€¦ · Web viewPolitics & Government 101 C―Introduction to U. S. Politics and Government. Class Coordinates: M W F 2:00 - 2:50 a.m. Fall Semester 2019 McIntyre 203. Bill Haltom

DRAFT ONE

Politics & Government 101 C―Introduction to U. S. Politics and Government

Class Coordinates: M W F 2:00 - 2:50 a.m. Fall Semester 2019 McIntyre 203

Bill Haltom Wyatt 219 Office Hours: T Th 1300-1430 & by appointment

Ends of the Course—I have designed P&G 101 to introduce you to citizenship, civics, poli-cies, choices, strategies, tactics, politics, and government, and some social science. Those are my ends for P&G 101. Our primary end is Civic Edu cation , your thinking and learning about citizenship in ways old and new. Our secondary end is Perspectivist Education, your understanding and assessing contending views of politics and government in the world and in the United States in ways informed, critical, and as reasonable as practicable. Our tertiary end is General Educa tion , your mastering elementary facts and ideas about U. S. government so that you will be educated, unlike so many pundits and politicos.

Means in the Course—To assist in your reaching the three ends above—Civic Education, Perspectivist Education, and General Education—I require you to read two books and some supplements. Edition 81 of Keeping the Republic: Power and Citizenship in American Politics by Christine Barbour & Gerald C. Wright [In the rest of this syllabus, I indicate this book by B&W8 for authors Barbour and Wright.] will provide you college-level information and insights to enhance your general education before college and the civic education you must acquire if you are to realize your own citizenship. Each chapter of B&W8 emphasizes how exemplars perform citizenship amid power, politicking, and governing [see end one above]; provides perspectives and contentions about traditions, institutions, processes, and policies [see end two]; and imparts facts and figures that promote constitutional and civic literacy [see end three]. Be fore and after you read chapters or passages in B&W8, please visit edge.sagepub.com/barbour8e to see what you should be learning. The second required textbook is Governing States and Localities—The Essentials by Kevin B. Smith & Alan Greenblatt [In the rest of this syllabus, I indicate this book as S&G for authors Smith and Greenblatt.]. I assign chapters from S&G for your General Education in levels far closer to you and far more important in your life and for Perspectivism, by which I mean your appreciation that the national emphasis in mass media and in college textbooks is a hopelessly confining and stunting view of U. S. politicking and governing. Additional required reading includes α) this syllabus, which poses from the very first meeting of P&G 101 the only short-essay questions on which I may demand that you write in examinations; β) my demand that you send me electronically evidence that you have mastered the readings prior to meetings for which such readings were prescribed; and γ) the Quick Study Academic “U.S. Government” [QSAUS&G] laminated study guide and the Sparknotes study chart “U. S. Government / Civics” to suit this course and our ends [SN]. [The laminated guide and the chart exemplify the elementary information provided in civics or government courses prior to college.]Argument of the Course—Suppose that each of us lives in our own cave in which we can behold only shadows on the wall(s) and can perceive our world only by means of those shadows (Plato, The Republic, Book VII). We are each and all, then, prisoners of our up-bringing, education, socialization, and other indoctrination. If we aspire to be more than abject subjects, we must peer through shadows on our walls to learn what is happening

1 The 8th edition of Keeping the Republic by Barbour & Wright is not the most recent edition. I have selected the older edition to save you money. This syllabus and the Canvas will be “keyed” to B&W Edition 8, so beware!

P&G 101A Introduction to U. S. Politics & Government 2 Spring Semester 2019 Wyatt 313 MWF 2:00-2:50 p.m. Bill Haltom Wyatt 219 T Th 1300- 1430

beyond our narrow preconceptions. Subjects are subjected to subjective “seeming”; citizens seek less subjective “being.” To escape our confinement and to acquire less commonsensical views, we must recognize conventions that confine us and limit our grasp of other possibilities. In our caves, the seeming that circumscribes our minds and thus our worlds issues from élites and from mass media. Élites and mass media use simplifying and stultifying categories, essentially contested concepts, and other devices about which you will learn much in P&G 101 to concoct the shadows—images, symbols, stories, and “morals”—that becloud our minds as they festoon our screens with conventions, “common sense,” and other constructions. At each level of governance from the most local to the most national we the subjects become we the citizens to the degree that we escape caves and screen of convention and common sense to pursue critical thinking and knowledge.

Lessons of the Course—From the argument of the course above, please derive three major lessons of P&G 101A:1) appearances often disguise actualities; 2) human organizations entail leadership, oligarchy, and élites; and 3) politics and government vary across contexts temporal [history], spatial [geography], cultural [anthropology and sociology], and cognitive [psychology and rhetoric] depending on mixes of appearances and leadership.

Opportunities—I invite you to choose from among the following opportunities to learn:

Class Participation – To participate well, you should read material assigned in this sylla-bus and attend class prepared to discuss facts, issues, and questions. Please note that I shall incorporate grades not assigned to other categories into “Class Participation.” For example, I shall repeatedly solicit from you suggestions for items for examinations. Such suggestions will add to your class participation. For a second example, if you present to the class a draft of your semester project I shall incorporate my assessment of your presentation into class participation. Email to me results of quizzes at edge.sagepub.com/barbour8e so I may include those results in addition to or in lieu of other forms of participation. This should be an attractive alternative for those who prefer not to speak in class. For another example, please visit the Canvas for this course daily and contribute by posting items and by commenting on the posts of others.

Midterm Examinations – You and fellow students will demonstrate mastery of reading and class sessions via three examinations amid the semester [I count and you weight the final examination separately]. Examinations may include vocabulary items, multiple-choice questions, true-false items as well as short-answer prompts drawn from the rightmost column in the schedule. You may consult books, notes, and electronic devices [no emailing or texting, please] in every examination in P&G 101, so thorough preparation is rewarded.

Rewriting a Guide to “U.S. Government” – I invite you to rewrite parts of QSAUS&G or SN to improve one or the other for the present [that is, for your and your peers’ preparation for examinations or general instruction] and for future students. You need only commit yourself in writing after consulting with me to revise one section of QSAUS&G or SN. I have ideas about how you might improve the whole concept of an outline or study guide in the 21st century. I am look-ing for fresh perspectives from you because you are positioned well to adjudge the utility and lucidity of QSAUS&G and similar guides/outlines. Please see me early and often if this project attracts you.

Writing Examination Items – Students may submit to The Canvas items for examinations. Please see me if this option attracts you.

Semester Paper – Please sign up to construct a practical, sensible, personal account of how you have begun your escape from your Plato’s Cave.


<en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allegory_of_the_Cave> Given what you have learned in this course and elsewhere—¡cite your sources!—how should you behave and what should you believe to be a citizen and not just a subject? The best semester papers will respond to observa-tions and insights in Keeping the Republic [B&W8] and Governing States and Localities [S&G] as well as other readings. In addition, better papers will profit from the insights of peers and me. We’ll discuss this project early and often in the course. I welcome your working in groups provided you commit to accepting the grade for the group.

Final Examination – Each student will answer multiple-choice, true-false, and/or short an-swer questions about basics of U. S. government and politics and will construct brief essays on one or more general items that demand analysis and argument. Please note that the final examination for this course is scheduled for 16 December 2019 from 8 a.m. until 10 a.m. If you cannot make that date, please select another course, for university rules demand your attendance at the final.

Grades – Because the mean grade at the University of Puget Sound hovers over 3.1, grades in P&G 101 will average ≥ 3.0 on a 4.0-scale. Some assignments will be graded above or below that average, but the mean final grade I assign come December will barely top 3.0 [“B”]. Please note that each student will assign her or his contributions percentages in the “menu” next in this syllabus. Those percentages must sum to 100%.

Your “Menu” of Opportunities and Evaluation

Opportunity When Due % of course grade

Class Participation Every day in every way 10-25%Examination One 4 October 2019 0-20%Examination Two 30 October 2019 0-20%Examination Three 18 November 2019 0-20%Re-Writing a Guide 1 December 2019 10-25%Semester Paper 22 November 2019 0-25%Final Examination 16 December 2019 4 p.m. 10-50%

100%

Schedule—Behold a first draft of our schedule. Please propose emendations!

Date What’s The Big Idea?2 What Will You Have Read by Class?

What Question(s) Might Appear on One

or More Examinations?3

Sept 4

1st

¡SEEMING BEATS BEING!

Appearances overcome & supplant actualities, so educated humans must

This syllabusvideo.search.yahoo.com/yhs/search?fr=yhs-iba-syn&hsimp=yhs-syn&hspart=iba&p=alleg

How does seeming beat being in politicking & governing?

