Dr. Tabakian’s Political Science 1 US Government – Spring 2013

Power Point Presentation #4

COURSE LECTURE TOPICS

• America’s Elite Membership

• Policy Changes and Innovations in America

• Political Conflict

• Stability & Instability

• Power Of Exporting Corporate Elites

• Corporate and Economic Power

• Globalization

• How Elites Exercise Power

• John Locke’s “Second Treatise Of Government”

• Capitalism & Democracy Are Similar

AMERICAN ELITE EVOLUTION

America’s Elite Membership & New Elite Membership.

• Early disputes were between propertied classes.

• Political parties emerged in the 1796 election.

• New Western elites were assimilated

• The new electorate included all White men.

• New industrial elites use Social Darwinism to justify wealth.

Policy Changes & Innovations in American Government

• Hamilton pays the national debt

• Establishes a national bank.

• Supreme Court expands necessary and proper clause.

• President Abraham Lincoln & Emancipation Proclamation.

• President Franklin Roosevelt & New Deal legislation.

NORTH VERSUS SOUTH

Political Conflict

1. Southern and Northern elite conflict over western land

led to Civil War.

2. Missouri Compromise was an attempt at compromise.

3. Southern elites seceded from the Union.

4. America lost its first war in Vietnam.

5. America regained its prestige in Persian Gulf War I.

• President George Bush had a 90 % approval.

• The military was the most trusted institution.

IMPACT OF VIETNAM

President Lyndon Baines Johnson

addresses the American people on

March 31, 1968. He begins his speech

with a review of current American

strategy regarding Vietnam, only to

later declare his decision to withdraw

from the presidential race. One can

argue that the move was purely to

maintain democratic control over the

presidency. He campaigned on behalf

of Vice-President Hubert Humphrey.

DEMOCRATIC CONVENTION 1968

The Democratic National Convention of

1968 was held in Chicago from August

26 to the 29th. The divisive politics of the

convention, brought about by the

Vietnam War policies of President

Johnson, prompted the Democratic

party to completely overhaul its rules for

selecting presidential delegates. This

allowed millions to participate in the

political process. The violence between

police and anti-Vietnam War protesters

stands testament to the negative effects

of rampant instability.

POLITICAL CONFLICT – WATERGATE

President Richard Nixon announced

on August 8, 1974 that he will resign

the presidency. The primary goal of

the elite class is to maintain and/or

enhance their positions of power.

This requires maintaining the power

system in which they dominate.

Once the masses begin to lose

confidence in the system then the

system itself is in danger of

collapsing. Was the decision to

resign made to save his own skin or

to preserve the system?

STABILIZATION

Sudden instability is the greatest threat to humanity for it

threatens to cause irreparable harm to the individual. One may

never consider harming another person in a state of nature.

Elimination of one’s sustenance throws the individual into a state

of war, because their survival is now threatened. Nation-states

consist of multiple spheres of interest in turn consisting of

individual units consisting of people. As survival is the primary

goal of man, so it is the ultimate pursuit of nation-states. The

primary concern is that of stability. This philosophy has prevented

a major war from taking place over the last sixty years. Instability

is the primary cause of all conflict both within and between

nation-states.

NIGHTMARE SCENARIO

Sudden instability results in the

potential destruction of a

relationship. Everyone has

experienced the negative effects of

instability. Relationships between

loved ones is just one of many

examples. One major cause of

rampant instability is the breakdown

of communication between spheres.

This is a video documentary titled

“First Strike”. It presents a

nightmare scenario resulting from

souring relations between the

United States and the Soviet Union.

DEATH OF A PRESIDENT

President John Fitzgerald

Kennedy was assassinated in

Texas on November 22, 1963. The

President’s body was brought to

Love Field and placed on Air

Force One. This video is of

Lyndon Johnson addressing the

nation from the airport.

GLOBAL ELITES

Corporate and Economic Power is globalized and free from

national government restraints.

