Dr. Tabakian’s Political Science 1 US Government – Spring/Fall 2014

Week #4

COURSE LECTURE TOPICS

• America’s Elite Membership • Policy Changes and Innovations in America • Political Conflict • Stability & Instability • Power Of Exporting Corporate Elites • Corporate and Economic Power • Globalization • How Elites Exercise Power • John Locke’s “Second Treatise Of Government” • Capitalism & Democracy Are Similar

AMERICAN ELITE EVOLUTION

America’s Elite Membership & New Elite Membership. • Early disputes were between propertied classes. • Political parties emerged in the 1796 election. • New Western elites were assimilated

• The new electorate included all White men. • New industrial elites use Social Darwinism to justify wealth. Policy Changes & Innovations in American Government • Hamilton pays the national debt

• Establishes a national bank. • Supreme Court expands necessary and proper clause. • President Abraham Lincoln & Emancipation Proclamation. • President Franklin Roosevelt & New Deal legislation.

NORTH VERSUS SOUTH

Political Conflict 1. Southern and Northern elite conflict over western land

led to Civil War. 2. Missouri Compromise was an attempt at compromise. 3. Southern elites seceded from the Union. 4. America lost its first war in Vietnam. 5. America regained its prestige in Persian Gulf War I.

• President George Bush had a 90 % approval. • The military was the most trusted institution.

IMPACT OF VIETNAM President Lyndon Baines Johnson addresses the American people on March 31, 1968. He begins his speech with a review of current American strategy regarding Vietnam, only to later declare his decision to withdraw from the presidential race. One can argue that the move was purely to maintain democratic control over the presidency. He campaigned on behalf of Vice-President Hubert Humphrey.

PRESIDENT JOHNSON ADDRESS

DEMOCRATIC CONVENTION 1968 The Democratic National Convention of 1968 was held in Chicago from August 26 to the 29th. The divisive politics of the convention, brought about by the Vietnam War policies of President Johnson, prompted the Democratic party to completely overhaul its rules for selecting presidential delegates. This allowed millions to participate in the political process. The violence between police and anti-Vietnam War protesters stands testament to the negative effects of rampant instability.

1968 DEMOCRATIC CONVENTION

POLITICAL CONFLICT – WATERGATE

President Richard Nixon announced on August 8, 1974 that he will resign the presidency. The primary goal of the elite class is to maintain and/or enhance their positions of power. This requires maintaining the power system in which they dominate. Once the masses begin to lose confidence in the system then the system itself is in danger of collapsing. Was the decision to resign made to save his own skin or to preserve the system?

NIXON RESIGNS

STABILIZATION

Sudden instability is the greatest threat to humanity for it threatens to cause irreparable harm to the individual. One may never consider harming another person in a state of nature. Elimination of one’s sustenance throws the individual into a state of war, because their survival is now threatened. Nation-states consist of multiple spheres of interest in turn consisting of individual units consisting of people. As survival is the primary goal of man, so it is the ultimate pursuit of nation-states. The primary concern is that of stability. This philosophy has prevented a major war from taking place over the last sixty years. Instability is the primary cause of all conflict both within and between nation-states.

NIGHTMARE SCENARIO Sudden instability results in the potential destruction of a relationship. Everyone has experienced the negative effects of instability. Relationships between loved ones is just one of many examples. One major cause of rampant instability is the breakdown of communication between spheres. This is a video documentary titled “First Strike”. It presents a nightmare scenario resulting from souring relations between the United States and the Soviet Union.

FIRST STRIKE

DEATH OF A PRESIDENT President John Fitzgerald Kennedy was assassinated in Texas on November 22, 1963. The President’s body was brought to Love Field and placed on Air Force One. This video is of Lyndon Johnson addressing the nation from the airport.

DEATH OF A PRESIDENT

GLOBAL ELITES

Corporate and Economic Power is globalized and free from national government restraints. • Financial and industrial elites control America’s economic life. • Exporting Corporate elites control America’s trade policy.