My starter answer in class: ϴ4 The pa-

2 This column anticipates my most important concern for each meeting of the class. Each capitalized entry poses a theme. The prose beneath the capitalized theme elaborates on that theme.3 This column supplies questions for the exams.

https://video.search.yahoo.com/yhs/search?fr=yhs-iba-syn&hsimp=yhs-syn&hspart=iba&p=allegory+of+the+cave#id=1&vid=4b54cb54ad104cfe0016e4105eaac7e4&action=click



learn to peer though, past, or around imagery to perceive realities if they are to become less subjects and more citi-zens [See B&W8 pp. 13-14].

As in Plato’s “Myth of the Cave,” humans are so-cialized by means of images & verities in families, schooling, & espe-cially mass media. Social-ized, educated subjects come to see two-dimensional shadows on walls of the cave as real. Subjects’ very training as citizens induces them not to ask—indeed not to think to ask —who produces the shadows & why, so the incompletely educated dwell closer to subjection to “common sense” & conventions than to citi-zenship. Students in P&G 101 learn that images and “truths” are created, usually, more for purposes of creators & transmitters than for edification of receivers. Seeming distorts or disguises being for the designs of those who produce “truths” & images. You & I must cope with this “heap of broken images” literature.stackexchange.com/questions/922/what-is-the-heap-of-broken-images-in-the-waste-land ] if we are to construct & live a worthy citizenship.

ory+of+the+cave#id=1&vid=4b54cb54ad104cfe0016e4105eaac7e4&action=click

tent/blatant tend to conform to ideals & expectations and to disguise & deny latent deviations from principles or norms. Displays of authority or rationalization—public face(s) of power— will at least seem to conform to norms & expectations and may even dramatize ideals & aspirations. Meanwhile, tactics com-promise or contradict norms, ideals, & aspirations. Unwary cit-izens become subjects & dupes when they cannot see through public pro-nouncements & perfor-mances & cannot discern motivations & schemes that may shape private power & élites behind much publicized democracy & pluralism.

[Hint: Connect this short-essay item to themes in P&G 101: seeming beats being; &/or élites tend to rule & masses to conform or comply. &/or subna-tional & national politicking & govern-ing vary & may differ greatly from one another depending on contexts(s).]

Sept

2nd

¡SEEMING BENEFITS HAVE-MORES MORE THAN HAVE-LESSES

B&W8 pp. 13-14

&

How might socialization, civics, & common sense serve é-lites more/better than

4 The Greek letter ϴ [Theta] signals “thesis” in P&G 101A. The thesis is a succinct statement of the main claim. In examinations in P&G 101A, the thesis of a short-answer essay must appear above a line across the page.



https://literature.stackexchange.com/questions/922/what-is-the-heap-of-broken-images-in-the-waste-land




BUT CITIZENS MORE THAN SUBJECTS!

Conventional con-structions tend to favor the status quo & to fend off changes because élites & oli-garchs have over time shaped “common sense” to preserve the power, authority, & sway of élites. Nonetheless, if enough non-élites adopt alternative constructions non-élites may become less subjects & more citizens.

Even if we each & all yearn to be citizens participating in self-governance more than subjects enthralled to conventionality, we must learn to be citizens more than subjects. We must propel ourselves from rela-tive subjection toward rela-tive citizenship. We must acquire critical per-spectives if we are to re-duce our being subjected to élite imagery. Murray Edelman’s Constructing the Political Spectacle (1988) defines conventional understandings that mis-lead and unconventional understandings that improve on “what every-body knows.” Professor Edelman’s unconventional perspective is just one view but the view of a brilliant observer & student of U. S. politics. In P&G 101 we master Edelman’s understandings to see through the images & past shadows on cave walls to more realistic conceptions to inform our citizenship.

Haltom’s Notes on Edelman

masses?

My starter answer in class: ϴ Élites adapt to structures & adapt structures to their ad-vantages more than to the advantage of non-élites. One does not have to endorse each element of Plato’s Republic to agree that most people most of the time are far more subjects than citizens of polities. Much socialization—including education—subjects us far more than civilizes us. Instruction in civics suits those who control instruc-tion—even the instruc-tor in P&G 101—more than suits subjects who would be better citizens.

↑ Week one


In our first week, we acknowledged the degree to which our upbringing, education, socialization, and ongoing indoctrination provide us appearances far more appealing & reassuring than the actualities that shadows on our walls hide. Appearances, conventions, and common sense reinforce the status quo, brake change, advantage those who have more resources, and cater to those who involve themselves in politics & governance. If we cower in our caves, we let “seeming” limit our minds and our politics & shadows —images, symbols, stories, and “morals”—becloud our minds with conventions, “common sense,” and other constructions. At each level of governance from the most local to the most national we the subjects become we the citizens to the degree that we challenge convention & common sense with critical thinking and learning.

Week two ↓

Sept

3rd

day

¡COMMON SENSE & CONVENTIONAL CONSTRUCTIONS OOZE BIASES & PRESUMPTIONS!Mass media & politicos provide shared information for their own profit, which inclines them to slant information to their own interests.

Socialization & education impart as objective facts premises that advantage the few & disadvantage the many. Conventional views of “common sense” favor have-mores over have-lesses. Civics textbooks, AP workbooks, & college textbooks teem with conventional thinking & common sense. “Upward” biases are thereby rein-forced & alternative views weakened.

www.britannica.com/topic/iron-law-of-

oligarchy

&Dye & Zeigler, Ch. 1 at

Canvas

How might socialization, civics, & common sense serve élites more & better than masses?

My starter answer in class: ϴ Élites both adapt to structures and adapt structures to their advantages beyond the ability of masses. Have-mores control socialization & civics because they have prospered under the status quo. As a result, institutionalized & inculcated common sense conforms perceptions & expectations to myths, dogmas, traditions, and understandings in which socialized, educated have-lesses have been instructed. Whenever we conceive before we see, our expectations tend to define our experiences. We who impart such ex-pectations may “subject” you more than inculcate true citizenship. Apparent citizenship may then crowd out actual citizenship.

Sept ¡CATEGORICAL B&W8 Ch. 1 Are all politics &

http://www.britannica.com/topic/iron-law-of-oligarchy




4th day

THINKING FOISTS CONVENTIONS!

If media & politicos induce you to deploy familiar categories, they can limit your thinking & oversimplify your world.

The shadows on the wall(s) of our personal caves will reiterate conventional categories & “common sense” tailored to the preferences of those with more power, authority, & influence. These categories & that common sense will be fashionable & re-assuring but usually simple-minded. Shibboleths & slogans serve those who formulate them far more than those who accept them. If we are to become less subjects & more citizens, we must interrogate familiar phrasings & commonsense clichés.

&

S&G Ch. 1

government local? Are all politics & govern-ment variable? Are all politics & government contextual?My starter answer in class: ϴ U. S. gover-nance & politicking vary across regions, states, & localities. Citi-zenship will vary by both context(s) actors presume and context(s) observers impose. Vernaculars local & national, state & regional conform concepts & categories to beliefs, attitudes, & common sense that will vary. Essentially contested concepts and other political language, imagery, & symbols will prefigure perceptions to create varying cultures from localized to nationalized.

Sept

5th day

MASS MEDIA EXACERBATE THE DOMINANCE OF SEEMING OVER BEING & OF CONVENTIONAL OVER CRITICAL THINKING BY PROVIDING SHARED PLATONIC CAVES.

The more we are subjected to mass politicking & governing, the more we are buffeted by seeming that we tend to mistake for being, ap-pearances that we are liable to take for

faculty.georgetown.edu/irvinem/theory/Nation-Entertainment_Nation-

2006.pdf

&

B&W8 Ch. 15, esp. pp. 512-513

&

https://fortune.com/longform/media-company-ownership-consolidation/

&

https://en.wikipedia.org/

How might mass media exacerbate the primacy of seeming over being, subjection of citizens over their edification, and at once atomization of indivi-duals & collectivization of masses?

My starter answer in class: ϴ Mass media provide common, shared depictions that may overwhelm expertise with “common knowledge,” media spin events to please owners, &

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spiral_of_silence




http://faculty.georgetown.edu/irvinem/theory/Nation-Entertainment_Nation-2006.pdf




actualities.

The shadows on the wall, the puppeteers on the para-pet, & our distance from critical perception sustain Plato’s heuristic. Far more than shadows on the wall of a cave, mass media suffuse our lives as subjects and citizens. To the extent that élites shape mass media more than masses, to that extent have-mores condition have-lesses’ preconceptions so that less critical audiences are far more subjects than citizens.

wiki/Spiral_of_silencemedia reach readers & viewers who are “alone amid crowds.” Because media provide common, shared, mutually reinforcing versions of reality, their images seem quite real, often more real than expertise. Social construction of reality “subjects” audiences to oligarchic consensus & forces skeptics to seek information on their own. As a result, individuals are deprived of critical information & presented with a choice between believing what most others believe or being thought weird or irrational. Surrounded by those who accept, even avow, convention and common sense, individuals experience a “spiral of silence” akin to being chained in a cave. Indeed, modern mass media subject so many of us to screens so often that we may be said to have replaced the walls of Plato’s cave with electronic shadows.

