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Part I

Politics, Government and Political Culture

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American Political Culture

I. Politics and Government–Some Basic Terms

A. What is Politics?

1. There are a number of ways to define the term “politics”

a. Harold Lasswell defined politics as the struggle over “who gets

what, when, and how”

b. Politics can also be defined as the authoritative allocation of values

and resources

c. Politics may also be viewed as the conflicts and struggle over the

leadership, structure, and policies of government

2. Closely related to the discussion of politics is the question of how political

decisions are made–by a small group of elites or competing groups

a. Elitism

(1) The influence of a single group of elites over the political

process and policy

(2) Described by C. Wright Mills in The Power Elite (1956),

which was an analysis of the concentration of power in the

hands of a small group of political, military and corporate

elites (See also Robert Putnam’s The Comparative Study of

Political Elites)

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b. Pluralism

(1) The pattern of struggles among numerous interests over the

political process and policy

(2) Described by Robert Dahl in Who Governs (1961), which

was an analysis of political decision-making in New Haven,

Connecticut

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3. Political Science

a. What is political science?

(1) The American Political Science Association defines

political science as the study of governments, public

policies, political processes, and political behavior

(2) Political science is generally concerned with three questions

(a) Who governs?

(b) For what means?

(c) By what means?

(3) Political science is also concerned with the question of the

perfect form of government

b. Why should we study political science or, in other words, why are

you required to take two semesters of political science?

(1) The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board sets as a

requirement for this course that you be able to

(a) Recognize and assume your responsibility as a

citizen in a democratic society

(b) Engage in public discourse about politics and public

policy

(c) To identify and understand differences and

commonalities within diverse cultures

(2) More importantly, studies have demonstrated that

individuals with a knowledge of the political system and

politics in general are

(a) More likely to participate in the political process

(b) Able to deal more effectively with government

institutions (i.e., the bureaucracy), and

(c) Fulfill one’s responsibility as a citizen

(3) Studies also show that political knowledge is limited

B. What is Government?

1. Government is the term generally used to describe the formal institutions

through which a land and its people are governed

a. Government is a human invention created to establish and enforce

rules and laws, protect property rights and/or redistribute wealth,

and create and maintain an infrastructure

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b. The United States Constitution provides that the new government

was being established to

(1) Establish Justice

(2) Insure Domestic Tranquility

(3) Provide for the Common Defense

(4) Promote the General Welfare, and

(5) Secure the Blessings of Liberty

2. How does government exercise it’s authority?

a. Max Weber defined government as that institution in society that

has a monopoly over the legitimate use of force

b. George Washington said that “Government is not reason, it is not

eloquence–it is force”

3. Government therefore must have authority and legitimacy

a. Authority is the power to enforce laws or require obedience to laws

and policies

b. Legitimacy refers to the widespread acceptance that the

government has the authority and right to rule

4. Max Weber describes three types of legitimate authority

a. Charismatic legitimacy is based on the personal power of the

political leader possibly due to supernatural attributes or power

(i.e., tribal chief or religious leader)

(1) King Arthur, the Lady of the Lake, and Excalibur

(2) The sword scene in The Illusionist in which only the

rightful heir to the throne could remove the sword

(3) The Golden Stool of the Asante floated from the sky and

landed in the lap of the first king of the Asante, Osei-Tutu

b. Traditional legitimacy is based on history, tradition or custom (i.e.,

a monarchy based on heredity)

c. Rational or legal legitimacy exists when the governments powers

are derived from established procedures, principles or laws (i.e., a

constitution and elections)

5. In summary, government is that organization extending to the whole

society that can legitimately use force to carry out its decisions

a. The creation of government is nothing more than a device to

allocate power as well as the resources of a society–the very

definition of politics

b. Government must be viewed as a formal structure through which

certain individuals are empowered to govern and others are

destined to be governed

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C. What are the Various Types of Government?

1. Governments can be very simple or very complex and we generally

describe them in three ways–by who governs, how they govern or by

political ideology

2. Governments can be defined by who governs (i.e, number or status) and

they may demonstrate elements of a number of types of government (i.e., a

theocratic monarchy)

a. Anarchy is the absence of government

b. Autocracy is government by a single individual

(1) King/Queen

(2) Dictator

(3) Emperor

(4) Caesar, Czar, Kaiser

c. Aristocracy/Oligarchy is government by a small group of elites

(1) Landowners

(2) Military officers

(3) Wealthy merchants

d. Corporatocracy is a government dominated by corporations

(1) Multinational corporations are believed by some to control

and dominate the political and military actions of political

institutions

(2) Many developing nations undertook significant loans from

international monetary organizations (i.e., International

Monetary Fund, the World Bank, and USAID) and are now

indebted to multinationals

e. Gerontocracy is a government by elders

f. Kleptocracy is a government that steals the national assets for

personal enrichment (literally a government by thieves)

(1) Zaire under Mobuto Sese Seko

(2) Indonesia under Suharto

(3) Philippines under Marcos

g. Krytocracy is a government by judges (i.e., U.S. Supreme Court)

h. Meritocracy is a government by individuals based on merit or

ability

i. Ochlocracy/Mobocracy is government by the mob/angry crowd

j. Plutocracy is a government by the wealthy

k. Theocracy is a government by religious leaders

(1) Islamic Republic if Iran

(2) Tibet in Exile

l. Theodemocracy is a government that blends democracy with

theocracy and is generally associate with Joseph Smith, the founder

of the Later Day Saints movement

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m. Democracy is government by the people (many if not all) and may

be either a direct democracy or a representative democracy (the

United States has elements of both)

(1) Direct democracy allows citizens to vote on laws and

policies rather than utilize elected representatives

(a) An initiative is a proposed law placed on the ballot

via citizen petition and approved by voters

(b) A referendum is a law that is proposed by a

legislature or city council but which does not go

into effect unless approved by a plurality of voters

(c) Constitutional Amendments as in Texas are

proposed by the legislature, but voter approved

(d) New England Town Hall meetings in which the

community votes on city ordinances (Note: Town

Hall meetings in Texas are really forums)

(e) Bond Issues are initiatives to finance public projects

such as schools or infrastructure improvements

(2) Representative democracy or republican forms of

government give citizens a regular opportunity to elect

government officials who act as their representatives

(a) National elections (Primaries, Runoffs and General

Elections for President and Congress)

(b) State elections (Primaries, Runoffs and General

Elections for Governor, Legislature, Judges)

(c) Local Elections (County, City, School Board)

(d) A recall election is an attempt to remove an official

from office before the completion of the term

i) Voters petition for a ballot measure to recall

an elected official (i.e., California recall of

Gray Davis and subsequent election of

Arnold Schwarzenegger)

ii) Differs from impeachment, which is a

quasi-legal procedure for removing an

elected or appointed official for misconduct

(i.e., Bill Clinton and Rod Blagojevich)

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3. Governments can also be characterized by how they govern as either a

totalitarian government or a constitutional government

a. Totalitarian governments and authoritarianism

(1) Totalitarian governments that are free from legal limits and

seek to eliminate those organized social groups that might

challenge or limit the government’s authority

(a) Totalitarian leaders come in several varieties: as

leaders of military coups, as appointees by military

juntas, as caudillos or nationalistic strongmen

(b) Totalitarian governments adopt an ideology that

controls all aspects of the lives of its citizens

(c) Totalitarian regimes often times use a single mass

party through which the people are mobilized

i) NAZI party

ii) Communist Party

(d) The citizens duty is to the state as the state attempts

to achieve a “perfect” society

(e) Totalitarian regimes value discipline, duty,

obedience, tradition and respect for authority as

social order supersedes individual rights

(2) The early 1900s witnessed a mass movement to totalitarian

regimes in Russia, Italy, Germany and Spain under either

communist or fascist governments

(a) The question is why a population would choose a

totalitarian regime instead of a democratic

government

(b) Nazi war criminals repeatedly testified that the their

participation in the Final Solution was simply a

function of carrying out orders

(c) Adorno, et al developed the F-Scale at the end of

WWII in an attempt to understand the psychology of

obedience to authority giving rise to the

“authoritarian personality”

