of enrollment, they applied for admission to the University of Oklahoma in six different graduate programs, effectively making it impossible (and too costly) for the University of Oklahoma to follow the strategy it had used in Sipuel’s case by creating six new Black graduate schools. The university responded by refusing admission to all six students.

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The student body was upset about the university’s refusal to admit Sipuel. A large group met on the campus and burned a copy of the Fourteenth Amendment (which contains the equal protection clause), collected the ashes, and sent them to President Truman to protest the university’s actions.

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McLaurin v. Oklahoma State Regents (1950) 

George McLaurin was one of the six students who sued the university, charging it with violating the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. McLaurin held a master’s degree in education and had applied to the doctorate program at the University of Oklahoma.

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The case began in Federal District Court, which ruled that McLaurin must be admitted as soon as a White would be admitted or classes for White students must be discontinued. This was the same directive the Supreme Court had issued in the Sipuel case. The university complied by placing McLaurin’s chair in a broom closet, which the university called an alcove, at the back of the room so that he could peer out and see the instructor and blackboard but be hidden from view from the rest of the students. His lawyer sued again, claiming that this was separate but not equal.

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Notice the challenge here is not directly to the Plessy decision. Both Sipuel and McLaurin are merely asking, in the strict sense, that the “equal” component of the “separate but equal” doctrine issued under Plessy be enforced.

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In both cases, the Court ruled in favor of the African American students. Eventually, the state of Oklahoma passed a law allowing Blacks to enroll in graduate programs. Sipuel was admitted to the OU Law School. The university did, however, build a kind of fence in the classroom, seating Whites on one side and Blacks on the other.

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Within a few years, the Court ruled that it is impossible to segregate students on the basis of race in public schools. Even if the buildings, student body, and teachers are equal, the segregation creates an inferiority complex in the minds of some of the students. In short, racially segregated public schools are inherently unequal.

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Ada Louise Sipuel went on to get her law degree from the University of Oklahoma. Years later, she was appointed to the board of regents of the university.

LECTURE 3: Discuss the complexities involved with affirmative action and how the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment has been used in affirmative action cases. ▪

Recent challenges to affirmative action have challenged the constitutionality of such programs on the basis that they violate Fourteenth Amendment due process and equal protection clauses. Examples include University of California Regents v. Bakke (1978), Grutter v. Bolinger (2003), Gratz v. Bollinger (2003), and Fischer v. Texas (2016).

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While no clear guidelines lay out what the courts hold as constitutional, historical precedents suggest that the courts look more favorably on affirmative action programs that are based on the following principles: 

They are adopted in response to a clear pattern of historical discrimination.

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They do not establish quotas or prohibit Whites from competing or participating.

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They serve a clearly identified, legitimate, and “compelling governmental interest.”

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LECTURE 4: Outline some of the recent challenges to affirmative action in university admissions processes. ▪

Most universities and colleges in the United States identify diversity as an institutional goal. Diversity in this context refers to a broad racial, ethnic, gender, and ideological representation in the student and faculty body.

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In University of California Regents v. Bakke (1978), the Supreme Court ruled that a special admissions program at the UC medical school was an unconstitutional violation of the equal protection clause. The UC program reserved 16 seats for minority students, leading some White students with higher GPAs to be rejected in favor of minority students with lower GPAs. In its decision, the Supreme Court ruled that while the goals of the program were laudable, and that while race and ethnic origin may be considered in review of applications, schools cannot maintain quotas for particular students.

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In Grutter v. Bollinger (2003), the Supreme Court ruled that a program established by the University of Michigan Law School to promote diversity passed constitutional muster. In the majority opinion, Justice Sandra Day O’Connor wrote that the program was a compelling government interest because it “promot[ed] cross-racial understanding, help[ed] to break down racial stereotypes, and enable[ed] [students] to better understand persons of different races.”

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But in Gratz v. Bollinger (2003), the Court ruled that the University of Michigan’s affirmative action program for undergraduate admissions was an unconstitutional violation of the equal protection clause because the program was “not narrowly tailored to achieve respondents’ asserted interest in diversity.” At the same time, though, the Court upheld limited use of affirmative action programs that use race as a “plus” factor, a principle first outlined in the Bakke decision.

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Michigan voters then passed Proposal 2, or the Michigan Civil Rights Initiative, which prohibits state colleges and universities from granting preferential treatment to applicants on the basis of race. In 2014, the Supreme Court was asked to rule on its constitutionality and ruled that voters could use ballot initiatives to end state-sponsored affirmative action policies in the area of higher education. Still, the current Court has differing opinions on the appropriate understanding of the equal protection law, particularly as it applies to university admissions.

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In 2016, the Supreme Court again weighed in on the constitutionality of affirmative action in Fischer v. University of Texas. In a 4–3 decision, the Court ruled that admissions officials may continue to consider race as one factor among many in order to ensure a diverse student body.

LECTURE 5: Differentiate between equality of opportunity and equality of results, being sure to illustrate the challenge of separating the two in practice. ▪

Equality of opportunity refers to establishing an equal playing field. It provides that individuals should not be encumbered by artificial barriers rooted in prejudices or preconceptions, but that effort and skill should be the primary factor determining success and failure. 

An effective analogy can be drawn from a foot race. Equality of opportunity would provide that everyone run on the same track, the same distance, and under the same conditions. Any difference in outcome (in the race analogy, finishing time) would thus be the result of skill, talent, or luck.

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Martin Luther King Jr. spoke of equality of opportunity in his famous “I Have a Dream” speech: “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.”

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Equality of results refers to the controversial idea that material inequalities in society should be reduced as much as possible, generally through redistribution of wealth. 

Proponents of this idea assert that equality of opportunity cannot be achieved in a society that permits inequality of results. Individuals from wealthy families will benefit from access to better education, greater social connections, and other advantages that undermine the principle of equality of opportunity. No one really starts in the same position.

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Critics of this idea assert that equality of results would undermine any incentive for individuals to excel. If everyone receives the same reward, why should anyone work hard?

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Although the civil rights movement of the 1960s focused on improving equality of opportunity, today’s racial politics tend to focus on the actual inequality of results between Blacks and Whites. For example: 

The average income of a Black family is only 62 percent that of the average White family; the average Hispanic family’s income is only 68 percent that of the average White family.

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Nearly one-quarter of all Black families live in poverty. Only 11 percent of White families do so.

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The unemployment rate for Blacks in the United States is more than twice that of Whites.

LECTURE 6: Address the ongoing question of whether the United States has made sufficient efforts to provide equality of opportunity, or whether we still need active measures such as affirmative action programs or the creation of “majority-minority” districts to redress the historical impact of discrimination. ▪

Start by outlining the basic inequalities that exist in the United States. Examples of such inequalities include 

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Life expectancy for the White population exceeds that of the Black population by 3.5 years;

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The maternal mortality rate is more than 3 times greater for the Black population than for the White population;

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The unemployment rate for Blacks in the United States is nearly twice that of Whites;

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The average income of a Black family is only 59 percent of the average white family; the average Hispanic family’s income is only 73 percent of the average White family;

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9 percent of the White U.S. population live below the official poverty threshold of $26,200 for a family of four, compared to 21.2 percent of the Black population;

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7.8 percent of White Americans lack health insurance compared to 11.4 percent of Black Americans;

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73.1 percent of White Americans own their homes, compared with 40.6 percent of Black Americans; and

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Black men are more than 5 times more likely to be imprisoned than White men.

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Then examine some of the mechanisms intended to address inequality in the United States. Notice that most focus on providing equality of opportunity rather than equality of results. 

Affirmative action provides that the government must take positive action to overcome the results of past discrimination. While avoiding the idea of quotas, affirmative action tests are intended to establish incentives to achieve greater equality between Blacks and Whites, particularly in hiring and university admissions practices. Affirmative action, from this perspective, is essentially a remedy for past discrimination.

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The creation of majority-minority districts, in which the majority of constituents are racial or ethnic minorities, can also be used as a mechanism to address past discrimination. However, they are not uncontroversial. While majority-minority districts effectively ensure the representation of minorities 538 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

in the House of Representatives, they also represent a form of racial gerrymandering that can dilute the voting power of minority voters. Note that beginning in the late 1980s, the Supreme Court gradually imposed limitations on the creation of majority-minority districts, echoing many of the restrictions imposed on affirmative action. These included o Shaw v. Reno (1993). Redistricting based on race must be held to a strict scrutiny standard under the equal protection clause. o Miller v. Johnson (1995). The Court reaffirmed the decision in Shaw, ruling racial gerrymandering efforts in Georgia unconstitutional under the equal protection clause. o Hunt v. Cromartie (2001). The follow-up to the court’s decision in Shaw dealt with efforts to redraw the boundaries of the same district (North Carolina’s twelfth congressional district). In this case, the court permitted political gerrymandering rather than racial gerrymandering.

LECTURE 7: What do we mean by equality, and how close does the United States come to realizing it? ▪

Examine the struggles of African Americans, women, Hispanics, and other groups to achieve full political and legal equality.

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Examine the historical roots of discrimination and the lasting impact of racial oppression in the United States.

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Point to the importance of the Fourteenth Amendment’s equal protection clause in opening the court-centered pathway to civil rights advocates, and trace the major court cases that led to the desegregation of schools and other public facilities.

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Look at the ways different groups have mobilized grassroots movements to garner public support and pressure government to uphold and enforce civil rights for all.

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Finally, point out that discrimination is still active in the United States, and explore some of the current controversies involving civil rights, including rights for gays and lesbians, the disabled, and Native Americans.

Class Activities CLASS ACTIVITY 1: Give your students a literacy test as a pop quiz. A copy of the literacy test given to potential voters in Alabama in 1965 is available online (https://www.ferris.edu/HTMLS/news/jimcrow/pdfs-docs/origins/al_literacy.pdf). It provides a powerful way to introduce the material to your students, particularly if you frame it as a pop quiz. ▪

Students often complain about the unfairness of unannounced quizzes and how the material on them has not been covered in class. You can emphasize this by answering appeals in uneven ways, permitting one student who phrases an answer one way to receive credit and denying credit to another student who answers the same question in a very similar way.

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Afterward, discuss how the voter registration process was similarly applied in an uneven and unfair way, with registrars of voters permitting White voters to pass the exams with low scores (or even registering them without a test at all), while denying Black voters with high scores the right to register to vote.

This activity highlights in a powerful way the injustices of the literacy tests used to disenfranchise voters until the 1965 Voting Rights Act. (Structure and Action) CLASS ACTIVITY 2: Ask students to review the decision of the Supreme Court in Loving v. Virginia (1966). ▪

In Loving, the Court unanimously ruled that a Virginia law prohibiting interracial marriage was an unconstitutional violation of the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. More information on the case, including oral briefings and the decision itself, can be found at www.oyez.com by searching “Loving v. Virginia.”

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Once the students have reviewed the case, ask: to what extent Loving might set a precedent for a similar decision around same-sex marriage? What are the similarities and differences between the two cases? If they were arguing the case, how might they use Loving to either support or oppose same-sex marriage? 540 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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Conclude by asking students to reflect on recent developments in expanding marriage rights to gays and lesbians, such as voter approval of same-sex marriage in Maryland and Maine.

This discussion draws interesting connections between the civil rights struggles of African Americans and LGBTQ Americans in the context of marriage. CLASS ACTIVITY 3: Ask your students to explain in their own words the central themes of this chapter, including equality of opportunity, equal protection under the law, and due process. Then ask them to reflect on the degree to which each of the groups profiled in this chapter have been successful in achieving the kinds of equality established by these doctrines. This discussion question encourages students to think about the many questions and issues tied up in the struggle for civil rights in the United States.

CLASS ACTIVITY 4: Ask your students to consider how they would go about proving a past pattern of discrimination if they wanted to pursue a case about discrimination. What evidence or documentation would they need to develop? This task stresses the practical difficulties of addressing discrimination and overcoming its historical legacy. CLASS ACTIVITY 5: Ask your class to create a list that highlights the pros and cons of affirmative action. Then discuss the following questions: ▪

How does society benefit from remedial programs such as affirmative action?

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Does affirmative action serve its intended purpose, or is the divisiveness that it often conjures up self-defeating?

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As a related homework assignment, you could ask students to prepare oneparagraph briefs answering the question: do we still need affirmative action?

This activity encourages students to think about the role and success of affirmative action in addressing historical inequalities in the United States. (Impact) CLASS ACTIVITY 6: Before class begins, change the position of several rows of chairs in the classroom to create a “separate but equal” arrangement. You might, for example, place some against the front wall and teach with your back to those students, or crowd a large number of 541 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

seats in the back of the classroom while creating more ample room in the front. Do not allow the students to move them back to their normal positions. Teach the class as you normally would. ▪

Shortly before class ends, or even in the next class, discuss “separate but equal” from the perspective of the students’ experiences. Be sure to emphasize that this “separate” was much more “equal” than most experiences under that doctrine.

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An engaging follow-up discussion can also be held asking how today’s educational system reflects some of the challenges of the separate but equal doctrine. Are all schools equal today? Or are some schools better than others? What determines whether or not a school is “good”? How do inequalities in wealth relate to this question? And how are racial and economic inequalities related in the United States? This line of questioning gets students thinking about the shortcomings of desegregation in the contemporary United States.

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Ask the students in the privileged positions whether they perceived any inequality in the presentation.

This activity encourages students to think about the nature of inequality and highlights the invisibility of privilege to privileged groups themselves. CLASS ACTIVITY 7: One way to examine contemporary issues raised in this chapter is through guest speakers. ▪

To provoke discussion on the issue of affirmative action, you can ask your college or university’s affirmative action/equal opportunity officer, and/or a representative from the admissions office, to visit your class and discuss how affirmative action or equal opportunity policies are applied at your institution.

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Alternatively, you could also ask (assuming your institution has one) your ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) compliance officer or similar official to visit the class to discuss issues of campus accommodations for students with disabilities.

This activity provides an opportunity to connect classroom discussion around these themes to questions concerning equal access, treatment, and participation central to the struggle for civil rights.

CLASS ACTIVITY 8: Divide your class into panels to discuss the role that women and LGBTQ individuals should play in the military. ▪

One team should be assigned to examine the congressional hearings conducted after the Persian Gulf War, which led to a congressional decision to permit women to serve as combat pilots.

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The other team should be given an assignment to look at the decision to repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” and the effects of that decision.

This activity explores the policy challenges associated with the struggle for civil rights by women, gays, and lesbians.

CLASS ACTIVITY 9: Working in small groups, ask your students to complete the following chart outlining key Supreme Court decisions affecting civil rights in the twentieth century. This could also be completed as a homework assignment and reviewed in class. ▪ ▪ ▪

Issue/Case ▪ Brown v. Board of Education (1954) Loving v. Virginia (1967)

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Romer v. Evans (1996)

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Bragdon v. Abbott (1998)

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Lawrence v. Texas (2003)

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Grutter v. Bollinger (2003)

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Definition/Explanation

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Impact/Analysis

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This activity encourages students to reflect on the role of the courts in the protection of civil rights in the United States. (Action and Impact)

Research Activities RESEARCH ACTIVITY 1: Have your students examine the degree of inequality (de jure and de facto) of one or more groups of Americans who have had to struggle to achieve its civil rights. 543 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

The Census Bureau provides extensive information of use in this assignment, such as historical tables of income inequality by ethnicity (go to www.census.gov and search “income inequality”). Ask your students to provide broader information, such as access to schools, life expectancy, childhood poverty rates, unemployment rates, and so on. They should present their data in one or more tables comparing performance across two or more measures. Then have them write short papers in which they summarize their findings. This assignment helps to develop data literacy while simultaneously illustrating the distinction between de facto and de jure achievement of equality in the United States. (Structure and Action)

RESEARCH ACTIVITY 2: Brown v. Board of Education (go to www.oyez.com and search “Brown v. Board of Education”) was the landmark decision in propelling the civil rights movement forward. Ask your students to write short papers answering the following questions: ▪

What was the finding of the Supreme Court?

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What constitutional language was it based on?

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What were the arguments of the plaintiffs? What were the arguments of the defendants?

This assignment allows students to review and analyze one of the most important decisions in the Supreme Court’s history in the context of civil rights. (Action) RESEARCH ACTIVITY 3: Ask students to visit the G-O Road Controversy website at https://politics.humboldt.edu/g-o-road-controversy-american-indian-religion-and-public-land. The G-O Road controversy centers on a key civil rights dispute that emerged between the U.S. Forest Service and tribal authorities in Northern California over the construction of a new road between two towns to facilitate timber harvesting and fire control in the area. Ask students to review the documents related to the dispute available there, and then have them prepare briefing and strategy papers for either the Forest Service or the tribal communities. Their papers should focus on (1) central questions at hand; (2) the other side’s goals; (3) their own goals; and (4) a strategy for achieving their goals in light of the other side’s position. This activity provides a useful point of entry to consider the civil rights struggles of Native Americans. 544 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

RESEARCH ACTIVITY 4: Have your students watch or listen to speeches by Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X. Many of Malcolm X’s speeches are available at www.malcolmx.com. A rich collection of Martin Luther King Jr.’s speeches are available at www.mlkonline.net. Video and audio recordings are also available. ▪

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For Malcolm X, possibilities include the following, all available on YouTube: 

“By Any Means Necessary”

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“The Ballot or the Bullet” (audio)

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“The House Negro and the Field Negro”

For Martin Luther King Jr., consider the following, available on YouTube: 

“I Have a Dream”

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“Beyond Vietnam” (audio)

Then ask them to prepare short papers in which they contrast the framing of the civil rights question by King and Malcolm X.

This activity provides students with an opportunity to consider the different tactics and strategies employed by key leaders of the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s. (Action)

RESEARCH ACTIVITY 5: Many good movies focus on civil rights issues in the United States. Have students watch and write a short review of one or more of them. Possibilities include ▪

Mississippi Burning (1988). The dramatized account tells the true story of the murder of three civil rights workers who participated in Freedom Summer in 1964.

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Malcolm X (1992). Spike Lee’s account of the civil rights leader’s rise and death is powerful.

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Get on the Bus (1996). Another Spike Lee film; this one tells the story of the Million Man March on Washington, D.C., in 1995.

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Ghosts of Mississippi (1996). This dramatization retells the story of the White supremacist who assassinated Medgar Evers.

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Erin Brockovich (2000). A biopic about a single mother who launches a legal battle against corporate groundwater contamination, this film also deals with gender discrimination.

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Milk (2008). This biographical film recounts the life of the gay rights activist who became the first openly gay person to be elected to office in California.

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Selma (2014). A film about the events surrounding the 1965 voting rights marches from Selma, Alabama to Montgomery, Alabama.

