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Introduction to American Government News the Logic of American Politics News Jeb Bush wants to push back the retirement age for Social Security by as many as five years, The Hill reports. Said Bush: “I think it needs to be phased in over an extended period of time. We need to look over the horizon and begin to phase in, over an extended period of time, going from 65 to 68 or 70. And that, by itself, will help sustain the retirement system for anybody under the age of 40.” “At the same time, Bush said that he would be open to cutting back benefits for wealthy people and their beneficiaries, a reform proposal known as means testing.” “The Rand Paul pile-on session began a few hours before sunset Sunday evening,” Politico reports. “Behind closed doors in the Senate’s Strom Thurmond Room, Republican senators lashed out at the junior Kentucky Republican’s defiant stance to force the expiration of key sections of the PATRIOT Act, a law virtually all of them support. Indiana Sen. Dan Coats’ criticism was perhaps the most biting: He accused the senator of ‘lying’ about the matter in order to raise money for his presidential campaign, according to three people who attended the meeting.” “The message may have gotten through to Paul except for one thing: The libertarian-minded senator skipped the hour-long meeting. That only infuriated his colleagues more.” Introduction to American Government Income inequality, by many measures, is now greater than it has been since the 1920s. Linz and Stepan suggest that we need to look to comparative politics rather POLS 1101 than Americanist political science in order to understand the sources of American inequality. To bolster this broad argument, they argue that the unusually large The University of Georgia number of veto players in the US political system is a major cause of inequality. Linz and Stepan argue that high numbers of electoral veto players are highly Prof. Anthony Madonna correlated with inequality, and that studies of other systems (Australia, [email protected] Switzerland) suggests that more veto players create greater lags in introducing welfare systems and block reform. News The Logic of American Politics Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, defending proposed budget cuts for higher education, took a swipe at university professors who he said could be “teaching more classes and doing more work.” “Maybe it’s time for faculty and staff to start thinking about teaching more classes and doing more work and this authority frees up the [University of Wisconsin] • Politics - the process through which individuals and groups reach administration to make those sorts of requests,” Walker (R) said Wednesday on Milwaukee radio station WTMJ. Walker’s comments came agreement on a course of common, or collective, action – even as they may as he spoke about his proposed budget, which would cut $300 million over continue to disagree on the goals that action in intended to achieve the next two years from the University of Wisconsin system. He added the school would still receive block grants. • Institutions - a set of rules proscribing a process for reaching and December 20, 2012 -- It was the second time this month that former Sen. enforcing collective agreements Bob Dole has visited his old haunt. Earlier in December, the 89-year-old Kansas Republican came to the Senate floor in a wheelchair to implore his colleagues to vote for a United Nations disability rights treaty. On Thursday • Constitution - establishes a nations governing institutions and the set of afternoon, he walked half the length of the Rotunda and back to say goodbye rules and procedures these institutions must (and must not) follow to reach to an old friend. Senator Daniel Inouye (D-HA), the second-longest-serving and enforce collective agreements. senator in history, died Monday at the age of 88. He will lie in state at the center of the Rotunda, his casket draped with the American flag, until Friday morning, when he will be transported for another service at the National Cathedral. His storied relationship with Dole is well-known. The two men met in a Michigan army hospital, where they were both recovering from injuries sustained during World War II, and they went on to serve side by side in Congress for just less than three decades. Dole was assisted to Inouye’s casket as the late senators’ body lied in state in the Capitol, saying “I wouldn’t want Danny to see me in a wheelchair.” 