↑ Week Two

In our second week, the lessons and argument of P&G 101 begin to get personal. We are deemed educated to the degree that we are conversant in conventional beliefs and commonsense thinking consistent with ordinary upbringing, education, and socialization. If we aspire to be more than abject subjects, we must peer through shadows on our walls to learn what is happening beyond our narrow preconceptions. However, such critical thinking and skepticism are difficult to maintain amid attractive simplifications and stultifying descriptors, imagery, totems, stories, and “morals” that becloud our minds with conventions, “common sense,” and other constructions. What is worse, we the subjects can become we the citizens only if and to the degree that we escape mass media that deluge us with categorical thinking—slogans, shibboleths, and symbols—24/7/365.25. Thus, not only do appearances crowd out actualities but appearances become the social construction of shared realities. The leadership, oligarchy, and élites who fill our screens the way Plato’s élites covered walls in caves overwhelm us with incentives to conform and to agree.

Week Three ↓

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spiral_of_silence


Sept

6th day

¡NEVER DO EITHER/OR WHEN YOU CAN DO BOTH/AND!

Expect politicos & authorities to overcome dialectical, multi-dimensional actualities with categorical labeling & thus to slather essentially contested concepts as if they were truly common sense.

Expect your everyday experiences of politicking & governing to abound in false dichotomies, tactical hype, & other slogans intended to exploit common sense & conventions. If someone on some screen or in some paper invokes “American Excep-tionalism,” for example, expect a mix of fact & fantasy. Since politics & governance in the U. S. both greatly resemble those of many other nation-states and are at least somewhat distinctive and often quite distinctive from other politicking and governing, one who invokes “American Exceptionalism” chooses elements suited to the motive for invoking the cliché. Moreover, state, county, & local politicking & governing both resemble and differ from one another in so many ways that one may make this practice exceptional or that tradition extraordinary by one’s choices or emphases.

B&W8 Ch. 2&

www.sparknotes.com/us-government-and-politics/american-government/

american-political-culture/

section5.rhtmlPolitical Culture – American

Exceptionalism

&

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_rankings_of_the_United_St

ates&

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/01/11/united-states-doesnt-even-make-top-20-global-democracy-

index?fbclid=IwAR3h9jcSN9przk6btcy2j8qxGUlhfi5WHcTO7p0wf_qXFtwWu4bE3P

ELUiM

How is the U. S. A. an exceptional polity & how a polity much like many others?

My starter answer in class: ϴThe U. S. is both exceptional and not depending on the central matters one elects to highlight; ideas or values one selects to [de-]empha-size; & features one selects/rejects.This is another way in which seeming beats being: defining “us” as opposed to “them” cre-ates apparent identities that may obscure actual interests. Various states may be exceptional relative to others states, but then one’s judgments depend on the states or localities one chooses.

If we get beyond dichotomous categories, we may formulate or fabricate scales along which we purport to “measure” traits we at-tribute to nations, regions, states, & cultures. Often such “measures” disguise static stereotypes that we invest with symbolic significance. Thus do we declare this state “red” or “conservative,” that national culture “progressive” or “capitalist,” and so on. Such “us versus them” or “this as opposed to that” thinking is simple-minded & unbecoming of an edu-cated citizen. Educated citizens dimensionalize if they can.

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/01/11/united-states-doesnt-even-make-top-20-global-democracy-index?fbclid=IwAR3h9jcSN9przk6btcy2j8qxGUlhfi5WHcTO7p0wf_qXFtwWu4bE3PELUiM



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_rankings_of_the_United_States




Sept

7th day

¡ STRIVE FOR DIA-LECTICAL, DIMEN-SIONAL, CRITICAL THINKING!

Descriptors of beliefs, attitudes, & cultures—red v. blue states, liberal v. conservative individuals or entities, capitalist v. communist systems—encourage us to conceive in categories that we then “assign” to our perceptions. We pre-conceive and only then perceive. Worse, we take our preconceptions to explain and sometimes even to justify our judgments or evaluations. Why do “they” persist in errors that “we” have debunked? Because “they” are <insert pejorative here> whereas “we” are <insert meliorative here>. The trouble with such categorical thinking is that the categories tend to defy accurate, precise definition & measurement. More sophisticated observers treat categories as ranges on some scale, then assign people & institutions to ranges. To define descriptors by their opposites is dialectical; to acknowledge more than one scale is dimensional.

B&W8, Ch. 2, esp. pp. 44-51

&

S&G pp. 6-14

&

“Does Latin America Exist? (And Is There a Confucian Culture?): A Global Analysis of Cross-Cultural Differences” by Ronald Inglehart and Marita Carballo

&

https://www.citylab.com/design/2018/08/maplab-americas-rivaling-regions/566555/

http://www.unz.com/jman/maps-of-the-american-nations/

&

https://pastexplore.wordpress.co

m/tag/colin-woodard/

Is the motto E pluribus unum more an aspiration, more a prayer, more a tradition, or more an accomplishment?

My starter answer in class: ϴ Like most slogans, E pluribus unum may be both a hope never to be realized but often to guide and a trait more often than not ap-proximated, depending on how we elect to construe it.Our friends the psychologists refer to motivated reasoning: what we want or prefer often shapes how we think. E pluribus unum was scarcely more than an aspiration when formulated in 1782. It was also a prayer to fend off the frightful circum-stances of the colonies recently liberated. It be-came a tradition as those thirteen disparate entities added others but still served as much to deny obvious disunity as to aver actual unification. In many respects, the unity of the nation became more and more an ac-complishment but the

https://pastexplore.wordpress.com/tag/colin-woodard/










Dialectical, dimensional thinking should be preferred to categorical blather.

plurality and the centrifugal forces persist.

Sept

8th day

¡ENDURING SENTIMENTS & STRUC-TURES “CHANNEL” POLITICAL & GOVERNMENTAL BEHAVIORS!

Myths, rituals, processes, & practices rationalize publicly behaviors & decisions that follow from socio-economic arrangements that are hid-den or shaded. Racism, sexism, & other “isms” that are built into institutions, for examples, must be dis-guised or denied before the citizenry lest everyday workings belie ideals & orthodoxy. [Those who are casting shadows must not “awaken” the prisoners in the cave to the two-dimensionality of the shadows.] Ideals & orthodoxy packed into civics textbooks, anthems, speeches, and other socialization are informa-tion of variable, uncertain value. For example, when you learned “The Pledge of Allegiance” you “learned” about one nation, under

B&W8 Chs. 2 & 6

&

Wilkinson & Pickett, The Spirit Level: Why

Greater Equality Makes Societies

Stronger [at Canvas]

&

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Essentially_contested_c

oncept

&

William Connolly, “Essentially Contested Concepts in Politics”

[at Canvas]

Do patriotic songs, civics lessons, chauvinistic phrases, & lofty sentiments “subject” citizens to dogmas that make them less observant & less critical?My starter answer in class: ϴ Duh! Although subjection—making masses more subjects than citizens—need not be the overt or only aim of songs, lessons, catchphrases, & similar gushing, such are among the effects on the unwary. Anec-dotes, ditties, wording & phrasing, & ideals euphemize when they do not idealize. Such images & attitudes cast shadows on the walls of our caves. Promulgated on & through mass media, such shadows reach our individual psyches & collective conscious-nesses. Each & all, then, we are made citizen-subjects who are more subjects—dupes, gulls, puppets—than critical,

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Essentially_contested_concept




God, with liberty and justice for all; worthy aspirations but scarcely what any sensible observer would find or any honest citizen aver.

thoughtful, independent citizens.

↑ Week 3

This week, we saw in sharper relief the lessons of the course. First, concepts & words often hide the actual from audiences by conjuring connotations & positing preconceptions. Second, élites, oligarchs, & other leaders select concepts & words to match top-down designs far more than bottom-up interests. Third, while politics and government alike vary across history, geography, cultures, & ideologies, socialization, education, & other norms & expectations tend to standardize the thinking of subjects and to stifle the skepticism of citizens.

Week 4 ↓

9/239th day

¡BE PERSPECTIVIST!

Admit alternate visions & thereby escape some of the shadows & walls that stultify you into a subject & impair your citizenship.

When you must, settle for categories, but seldom start from categories lest you become enmired in badinage & enthralled by shadows on the wall of your/our cave. Debates about “The Beard Thesis” have exemplified categorical [non]thinking, political badinage, & ideological denial. Dialectical, dimensional thinking directs social scientists to view documents as both practical and materialist, both aspirational and

B&W8 Chs. 3-4

&

S&G Ch. 3&

www.libertylawsite.org/2013/1101/the-beard-

thesis-and-the-seinfeld-defense/

Was the U. S. Constitution fundamentally an economic document or fundamentally an aspirational document?My starter answer in class: θYes. The national constitution was fundamentally about both protecting & expanding economic freedoms and enshrining & ap-proaching unattainable ideals economic as well as social & moral. The U. S. Constitution articulated evils to be avoided & ideals to be ap-proached; some evils & ideals pertained to pro-perty & some did not. Moreover, state constitutions have modi-fied or mitigated or exacerbated economics.

http://www.libertylawsite.org/2013/1101/the-beard-thesis-and-the-seinfeld-defense/




idealistic, all at the same time. The framers of the U. S. Constitution, for exam-ple, had their heads in the clouds and their hands in the till in 1787-1792.