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13th (2016). A documentary by director Ava Duvernay about racism and mass incarceration in the criminal justice system.

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Just Mercy (2019). A biographical legal drama about lawyer Bryan Stevenson and his work establishing the Equal Justice Initiative, which challenges unfair sentences and wrongful convictions. The film addresses the role of racism in the criminal justice system.

This activity provides students with a chance to explore how Hollywood approaches the question of civil rights.

RESEARCH ACTIVITY 6: While affirmative action programs are intended to address the legacy of discrimination, surveys show that most Americans oppose them. Indeed, many Americans view affirmative action as a form of discrimination itself. ▪

In short papers, ask your students to reflect on the politics and effectiveness of affirmative action.

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This may require that students research the legal rationale behind affirmative action policies, review how the courts have evaluated various affirmative action programs, and consider what people think affirmative action requires and compare that to the affirmative action programs of local employers.

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This could also be used as an in-class assignment to prepare students to debate the concepts of affirmative action and reverse discrimination.

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Key questions arising either in written papers or in class debate will likely focus on the following questions: can one group be protected without discriminating against another? Where would your students place their priorities? 546 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

This activity requires students to engage the contemporary controversy over affirmative action. (Action and Impact) RESEARCH ACTIVITY 7: Have the students investigate state laws protecting (or discriminating against) LGBTQ individuals. A great resource for this is the Human Rights Campaign’s State Equality Index (go to https://www.hrc.org/resources/state-equality-index). Students can select various categories, such as Transgender Health, Hate Crimes, or Housing, and look at variation across state laws. ▪

Alternatively, you could have students research attitudes toward same-sex marriage as reflected in polling data. Note that attitudes seem to differ dramatically depending on how the polling questions are framed. This could provide a valuable entrée to discussing polling methodology, if you are so inclined.

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In short papers, ask your students to reflect on what interesting patterns emerge from polling data. Possibilities might include the geographic distribution of support for same-sex marriage, generational divides, or other key findings.

This activity requires students to engage the contemporary controversy over gay marriage. RESEARCH ACTIVITY 8: Have your students write short papers comparing the proposed Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) with the Fourteenth Amendment. Does the ERA cover some of the same ground as the Fourteenth Amendment, or do they deal with completely separate concepts? This activity requires that students think about the nature of equal rights and how rights are protected by the U.S. Constitution. (Structure)

Participation Activities PARTICIPATION ACTIVITY 1: Ask students to walk around campus, school, or government buildings, and make a note of every feature that they see to assist in accommodating individuals with physical disabilities (such as Braille on elevators, ramps, bathroom facilities, etc.). Then ask 547 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

them to visit the university archives, often located in the library, and review historical photographs of the campus to see what obstacles were present prior to the passage of the ADA. Assign a short report detailing their findings and explaining how they relate to the requirements of the ADA and efforts to protect the civil rights of disabled Americans. This activity lets students see first-hand the effect of efforts to protect the civil rights of disabled Americans. (Impact) PARTICIPATION ACTIVITY 2: Have your students prepare letters to the editor dealing with a recent civil rights issue or court case. Be sure to provide guidance on how to write a letter to the editor. While individual newspapers may have their own requirements, in general, letters should be short (no longer than 200 to 250 words) with well-focused paragraphs of no more than two to three sentences each. Letters should also focus on a single point, should be timely, should provide facts and figures to support students’ points, and should avoid too much emotion. Consider encouraging your students to submit their letters to a local or national newspaper for possible publication. This activity requires students to examine the scope of civil rights and helps students develop focused writing skills. PARTICIPATION ACTIVITY 3: Affirmative action questions have appeared regularly before the Supreme Court. Have students look at sample job applications (ask current seniors or, if available, graduate students if they would volunteer to provide resumes and job applications with names, addresses, and other private information blacked out) and determine what criteria are, can, and ought to be used for hiring decisions. This activity highlights the challenges posed by affirmative action programs and gives students the opportunity to consider the complex nature of discrimination in the job market.

Suggested Readings and Films READING 1: Juan Williams’s Eyes on the Prize: America’s Civil Rights Years, 1954–1965 (New York: Penguin, 1987) is a powerful yet accessible history of one of the formative moments in American civil rights history. 548 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

READING 2: In the Shadow of Race: Jews, Latinos, and Immigrant Politics in the United States (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2007) by Victoria Hattam is an engaging exploration of the distinction between race and ethnicity and how this distinction has affected public policy and the politics of immigration.

READING 3: When Affirmative Action Was White: An Untold History of Racial Inequality in Twentieth-Century America (New York: W. W. Norton, 2005), a controversial book by Ira Katznelson, contends that many of the public programs arising from the New Deal in the 1930s and 1940s were, in effect, affirmative action that benefited White Americans.

READING 4: In The Lesbian and Gay Movements: Assimilation or Liberation? (New York: Routledge, 2018), Craig A. Rimmerman offers a detailed analysis of the strategies and issues raised by the gay and lesbian rights movements.

READING 5: Paula D. McClain and Joseph Stewart’s Can We All Get Along?, 7th ed. (New York: Routledge, 2018) is a good overview of the contemporary status and historical development of the role of racial and ethnic minorities in American politics.

READING 6: Terry H. Anderson presents a history of affirmative action in the United States in The Pursuit of Fairness (New York: Oxford University Press, 2005).

READING 7: Several texts focus on the unique dynamics and history of the struggle for civil rights for Native Americans. Among the best are ▪

Laughlin McDonald, American Indians and the Fight for Equal Voting Rights (Norman, Okla.: University of Oklahoma Press, 2011) and

▪

David E. Wilkins, American Indian Politics and the American Political System (New York: Rowman and Littlefield, 2006).

READING 8: Affirmative action remains a controversial topic in American politics. Not surprisingly, it is also therefore a widely explored topic in the literature. Recent works on the topic include ▪

Sigal Alon, Race, Class, and Affirmative Action (New York: Russell Sage Foundation, 2015).

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Sarah Garland, Divided We Fail: The Story of an African American Community that Ended the Era of School Desegregation (Boston: Beacon, 2013);

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Graham Brown, Arnim Langer, and Frances Stewart, eds., Affirmative Action in Plural Societies: International Experiences (London: Palgrave, 2012);

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Richard Vernon, Historical Redress: Must We Pay for the Past? (New York: Continuum Press, 2012);

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Christopher Kyriakides and Rodolofo D. Torres, Race Defaced: Paradigms of Pessimism, Politics of Possibility (Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 2012).

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Matthew Gritter, Mexican Inclusion: The Origins of Anti-Discrimination Policy in Texas and the Southwest (College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 2012); and

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James Sterba, Affirmative Action for the Future (Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 2009).

READING 9: In Same-Sex Marriage in the United States: The Road to the Supreme Court (New York: Rowman & Littlefield, 2014), Jason Pierceson examines the legal, political, and social developments around the issue of same-sex marriage.

READING 10: In LGBTQ Politics: A Critical Reader (New York: New York University Press, 2017), Christine Keating, Marla Brettschneider, and Susan Burgess, eds, assess the rapid advancement of rights for LGBTQ people.

READING 11: In Women, Politics, and American Society, 5th ed. (New York: Longman, 2010), Nancy E. McGlen, Karen J. O’Connor, Laura Van Assendelft, and Wendy Gunther-Canada offer 550 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

an engaging text with a topical approach to the role of women in politics. Topics addressed include political rights, education, employment, and familial and reproductive rights.

READING 12: Larry Colton’s Southern League: A True Story of Baseball, Civil Rights, and the Deep South’s Most Compelling Pennant Race (New York: Grand Central Publishing, 2013) presents an interesting way to approach the topic, focusing on the integration of a minor league baseball team in Birmingham in 1964.

READING 13: The Cornell Law Library (www.law.cornell.edu) provides extensive resources and coverage of landmark and recent Supreme Court decisions dealing with civil rights.

READING 14: The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights (www.civilrights.org) is a coalition of 150 civil rights organizations. Its website examines a wide range of civil rights issues and also highlights contemporary developments in that area.

READING 15: Many groups are still involved with the struggle for civil rights: ▪

The National Council of La Raza (www.nclr.org) focuses on Hispanic rights.

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The National LGBTQ Task Force (www.thetaskforce.org) focuses on rights for LGBTQ people.

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The National Organization of Women (NOW) (www.now.org) website offers information on the organization and its issues/activities, including racial justice, the Equal Rights Amendment, reproductive rights, and so on.

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The Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund (MALDEF) (www.maldef.org) website provides information on census, scholarships, job opportunities, legal programs, regional offices information, and more.

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The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) website (www.naacp.org) offers information about the organization, membership, and issues of interest to proponents of civil rights. It has sections on economic opportunity, environmental and climate justice, health, criminal justice, and more.

▪

The Native American Rights Fund (NARF) (www.narf.org) focuses on Native American rights, and its website includes profiles of issues, an archive, resources, a tribal directory, and treaty information as well as a lot of other information.

READING 16: The Teaching Tolerance website (www.tolerance.org) of the Southern Poverty Law Center (www.splcenter.org) offers outstanding resources addressing many of the topics raised in this chapter.

READING 17: Several governmental websites deal with key information from this chapter: ▪

The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights (www.usccr.gov) is a bipartisan, factfinding agency established within the executive branch. The website offers news releases, publications, a calendar of events, and multimedia coverage of civil rights events.

▪

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (www.eeoc.gov)

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The Civil Rights Division, U.S. Department of Justice website (go to https://www.justice.gov/crt) offers an overview of the activities and programs of the DOJ on civil rights as well as links to documents, legislation, cases, and the Civil Rights Forum Newsletter.

▪

The U.S. Census Bureau (www.census.gov) website provides extensive information, particularly on racial inequality, in the United States.

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United States Department of Labor: Affirmative Action (go to www.dol.gov and click on “Topics,” then “Disability Resources”) website provides official information regarding affirmative action and disability rights.

FILM 18: The PBS series Eyes on the Prize offers a comprehensive, 14-part history of America’s civil rights movement from 1954 to 1985. Some of the most powerful are Episode 5: “Mississippi: Is This America? (1963–1964),” which covers the events surrounding Freedom Summer, and Episode 8: “Power!,” which explores the rise of the Black power movement and the Black Panther Party. The PBS website for the series (available via www.google.com by searching “American Experience Eyes on the Prize”) provides an extensive, episode-by-episode overview and includes

many resources for teaching using the series. Excerpts from this series provide a particularly powerful visual effect.

FILM 19: With All Deliberate Speed (2004) was produced by Films for the Humanities and Sciences. It examines the implementation of Brown v. Board of Education (1954) and includes both archival footage and contemporary interviews. FILM 20: Director Spike Lee’s 4 Little Girls (40 Acres and a Mule Filmworks, 1997) documents the bombing of the 16th Street Church in Birmingham, Alabama.

FILM 21: Many powerful films deal with civil rights issues and questions raised in this chapter. While care must be taken to present a balanced (and factual) picture to your students, the screening of such films in class can provide a powerful (and often emotional) way to raise important questions. ▪

Mississippi Burning (Alan Parker, director, Orion Pictures, 1988) dramatizes the true story of the murder of three civil rights workers who participated in Freedom Summer in 1964.

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Malcolm X (Spike Lee, director, Largo International N.V., 1992) is a powerful account of the civil rights leader’s rise and death.

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Spike Lee’s Get on the Bus (Columbia Pictures, 1996) tells the story of the Million Man March on Washington, D.C., in 1995.

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Ghosts of Mississippi (Rob Reiner, director, Castle Rock Entertainment, 1996). retells the story of the White supremacist who assassinated Medgar Evers.

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A biopic about a single mother who launches a legal battle against corporate groundwater contamination, Erin Brockovich (Steven Soderbergh, director, Universal Pictures, 2000) also deals with gender discrimination.

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Milk (Gus Van Sant, director, Focus Features, 2008) is a biographical film about the life of the gay rights activist who became the first openly gay person to be elected to office in California.

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Selma (2014). A film about the events surrounding the 1965 voting rights marches from Selma, Alabama to Montgomery, Alabama. 553 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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13th (2016). A documentary by director Ava Duvernay about racism and mass incarceration in the criminal justice system.

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Revel Features Chapter Introduction CURRENT EVENTS BULLETIN Video: WATCH Civil Rights: The Big Picture Document: READ The Fourteenth Amendment

Equality and Equal Rights (Structure) 15.1

Explain why the concept of equality is integral to our understanding of civil rights.

Sketchnote Video: WATCH The Difference Between Civil Rights and Civil Liberties Read: HAPPENING NOW Summary of the siege on the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, and the aftermath of the event. Journal Prompt 15.1 How do you understand the concept of equality? How does that understanding affect your support of or opposition to individual policies? QUIZ 15.1 Equality and Equal Rights (Structure)

Citizenship and the Rights It Affords (Structure) 15.2

Multimedia Gallery: VIEW Naturalization Eligibility Worksheet Journal Prompt 15.2 Are current restrictions on the rights of lawful permanent residents appropriate? What changes would you suggest making to those laws? QUIZ 15.2 Citizenship and the Rights It Affords (Structure)

The Quest for Equal Justice (Action) 15.3

Compare and contrast the efforts of various groups to obtain equal protection of the law.

Video: WATCH President Johnson Signs the Civil Rights Act Video: WATCH Landmark Legislation Stimulates Equal Rights Progress Video: WATCH March on Selma Remembered 50 Years Later ABC video. Video: WATCH Women’s March on Washington Video: WATCH “Early Days of the Women’s Suffrage Struggle in the United States” Social Explorer: FIGURE 15.1 PERCENTAGE OF BACHELOR’S DEGREES AWARDED, BY SEX Journal Prompt: FIGURE 15.1 What effect on the workplace is increased college graduation rates among women likely to have? Think of your family or that of someone you know. What do you notice about the women in these families achieving degrees from one generation to another? Document: READ Executive Order 9066 Journal Prompt 15.3 The federal government has taken many actions over the years to discriminate against groups of people, but it has also taken many steps to reverse those measures and expand rights for minorities and women. Why do you think our history has this ebb and flow? QUIZ 15.3 The Quest for Equal Justice (Action)

15.4

Evaluate the standards by which civil rights are protected today.

Sketchnote Video: WATCH Constitutional Classifications Video: WATCH Is Discrimination Ever Legal? Journal Prompt 15.4 Although the Supreme Court has never subjected laws discriminating based on sexual orientation to a heightened level of scrutiny, they could do so. Why do you think the Court has taken this stance? QUIZ 15.4 Equal Protection of the Laws: What Does It Mean? (Structure and Impact)

Voting Rights (Structure) 15.5

Trace the evolution of voting rights and their waning protection due to the Supreme Court’s interpretation of the 1965 Voting Rights Act.

Video: WATCH Politics in Plain Sight: Going to the Convenience Store Journal Prompt 15.5 Though we no longer have poll taxes or literacy tests, are there other ways in which citizens’ voting rights are limited? If so, what could you do to help protect them? QUIZ 15.5 Voting Rights (Structure)

Rights to Equal Access: Accommodations, Jobs, and Homes (Structure) 15.6

Describe congressional legislation forbidding discrimination in housing, employment, and accommodations.

Journal Prompt 15.6 Are class action lawsuits an effective response to employment discrimination? Why or why not? QUIZ 15.6 Rights to Equal Access: Accommodations, Jobs, and Homes (Structure)

15.7

Evaluate the history of school integration and the current state of affirmative action.

Video: WATCH Why Is Affirmative Action So Controversial and Do We Still Need It? Video: WATCH What the Supreme Court Ruling on University of Texas Admissions Means for Affirmative Action ABC video. Journal Prompt 15.7 After reading about affirmative action programs in higher education, are you in favor of them? If so, why? If not, what are other ways you can think of to increase diversity on college campuses? QUIZ 15.7 Education Rights (Impact) SHARED WRITING PROMPT: Civil Rights Are efforts at protecting civil rights valuable only if they are successful? How do you determine success? Considering the material in the chapter, are there some “failures” that have been important to later successes?

Review the Chapter Video: WATCH Civil Rights: So What? Flashcards: LEARN THE TERMS Civil Rights Flashcard set of key terms and definitions for the chapter. CHAPTER 15 QUIZ Civil Rights

16 Economic and Social Policy Chapter Overview Managing the economy and providing for social welfare are arguably are among the most important functions of the government. Indeed, the question of “who gets what, when, and how” is at the heart of politics. In this chapter, we explore economic and social policy in the United States. We begin by considering the role of the federal government in setting economic and social policy and by outlining how economic and social conditions are measured. Then we examine the basic tools used to make economic and social policy in the United States. Next, we describe the evolution and goals of economic and social policy. We conclude by evaluating the current status of and challenges for federal governmental policy in areas of the national debt, Social Security, and health care. By the end of the chapter, students should have a good understanding of national economic policy and social policy in the United States across a wide variety of issues.

Lecture Suggestions The Constitutional Foundations of Economic and Social Policy (Structure) 16.1

Describe the constitutional foundations and competing philosophies of economic and social policy.

LECTURE 1: Discuss the distribution of power to set economic policy in the United States. ▪

Like most of the powers granted the federal government, the authority to set economic policy is divided among the branches.

▪

Article I of the Constitution grants Congress the “Power to lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States” and “to borrow Money on the Credit of the United States.” It also declares that “No Money shall be drawn from the Treasury, but in Consequence of Appropriations made by Law.” 

The early history of the United States saw Congress and the courts take a very narrow view of congressional economic power.



Over time, that power has expanded dramatically, such that Congress’s power to “Pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare” has been broadly interpreted to grant power to authorize spending for a wide range of purposes.



Unlike many of the states, Congress is not bound by a balanced-budget requirement. The U.S. government regularly runs large deficits.

▪

While the president has no formal powers over taxation and spending, the influence of the presidency over the federal budget has expanded dramatically over time. Among the most important roles is the executive office’s submission of the Budget of the United States Government, which is transmitted from the president to the Congress annually. The budget outlines the president’s priorities and spending recommendations. 559 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

LECTURE 2: There are some in the United States who believe that people who do not succeed in a nation as big, rich, and open as the United States simply aren’t working hard enough. This belief has been a part of the United States’ consciousness for many years and this commitment to rugged individualism meant that government, whether local, state, or federal, played only a limited role in people’s lives. This belief had important implications for early social policy in the United States. ▪

Government aid was limited, and most low-income people relied on charity for help, as many still do. In general, U.S. social policy and the protections afforded by the U.S. government are far less robust than similar programs and policies in other developed democracies.

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Still, the United States has a long history of social programming. With the Revolutionary War barely over, the Continental Congress established the nation’s first programs to help soldiers disabled in battle and to provide retirement pensions for officers. These early programs set two important precedents for contemporary domestic policy. 