1 Constitutions and Governments Institutional Durability (1) Authority is generally assigned to the institution. Thus, it should exist long after a office holder retires. (2) People make plans contingent on the expectation that the institution will persist. (3) Hard to agree on an alternative. Authority - the acknowledged right to Power - the actual influence with make a particular decision other officeholders Free Riders and Agency Loss Transaction/Conformity Costs Free rider problems arise when citizens recognize that their Transaction Costs - the time, small contribution to the collective enterprise will not affect effort and resources its success or failure. required to make collective decisions. Conformity costs –The difference between what any A tragedy of the commons can occur when a community one party prefers and what has a collective good that is in danger of being squandered the collective body requires. unless members cooperate to preserve it. 2 Delegation Representative Government Delegation - assigns authority to United States – Separation of Powers… make and implement decisions to some smaller number of persons who are expected to at in behalf of the larger groups of interest – Preferred solution to controlling transaction costs Principle - individual or group authorized to delegate Agent - individual or group who receive the delegated power Higher transaction costs… The Road to Independence The Articles of Confederation Confederation – a highly decentralized governmental system in which the national government derives limited authority from the state rather than directly (1) Geography. from citizens. Distance limited Britain’s capacity to govern the America now declared an independent nation, the delegates to the Second colonies. It also made war costly and difficult. Continental Congress proceeded to create a new government. Over the next several weeks, they drafted the nation’s first Constitution – the Articles of Confederation, which was ratified five years later. (2) Home rule. Created a new, permanent Congress in which each state received one vote. The British had ceded to Americans responsibility for Major laws – such as those dealing with taxes and constitutional change – managing their own domestic affairs, including taxation. required the endorsement of nine of thirteen states. More fundamental change, For more than a century colonists elected their own such as amending the Constitution, required unanimous agreement. leaders and held them accountable for local policies and taxes. National authority was so circumscribed that the delegates saw little purpose for an executive or a judiciary. 3 The Confederation At War/Peace Drafting The Constitution The states chiefly responsible for recruiting troops and outfitting The fifty-five delegates meeting in Philadelphia in 1787 were them for battle. able to draw from their Revolutionary War experience. Congress attempted to coordinate Youngish (average age of 42), well-educated, white, and the state regiments into a single fighting force. male. Could borrow money, but could They were also highly conversant in the ideas and theories not tax. that abounded during the Age of Reason. A war-torn economy. No administrative branch; so Congress had to do all the work, Trade barriers at home and abroad. “Few gatherings in the history of this or any other country including requisitioning the army. could boast such a concentration of talent.” – Melvin I. Popular discontent (Shays Rebellion). Urofsky Many difficulties during the war. Annapolis convention. Philosophical Influence Great Compromise Item Virginia Plan New Jersey Plan Constitution Legislature Two Houses One House Two Houses Legislative Both houses Equal for each state One house based on representation based on population; one with population two votes from each state Legislative Veto authority Authority to levy Authority to levy taxes Locke (1632-1704) – popular sovereignty. power over state taxes and regulate and regulate commerce; Citizen’s delegation of authority to their agents in legislation commerce authority to compel government with the ability to rescind that state compliance authority. Executive Single; elected by Plural; removable by Single; chosen by legislature for a majority of state electoral college; Newton (1642-1727) – force and balance. single term legislatures removal by national Montesquieu (1689-1755) – superiority of small legislature republics. Courts National No provision Supreme Court judiciary elected appointed by executive, Hume (1711-1776) – Competition of competing by legislature confirmed by Senate interests. 4 Ratification Ratification Antifederalists argued that only local democracy could approach true democracy. A country so large and diverse could not be ruled by a single The responses mustered to counter the Antifederalist arguments against set of laws. the Constitution collectively make up eighty-five essays. Stronger national government must come with safeguards against tyranny. Written by Hamilton, Madison, and Jay Madison made a strategic move and announced that he would introduce Were directed primarily at New York, which had not yet voted in 1788, the constitutional amendments that would protect individual rights. although by this point the Constitution was technically ratified. For this reason, the Bill of Rights was included almost immediately after They provide insight into the “genuine” meaning of the Constitution. ratification. Ratification Federalism Two of the Federalist Papers (Nos. 10 and 51) focus on the fundamental problem of self-governance. McCulloch v. Maryland, Gibbons v. We are not “angels,” as Madison writes, so how do we get a government Ogdens examples. of non-angels not only to govern the governed, but to “govern” itself as well? Bottom line: Power is shifting from the states to the federal Fed.
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