• Financial and industrial elites control America’s economic life.

• Exporting Corporate elites control America’s trade policy.

• WTO and IMF/WB facilitate international trade.

• NAFTA and FTA are institutionalizing global trade.

• Corporate Elites have earned a reputation for greed.

America’s Elites exercise power in many sectors of society.

• Elites move from government positions to corporate positions

through a revolving door.

• Elites are public-regarding and establishment-trained.

• An increasing number of neoconservatives and neoliberals are

in America’s elite.

GLOBALIZATION – 1

Globalization is a process that seems to create a more unified

world united in a single economic system. Globalization continues

to be cited as a cause for the withering away of the state.

Technology has allowed mankind to realize globalization.

Liberalism and its market-based order continue to be the primary

motivator for technological innovation that in turn has rendered

previous norms obsolete. One can argue that this constant drive

may in time render international strife, conflict and other assorted

calamities obsolete. Liberals would argue that globalization is a

trend toward the transformation of world politics with states no

longer remaining sealed units.

GLOBALIZATION – 2

Globalization may be seen as a homogenization process that equalizes prices, products, wages, wealth, rates of interest and profit margins. It is a movement that can spark resistance both within the United States as well as around the world. This can come from religious fundamentalists, labor unions and other types of special interest groups. Globalization has so far only encompassed western countries, Israel and certain Asian countries like Japan, South Korea and China. Most of the world has been left out, including Africa, Latin America, Russia, Middle East and swaths of Asia.

GLOBALIZATION – 3

This political piece explores the

effects of globalization. One can

argue that globalization has

extended people’s buying power.

Dollars can be stretched must

further thanks to lower labor

costs found in distant lands. “Big

Box-Mart” argues that cheap

goods does present a serious

side effect. Does the message

relate to your personal belief

about our present global

economy?

JOHN LOCKE – 1

• Recognized as the first to anticipate the rise of liberal thought

in his time.

• Addressed the merits of exchanging certain natural rights or

liberties for civil rights as afforded by a social contract that

provides a foundation of laws assuring freedom and equality

for all citizens.

• One cannot have liberalism without capitalism.

• Embodies tolerance, freedom of speech and religion with

capitalism. Social contract is man’s way of establishing a

government to guarantee those identified fundamental rights.

• Argues that the law of God serves as the fundamental

example of what constitutes natural rights.

JOHN LOCKE – 2

• John Lock is very secular as his natural law argument

demonstrates. Adopted to make Christianity more

progressive, Locke argues that the law of reason is in

actuality the law of nature with natural law governed by God.

• No man has sovereignty by birth or any other greater

freedom, for all of man are seen in the same light under

God’s eyes. (Chap.1)

• Locke argues that man’s natural duty is to insure his self-

preservation, which he bases on two qualifications. First, men

do what is necessary for their pursuit of life, liberty and

prosperity. Second, man can only take from another if it is

dependent on preserving his own life, liberty and prosperity.

(Chap.1)

JOHN LOCKE – 3

• Self-preservation is absolute only in a state of war, for when

force without rights exists, it presents a theater through which

violence exists outside the reach of law. (Sec.17)

• Stresses that rights or duties accorded in a state of nature

are based on natural law, or reason. His whole theory is

based on the tenets of liberalism with a focus on relationships

and conflict. (Preface)

• Examines how one can and cannot morally possess material

goods. States that the law of nature demands that no one

shall waste or spoil anything that others could use. Arguing

that one’s claims to the products of the earth is in truth owned

in common by all, the right of subsistence cannot justify

waste, for one does not own the Earth. (Sec.36)

JOHN LOCKE – 4

• Self-regulating capitalism is the overriding purpose of the

establishment of this contract in order to insure that equality

and freedom continue to exist outside of the state of nature.

• Addressing the needy deficiencies of the state of nature,

Locke examines the need for common consent with the

people following the basic tenets of natural law. Man thereby

agrees to give up their natural rights in exchange for civil

rights in return for order in a civil society.