(d) Studies were subsequently conducted in the United

States to establish that such behavior would not

occur in a democratic society

i) Stanley Milgram’s Obedience to Authority

ii) Philip Zimbardo’s Stanford Prison

Experiment

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(3) Totalitarian regimes in literature

(a) George Orwell’s 1984

i) A government that monitors every

movement of its citizens

a) “Big Brother is Watching You”

b) Two-way television surveillance and

informants everywhere including

children who proudly turn in their

parents for thought crimes

ii) The use (or misuse) of language to control

political discussion through Newspeak and

any contrary thinking is a “thought crime”

a) The three slogans of the party

1) War is Peace

2) Freedom is Slavery

3) Ignorance is Strength

b) Oceania’s Government

1) Ministry of Truth–news,

entertainment, education, and

fine arts (propaganda)

2) Ministry of Peace–defense

and conducts perpetual war

3) Ministry of Love–responsible

for law and order and the

punishment of dissidents

4) Ministry of Plenty–economic

planning and rationing

iii) The use of perpetual war and fear (but is

there really a war?) to unite the population

iv) The rewriting of history to glorify

government successes and erase government

failures or unpersons

(b) George Orwell’s Animal Farm

(c) Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451

(d) Alan Moore’s V for Vendetta

(e) Guillermo del Toro’s Pan’s Labyrinth

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(4) Totalitarian governments have existed under both

communist and fascist regimes giving rise to the term

“totalitarian twins” by Fracois Furet, which is odd given the

political enmity between the two systems

(a) Communist Totalitarianism

i) Soviet Union (Stalin)

a) East Germany

b) Czechoslovakia

c) Yugoslavia

d) Poland

ii) China (Mao)

(b) Fascist Totalitarianism

i) Germany (Hitler)

ii) Italy (Mussolini)

iii) Spain (Franco)

iv) Argentina (Peron)

b. Constitutional governments are limited as to what they are

permitted to control (substantive limits) as well as how they go

about it (procedural limits)

(1) Only twenty or so of the worlds two hundred governments

can be called constitutional governments even though most,

if not all, countries have a constitution

(2) The masses were not consulted or integrated into the

political process before the 18th and 19th centuries and the

development of classical liberalism

4. Political ideology is another way to catagorize governments

a. Sometimes called the -isms, ideologies are generally viewed along

a left to right continuum, however this model does not account for

overlapping ideological views

Communism Social Democracy Liberalism Conservatism Fascism

b. More complicated models use two-dimensional and three-

dimensional space to account for differences in economic and

social ideological positions

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c. Political ideologies are comprehensive set of beliefs and values

about the role of government in society

(1) Communism

(a) A socioeconomic system based on a classless

society in which a central party controls and

operates the means of production on behalf of the

masses

i) Karl Marx argued that capitalism is unjust

and flawed thereby results in economic

hardship for the masses

ii) As a result, capitalism would be replaced

(through revolution or elections) with

collective ownership of the means of

production operated by the state on behalf of

the masses

iii) According to Marx, only under communism

would there be equality of wealth that would

insure true freedom

(b) Variants include Leninism, Stalinism, Maoism

i) Lenin argued for revolution and a strong

state to counter a capitalist counterrevolution

a) Soviet Union became model of

revolution in 1917

b) Revolution was to be exported

throughout the world

ii) Stalin seized power following the death of

Lenin and consolidated power in the state

a) Stalin believed the strong state was

necessary as long as the Soviet

Union was encircled by capitalism

b) Stalin established a totalitarian state

in the name of communism

iii) Mao led the Communist Revolution in

China that established the People’s Republic

of China, the second of the communist

superpowers of the modern era

(c) Cuba under Castro may be the last of the Marxist-

Leninist states

(d) Hugo Chavez of Venezuela may espouse a socialist

doctrine, but he appears to be more a nationalist (or

Bolivarian) although he is seeming more dictatorial

recently (read The Autumn of the Patriarch by

Gabriel García Márquez)

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(2) Social Democracy/Democratic Socialism (Socialism)

(a) Combines elements of democracy with collective

ownership of the means of production

(b) Advocates the same goals of communism but

achieved through peaceful means and democratic

procedures (i.e., political parties and elections)

(c) In the modern era, Social Democrats have

abandoned the notion of abolishing capitalism and

focused on nationalizing key aspects of the

economy

(d) Some success in Germany, Sweden, Britain (Labour

Party) in the creation of what some refer to as the

Modern Welfare State

(3) Classical Liberalism (Capitalism) of the 17th-18th Century

(a) Basic principles:

i) Individual liberty and freedom,

ii) The right to private property,

iii) Equality under the law, and

iv) The principle of a limited government

(b) Classical liberalism gave rise to the establishment of

constitutional governments

(c) John Locke, Adam Smith, and John Stuart Mill are

the viewed as the leading classical liberals

(4) Conservatism of the 18th Century

(a) Defended the status quo from attacks by classical

liberals and resisted social change

(b) Edmund Burke was leading Conservative as he

witnessed the horrors of the French Revolution

(5) Fascism (Nazi Germany and Mussolini’s Italy)

(a) Promoted nationalism above the individual

(b) Generally based on some heroic mythology

i) Teutonic Knights

ii) Operas of Richard Wagner

(c) Opposed the spread of communism and a classless

state, which led to purges of communists in

Germany and Italy

(d) Established a highly structured society that stressed

the importance of order and obedience to authority

(e) Attempted to remedy the failure of liberal

democracy and capitalism following WWI under the

Weimar Republic through the establishment of a

corporative state–government control of a capitalist

state–that undermined unions and communism

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II. The Evolution of Government From the State of Nature to Classical Liberalism

A. The State of Nature

1. Once upon a time man lived in the state of nature–an existence without

laws and government–and absolute freedom

2. Philosophers have attempted to understand the quality of life in the state of

nature as a means to explain why government was created

a. Thomas Hobbes wrote in Leviathan (1651) that

(1) “Hereby, it is manifest, that during the time men live

without a common power to keep them in awe, they are in a

condition which is called war; and such a war, as is of every

man against every man”

(2) In the state of nature man could and would do anything to

survive and as a result life would be “solitary, poor, nasty,

brutish, and short"

b. John Locke wrote in his Two Treatises on Government (1689) that

(1) “To understand political power right, and derive it from its

original, we must consider, what state all men are naturally

in, and that is, a state of perfect freedom to order their

actions, and dispose of their possessions and persons, as

they think fit, within the bounds of the law of nature,

without asking leave, or depending upon the will of any

man”

(2) However, the uncertainty associated with the state of nature

deprived man of the ability to develop socially or

economically

3. State of Nature in Literature–William Golding’s Lord of the Flies (1954)

a. A plane crash deposits school boys on a deserted island (the state

of nature) where there are no adults, no rules and no government

b. The boys unite and create a civil society, without which fear and

anarchy would exist

c. Ralph establishes the power of the conch shell

d. Jack agrees “We’ve got to have rules and obey them. After all

we’re not savages. We’re English.”

e. However, conflict erupts over the type of “government” that should

exist for the “security” and well-being of the society

f. A power struggle ensues

(1) Ralph and democracy versus Jack and totalitarianism

(2) Fear of the “beast” leads the group to gravitate to Jack and

the formation of a more militant and hostile society

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B. From the State of Nature to Civil Society

1. Obviously, the fear and uncertainty that dominated existence in the state of

nature required the formation of civil society–an agreement to give up

absolute freedom for greater security and order (and greater freedom)

a. Thomas Hobbes

(1) “A commonwealth (civil society) is said to be instituted,

when a multitude of men do agree and covenant, every one,

with every one, that to whatsoever man, or assembly of

men, shall be given by the major part, the right to represent

the person of them all, that is to say, to be their

representative

(2) Every one, as well he that voted for it, as he that voted

against it, shall authorize all the actions and judgments, of

that man, or assembly of men, in the same manner, as if

they were his own, to the end, to live peaceably amongst

themselves, and be protected against other men”

b. John Locke

(1) “Men being, as has been said, by nature, all free, equal, and

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

subjected to the political power of another, without his own

consent

(2) The only way whereby any one divests himself of his

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

agreeing with other men to join and unite into a community

for their comfortable, safe and peaceable living

(3) When men have so consented to make one community or

government, they ... make one body politic, where the

majority have a right to act and conclude the rest”

2. Around 50,000 years ago, humans made the “great leap forward” during

the upper paleolithic revolution

3. Man began living in civil societies or communities somewhere around

12,000 B.C. (neolithic period) with the formation of villages and

agricultural based communities beginning around 10,000 to 9000 B.C.