• WTO and IMF/WB facilitate international trade. • NAFTA and FTA are institutionalizing global trade. • Corporate Elites have earned a reputation for greed.

America’s Elites exercise power in many sectors of society. • Elites move from government positions to corporate positions

through a revolving door. • Elites are public-regarding and establishment-trained. • An increasing number of neoconservatives and neoliberals are

in America’s elite.

GLOBALIZATION – 1 Globalization is a process that seems to create a more unified world united in a single economic system. Globalization continues to be cited as a cause for the withering away of the state. Technology has allowed mankind to realize globalization. Liberalism and its market-based order continue to be the primary motivator for technological innovation that in turn has rendered previous norms obsolete. One can argue that this constant drive may in time render international strife, conflict and other assorted calamities obsolete. Liberals would argue that globalization is a trend toward the transformation of world politics with states no longer remaining sealed units.

GLOBALIZATION – 2 Globalization may be seen as a homogenization process that equalizes prices, products, wages, wealth, rates of interest and profit margins. It is a movement that can spark resistance both within the United States as well as around the world. This can come from religious fundamentalists, labor unions and other types of special interest groups. Globalization has so far only encompassed western countries, Israel and certain Asian countries like Japan, South Korea and China. Most of the world has been left out, including Africa, Latin America, Russia, Middle East and swaths of Asia.

GLOBALIZATION – 3 This political piece explores the effects of globalization. One can argue that globalization has extended people’s buying power. Dollars can be stretched must further thanks to lower labor costs found in distant lands. “Big Box-Mart” argues that cheap goods does present a serious side effect. Does the message relate to your personal belief about our present global economy?

BIG BOX MART

JOHN LOCKE – 1

• Recognized as the first to anticipate the rise of liberal thought in his time.

• Addressed the merits of exchanging certain natural rights or liberties for civil rights as afforded by a social contract that provides a foundation of laws assuring freedom and equality for all citizens.

• One cannot have liberalism without capitalism.

• Embodies tolerance, freedom of speech and religion with capitalism. Social contract is man’s way of establishing a government to guarantee those identified fundamental rights.

• Argues that the law of God serves as the fundamental example of what constitutes natural rights.

JOHN LOCKE – 2

• John Lock is very secular as his natural law argument demonstrates. Adopted to make Christianity more progressive, Locke argues that the law of reason is in actuality the law of nature with natural law governed by God.

• No man has sovereignty by birth or any other greater freedom, for all of man are seen in the same light under God’s eyes. (Chap.1)

• Locke argues that man’s natural duty is to insure his self-preservation, which he bases on two qualifications. First, men do what is necessary for their pursuit of life, liberty and prosperity. Second, man can only take from another if it is dependent on preserving his own life, liberty and prosperity. (Chap.1)

JOHN LOCKE – 3

• Self-preservation is absolute only in a state of war, for when force without rights exists, it presents a theater through which violence exists outside the reach of law. (Sec.17)

• Stresses that rights or duties accorded in a state of nature are based on natural law, or reason. His whole theory is based on the tenets of liberalism with a focus on relationships and conflict. (Preface)

• Examines how one can and cannot morally possess material goods. States that the law of nature demands that no one shall waste or spoil anything that others could use. Arguing that one’s claims to the products of the earth is in truth owned in common by all, the right of subsistence cannot justify waste, for one does not own the Earth. (Sec.36)

JOHN LOCKE – 4

• Self-regulating capitalism is the overriding purpose of the establishment of this contract in order to insure that equality and freedom continue to exist outside of the state of nature.

• Addressing the needy deficiencies of the state of nature, Locke examines the need for common consent with the people following the basic tenets of natural law. Man thereby agrees to give up their natural rights in exchange for civil rights in return for order in a civil society.

• Argues that the rule of law must apply to all in the same fashion, fairly affecting all aspects of society. The state of nature dictates that the law must treat all people equally for no one has the right to control another absolutely.