Basic laws set up material & ideal ap-pearances, actualities, aspirations, and struc-tures; basic laws in various localities will suit the cultures, traditions, and circumstances characteristic of those venues.5

Sept

10th day

¡BEWARE ESSENTIALLY CONTESTED CONCEPTS!

When others utter “federalism,” ask yourself, “Which federalisms does the speaker presume?

In our upbringing, education, consumption of mass media, and con-versations, we have learned that Madison and other founders crafted “federalism,” a division of authority between nation and states. This learning inclined us to presume that “U. S. federalism” was a design based on the categories “national” and “state.” Further education and mature reflection, how-ever, will persuade us that “U. S. federalism” is mani-fold. “U. S. federalismS” [sic] range across time and space, era and locality. This in turn means that “fe-deralism” & “federalist” are essentially contested concepts that stand for tensions rather than well-defined categories or objects. The centripetal la-

B&W8 Ch. 4

&

S&G Ch. 3

&

Finer, “Six Great Inventions in the Art of Government” [Canvas]

&

Lowi, “Bend Sinister: How the Constitution

Saved the Republic and Lost Itself” [Canvas]

Is even the U. S. Constitution “local?”My starter answer in class: ϴ The U. S. Constitution is far more subnational in its origin, implementa-tion, & interpretation than is commonly ap-preciated. Vagaries in usages of “federalism” dramatize how sub-national the U. S. national constitution has been. Almost all self-govern-ment & almost all politicking involve values, interests, & attitudes far closer to individuals & locales & periods than to larger collectivities, vast expanses, and decades. Once we admit contrasting represen-tations of federalism [layer cake, marble cake, & “picket fence” come to mind] & labels for many eras of federalism [dual federalism, cooperative federalism, and various federalisms, it becomes clear that even the U. S. Constitution ranges across places & times.6

5 Connect this short-essay question to themes in P&G 101: seeming beats being; subnatio-nal and national politicking & governing vary & may differ greatly from one another; politicos are at once subjects shaped & regimented by governors & citizens who shape & direct governance; &/or élites tend to rule & masses to conform or acquiesce.6 Connect this short-essay question to themes in P&G 101: seeming beats being; subnatio-nal and national politicking & governing vary & may differ greatly from one another; politicos are at once subjects shaped & regimented by governors & citizens who shape &


bel “federalism” obscures centrifugal tendencies in the system, but the system itself depended from its inception on tensionS between & among cen-tralizing, nationalizing forces & peripheralizing, localizing forces. In addition, the design(s) of the framers left open to ne-gotiation, bargaining, & even conflict the “working out’ & “muddling through” of the design in practice. As a result, even official formalizations & interpretations of “federalism” have evolved in practice over time and space. Hence, “federalism” is a convenient category and a mode of expression, but multiple “federalismS” compete throughout U. S. history. Indeed, one might argue that the push and pull of competing conceptions of “federalism” are a feature rather than a bug in Madison’s invention.

Sept

11th day

¡BEWARE SYMBOLS, SLOGANS, & SHIBBOLETHS!

Like “federalism,” “sep-aration of powers” & “checks and balances” have evolved into sym-bols, slogans, even shibboleths.

Federalism(s), “Separation of Powers,” & “Checks and Balances” are each & all concepts the cores of which are hard to articulate & easy to distort in application. Although each concept varies across times, places, & conflicts, the common nouns or

B&W8 Ch. 4

&

S&G Ch. 3

&

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Essentially_contested_c

oncept

&

Finer, “Six Great Inventions in the Art of Government” [Canvas]

&

Lowi, “Bend Sinister:

Why, strictly speaking, can absolute separation of powers & categorical checks & balances never coexist?

My starter answer in class: ϴThe Constitution separated institutions then compelled those institutions to share powers to accomplish anything. The Con-stitution of 1787 both proscribed the evils of tyranny [powers unified in an autocrat but unchecked] & prescribed ideals [decisions reached though balancing consen-

direct governance; &/or élites tend to rule & masses to conform or acquiesce.





adjectives imparted by so-cialization & education incline us to presume then perceive more concord / less discord than critical observation would disclose. In politics & government virtues & vices alike tend to be essentially contested while seeming clearly & simply defined. That is, politicos & governors subject prisoners to shadows that are clear all the while manipulating ambiguities to advantage themselves & to disadvantage opponents/enemies.

How the Constitution Saved the Republic and

Lost Itself” [Canvas]sus], but such proscriptions & prescriptions “manage” tensions only when we do not take legislative, executive, & judicial au-thority to be utterly exhaustive or mutually exclusive. Madison ex-plicitly stated that the Constitution of 1787 set up checking & balancing tensions, not parchment barriers. That is why political scientists prefer the formulation “se-parated institutions sharing powers.” That formulation is achievable; powers separated completely yet exhausting the authority of the U. S. government is a contradicttion well fitted for tactical rhetoric & stultifying spin [orthodox dogma] but utterly ill-fitted to self-governance, as Madison himself argued in The Federalist.7

↑ Week Four

We prisoners of our upbringing, education, socialization, & other indoctrination may escape our imprisonment, we learned this week, if we overcome circumscribing categories, essentially contested concepts, and other labels, images, symbols, slogans, stories, & the conventions, “common sense,” & other constructions that direct our attention to subjugating shadows on our walls & that fend off critical thinking & knowledge. We overcome such subjugation by becoming more perspectivist, by recognizing essentially contested concepts, & by treating symbols, slogans, & shibboleths as at best unsophisticated & sophistical. Now, what about uncritical idealism & naïve optimism?

Week Five ↓

Sept

12th day

¡BEWARE FACILE IDEALS!

Like federalism, checks & balances, & separation

B&W8 Ch. 5&

S&G Ch. 3

Are civil rights & civil liberties categorical or absolute?My starter answer in

7 Connect this short-essay question to themes in P&G 101: seeming beats being; subnatio-nal and national politicking & governing vary & may differ greatly from one another; politicos are at once subjects shaped & regimented by governors & citizens who shape & direct governance; &/or élites tend to rule & masses to conform or acquiesce.


of powers, rights & liber-ties are both symbols, slogans, even shib-boleths and features of U. S. polities!

Rights & liberties are both potent symbols of U. S. ideals and political resources of varying utility & efficacy. Claims to rights & liberties may alter conflicts & conversations but do not end conflicts or win arguments. Moreover, rights & liberties exist on spectrums between evils to be rejected [proscriptions] & ideals to be approached but never realized. It follows that “rights” are political resources the meanings of which are determined in specific disputes then systematized into allegedly general rules, doctrines, & dogmas.

&

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Two_Concepts_of_Liber

ty

class: ϴ Rights & liberties assume the form of absolute imperatives & categorical commands even as they are fashioned to ordinary politicking & governing. Even as we formulate this or that ver-sion of a right or propound one or another liberty, we should know [even if we keep to our-selves that knowledge] that rights & liberties tend to overlap at their cores – take a look at the first two clauses of the Bill of Rights – & to contradict on their peripheries. In everyday political or governmental wrangling, we inflate our desires to immortal rights & our preferences to longstanding principles if audiences & opponents let us get away with such inflation. We deploy categories & ex-ploit absolutes even though we should know that if literal prescrip-tions or time-honored proscriptions resolved matters then no issues should arise.

Oct 2

13th day

¡GO DIMENSIONAL! ¡GO DIALETICAL!

Equalities & inequalities tend to make more sense viewed dialectically.

In the abstract, equalities tend to be categorical & inequalities tend to be absolute evils. In practice equalities tend to vary by contexts & circumstances, over time, & across times, space, & cultures and inequalities tend to be

B&W8 Ch. 5 How many dimensions of (in)equality roil U. S. politics and govern-ance, & how many have roiled the U. S. all along?

My starter answer in class: ϴ Gender, religious, racial/eth-nic/national, & wealth & class inequalities have always been problems that have varied more according to élite & mass


persistent if not perma-nent. If we attend to contexts & cultures, we see both that equalities & inequalities define one another as opposites [dialectical] and that equality & inequality are more or less along one or more spectra [dimensional].

attention & local cultures than policies.

Discrimination among sexes or genders, religions, races, ethnici-ties, nations of origin, & wealth & classes long have divided Americans & denied equalities, which is why so many buildings feature inscrip-tions asserting the ideals to mask the reals. By contrast, sexual identities & rights of marginalized have only been recognized as dis-crimination worthy of redress recently.