4. The First Political Systems

a. Families were the first civil society

(1) Robert Filmer in Patriarcha (1680) wrote that the first

kings were the fathers of their families

(2) Filmer was laying the argument for the divine right of

kings, that would later be challenged by John Locke

b. Clans were extended family units consisting of a number of

households who claim descent from a common ancestor

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c. Pre-Industrial Political Systems

(1) Uncentralized

(a) Tribe is of questionable value as a grouping term

(b) Bands are small ranging from 25 to 150 individuals

grouped by nuclear families and unity is based on

custom or tradition

(2) Centralized

(a) Chiefdoms with tribal chiefs or kings holding power

as a result of heredity (i.e., authority passed down

from father to son) or they were warrior kings

(Alpha Males/King of the Mountain)

(b) States are large complex societies with a highly

structured society, occupational specialization, a

full-time bureaucracy, and an established “legal

system” (Pre-colonial Zulu, Aztec, Inca)

i) Cities with laws, commerce, art and

literature–begin to form around 4000-3000

B.C.

ii) Social structure begins to develop: nobles,

priests, free commoners, and slaves

iii) Armies were created to defend or expand

one’s control of fertile lands or commercial

resources

d. The Age of Kingdoms and Empires

(1) First Dynasty of Ur (2600-2500 B.C.)

(2) Akkadian Empire (2370-2215 B.C.)

(3) Sumerian Empire (2100-2000 B.C.)

(a) King claimed to rule by divine right

(b) Destroyed by local revolts and invasions from Iran

(4) Old Babylonian Empire (2000-1530 B.C.) destroyed by

invaders from Iran

(5) Egypt’s Old Kingdom (2700-2200 B.C.)

(6) Egypt’s New Kingdom (1560-1070 B.C.)

(a) Began a policy of aggressive imperialism

(b) Destroyed by invasions from the sea and economic

collapse

(c) Subsequently ruled by Libyans, Assyrians, Persians,

Greeks, and Romans

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(7) Hebrew Kingdom (1020 B.C.)

(a) About 1020 B.C., the priest Samuel names Saul as

nation’s first King

(b) King David creates a unified Hebrew kingdom

(1000-960 B.C.) (recall the story of Goliath)

(c) Under King Solomon (960-922 B.C.) Israel reaches

its political zenith

(d) Israel splits into two kingdoms in 922 B.C.

(e) Assyrian Empire (745 B.C.)

(f) Armies were recruited from throughout the empire

i) Trained into professional units and led by

seasoned generals

ii) Skillfully combined foot soldiers,

charioteers, cavalrymen, and siege engineers

(g) Empire collapsed under the weight of weak leaders

and the rage of its subject peoples

(8) Neo-Babylonian Empire (612 B.C.) overwhelmed by Persia

(9) Persian Empire (549 B.C.)

(a) Unified the entire Near East under one government

(b) Required subjects to pay taxes and provide troops

for the imperial army

(c) King ruled with the assistance of council of nobles

and provincial governors

(d) Defeated by the Greeks under Alexander the Great

(10) The Greek Empire (330 B.C.)

(a) Greek city-states of Athens and Sparta

(b) Greek Political Philosophers

i) Socrates (469-399 B.C.)

ii) Plato (427-347 B.C.)

iii) Aristotle (384-322 B.C.)

(c) Alexander the Great’s empire stretched from Egypt

in the West and India in the East (336-323 B.C.)

(d) Alexander the Great’s Empire collapsed following

his death at the age of 32

(11) The Roman Republic and Empire (100 B.C. to 400 A.D.)

(a) Julius Caesar expanded the area under Rome’s

control to include most of Western Europe, the

Mediterranean, and North Africa

(b) Brought down by Germanic tribes and Huns

(c) Europe divided into a number of smaller kingdoms

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(12) Charlemagne’s Empire (768-814)

(a) Included most of Western Europe

(b) Charlemagne’s death led to division of Europe

between the heirs of his son and invaders from the

North, East and South (Vikings, Magyars or

Hungarians, and Muslims)

C. From the Unification of England to the Birth of Classical Liberalism

1. The Age of Feudalism (1000-1400)

a. Alfred the Great (871-899) began unifying England and by the

mid-900s, England was ruled by one king

b. In 1066, a dispute arose over the heir to the crown upon King

Edward the Confessors death

(1) Harold was elected by the lords or witan, but William of

Normandy claimed he had been promised the crown by his

cousin Edward the Confessor

(2) William crossed the English Channel with his army and

met Harold at the Battle of Hastings in October 1066

(3) As depicted in the Bayeaux Tapestry, Harold was shot in

the eye by an arrow securing William the Conquerors

victory and control of the crown

(4) William inherited a well established political and legal

tradition, but brought with him the institution of feudalism

and continued the centralization of the English political

system

c. Feudalism was the contractual system of political and military

relationships existing among members of the nobility in Western

Europe during the High Middle Ages

(1) Characterized by the granting of fiefs or feuds (land) in

return for political and military services

(2) Assumption was that all the land was owned by the

sovereign prince (i.e., king) who “held it of no one but

God”

(a) Prince would grant fiefs to his barons, who pledged

military and political support

(b) Barons would make grants to Knights who swore

their military support

(c) Knights would make grants to those who would

serve them by providing food and service

(3) This was essentially an early pyramid scheme

(4) Feudalism began to decline in the 14th Century and was

abolished in England by statute in 1660

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2. The Magna Carta, “Constitutional Monarchy,” and absolutism

a. An uprising of English barons in 1215 led to the signing of the

Magna Carta or the “Great Charter” by King John in which the

King had to “consult” with the barons who could exercise a veto

and is considered the beginning of the “constitutional monarchy”

(1) This baronial royal council evolved into the House of Lords

(2) Under Edward I’s reign (1272-1307) the Parliament

included barons, shire knights, and townspeople with the

shire knights and the townspeople eventually splitting off

and forming the House of Commons

(3) By the 14 Century the House of Commons began to gainth

power over the financial resources of realm and the king

had to request funds from the House of Commons

(4) This resulted in a political system with three heads–the

monarchy, the aristocracy, and the people–and obviously

conflict was inevitable

b. Kings invoke absolutism to regain power (1576-1649)

(1) Absolutism seems to be a response to the growth of limits

on the state and the monarchs by representative assemblies

(2) Rulers gradually consolidated control over feudal vassals

through such means as marriage or conquest, thereby

establishing larger territorial units (the nation-state)

(3) Eventually, these territorial units would build upon a sense

of nationalism to unite the population under one ruler

(a) Nationalism is the identification with a group of

individuals based on a shared sense of loyalty and

psychological attachment based on a common

language, history, culture and a desire for political

independence

(b) The Monarchs could use this growing nationalism

to mobilize armies and the citizens for defense of

the realm

(4) Monarchs drew their power from God or in other words as

a matter of Divine Right

(a) The church looked on rulers as divinely ordained

and by its anointment gave them sacred character

(b) James I (1603-1625) invoked God’s authority

i) “Kings were the breathing images of God

upon Earth”

ii) “Kings are not only God’s lieutenants upon

earth, and sit upon God’s throne, but even by

God himself they are called Gods”