• Argues that the rule of law must apply to all in the same

fashion, fairly affecting all aspects of society. The state of

nature dictates that the law must treat all people equally for

no one has the right to control another absolutely.

JOHN LOCKE – 5

• From the beginning: Adam & Eve. Neither had total control

over their children or the Earth. (Chap.1)

• People must freely surrender some of their inalienable rights

in order for the construction of government. (Chap.1)

• All are charged with the responsibility of ensuring their

prosperity. None may willfully retreat from life to death.

(Sec.6)

• A state of war results when one’s survival is jeopardized.

Slavery produces a state of war. (Sec.8)

• No man shall do harm. Transgressors shall be punished

either by the state or individual. (Sec.11)

JOHN LOCKE – 6

• State of nature is a state of peace, good will, mutual

assistance and preservation. A state of enmity, malice,

violence and mutual destruction is in fact a state of war.

(Sec.16)

• When actual force ends then so does the state of war. Both

sides are then subjected to the faire determination of the law.

(Sec.20)

• Men willingly join a society to prevent a state of war. (Sec.21)

• Man shall not be under any other legislative power, but that

established, by consent, in the commonwealth. Only those

restraints placed by the legislature may apply. (Sec.22)

JOHN LOCKE – 7

• Only those powers willfully forfeited may be applied to man.

No one can give more away more power than he has

himself. He that cannot take away his own life, cannot

give another power over it. (Sec.23)

• Every man has a property in his own person. No power has

any right to this property except the respective

individual.(Sec.27)

• Adding labor or value makes the end product man’s.

(Sec.28)

• Ethics of converting or trading tangible products into

currency. This brings money, gold and silver, into the foray.

(Sec.50)

JOHN LOCKE – 8

The freedom then of man, and liberty of acting according to his

own will, is grounded on his having reason, which is able to instruct

him in that law he is to govern himself by, and make him know how

far he is left to the freedom of his own will.To turn him loose to an

unrestrained liberty, before he has reason to guide him, is not the

allowing him the privilege of his nature to be free; but to thrust him

out amongst brutes, and abandon him to a state as wretched, and

as much beneath that of a man, as their's. This is that which puts

the authority into the parents hands to govern the minority of their

children. God hath made it their business to employ this care on

their offspring, and hath placed in them suitable inclinations of

tenderness and concern to temper this power, to apply it, as his

wisdom designed it, to the children's good, as long as they should

need to be under it. (Sec.63)

JOHN LOCKE – 9

MEN being, as has been said, by nature, all free, equal, and

independent, no one can be put out of this estate, and

subjected to the political power of another, without his own

consent. The only way whereby any one divests himself of his

natural liberty, and puts on the bonds of civil society, is by

agreeing with other men to join and unite into a community for

their comfortable, safe, and peaceable living one amongst

another, in a secure enjoyment of their properties, and a

greater security against any, that are not of it. (Sec.95)

JOHN LOCKE – 10

For when any number of men have, by the consent of every

individual, made a community, they have thereby made that

community one body, with a power to act as one body, which is

only by the will and determination of the majority: for that which

acts any community, being only the consent of the individuals of

it, and it being necessary to that which is one body to move one

way; it is necessary the body should move that way whither the

greater force carries it, which is the consent of the majority: or

else it is impossible it should act or continue one body, one

community, which the consent of every individual that united

into it, agreed that it should; and so every one is bound by that

consent to be concluded by the majority. (Sec.96)

JOHN LOCKE – 11

IF man in the state of nature be so free, as has been said; if he

be absolute lord of his own person and possessions, equal to

the greatest, and subject to no body, why will he part with his

freedom? why will he give up this empire, and subject himself to

the dominion and control of any other power? To which it is

obvious to answer, that though in the state of nature he hath

such a right, yet the enjoyment of it is very uncertain, and

constantly exposed to the invasion of others: for all being kings

as much as he, every man his equal, and the greater part no

strict observers of equity and justice, the enjoyment of the

property he has in this state is very unsafe, very insecure.

