Chapter 1 Gateways to American Democracy

CHAPTER 1

Gateways to American Democracy

Learning Objectives

1. Identify the successes we have achieved and the obstacles we face in establishing a “more perfect union.”

2. Analyze how the constitutional system balances liberty and order.

3. Describe the political values and ideologies Americans share.

4. Evaluate American democracy in terms of responsiveness and equality.

5. List the responsibilities of individuals in a democracy.

Summary Overview

There are many opportunities for participation in American politics. These opportunities, or gateways, help expand democracy by allowing citizens the ability to influence the political system. The American democracy operates within a constitutional system that provides, not just gateways, but also gates, which can be seen as barriers to participation. The Constitution is designed to balance protecting liberty and establishing order. Thus, the Constitution serves as a gatekeeper, and is strong enough to rule, but not so strong that it deprives the people of their rights. These were important concerns of the Founders of the United States.

Values, political ideology, and party identification influence how people view the role of government in society and the importance of issues. Political parties, groups, and individuals compete to determine who gets what, when, and how—a process that we call politics. While there is often variation in American political cultures, many Americans favor individualism as opposed to community, at least in comparison to other democracies. Similarly, Americans tend to favor capitalism over alternatives such as socialism. This often explains the comparatively limited social welfare system in the United States relative to other democracies. Still, the United States tries to balance the themes of responsiveness and promotion of equality.

The demands of democratic government also promote involvement in terms of both self-interest and civic interest. On one hand, we want government to provide benefits to individuals, however, at the same time, involvement helps make people part of the larger community. Civic interest is served through participation in the public sphere in a number of ways, including volunteering, writing letters, emailing, social networking, and attending rallies. For college students, education is an important part of a democratic society, and it provides avenues for economic and participatory opportunities. The question is what role should government play in encouraging these educational, economic, and participatory opportunities?

Finally, it is important to consider the importance of understanding government, issues, and how to participate in politics. These considerations were contemplated by the nation’s Founders, who believed that an engaged public could best protect freedom and help meet the demands of democratic citizenship.

Chapter Outline

I. Gateways: Evaluating the American Political System

>Identify the successes we have achieved and the obstacles we face in establishing a “more perfect union.”

II. Democracy and the American Constitutional System

>Analyze how the constitutional system balances liberty and order.

A.  Liberty and Order

B.  The Constitution as Gatekeeper

III. American Political Culture

>Describe the political values and ideologies Americans share.

IV. Responsiveness and Equality: Does American Democracy Work?

>Evaluate American democracy in terms of responsiveness and equality.

V. The Demands of Democratic Government

>List the responsibilities of individuals in a democracy.

A. Self-Interest and Civic Interest

B. Politics and the Public Sphere

VI. Your Gateway to American Democracy

>What you need to know about your text and online study tools to study efficiently and master the material

Teaching Tools

Learning Objective 1:

Identify the successes we have achieved and the obstacles we face in establishing a “more perfect union.”

Critical Thinking Question:

Reflecting on the information in the chapter on American democracy what did the nation’s Founders think about democracy? How is government thought of as a social contract? How do values and political ideologies influence how people view government?

Lecture Launchers:

Prior to lecture, ask the students:

·  What is the purpose of government?

·  What activities are more suited for the government as opposed to the private sector?

·  How does government influence their own lives?

This can lead into a discussion about the functions of government, as well as public versus private goods.

In-Class Activity:

Make a list of examples where the United States lives up to the Democratic ideal. Make a second list where it falls pare your lists to those of your classmates.

Learning Objective 2:

Analyze how the constitutional system balances liberty and order.

Critical Thinking Question:

Why are checks and balances and separation of powers necessary? Are there negative consequences of checks and balances and separation of powers? Explain your answer. How does the American Constitutional system protect liberty and order?

Lecture Launchers:

Before the lecture:

·  Present measures of democracy that social scientists regularly use in their work such as the Freedom House scores. One can talk about how Freedom House derives their scores and ask students to weigh in on this method. This discussion can also be used to illustrate differences between democracies and other types of governing structures like autocracies and monarchies and to present the challenges that democracies face, linking the discussion back to themes of the book. Looking at America’s place on the Freedom House scale may also be used to spark discussion among students about evaluating democracy in America, a central theme of the text.

·  Ask students how the war on terror fits in to discussions of balancing the protection of liberty and maintaining order?

In-Class Activity:

Break students into groups, and have them estimate how much the United States spends on social welfare as a percentage of GDP, debt as a percentage of GDP, and how the nation rates in terms of economic freedom. Then ask the groups to estimate how the United States compares to other nations in the world. Discuss the estimates compared to reality.

Learning Objective 3:

Describe the political values and ideologies Americans share.

Critical Thinking Question:

What are the most important American political values? What values do most Americans share? What values vary across the country? Do most Americans have a reasonable chance to make themselves heard by the government? What are various meanings of equality?

Lecture Launcher:

Ask students about the efforts of the “Occupy Wall Street” and “Tea Party” movements. What gateway is each group using? What gateways to participation might a fledgling student organization use?

In-Class Activity:

Ask students to create a list of values, ideologies, and cultures in the United States. Then ask them to identify different issue positions in policy areas like immigration, social welfare, or economics. Then ask students to match values, ideologies, and cultures with different issue positions.

Learning Objective 4:

Evaluate American democracy in terms of responsiveness and equality.

Critical Thinking Question:

How is American democracy different from alternative models of government? Differentiate between public and private goods? What does government do to promote equality? Why? What does it mean to be a citizen?

Lecture Launcher:

Ask students to discuss the gateways that encourage their generation to participate or the gates that inhibit them from doing so. Ask how they can “get in the game.”