First, they established the notion that some people would be automatically entitled to certain government benefits on the basis of an eligibility requirement such as service in the nation’s armed forces. Thus, veterans’ relief was the nation’s first entitlement.



Second, these early programs also established government’s right to restrict some benefits to only those citizens who could actually prove their need for help. These were early examples of what we now call means-tested entitlements.

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Having entered the twentieth century with only a handful of domestic programs, most of which were built around helping veterans, the federal government left the century with a deep inventory of such programs.

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A social safety net is created by programs such as relief for unemployed workers, health care for the elderly, emergency shelters for the homeless, or school lunches for poor children, most of which are available to citizens only on the basis of a means test that proves they need help. 560 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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Because most of these programs are restricted to one group of citizens only, they are often described as categorical aid.

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Another goal of federal social policy is to raise the quality of life for all whether by improving air and water quality, building roads and bridges, regulating air traffic, fighting crime, or strengthening local schools through federal aid.

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Nearly all federal aid to the states for these purposes is distributed by formula on the basis of population, not need.

Measuring Economic and Social Conditions (Structure) 16.2

Describe the five measures used in making economic and social policy.

LECTURE 1: Underlying the power of nations and the well-being of their citizens is the strength of their economies—their total productive capacities. The United States produces more than $21 trillion worth of goods and services in a single year for its over 330 million people— more than $63,000 worth of output for every person. There are, however, multiple ways to assess the strength of the economy. ▪

Economic growth is usually measured as a percentage reflecting the expansion of the country’s gross domestic product, or GDP. Gross domestic product is a widely used measure of the performance of the economy; GDP is a nation’s total production of goods and services for a single year valued in terms of market prices.

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From a political standpoint, the unemployment rate may be the most important measure of the economy’s performance; the unemployment rate is the percentage of the civilian labor force looking for work or waiting to return to or begin a job.

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Inflation erodes the value of the dollar because higher prices mean that the same dollars can now purchase fewer goods and services. Thus, inflation erodes the value of savings, reduces the incentive to save, and hurts people who are living on fixed incomes. High rates of inflation thus have a detrimental effect on the health of the economy. 561 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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Historical data reveal that periods of economic growth have traditionally been followed by periods of contraction, giving rise to the notion of economic cycles. A downturn in economic activity is usually referred to as a recession, a term economists define as two or more quarters of negative economic growth—that is, declines in the gross domestic product.

LECTURE 2: The National Bureau of Economic Research (www.nber.org) provides information on economic activity, including historical economic trends and cycles. This makes for an interesting counterpoint to general trends of economic growth in the United States (measured in terms of GDP per capita), inflation, and unemployment. Students often respond to this information when it is presented graphically. You can find these data at the Bureau of Labor Statistics (www.bls.gov), the Bureau of Economic Analysis (www.bea.gov), or through Google’s public information database (www.google.com/publicdata).

LECTURE 3: While the unemployment rate is often used as a measure of economic health, many economists remain suspicious of the figure. Examine the challenge of using the unemployment rate as a measure of economic health. ▪

The unemployment rate measures the number of unemployed persons actively seeking work as a proportion of the total workforce.

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The official unemployment rate excludes several important groups: 

People who are currently or have recently been incarcerated

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Early retirees who would otherwise like to work and those on disability pensions

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Underemployed persons (people who would like to work full time but can only find part-time work or people who take jobs for which they are drastically overqualified, such as a medical doctor working as a gas station attendant)

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“Discouraged workers” who have given up trying to find work after prolonged failure to find employment



▪

To attempt to capture some of these groups, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics tracks several unemployment rates. While U3 is considered the “official rate,” other measures include a broader array of people. As a result, those rates (U4, U5, and U6) also tend to be higher than the official rate. 

U1 is the percentage of the labor force unemployed for 15 weeks or longer.

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U2 is the percentage of the labor force that lost jobs or completed temporary work.

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U3 is the official unemployment rate, comprising people who are without jobs and who have actively looked for work in the past four weeks.

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U4 includes U3 and adds so-called discouraged workers, who have stopped looking for work after being unable to find it.

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U5 includes U4 and adds other “marginally attached workers,” or those who would like and are able to work but have not looked for work recently.

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U6 includes U5 and adds part-time workers who want to work full time but cannot find full-time work. These people are often referred to as underemployed.

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The unemployment rate hides important demographic distributions. In general, the unemployment rate is lower for women than for men and is lower for White Americans and Asian Americans and higher for Hispanics. African Americans generally experience the highest rate of unemployment. Additionally, younger Americans are more likely to be unemployed than older Americans.

LECTURE 4: Examine the importance of inflation as a measure of economic health. ▪

The Consumer Price Index (CPI) is the key measure of inflation. Each month, BLS data gatherers fan out over the country looking at the prices of some 80,000 items from eggs to doctor visits. The goal of the CPI is to create a measure that reflects changes over time in the amount that consumers need to spend to achieve a certain standard of living.

▪

Inflation has risen sharply during three periods since 1970, with each of these sharp rises tied to soaring prices for energy. 

The first inflationary shock occurred in 1973 and 1974, when oil-producing Arab nations cut off the flow of oil to the United States to protest American support for Israel during its war with Egypt and Syria.

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The second occurred when the Iranian revolution of 1979 again disrupted the flow of oil from the Persian Gulf. Long lines and higher prices at the gas pumps were accompanied by an annual rate of inflation of 11 percent in 1979 and 14 percent during the election year of 1980.



Finally, in 1991 when Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait led to the Gulf War, there was a moderate surge in inflation as oil prices increased in anticipation of possible shortages (which actually never occurred).

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Since then, the annual inflation rate in the United States has consistently been below 4 percent. During the Great Recession, inflation dropped significantly, though many Americans did not have the income to take advantage of the decrease in prices.

LECTURE 5: Examine the relationship between inflation and unemployment with your students. ▪

Most economists believe there is a trade-off between unemployment and inflation, at least in the short run. As the government attempts to reduce the level of unemployment, it must generally live with a higher rate of inflation. Conversely, efforts to rein in inflation generally are accompanied by higher rates of unemployment.

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This trade-off can make dealing with some situations more complicated. In the late 1970s, the United States experienced a period of stagflation, in which both inflation and unemployment increased. This created a challenge for policy makers, who could not use traditional economic tools to address the crisis.

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It is important for the Fed to make adjustments to slow or boost the economy. One problem is that adjustments made by the Fed are not felt immediately. The Fed needs to anticipate problems and to make adjustments to prevent them. 564 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

The Tools of Economic and Social Policy (Action) 16.3

Analyze the basic tools used to make economic and social policy.

LECTURE 1: “Fiscal policy” refers to those government activities centered on spending, collecting revenue, or borrowing money. ▪

At the most basic level, governments can try to stimulate the economy (thereby preventing a recession or depression) in two ways. First, the government can lower taxes, which stimulates the economy either by encouraging consumer spending or by encouraging investment. Second, government can increase its own spending, which offsets declines in consumer demand. This is a key component of Keynesian economic policy.

▪

When the economy is growing too quickly and economists fear inflation may increase, the government can attempt to cool the economy down by increasing taxes or by reducing its own spending.

LECTURE 2: Explain the budget process. ▪

Before passage of the Budget and Accounting Act of 1921, no unified approach existed to develop and maintain the federal budget. Each executive agency dealt with the Congress directly, and the president played only a minor role.

▪

The Budget and Accounting Act of 1921 established the modern budgeting process. 

This process begins nearly two years before the start of the government’s fiscal year, which runs from October 1 through September 30. To start, the departments and agencies are required to estimate their needs and propose their individual budgets to the president. These estimates are based on the mandated services provided by the agency, the president’s priorities, and congressional demands.

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The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) is charged with overseeing the budget process on behalf of the president. The OMB reviews each agency’s 565 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

proposal and reconciles those proposals with the president’s priorities. The OMB also holds meetings with every department and agency to clarify any questions and to provide each agency and department with the opportunity to defend its proposal. 

Once these exchanges are complete, the OMB provides a single, comprehensive budget to the president, who reviews the documents and makes any adjustments. The president submits the budget recommendations to the Congress from the first Monday in January to the first Monday in February.

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The Constitution grants the Congress the power of the purse. Once the president’s proposed budget is presented, Congress begins its review. ▪

First, Congress approves an initial budget resolution setting broad spending and revenue goals. Because the budget resolution is not a law, it does not require presidential approval. Nevertheless, the budget resolution provides guidance for the entire process. It also begins hearings on the proposal.

▪

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office prepares an independent assessment of the proposed budget for Congress’s consideration by February 15. It also provides forecasts of the economy, analyzes fiscal policy, prepares cost estimates for proposed bills, and provides other information as requested by Congress.

LECTURE 3: Differentiate between fiscal and monetary policy. ▪

Fiscal policy refers to the taxing, spending, and borrowing activities of the national government.

▪

Monetary policy refers to decisions regarding the supply of money in the economy, including private borrowing, interest rates, and banking activity.

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The government uses both fiscal and monetary policy to manage the economy.

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The Federal Reserve (the Fed) is the central bank of the nation. It was established by the U.S. Congress in 1913 to help govern the nation’s monetary policy through an independent and apolitical process. The Fed is overseen by a seven-member board of governors. Members of the board are appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate to 14-year terms and cannot be removed without cause. The length of their terms is intended to insulate the Fed from political pressures from both the president and the Congress.

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The Fed’s primary role is to regulate the nation’s money supply. Priority is placed on limiting the rate of inflation and preventing recessions. 

There are five ways the FOMC controls monetary policy: ▪

Reserve Ratios. The Federal Reserve establishes the minimum cash reserves any bank must hold. By increasing the ratio, the Fed can effectively reduce the amount of money in circulation, slowing the economy down. By contrast, reducing the requirement increases the amount of money in circulation, generally leading to an expansion of economic activity.

▪

Federal Funds Rates. The federal funds rate is the interest rate at which banks trade balances held at the Federal Reserve. This rate is an important benchmark, as many other interest rates, including credit card rates and home mortgage rates, are often based on the federal funds rate. Increasing the federal funds rate thus makes borrowing more expensive, slowing economic activity. By contrast, lowering the federal funds rate makes borrowing cheaper, increasing economic activity.

▪

Open-Market Operations. This refers to the efforts by the central bank to buy or sell government bonds. This is the most common form of monetary policy and is generally used to try to control short-term interest rates. By selling bonds, the Fed effectively removes money from circulation, slowing the economy. Conversely, by purchasing bonds, the Fed effectively expands the money supply, encouraging economic activity. 567

▪

Discount Rate. The discount rate is the cost banks pay to borrow money from the Federal Reserve Bank. By reducing the discount rate, the Fed makes it more attractive for banks to borrow money, effectively increasing the amount of money in circulation and encouraging economic activity. By contrast, increasing the discount rate generally slows the economy down.

▪

Buying and Selling Foreign Currencies. The Federal Reserve can buy or sell foreign currencies in an attempt to maintain the value of the dollar within a particular range.

LECTURE 5: Most scholars trace the federal government’s efforts to protect citizens against economic and personal hard times to the Great Depression and the Social Security Act of 1935. Explain how Social Security changed public assistance in the United States, and differentiate between types of public assistance. ▪

One type of help for the poor is called public assistance, or welfare. 

The first public assistance programs were actually created in the late 1800s, when states established aid programs to help poor single mothers and their children.

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Most of these programs are means-tested entitlement programs. Public assistance in the United States today incorporates elements of job training, transportation subsidies, housing subsidies, free school lunches, food aid for poor families and pregnant mothers with young children, and tax credits for low-income people. The federal government also provides what some critics label “corporate welfare” to favored industries.

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In absolute numbers, most poor people are White. In both absolute and proportional terms, more women than men are poor.

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The second type of protection against hardship is social insurance, government programs that provide benefits to anyone who is eligible either because of past service (veterans, miners, merchant marines) or prepayments of some kind (payroll taxes for Social Security and Medicare or insurance premiums).

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Many federal assistance programs are partnerships with state governments. Because states vary greatly in their generosity, most federal assistance is designed to set a minimum floor of support that individual states can raise on their own.

LECTURE 6: An estimated 34 million people in the United States (just over 10 percent of the population) have incomes below the official poverty line—that is, their annual cash income falls below what is required to maintain a decent standard of living. ▪

Despite this, note that poor people are not the principal beneficiaries of social welfare spending. The middle classes, not the poor, are the major beneficiaries of the nation’s social welfare system.

▪

The flow of benefits to the middle class is the result of two types of entitlement programs: 

Means-tested benefits are distributed on the basis of the recipient’s income. Examples include the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program and housing programs for low-income households. Less than one-third of federal social welfare spending is means-tested spending.



Non-means-tested benefits are available to everyone regardless of income. Approximately two-thirds of all federal benefits are non-means-tested; the most well-known of these is Social Security.

The Evolution and Goals of Economic Policy (Action) 16.4

Describe the evolution and goals of economic policy.

LECTURE 1: Students should realize the delicate, demanding role that modern American government has assumed in trying to stabilize the economy. ▪

Begin by emphasizing that government has attempted to end permanently the wild swings between depression and inflation, while leaving most economic decisions in private hands. Its interest has been in an overall direction, rather than in day-today decisions.

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Give a short review of Keynesian economics. Outline the approaches used by Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush, which emphasized tax cuts, domestic budget cuts, increases in military spending, and deficits.

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Compare those policies with the Clinton administration’s stronger emphasis on social program expenditures and tax increases for high-income households and George W. Bush’s proposals—much of which were enacted in his first term.

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Discuss the Trump administration’s combination of tax cuts and spending increases, which caused the budget deficit to soar to record levels.

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Review the current economy, stressing trends in unemployment, inflation, and per capita income.

▪

Conclude with some of these points: 

The president and Congress seldom see eye to eye, making a decisive, quickacting policy difficult.



Tax policies and the monetary policies of the Federal Reserve System may not be synchronized.



Our instruments for control are rather general and not geared to fine tuning.



Indirect methods of controlling the business cycle (interest rates, money supply, spending, taxation) are slow, painful ways to regulate the economy, usually taking two years from perception of the problem to approving legislation to implementing the program to seeing any effects.

LECTURE 2: Along with all other nations, the United States increasingly depends on foreign trade. Many things that we need (such as oil) have to be imported. Others, such as automobiles, steel, textiles, and shoes are made more cheaply overseas. In turn, we need to export our surpluses, such as corn, soybeans, wheat, passenger airplanes, coal, and computers. Examine the dynamics of U.S. trade policy with your students. ▪

Quite clearly, the government subsidizes our farm exports (Australia, a friend but a competitor for agricultural markets, has been especially vehement in making this point), just as other nations subsidize foreign imports (e.g., cars, steel, coffee). One of our greatest exports in recent years has been loans to third-world countries on the edge of bankruptcy. 570 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

▪

In the face of these confusing facts, an increasing number of Americans argue that we should create new protectionist tariff barriers to keep out foreign goods, thereby supposedly saving American jobs. The debate has grown shrill and bitter. Some political leaders argue that we should pass laws requiring automobiles to include a fixed percentage of American-made parts.

▪

Shortsighted strategy urges that we increase our exports and cut back on imports. In this argument, the national government is pushed and shoved from every direction. The heated debate over the North Atlantic Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in 1993 and the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) in 1994 exemplify the passions this arouses.

▪

Taking the protectionist view, the Trump administration imposed tariffs on steel from some foreign countries and on a long list of Chinese products.

▪

Consider developing these scenarios: 

Brazil, Mexico, and Argentina declare national bankruptcy, leading to the collapse of major U.S. banks. What happens next?



The United States stops all corn, wheat, and soybean shipments to China and other countries with oppressive governments. Who wins? Who loses?



The United States halts imports of Japanese cars and electronic appliances. Who is hurt by such a move? The list of such possibilities is almost endless.

•

Try to suggest why protectionist sentiment is rising around the world and possible strategies to encourage free trade.

The Evolution and Goals of Social Policy (Action) 16.5

Describe the evolution and goals of social policy.

LECTURE 1: While Social Security is the most widely recognized social assistance program in the United States, many others are equally as important. Outline the social assistance programs in the United States with your students. ▪

Social Security was enacted in 1935. Supported by equal contributions from employers and employees, the program now covers more than 90 percent of the U.S. workforce. 571 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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The federal government began protecting women and children against poverty when Congress passed the Infancy and Maternity Protection Act of 1921.

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The Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) program was added in 1935.

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Under the Disability Insurance program, workers can apply for government benefits if they have been injured on the job. Unemployment insurance is available to workers who have lost their jobs because of economic conditions.

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The second major expansion of social policy came in the 1960s with what became known as the Great Society.

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The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) gives poor families coupons to purchase the basics of a healthy, nutritious diet.

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Head Start is a preschool program designed to help poor children get ready for kindergarten.

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Medicare was created in 1965 to provide health care to older citizens. It provides all reasonable hospital, medical, and prescription drug insurance.

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The Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program was created in 1972 to provide an extra measure of support for the elderly, the poor, and the blind or disabled.

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The Department of Housing and Urban Development, which was created in 1965, administers a number of programs designed to help low-income families find affordable, safe housing.

LECTURE 2: Examine the extent of poverty in the United States. ▪

The official definition of poverty used by the federal government focuses on the cash income needed to maintain a “decent standard of living.” The official poverty line is only a little more than one-third of the median income of all American families. It rises each year with the rate of inflation. As of 2020, the official poverty level for a family of four was $26,200.

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Poverty tends to rise during recessions and fall during periods of economic expansion.

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Roughly one in ten Americans lives below the official poverty level. However, this overall figure obscures important differences. 572 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.



Temporary Poverty. About half of the people counted as poor experience poverty for only a short time.



Persistent Poverty. About half of the people on welfare rolls at any one time are persistently poor—that is, likely to remain on welfare for five or more years.



Family Structure. Poverty and welfare dependency are much more frequent among female-headed households with no husband present than among husband-wife households.



The “Truly Disadvantaged.” The rise in joblessness in the inner cities has in turn increased the concentration of poor people, added to the number of poor single-parent families, and increased welfare dependency.

LECTURE 3: In many states, something similar to the 1996 federal welfare reform has been in place for some time. Examine these efforts with your students. ▪

The goal of welfare reform is to bring people back into the workforce. But the real question is whether these people can earn a living once they get there.

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All over the nation, states are helping welfare recipients find work. And those efforts have been successful.

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But, if the goal is to make welfare recipients self-sufficient, the results are not encouraging. When welfare recipients do find jobs, the pay is below a subsistence level, and they have no long-term prospects.

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The main problem is that to get beyond minimum-wage jobs welfare recipients need more education, transportation, child care, and often counseling.