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(c) Jean Bodin’s Six Books on the Commonweal (1576)

and Thomas Hobbes’ Leviathan (1651) supported

absolutism as necessary to prevent civil war or a

return to the state of nature

3. Economic growth and regicide give birth to Classical Liberalism

a. The economy continued to expand during the Crusades(11th-13th

Centuries, the Renaissance (14th-17th Centuries), the Age of

Discovery (15th-16th Centuries), the Reformation (16th-17th

Centuries), and the Commercial Revolution (16th-18th Centuries)

b. Mercantilism, which is the belief that nations compete in a zero-

sum game for wealth thereby promoting exports and limiting

imports, emerged as dominant economic trend

(1) Reached the highest level of acceptance in England in the

1600s

(2) Promoted internal economic development through

acquisition of raw materials from colonies and domestic

manufacturing and industry

c. Mercantilism would serve as a precursor to capitalism and the

development of a new economic social class, the bourgeoisie

d. The bourgeoisie became the key force behind the imposition of

limits on government power as they achieved economic and

political power in Parliament–giving birth to classical liberalism

e. Resulting in a conflict between the monarchy and the bourgeoisie,

although there may have also been religious underpinnings

f. The political showdown occurred when King Charles I of England

challenged the authority of the British Parliament resulting in his

beheading for treason and other “high crimes”

g. Followed by the Protectorate of Oliver Cromwell, the Restoration,

the Glorious Revolution and the British Bill of Rights of 1689

h. John Locke (1632-1704) in his Second Treatise on Government

(1690) provided the basic political philosophy of classical

liberalism that led to a demand for limited government and

justified regicide or revolution

(1) Man is born with the God given inalienable rights of life,

liberty and property, which are natural rights that existed

before government and cannot be denied by government

(2) People form a government to protect the rights of life,

liberty and property through a contract between the

governed and those who govern (social contract theory)

(3) Government could only properly function with the consent

of the governed through their representatives

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(4) If the government acts improperly (becomes tyrannical) and

denies the inalienable rights

(a) It would have broken its contract with the governed,

(b) It would no longer be a legitimate government, and

(c) The people would have the right to revolt and form

a new government to protect their inalienable rights

i. Adam Smith in The Wealth of Nations (1776) made a frontal attack

on mercantilism by suggesting that the economy would function

best if the state played a highly limited role and that there was a

natural order of liberty applicable to the economy

(1) Private enterprise is the most efficient form of production

(2) Government must protect economic freedoms

(3) Considered the foundation of free market economics or

capitalism (laissez-faire economics)

j. Together, these values (classical liberalism) were carried to the

colonies and found their way into the Declaration of Independence

(1776) and the United States Constitution (1787)

III. Who Are Some Notable Influences on American Political Thought?

A. The Greeks

1. Thucydides (460-400 B.C.) and The Peloponnesian War

a. Pericles’ funeral oration for fallen Athenian soldiers describes

Athens in the following way

(1) Our constitution does not copy the laws of neighboring

states, we are rather a pattern to others than imitators

ourselves

(2) Its administration favors the many instead of the few

(3) If we look to the laws, they afford equal justice to all

(4) If a man is able to serve the state, he is not hindered by the

obscurity of his condition

2. Socrates, Plato and Aristotle

a. Socrates (470-399 B.C.)

b. Plato (428-347 B.C.) Republic

c. Aristotle (384-322 B.C.) Politics

(1) Governments come in six types with the former concerned

with the good of the state and the latter concerned with

individual interest

(a) Monarchy----Tyranny

(b) Aristocracy----Oligarchy

(c) Polity----Democracy

(2) A citizen is one who has the right to participate in the

administration of justice and the holding of office

(3) Government should be of laws not of men

20

B. The Medieval and Renaissance Period

1. Thomas Aquinas (1224-1274) The Treatise on Law

a. Establishes a positive role for government in a world of sinners

b. The purpose of law is the ordering of the public good

c. Law must concern itself with the happiness of the community

2. Machiavelli (1469-1527) The Prince

a. Every prince must desire to be considered merciful and not cruel

b. However, a prince must not mind incurring the charge of cruelty

for the purpose of keeping his subjects united and peaceful; for,

with very few examples, he will be more merciful than those who,

from excess of tenderness, allow disorders to arise, from whence

spring bloodshed and plunder; for these as a rule injure the whole

community; while the executions carried out by the prince injure

only individuals

c. One ought to be both feared and loved, but as it is difficult for the

two to go together, it is much safer to be feared than loved, if one

of the two has to be wanting

d. However, a prince should make himself feared in such a way that if

he does not gain love, he at any rate avoids being hated . . . .

e. When the prince is obliged to take the life of another, let him do so

where there is proper justification and manifest reason for it,

f. But above all the prince must avoid taking the property of others,

for men forget more easily the death of their father than the loss of

their estate

C. The Protestant Reformation

1. Martin Luther (1483-1546)

a. Initiator of the Protestant Reformation after he became

disenchanted with Roman control of the Catholic Church

b. Nails Ninety-Five Theses on Indulgences on the door of the Castle

Church serving as the catalyst to the Reformation

c. Martin Luther calls for national control over the church and

ultimately challenges Church authority over the individual

d. Translates the Bible into German thus democratizing religion

e. Writings spark the debate over individual liberty, which incites the

Peasant’s War in 1524

2. John Calvin (1509-1564)

a. The Church and state ought to be structurally independent

b. Calvin accepted capitalism and encouraged trade and production,

stressed thrift, industry, sobriety and responsibility as stimuli to

industrialization

21

c. Calvin’s influence can be seen in the writings of John Knox, the

leaders of the civil war period of England, the Puritans in the

American Colonies, and in Max Weber’s The Protestant Ethic and

the Spirit of Capitalism

(1) “Montesquieu says of the English that they ‘had progressed

the fartherest of all peoples of the world in three important

things: in piety, in commerce, and in freedom.’

(2) “Is it not possible that their commercial superiority and

their adaptation to free political institutions are connected

in some way with that record of piety which Montesquieu

ascribes to them?”

3. John Knox (1505-1572)

a. John Knox in his “Faithful Admonition” pamphlet of 1554 urges

the righteous overthrow of “ungodly” monarchs

b. Boldly asserts that it was the citizens duty to correct and repress

whatever a King does contrary to God’s word, honor, and glory

c. Knox’s struggle with the monarchy (Mary Queen of Scots)

eventually led to Presbyterianism becoming the official religion of

Scotland stressing individualism over princely authority

d. Influential in the Scottish Reformation that gave rise to the Scottish

Enlightenment giving us Adam Smith and David Hume

D. Absolutistism, the Scottish Enlightenment, and Classical Liberalism

1. Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679) Leviathan

a. Written during the English Civil War

b. Civil society is created by social contract and calls for an absolute

sovereign to “keep men in awe” and avoid the madness that was

occurring in England at the time

c. Social contract would be void if the established government failed

to protect its citizens who would then revert to state of nature until

a new social contract is established

2. John Locke (1632-1704) The Two Treatises on Government

3. David Hume (1711-1776)

a. Prominent scholar of the Scottish Enlightenment of the 18th

Century and is viewed as the first modern conservative

b. Society is best governed by a general and impartial system of laws

c. Offers arguments in support of both monarchies and republics

d. Advocate of a free press and argues for political moderation to

avoid the disastrous effects of party divisions

e. The purpose of government is to maintain justice and to that end

we invent the duty of obedience

f. Free governments degenerate because of excessive debts and taxes

g. Republics fail because factions lead to division and civil war

22

4. Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778) The Social Contract

a. “Man is born free, and everywhere he is in chains”

b. The state of nature lacked law or morality and through the social

contract individuals form civil society thus preserving themselves

and their freedom

c. Laws enacted based upon the general will of the population who

would then obey the laws they enacted

5. Baron de Montesquieu (1689-1755) On the Spirit of Laws

a. May have been the most cited by the founding fathers during the

constitutional period

b. Advocated the separation of powers

(1) “When the legislative and executive powers are united in

the same person or in the same body of magistrates, there

can be no liberty”

(2) “Again there is no liberty if the power of judging be not

separated from the legislative and executive powers”