Oct 414th day

Examination One

↑ Week Five

This week we learned more about how our fellow troglodytes can be kept abject subjects by means of ideals, absolutes, and other categorical thinking & speaking and about how we might make ourselves more citizenly by dialectical, dimensional reasoning. Categorical ideals & dichotomous absolutes stultify our citizenship by inducing us to think in terms of simplistic opposites & enticing us to mistake essentially contested concepts—abstract principles & otherworldly ideals —for concrete, achievable, usual realities. By contrast [Am I setting up a false dichotomy?], dimensional thinking inclines us to wonder along how many spectrums we might “plot” opposites, whether the opposites are indeed endpoints at all, & how many intermediate points or stages we might imagine between opposites. Dialectical reasoning induces us to see that for every move toward this or that absolute or endpoint, we may be approximating a good as well as fleeing an evil. Once we acknowledge the possibilities posed by dialectical, dimensional thinking, the lure of false dichotomies & disingenuous choices is reduced [but never eliminated].

Week Six↓

Oct 715th day

¡REPRESENTATION, BEING ESSENTIALLY CONTESTED, VARIES!

In U. S. legislatures, repre-sentation & representa-tives, like other processes and roles, vary. Repre-sentatives by turns play roles democratic, dema-gogic, republican, & aristocratic. Represen-

B&W8 Ch. 7&

S&G Ch. 7

¿Are you mad enough / Big and bad enough to sample the social science sources below?

William Gamson, “Stable Unrepresentation” [at

What is more representative & what less representative about how legislatures proceed?

My starter answer in class: When represen-tatives must attend close-ly to constituents, legislatures may be more representative; when re-


tative bodies, as a result, tend to be more or less democratic & more or less republican depending on the roles both that mem-bers of Congress play and that the Constitution and other structures dictate or favor.

Canvas]presentatives may “safely” ignore or discount constituents, expect interests of those with more access to be better represented. The more local the representation, the more likely constituents are to learn about policies & rules. The more attenuated the representative relationships, the more that seeming representation may obscure actual relationships.

Oct 9

16th day

¡START FROM “THE ELECTORAL CONNECTION!”

Look for “the electoral connection” as the first explanation for how elected officials, especially legislators, behave!

Expect legislators to seek electoral advantage(s) in organizing their chambers & in framing & considering legislation. In seeking such advantages, seeming will outperform [pun intended] being. As a result, representation will be more a matter of symbols, images, & banter than of policies, models, & sense.

B&W8 Ch. 7&

S&G Ch. 7

wikisum.com/w/Mayhew:_Congress

Does modern representation make politics & governance both too democratic & too republican?

My starter answer in class: ϴ Modern repre-sentatives must seem both mandated dele-gates doing the will of the people or at least a re-electing majority and independent trustees doing what they think best for the people. To be re-elected, representatives usually must be both strategic and tactical, which means they must seem to be mandated delegates [democratic] as well as independent trustees [re-publican], often simultaneously. When those two roles and other roles or responsibilities conflict, representatives must seem to be what they cannot in fact be. As a result, representatives will overtly pander, sacri-ficing their inside knowl-

http://wikisum.com/w/Mayhew:_Congress

http://wikisum.com/w/Mayhew:_Congress


edge & better judgment to the prejudices of this or that mob —too democratic?—and covertly conform to the demands or expectations of those who finance campaigns, which may be too republican. Worse, a “trustee” may pretend to be a “delegate” by ma-nipulating constituent opinion to legitimize what representatives prefer on grounds other than the interests of constituents.

Oct

17th

¡REPRESENTATION & REPRESENTATIVES VARY!

Expect legislatures state & national to vary in effectiveness, efficiency, accountability & other virtues depending on circumstances/context, cultures, & structural variables as much as personalities & behavior!Whenever you, as a citizen, learn about legislators or legislatures at one level—say, a city council, a state legislature, or Congress— you should immediately wonder how that legislature is like and unlike other legislatures.

B&W8 Ch. 7&

S&G Ch. 7

Does Keeping the Republic instruct citizens to monitor legislatures at national, state, county, and municipal levels?

My starter answer in class: ϴ Keeping the Republic focuses mainly on Congress, which ill serves citizens-in-training but may be understandable given variations at subnational level. To the extent that U. S. federalism involves both national and sub-national politics/governance, attention to lawmaking at all levels, especially at the levels closest to people & exercising greatest influence over individuals & groups, would seem prudent.

↑ Week Six

The sixth week of P&G 101 started from yet another essentially contested concept [representation], then “progressed” to “the electoral connection” and the variability of representation, representatives, & representative institutions. Essentially contested concepts, like other categorical thinking, is one means by which each of us cave-dwellers is likely less the citizen that we aspire to be and more the subject of images [albeit on screens rather on walls of caves] created to manipulate us and to defraud us out of consent or at least acquiescence. Imprisoned by our upbringing, education, socialization, & other


indoctrination, we imprison ourselves by accepting uncritically what élites project. If we aspire to be more than abject subjects, we must become analytical & skeptical. Whatever our representatives at any level [local, county, state, nation] seem, analytical, skeptical citizens look for what representatives must be. Whatever élites, politicos, specialists in public relations, & mass media tell us representatives are saying, thinking, or doing, any representative worried about re-election must simulate ideals, hide foibles, & spin reals to maintain the than representative’s incumbency. Whatever the images, symbols, stories, and “morals” propagated, conventions, “common sense,” & other constructions will come between subjects & their putative representatives to a greater degree than between citizens & those who purport to pursue citizens’ interests. Unrepresentation [Gamson], whether stable or unstable, is crucial to your preventing your own victimization & subjection.

Week Seven ↓

Oct

18th

EXECUTIVES MUST SEEM AT LEAST AS MUCH AS BE BECAUSE CONFLICTING EXPECTATIONS CANNOT BE REALIZED!Executives must try to satisfy expectations that conflict with one another & demands than can be met in appearances far more than in actuality. Modern mayors, county executives, governors, & presidents may cope with contradictory or paradox-ical demands & expectations by seeming if not through being.

B&W8 Ch. 8http://spot.colorado.edu/~mcguire/presparadox.htm

For every virtue or vice [or both] concerning leadership, may we posit at least one equal & opposite vice or virtue?

My starter answer in class: ϴ Although we may formulate sets of virtues/vices to “go together,” such Newtonian dualities are too neat. Almost all leaders & almost all humans proclaim their virtues while playing down vices in which they indulge. However, humans & leaders alike may display strengths without corresponding weaknesses and weaknesses without corresponding strengths.

Oct 16

19th day

EXPECT EXECUTIVE AU-THORITY TO BE VARIA-BLE, EVEN PROTEAN ACROSS TIMES & PLACES!Both constitutional structures and political contexts shape executives’ execution, but executives often vary even beyond those continuities. Cultures

B&W8 Ch. 8&

S&G Ch. 8

Have subnational executives both expanded and exploited their authority over time in the same way(s) as presidents?When authority is both more explicit and less checked, executives, especially presidents may go beyond traditional

http://spot.colorado.edu/~mcguire/presparadox.htm




& polities will yield dif-ferent leadership styles & behaviors for mayors, executives, & governors. Local traditions, different constitutional & legal ar-rangements, & greater vigilance both bound sub-national executives and free them to behave as locals permit.

bounds. Nonetheless, precepts of democratic-republican leadership—maximize suasion, ration manipulation, & minimize coercion—work for all or almost all leaders.

Oct 18

20th day

VIRTUES & VICES OF BUREAUCRACIES MIRROR ONE THE OTHER!

Most bureaucratic virtues are goods meant to overcome evils; most bureaucratic vices follow from those virtues.

B&W8 Ch. 9 &

wikisum.com/w/Category:Bureaucracy

&

wikisum.com/w/Wilson:_Bureaucracy

What evils led to the creation of bureaucracies, and what remedies for evils become both virtues and vices?My starter answer in class: In politicking & governing, most solutions reduce some problem(s) but enlarge other prob-lems. It follows that bureaucratic structures, having co-evolved with other structures, tend to fend off some problems at some risk or expense of exacerbating other problems.

↑ Week Seven

Like legislative representatives, executive representatives & appointed bureaucrats will tend to seem more than they can afford to be, to appear more than to actualize. Executives & bureaucrats must appear more like what ordinary observers suppose from stories & the morals of civics textbook stories, from images as well as ideas blared across newspapers & screens, & from symbols & spin orchestrated by élites and élites’ operatives and less like what governmental & political insiders know & keep from subjects & citizens alike. To get away with image-making, élites & their agents must “mix it up,” which means that semblances will vary over time & space, cultures & subcultures, & ways of thinking & speaking..

Week Eight ↓

Oct 23

21st day

AT NATIONAL & SUB-NATIONAL LEVELS ALIKE, ELECTED ÉLITES PROFIT FROM BLAMING UNELECTED ANONYMITIES WHEN THINGS GO WRONG!