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But those things cost money, which the legislatures are generally not ready to spend. Even states that do offer free education and child care to welfare recipients cannot keep up with the booming demand.

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And budget constraints have cut back many of these programs. The simple fact is that unskilled workers, whether on welfare or not, are having an increasingly hard time finding work that pays a living wage. 573 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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One other question should be posed: will welfare rolls go up once the U.S. economy begins to falter? Discuss this in class.

LECTURE 4: Senior citizens are the most politically powerful age group in the population. ▪

Senior citizens (aged 65 and older) constitute approximately 28 percent of registered voters, but, more important, because of their high voter turnout rates, they constitute more than one-third of the voters on election day.

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Seniors are well represented in Washington; the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) is the nation’s largest organized interest group.

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No elected officials can afford to offend seniors, and seniors strongly support generous Social Security benefits.

LECTURE 5: Governments in the United States have a long history of involvement in the health of Americans. Outline the scope of this involvement with your class. ▪

Beginning in the 1960s, the government began to fund health programs for senior citizens and the poor, known as Medicare and Medicaid, respectively.

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And in 2010, after several failed attempts by prior administrations, the Democratic Congress passed and President Barack Obama signed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, expanding the national government’s role in providing health insurance. While Congress repealed the individual mandate (a provision in the law requiring individuals to have health insurance) in 2017, the law remains largely intact.

▪

The U.S. government also plays a prominent role in public health through the use of immunizations, education, advertisements, research, and regulations.

The Economic and Social Policy Future (Impact) 16.6

Assess the future of economic and social policy.

LECTURE 1: The expenditures of all governments in the United States—federal, state, and local combined—today amount to over 35 percent of the GDP. The federal government itself spends more than $4.4 trillion each year—about 21 percent of the GDP. ▪

“Mandatory” Spending. Much of the growth of federal government spending over the years is attributed to mandatory spending items in the federal budget. Mandatory spending commitments in existing laws—notably Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and other entitlements, plus interest on the national debt— account for over 60 percent of the federal budget.

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“Discretionary” Spending. Washington policy makers consider spending not previously mandated by law to be discretionary. Discretionary spending, including defense, accounts for only about 40 percent of the budget.

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Exploding Deficits. Deficits are imbalances in the annual federal budget in which spending exceeds revenues.

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The Debt Burden. The accumulated annual federal deficits—that is, expenditures exceeding revenues each year—add up to the national debt burden.

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Interest Burden for Future Generations. Even if the federal government manages to balance future budgets, interest payments will remain obligations of the children and grandchildren of the current generation of policy makers and taxpayers.

LECTURE 2: Political leaders often campaign on the platform of balancing the federal budget. But once in office, they find balancing the budget to be far more difficult than they originally anticipated. Explore the challenge of balancing the federal budget. ▪

Approximately 60 percent of the federal budget comprises mandatory spending required under existing law. This includes spending on programs like Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and interest on the national debt. 

Some of these programs, like Social Security, are tied to the Consumer Price Index. This means that they automatically increase to match the rate of inflation. 575 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.



The cost of health spending has increased faster than the rate of inflation as a result of sharp increases in health care costs in the United States. Efforts to rein in these increases have generally been unsuccessful.



The popularity of mandatory spending programs like Social Security and Medicare make them politically difficult to cut. Indeed, Medicare has often been termed the “third rail of American politics.” Well-mobilized constituencies actively oppose proposals to reduce benefits.

▪

Discretionary spending represents only about 40 percent of all federal spending. But spending on national defense constitutes about half of that, or 20 percent of the total federal budget. Consequently, all other spending programs, ranging from national parks and federal prisons to highways and education, fall within the final 20 percent of the federal budget.

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Elected leaders often have little incentive to really reduce the federal budget. Well-mobilized constituencies exist for most federal spending programs. No specific constituency exists to reduce the federal deficit.

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Consequently, elected officials often find it politically expedient to make token cuts to federal spending. As a candidate for the presidency, for example, Republican nominee Mitt Romney proposed cutting spending on PBS as a step toward reducing the federal budget deficit. Yet spending on PBS represents only 0.00014 percent of the federal budget.

▪

Real efforts to balance the federal budget require dramatically rethinking spending on the four largest parts of the federal budget: defense spending, Social Security, Medicare/Medicaid, and the national debt.

LECTURE 3: Examine proposed reforms to “save” Social Security. ▪

All workers pay into Social Security and can claim benefits as an entitlement under the social insurance principle. However, the benefits received by most retirees far exceed their payments into the system.

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The income from Social Security taxes currently exceeds payments to beneficiaries; that is, it produces a surplus that Congress uses to hide a portion of overall federal deficits. 576 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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Politicians want to make Social Security reform as painless as possible. The topic of Social Security reform in Washington is so sensitive that Congress has been unable to adopt any long-term reform proposals since 1983, when a presidential commission recommended a gradual increase in the retirement age.

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But most Americans do recognize the seriousness of the problem. Polls show that less than half of the American public believes that the Social Security system will have money to provide benefits when they retire. Yet, despite their skepticism about the future of Social Security, relatively few Americans save enough for retirement.

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Proposals to save Social Security include a number of ideas: 

Many Republicans support ending the Social Security entitlement program and replacing it with a system to encourage people to save for their own retirements, effectively removing government from the equation.



Democrats generally oppose privatizing Social Security and instead propose to remove the income cap. Currently, only the first $137,700 of individual income is taxed for Social Security. They argue that by removing the cap, more revenue would be raised for the program, prolonging its solvency.



The only effective reforms that have been agreed to have increased the age at which Social Security benefits kick in.

LECTURE 4: Examine the contemporary challenges associated with health care in the United States. ▪

Historically, most reductions in death rates have resulted from public health and sanitation improvements, including immunizations, clean public water supplies, sanitary sewage disposal, improved diets, and increased standards of living.

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Many of the leading causes of death today—including heart disease, cancer, and stroke—are closely linked to heredity, personal habits and lifestyles (smoking, eating, drinking, exercise, stress), and the physical environment—factors over which doctors and hospitals have no direct control.

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Before the passage of the PPACA, an estimated 45 million Americans had no medical insurance, including workers and their dependents whose employers did 577 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

not offer a health insurance plan, as well as unemployed people who were not eligible for Medicare or Medicaid. As of 2019, the number of uninsured was nearly 30 million. ▪

Medicare, like most private insurance plans, requires patients to pay some initial charges called deductibles.

▪

Health care costs continue to grow. As of 2020, these costs account for 17.7 percent of the nation’s GDP.

Managed-care programs are designed to keep health care costs down by the establishment of strict guidelines regarding when and what diagnostic and therapeutic procedures should be administered to patients under various circumstances. Preferred provider organizations (PPOs) and health maintenance organizations (HMOs) are two examples of managed-care programs. LECTURE 5: Examine some of the criticisms of and legal challenges to “Obamacare,” or the ACA (the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010). ▪

In 2009, the Congressional Budget Office estimated the cost of health care reform at nearly $600 billion over ten years. Proponents argued that the costs would be offset by increased efficiency and reduced costs in other programs, which critics contended that the ACA would add to the deficit.

▪

Broader controversies 

Critics feared that this influx of patients would overload doctors and hospitals, leading to long waits and perhaps “rationing” of care. This concern was generally overstated.



Government-imposed limits on physicians’ fees may cause many doctors to turn away Medicare, Medicaid, and government-subsidized patients.

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Legal challenges focus on several issues. 

The health insurance industry strongly supports the individual mandate, as it requires that everyone have insurance, including those who are less expensive to insure.



The constitutionality of the individual mandate has been challenged in court.



Critics argue that the individual mandate is an unconstitutional expansion of congressional authority.

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In 2012, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Congress acted within its authority to pass the individual mandate. Interestingly, its decision was not based on the interstate commerce clause—as most observers believed it would be—but on the power of the Congress to impose new taxes.



After Congress voted in 2017 to eliminate the tax penalty attached to the individual mandate, opponents of the ACA saw a fresh opportunity to challenge the law in court. Texas, other GOP-dominated states, and the Trump administration argued that because the penalty was zeroed out, it was no longer a tax; therefore, it was no longer constitutional. Further, they argued that because the individual mandate was so interwoven with the other provisions of the law, the entire law should be struck down.

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Some states have opposed the requirement to establish insurance exchanges through which people whose employers do not offer insurance can nevertheless purchase insurance at a reduced rate.

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Finally, there is an emerging conflict over standards imposed by the ACA. The law initially established rules that health plans sold on HealthCare.gov had to provide certain “essential benefits,” such as coverage for emergency room visits, maternity care, prescription drugs, hospitalization, and medical tests. President Obama limited “skinny” plans that did not provide these benefits to a maximum duration of three months. However, the Trump administration subsequently issued a rule that allowed these plans to last 364 days and to be renewable for three years. Opponents of this move worry that people who get these “skinny” plans are not fully protected in the event of a serious health condition.

LECTURE 6: One of the most significant issues that policy makers must confront in the area of health policy is the rising cost of care. ▪

As citizens live longer, costs increase, placing a burden on people, insurance companies, and the national and state governments. 579 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, health care expenditures in the United States increased more than tenfold over the past 30 years, from $256 billion in 1980 to more than $3.6 trillion by 2018. While the relative increase slowed slightly in the 2000s, the overall rate of growth is forecast to continue to increase into the foreseeable future.

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The high cost of medical care in the United States is driven by several factors, including increasing reliance on expensive technologies and prescription drugs, an increase in chronic diseases like diabetes and heart disease, and administrative costs.

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Efforts to reduce health care spending have generally focused on cutting administrative costs. However, these account for less than 10 percent of all health care spending in the United States. The vast majority of the increasing costs (nearly 75 percent by the Kaiser Foundation’s estimate) come from treatment of chronic conditions. Addressing this increase is therefore a major policy challenge.

Class Activities CLASS ACTIVITY 1: Develop an engaging class discussion around this fundamental question: what is capitalism? ▪

Ask students to define and identify the major features of capitalism. Be sure to differentiate this idea from laissez-faire.

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Ask students to consider why capitalism is so important in American political culture. What are the advantages of capitalism? What does it do particularly well?

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What are the negative aspects of capitalism? What policies does the United States use to limit these negative consequences?

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Ask your class to identify the programs in the United States government budget that do not fit the definition of the “free-market economy” principle. Is the United States predominantly a free-market economy, or do you believe it to be predominantly another form of economy? If so, what?

This activity explores the philosophies of liberalism and free-market economics central to American political economy. (Structure) 580 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

CLASS ACTIVITY 2: Monetary policy is primarily set by appointed officials (the Fed), while fiscal policy is primarily established by elected officeholders (the president and Congress). ▪

Ask your class to consider whether the difference between elected and appointed policy makers appears to have an effect in setting our nation’s economic policy.

▪

Also, what does the accelerating pace of economic change suggest about elected leaders’ ability to manage the economy through fiscal policy?

This activity contrasts the monetary and fiscal policy tools used to regulate the economy. (Action) CLASS ACTIVITY 3: Invite a staff member from a representative’s office to brief the class about the current status of the federal budget. Who’s involved? Who wants what out of the budget? If a representative or a staffer is not available, consider inviting a state senator or representative to discuss the same questions, as well as differences between the federal and state budgetary process. This discussion could be particularly informative in states that have balancedbudget requirements or line-item vetoes. This activity contrasts federal and state budgetary policies and politics. (Structure and Action)

CLASS ACTIVITY 4: Have students debate the value of a balanced budget amendment. In particular, have them examine the costs and benefits of balancing the budget given that most of the budget expenditures are mandated. Insist that students identify which benefits and which obligations should be the first to go. This activity explores the politics of balanced budget proposals at the federal level.

CLASS ACTIVITY 5: Storyboard the federal deficit. Label several pieces of poster board with the following titles: Social Security, Medicaid/Medicare, and Defense Spending. ▪

A brief video highlighting how to create a storyboard is available at www.youtube.com by searching “how to create a storyboard”

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Ask students to write in the interest groups, demographic groups, and federal agencies that would protest cuts to each area of spending. 581 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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Have students discuss which groups might be most powerful in protecting their interests.

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Ask students to generate ideas for balancing the federal budget.

This activity provides students, particularly the more visually oriented and creative learners, with an opportunity to analyze the politics of the federal budget.

CLASS ACTIVITY 6: Make a list of entitlement programs funded by the federal government. ▪

Direct students to rank the following areas of spending according to which they think should receive the most money and which should receive the least: Social Security benefits, defense spending, income security, Medicare, health care programs, interest on national debt, education, science, transportation, and veterans’ benefits.

▪

Ask students to assume they are in a position to move the levers that affect the national economic well-being. They should also assume that the country is being threatened by inflation. What would they do with these controls: tax rates, government debt, government spending, discount rate, margin requirement, reserve requirements of member banks of the Federal Reserve System, down payments and consumer credit, and open-market activities of Federal Reserve banks in government securities?

▪

Conclude by contrasting the class’s priorities with the actual spending priorities of the U.S. government, which can be found at the OMB website (https://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/).

This assignment provides students an opportunity to explore the distribution of the federal budget and, by extension, the priorities of the federal government. (Action)

CLASS ACTIVITY 7: Assign students the backgrounds for various members of the Federal Reserve Board. Then, playing their assigned roles, have them debate the decision to raise or lower interest rates. It may be helpful to provide several copies of the Wall Street Journal (or another major newspaper with good economic coverage). 582 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

This activity illustrates both the Fed’s independence and its policy biases. (Structure and Action) CLASS ACTIVITY 8: Ask your class to consider the following questions: ▪

Compare the state of the American health care system to that of other developed nations. How does the American health care system compare with European systems?

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Who should pay for health care? What are the pros and cons of government-paid insurance as opposed to private insurance paid by an employer?

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How has Medicaid tried to control costs? Were these measures successful? Why has comprehensive health care reform proven to be so difficult?

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Cite the causes for inadequate health care programs in this country. Make two recommendations to address one of these causes and evaluate your approach.

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What are your concerns about health care? What if you found out that your family had to face a catastrophic health care problem today? Could you afford it?

This discussion guides students in their exploration of heath care and health policy in the United States and provides a comparative foundation for analyzing the American health care system. (Structure and Action)

CLASS ACTIVITY 9: Recent debates over Social Security reform make the issue ripe for classroom discussion. The federal government projects that Social Security will run out of money by 2035, at the latest. Have students consider the following questions: ▪

How do you feel about the fact that Social Security programs may not be available to you, assuming you will retire after 2035? How might this be remedied?

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Should those members of the over-65 age group who paid into Social Security but who have good alternate incomes be taken off Social Security? Why? Justify your conclusion.

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Should Social Security be kept the way it is, or should it be reformed? Why are there different opinions as to whether Social Security is in trouble or not? 583 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

This question highlights the challenges to the Social Security program and provides students with an opportunity to explore proposals intended to reform the Social Security system. (Action and Impact)

CLASS ACTIVITY 10: Have students develop working budgets for a family of three living at the poverty line. Conduct a class discussion that contrasts these budgets with students’ current lifestyles. ▪

The assignment could be accompanied by a data analysis and presentation exercise that asks students to prepare charts indicating the key differences in the demographics of the recipients of social insurance and public assistance programs.

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A similar assignment can focus on the SNAP challenge, which asks participants to eat for a week using the $4-per-person budget afforded to people receiving food stamps. More information can be found at www.frac.org.

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Afterward, ask your class to consider the following questions: 

What are the costs of living comfortably in your community?



Create a list of the costs either individually as an outside assignment, in several groups, or in the class as a whole. What costs listed would be the first to go?



What would go as you move on down the line to poverty or even homelessness?

▪

A final alternative assignment might focus on asking students to create a budget using the federal definition of poverty: a family of four living on or below $26,200 per year.

This activity highlights the challenges faced by Americans supported by the social safety net and provides a more realistic context within which to consider proposed policy reforms.

Research Activities RESEARCH ACTIVITY 1: Have students access a website that provides a simulation of the federal budget or provides students with other budgetary tradeoff or analysis games. An example can be found at www.federalbudgetchallenge.org. ▪

Ask your students to develop a current “balanced” budget.

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Ask them to write short papers in which they reflect on the challenge of balancing the federal budget. What hard decisions did they have to make?

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Consider having students compare their decisions in class, debating the value of their expenditure and revenue choices.

This activity illustrates the challenges of addressing the growing debt and balancing the country’s budget. (Action and Impact)

RESEARCH ACTIVITY 2: Have students research their home states’ fiscal policies and write short essays explaining them, being sure to include their own evaluations of their success or failure. This activity explores the nature of good economic policy and applies the lessons from the textbook to the specific home states of the students. (Action and Impact)

RESEARCH ACTIVITY 3: There has been a tendency to follow only those parts of the Keynesian doctrine that call for deficits in bad economic times to stimulate the economy and to ignore advice about running budget surpluses in good economic times (sometimes called “oneeyed” Keynesianism). ▪

Ask your students to find evidence of this assertion.

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Have them write short papers in which they examine the possible consequences of this tendency.

This activity explores in greater detail the nature of limits of Keynesian economic policy. (Structure and Action)

RESEARCH ACTIVITY 4: As a library assignment, ask students to research some of the methodological issues surrounding our standard economic measures such as unemployment, inflation, and the consumer price index. ▪

In what ways are these measures biased? What don’t they measure about the economy?

▪

Are there any alternative measures of economic health that should also be considered in economic policy making?

This assignment exposes students to the measures of economic health and their limitations. (Structure)

RESEARCH ACTIVITY 5: Have students write essays on how the war on terrorism has influenced the national budget. ▪

Require that students take a side as to the costs and benefits.

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What has the war on terrorism done to the national debt? Where is the majority of the money being spent?

This activity helps students understand the trade-offs involved in developing the federal budget and the impact that certain policy decisions can have on the budget. (Impact)

RESEARCH ACTIVITY 6: A huge debate rages in this country over the pros and cons of a constitutional amendment requiring a balanced budget. ▪

Have students do some research on this topic using the web. Have them look at the 27 amendments we have and how a budget amendment would fit in.

▪

Ask them to discover who supports and who opposes such an amendment in Congress and among interest groups and governors, and to be prepared to discuss why each actor supports or opposes it.

This item explores the politics of a balanced budget amendment and the political dynamics that make passage of such an amendment highly improbable. (Structure and Action) RESEARCH ACTIVITY 7: Ask students to prepare briefs on current economic or social policy issues being considered by Congress or regulatory agencies. Then have them research who supports regulatory change, the nature of such proposals, and who opposes the change. 586 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

This activity requires students to use the tools developed in the textbook to understand a contemporary policy challenge.

