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Why Government Matters?
AP Government
Lecture #1
What is
Government?• The institution
in which decisions are made that resolve conflicts or allocate benefits and privileges.
• Ultimate authority in society
So….
• What is Politics?
Break it down into two
words…..
• Poly =
• Ticks =
• Politics = The struggle over power or
influence within organizations that
allocate benefits or privileges
Why Government Matters:
The oldest purpose of government is to
maintain order by protecting members of
society from violence and criminal
activity.
Why have a
government?
• Maintain social
order-preserve life,
liberty and protect
property
• John Locke vs.
Thomas Hobbes
• State of nature
• Locke-people are
naturally good – can
govern themselves
• Hobbes-people are
self-seeking
Natural Rights
• https://www.yout
ube.com/watch?
v=1aPnKCDArd
E
John Locke Primary Source
• Two Treatises of
Gov.
Social Contract
• Government will
protect it’s
people and the
people will obey
the government
(follow laws
implemented by
gov)
Popular Sovereignty
• The national government
has the right to govern its
people as it wishes,
without interference from
other nations - People
control themselves within
the boundaries of a
country
Limited Government
• The principle
that the powers
of government
should be
limited, usually
by institutional
checks
Republic and
Republicanism• A republic is a
society who
elects
individuals to
represent a
population in
the government
Which is Better???
• To live under a
government that
allows
individuals to do
whatever they
please OR to live
under one that
enforces strict
law and order?
• To let all citizens
keep the same
share of their
income OR to tax
wealthier people
at a higher rate
to fund programs
for poorer
people?
• Freedom
• Order
• Equality
Concepts that identify the values
pursued by government
Freedom • Freedom OF:
absence of
constraints on
behavior
(freedom of
speech or
freedom of
religion)
• Freedom FROM:
immunity (fear
and want)
Order
• Preserving life
• Preserving the social order of people
• Which can change
• Can use police power: the authority of a government to maintain order and safeguard citizen’s health, morals, safety, and welfare
Equality • Political
Equality
• Social Equality
• Equality of
Opportunity
• Equality of
Outcome
Equality:
RIGHTS
• The idea that every citizen is entitled to certain benefits of government, that the government should guarantee its citizens adequate housing, employment, medical care, and income as a matter of rights
Dilemmas
• Freedom vs. Order
• Freedom vs. Equality
Charlottesville
• http://www.cnn.com/videos/us/2017/
08/16/charlottesville-video-
onlookers-orig-mss.cnn
• Freedom vs. Order?
Eminent Domain
• A power of the federal government
to take private property for public
use in return for “just compensation”
offered to the landowner
• 5th amendment gives federal gov.
this power
This shows Freedom v. Equality
Transfer of Property
Eminent Domain Link
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T
SJhyTa6fLk
• (60 Minutes Clip)
Kello Case Follow up
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=
A3AsqUzVA0Q
What is a Democracy?
• Democracy-rule by the people
• Direct Democracy-A government in which all or most citizens participate directly
• Representative Democracy-A government in which leaders make decisions by winning a competitive struggle for the popular votes
Other Forms of
Government
Totalitarian – A form of government
that controls all aspects of political
and social life in a nation
Authoritarianism- A type of regime in
which only the government itself is
fully controlled by the ruler. Social
and economic institutions exist that
are not under the governments control
Other Forms of
Government
• Aristrocracy – Rule by the “best”
Procedural Democratic Theory
• Everyone should participate in decision making (universal participation)
• All votes should be counted equally (political equality)
• Majority rule (50% plus one-quorum)
• Government responsiveness to public opinion
Substantive View of Democracy
• Focuses on the substance of gov’t
policies, not the procedures
followed in making the policies
• Bill of Rights
• Civil Rights/Civil Liberties
• What has been done in the past,
not necessarily of what the
government should do?
Four different Schools of Thought
about political elites and how
power is distributed in America’s
Representative Democracy
• Majoritarianism
• Power Elite
• Bureaucratic
• Pluralist
Majoritarianism• elected officials
are the delegates of the people, acts as the people (or a majority of them) would act were there a popular vote
• Elected Officials should do what the people want!
Democracy for Everyone!
Power Elite Theory
• View that the government is dominated by a few top leaders, most of whom are outside of government
• Corporate leaders, top military officers, labor union officials
• Enjoy great advantages in wealth, status, etc.
Democracy for
the few!
Bureaucratic View • View that the government is dominated by appointed officials
• Max Weber
• Do not merely implement public policies, they
effectively“make” them as suits their own interests and ideas
Democracy for the few!
Pluralist View• The belief that competition among all affected interests shapes public policy
• No single group can dominate the political process
• Elites are divided and there are many categories of them
How is political power distributed?
• Majoritarian politics-elected officials
are the delegates of the people, acts as
the people (or a majority of them)
would act were there a popular vote
• Elite-persons who possess a
disproportionate share of the some
valued resource, like money or power
Political Ideologies
• Comprehensive
set of beliefs
about the
nature of
people and the
role of
government in
people’s lives
Ideologies most recognized in
U.S. Government
• Conservatives-limited role for government –more emphasis on individual responsibility –promotes the private sector over government
• Liberals-positive government action – promotes equality in opportunity
Less Recognized
Ideologies in American
Society Libertarian
- free market
belief
-less gov
regulation of
social values and
moral decisions
Ideologies that exist
Communism – A revolutionary variant of socialism that favors a partisan dictatorship, government control of all enterprises and the replacement of free markets by central planning
Fascism – A twentieth- century ideology-often totalitarian – that exalts the national collective united behind an absolute ruler. Fascism rejects liberal individualism, values action over rational deliberation and glorifies war
What about YOU??? Where
does your political ideology
fall?
• Where do your ideas come from?
• Where you live?
• Parents?Environment?
• Part of the country?
• Activity!