Protection of property is the primary motivator to join civil

society. (Sec.123)

JOHN LOCKE – 12

THE majority having, as has been shewed, upon men's first

uniting into society, the whole power of the community naturally

in them, may employ all that power in making laws for the

community from time to time, and executing those laws by

officers of their own appointing; and then the form of the

government is a perfect democracy: or else may put the power

of making laws into the hands of a few select men, and their

heirs or successors; and then it is an oligarchy: or else into the

hands of one man, and then it is a monarchy: if to him and his

heirs, it is an hereditary monarchy: if to him only for life, but

upon his death the power only of nominating a successor to

return to them; an elective monarchy. And so accordingly of

these the community may make compounded and mixed forms

of government, as they think good. (Sec.132)

JOHN LOCKE – 13

Though the legislative, whether placed in one or more, whether

it be always in being, or only by intervals, though it be the

supreme power in every common-wealth; yet,

First: It is not, nor can possibly be absolutely arbitrary over the

lives and fortunes of the people: for it being but the joint power

of every member of the society given up to that person, or

assembly, which is legislator; it can be no more than those

persons had in a state of nature before they entered into

society, and gave up to the community: for no body can transfer

to another more power than he has in himself; and no body has

an absolute arbitrary power over himself, or over any other, to

destroy his own life, or take away the life or property of another.

(Sec.135)

JOHN LOCKE – 14

Second: The legislative, or supreme authority, cannot assume to

its self a power to rule by extemporary arbitrary decrees, but is

bound to dispense justice, and decide the rights of the subject by

promulgated standing laws, and known authorized judges: for the

law of nature being unwritten, and so no where to be found but in

the minds of men, they who through passion or interest shall

miscite, or misapply it, cannot so easily be convinced of their

mistake where there is no established judge: and so it serves not,

as it ought, to determine the rights, and fence the properties of

those that live under it, especially where every one is judge,

interpreter, and executioner of it too, and that in his own case: and

he that has right on his side, having ordinarily but his own single

strength, hath not force enough to defend himself from injuries, or

to punish delinquents. (Sec.136)

JOHN LOCKE – 15

Absolute arbitrary power, or governing without settled standing

laws, can neither of them consist with the ends of society and

government, which men would not quit the freedom of the state

of nature for, and tie themselves up under, were it not to

preserve their lives, liberties and fortunes, and by stated rules

of right and property to secure their peace and quiet.This were

to put themselves into a worse condition than the state of

nature, wherein they had a liberty to defend their right against

the injuries of others, and were upon equal terms of force to

maintain it, whether invaded by a single man, or many in

combination. (Sec.137)

JOHN LOCKE – 16

Thirdly, The supreme power cannot take from any man any part

of his property without his own consent: for the preservation of

property being the end of government, and that for which men

enter into society, it necessarily supposes and requires, that the

people should have property, without which they must be

supposed to lose that, by entering into society, which was the

end for which they entered into it; too gross an absurdity for any

man to own. (Sec.138)

JOHN LOCKE – 17

Legislative Powers Of The Commonwealth:

• Govern by promulgated established laws, not to be varied in

particular cases, but to have one rule for rich and poor, for the

favorite at court, and the country man at plough.

• Laws also ought to be designed for no other end ultimately, but

the good of the people.

• They must not raise taxes on the property of the people,

without the consent of the people, given by themselves, or their

deputies.

• The legislative neither must nor can transfer the power of

making laws to any body else, or place it any where, but where

the people have. (Sec.142)

JOHN LOCKE – 18

• But because the laws, that are at once, and in a short time

made, have a constant and lasting force, and need a perpetual

execution, or an attendance thereunto; therefore it is necessary

there should be a power always in being, which should see to

the execution of the laws that are made, and remain in force.