RESEARCH ACTIVITY 8: As part of the Affordable Care Act, states are to offer Medicaid to anyone at 133 percent of the federal poverty level. In a 2012 decision, the United States Supreme Court gave states discretion on this requirement. Have your students research the following questions: ▪

Investigate how your state is responding to this federal law. Is it implementing the new policy? Seeking a waiver from the federal government? Undertaking another course of action?

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How will this Court decision impact the uninsured in your state?

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Ask students to write short policy briefs summarizing their findings.

This activity focuses on policy reforms resulting from the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare). (Impact)

RESEARCH ACTIVITY 9: Ask students to research the 10-year fiscal outlay history of Social Security, Medicaid, and Medicare. ▪

How much government money has been spent in each of these areas?

▪

What do students think are reasons for spending changes in each of these areas?

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Have changes such as a new president, political shifts in majority-party control of Congress, and recessions had significant effects on spending?

This activity provides students an opportunity to develop their data literacy skills and to compare public policy priorities under different political conditions. (Action) RESEARCH ACTIVITY 10: Ask your students to write book reviews of one of the many contemporary books outlining the plight of the poor in the United States. In their reviews, ask them to consider the degree to which the American welfare state has successfully addressed the problems faced by the poor. Possible books include the following: ▪

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Karen Seccombe, So You Think I Drive a Cadillac? Welfare Recipients’ Perspectives on the System and Its Reform, 4th ed. (New York: Pearson, 2014).

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David K. Shipler, Work Doesn’t Work: From the Working Poor (New York: Knopf Doubleday, 2018).

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William Julius Wilson, More than Just Race: Being Black and Poor in the Inner City (New York: W. W. Norton, 2010).

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Barbara Ehrenreich, Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America (New York: Picador, 2011).

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Kathryn Edin and H. Luke Shaefer, $2.00 a Day: Living on Almost Nothing in America (New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2015).

This activity gives students an opportunity to engage with the wide literature on social policy and to apply the ideas developed in the text to analyze contemporary debates over social policy.

RESEARCH ACTIVITY 11: American social welfare programs are more limited than they are in other democracies. ▪

Divide your class into three or four research groups and assign a country (including the United States) to each group.

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Working outside of class, ask each group to review current social welfare policies of its assigned nation. The group should focus on social welfare policies but also go beyond the “obvious” and look at advantages and disadvantages of the system. For example, what effect has the system had on the budget, and what is the level of taxation?

▪

One member of each group should give a brief presentation in class the following week outlining the research group’s conclusions.

This activity gives students a strong comparative foundation on which to base their analyses of social policy in the United States. (Structure and Impact)

RESEARCH ACTIVITY 12: Ask your students to visit the websites of three social welfare programs established by the U.S. government. Examples might include Supplemental Security Income, Family Assistance (formerly Temporary Assistance to Needy Families and AFDC), 588 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Medicaid, Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program, or SNAP, and the Earned Income Tax Credit. Ask students to write short papers in which they analyze the requirements these programs establish for recipients. This activity familiarizes students with the wide variety of social programs in the United States and helps them understand the process by which benefits from the programs are distributed. (Action)

RESEARCH ACTIVITY 13: Several outstanding popular films examine the themes raised in this chapter and are included in the suggested reading list that follows. Ask your students to watch one and write short papers discussing the film in the context of this chapter. This activity gives students an opportunity to engage with the popular representations of social policy and to apply the ideas developed in the text to analyze contemporary policy debates.

Participation Activities PARTICIPATION ACTIVITY 1: Have students attend local city government meetings and write short responses in which they do the following: ▪

Summarize the items under consideration at the meeting attended.

▪

Reflect on the economic tools available to the city to achieve its policy goals.

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Contrast the economic policy toolkit available to the city with that available to the federal government.

This activity exposes students to the local economic policy-making process. (Structure and Action)

PARTICIPATION ACTIVITY 2: Have your students organize a public screening of a recent film on the national debt or the global economic crisis at your college or university. Examples include I.O.U.S.A., The Warning, or Breaking the Bank.

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Ask students to talk with the audience after the screening about whether or not the national debt is a problem and what, if anything, should be done about it.

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Have them summarize their discussions in short papers.

This activity encourages students to reflect on the challenges posed by the national debt and efforts to reduce the debt.

PARTICIPATION ACTIVITY 3: Have students examine the platforms of the Republican and Democratic Parties found at the respective party websites. The Republican Party platform can be found at www.gop.com and the Democratic Party platform at www.democrats.org. ▪

▪

Ask your students to consider the following questions: 

Do the parties state particular economic goals?



What policy positions do they espouse to reach those goals?

You might consider permitting them to include a minor party as well. Examples here include the Green Party (www.gp.org), Libertarian Party (www.lp.org), the Reform Party (https://reformparty.org/), and the Socialist Party (www.socialistparty-usa.net).

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Have students write a letter to the editor about which party’s economic policies are best for the United States and why.

This activity contrasts the economic policies of the major parties and develops students’ writing skills through a short, focused writing assignment.

PARTICIPATION ACTIVITY 4: Have your students prepare letters to the editor dealing with current social policy issues of interest to them. Be sure to provide guidance on how to write a letter to the editor. ▪

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Letters should also focus on a single point, be timely, provide supportive facts and figures, and avoid too much emotion.

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This activity requires students to think critically about contemporary public policy questions and helps them develop focused writing skills.

Suggested Readings and Films READING 1: John Maynard Keynes’s work is at the heart of most contemporary understandings of fiscal policy. In the classic The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money (New York: Classic Books, 1936 [2009]), he outlines his theory of government intervention. READING 2: Originally published in 1962, Milton Friedman’s classic, Capitalism and Freedom (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1962 [2002]), outlines the critique of Keynesianism at the heart of many contemporary calls for reforming federal economic policy. READING 3: In The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-First Century (New York: Picador, 2007), Thomas L. Friedman offers a fascinating discussion of contemporary economic trends, focusing in particular on the impact of globalization in the United States and around the world.

READING 4: In Fragmented Democracy: Medicaid, Federalism, and Unequal Politics (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2018), Jamila Michener examines variation across states in implementation of Medicaid and how citizens’ experiences with Medicaid influence their participation in politics. READING 5: In Behind from the Start: How America’s War on the Poor Is Harming our Most Vulnerable Children (New York: Oxford University Press, 2017), Lenette Azzi-Lessing examines the causes of America’s stubbornly high rate of child poverty, focusing on the link between the shaming of poor people and punitive welfare policies.

READING 6: In his Pulitzer Prize–winning book Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City (New York: Crown, 2016), Matthew Desmond follows eight families in Milwaukee as they struggle to keep a roof over their heads.

READING 7: Rebecca M. Blank offers a comprehensive analysis of growing inequality in the United States in Changing Inequality (Los Angeles: University of California, 2011). She presents a historical analysis and outlines the contemporary implications of America’s growing inequality.

READING 8: Several other texts also examine inequality and poverty in the United States. See, for example, the following: ▪

Joseph E. Stiglitz, The Price of Inequality: How Today’s Divided Society Endangers Our Future (New York: W. W. Norton, 2012).

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Christina Freeland, Plutocrats: The Rise of the New Global Super-Rich and the Fall of Everyone Else (New York: Penguin, 2012).

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David K. Shipler, Work Doesn’t Work: From the Working Poor (New York: Knopf Doubleday, 2018).

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William Julius Wilson, More than Just Race: Being Black and Poor in the Inner City (New York: WW Norton, 2010).

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Jeff Madrick, Invisible Americans: The Tragic Cost of Child Poverty (New York: Knopf Doubleday, 2020).

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Karen Seccombe and Susan J. Ferguson, Families in Poverty (New York: Pearson, 2006).

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Karen Seccombe, So You Think I Drive a Cadillac? Welfare Recipients’ Perspectives on the System and Its Reform, 4th ed. (New York: Pearson, 2014).

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Barbara Ehrenreich, Nickled and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America (New York: Picador, 2001).

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Kathryn Edin and H. Luke Shaefer, $2.00 a Day: Living on Almost Nothing in America (New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2015).

READING 9: In How Markets Fall: The Logic of Economic Calamities (New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 2010), John Cassidy argues that “utopian economics” on both the left and the right have traditionally assumed rational, self-interested actors as opposed to taking into consideration how real people act. Using the global financial crisis as his starting point, Cassidy deconstructs these assumptions and shows how they lead to poor policies.

READING 10: Martin Gilens analyzes the implications of inequality on American politics in Affluence and Influence: Economic Inequality and Political Power in America (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 2012).

READING 11: Roger LeRoy Miller, David K. Benjamin, and Douglas C. North present a series of short essays applying economic principles to a variety of public issues in The Economics of Public Issues, 19th ed. (New York: Pearson, 2015).

READING 12: An accessible introduction to macroeconomics that focuses on public policy is Thomas Sowell’s Basic Economics: A Citizen’s Guide to the Economy, 5th ed. (New York: Basic Books, 2015).

READING 13: Several recent publications outline alternative visions of American economic policy. Examples include the following: ▪

Neil Boortz and John Linder in The Fair Tax Book (New York: William Morrow, 2009) provide an argument in favor of abolishing income taxes and replacing them with a national sales tax.

▪

Emmanuel Saez and Gabriel Zucman in The Triumph of Injustice: How the Rich Dodge Taxes and How to Make Them Pay (New York: W.W. Norton, 2020) document how U.S economic policy transformed from a progressive system to one in which tax policies primarily benefit the wealthy. They suggest various reforms to make the tax system more just.

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Robert E. Hall and Alvin Rabushka in The Flat Tax (Stanford, CA: Hoover Institution Press, 2013) argue in favor of a uniform tax of 19 percent. 593 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

READING 14: The global financial crisis of 2007–2008 and subsequent recession garnered considerable attention from authors. Recent works on this topic include the following: ▪

Theda Skocpol and Lawrence R. Jacobs, eds., Reaching for a New Deal: Ambitious Governance, Economic Meltdown, and Polarized Politics in Obama’s First Two Years (New York: Russell Sage Foundation, 2011).

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Andrew Ross Sorkin, Too Big to Fail: The Inside Story of How Wall Street and Washington Fought to Save the Financial System—and Themselves (New York: Viking, 2009).

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John A. Alison, The Financial Crisis and the Free Market Cure: Why Pure Capitalism Is the World Economy’s Only Hope (New York: McGraw-Hill, 2012).

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John Bellamy Foster, The Great Financial Crisis: Causes and Consequences (New York: Monthly Review Press, 2009).

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Barry Eichengreen, Hall of Mirrors: The Great Depression, the Great Recession, and the Uses-and-Misuses of History (New York: Oxford University Press, 2016).

READING 15: Several journals focus on economic policy and related questions. Examples include the following: ▪

Oxford Review of Economic Policy: http://oxrep.oxfordjournals.org

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Journal of Economic Policy Reform: www.tandfonline.com/toc/gpre20/current

READING 16: In “The Influences of Federal Spending on Presidential Elections,” American Political Science Review 106, no. 2 (2012): 348–66, Douglas L. Kriner and Andrew Reeves examines whether federal spending in local constituencies affects voter preference, concluding that while voters often express a desire to reduce the deficit, they reward candidates who deliver benefits at the ballot box.

READING 17: The economic policy platforms of the major and minor parties in the United States are generally available through party websites. See, for example, the following: ▪

The Republican Party: www.gop.com

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The Democratic Party: www.democrats.org

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The Libertarian Party: www.lp.org

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The Reform Party: https://reformparty.org/

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The Socialist Party: www.socialistparty-usa.net

READING 18: Several key think tanks develop and critique U.S. economic policy. The most famous are the following: ▪

The American Enterprise Institute (www.aei.org) is a conservative think tank that addresses a variety of issues. Its website offers information on its calendar of events, a variety of articles, and links.

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The Brookings Institution (www.brookings.edu) is the oldest think tank in America and has the reputation of being fairly moderate. Its website offers policy briefings, articles, books, The Brookings Review, discussion groups, and links.

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The Cato Institute (www.cato.org) is a libertarian think tank promoting freemarket ideas. Its website offers a variety of articles and links.

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Center for American Progress (www.americanprogress.org) is a prominent liberal think tank with information about social policy.

READING 19: The two key governmental agencies dealing with the federal budget are the following: ▪

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO; www.cbo.gov) offers Congress’s opinions on budget matters, including statistics, reports, budget reviews, testimony, and more.

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The Office of Management and Budget (OMB; https://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/) offers budget information, reports, testimony, regulatory policies, and more from the perspective of the administration.

READING 20: The Council of Economic Advisors (CEA; https://www.whitehouse.gov/cea/) website offers the Economic Report of the president and CEA publications, as well as basic information about the CEA and its members.

READING 21: The Federal Reserve Board’s (FRB) website (www.federalreserve.gov) has basic information about the FRB, including its structure and purpose. It also has publications, announcements, lists of related websites, biographies of members, reports, and statistics. READING 22: The “Data and Statistics about the U.S.” website (https://www.usa.gov/statistics) provides statistics and data from a broad range of federal government agencies, including those most relevant for economic and social welfare policy in the United States. These include the Federal Reserve Board, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Social Security Administration, the Census Bureau, the Bureau of Economic Analysis, and Administration for Children and Families.

READING 23: The U.S. National Debt Clock (available via https://www.usdebtclock.org/) maintains up-to-the-second estimates of the national debt.

READING 24: In Social Welfare Politics and Policy, 8th ed. (New York: Pearson, 2015), Diana M. DiNitto and Linda K. Cummins offer a comprehensive overview of social welfare programs and the political debates that accompany them.

READING 25: Joel Blau and Mimi Abramovitz’s The Dynamics of Social Welfare Policy, 4th ed. (New York: Oxford University Press, 2014) is an outstanding text outlining the constantly evolving nature of social welfare policy and situating contemporary policy in its historical, economic, and ideological context.

READING 26: In Flat Broke with Children: Women in the Age of Welfare Reform (New York: Oxford Press, 2003), Sharon Hayes offers a take on welfare reform from the inside, focusing on the stories of single mothers and welfare workers adapting to changes in welfare policy in the United States. READING 27: Several journals focus explicitly on social policy issues, including the following: ▪

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Social Policy: www.socialpolicy.org

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The Journal of Social Research and Policy: www.jsrp.ro

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Social Policy and Administration: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/(ISSN)1467-9515

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Global Social Policy: http://gsp.sagepub.com

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Critical Social Policy: http://csp.sagepub.com

READING 28: Information on Social Security and Medicare programs can be found at the official website of the Social Security Administration (www.ssa.gov), where you can learn about your benefits and current issues and challenges facing the program. The Medicare website (www.medicare.gov) provides information on plans, eligibility, and so on.

READING 29: Debates over Social Security reform have grown more intense in recent years. These debates often pit the AARP (www.aarp.org), which wants to maintain the current system with limited reforms, against groups like the Cato Institute (www.cato.org), which seeks to dramatically restructure the current system by limiting the role of government and expanding the role of the private sector. The Concord Coalition (www.concordcoalition.org) is a nonpartisan, grassroots organization dedicated to eliminating federal budget deficits and ensuring that Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid are secure for all generations.

READING 30: The Institute for Research on Poverty (http://www.irp.wisc.edu/index.htm) offers an outstanding collection of materials analyzing the extent and causes of poverty in the United States. The National Center for Children in Poverty at Columbia University (www.nccp.org) provides similar materials but focuses more directly on children.

FILM 31: Who Owns America? Economic Crisis in the United States (Films for the Humanities and Sciences, 2007) examines the financial pulse of America through the eyes of noted economists and common citizens.

FILM 32: Bill Moyers Journal: February 15, 2008 (Films for the Humanities and Sciences, 2008) examines the impact of the federal debt on future generations with members of PublicAgenda.org.

FILM 33: Several popular films have addressed the growing budget deficit in recent years. Noted examples include the following: ▪

I.O.U.S.A. (Patrick Creadon, director, O’Malley Creadon Productions, 2008) focuses on the growing national debt.

▪

Frontline’s The Warning and Breaking the Bank both deal with the onset of the 2008 global financial crisis.

FILM 34: Welfare Reform: Social Responsibility. (Films for the Humanities and Sciences, 1997) weighs the financial savings of social welfare reform with our responsibility to help those in need. Part of the America’s Promise: Who’s Entitled to What series, which contains several other films relevant to this chapter. FILM 35: Frontline’s Sick around America (PBS, 2009) offers a critical take on efforts at health care reform in the United States. Its sister film, Sick around the World (PBS, 2008) provides a comparative perspective, contrasting the U.S. health care system and its results with those of other developed democracies. FILM 36: Michael Moore’s Sicko (Dog Eat Dog Films, 2007) provides a critical take on health care in the United States. Many of his other films, including Capitalism: A Love Story (Overture Films, 2009) and Roger and Me (Dog Eat Dog Films, 2003) are also relevant to the material covered in this chapter. FILM 37: The ABC News Nightline film America’s Working Poor (2007) examines the struggles of people trying to make it in the United States while living under the poverty line. Homeless in America (Kaya Redford and Tommy Wiseau, directors, Wiseau-Films, 2004) and It Was a Wonderful Life (Michèle Ohayon, director, CineWomen, 2004) explore similar themes. 598 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

FILM 38: Morgan Spurlock, the filmmaker behind Supersize Me (The Con, 2004) and The Greatest Movie Ever Sold (Snoot Entertainment, 2011), produced a short-lived series titled 30 Days (Actual Reality Pictures, 2005). The series, which lasted just three seasons, put Spurlock and his colleagues in other people’s shoes for a month. Several episodes provide an outstanding entrée into the themes of this chapter. Among the most relevant are “Minimum Wage” (Season 1), “Outsourcing” (Season 2), “Jail” (Season 2), “Working in a Coal Mine” (Season 3), and “Life on an Indian Reservation” (Season 3).

Revel Features Chapter Introduction CURRENT EVENTS BULLETIN Video: WATCH Economic and Social Policy: The Big Picture

The Constitutional Foundations of Economic and Social Policy (Structure) 16.1

Describe the constitutional foundations and competing philosophies of economic and social policy.

Document: READ Preamble to the Constitution of the United States Video: WATCH Will Robots Take Your Job? Read: HAPPENING NOW Summary of the siege on the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, and the aftermath of the event. Journal Prompt 16.1 What role do you think the government should play in the economy? Should that role change based on whether the economy is doing well or poorly? QUIZ 16.1 The Constitutional Foundations of Economic and Social Policy (Structure)

16.2

Describe the five measures used in making economic and social policy.

Social Explorer: FIGURE 16.1 FOUR MEASURES OF U.S. ECONOMIC PERFORMANCE, 2000–2020 Video: WATCH Economists: U.S. Entered Recession in February Due to COVID-19 Video: WATCH Why Is the Government in so Much Debt and Should I Be Worried? Sketchnote Video: WATCH Economic Health Journal Prompt 16.2 Which measure is most important to you as you think of entering the work force? Is there any measure that you think Congress should always keep steady, not fluctuating? QUIZ 16.2 Measuring Economic and Social Conditions (Structure)

The Tools of Economic and Social Policy (Action) 16.3

Analyze the basic tools used to make economic and social policy.

