The Democratic Republic

CHAPTER 1

The Democratic Republic  Learning Outcomes The five learning outcomes below are designed to help improve your understanding of this chapter.

After reading this chapter, you should be able to:

❑Learning Outcome 1: Define the terms politics, government, order, liberty, authority, and legitimacy.❑Learning Outcome 2: Distinguish the major features of direct democracy and representative democracy, and describe majoritarianism, elite theory, and pluralism.❑Learning Outcome 3: Summarize the conflicts that can occur between the principles of liberty and order, and between those of liberty and equality.❑Learning Outcome 4: Discuss conservatism, liberalism, and other popular American ideological positions.❑Learning Outcome 5: Explain how a changing American population and other social trends may affect the future of our nation. Summary Overview Politics is the process by which people decide which members of society receive certain benefits or privileges and which members do not. It is the struggle over power or influence within institutions or organizations that can grant benefits or privileges. Government is an institution within which decisions are made that resolve conflicts and allocate benefits and privileges. It is the predominant institution within society because it has the ultimate decision-making authority.Two fundamental political values are order, which includes security against violence, and liberty, the greatest freedom of the individual consistent with the freedom of other individuals. To be effective, government authority must be backed by legitimacy. Many of our terms for describing forms of government came from the ancient Greeks. In a direct democracy, such as in ancient Athens, the people themselves make the important political decisions. The United States is a democratic republic, also called a representative democracy, in which the people elect representatives to make the decisions. Some states provide a modern interpretation of direct democracy for their citizens. In these states, representative democracy is supplemented by initiative and/or referendum. An initiative is the process by which voters can directly propose a law or constitutional amendment. In a referendum, a law or constitutional amendment is proposed by the legislature and referred to the voters for ballot approval or disapproval. In addition, some states provide for a recall process where citizens may vote to remove an elected official before the end of his or her elected term.Theories of American democracy include majoritarianism, in which the government does what the American Government and Politics Today Essentials 2015-2016 Edition, 18e Barbara Bardes Mack Shelley Steffen Schmidt (Instructor Manual All Chapters, 100% Original Verified, A+ Grade) (Lecture Notes Only) 1 / 4

2 Chapter 1: The Democratic Republic

© 2016 Cengage Learning. All rights reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.majority wants; elite theory, in which the real power lies with one or more elite groups; and pluralism, in which organized interest groups contend for power. Fundamental American values include liberty and order, but also, equality, and property rights. Not all of these values are fully compatible. The value of order often competes with civil liberties, and economic equality competes with property rights. Popular political ideologies can be arrayed from left (liberal) to right (conservative). We can also analyze economic liberalism and conservatism separately from cultural liberalism and conservatism.Although all four ideologies are popular, voters are more likely to describe themselves as conservative rather than liberal. The conservative movement has been successful in assigning a pejorative connotation to the term liberal in recent decades. As a result, many liberal politicians prefer to describe themselves as a progressive instead. The term progressive dates back to the years before World War I, when it was used to describe advocates of reform in both major parties.The demographic face of America is changing as citizens age and become more diverse. Like other economically advanced nations, America’s birthrate is falling and citizens are living longer. Today, 13 percent of the U.S. population is 65 or older and that number is expected to rise significantly by

• In addition, there is a change in the ethnic composition of America’s citizenry. Latinos now

are the largest minority group in the nation. The percentage of the population that identify as Latino and Asian is expected to continue to rise in the coming years. By 2050, non-Hispanic whites will no longer be a majority of the U.S. population at the current rate of change.Democracy requires that citizens remain vigilant by staying informed about government activities in areas such as healthcare delivery and entitlement programs. Entitlements are federal benefits that are available to citizens if certain requirements are met. Examples include monthly Social Security checks and Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits. There are several ways to become an informed citizen, such as seeking out quality sources of information from a wide variety of reputable media and research organizations. In addition, there are a multitude of political blogs that provide a variety of viewpoints and opportunities for expression. In order to learn more about how government works, citizens should become familiar with the activities of local legislative bodies, including city councils and school boards. Chapter Outline

• Politics and Government

A.Government is Everywhere B.Why is Government Necessary?C.Limiting Government Power D.Authority and Legitimacy II. Democracy and other Forms of Government A.Types of Government B.Direct Democracy as a Model C.The Dangers of Direct Democracy D.A Democratic Republic 2 / 4

Chapter 1: The Democratic Republic 3

© 2016 Cengage Learning. All rights reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.

• What Kind of Democracy do we have?

III. Fundamental Values

• Liberty versus Order
• Equality versus Liberty
• The Proper Size of Government

IV. Political Ideologies

• Conservatism
• Liberalism
• The Traditional Political Spectrum
• Problems with the Traditional Political Spectrum
• A Four-Corned Ideological Grid
• One Nation, Divided
• The Changing Face of America
• The End of the Population Explosion
• Ethnic Change in America
• Are we better off?

 Teaching Tools

Learning Outcome 1: Define the terms politics, government, order, liberty, authority, and legitimacy.

Critical Thinking Question:

How does politics affect the allocation of government benefits such as Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program?

When is government said to have legitimacy? Can you think of situations in your opinion where government has not acted in a legitimate manner?

Lecture Launcher:

Ask students to freely associate with the term politics. Ask them why so many of the responses tend to be negative. Do the same with government.

Benjamin Franklin once wrote, “They who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.” How does his sentiment apply to today?

In-Class Activity:

If you were President, what policies, activities or benefits of government would you change and why? In small groups, design a platform of change and share with the class.

Working in pairs at the end of the class period without notes, ask students to create flashcards with student-authored definitions of order, liberty, authority and legitimacy. Then ask two sets of pairs to compare answers while reviewing notes or course lecture materials.

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4 Chapter 1: The Democratic Republic

© 2016 Cengage Learning. All rights reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.Learning Outcome 2: Distinguish the major features of direct democracy and representative democracy, and describe majoritarianism, elite theory, and pluralism.

Critical Thinking Question:

What are the advantages and disadvantages of direct versus representative government structure?

Does the power in our American democracy reside with the people, political elites or with powerful interest groups? Defend your position.

Lecture Launcher:

Describe some of the recent propositions that voters have been presented with in California (such as Proposition 8, later overturned by the Federal Courts, banning marriage equality for same sex couples in 2008 or Proposition 13, reducing property taxes causing a significant lay-offs of public employees in 1978) and ask if such legislative activity should be in the purview of the populous or should remain the responsibility of a state legislature.

In-Class Activity:

Ask students in pairs or as an individual take-home assignment to design a Venn diagram (sometimes referred to as a mind-map) that demonstrates the power structure in the American political system based on their understanding of majoritarianism, elite theory and pluralism with American Government as the center. Note: There are now Venn diagram apps for mobile devices and it is possible to assign this as digital assignment that can be shared in a learning management system as a jpg or tiff file. It is also possible for students to manually create the diagram and then scan it, and upload it to a LMS system.

Learning Outcome 3: Summarize the conflicts that can occur between the principles of liberty and order, and between those of liberty and equality.

Critical Thinking Question:

How might liberty conflict with order or equality?

Lecture Launcher:

Describe the recent National Security Administration scandal and discuss the ensuing debate over liberty and security (order).

In-Class Activity:

Assign four teams the concepts of liberty, order, liberty and equality. Have the teams work on arguments in defense of their concepts between class periods and then stage brief liberty-order and liberty-equality debates in class.

Learning Outcome 4: Discuss conservatism, liberalism, and other popular American ideological positions.

Critical Thinking Question:

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