S&G Ch. 8 Why do those engaged in politics and governance so often scapegoat or otherwise fulminate against bureaucracies?

My starter answer in class: ϴ Those who govern & politick

http://wikisum.com/w/Wilson:_Bureaucracy

http://wikisum.com/w/Wilson:_Bureaucracy


Politicos, interests, & publicists [including media] should be expected to attach blame to those less able to fight back & to seek credit for themselves.

answer to constituents & thus profit from deflecting blame to those who enjoy less cozy relations with con-stituents. Having learned that legislators national & subnational exploit “the electoral connection” & hence are bound by that connection, we ought to attend to the reduction of “the electoral connection” by making bureaucracy apolitical or at least unelected. Bureaucrats enable legislators to claim credit, bureaucrats must not compete with the popularly elected for credit & may assist the elected by taking blame. Thus do structures of a democratic republic tend to credit the elected & blame the unelected.

Oct 25

22nd day

JUDICIAL BRANCHES PROCEED AS DEMOCRATICALLY AS THEY CAN BUT AS ARIS-TOCRATICALLY AS THEY MUST.Elected judges play to voters to be sure, but appointed judges, espe-cially appellate judges, are barely constrained. Collegial courts & judicial hierarchy may restrain some “judicial imperialism.”

B&W8 Ch. 10&

S&G Ch. 9&

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/23/opinion/states

-courts-diversity.html

How aristocratic and how democratic are courts?My starter answer in class: ϴNomination & confirmation processes keep justices & judges at least republican, but tenure & secrecy enable justices & judges to behave in an aristocratic manner.

↑ Week Eight

Unlike executives last week & legislators the week before, courts are neither designed to be representative & democratic nor eager to seem representative & democratic. Instead, judges tend to project fidelity to the rule of law. Our upbringing, education, socialization, and other indoctrination incline us to expect judges to claim that some rule(s) that existed before a dispute furnish clear guidance to judges [and perhaps jurors] about how to resolve disputes. If we accept that account uncritically, we subject ourselves to an aristocracy of educated decision-makers who may flout our sense of justice in the name of

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/23/opinion/states-courts-diversity.html




following rules. If instead we see through judicial & legal shadow play we may become better citizens. But how do we avoid cynicism & despair? To escape the confinement of “common sense,” we must discern the variety of judgments & outcomes courts, judges, & even jurors might reach if they willed. If élites and mass media elect to play along with courts’ & judges’ claiming their decisions were compelled, citizens look to the arguments and evidence adduced by “losing” sides: why did lawyers & parties believe they might prevail if the results were preordained simply by reading law? Élites and mass media will tend to defer to simplifying & stultifying categories marshaled by prevailing parties, to essentially contested concepts, and to rhetorical flourishes, captious imagery, sacred sym-bols, & alluring stories. At each level of governance from the most local to the most national we the subjects become we the citizens only if and to the degree that we escape caves of convention and common sense to risk critical thinking & perspective.

Week Nine↓

Oct 28

23rd day

JURAL SEEMING OB-SCURES LEGAL REALITIES.The universal social logic of dispute resolution & “the mediating continuum” make proceedings fraught with political implications seem apolitical. Dyadic legislatures act in overtly political ways, while courts must at least seem triadic. The range of dyadic proceedings is far greater than the tiny range of tri-adic “due process.” Settle-ments, litigotiation, plea bargaining and other de-vices permit courts to work around formalities. In sub-national systems even more than national, “litigious-ness” is a potent negative symbol.

Shapiro, “The Logic of the Triad” [at Canvas]

How do courts remain judicial while performing political acts?My starter answer in class: ϴ Judges hide political choices be-hind seemingly judi-cial, formal rhetoric, especially the symbol “the rule of law” and the shibboleth “rule.” Karl Llewellyn taught us long ago that “. . . rules of law, alone, do not, be-cause they cannot, decide any appealed case which has been worth both an appeal and a response.” From Llewellyn we infer that appellate courts issue declarations of formal rules that both guide trial courts and mask discretion.

Oct 30

24th day

Examination 2

Nov 1

25th day

Inventory: What is due when & how far along you should be!

↑ Week Nine

Distinctions between or among unified executives, dyadic legislatures, & triadic


adjudication highlight the major lessons of P&G 101 [see p. 1 of this syllabus]. Lesson One, please recall, is that appearances often disguise actualities. In unified executive institutions, presidents & governors & mayors must appear to be trustees of the people lest they be thought tyrannical but must in actuality be at least directive & at time dictatorial. Legislatures, by contrast, must seem at least republican and from time to time seem outright democratic lest legislators strain “the electoral connection.” Courts, the least electoral & least majoritarian branch, must act as if they merely apply general laws created by democratic-republican lawmakers despite the theory & practices of common law that make most rules & rulings in fact judge-made! Lesson Two reminds us that human organizations entail leadership, oligarchy, & élites. Such “top-down” orchestration & regimentation in practice must be camouflaged by rituals & rhetoric that emphasize “popular sovereignty” and the “will of the people.” Our third chronic lesson is that politics & government vary across history, geography, cultures & sub-cultures, and ideas & ideologies. The styles of appearances and leadership intrinsic to each branch at every level manipulate images, essentially contested concepts, lofty abstractions, & unrealistic ideals to make decision-making seem consistent with principles that practices often fail to approximate & almost never realize.

Week Ten↓

Nov

26th day

PUBLIC OPINION IS ALWAYS ESSENTIALLY CONTESTED, USUALLY PROTEAN, AND OFTEN MORE SHAPED THAN SHAPING!

The phrase “public opinion” has multiple meanings in propaganda, shibboleth, electioneering, survey research, and political analysis. Worse, “public opinion” is far too often a blurry snapshot of dynamics. Worst, “public opinion” is rarely measurable or tangible and often abstract and malleable.

B&W8 Ch. 11&

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pythia

&

S&G pp. 131-135

&

wikisum.com/w/Erikson%2C_Wright

%2C_and_McIver:_Statehouse_democracy

&wikisum.com/w/Jacobson:_Polarized_opinion_in_the_stat

es

In a democratic republic is the voice of the people the voice of a god?

My starter answer in class: ϴ In a democratic republic public opinion must simulate both “the voice of the people” and “the voice of a god” even though public opinion is almost never either. In U. S. politics & government “public opinion” is more like the Delphic oracle than a god. Interpreters distill senti-ments & frenzy that serve their own interests & call their interests & distillations “the voice of the people” even though generating the will of some majority is usually more spin and symbols than hearing voices. Thus, “public opinion” is both a symbol conjured by élites and an essentially contested concept manipulated by politicos far more than


the voice of the people or of some deity. As symbol & slogan, “public opinion” is far more removed from national than from subnational politics.

Nov

27th day

POLITICAL PARTIES, LIKE PUBLIC OPINION, HAVE MULTIPLE MEAN-INGS & USES IN POLITICKING & GOVERNING!

Parties in the U. S. vary greatly across national, regional, state, county, & very local levels. As a result, partisan names & labels conceal many meanings & differences behind symbols, slogans, & shibboleths both to create statewide or national coalitions to win elections and to facilitate the control of organized interests.

B&W8 Ch. 12&

S&G Ch. 6&

www.princeton.edu/~achaney/tmve/wiki100k/docs/

Duverger_s_law.html&

https://www.voterstudygroup.org/publication/political-divisions-in-2016-and-

beyond

Is the U. S. a two-party system?

My starter answer in class: ϴ The U. S. consists of two-party systems, multi-party systems, one-party systems & even no-party systems depend-ing on how one chooses to view contexts & to construct parties. To acquire from political scientists the concepts “party in the electorate,” “party in the legislature,” & “pres-idential party” is to see the variability of the term “political party.” To acknowledge varied levels of politicking and governing is to see that local, municipal, countywide, statewide, regional, & national party organizations & member-ships may differ greatly in presumptions, principles, & policies. Ostensibly nonpartisan offices & institutions may feature no parties or minimal partisanship.

Nov 8 Pacific Northwest Political Science Association

↑ Week Ten

Suppose you were a member of some élite or a leader in a democratic republic. You must seem to adhere to democratic & republican values & principles as you strive to secure what you prefer. That means in turn that you must purport to be following opinion that you shape as best you can and you must appear to follow organized interests—especially political parties—that you must lead if they are to assist you. The murkiness of “public

https://www.voterstudygroup.org/publication/political-divisions-in-2016-and-beyond




opinion” & the ambiguities of partisan & group labels afford you ample “leeways” for seeming to be what you are not & cannot be. However, you must exploit murkiness or ambiguity in a manner suited to contexts.

Week Eleven ↓

Nov

28th day

INTEREST GROUPS HAVE MULTIPLE FACES & FUNCTIONS!

Groups & coalitions may “circulate” as many models of pluralism presume, but decision-making will almost always be directed by an élite, so the public images [seem ing ] of groups & coalitions will always be more populist or public-interested than the hidden machinations & maneuvers of group & coalition leaders, which will be driven by more private interests & commercial or social clout [being].