Document: READ The Federalist, No. 30 Video: WATCH Impact of Government Shutdown Felt Across US ABC video. Social Explorer: FIGURE 16.2 WHERE THE FEDERAL INCOME CAME FROM AND WHERE IT WENT IN THE 2020 BUDGET Social Explorer: FIGURE 16.4 HOW INTEREST RATES AFFECT DIFFERENT KINDS OF LOANS, 2018 COMPARED WITH 2020 Sketchnote Video: WATCH Fiscal and Monetary Policy Video: WATCH Politics Hidden in Plain Sight: Going to the Grocery Store Journal Prompt 16.3 Why do you think there are so many different antipoverty programs today? Why haven’t Congress and the president put them together? QUIZ 16.3 The Tools of Economic and Social Policy (Action)

The Evolution and Goals of Economic Policy (Action) 16.4

Describe the evolution and goals of economic policy.

Video: WATCH What’s Next for the Stock Market? Journal Prompt 16.4 To what extent should the federal government seek to prevent and break up the formation of monopolies? QUIZ 16.4 The Evolution and Goals of Economic Policy (Action)

The Evolution and Goals of Social Policy (Action) 16.5

Describe the evolution and goals of social policy.

Journal Prompt: FIGURE 16.5 What impact has the Social Security program had on poverty? Is there a better way to meet the needs of older Americans?

Social Explorer: FIGURE 16.7 SOCIAL SECURITY SURPLUSES/DEFICITS (% OF GDP) Journal Prompt 16.5 Should people be required to pay for health insurance or pay a financial penalty? How should the government respond to the financial needs of someone in medical debt who does not carry health insurance? QUIZ 16.5 The Evolution and Goals of Social Policy (Action)

The Economic and Social Policy Future (Impact) 16.6

Assess the future of economic and social policy.

Would health care and Social Security be better off if they were managed entirely by the private sector? Why or why not? QUIZ 16.6 The Economic and Social Policy Future (Impact) SHARED WRITING Economic and Social Policy What do you think are the biggest holes in America’s safety net, and do they come from economic policy or social policy? Can you imagine ever needing the net for yourself, and if so, do you think it would protect you?

Review the Chapter Video: WATCH Economic and Social Policy: So What? Flashcards: LEARN THE TERMS Economic and Social Policy Flashcard set of key terms and definitions for the chapter. CHAPTER 16 QUIZ Economic and Social Policy

17 Foreign and Defense Policy Chapter Overview Unlike domestic policy, which receives considerable attention and debate, foreign policy usually escapes popular attention. This is largely a reflection of the general apathy toward foreign policy expressed by the American public. In this chapter, we explore U.S. foreign and defense policy. We begin by outlining the constitutional foundations and current philosophies that guide foreign and defense policy. Then, we evaluate the options for achieving foreign policy and defense goals. Next, we examine the structure of the foreign policy and defense bureaucracy in the United States. We conclude by assessing the goals and impact of America’s foreign and defense policy. By the end of the chapter, students should have a good understanding of the major foreign policy issues and the policy-making process.

Lecture Suggestions The Constitutional Foundations of Foreign and Defense Policy Understand the constitutional foundations and current philosophies that guide foreign and defense policy.

17.1

LECTURE 1: Defense of the nation is a given, but what else? This is the gray area called protecting the “national interests.” What are the national interests? That is up to each president to decide. They are a combination of public opinion, personal opinion, party opinion, and world opinion. We have always made spreading liberty and democracy a main mission of every presidency. At the same time, as a superpower, it is the job of the United States to keep the world stabilized. As such, we are the “world’s policeman.” There are two main approaches to using America’s power: ▪

Unilateralists think that the United States can do everything on its own. This way we can do exactly what we want without entanglements, treaties, or asking permission.

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Multilateralists believe that many nations around the world have the same interests as we do, so we should work with them to build a stronger world community. Although the United States is the most powerful nation in the world, some things, like pollution and cleaning the environment, take global action.

LECTURE 2: Historically, U.S. foreign and defense policy has been built on two very different views of the world. Distinguish between these two approaches and explain the key issues in understanding foreign policy. ▪

Realism is the belief that other nations are interested first and foremost in their own advancement and in strengthening their own power.

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Idealism is the belief that nations can work together to solve common problems such as global hunger and poverty with peace, not war, as the ultimate aim. Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson 604Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

▪

The United States uses both theories—realism with dictators and idealism when promoting democracy. During the Trump administration, this approach was flipped. While President Trump used realism in his approach to China, he pursued idealism with some of the world’s most dangerous countries, including North Korea and Russia.

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Whether based on realism or idealism, U.S. foreign policy has reflected very different views of how it should respond to the rest of the world. 

Isolationism is the belief that the United States should stay out of international affairs unless other nations constitute a direct threat to its existence. Isolationism was generally the dominant foreign policy of the United States until WWII, but it is alive today in the debate about Iraq and Afghanistan.



Internationalism is the belief that the United States must be engaged in international affairs to protect its own interests. Realists and idealists, while disagreeing on the goals of foreign policy, can still agree on internationalism.

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Internationalists have two views on how to engage in world affairs. First is unilateralism—a belief that the United States has the right to act alone in response to threats even if other nations are unwilling to help. This is best known as the Bush Doctrine. Multilateralists believe that the United States should act only with the active support of other nations.

LECTURE 3: Since its founding, the United States has formulated policies that define its relationships with other nations. At the core of the debate is the concern for a grand strategy—a plan that determines American national security interests, outlines possible threats to those interests, and recommends military and diplomatic policies to attain them. Outline the early foreign policy of the United States. ▪

Until the twentieth century, the United States followed a grand strategy of isolationism, a policy of minimizing the nation’s involvement in world affairs. The alternative policy is internationalism based on the belief that intervention in other nations is sometimes necessary to protect one’s own interests.

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For the most part, the founders were isolationist; Washington warned against foreign alliances in his farewell address. Although presidents in the nineteenth Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson 605Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

century tended to stay out of European affairs, they did actively intervene in the Western Hemisphere. By 1900, the United States had become the most powerful country west of the Atlantic Ocean. ▪

At the turn of the twentieth century, American leaders were reconsidering isolationism, but the nation’s involvement in world politics was sporadic. Industrialization led to increased trade, and America’s economic ties to Europe grew exponentially with the onset of World War I. The United States entered WWI as a result of those trade ties. President Wilson tried to reshape the world order by introducing his Fourteen Points that called for, among other things, a League of Nations—but the American Senate did not approve the league.

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The next 25 years saw great economic turmoil in Europe, which led to Germany choosing Hitler in 1933. Italy chose Mussolini, and Spain became engulfed in civil war. The United States stayed distant from all these problems while dealing with its own economic collapse. Japan, Germany, and Italy were very aggressive through the 1930s, which led to WWII.

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President Roosevelt was sympathetic to the British, French, and Soviets because he recognized that a Europe dominated by Hitler would threaten America’s dominance in North America—but America was still isolationist. When Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, the nation lost its isolationist ideals, and it entered WWII.

The Tools of Foreign and Defense Policy (Action) 17.2

Evaluate the options for achieving foreign policy and defense goals.

LECTURE 1: International politics, like all politics, is a struggle for power. The struggle for power is global; it involves all the nations and peoples of the world, whatever their goals or ideals. The struggle for power among nations has led to many attempts to bring order to the international system. ▪

Originally, collective security meant that all nations would join together to guarantee each other’s “territorial integrity and existing political independence” against “external aggression” by any nation. Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson 606Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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Today, the United Nations is the primary collective-security institution in the world. 

The United Nations was founded in 1945 in the aftermath of World War II.



The Security Council has the “primary responsibility” for maintaining “international peace and security.”



The General Assembly has authority over “any matter affecting the peace of the world,” although it is supposed to defer to the Security Council when the council has already taken up a particular security matter. No nation has a veto in the General Assembly; every nation has one vote regardless of its size or power.

▪

During the Cold War, the UN was overshadowed by the confrontation of the world’s two superpowers: the United States and the Soviet Union. Since the end of the Cold War, though, the United Nations and its Security Council must rely on “the last remaining superpower,” the United States, to take the lead in enforcing its resolutions.

▪

Regional security organizations also attempt to bring order to international relations. During the Cold War, both the United States and the Soviet Union created regional alliances to counter the influence of the other. While the Soviets’ Warsaw Pact has dissolved, the U.S.-led North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) remains. NATO was a mutual-security agreement and joint military command uniting the nations of Western Europe, initially formed to resist Soviet expansionism. After the end of the Cold War, the role of NATO evolved. 

NATO Expansion. In recent years, NATO has made the key decision to expand its security protections to the newly democratic nations of Eastern Europe.



NATO and Ethnic Conflicts in the Balkans. Ethnic wars in the former communist nation of Yugoslavia, and the media coverage of the hardships endured by the people there, inspired NATO to intervene and deploy troops to Bosnia in 1995 to halt conflict raging among Serbs, Croats, and Muslims. NATO again acted militarily to halt ethnic conflict in Kosovo in 1999. Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson 607Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.



NATO in Afghanistan. In 2003, NATO created an International Security Assistance Force, officially under UN auspices, “to assist the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan in creating a stable and secure environment for the people of Afghanistan.”

LECTURE 2: In 1945, the United States emerged victorious with a transformed foreign policy. Isolationism was no longer a viable option, and through the Marshall Plan—a program that provided aid to rebuild Western European economies—the United States worked with its allies in Europe to bolster their security against the Soviet communist threat. Outline the major Cold War foreign policy developments for the United States. ▪

The United States and its allies created the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in 1949, a web of democratic allies with a common defense against the Soviet Union. The grand strategy became one of containment: guarding against Soviet power by adopting policies that limited its geographic expansion. This led to the Cold War, which lasted until 1989. The United States and the Soviet Union engaged in diplomatic and economic hostility but not full-fledged war. Europe stabilized while the rest of the world became hot zones.

▪

The United States became involved in the Korean War and in Vietnam. It sponsored coups in Iran, Guatemala, and the Dominican Republic. It supported governments fighting communism in the Philippines, Chile, and El Salvador. Vietnam was the most intense proxy war fought; in the aftermath, both superpowers rethought their stance, which resulted in détente—a period of reduced tensions.

The 1980s saw a resurgence of the Cold War as a result of the Soviet Union’s invasion Afghanistan—but shortly into the decade, the Soviet Union began to collapse. Gorbachev passed many reforms designed to shore up the Soviet economy, which led to the Berlin Wall falling in 1989 and the end of the Cold War. This brought forth a major discussion as to what the next grand strategy should be. In the 1990s, the grand strategy included isolationism, selective engagement, cooperative security, and American primacy.

LECTURE 3: The United States has a number of tools for achieving foreign policy success. Much of foreign policy is conducted by the Foreign Service and ambassadors and uses “soft power.” Explain the mechanisms of hard and soft power for your students. ▪

Examine the role of “hard power” in U.S. foreign policy. 

The United States uses economic pressure to punish other nations for opposing its interests. It has employed economic sanctions—denying export, import, or financial relations with a target country—more than 100 times in the past 50 years and more than any other nation.



War is the complete and total breakdown of diplomatic efforts. The United States has used military intervention an average of almost once a year since 1789, although usually in short-term initiatives. However, not all military action is visible to the public or even the intended target—covert activities are also used.

▪

“Soft power” refers to mechanisms of negotiation and diplomacy. It is exercised through institutions like the United Nations, one of the most important arenas for traditional diplomacy. Established in 1945 by the victors of WWII, it now has 189 member nations, including five permanent members of the Security Council: the United States, China, Russia, Britain, and France. 

Public diplomacy has three basic goals: cast the enemy in a less favorable light among its supporters, mold the image of a conflict, and clarify the ultimate foreign policy goals.

The United States offers aid to more than 100 countries directly and to other nations through contributions to various UN development funds. It has provided more than $400 billion since 1945, but recently its contributions are less than 50 percent of what they were in 1985. This aid is also a tool of soft power.

LECTURE 4: During the Cold War, the nuclear arsenals of the United States and the Soviet Union threatened a global holocaust. Yet, paradoxically, the very destructiveness of nuclear weapons caused leaders on both sides to exercise extreme caution in their relations with each other. ▪

Scores of wars, large and small, were fought by nations during the Cold War years, yet U.S. and Soviet troops never engaged in direct combat against each other. This was driven in part by concerns over uncontrolled escalation in the use of nuclear weapons.

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This idea is referred to as “deterrence.” Deterrence is based on the notion that a nation can dissuade a rational enemy from attacking by maintaining the capacity to destroy the enemy’s homeland even after the nation has suffered a wellexecuted surprise attack by the enemy.

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Today, most experts agree that the greatest danger of nuclear attack comes not from other countries but from terrorist organizations in possession of nuclear devices. Because of their ideology, terrorists are unlikely to be persuaded by the logic of deterrence.

Administering Foreign and Defense Policy (Action) 17.3

Outline the structure of the foreign and defense policy bureaucracy.

LECTURE 1: Many of the key foreign policy-making powers are reserved to the president. However, important limits have also been placed on executive authority in foreign affairs. ▪

The president is invested with great power in the area of foreign affairs. The Constitution grants the president the initiative in matters directly involved in the conduct of diplomatic and military affairs. Article II, Section 2, provides that “(t)he President shall be Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy”; “that (h)e shall have Power, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, to make Treaties, provided two-thirds of the Senators present concur”; and that the president “shall nominate and by and with the consent of the Senate, shall appoint Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson 610Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Consuls.” Similarly, Article II, Section 3, states that (t)he president “shall receive Ambassadors and other public Ministers.” ▪

Read along with the command in Article III, Section 3, that the president “shall take care that the laws be faithfully executed,” these provisions have widely been regarded as explicit evidence of the inherent presidential power to administer foreign policy.

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The president therefore has exclusive responsibility for matters such as implementing military policy, negotiating treaties, and establishing and breaking off relations with foreign sovereign governments.

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But there are some limits to these broad powers. For one thing, the president cannot unilaterally assess fees on items being imported into the United States. President Nixon attempted to do this, adding a 10 percent surcharge on most articles imported into the United States, but a federal court struck this down in 1974. The court found that the power to impose such fees rested exclusively with Congress.

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Could a president sign a treaty with another nation that overrides a constitutional provision? For instance, could a president sign a treaty vowing that, in exchange for certain other concessions, all countries signing the treaty would deny women the right to vote? In the early 1950s, many elected officials and scholars believed that any and all constitutional provisions could be overridden via an international treaty and claimed that the treaty power was the Achilles’ heel of the Constitution. In answer to these concerns, Justice Black wrote in the majority opinion in Reid v. Covert, 354 U.S. 1 (1957) that “No agreement with a foreign nation can confer power on the Congress, or on any other branch of government, which is free from the restraints of the Constitution.”

LECTURE 2: Foreign policy, like domestic policy, involves making choices, but the choices involved are about relations with the rest of the world. Because the president is the main force behind foreign policy, every morning the White House receives a highly confidential intelligence briefing that might cover monetary transactions in Tokyo, last night’s events in some trouble

spot on the globe, or Fidel Castro’s health. The briefing is part of the massive informational arsenal the president uses to manage American foreign policy. Outline the foreign policy role of the president and the federal bureaucracy. ▪

The president is the main force behind foreign policy. 

As chief diplomat, the president negotiates treaties; as commander in chief of the armed forces, the president deploys American troops abroad. The president also appoints U.S. ambassadors and the heads of executive departments (with the consent of the Senate) and has the sole power to accord official recognition to other countries and receive (or refuse to receive) their representatives.

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Presidents make some foreign policy through the formal mechanisms of treaties or executive agreements. Both are written accords in which the parties agree to specific actions and both have legal standing, but only treaties require Senate ratification. Thus, presidents usually find it more convenient to use executive agreements.

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Since the end of World War II, presidents have negotiated thousands of executive agreements but only about 800 treaties. Most executive agreements deal with routine and noncontroversial matters, but they have also been used for matters of significance, as in the case of the agreement ending the Vietnam War and arms control agreements.

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An extensive foreign policy bureaucracy supports the president. 

The State Department is the foreign policy arm of the U.S. government. Its head is the secretary of state (Thomas Jefferson was the first). ▪

Traditionally, the secretary of state has been the key adviser to the president on foreign policy matters.

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In countries from Albania to Zimbabwe, the State Department staffs over 300 U.S. embassies, consulates, and other posts, representing the interests of Americans.

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The approximately 34,000 State Department employees are organized into functional areas (such as economic and business affairs and human rights and humanitarian affairs) and area specialties (a section on Middle Eastern

affairs, one on European affairs, and so on), each nation being handled by a “country desk.” ▪

The political appointees who occupy the top positions in the department and the highly select members of the Foreign Service who compose most of the department are heavily involved in formulating and executing American foreign policy.

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Foreign policy and military policy are closely linked. Thus, a key foreign policy actor is the Department of Defense, often called “the Pentagon” after the five-sided building in which it is located. ▪

Created by Congress after World War II, the department collected together the U.S. Army, Navy, and Air Force.

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The services have never been thoroughly integrated, however, and critics contend that they continue to plan and operate too independently of one another, although reforms made under the Goldwater-Nichols Defense Reorganization Act of 1986 increased interservice cooperation and centralization of the military hierarchy.

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The secretary of defense manages a budget larger than the entire budget of most nations and is the president’s main civilian adviser on national defense matters.

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The Joint Chiefs of Staff is made up of the commanding officers of each of the services, along with a chairperson and vice chairperson.

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American military leaders are sometimes portrayed as aggressive hawks in policy making. However, Richard Betts carefully examined the Joint Chiefs’ advice to the president in many crises and found them to be no more likely than civilian advisers to push an aggressive military policy.

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High-ranking officials are supposed to coordinate American foreign and military policies. Congress formed the National Security Council (NSC) in 1947 for this purpose. ▪

The NSC comprises the president, the vice president, the secretary of defense, and the secretary of state.

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The president’s assistant for national security—a position that first gained public prominence with the flamboyant, globe-trotting Henry Kissinger during President Nixon’s first term—manages the NSC staff.

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All policy makers require information to make good decisions. Information on the capabilities and intentions of other nations is often difficult to obtain. As a result, governments resort to intelligence agencies to obtain and interpret such information. Congress created the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) after World War II to coordinate American information- and data-gathering intelligence activities abroad and to collect, analyze, and evaluate its own intelligence. ▪

The CIA plays a vital role in providing information and analysis necessary for effective development and implementation of national security policy.