JOHN LOCKE – 5

• From the beginning: Adam & Eve. Neither had total control over their children or the Earth. (Chap.1)

• People must freely surrender some of their inalienable rights in order for the construction of government. (Chap.1)

• All are charged with the responsibility of ensuring their prosperity. None may willfully retreat from life to death. (Sec.6)

• A state of war results when one’s survival is jeopardized. Slavery produces a state of war. (Sec.8)

• No man shall do harm. Transgressors shall be punished either by the state or individual. (Sec.11)

JOHN LOCKE – 6

• State of nature is a state of peace, good will, mutual assistance and preservation. A state of enmity, malice, violence and mutual destruction is in fact a state of war. (Sec.16)

• When actual force ends then so does the state of war. Both sides are then subjected to the faire determination of the law. (Sec.20)

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

• Man shall not be under any other legislative power, but that established, by consent, in the commonwealth. Only those restraints placed by the legislature may apply. (Sec.22)

JOHN LOCKE – 7 • Only those powers willfully forfeited may be applied to man.

No one can give more away more power than he has himself. He that cannot take away his own life, cannot give another power over it. (Sec.23)

• Every man has a property in his own person. No power has any right to this property except the respective individual.(Sec.27)

• Adding labor or value makes the end product man’s. (Sec.28)

• Ethics of converting or trading tangible products into currency. This brings money, gold and silver, into the foray. (Sec.50)

JOHN LOCKE – 8 The freedom then of man, and liberty of acting according to his own will, is grounded on his having reason, which is able to instruct him in that law he is to govern himself by, and make him know how far he is left to the freedom of his own will.To turn him loose to an unrestrained liberty, before he has reason to guide him, is not the allowing him the privilege of his nature to be free; but to thrust him out amongst brutes, and abandon him to a state as wretched, and as much beneath that of a man, as their's. This is that which puts the authority into the parents hands to govern the minority of their children. God hath made it their business to employ this care on their offspring, and hath placed in them suitable inclinations of tenderness and concern to temper this power, to apply it, as his wisdom designed it, to the children's good, as long as they should need to be under it. (Sec.63)

JOHN LOCKE – 9 MEN being, as has been said, by nature, all free, equal, and independent, no one can be put out of this estate, and subjected to the political power of another, without his own consent. The only way whereby any one divests himself of his natural liberty, and puts on the bonds of civil society, is by agreeing with other men to join and unite into a community for their comfortable, safe, and peaceable living one amongst another, in a secure enjoyment of their properties, and a greater security against any, that are not of it. (Sec.95)

JOHN LOCKE – 10 For when any number of men have, by the consent of every individual, made a community, they have thereby made that community one body, with a power to act as one body, which is only by the will and determination of the majority: for that which acts any community, being only the consent of the individuals of it, and it being necessary to that which is one body to move one way; it is necessary the body should move that way whither the greater force carries it, which is the consent of the majority: or else it is impossible it should act or continue one body, one community, which the consent of every individual that united into it, agreed that it should; and so every one is bound by that consent to be concluded by the majority. (Sec.96)

JOHN LOCKE – 11 IF man in the state of nature be so free, as has been said; if he be absolute lord of his own person and possessions, equal to the greatest, and subject to no body, why will he part with his freedom? why will he give up this empire, and subject himself to the dominion and control of any other power? To which it is obvious to answer, that though in the state of nature he hath such a right, yet the enjoyment of it is very uncertain, and constantly exposed to the invasion of others: for all being kings as much as he, every man his equal, and the greater part no strict observers of equity and justice, the enjoyment of the property he has in this state is very unsafe, very insecure. Protection of property is the primary motivator to join civil society. (Sec.123)