And thus the legislative and executive power come often to be

separated. (Sec.144)

• Executive and federative, though they be really distinct in

themselves, yet one comprehending the execution of the

municipal laws of the society within its self, upon all that are

parts of it; the other the management of the security and

interest of the public without, with all those that it may receive

benefit or damage from, yet they are always almost united.

(Sec.147)

JOHN LOCKE – 19

In a constituted common-wealth, standing upon its own basis,

and acting according to its own nature, that is, acting for the

preservation of the community, there can be but one supreme

power, which is the legislative, to which all the rest are and must

be subordinate, yet the legislative being only a fiduciary power

to act for certain ends, there remains still in the people a

supreme power to remove or alter the legislative, when they find

the legislative act contrary to the trust reposed in them: for all

power given with trust for the attaining an end, being limited by

that end, whenever that end is manifestly neglected, or

opposed, the trust must necessarily be forfeited, and the power

devolve into the hands of those that gave it. (sec.149)

JOHN LOCKE – 20

WHERE the legislative and executive power are in distinct

hands, (as they are in all moderated monarchies, and well-

framed governments) there the good of the society requires,

that several things should be left to the discretion of him that

has the executive power: for the legislators not being able to

foresee, and provide by laws, for all that may be useful to the

community, the executor of the laws having the power in his

hands, has by the common law of nature a right to make use of

it for the good of the society, in many cases, where the

municipal law has given no direction, till the legislative can

conveniently be assembled to provide for it. (Sec.159)

JOHN LOCKE – 21

Because the miscarriages of the father are no faults of the

children, and they may be rational and peaceable,

notwithstanding the brutishness and injustice of the father; the

father, by his miscarriages and violence, can forfeit but his own

life, but involves not his children in his guilt or destruction. His

goods, which nature, that willeth the preservation of all mankind

as much as is possible, hath made to belong to the children to

keep them from perishing, do still continue to belong to his

children: for supposing them not to have joined in the war,

either through infancy, absence, or choice, they have done

nothing to forfeit them: nor has the conqueror any right to take

them away. (Sec.182)

JOHN LOCKE – 22

AS usurpation is the exercise of power, which another hath a

right to; so tyranny is the exercise of power beyond right,

which no body can have a right to. And this is making use of

the power any one has in his hands, not for the good of those

who are under it, but for his own private separate advantage.

When the governor, however entitled, makes not the law, but

his will, the rule; and his commands and actions are not

directed to the preservation of the properties of his people, but

the satisfaction of his own ambition, revenge, covetousness,

or any other irregular passion. (Sec.199)

JOHN LOCKE – 23

Where-ever law ends, tyranny begins, if the law be

transgressed to another's harm; and whosoever in authority

exceeds the power given him by the law, and makes use of

the force he has under his command, to compass that upon

the subject, which the law allows not, ceases in that to be a

magistrate; and, acting without authority, may be opposed,

as any other man, who by force invades the right of another.

This is acknowledged in subordinate magistrates. He that

hath authority to seize my person in the street, may be

opposed as a thief and a robber, if he endeavors to break

into my house to execute a writ, notwithstanding that I know

he has such a warrant, and such a legal authority, as will

empower him to arrest me abroad. (Sec. 202)

JOHN LOCKE – 24

HE that will with any clearness speak of the dissolution of

government, ought in the first place to distinguish between the

dissolution of the society and the dissolution of the government.

