GVPT 170 American Government and Politics in a Global Era ORIGINS OF AMERICAN POLITICAL PRINCIPLES...
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Transcript of GVPT 170 American Government and Politics in a Global Era ORIGINS OF AMERICAN POLITICAL PRINCIPLES...
GVPT 170American Government and
Politics in a Global EraORIGINS OF AMERICAN POLITICAL
PRINCIPLES AND AMERICAN EXCEPTIONALISM
January 30, 2006
AMERICA IS A CONSERVATIVE NATION WITH LIBERAL VALUES
WHY CONSERVATIVE?
FRAGMENTED NATURE OF
US POLITICAL SYSTEM
WHY LIBERAL?
HISTORY AND TRADITIONS
WHAT ARE AMERICA’S CLASSICAL LIBERAL VALUES?
• INDIVIDUALISM• FREEDOM• CAPITALISM• EQUALITY• RULE OF LAW• DEMOCRACY• DIVERSITY
‘CONSERVING LIBERALISM’
• CONSTITUTIONAL DESIGN
• GEOGRAPHY AND NATURAL RESOURCES
• UNEVEN ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
• RACISM
• ETHNIC AND RELIGIOUS DIVISIONS
• STATE REPRESSION
AMERICAN POLITICAL THOUGHT: A MAZE OF
CONTRADICTIONSCapitalist v AnticapitalistPragmatic v Absolutist
Optimistic v PessimisticMaterialist v Idealist
Individualist v ConformistFreedom v Equality Oriented
Global v Insular
AMERICAN POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT
• Unique Nature: American exceptionalism• A Tradition of Classical Liberalism• America was a ‘nation’ before a ‘state’• Leadership of the Founding Brothers• An evolving process• A conflictual process• A process compromised by political fragmentation???
AMERICANISM: POLITICAL PRINCIPLES AND THEMES
• SHAPED BY WESTERN TRADITIONS
• A MAZE OF CONTRADICTIONS
• AMERICAN IDEOLOGY IS INSULAR
• AMERICA IS A CONSERVATIVE NATION
• AMERICANISM IS LIBERALISM
• EXCEPTIONALISM HAS ITS PERILS
GVPT 170American Government and
Politics in a Global EraTHE UNIFINISHED REVOLUTION, NATIONBUILDING AND THE U.S.
CONSTITUTION
February 1, 2006
LECTURE THEMES
*AMERICAN EXCEPTIONALISM AND THE LACK OF A FEUDAL TRADITION
*THE UNFINISHED REVOLUTION
*PRE-CONSTITUTION: IMMENSE POLITICAL AUTHORITY IN STATES & LOCALITIES
*A DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC: SOLUTION
TO PRESERVE FREEDOM AND
EQUALITY
*LEADERSHIP FAILURES IN PHILADELPHIA
AMERICAN EXCEPTIONALISM
• ‘CITY ON THE HILL’ AND THE ‘NEW WORLD’ AS BLESSED
• DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE AS THE PROMISE OF EQUALITY
(Lincoln, Martin L.King Jr.,T.Marshall)
• AMERICAN DREAM: PEOPLE JUDGED
NOT BY ACCIDENT OF BIRTH
The Unfinished Revolution
*Change in governance
*Traditions of classical liberalism and localism intact
*Unsettled political conflicts represented by the split between Federalists and Anti-Federalists
*Conflicts escalated into Civil War (1861-1865)
*Some issues remain unresolved
THE FRAMERS AND A ‘NEW SCIENCE OF POLITICS’
• No relevant model of republican governance
• Differing views- what is a ‘good republic’
• A Big Victory for the Federalists
• Consensus was key
• Federalists controlled the agenda
• Slavery protected by 3 clauses
AMERICAN POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT
AMERICANISM: POLITICAL PRINCIPLES AND THEMES
• SHAPED BY WESTERN TRADITIONS
• A MAZE OF CONTRADICTIONS
• AMERICAN IDEOLOGY IS INSULAR
• AMERICA IS A CONSERVATIVE NATION
• AMERICANISM IS LIBERALISM
• EXCEPTIONALISM HAS ITS PERILS
GVPT 170American Government and
Politics in a Global EraAnalyzing American Political
Beliefs
February 6, 2006
CENTRAL THEMES
HAMILTONIAN V JEFFERSONIAN MODELS OF POLITICAL ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
PROCEDURAL V SUBSTANTIVE DEMOCRACY
Hamiltonian Model of Political Development
• Manufacturing-based economy
• Activist government
• Elite orientation
• Expansion of the national government
Jeffersonian Model of PoliticalDevelopment
Agriculturally-based economy
Importance of the small farmer
Confidence in the ordinary citizen
State and local governmental control
AMERICAN POLITICAL LEADERSHIP FROM
FDR TO CLINTON: CONSENSUSHamiltonian:
public needs best met in contextof a healthy business climate
Jeffersonian:Ordinary citizen’s needs take precedence in a good society
PROCEDURAL V SUBSTANTIVEDEMOCRACY
• Early 20th century conflicts far from resolved• Changes in economy led to demands for expansion of procedural democracy• Growing inequalities: Abolition, Suffragist, Workers, Farmers, Early Civil Rights Movements• Without the ‘means” cannot achieve “the ends of democracy” • Major role of federal courts in the expansion of procedural rights
INDIVIDUALISM: A FUNDAMENTAL AMERICAN
BELIEF
• Very deep cultural commitment
• Individual as the starting point
• Some limits placed
• Contentious
• Contradictory
• Continuing subject of disagreement
PROPERTY: A FUNDAMENTAL POLITICAL BELIEF
• Meaning has changed over time• Jeffersonian: owning land central to citzenship• Hamiltonian: ownership broader• Conflict over forms of property• Legacy: government subsidizes home ownership• Legacy: Americans threatened by government
ownership• Legacy: no real workers movement today
CONTRACTS AND LAW: AMERICAN BELIEFS
• Contract as an embodiment of higher law
• Public and private life
• U.S. Constitution is a contract
• Contracts basis of daily transactions
• Contentious: neutrality of the law
• Individualism, Property, Contracts support
capitalism
FREEDOM AND EQUALITY AS COMPLEMENTARY AND CONTENTIOUS BELIEFS
• Freedom as the absence of restraints
• Equality as entitlements
• Conflicts
-Political equality impinges on freedom
-Freedom leads to inequalities
-Resentment over equality of opportunity
-Utopian idea of equality and safety net