6. Sir William Blackstone (1723-1780) Commentaries on the Laws of

England

a. An American Edition published in Philadelphia sold out in its first

printing in 1771

b. Established the legal foundation for colonial actions by defining

the rights of Englishmen under the British Constitution

(1) The primary object of law is to maintain and regulate the

absolute rights of individuals

(2) Absolute rights are those such as would belong to man in a

state of nature

(3) These natural rights include life and liberty, and which no

human legislature may abridge or destroy, unless the owner

himself shall commit some act that amounts to forfeiture

c. Also heavily cited during the constitutional period

d. A relief portrait of Blackstone hangs in the U.S. House of

Representatives

7. Adam Smith (1723-1790) The Wealth of Nations

a. A laissez-faire (limited government) economy

b. An individual when driven by self-interest promotes his own well-

being and as if led by an “invisible hand” also benefits society

c. Smith did not argue for no government role in the economy in that

he supported government enforcement of contracts, patents and

copyrights and the development of public works projects

d. In other words there is a role for government in promoting

economic development

23

E. American Political Writers

1. Thomas Jefferson Declaration of Independence and Notes on Virginia

2. Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay Federalist Papers

3. John C. Calhoun (1782-1850), the South Carolinian Senator and Vice-

President and author of A Disquisition on Government gives us the

doctrines of State’s Rights, Nullification and Secession

a. The Constitution of the United States is, in fact, a compact, to

which each State is a party

b. The states have a right to judge the infractions; and in case of a

deliberate, palpable, and dangerous exercise of power not

delegated . . . they have the right to interpose for the purpose of

arresting the progress of evil

c. This right of interposition ...be it called what it may–states rights,

veto, nullification–I conceive to be the fundamental principle of

our system...on its recognition depends the stability of our political

institutions

d. That a State, as a party to the constitutional compact, has the right

to secede—acting in the same capacity in which it ratified the

constitution—cannot, with any show of reason, be denied

F. Modern Political Thought

1. John S. Mill (1806-1873) On Liberty

a. On Liberty sets forth the strongest argument for freedom of thought

and expression and the development of individuality

b. The people either through themselves or their government have no

right to silence expression

(1) “If all mankind minus one were of one opinion, and only

one person was of the contrary opinion, mankind would be

no more justified in silencing that one person than he, if he

had the power, would be in silencing mankind

(2) “If the opinion is right, they are deprived of the opportunity

of exchanging error for truth

(3) “If wrong, they lose, what is almost as great a benefit, the

clearer perception and livelier impression of truth produced

by its collision with error

(4) “An individual is not accountable to society for his actions

in so far as these concern the interests of no person but

himself

(5) “For such actions that are prejudicial to the interests of

others, the individual is accountable, and may be subjected

either to social or to legal punishment”

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2. Karl Marx (1818-1883) Das Kapital and The Communist Manifesto

a. Marx in Manifesto calls for a workers revolution to overthrow the

chains of capitalism

(1) “Modern industry has converted the little workshop of the

patriarchal master into the great factory of the industrial

capitalist.

(2) “Masses of laborer, crowded into the factory, are organized

like soldiers

(3) “Not only are they the slaves of the bourgeois class, and of

the bourgeois state; they are daily and hourly enslaved by

the machine, by the overseer, and, above all by the

industrial bourgeois manufacturer himself

(4) “Working Men of All Countries, Unite!”

b. Property and the means for production are owned by the state

c. Citizens are expected to work for the good of the community

d. Goods produced are owned by the state and are distributed to the

citizens by the government

e. Influenced American writers such as Upton Sinclair (The Jungle)

Edward Bellamy (Looking Backward) and Jack London (The Iron

Heel), union organizer Mother Jones of the IWW (Wobblies), and

presidential candidate Eugene V. Debs

3. Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) Civil Disobedience

a. Thoreau opposed slavery and the Mexican-American War

b. Argued that we should not let government overrule or atrophy our

conscience

c. Citizens have a duty to avoid allowing acquiescence to enable the

government to carry out injustices in their name

d. To that end, Thoreau refused to pay accrued poll taxes and was

subsequently jailed although he was quickly released after his aunt

paid the six years of back taxes

4. Mohandas Gandhi (1869-1948) and civil disobedience

a. Political and spiritual leader of the Indian independence movement

b. Advocated resistence to evil through non-violent civil disobedience

(1) “Non-violence in its dynamic condition means conscious

suffering

(2) “It does not mean meek submission to the will of the evil

doer, but it means putting of one’s whole soul against the

will of the tyrant.

(3) “Working under this law of our beings, it is possible for a

single individual to defy the whole might of an unjust

empire

(4) “We must be content to die, if we can not live as free men

and women”

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5. Hannah Arendt (1906-1975) The Origins of Totalitarianism and Eichmann

in Jerusalem

a. Born into a secular Jewish family in Germnay

b. In Origins, Arendt traces the development of totalitarianism in

Europe that culminates in the atrocities of Nazi Germany and the

Soviet Uniton

c. In Eichmann, Arendt was covering the trial for the New Yorker

(1) Depicts a bureaucrat carrying out his orders rather than a

monster capable of the unthinkable

(2) Symptomatic of the “banality of evil” which means the

tendency of ordinary people to obey orders and conform to

mass opinion without critically thinking about the results or

morality of their action or inaction

(3) This view suggests that the acts carried out by the Nazi

government are not limited to the Third Reich

(4) Arendt was criticized for rationalizing Nazi atrocities and

her discussion of Jewish participation in the Holocaust

6. Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968) Letter from Birmingham Jail

a. Baptist minister and leader of the Civil Rights Movement

b. Advocated civil disobedience despite criticism from white

ministers who thought change should be achieved through the

courts

(1) We have an obligation to obey just laws

(2) We have a moral duty to disobey unjust laws

(3) And with that duty comes the requirement that one submit

to punishment for violating the law

7. Ayn Rand (1905-1982) The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged attacks the

“utopian” belief in the collective and stresses the merits of capitalism and

self-interest and in doing so challenges Marxist thought

a. “Do not make the mistake of thinking that a worker is a slave and

that he holds his job by his employers permission. He does not

hold it by permission, but by contract. A worker can quit his job, a

slave cannot”

b. “Intellectual freedom cannot exist without political freedom;

political freedom cannot exist without economic freedom. A free

mind and a free market are corollaries”

c. “Every movement that seeks to enslave a country, every

dictatorship or potential dictatorship, needs some minority group as

a scapegoat which it can blame for the nations troubles and use as a

justification for its own demand for dictatorial powers. In Soviet

Russia, the scapegoat was the bourgeoisie; in Nazi Germany it was

the Jewish people; in America, it is the businessmen”

26

8. John Rawls (1921-2002) A Theory of Justice and Justice as Fairness

a. Noted for his contribution to liberal political philosophy and his

attack on utilitarianism, which argues that what is good is that

which yields the greatest utility

(1) Rawls notes that slavery would be acceptable under

utilitarianism because it “benefits” society as a whole

(2) Utilitarians argue that Rawls ignores the unrealistic level of

benefits necessary to outweigh the harm done to those

enslaved

b. Greatest contribution is his doctrines of original intent, the veil of

ignorance, and the two principles of justice

(1) Rawls belongs to the social contract tradition, but believes

that a just social contract is one made if we do not know

where in society we will ultimately fall–the original

position

(2) In Rawls’ original position the representatives of citizens

are placed behind the veil of ignorance, which deprives the

representatives of knowledge regarding the characteristics

of those they represent (skills, talents, abilities, race,

gender, education, etc.)

(3) Accordingly, the representatives would adopt a maximin

rule that provides the maximum outcome for those in the

worst condition (in case the representatives find themselves

in this worse case scenario)

(4) Rawls argues that the two principles of justice would be

adopted by the representatives to avoid risk

(a) Liberty Principle: guarantees a set of basic liberties

that can be provided equally to everyone

(b) Difference Principle: guarantees a system that

minimizes social and economic inequalities for the

least well-off group and inequalities are only

justified if the inequality provides a benefit for

society

c. Identifies five social systems in which the first three violate the

principles of justice and only the last two have mechanisms

capable of ensuring the two principles justice

(1) Laissez-Faire Capitalism

(2) Welfare-State Capitalism

(3) State Socialism

(4) Property-Owning Democracy

(5) Democratic Socialism

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IV. What Do Americans Think About Government?