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Most of its activities are uncontroversial because the bulk of the material it collects and analyzes comes from readily available sources, such as government reports and newspapers.

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Also generally accepted is its use of espionage to collect information— when the espionage is directed against foreign adversaries.

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The National Reconnaissance Office uses imagery satellites to monitor missile sites and other military activities around the world.

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The National Security Agency (NSA) is on the cutting edge of electronic eavesdropping capabilities and produces foreign signals intelligence. It also works to protect against foreign adversaries gaining access to sensitive or classified national security information.

LECTURE 3: Foreign policy and national security are most influenced by the president and Congress. ▪

The president relies heavily on special advisers in the executive branch when making foreign policy and national security decisions. Vice president Cheney was a key adviser to President Bush and a main proponent of the invasion of Iraq, warrantless wire taps, and the sometimes controversial treatment of enemy noncombatants. After the resignation of Donald Rumsfeld as defense secretary, Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson 614Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Robert Gates completed President Bush’s term and remained secretary into President Obama’s first term. The Trump administration was notable for an unusually high rate of turnover in national security advisors, creating confusion and uncertainty both for the armed forces and for America’s allies. ▪

Additional foreign policy players include o The national security adviser, who briefs the president on national and foreign threats to the nation; o The secretary of state, who oversees diplomatic initiatives, including the 273 U.S. embassies around the world; o The secretary of defense, who heads the Department of Defense, which is extremely influential in shaping foreign and military policy, and oversees the U.S. military; and o The Joint Chiefs of Staff, which includes the head of each of the armed forces (army, navy, air force, and marines), provides advice to the secretary of defense. There is also a large intelligence community, from the National Security Administration to the Central Intelligence Administration, which informs military and covert activities.

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Congress takes a backseat to all of this. Its limited functions include declaring war, authorizing spending, approving treaties, and conducting investigations and oversight. Probably the most effective means of control is money. Foreign aid, military spending, and budgets all have to go through Congress before the president can sign off on them.

LECTURE 4: While presidents stand front and center in shaping foreign policy, Congress does play a role. Outline the role of Congress in foreign policy. ▪

Congress legislates on a variety of foreign policy topics: weapons programs, foreign aid, environmental standards, and trade. The most significant trade agreement in recent history is the North American Free Trade Agreement, signed in 1992, which reduces barriers to trade among Canada, Mexico, and the United

States. It was ratified by the Senate in 1993. Congress also legislates what agencies look like; it can require agencies to work together. ▪

Congress also retains the power to declare war, which it has done five times in the nation’s history. This area of policy is the most controversial, as it is unclear who has the ultimate authority to initiate and oversee the conduct of war. Congress passed the War Powers Resolution in 1973 to place several legal constraints on the president’s ability to initiate international conflict. The resolution has not, however, ever been used to end a military operation.

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The War Powers Resolution requires the president to notify Congress within 48 hours of committing U.S. forces to military action and requires that all forces be withdrawn after 60 days unless Congress explicitly authorizes the action. However, Congress has only invoked this limitation once, following President Ronald Regan’s deployment of U.S. military forces to Lebanon in 1983.

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Congress confirms all nominees to foreign policy posts. This process for foreign policy nominees is different from that for other nominees; they first go through the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations.

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The Senate has the power to ratify treaties, international agreements in which the United States becomes a party once signed by the president and approved by twothirds of the Senate. Of the 1,500 treaties it has considered since 1789, it rejected only 21. If the president does not want to deal with the Senate, he or she can bypass the ratification process by signing an executive agreement: an international agreement in which the United States becomes a party without approval from the Senate. Congress can overturn these agreements, however, so the president’s power is not absolute.

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Congress influences foreign policy through oversight—at any point, either chamber can convene hearings on any topic that an agency is pursuing. This can create tremendous publicity about issues.

LECTURE 5: Examine the key actors and agencies in the foreign policy bureaucracy.

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The National Security Council was formed in 1947 and assists the president in gathering information from military services and other security-related executive agencies. It coordinates the activities of the armed forces and other agencies to increase national security cooperation. This must include the vice president, the national security adviser, the secretaries of state and defense, and the chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Most presidents include other people—staff assistants.

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The State Department is the agency home of diplomats, embassies, treaty negotiators, and most foreign aid programs. It handles diplomacy—the peaceful negotiation of economic and political relationships among countries.

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The Defense Department replaced the departments of war and navy and handles the military arm of foreign policy. Its job is to defend the nation from external attack, but it also conducts counterterrorism efforts in the Middle East, provides assistance to war-torn areas in Africa, trains other militaries for antidrug operations in South America, and struggles to maintain stability in Afghanistan. The Department of Defense is much bigger than the Department of State.

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To formulate foreign policy, the United States needs reliable information from the world. Since WWII, the Central Intelligence Agency—the cornerstone of U.S. efforts to gather and analyze data to confront America’s real and potential enemies—has had primary responsibility for intelligence. Its size and budget is classified. The National Security Agency was formed in 1952 to monitor communications coming in and out of the nation; the agency specializes in code breaking as well. The Departments of State and Defense also have their own intelligence agencies to supply analysis to the Joint Chiefs and secretaries of defense and state. The Federal Bureau of Investigation in the Department of Justice collects intelligence as well.

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Given the number of agencies collecting intelligence, the system is not as efficient as it could be. The Department of Homeland Security was created in 2002 to coordinate the work of agencies in preventing and responding to attacks on the United States.

Foreign Policy Goals (Impact) 17.4

Assess the goals and impacts of America’s foreign policy.

LECTURE 1: Identify and briefly explain the major foreign policy issues faced by the United States. ▪

The international community has been working for decades to reduce the threat of weapons of mass destruction—beginning with disarmament talks between the United States and the Soviet Union in the 1970s.

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Until recently, the United States was engaged in ongoing combat operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. While the United States has transitioned out of combat operations in Iraq, both wars were extremely expensive, and a major policy objective for the United States throughout much of the 2000s was to successfully conclude these conflicts.

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“War on terrorism” is a broad term used to describe efforts to control terrorist acts sponsored by other nations.

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One long-term goal has been to secure peace between Israel and its neighbors, because the region is an important source of the world’s oil and in part because the United States considers Israel an ally.

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Promoting free trade abroad is a step in globalization—a commitment to the free movement of goods across international borders. The United States also uses trade as a tool to promote human rights and democratic reform.

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The United States has a mixed record in efforts to control global climate change. But it is an issue the world is addressing through the Paris agreement.

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The United States has always promoted democracy, even though sometimes it comes into conflict with other agenda items, such as free trade. For example, we are very much economically connected to China even though it denies citizens basic human rights.

Assess the goals and impacts of America’s defense policy. LECTURE 1: Evaluate the most significant problems facing the United States in the post–Cold War world. ▪

Terrorism is the number-one issue for people thinking about security. Will terrorists strike again? If so, will they succeed? Is the United States safer now than before 9/11? Most reports say there will always be attacks, but we have so far been able to thwart them, or they did not succeed because of poor luck and planning on the terrorists’ part. A recent report on the security of the United States concluded that we are less safe than we were before 9/11. There are more terrorists in the world, and more people hate America today than before 9/11. The U.S. focus on military intervention is challenged by other nations who focus on policing and intelligence work to thwart terrorism.

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Weapons of mass destruction (nuclear, biological, or chemical weapons with the potential to harm large numbers of people) will always be a problem for the United States and other nations. We currently know of two rogue nations, North Korea and Iran, who are working to get, or already have, weapons of mass destruction. These nations scare the global community, because we believe they could sell some of these weapons to terrorists or start a nuclear arms race. While the death of the Soviet Union was a good thing, the current status of its nuclear arsenal scares many. Many think the international community should have done more to secure its nuclear arsenal. Even while this is slowly progressing, most people are concerned about the security of Pakistan’s arsenal. Nuclear weapons and an unstable regime do not mix well.

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The Middle East is a conundrum in that it is home to some of the richest nations in the world and some of the poorest. Many of the poor areas lag in education, women’s rights, sanitation, freedom, and democracy. With the religious fight going on between Sunni and Shi’ite Muslims, as well as a potentially explosive situation in Syria, the Middle East is a powder keg waiting to blow.

On top of this is the continuing battle between Israel and the Palestinians and Arabs. Throw in stagnant economies, mass unemployment, corruption, and a dysfunctional educational system, and it becomes downright dangerous! ▪

The Indian subcontinent is also a hot spot with constant tensions between two nuclear powers, India and Pakistan. Although both are currently our allies, they also hate each other with a passion, thanks to long-running territorial disputes.

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China is fast becoming a major threat to the United States with its growing economy, industrialization, and humongous population of nearly 1.4 billion. Throw in the fact that its military is larger and modernizing (it is building its own carrier battle group), and it becomes a serious threat militarily and economically.

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Russia. Under the control of Vladimir Putin, Russia has been acting unilaterally for its own interests, which have been at odds with ours. This has strained our relations, particularly in 2014 when Russia invaded the neighboring country of Ukraine. The United States leveled sanctions against Russia, furthering the tension between the two countries.

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Global Economy. Globalization is always a concern of the United States today, especially trade. The United States is the world’s third largest exporter by value (behind only the European Union and China) and is second only to the European Union for total imports by value. The United States has been pushing for free trade almost since its inception as a country. The United States created the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), later expanded to the Central American Free Trade agreement (CAFTA), which was debated at length. Many think that NAFTA has been bad for the United States, but Texas thinks it is good, since it exports more to Mexico than anywhere else. 

Protecting intellectual property rights like movies and music is important, given the problems of piracy and sharing. There is also debate concerning large drug companies and their patent rights; some have given up their patents while others have not.

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The United States regularly partners with the International Monetary Fund and World Bank to try to stabilize the world’s economic community. A good Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson 620Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

economy ensures fair and profitable trade for everyone. More recently, we have been less effective, since the dramatic fall of the value in the dollar. Although this has been going on for some time, the American economy almost collapsed at the end of 2008, and the road back has been slow. ▪

Foreign Aid. President Bush changed foreign aid by tying money to a Millennium Challenge Account, which demands certain performance from money recipients.

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Global Environment. The United States has signed on to several antipollution treaties, but one of the more significant, the Kyoto Protocol, was not sent to the U.S. Senate for approval. Without that approval, President Bush was able to extract the United States from the climate change treaty. More recently, the Trump administration withdrew the United States from the Paris climate agreement. Awareness of global warming is very real in America, but many are not convinced it is happening. However, a strong majority still favors some effort to reduce our pollution or “carbon footprint.”

LECTURE 2: Terrorism involves the deliberate targeting of civilians and the infliction of widespread destruction. Terrorists hope that the resulting media portrayals of the pain and suffering of victims will call attention to their particular political grievances and instill fear in people. Above all, it is important to remember that terrorism is a political act. ▪

Terrorism takes many forms, including the bombing of buildings (such as the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on September 11, 2001; on the American embassy in Kenya in 1998; and on the World Trade Center in 1993) and ships (such as the U.S.S. Cole in Yemen in 2000), the assassinations of political leaders (as when Iraq attempted to kill former president George Bush in 1993), and the kidnappings of diplomats and civilians (as when Iranians took Americans hostage in 1979).

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Global terrorism has evolved over the years into highly sophisticated networks operating in many countries.

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It is difficult to defend against terrorism, especially in an open society. 

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Improved security measures and better intelligence gathering can help.

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So, perhaps, can punishing governments and organizations that engage in terrorist activities.

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In 1986, the United States launched an air attack on Libya in response to Libyansupported acts of terrorism; in 1993, the United States struck at Iraq’s intelligence center in response to a foiled plot to assassinate former president George H. W. Bush; and, in 1998, the United States launched an attack in Afghanistan on Osama bin Laden, the leader of the terrorist organization al-Qaeda.

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Following the September 11, 2001, terror attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States, the president outlined a broad “response to terrorism” to be fought both at home and abroad through diplomatic, military, financial, investigative, homeland security, and humanitarian means. 

Operation Enduring Freedom began in Afghanistan in October 2001, marking the beginning of the military phase of the war on terrorism. The war began with U.S. Air Force and Navy aircraft attacks on known al-Qaeda bases in Afghanistan. U.S. Special Forces organized and led anti-Taliban fighters, including several tribal groups, in a campaign against the Taliban regime.

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U.S. military intervention in Iraq, known as Operation Iraqi Freedom, was also framed as part of the war on terror, though no clear links between Saddam Hussein’s regime and the al-Qaeda organization were ever identified.

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In the meantime, the president declared that Iran, Iraq, and North Korea formed an “axis of evil” and began laying plans to remove Iraqi president Saddam Hussein from power. In 2003, a U.S.-led coalition toppled Hussein.

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In contrast, winning the war on terror, involving as it does terrorist groups and not enemy states, will require political changes that erode and ultimately undermine support for the ideology and strategy of those determined to destroy the United States and its allies. The war will be won not when Washington and its allies kill or capture all terrorists or potential terrorists, but when the ideology the terrorists espouse is discredited; when their tactics are seen to have failed; and when potential

terrorists find more promising paths to the dignity, respect, and opportunities they crave. ▪

In 2007, President Bush ordered a troop “surge” in Iraq. It was designed to quell violence and give Iraqis the opportunity to establish a democratic government, train forces to assume police and defense responsibilities, and engage in national reconciliation among the major religious and ethnic groups. President Obama substantially reduced U.S. troop levels, concluding combat operations and removing U.S. combat forces from the country in 2011.

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President Obama has turned America’s attention to Afghanistan, which continues to be threatened by Taliban insurgents and religious extremists, some of whom are linked to al-Qaeda and to sponsors outside the country. Ensuring legitimate and effective governance in Afghanistan, delivering relief assistance, and countering the surge in narcotics cultivation remain major challenges for the international community.

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In 2009, President Obama announced an increase of 30,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan. Although his goal was to begin removing them after a short period, success has been elusive. On Memorial Day 2014, President Obama announced that the troops would be home by the end of the year, saying that “by the end of 2014 the Afghans will be fully responsible for the security of their country.”

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During the Trump administration, troop levels in Afghanistan ranged between 11,000 and 15,000. By 2020, however, the number of troops was reduced to 4,500, and President Trump announced in November 2020 that the troop level would be reduced even further (to 2,500) by January 2021.

The war on terrorism requires the United States to reshape its military planning to confront unconventional (or asymmetrical) wars—lightly armed, irregular enemy forces engaging in tactics such as ambushes, hidden explosives, suicide bombings, and hostage takings. This war also creates new conditions for the use of military force, including preemptive attacks on regimes that threaten to use weapons of mass destruction—chemical, biological, or nuclear—against the United States or its allies or to supply terrorist organizations with these weapons.

LECTURE 3: Since the end of the Cold War, the United States has been the world’s only superpower. While it is likely to be challenged by China in the future, three factors contribute to the United States’ superpower status today. ▪

The United States has the world’s largest and most innovative economy. Although we have a population of more than 330 million, we have the world’s largest GDP (more than $21 trillion). China just topped $14.3 trillion and is number two. America is also first in imports but is second in exports, and this trade imbalance is a large concern. Today, America has economic advantages in many of the technologies of the future: telecommunications, biotechnology, mass communications, software, finance, e-commerce, business services, transportation, and computer chips. Most of these companies are global corporations, meaning we have economic concerns worldwide. Thus, when the American economy suffers, the whole world suffers, and vice versa.

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The United States has the world’s most powerful military. We can project this military power anywhere in the world, in just a few hours. The U.S. defense budget is bigger than that of the next 25 nations combined. The United States is the only nation to have supercarrier battle groups, and we have 11 of them! Our air force is bigger than all other air forces combined and can project power anywhere in the world. Only the Chinese army is bigger than that of the United States, but its troops do not have the technical and logistical advantages that U.S. forces have. China and Russia are the only two nations who could challenge the United States, but they are not even close. As of 2020, current active military personnel numbered 1.3 million, down from 2 million in 1990. This means we put a strong emphasis on using National Guard and Reserve troops to support our regular forces. Additionally, the U.S. military has changed its current missions to include a more multifaceted approach. It is not just about defeating the enemy but also controlling and securing territory and fighting counterinsurgencies.

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American culture, ideology, and way of life—“soft power”—are widely admired. Most of the Internet is in English. Add to that our entertainment, fast food, and culture of opportunity, and everyone wants to be associated with America. This power was jeopardized after our 2003 invasion of Iraq, but it has since reasserted itself, especially after the United States began to pull out of Iraq.

Class Activities CLASS ACTIVITY 1: Ask students to decide what role humanitarian efforts should play in American foreign policy. Focus on a couple of specific examples: ▪

Do you agree or disagree with President George W. Bush’s $15 billion grant to Africa in an effort to fight AIDS, which was tripled to $48 billion? Why?

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Do you agree or disagree with President Barack Obama’s decision to send military advisers to Central Africa in pursuit of the guerilla leader Joseph Kony? Why?

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Do you agree or disagree with President Trump’s policy restricting the U.S. Refugee Admission program? Why?

This discussion item highlights the challenges of addressing humanitarian issues in a complex international environment. (Action)

CLASS ACTIVITY 2: For a class discussion, have students debate the value of American involvement in UN peacekeeping efforts. ▪

Have students examine the costs and benefits of this policy to American citizens and businesses.

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Ask them what exactly they would propose instead of American participation in these efforts.

This item explores the benefits and limitations of multilateralism as a tool of American foreign policy. (Structure and Action)

CLASS ACTIVITY 3: Reconciling covert activities with the principles of open democratic government remains a challenge for public officials.

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Does your class perceive any conflict between “democracy” and the need for “national security”?

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What types of limitations would your students place on covert activities?

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What type of distinction do they draw between activities of democracies and activities of nations like the former Soviet Union when it comes to national security?

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Do closed-door negotiations and decision making, such as those used by President John F. Kennedy during the Cuban missile crisis, have a place in a democratic society?

This discussion question explores the tension between the American democratic political system and the need for secrecy in U.S. foreign policy. (Action)

CLASS ACTIVITY 4: Many Americans became disillusioned with the United Nations, which, according to some, failed to live up to its promise and adopted an anti-American bias. But with the end of the Cold War and the old bipolar world, there is an increase in the activities of the United Nations. Ask your students the following questions: ▪

What is the chief function of the United Nations today? How is the United Nations involved in contemporary crises such as the Israeli-Palestinian dispute, the upheaval in Syria, the war and reconstruction of Iraq and Afghanistan, and the developments in Libya?

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What changes would you advocate in its organization and powers?

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To what extent should the making of United States foreign policy be influenced and governed by the activities and decisions of the United Nations legally? Politically? Why?

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Should U.S. troops be placed under UN command in peacekeeping missions?