In-Class Activity:

Show the students, Figures 1.3–1.5, which pertain to college costs, employment, and earnings. Ask them to evaluate the pros and cons of a college education both financially and in terms of civic engagement.

Learning Objective 5:

List the responsibilities of individuals in a democracy.

Critical Thinking Question:

How does new technology affect one’s democratic responsibilities? Is a lot of government assistance best for one’s self-interest? Why or why not?

Lecture Launcher:

There are two types of debts discussed in this section: student loan debt and the national pare and contrast these two types of debts, especially focusing on their similarities. What sacrifices should be made for each? What potential consequences do they have for the future?

In-Class Activity:

According to a recent study by the Brookings Institution, education accounts for only 1.4% of coverage by television, websites, and radio advertisements. As a class or in small groups, come up with a list of educational issues that would benefit from more attention. Then break into groups to create advertisements for each issue, using the various media formats. Share this with the class when finished.

Key Terms

Autocracy: System of government in which the power to govern is concentrated in the hands of an individual ruler.

Capitalism: Economic system in which businesses and key industries are privately owned and in which individuals, acting on their own or with others, are free to create businesses.

Checks and balances: Government structure that authorizes each branch of government (executive, legislative, and judicial) to share powers with the other branches, thereby holding some scrutiny of and control over the other branches.

Civic interest: Concern for the well-being of society and the nation as a whole.

Civil society: Voluntary organizations that allow communities to flourish.

Conservatives: Individuals who distrust government, believing that free markets offer better ways than government involvement to improve people’s livelihood. In social sphere, conservatives have more faith in government’s ability to enforce traditional values.

Constitutional system: System of government in which people set up and agree on the basic rules and procedures that will govern them.

Democracy: System of government in which the supreme power is vested in people and exercised by them either directly or indirectly through elected representatives.

Direct democracy: Form of democracy in which political power is exercised directly by citizens.

Egalitarianism: Belief in human equality that disdains inherited titles of nobility and inherited wealth.

Equality: Idea that all individuals are equal in their moral worth and so must be equal in treatment under the law and have equal access to the decision-making process.

Equality of opportunity: Expectation that citizens may not be discriminated against based on race, gender, or national background and that every citizen should have an equal chance to succeed in life.

Equality of outcome: Expectation that equality is achieved if results are comparable for all citizens regardless of race, gender, or national background or that such groups are proportionally represented in measures of success in life.

Executive branch: The branch of federal government that executes the laws.

Faction: Defined by Madison as any group that places its own interests above the aggregate interests of society.

Federalism: System of government in which sovereignty is constitutionally divided between national and state governments.

Founders: The people who were involved in establishing the United States, whether at the time of Declaration of Independence or the writing of the constitution.

Framers: The people who were involved in writing the Constitution.

Individualism: Set of beliefs holding that people, and not government, are responsible for their own well-being.

Judicial branch: The branch of the federal government that interprets the laws.

Legislative branch: The branch of the federal government that makes the laws.

Liberals: Individuals who have faith in government to improve people’s lives, believing that private efforts are insufficient. In the social sphere, liberals usually support diverse lifestyle and tend to oppose any government action that seeks to shape personal choices.

Libertarians: Those who generally believe that government should refrain from acting to regulate either the economy or moral values

Liberty: Political value that cherishes freedom from an arbitrary exercise of power that constricts individual choice.

Majoritarian: System of policy making in which those with a numerical majority hold authority.

Majority rule: Idea that a numerical majority of a group should hold the power to make decisions binding on the whole group; a simple majority.

Millennials: Generation born between 1982 and 2003.

Minority rights: Idea that majority should not be able to take certain fundamental rights away from those in the minority

Moderates: Individuals who are in the middle of the ideological spectrum and do not hold consistently strong views about whether government should be involved in people’s lives.

Monarchy: System of government that assigns powers to a single person who inherits that position and rules until death.

Natural (unalienable) rights: Rights that every individual has and that government cannot legitimately take away.

Oligarchy: System of government in which the power to govern is concentrated in the hands of a powerful few, usually wealthy individuals.

Order: Political value in which the rule of law is followed and does not permit actions that infringe on the well-being of others.

Party identification: Psychological attachment to a political party; partisanship.

Pluralism: Political system in which competing interests battle over the direction and content of important policy making.

Political culture: A shared way of thinking about community and government and the relationship between them.

Political equality: The idea that people should have equal amounts of influence in the political system.

Political ideology: Set of coherent political beliefs that offers a philosophy for thinking about the scope of government.

Political parties: Broad coalitions of interests organized to win elections in order to enact a commonly supported set of public policies.

Politics: Process by which people make decisions about who gets what, when, and how.

Populists: Those who oppose concentrated wealth and adhere to traditional moral values.

Power elite: Small handful of decision makers who hold authority over a large set of issues.

Private goods: Goods or benefits provided by government in which most of the benefit falls to the individuals, families, or companies receiving them.

Public goods: Goods or benefits provided by government from which everyone benefits and from which no one can be excluded.

Public policy: International actions of government designed to achieve a goal.

Representative democracy: Form of democracy in which citizens elect public officials to make political decisions and formulate laws on their behalf.

Republic: Form of government in which power derives from citizens, but public officials make policy and govern according to existing law.

Responsiveness: Idea that government should implement laws and policies that reflect the wishes of the public and any changes in those wishes.

Rule of law: Legal system with known rules that are enforced equally against all people.

Self-government: Rule by the people.

Self-interest: Concern for one’s own advantage and well-being.

Separation of power: Government structure in which authority is divided among branches (executive, legislative, and judicial), with each holding separate and independent powers and areas of responsibility.

Social contract: Theory that government has only the authority accorded it by the consent of the governed.

Socialism: Economic system in which the government owns major industries.