B&W8 Ch. 13

&

S&G Ch. 6

&

wikisum.com/w/Schattschneider:_The_semisovereign_people

&en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_law_of_oligarchy

What did Schattschneider mean when he said, “The flaw in the pluralist heaven is that the heavenly chorus sings with a strong upper-class ac-cent?”My starter answer in class: ϴ Schatt-schneider meant that visions of pluralism may make us feel better about rule by élites but do not repeal the Iron Law of Oligarchy. Groups & co-alitions [groups of groups] are subject to Michels’ Iron Law of Oligarchy: “Who says organization, says oligarchy.” Groups & co-alitions will strive to seem more pluralistic & democratic than they can in practice be if they are to persist and prosper. Leaders of groups or coalitions will cultivate an image of populist, egalitarian, democratic stirrings “from the bottom up,” but such “heavenly” pluralism can succeed seldom. To succeed, leaders must “behind the scenes” direct collective efforts from the top down. Thus does Schattschneider instruct us to beware that pluralism is a lovely the-ory that masks the unpleasant practices of the U. S. democratic republic. [Please note the next sentence in The

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_law_of_oligarchy

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_law_of_oligarchy

http://wikisum.com/w/Schattschneider:_The_semisovereign_people




Semisovereign People: “Probably about 90 percent of the people cannot get into the pres-sure system.” Please note as well that Schattschneider wrote about the national pressure system.]

Nov

29th day

PARTICIPATION, OPINION, VOTING & CAMPAIGNING & ELECTING, LOBBYING, & OTHER PROCESSES OF POLITICS & GOVERNMENT MAY BE MORE EFFECTIVE AT LOCAL LEVELS THAN AT NON-LOCAL LEVELS.

National politicking & gov-erning will tend to be more complex & more daunting than statewide politicking & governing, which will in turn be more complex & more daunting than county, municipal, or district politicking & governing.

B&W8 Chs. 14 & 16&

S&G Ch. 5

www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/06/30/

electorally-competitive-counties-have-grown-

scarcer-in-recent-decades/

&

www.politico.com/story/2014/01/

marijuana-legalization-legislation-congress-

102041.html

Should one “think globally but act locally?”

My starter answer in class: ϴ One should apply the Both/And Rule differentially to voting, campaigning, electioneering, & other participatory activities & processes. Think globally, locally, & in between when you get reliable information; act globally, locally, & in between when you are certain you know what you are doing. The more proximate your arena of action, the more knowledgeable & critical you may be.

Nov

30th day

VOTING & OTHER PARTICIPATION MAKE MORE OR LESS SENSE DEPENDING ON YOUR GOALS & CIRCUM-STANCES/CONTEXT!“Do what you are doing!” That is, self-consciously & critically determine the kinds of practices that de-fine your citizenship & reduce your subjection, then pursue those as de-liberately & energetically as you can manage.

B&W8 Ch. 14

&S&G Ch. 5

Should you vote or participate in other ways? Both?

My starter answer in class: ϴ One should participate in politick-ing & governing in ways that satisfy one’s instrumental & symbolic ends. Participation in a democratic republic will tend to be more sensible when participation is as practical or expressive as one imagines. Voting to affect policy makes more sense when elections concern policies directly

http://www.politico.com/story/2014/01/marijuana-legalization-legislation-congress-102041.html



http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/06/30/electorally-competitive-counties-have-grown-scarcer-in-recent-decades/




& locally; in more indi-rect or large-scale elections votes are more expressive & other forms of participation, such as campaigning or lobbying, may be more effective.

↑ Week Eleven

This week we learned about interest groups, lobbying, voting, & other participation. These entities & activities compose perhaps the majority of what our upbringing, education, socialization, and other indoctrination have taught us about citizenship & about “Madisonian pluralism.” Alas! By this point of the course you cannot have been surprised to learn that pluralism is more a rationalizing cover story and that citizenly pursuits based on such pluralism are more ritualistic than realistic & more mythical than practicable. If we want to grow beyond abject subjection, we must seek less subjecttive & less credulous “citizenship.” To escape our credulity and to complement “common sense,” we must recog-nize that conventions confine us and limit our appreciation of other possibilities. In our caves, the myths, rituals, and other “seeming” that circumscribes our minds and thus our worlds issues from élites and teems in mass media. Élites and mass media concoct images, symbols, stories, & “morals” that becloud our minds with conventions, “common sense,” and other constructions that serve élites far more than masses & that profit purveyors of news far more than their audiences. At each level of governance from the most local to the most national we the subjects become we the citizens to the degree that we pursue critical thinking and knowledge about lobbies, interests, elections, and other participation.

Week Twelve ↓

Nov

31st day

Examination 3

Nov

32nd day

POLICIES TEND TO BE DEFINED, IMPLEMENTED, & EVALUATED IN A SIMILAR MANNER ACROSS LOCALITIES, STATES, & NATION DEPENDING ON LOCUS & CONCENTRATION OF THE POWER TO DECIDE.

Although the power to decide may occasionally be expanded to include groups & forces usually excluded, routinely élites & organized interests will dominate de-cision-making through superior resources, know-

Excerpt from E. E. Schattschneider’s The Semi-Sovereign People [at Canvas]

&

Excerpt from John Gaventa’s Power and

Powerlessness [at Canvas]

&

Excerpt from Kay Lehman Schlozman,

Sidney Verba, & Henry Brady, The Unheavenly

Chorus: Unequal Political Voice and the

Broken Promise of

Does policy-making tend to be more democratic, more pluralistic, more republican, or more élite-dominated?

My starter answer in class: ϴ Policies may be more pluralistic or democratic the more local the decision-making is; the broader the conflict the more that economic/politi-cal/social clout will regularly prevail. If organized interests make processes seem open while controlling policies,


how, public relations, and other strategies/tactics.

American Democracy [at Canvas] then policies may seem

democratic yet be plutocratic or aristocratic nonetheless. Although local decision-making may be more vulnerable to “private” power than national decision-making, the more local the pro-cesses that generate policies truly are, the more accessible, trans-parent, & open the decisions may be. Thus, decision-making pro-cesses in a municipality may be as democratic as a New England town meeting or as pluralistic as an open hearing. By contrast, decision-making at the level of a state or of the nation may partake more of “backstage” maneuvers that “frontstage” productions disguise & accepting mass media convey. The more statewide or nationwide the policymaking, then, the more a critical citizen should expect republican top-down deciding at best & élite machinations or worse.

Nov

33rd day

WHEN OBSERVING POLICY-MAKING REGARDING SOCIAL & ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES, EXPECT ISSUE-SPECIFIC EXPERTISE & INTERESTS TO CONTEND WITH MORE GENERAL POWER.

Look for chronic winners & losers in social & environ-mental tussles. See how often strong claims & persuasive arguments yield

B&W8 Ch. 17 What do social & environmental policies show us about “power” & “citizenship” in the subtitle of Keeping the Republic?

My starter answer in class: ϴ Social & environmental policy-making each and both reveal anew that seeming usually beats being. On social issues, rhetorical, ideological, & political symbols &


to material & electoral resources.

shibboleths tend to overmatch the probable & the plausible so that information & expertise & veracity are over-whelmed by misinformation & pretended authority & untruths. On environ-mental issues, interests tend to nurture doubts that overwhelm knowl-edge especially in mass media. In each & both do-mains of policy-making, appearances displace actualities, mask power, & demean citizenship.

↑ Week Twelve

Suppose that each of us lives in our own cave in which we can behold only shadows on the wall(s) and can perceive our world only by means of those shadows (Plato, The Republic, Book VII). We are each and all, then, prisoners of our upbringing, education, socialization, and other indoctrination. If we aspire to be more than abject subjects, we must peer through shadows on our walls to learn what is happening beyond our narrow preconceptions. Subjects are subjected to subjective “seeming”; citizens seek less subjective “being.” To escape our confinement and to acquire less commonsensical views, we must recognize conventions that confine us and limit our grasp of other possibilities. In our caves, the seeming that circumscribes our minds and thus our worlds issues from élites and from mass media. Élites and mass media use simplifying and stultifying categories, essentially contested concepts, and other devices about which you will learn much in P&G 101 to concoct the shadows—images, symbols, stories, and “morals”—that becloud our minds as they festoon our screens with conventions, “common sense,” and other constructions. At each level of governance from the most local to the most national we the subjects become we the citizens to the degree that we escape caves and screen of convention and common sense to pursue critical thinking and knowledge.

Lessons of the Course—From the argument of the course above, please derive three major lessons of P&G 101A:1) appearances often disguise actualities; 2) human organizations entail leadership, oligarchy, and élites; and 3) politics and government vary across contexts temporal [history], spatial [geography], cultural [anthropology and sociology], and cognitive [psychology and rhetoric] depending on mixes of appearances and leadership.Week Thirteen ↓

Nov

34th day

ECONOMIC POLICY-MAKING DEMANDS FITTING CHRONIC, STRUCTURAL IMPERATIVES WITHIN ACUTE, EVERYDAY POLITICS &

B&W8 Ch. 18 What do economic policies show us about the “power” & “citizenship” in the subtitle of Keeping the Republic?