This question examines the global role of the United Nations and its relationship with the United States. (Action)

CLASS ACTIVITY 5: Ask students to prepare an impromptu debate on the U.S. presence in Afghanistan. ▪

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Give them 10 minutes to prepare arguments.

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Allot total debate time according to the demands of your class schedule.

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Ask the remaining students to act as debate judges.

This activity explores the U.S. intervention in Afghanistan.

CLASS ACTIVITY 6: An international group of scientists (the Club of Rome) has projected a series of world disasters in the twenty-first century. Famine, pestilence, and pollution will rage uncontrolled over large sections of the planet, according to the club, unless we immediately institute controls such as contraception, changes in diet, and conservation of national resources. In this world-of-tomorrow scenario, the United States appears to be in a favored position. Have your students answer the following questions: ▪

Assuming the predictions are true, how should we protect our future? How responsible are we for world problems?

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Should we share the world’s resources equally, or should we write off nations with uncontrolled birth rates?

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What about the threat of global climate change? How do countries compare in terms of per capita greenhouse gas emissions? Does the United States have a responsibility to cut its greenhouse gas emissions? Why or why not?

This question addresses the contemporary policy challenges facing the United States and encourages students to think about the trade-offs between unilateralism and multilateralism in addressing those challenges.

CLASS ACTIVITY 7: Ask students to write essays that answer the following question: how have defense policy experts suggested the U.S. military be reformed? Explain the factors leading to these suggestions. This activity illustrates the changing nature of threats to national security and encourages students to think about the role of the military in addressing those threats. (Action)

CLASS ACTIVITY 8: Ask students to write down the reason(s) the Bush administration went to war with Iraq. Have them reveal their answers and discuss why they differ from one another. Then have them consider the following questions: Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson 627Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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What are the consequences of the war?

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Have any of these objectives or goals been achieved?

You may also find that some believe Iraq to be responsible for 9/11, even years after the Bush administration declared this to be untrue. This discussion encourages students to reflect on the Iraq war and its root causes.

Research Activities RESEARCH ACTIVITY 1: Ask students to write essays that answer the following questions: ▪

How does national security policy contribute to an expanded scope of government?

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Can you think of any ways to reduce spending on national defense? In your opinion, would it be wise to do so? Why or why not?

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Would you support cutting military spending as part of a package to reduce the federal debt? How are debt and security related?

This writing activity requires students to think about the nature of national security and the relationship between military and economic security.

RESEARCH ACTIVITY 2: Have each student choose a country and investigate the nature of U.S. foreign policy toward that country. ▪

They should consider the specific issues in which the United States has an interest. What policy instruments (foreign aid, diplomacy, military forces) is the United States using to accomplish those goals?

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Have students write brief essays addressing these questions.

This writing assignment highlights the diversity of American interests around the world and helps students to develop more thoughtful positions on foreign and defense policy making.

RESEARCH ACTIVITY 3: Have students do some research on businesses in your area involved in international trade. ▪

They should identify where area businesses operate and why.

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Are there more international ties in your area than you thought?

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What kind of impact does this trade have on you, your town or city, and the country?

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Find out whether you can invite international businesspersons who visit your area to come to your class.

This activity illustrates the interconnections of the global economy and the intersection of national security and international economic policy. (Action)

RESEARCH ACTIVITY 4: Have your students describe the origin and form of the United Nations. They should examine the United Nations organization at www.un.org and determine which countries are in the Security Council at this time, what agencies the UN sponsors, and how many member states exist. Ask them to report on their findings as follows. ▪

Outline the regional alliances created during the Cold War era.

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How did the UN provide “collective security” in places such as Rwanda and Sudan?

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Go to the NATO website at www.nato.int and describe the major initiatives of this body, comparing them to those of the United Nations.

This activity examines the roles of the United Nations and NATO in global politics. (Structure and Action)

RESEARCH ACTIVITY 5: Have students choose two news publications and compare their coverage of a number of international issues. Ask them to write papers explaining the differences. Possible pairs might include an online and a print source (such as U.S. News and World Report and Time), a more liberal and a more conservative publication (such as the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal), or a more popular and a more analytic source (such as USA Today and the Christian Science Monitor). This activity explores the influence of the news media in the framing of foreign policy and global politics. (Action)

RESEARCH ACTIVITY 6: The Iraq war remains controversial, largely due to the postwar failures in reconstruction. Have your students prepare research papers that examine the efforts of the United States in reconstructing the Philippines after the Spanish-American War and Japan and Germany after World War II. They should describe policies used in past reconstructions that might have benefited the United States in rebuilding Iraq. This research assignment connects historical and contemporary examples of preemptive war, democracy promotion, and national reconstruction in U.S. foreign policy. (Action)

RESEARCH ACTIVITY 7: Investigate global opinion on American foreign policy. ▪

Ask students to choose foreign policy issues of interest and find two newspaper or magazine articles on their issues: one from an American publication and one from a foreign media source.

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Ask students to compare and contrast the views on their issues; place emphasis on exploring whether global public opinion has the potential to impact American foreign policy making.

This activity contrasts the foreign policy coverage offered by domestic and foreign sources and explores the intersection of public opinion and foreign policy.

RESEARCH ACTIVITY 8: The end of the Cold War created a more complex international environment in which threats to U.S. national interests could come from a variety of military and nonmilitary fronts. Ask your students to write short essays in which they list and explain the three most significant military and nonmilitary threats to the United States. This assignment requires students to reflect on the changing nature of the international environment and the major contemporary national security threats the United States faces.

RESEARCH ACTIVITY 9: Have students watch the movies Dr. Strangelove (1964) and FailSafe (1964) and write reports comparing the movies’ themes, concerns, and plot lines and detailing how these fit into the context of American security concerns during the Cold War. This activity provides students with a good overview of Cold War foreign policy and national security concerns of the United States, particularly regarding nuclear weapons. Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson 630Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Participation Activities PARTICIPATION ACTIVITY 1: Ask your students to identify careers in international relations and foreign policy. Have some students volunteer to research careers and report back to the class. ▪

They should visit the U.S. State Department website and locate the link related to opportunities for college students—e.g., internships, work opportunities, summer employment. By investigating one of these links they can learn about the activities available in foreign affairs to college students.

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Other careers in international affairs might include nongovernmental work and business employment.

This activity exposes students to a wide range of Foreign Service and other internationally based careers.

PARTICIPATION ACTIVITY 2: Have students visit the White House website (www.whitehouse.gov) and click the “contact” link. Have them write notes to the White House about a specific foreign policy issue that interests them. Ask them to send you a copy as well. This activity allows students to express their own views on issues important to them and exposes students to one available avenue of political engagement.

PARTICIPATION ACTIVITY 3: Have your students prepare letters to the editor dealing with a recent foreign policy–related issue of interest. Be sure to provide guidance on how to write a letter to the editor. ▪

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Letters should also focus on a single point, be timely, provide supportive facts and figures, and avoid too much emotion.

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Consider encouraging your students to submit their letters to a local or national newspaper for possible publication.

This activity requires students to think critically about contemporary foreign policy challenges and helps them develop focused writing skills. Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson 631Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Suggested Readings and Films READING 1: Fareed Zakaria has written several books analyzing developments that threaten to restructure the global political economy. In Ten Lessons for a Post-Pandemic World (New York: W.W. Norton, 2020), he reflects on the global consequences of the coronavirus pandemic. The book follows on Zakaria’s other outstanding books, including The Post-American World, Release 2.0 (2012), The Future of Freedom (2007), and From Wealth to Power: The Unusual Origins of America’s World Role (1999).

READING 2: Donald M. Snow’s National Security for a New Era, 5th ed. (New York: Pearson, 2013) is a comprehensive work exploring U.S. national security in the post–Cold War, post-9/11 era.

READING 3: Terrorism and Counterterrorism, 5th ed. (New York: Routledge, 2016) is an engaging consideration of the nature, causes, and tactics of terrorism as well as counterterrorist responses by Brigitte L. Nacos. READING 4: Glenn P. Hastedt’s text, American Foreign Policy: Past, Present, Future, 11th ed. (New York: Rowman & Littlefield, 2018), examines contemporary national security issues facing the United States. READING 5: Bruce Bueno de Mesquita and Alastair Smith’s The Dictator’s Handbook: Why Bad Behavior Is Almost Always Good Politics (New York: Public Affairs, 2011) offers an outstanding example of the principal-agent problem. In it, de Mesquita and Smith argue that a leader’s drive to stay in power explains policy decisions in both democratic and authoritarian regimes.

READING 6: Several outstanding texts cover foreign policy making in the United States. See, for example, the following: ▪

Michael Cox and Doug Stokes, eds., U.S. Foreign Policy, 3rd ed. (New York: Oxford University Press, 2018).

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Ralph G. Carter, Contemporary Cases in U.S. Foreign Policy: From Terrorism to Trade, 5th ed. (Washington, D.C.: CQ Press, 2013).

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Bruce W. Jentleson, American Foreign Policy: The Dynamics of Choice in the 21st Century, 5th ed. (New York: WW Norton, 2013).

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Steven W. Hook, U.S. Foreign Policy: The Paradox of World Power, 5th ed. (Washington, D.C.: CQ Press, 2017).

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James M. Scott and Jerel A. Rosati, The Politics of United States Foreign Policy, 7th ed. (Washington, D.C.: CQ Press, 2021).

READING 7: There are several outstanding histories of U.S. foreign policy, both from a general perspective and dealing with specific eras or crises. Examples include the following: ▪

George C. Herring, From Colony to Superpower: U.S. Foreign Relations since 1776 (New York: Oxford University Press, 2011).

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Joyce P. Kaufman, A Concise History of U.S. Foreign Policy (New York: Roman and Littlefield, 2010).

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Marvin Kalb and Deborah Kalb, Haunting Legacy: Vietnam and the American Presidency from Ford to Obama (Washington, D.C.: Brookings Institution, 2011).

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Stephen E. Ambrose and David Brinkley, Rise to Globalization: American Foreign Policy since 1938 (New York: Penguin, 1998).

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Robert B. Zoellick, America in the World: A History of U.S. Diplomacy and Foreign Policy (New York: Grand Central Publishing, 2020).

READING 8: The question of American exceptionalism generates considerable discussion in foreign policy circles. See, for example, the following: ▪

Seymore Martin Lipsett, American Exceptionalism: A Double-Edged Sword (New York: WW Norton, 1997).

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Godfrey Hodgson, The Myth of American Exceptionalism (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2010).

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Andrew J. Bacevick, The Limits of Power: The End of American Exceptionalism (New York: Metropolitan Books, 2008).

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Donald E. Pease, The New American Exceptionalism (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2009).

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Brendan O’Connor, Anti-Americanism and American Exceptionalism (New York: Taylor and Francis, 2019).

READING 9: Widely regarded as one of the most compelling analyses of the Cuban Missile Crisis, The Essence of Decision: Explaining the Cuban Missile Crisis, 2nd ed. (New York: Pearson, 1998) by Graham Allison and Philip Zelikow advances a thorough critique of the rational-actor model of foreign policy decision making.

READING 10: The World Factbook (go to https://www.cia.gov/index.html and click on “Library,” then “The World Fact Book”), published annually by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, provides a wealth of data, governmental profiles, and information on territories and countries around the world.

READING 11: Several outstanding journals provide in-depth coverage of the issues and themes raised in this chapter. See, for example, the following: ▪

FP (Foreign Policy) magazine: www.foreignpolicy.com

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Foreign Policy Analysis: https://academic.oup.com/fpa

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International Organization: https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/international-organization

READING 12: Many nongovernmental organizations dealing with issues and themes raised in this chapter maintain websites with information of interest to students who might like to learn a little more about foreign policy and international relations. See, for example, the following: ▪

Amnesty International (www.amnesty.org) is one of the world’s best-known human rights organizations.

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The RAND Corporation (www.rand.org) explores a wide range of international affairs and foreign policy-related issues.

READING 13: The key foreign policy agencies in the U.S. government have an extensive web presence. See, for example, the following: ▪

Department of State: www.state.gov

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Department of Defense: www.defense.gov

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Central Intelligence Agency: www.cia.gov

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The Joint Chiefs of Staff: www.jcs.mil

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Foreign Military Studies Office: https://community.apan.org/wg/tradoc-g2/fmso/. Located at Fort Leavenworth, the FMSO site offers analysis, papers, links, and more related to security and foreign policy.

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U.S. Agency for International Development: www.usaid.gov

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Official website of the U.S. Air Force: www.af.mil

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Official website of the U.S. Army: www.army.mil

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Official website of the U.S. Marine Corps: www.marines.com

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Official website of the U.S. Navy: www.navy.mil

READING 14: The National Archives (https://www.archives.gov/research/catalog) provides records for all federal departments and agencies involved in foreign affairs and national defense, including the State Department, the Central Intelligence Agency, the Commerce Department, and the Defense Department.

READING 15: Several think tanks deal with questions and issues raised in this chapter. See, for example, the following: ▪

The Brookings Institution: www.brookings.edu . This site offers analysis of current foreign policy issues.

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The Carnegie Endowment for Peace: www.carnegieendowment.org

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Center for Strategic and International Studies: www.csis.org. CSIS has several programs related to military and foreign policy. Its website includes policy papers, links, and more.

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National Center for Policy Analysis: www.ncpa.org. NCPA is a nonprofit public policy research institute from a conservative perspective.

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Rand Corporation: www.rand.org

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Council on Foreign Relations: www.cfr.org. The CFR provides extensive research and commentary on foreign policy challenges facing the United States.

READING 16: The United Nations (www.un.org) website provides links to a wealth of statistics, documents and reports, UN departments and conferences, and information on reaching UN officials.

FILM 17: Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (Stanley Kubrick, director, Columbia Pictures Corporation, 1964) is a classic spoof that uses humor to explore the threat of nuclear war during the Cold War. Fail-Safe (Sidney Lumet, Columbia Pictures Corporation, 1964), starring Henry Fonda, explores similar themes.

FILM 18: The United Nations: Working for Us All (Films for the Humanities and Sciences, 2003) examines the creation, history, and functions of the United Nations.

FILM 19: Frontline: Ghosts of Rwanda (PBS, 2004) examines the Rwandan crisis and America’s and the UN’s responses and features interviews with key actors involved in the crisis. Several other films also deal with the Rwandan crisis, including the following: ▪

Hotel Rwanda (Terry George, director, United Artists, 2005)

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Sometimes in April (Raoul Peck, director, CINEFACTO, 2005)

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Beyond the Gates (Michael Caton-Jones, director, CrossDay Productions Ltd. 2007)

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Shake Hands with the Devil (Roger Spottiswoode, director, Barna-Alper Productions, 2007)

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The Devil Came on Horseback (Ricki Stern and Anne Sundberg, directors, Break Thru Films, 2009)

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Kinyarwanda (Alrick Brown, director, Blok Box IMG, 2012)

FILM 20: The Road to War: American Decision Making during the Gulf Crisis (Films for the Humanities and Sciences, 1992) provides an in-depth analysis of how decisions were made in response to the Gulf crisis. More recently, several fictionalized accounts of the war in Iraq have been made. Examples include the following: ▪

Uncovered: The Whole Truth About the Iraq War (Robert Greenwald, director, Brave New Films, 2004)

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Iraq for Sale (Robert Greenwald, director, Brave New Films, 2006)

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Iraq in Fragments (James Longley, director, Daylight Factory, 2007)

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Frontline: Bush’s War (Michael Kirk, director, PBS, 2008)

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Frontline: Once Upon a Time in Iraq (James Bluemel, director, PBS, 2020)

Revel Features Chapter Introduction CURRENT EVENTS BULLETIN Video: WATCH Foreign and Defense Policy: The Big Picture

The Constitutional Foundations of Foreign and Defense Policy 17.1

Understand the constitutional foundations and current philosophies that guide foreign and defense policy.

Document: READ The Federalist, No. 4 Sketchnote Video: WATCH International Relations: Realism/Idealism Video: WATCH Sept. 20, 2001: Bush Declares War on Terror ABC video. Video: WATCH Trump stokes tensions at NATO events Social Explorer: FIGURE 17.1 THE ROLE OF THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD Read: HAPPENING NOW Summary of the siege on the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, and the aftermath of the event. Journal Prompt 17.1 What is your view of the U.S. position in the world today? Should the U.S. seek to play a more or less active role on the world stage? QUIZ 17.1 The Constitutional Foundations of Foreign and Defense Policy (Structure)

The Tools of Foreign and Defense Policy (Action) 17.2

Evaluate the options for achieving foreign and defense policy goals.

Document: READ The Federalist, No. 75 Accordion Table: TABLE 17.1 THE COSTS OF WAR, 1776–2020 Journal Prompt 17.2 How would you make the choice between using hard and soft power to solve an international problem? QUIZ 17.2 The Tools of Foreign and Defense Policy (Action)

Administering Foreign and Defense Policy (Action) 17.3

Outline the structure of the foreign policy and defense bureaucracy.

Social Explorer: FIGURE 17.2 THE DEFENSE WORKFORCE, 1984-2018 Video: WATCH U.S. Troops Head to Ebola Hot Zone ABC video. Journal Prompt 17.3 What would motivate you to join the All Volunteer Force? What benefits would be most attractive to you? QUIZ 17.3 Administering Foreign and Defense Policy (Action)

Foreign Policy Goals (Impact) 17.4

Assess the goals and impacts of America’s foreign policy.

Video: WATCH JFK Inaugural Address, 20 January 1961 Journal Prompt 17.4 Can the United States build a democracy where a dictatorship stood? Can you think of any nations where this goal was successful? QUIZ 17.4 Foreign Policy Goals (Impact)

Defense Policy Goals (Impact) 17.5

Assess the goals and impacts of America’s defense policy.

Social Explorer: FIGURE 17.3 REDUCING THE THREAT OF TERRORISM Journal Prompt: FIGURE 17.3 How would you describe the confidence you have in the federal government’s ability to reduce the threat of terrorism? Give 2-3 examples to support your answer. How do your own thoughts on this issue compare to those of the respondents as reflected in the data in Figure 17.3? Journal Prompt 17.5 Copyright © 2022, 2020, 2018 Pearson 639Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Is the United States spending too much money on its own defense? Justify your response with examples. QUIZ 17.5 Defense Policy Goals (Impact) SHARED WRITING Foreign and Defense Policy Thinking about all of the options presented in this chapter, which foreign and defense policy goals should be at the top of the new president’s agenda? What kind of power do you think will be most effective in achieving social impact?

Review the Chapter Video: WATCH Foreign and Defense Policy: So What? Flashcards: LEARN THE TERMS Foreign and Defense Policy Flashcard set of key terms and definitions for the chapter. CHAPTER 17 QUIZ Foreign and Defense Policy

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