Intro to Government in America

Sawyers – AP Government

Government matters!!

• Many Americans- especially young people (18-25 years old) are apathetic about government • Despite the lack of interest,

government has a huge impact on our daily lives

• If we choose to, we have an opportunity to impact government

Think about how government has an impact on your daily life….

What is Government?

• Government is defined as those institutions that make authoritative policies for society

• There are four key institutions that make policies on the national level: Congress, the President, the Courts, and the federal administrative agencies (bureaucracy)

• Two main questions to think about this year in class: • 1. How should we govern? • 2. What should government do?

What Governments Do

• Regardless of how they assume power, all governments have certain functions in common• Maintain national defense• Provide public goods-things everyone can share (clean air)• Have police power to provide order (national guard)• Provide public services like schools and libraries• Socialize the young into the political culture (pledge of

allegiance)• Collect taxes to pay for services they provide

Politics

• Politics determines whom we select as government leaders and what policies they pursue• “who gets what, when, and how” –Harold D.

Lasswell

• Political participation- ways in which people get involved in politics

• Single-issue groups-interest groups whose members will vote on a single issue, like pro-life and pro-choice groups that ignore a politician’s stand on everything except abortion

The Policy Making System

• A policy making system is a set of institutions and activities that link together government, politics, and public policy• In democratic societies, parties, elections, interest groups, and the

media are key linkage institutions between the preferences of citizens and the government’s policy agenda

• The end product of government and politics is public policy• When people confront government officials with problems for them to

solve, they are trying to influence the government’s policy agenda• A political issue arises when people disagree about a problem or about a

public policy choice – Examples??

• Translating people’s desires into public policy is essential to the workings of democracy

Democracy

• The writers of the Constitution were actually suspicious of democracy!• Abraham Lincoln defined democracy as “government of the people, by the

people and for the people”• Democracy is a means of selecting policymakers and of organizing the

government so that policy represents and responds to the will of the people

• Five criteria that are essential for an ideal democratic process• Equality in voting• Effective participation• Enlightened understanding• Citizen control of government’s policy agenda• Inclusion- citizenship must be open to all within a nation• Do we meet the criteria? Explain….

• In addition to the criteria, democracies must practice majority rule and preserve minority rights - Examples??

Pluralist Theory

• Pluralist Theory contends that many centers of influence compete for power and control• Groups compete for power and control but no one group

dominates• Multiple access points to our government with power dispersed

amongst the three branches• Bargaining and compromise are essential ingredients of our

democracy• Electoral majorities rarely rule; all active and legitimate groups

can make themselves heard • The recent increase in interest group activity is cited as evidence

for pluralism

Elite and Class Theory

• Elite and class theory contends that our society is divided along class lines• An upper class elite rules, regardless of government

organization• Wealth is the basis of class power: a few powerful

Americans are the policy makers• Big business and its power is at the center

Hyperpluralism

• Hyperpluralism is pluralism gone wrong• Many groups are so strong that government is unable to act• There are too many groups with access to the different levels

of government and these groups have ways to both prevent policies they disagree with and promote those they support

• When politicians try to placate every group, the result is confusing, contradictory, and muddled policy…or no policy at all

• Which of the three contemporary theories of democracy do you agree with? Why?

Challenges to Democracy

Lets answer some questions….

• Are people knowledgeable about matters of public policy?• Do they apply what knowledge they do have to their voting choices?• Are American elections designed to facilitate public participation?• Does the interest group system allow for all points to be heard or do biases

favor particular groups?• Do political parties provide voters with clear choices or do they

intentionally obscure their stands on issues in order to get as many votes as possible?

• If there are choices, do the media help citizens understand them?• Is Congress representative of American society and capable of reacting to

the changing times?• Does the president look after the general welfare of the public, or has the

office become too focused on the interest of the elite?

The Scope of Government in America

• How active is American government?• National, state and local govt’s about one out of every three dollars of our

gross domestic product• National government alone spends over and average of $1.7 trillion annually,

employs five million people, and owns one third of the land in the U.S.

• A comparative perspective on the scope and size of our gov’t• The U.S. gov’t actually does less and is smaller than gov’ts of similar countries• The tax burden on Americans is small compared to other democratic nations…

shocking, I know!

• American individualism is a dominant theme in American political culture• This developed from immigrants desire to escape gov’t oppression• This has limited the scope of American gov’t• Individualism remains highly valued in the U.S.