A. What is the Proper Role of Government?

1. Since our nations founding, Americans have seen the need for a strong

national government, but feared that a government with too much power

would become tyrannical

a. Constitutional Debates

(1) Federalists believed that a powerful and active national

government was necessary to promote commerce, prevent

political strife, and protect the country’s international

interests

(2) Anti-Federalists feared that such a government would also

have the power to oppress its citizens and therefore it was

better to forego the potential benefits of a powerful

government to minimize the loss of freedoms associated a

strong government

b. Early Party Period

(1) Hamilton’s Federalists advocated a strong central

government

(2) Jefferson’s Democratic Republicans argued for a weaker

and decentralized government with strict constitutional

limits

(3) States Rights Democrats (i.e., John Calhoun) opposition to

federal intervention to end slavery

(4) Lincoln’s Republican Party and the abolition of slavery and

the preservation of the national union

c. Contemporary Political Debate

(1) Contemporary Democrats/Liberals assert the need for a

powerful and active national government to promote social

and economic equality, to protect the poor, children, the

elderly, and the environment

(2) Contemporary Republicans/Conservatives argue that many

national programs and policies should be eliminated or

turned over to the states (i.e., welfare reform) while the

national government promotes national security through a

strong defense and restores morality and family values

2. In summary, Americans generally support the concept of a limited

government but in times of crisis we develop a siege mentality and

demand even more government regulation of human behavior resulting in

less freedom

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B. Do We Trust Our Government?

1. Trust in government has be declining since the 1960s

a. From 1960 to 1964, approximately 75% of Americans stated they

trusted government most of the time or just about always

b. Trust in government fell from 1964 reaching a low of 25% in 1980

c. Trust increased slightly in the early 1980s under Reagan but began

falling again in the wake of Iran-Contra rising

d. Once again during the economic prosperity of the Clinton

presidency even during the impeachment period

e. Rose again after 9/11 (rally effect), but has begun to fall as the

debate over the war intensifies and economic concerns highten

f. However, trust in government is still approximately 25% over the

past decade (Note: Job Approval Ratings of both the president and

Congress have also been on the decline)

2. American distrust of government may be result of the following concerns

a. Government has grown too big,

b. Dissatisfaction with government performance,

c. A lack of a sense of political efficacy, and

d. Government scandals

29

3. These concerns appear to be justified on all four points

a. Governments at every level have increased in size and scope

(1) The size of the federal government was limited in size,

scope and influence until approximately 1929 with power

residing primarily in the states

(2) The stock market crash of 1929, the Great Depression, and

the run on banks in 1933 led to demands for increased

federal intervention

(3) Today, the federal government has influence on every

aspect of American society

(4) Americans cannot escape the power of modern government

(local, state or federal) nor do they necessarily want to

b. The public is dissatisfied with government performance

(1) Government spending at the federal level, which exceed $3

trillion, has not solved some of the more pressing problems

facing the nation

(a) Poverty

(b) Environment

(c) Health Care

(d) Infrastructure (New Orleans Levees)

(2) Furthermore, the media is often skeptical of government

programs and are often highlighting government waste

(3) The declining national economy may have led to declining

levels of trust and satisfaction

c. There has also been a decline in a sense of political efficacy

(1) The belief that citizens can affect what government does

has been declining

(a) Americans (66%) do not believe that government

officials do not care what the people think

(b) Americans (76%) believe that government is run by

a few big interests looking out for their own

interests

(2) Young Americans (72%) believe that they have something

important to say but that no one listens

30

d. Out government has done a lot of bad things to a lot of people

(1) The war/genocide against Native Americans from

colonization through the end of 1800s, the program of

assimilation, and the nature of the reservation system

account for Native American distrust

(2) Slavery and Jim Crow/segregation, the assassination of

Martin Luther King, Jr., etc. certainly accounts for African

American distrust

(a) The Tuskegee Experiments (1932-1972) gave

validity to the belief that the government could

engage in sinister activities against unsuspecting

groups in American society

i) 600 subjects (who were sharecroppers from

Macon County, Alabama) were recruited

ii) Offered free treatment for “Bad Blood”

iii) 250 of the subjects were denied treatment

even after they attempted to enlist to serve in

WWII and were ordered to be treated

iv) Many were left untreated for syphilis even

though penicillin was in widespread use by

1946

v) 28 died from syphilis, 100 died early due to

syphilis related problems, 40 of their wives

had been infected, and 19 of their children

were born with congenital syphilis

vi) Bill Clinton formally apologized in 1997

with five of the eight surviving patients

present at the White House

(b) CIA Crack Conspiracy Theory

(c) Racial Profiling

(3) The conquest of the American Southwest, discrimination,

and the issue of immigration from Latin America accounts

for Hispanic distrust of the government (Elian Gonzalez)

(4) Asian Americans were faced with denial of citizenship,

internment camps, discrimination, and violence

(5) Stay up late one night and listen as callers to radio talk

shows discuss Waco and the Branch Davidians, Ruby

Ridge, and the Oklahoma City Bombing and you will

discover that whites also distrust the government

31

4. What is the possible impact of a declining trust in government?

a. Public may refuse to comply with governmental policies because

they no longer recognize the legitimacy of government authority

(1) Refuse to pay taxes

(2) Refuse to obey the law

b. National security could be jeopardized as foreign leaders take

actions because they do not believe we have the “will” to respond

(1) USSR invasion of Afghanistan

(2) Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait

c. A revolution leading to the overthrow/collapse of the United States

(1) The Race Riots of the 1960s and the Kerner Commission

(a) 1965 Watts Riots, 1967 12 Street (Detroit Riots),th

and the 1967 Newark Riots raised concerns about

the beginning of a revolution in the inner cities

(b) The Kerner Commission warned that we were

“becoming two societies, one white and one black,

separate and unequal” and noted changes were

necessary to prevent continued unrest

(2) The Oklahoma City Bombing and militia groups

32

The Political Culture of Texas

I. Texas Political Culture

A. Political Culture in Texas

1. Texas culture stresses individualism and conservatism

a. Government to maintain stable society but intervene as little as

possible in lives of the people

b. Support personal politics, distrust political parties

2. Texas political culture influenced by historical and current factors

a. Southern Conservatism

b. Old West Individualism

c. Hispanic Culture

d. Northern Migration

e. Immigration

f. Urbanization

B. Historical Influences on Texas Politics

1. From Republic to State

a. Texas voters approved annexation in 1836 after gaining

independence from Mexico

b. However, the slavery issue delayed admission as a state until 1845

c. The Articles of Admission granted Texas unique rights

(1) Texas retained ownership of its public lands under the

articles of annexation

(a) Federal government refused to accept land in

exchange for accepting $10 million in debt accrued

by the state

(b) Some of this land was eventually sold, but millions

of acres were kept and generated millions of dollars

in revenue from the production of oil and gas

i) Permanent University Fund

ii) Permanent School Fund

(2) Texas retained the right to subdivide into as many as four

additional states, which was designed to maintain the

balance of slave and non-slave states

d. Early Statehood and Secession

(1) Sam Houston, who was pro Unionist and opposed the

secessionist movement, resigned from the U.S. Senate and

ran for Governor in an attempt to head of secession

(2) Upon Lincoln’s election in 1860, a secessionist convention

voted to leave the Union

33

(3) The Texas Legislature upheld the convention vote

(4) Houston refused to accept Lincoln’s offer of federal

military assistance

(5) Texas was admitted to the Confederate States of America

2. Reconstruction

a. Radical Republicans “reform” Texas

(1) Lee surrendered at Appomattox

(2) Anarchy existed in Texas until federal troops occupied the

state on June 19, 1865, which is known as Emancipation

Day in Texas

(3) Radical Republicans in Washington were alarmed by the

political actions taken by Southerners towards blacks after

the end of the Civil War

(4) In response, Congress established Reconstruction

governments throughout the South, including Texas

(5) Texas placed under military rule from 1865 to 1869

(6) Republican E. J. Davis elected governor in 1869

(a) Radical Republican

(b) Fought for the Union during Civil War

(c) Corruption and debt undermined administration

b. The End of Reconstruction

(1) Former Confederates were allowed to vote again in 1873

(2) Democrat Richard Coke elected as governor in 1874, but a

Republican Texas Supreme Court invalidated the election

(3) Davis refused to leave the state capitol and requested

federal military support from President U. S. Grant

(4) Texas legislators covertly entered the legislative chambers

and validated the election

(5) Davis continued to refuse to abandon the capitol and only

after Texas was on the brink of violence did Davis

withdraw and turn over the government to Coke

(6) Democrats rewrote the state constitution in a convention

dominated by members of the Grange

(7) The legacy of Reconstruction was an all white dominate

Democratic Party and a small predominately African

American Republican Party

3. Progressives and Populists: Texas Politics between 1886 and 1945

a. The Era of Governor James Stephen Hogg

(1) Political support from small East Texas farmers

(2) Reform candidate and voice of the common man

(3) Nominated by the Democratic Party despite opposition

from the business interests

(4) Established the Texas Railroad Commission

34

(5) Texas led the nation in political reform and regulation of

the special interests and established Texas as one of the

most progressive states

(a) Trusts and monopolies

(b) Railroads

(c) Insurance companies

(d) Child labor

(e) Prisons

(f) Taxes

b. The Era of James E. Ferguson (Farmer Jim or Pa)