JOHN LOCKE – 12 THE majority having, as has been shewed, upon men's first uniting into society, the whole power of the community naturally in them, may employ all that power in making laws for the community from time to time, and executing those laws by officers of their own appointing; and then the form of the government is a perfect democracy: or else may put the power of making laws into the hands of a few select men, and their heirs or successors; and then it is an oligarchy: or else into the hands of one man, and then it is a monarchy: if to him and his heirs, it is an hereditary monarchy: if to him only for life, but upon his death the power only of nominating a successor to return to them; an elective monarchy. And so accordingly of these the community may make compounded and mixed forms of government, as they think good. (Sec.132)

JOHN LOCKE – 13 Though the legislative, whether placed in one or more, whether it be always in being, or only by intervals, though it be the supreme power in every common-wealth; yet,

First: It is not, nor can possibly be absolutely arbitrary over the lives and fortunes of the people: for it being but the joint power of every member of the society given up to that person, or assembly, which is legislator; it can be no more than those persons had in a state of nature before they entered into society, and gave up to the community: for no body can transfer to another more power than he has in himself; and no body has an absolute arbitrary power over himself, or over any other, to destroy his own life, or take away the life or property of another. (Sec.135)

JOHN LOCKE – 14 Second: The legislative, or supreme authority, cannot assume to its self a power to rule by extemporary arbitrary decrees, but is bound to dispense justice, and decide the rights of the subject by promulgated standing laws, and known authorized judges: for the law of nature being unwritten, and so no where to be found but in the minds of men, they who through passion or interest shall miscite, or misapply it, cannot so easily be convinced of their mistake where there is no established judge: and so it serves not, as it ought, to determine the rights, and fence the properties of those that live under it, especially where every one is judge, interpreter, and executioner of it too, and that in his own case: and he that has right on his side, having ordinarily but his own single strength, hath not force enough to defend himself from injuries, or to punish delinquents. (Sec.136)

JOHN LOCKE – 15 Absolute arbitrary power, or governing without settled standing laws, can neither of them consist with the ends of society and government, which men would not quit the freedom of the state of nature for, and tie themselves up under, were it not to preserve their lives, liberties and fortunes, and by stated rules of right and property to secure their peace and quiet.This were to put themselves into a worse condition than the state of nature, wherein they had a liberty to defend their right against the injuries of others, and were upon equal terms of force to maintain it, whether invaded by a single man, or many in combination. (Sec.137)

JOHN LOCKE – 16 Thirdly, The supreme power cannot take from any man any part of his property without his own consent: for the preservation of property being the end of government, and that for which men enter into society, it necessarily supposes and requires, that the people should have property, without which they must be supposed to lose that, by entering into society, which was the end for which they entered into it; too gross an absurdity for any man to own. (Sec.138)

JOHN LOCKE – 17 Legislative Powers Of The Commonwealth:

• Govern by promulgated established laws, not to be varied in particular cases, but to have one rule for rich and poor, for the favorite at court, and the country man at plough.

• Laws also ought to be designed for no other end ultimately, but the good of the people.

• They must not raise taxes on the property of the people, without the consent of the people, given by themselves, or their deputies.

• The legislative neither must nor can transfer the power of making laws to any body else, or place it any where, but where the people have. (Sec.142)

JOHN LOCKE – 18 • But because the laws, that are at once, and in a short time

made, have a constant and lasting force, and need a perpetual execution, or an attendance thereunto; therefore it is necessary there should be a power always in being, which should see to the execution of the laws that are made, and remain in force. And thus the legislative and executive power come often to be separated. (Sec.144)

• Executive and federative, though they be really distinct in themselves, yet one comprehending the execution of the municipal laws of the society within its self, upon all that are parts of it; the other the management of the security and interest of the public without, with all those that it may receive benefit or damage from, yet they are always almost united. (Sec.147)

JOHN LOCKE – 19 In a constituted common-wealth, standing upon its own basis, and acting according to its own nature, that is, acting for the preservation of the community, there can be but one supreme power, which is the legislative, to which all the rest are and must be subordinate, yet the legislative being only a fiduciary power to act for certain ends, there remains still in the people a supreme power to remove or alter the legislative, when they find the legislative act contrary to the trust reposed in them: for all power given with trust for the attaining an end, being limited by that end, whenever that end is manifestly neglected, or opposed, the trust must necessarily be forfeited, and the power devolve into the hands of those that gave it. (sec.149)