That which makes the community, and brings men out of the

loose state of nature, into one politic society, is the agreement

which every one has with the rest to incorporate, and act as one

body, and so be one distinct commonwealth. The usual, and

almost only way whereby this union is dissolved, is the inroad of

foreign force. Thus conquerors swords often cut up governments

by the roots, and mangle societies to pieces, separating the

subdued or scattered multitude from the protection of, and

dependence on, that society which ought to have preserved them

from violence.. Besides this over-turning from without,

governments are dissolved from within. (Sec. 211)

JOHN LOCKE – 25

First, When the legislative is altered. Civil society being a state

of peace, amongst those who are of it, from whom the state of

war is excluded by the umpirage, which they have provided in

their legislative, for the ending all differences that may arise

amongst any of them, it is in their legislative, that the members

of a commonwealth are united, and combined together into one

coherent living body. (Sec.212)

CAPITALISM & DEMOCRACY ARE SIMILAR – 1

For freedom to rein it is required for the market place to determine

the fate of all products, services and ideas. No interference can

burden this process. Oversight is not necessarily detrimental as is

the policy of the United States to regulate various industries. The

death kneel comes when powerful spheres of influence serve to

squash competition. John Locke argues it best when he suggests

that liberalism can never exist without capitalism. This is the

philosophy of Adam Smith’s “invisible hand” where he explains

how markets determine the fate of all competing interests seeking

society’s acceptance. We are today living in a time of

unprecedented technological innovation that is helping to propel

humanity further the ladder of evolution. This would not be possible

if vested interests were prevented from pursuing market

acceptance.

CAPITALISM & DEMOCRACY ARE SIMILAR – 2

John Locke and Adam Smith would agree that there is no fundamental

difference between a marketed product, service or even political idea.

All interest groups competing in the marketplace are engaged in the

same pursuit: acceptance. Companies competing for market dollars

strive to offer the most cost efficient product or service that is also the

most innovative. This in turn encourages competing peers to further

maximize efficiency while also stretching the bounds of innovation in

order to offer the best value. Marketing ideas is in essence the same

we have witnessed with political campaigns striving for societal

acceptance. Political organizations seeking for example the election of

a particular individual to office must secure a majority of the market

within a certain region. Competing campaigns offer different ideas to

the market that seek to offer a better value. This constant battle allows

all individuals to decide for themselves what “product” “service” or

even “idea” is best. We all benefit from conflict.

CAPITALISM & DEMOCRACY ARE SIMILAR – 3

Let us look at the example of telecommunications to

understand the benefits of conflict. Prior to 1996, there

existed in Southern California like most other regions in the

United States, two cellular telephone companies. These were

the days of analog communications, or AMPS (Advanced

Mobile Phone System). Southern California was home to

Airtouch and LA Cellular prior to 1996. Both companies

maintained prices that prevented the average consumer from

fully utilizing their services, or even purchasing them at all.

Everything changed with the signage of the 1996

Telecommunications Act by President Bill Clinton. The bill

allowed for more efficient use of spectrum, thereby allowing

easier access for companies to compete in wireless

communications.

CAPITALISM & DEMOCRACY ARE SIMILAR – 4

Various competitors entered to compete for market

acceptance, requiring all companies to strive for greater

efficiency, while also providing even greater services.

Consumers today face a wide selection of companies who

individually offer greater communication services that go

beyond voice services to encompass video calling and

broadband internet. The invisible hand eliminates those

companies that do not provide the greatest benefit for

consumers.

CAPITALISM & DEMOCRACY ARE SIMILAR – 5

The ultimate nightmare may be the elimination of debate.

Many have unwittingly called for this in the halls of

government. It is not debate that threatens society, but the

lack of contesting ideas. Policies enacted to prevent overly

powerful monopolies help to maintain open competition. To

have one overly powerful sphere of interest prevent debate is

destructive to the system itself. Pluralism emphasizes both

conflict and compromise with interest groups engaged in a

constant pursuit of power that naturally results in established

alliances to compete with peer spheres that are doing the

same, resulting in the formation of two major spheres.

CAPITALISM & DEMOCRACY ARE SIMILAR – 6

Public policy would thereby stall until reaching a compromise

between these two majority powers. This in turn helps to

protect the majority of those residing in society. Every policy

requires constant improvement for humanity to arrive closer

to perfection. Those that call for the elimination of special

interest groups or even the restriction of political debate are

ignorant for this process benefits society immensely.