(1) Worked as a migrant farmer

(2) Admitted to the Texas Bar after studying for only a few

months in 1897

(3) Established himself as businessman and president of

Temple State Bank

(4) Elected governor in 1914 as a farmer and progressive

(5) Texas legislature enacted much of Pa’s legislative agenda

(a) Assistance to tenant farmers

(b) Public schools and rural education

(c) College education

(6) Reelected in 1916 amidst rumors of financial irregularities

in part due to support for his progressive agenda

(7) Downfall came over a dispute involving the University of

Texas

(a) Pa issued a line item veto of funds appropriated to

the University of Texas in the state budget

(b) UT Board of Regents refused to dismiss professors

that Pa found objectionable

(c) Note that many of the state legislature and power

brokers in the state were UT alumni

(d) Pa indicted in Travis County for illegal use of

public funds

(e) Articles of Impeachment issued by the Texas House

(called itself back into session)

(f) Texas Senate voted convict despite Pa’s attempt to

resign before the final vote

(g) Eventually found guilty of “bribery” and other

money related charges

(8) Pa was succeeded by W. P. Hobby, Sr.

35

4. World War I and the Return of Pa Ferguson

a. An economic boom during WWI turned attention to social issues

(1) Prohibition dominated the national political landscape and

divided Texas

(2) Women’s Suffrage gained strength and Texas was one of

the first states to ratify the 19 Amendmentth

(3) Education issues were also important

(a) Free textbooks for public schools

(b) Establishment of new colleges

(c) Establishment of the Texas park system

(4) Ku Klux Klan began to exert political power

b. Miriam “Ma” Ferguson ran for governor in 1924

(1) Wife of James “Pa” Ferguson

(2) Anti-Klan

(3) Platform was “Two Governors for the Price of One”

(4) Pushed through legislation that made it illegal to wear a

mask in public thus criminalizing the Klan

(5) Caught up in a number of scandals including questionable

pardon and a highway funding scandal

c. In 1928, the Democrats nominated Al Smith for president

(1) Smith was Catholic, a “wet,” and a big-city candidate

(2) Texas voted Republican for the first time since the Civil

War in voting for Herbert Hoover

(3) Hoover was a protestant, a “dry,” and an international

humanitarian having worked on relief projects after WWI

5. The Great Depression and WWII

a. Texas suffered as did most states with the stock market crashed

(1) New oil fields in East Texas led to overproduction and a

drop in price to 10 cents a barrel ($1 a barrel today)

(2) Major oil companies owned the refineries and refused to

buy from the independents

(3) Governor Ross Sterling closed the East Texas field

(4) Sterling declared martial law and the Texas Railroad

Commission was eventually given authority to control

production of oil

b. Ma Ferguson: The Sequel

(1) Ma was reelected in 1932 on government reform platform

(2) Prohibition ended in 1933 and the Texas Alcoholic and

Beverage Commission was born

36

c. W. Lee “Pappy” O’Daniel

(1) Flour salesman and host of a radio program featuring

hillbilly music (i.e., Garison Keiler’s Prairie Home

Companion or the movie O Brother Where Art Thou)

(2) With the campaign slogan “Pass the Biscuits, Pappy” he

toured the state in a bus with his Light Crust Doughboys

(3) Pappy ran on a platform of the Ten Commandments, the

Golden Rule, and Old-Age Pensions

(4) Pappy had never held office and never paid the poll tax

because he believed no politician was worth $1.75

(5) Successful more as a character than as a politician

6. The Rise of Texas Nationally: Texas Politics After World War II

a. Governor Allan Shivers

(1) Along with Attorney General Price Daniel led the fight for

Texas to control ten miles into the Gulf of Mexico rather

the three miles the U.S. government claimed

(2) President Eisenhower became the Republican nominee and

he was sympathetic to Texas’ position on the Tidelands

Issue

(a) Conservative Texas Democrats supported

Eisenhower with the slogan “Texas for Texans”

urged a split ticket vote (Shivercrats)

(b) Liberal Democrats led by Ralph Yarborough urged

a straight ticket Democrat vote

(3) Texas voted Eisenhower instead of Stevenson and Texas

Democrats would remain split until Reagan in 1980

(4) Shriver and Daniel dominated politics for a number of

years despite numerous scandals

(5) Lobbyists use of the “three Bs” became standard operating

practice (booze, beefsteak, and broads)

b. Lyndon Johnson and the rise to national prominence

(1) Served in the U.S. House and Senate (Majority Leader)

(2) Vice-President under John F. Kennedy and President upon

assassination (reelected in his own right in 1964)

c. John B. Connally served as Secretary of the Navy under John F.

Kennedy and governor in 1962

d. Preston Smith

e. Dolph Briscoe

f. Bill Clements was first Republican governor since Reconstruction

g. Mark White

h. Ann Richards was the second woman governor and last Democrat

i. George W. Bush was the second Republican since Reconstruction

j. Rick Perry succeeded George W. Bush as Republican governor

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II. The Politics of Geography

A. The Land

1. Texas is the second largest state in geographic size, second only to Alaska

2. Public land in Texas is owned by the State of Texas

3. Texas is a rich in natural resources

a. Soil and climate well suited for agricultural development

(1) Wheat

(2) Cotton

(3) Rice

(4) Corn

(5) Sorghum

b. Mineral resources

(1) Oil and Gas

(2) Sulfur

(3) Crushed Stone

(4) Portland Cement

(5) Salt

(6) Common Clays

(7) Gypsum

(8) Talc

B. Texas Cultural Regions

1. East Texas

a. Social and cultural extension of old south

b. Rural and biracial

c. Segregated towns still exist

d. Typically dominated by old families whose wealth based on real

estate, banking, construction, and retail

e. Migration to DFW or Houston

2. Gulf Coast

a. Discovery of oil near Beaumont in 1901 spurred growth

b. Shipping became important

(1) Ports in Beaumont and Port Arthur

(2) Ports Houston and along the Ship Channel

c. Stimulated investment from outside state

d. Energy crisis in 1970's caused boom with immigration from the

Northern Frost Belt and Rust Belt

e. Influenced by immigration from East Texas, Asia, Mexico

f. Social and economic elite from new money, from oil, insurance,

construction, land development, banking

g. Economy is diversifying and globalizing

h. Texas Medical Center is world-wide leader in health care

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3. South and Southwest Texas

a. Developed ranchero culture akin to feudal system in Spain

(1) Creoles (descendants of European Spanish) were the social

and economic elite of the region and principle land owners

(2) Meztizos (Spanish and Native American lineage) were the

workers in the fields

b. Anglos not significant until after Texas Revolution

c. Agriculturally based economy although NAFTA has stimulated

economic growth as the region is as a gateway to Latin America

d. Increased immigration from Mexico in search of economic

opportunity and to avoid political instability

4. German Hill Country

a. Settled by Eastern European immigrants (German, Czechs, Poles,

Norwegians)