GOVERNANCE.

Look for politicos & governors to play up how policies suit economic & cultural ideals, especially fairness & justice, and to play down how policies enrich those who have more and impoverish those who have less.

My starter answer in class: ϴ Power tends to overwhelm citizenship, so the few who have more will usually practice economic policies that serve the better off even as the few promulgate economic blandish-ments that rationalize the travails of the many citizens who are worse off. Economic power tends to translate to political & governmental power readily. How problems are defined, what issues are acknowledged, & which policies are said to address problems & issues will all be subject to campaign contributions, lobbying, public relations, & other arts of publicization in ways that favor the well-heeled & drown out the experiences & condition of ordinary people. Thus will powerful interests shape policies & choices in ways with which more citizenly actions cannot compete very well or very often. The powerful few & the citizenly many may each/both “keep the republic;” however, the few who have more are keeping a republic more apparent than real with which the few subject the many who have less to symbols, slogans, & shib-boleths.

↑ Week Thirteen

Suppose that each of us lives in our own cave in which we can behold only shadows on the wall(s) and can perceive our world only by means of those shadows (Plato, The Republic, Book VII). We are each and all, then, prisoners of our upbringing, education, socialization, and other indoctrination. If we aspire to be more than abject subjects, we must peer


through shadows on our walls to learn what is happening beyond our narrow preconceptions. Subjects are subjected to subjective “seeming”; citizens seek less subjective “being.” To escape our confinement and to acquire less commonsensical views, we must recognize conventions that confine us and limit our grasp of other possibilities. In our caves, the seeming that circumscribes our minds and thus our worlds issues from élites and from mass media. Élites and mass media use simplifying and stultifying categories, essentially contested concepts, and other devices about which you will learn much in P&G 101 to concoct the shadows—images, symbols, stories, and “morals”—that becloud our minds as they festoon our screens with conventions, “common sense,” and other constructions. At each level of governance from the most local to the most national we the subjects become we the citizens to the degree that we escape caves and screen of convention and common sense to pursue critical thinking and knowledge.


Week Fourteen ↓

Dec

35th day

DOMESTIC POLITICS & GOVERNANCE TEND TO BE SUBJECT TO MORE CHECKS & BALANCES THAN INTERNATIONAL POLITICS & GOVERNANCE.

Executives & their allies will emphasize implications for international relations, while opponents of execu-tives will want to empha-size domestic implications. The more international one takes an issue to be, the less imposing “checks & balances;” the more domestic one takes an issue to be, the more one may use or abuse “checks & balances” to get one’s way.

B&W8 Ch. 19 Is U. S. politics more pluralistic or more democratic when mat-ters lie within the borders of the U. S. than it is when matters extend beyond the borders of the U. S.?

My starter answer in class: ϴ While executives—being sin-gular or at least unified—can dominate politics & governance within a nation or a state, when situations allow executives to define enemies & threats, democracy & pluralism wilt and authority & order sub-ject citizens to command, even tyranny. Wars, crises, & emergencies overcome constitutional & political cultures & processes; foreign affairs more often supply wars, crises, &


emergencies that promote presidential power. Such conditions—real or imagined; recognized or conjured— weaken “check and balances.”

Dec

36th day

POLICIES TEND TO BE DEFINED, IMPLEMENTED, & EVALUATED IN A SIMILAR MANNER ACROSS LOCALITIES, STATES, & NATION DE-PENDING ON LOCUS & CONCENTRATION OF THE POWER TO DECIDE.

Although the power to decide may occasionally be expanded to include groups & forces usually excluded, routinely élites & organized interests will dominate de-cision-making through superior resources, know-how, public relations, and other strategies/tactics.

Excerpt from E. E. Schattschneider’s The Semi-Sovereign People

[at Canvas]&

Excerpt from John Gaventa’s Power and

Powerlessness [at Canvas]

&

Excerpt from Andrew Gelman, Red State,

Blue State, Rich State Poor State [at Canvas]

Does policy-making tend to be more democratic, more plur-alistic, more republican, or more élite-dominated?

My starter answer in class: ϴ We should expect policy-making to be dominated by those who can dominate—élites—and to appear democratic, pluralistic, & republi-can when the few with greatest resources can get their way without too obviously controlling processes. “The race is not always to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, but that is the way to bet.” (Damon Runyan?) That is, The Iron Law of Oligarchy im-plies that the elite few will decide for the many when the elite few care to decide. If élites are indif-ferent or divided, organ-ized interests may make processes appear democratic or republican even as organization & resources provide those interests immense advan-tages. Élites or organized interests, separately or in league, perform best when they control decision-making while making processes seem democratic or re-publican or populist. Then policy-making is plutocratic or aristocratic


or top-down but seems bottom-up. Policies may be more pluralistic or democratic or popular the more local the decision-making is if no local élites hold sway. Economic/political/social clout will regularly prevail; democratic, republican, populist deci-sion-making is rarer.

Dec

37th day

Student Presentations of Semester Papers or of Summaries of Course-Themes

↑ Week Fourteen

Suppose that each of us lives in our own cave in which we can behold only shadows on the wall(s) and can perceive our world only by means of those shadows (Plato, The Republic, Book VII). We are each and all, then, prisoners of our upbringing, education, socialization, and other indoctrination. If we aspire to be more than abject subjects, we must peer through shadows on our walls to learn what is happening beyond our narrow preconceptions. Subjects are subjected to subjective “seeming”; citizens seek less subjective “being.” To escape our confinement and to acquire less commonsensical views, we must recognize conventions that confine us and limit our grasp of other possibilities. In our caves, the seeming that circumscribes our minds and thus our worlds issues from élites and from mass media. Élites and mass media use simplifying and stultifying categories, essentially contested concepts, and other devices about which you will learn much in P&G 101 to concoct the shadows—images, symbols, stories, and “morals”—that becloud our minds as they festoon our screens with conventions, “common sense,” and other constructions. At each level of governance from the most local to the most national we the subjects become we the citizens to the degree that we escape caves and screen of convention and common sense to pursue critical thinking and knowledge.


Week Fifteen↓

Dec

38th day

Review of Course-Themes

Dec

39th

Review of Course-Themes


day

Dec

40th day

Final Examination 4:00 – 6:00 p.m.

Statements

The Academic Standards Committee recommends that faculty include in syllabi a statement about the Office of Accessibility and Accommodation (OSAA): “If you have a physical, psychological, medical or learning disability that may impact your course work, please contact Peggy Perno, Director of the Office of Accessibility and Accommodations, 105 Howarth, 253.879.3395. She will determine with you what accommodations are necessary and appropriate. All information and documentation is confidential.”

Classroom Emergency Response Guidance

Please review university emergency preparedness, response procedures and a training video posted at www.pugetsound.edu/emergency/. There is a link on the university home page. Familiarize yourself with hall exit doors and the designated gathering area for your class and laboratory buildings. If building evacuation becomes necessary (e.g. earthquake), meet your instructor at the designated gathering area so she/he can account for your presence. Then wait for further instructions. Do not return to the building or classroom until advised by a university emergency response representative. If confronted by an act of violence, be prepared to make quick decisions to protect your safety. Flee the area by running away from the source of danger if you can safely do so. If this is not possible, shelter in place by securing classroom or lab doors and windows, closing blinds, and turning off room lights. Lie on the floor out of sight and away from windows and doors. Place cell phones or pagers on vibrate so that you can receive messages quietly. Wait for further instructions.

Student Accessibility and Accommodation

If you have a physical, psychological, medical or learning disability that may impact your coursework, please contact Peggy Perno, Director of Student Accessibility and Accommodation, 105 Howarth, 253.879.3399. She will determine with you what accommodations are necessary and appropriate. All information and documentation is confidential.

Copyright and Fair Use

Course materials are subject to the copyright law of the United States (Title 17 U.S. Code). They are for educational purposes only and limited to students enrolled in the course. Further reproduction or distribution is prohibited.

Your “Menu” of Opportunities and Evaluation

Opportunity When Due % of course

http://www.pugetsound.edu/emergency/


gradeClass Participation Every day in every way 10-25%Examination One 4 October 2019 10-20%Examination Two 30 October 2019 10-20%Examination Three 18 November 2019 10-20%Re-Writing a Guide 1 December 2019 0-25%Semester Paper 22 November 2019 0-25%Final Examination 16 December 2019 4

p.m.10-50%

100%

Documents

€¦ · Web viewPolitics & Government 101 C―Introduction to U. S. Politics and Government. Class Coordinates: M W F 2:00 - 2:50 a.m. Fall Semester 2019 McIntyre 203. Bill Haltom