b. Primarily farming and ranching

c. Socially conservative

d. Stronghold of Texas Republicanism

5. West Texas

a. Settled by Anglos after defeat of Apaches

b. Southern traditions including protestant fundamentalism

c. Few African Americans and limited Mexican-American migration

d. Socially conservative, and bible belt fundamentalist

e. Politically - conservative democratic but turning republican

f. Largest oil production near Midland and Odessa

g. Agriculture and ranching also important

6. The Panhandle

a. Midwestern farmers thus Midwestern in character and institutions

b. Conservative leaning toward Republican Party

c. Protestant

7. North Texas

a. Buffer between East and West Texas borrowing from both regions

b. Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex became rail center which promoted

commercial development and Dallas is now a corporate center

c. DFW is the banking and commercial center of Texas

d. Exhibits cosmopolitan attitude

8. Central Texas

a. Bounded by Houston, DFW, San Antonio

b. Melting pot of Texas

c. Austin is the center of this core area of Texas and has seen

dramatic growth in the past decade with immigration from the

Northeast and Western United States

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III. Texas Demographics

A. Texas Population–The Numbers

1. Texas is amongst the fastest growing states in terms of population and has

grown at twice the national average over the past ten years

a. 1990 population of approximately 17 million

b. 2000 population of approximately 21 million

(1) Second only to California’s 35 million

(2) Approximately 11 million native-born Texans

(3) Immigration from Mexico and Latin America, California,

Louisiana, Oklahoma

c. 2007 population of approximately 24 million

d. Second only to California in numerical growth

2. The states population is increasingly urban

a. 86% of the population now lives in urban/metropolitan areas

(1) The four largest areas account for over 50% of the state’s

population (2000 Census)

(a) Harris– 3.6 million

(b) Tarrant– 1.4 million

(c) Bexar– 1.4 million

(d) Dallas– 2.2 million

(2) Harris County population 3.6 million

(a) White not Hispanic 43%

(b) Hispanics 33%

(c) African Americans 18%

b. However, the population is not evenly distributed, but is

concentrated East of Austin-San Antonio

(1) Houston SMSA 2007 population estimate of 5.6 million

(2) Loving County with a 2007 population of 55

3. Texas in Comparison to Other States

a. Texas ranks 8 for persons below the poverty levelth

(1) Texans below poverty level is 15.4%

(2) New Hampshire is ranked 50 with 6.5% below povertyth

(3) Louisiana is ranked 2 with 19.6% below povertynd

(4) Mississippi is ranked 1 with 19.9% below povertyst

b. Texas ranks 31 in average teachers salaries of $39,300st

c. Texas ranks 30 in median household income of $37,900th

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B. The Ethnic Diversity of Texas

1. Texas was officially declared a minority-majority state in 2005

2. Texas also has a rapidly changing and growing population

a. Whites (Anglos) now make 48% the states residents

b. Hispanics are now over 36% of the states residents

(1) Hispanics are a diverse group

(a) 24.3% are Mexican-Americans

(b) 0.3% are Puerto Rican

(c) 0.1% are Cuban

(d) 7.1 % are other Hispanic

(2) Majority in 36 counties

(3) San Antonio and El Paso largest cities in nation with

Hispanic majorities (Los Angeles is 46.5% Hispanic)

(a) El Paso is 76.6% Hispanic

(b) San Antonio is 58.7%

(4) Texas also has several cities with the highest percent

Hispanic populations

(a) Laredo is 94.1% Hispanic and ranked second only

behind East LA with 96.8%

(b) Brownsville is 91.3% Hispanic and ranked 3

(c) McAllen is 80.3% Hispanic and ranked 5

(5) El Paso is 76.6% Hispanic and ranked 6

(6) Harris County is particularly diverse

(a) 38% Hispanic

(b) 37% White, not Hispanic

(c) 19% African American

(d) 5% Asian

(7) Despite the growing size of the Hispanic population college

enrollment figures are relatively low

(a) UT at Austin with 15% Hispanic enrollment

(b) Texas A&M with 10% Hispanic enrollment

(c) UH with 19% Hispanic enrollment

c. African Americans make-up 11.9% of state's population

(1) Located primarily in Southeast and Northeast Texas (the

Old South)

(2) East of a line drawn from Dallas to Houston over to the

Beaumont-Port Arthur area

(a) 18% of Harris County is African American

(b) Jefferson County is predominately White/Black

which obviously influences the politics of the area

i) 50% White, not Hispanic

ii) 35% African American

iii) 13% Hispanic

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(3) As with Hispanics, African American college enrollment is

not proportional

(a) UT Austin enrollment is 3.9% African American

(b) Texas A&M enrollment is 3% African American

(c) UH student body is 13% African American

d. Asian Americans comprise 3.4 % of the states population

(1) 5% of all Asian Americans in U.S. live in Texas

(2) Significant immigration from Southeast Asia giving

Houston a viable Vietnamese community

(3) Also, significant Chinese and Korean communities

(4) College Enrollment for Asian Americans is high

(a) UT Austin with 14% Asian American enrollment

(b) Texas A&M with 10% Asian American enrollment

(c) UH with 20% Asian American enrollment

e. Native Americans approximately 1% of the states residents

(1) Alabama Coushatta

(a) Approximately 550 tribal members

(b) Live on 4,351 acre reservation in Polk Co.

(c) Economic Condition

i) 46% underemployed

ii) 1% with college degree

iii) Median household income $10,809

(2) Kickapoo

(a) Approximately 650 tribal members

(b) Reside near Eagle Pass

(c) Officially recognized as Texas Band of Oklahoma

Kickapoo

(d) Dual citizenship in U.S. and Mexico

(3) Tigua

(a) Approximately 2,000 Native Americans

(b) Reside near El Paso

(c) Speaking Rock Casino opened in 1994

(d) Subject to legal action that closed the facility in

2002

3. Imagine the challenges facing political candidates as they attempt to court

the support of the various ethnic groups in state of Texas

a. In the 2008 primaries, Obama did particularly well among African

American voters

b. Clinton, on the other hand, did well with Hispanic voterrs

c. Texas has been considered a Red State since Reagan

d. Increased political involvement by Hispanics will obviously

change the political dynamics of state

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C. Religious Diversity in Texas

1. Texas is a state with significant religious diversity

a. First in the nation in number of Evangelical Protestants

b. Third in the nation in number of Catholics

c. Third in the nation in number of Buddhists

d. Fifth in the nation in number of Muslims

e. Fifth in the nation in number of Hindus

f. Tenth in the nation in the number of Jews

2. Southern Baptists have generally dominated the Texas political landscape

(particularly in East Texas)

a. In 2000 there were over 4.5 million Baptists in Texas

b. In 2000 there were over 3.5 million Southern Baptists

3. Catholics, with the growth of the Hispanic community, are now beginning

to exert some influence

a. In 2000 there were over 4.3 million Catholics in Texas

b. Catholics witnessed the greatest denominational growth since 1990

4. Candidates for office must consider a broad range of moral issues such as

abortion, same sex marriages and prayer in school

D. Texas and Educational Attainment

1. Texas ranks 50 in %age of population over 25 with high school diplomath

2. Texas ranks 27 in %age of population over 25 with Bachelors Degreeth

3. Approximately 24% of the states population over the age of 25 have

earned a Bachelor’s Degree, slightly less than the national average

4. Only 40 of 254 counties had a population where over 20% of the

population had earned a Bachelors Degree

5. 100 counties are classified as “Low Education Counties” because 25

percent or more of the population between the ages of 25 and 64 did not

have a high school diploma or GED

E. Poverty and Income

1. In 2003, the poverty rate was 16.2% compared to a 12% nationally

2. Four counties had poverty rates in excess of 30%

a. Hidalgo, Willacy, and Zavala

b. Starr had the highest poverty rate in the state at 36.2%

3. 36 of the nations 386 counties considered persistently poor (greater than

20% poverty in each decennial census since 1970)

4. Texas ranks 30 in Median Household Incometh

5. Median household Income clearly demonstrates the economic disparity

a. $47,162 for Anglo households

b. $29,305 for African American households

c. $29,873 for Hispanic households

d. $50,049 for Asian households

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Part II

Political Power and the

Structure of American Government