JOHN LOCKE – 20 WHERE the legislative and executive power are in distinct hands, (as they are in all moderated monarchies, and well-framed governments) there the good of the society requires, that several things should be left to the discretion of him that has the executive power: for the legislators not being able to foresee, and provide by laws, for all that may be useful to the community, the executor of the laws having the power in his hands, has by the common law of nature a right to make use of it for the good of the society, in many cases, where the municipal law has given no direction, till the legislative can conveniently be assembled to provide for it. (Sec.159)

JOHN LOCKE – 21 Because the miscarriages of the father are no faults of the children, and they may be rational and peaceable, notwithstanding the brutishness and injustice of the father; the father, by his miscarriages and violence, can forfeit but his own life, but involves not his children in his guilt or destruction. His goods, which nature, that willeth the preservation of all mankind as much as is possible, hath made to belong to the children to keep them from perishing, do still continue to belong to his children: for supposing them not to have joined in the war, either through infancy, absence, or choice, they have done nothing to forfeit them: nor has the conqueror any right to take them away. (Sec.182)

JOHN LOCKE – 22 AS usurpation is the exercise of power, which another hath a right to; so tyranny is the exercise of power beyond right, which no body can have a right to. And this is making use of the power any one has in his hands, not for the good of those who are under it, but for his own private separate advantage. When the governor, however entitled, makes not the law, but his will, the rule; and his commands and actions are not directed to the preservation of the properties of his people, but the satisfaction of his own ambition, revenge, covetousness, or any other irregular passion. (Sec.199)

JOHN LOCKE – 23 Where-ever law ends, tyranny begins, if the law be transgressed to another's harm; and whosoever in authority exceeds the power given him by the law, and makes use of the force he has under his command, to compass that upon the subject, which the law allows not, ceases in that to be a magistrate; and, acting without authority, may be opposed, as any other man, who by force invades the right of another. This is acknowledged in subordinate magistrates. He that hath authority to seize my person in the street, may be opposed as a thief and a robber, if he endeavors to break into my house to execute a writ, notwithstanding that I know he has such a warrant, and such a legal authority, as will empower him to arrest me abroad. (Sec. 202)

JOHN LOCKE – 24 HE that will with any clearness speak of the dissolution of government, ought in the first place to distinguish between the dissolution of the society and the dissolution of the government. That which makes the community, and brings men out of the loose state of nature, into one politic society, is the agreement which every one has with the rest to incorporate, and act as one body, and so be one distinct commonwealth. The usual, and almost only way whereby this union is dissolved, is the inroad of foreign force. Thus conquerors swords often cut up governments by the roots, and mangle societies to pieces, separating the subdued or scattered multitude from the protection of, and dependence on, that society which ought to have preserved them from violence.. Besides this over-turning from without, governments are dissolved from within. (Sec. 211)

JOHN LOCKE – 25 First, When the legislative is altered. Civil society being a state of peace, amongst those who are of it, from whom the state of war is excluded by the umpirage, which they have provided in their legislative, for the ending all differences that may arise amongst any of them, it is in their legislative, that the members of a commonwealth are united, and combined together into one coherent living body. (Sec.212)

CAPITALISM & DEMOCRACY ARE SIMILAR – 1

For freedom to rein it is required for the market place to determine the fate of all products, services and ideas. No interference can burden this process. Oversight is not necessarily detrimental as is the policy of the United States to regulate various industries. The death kneel comes when powerful spheres of influence serve to squash competition. John Locke argues it best when he suggests that liberalism can never exist without capitalism. This is the philosophy of Adam Smith’s “invisible hand” where he explains how markets determine the fate of all competing interests seeking society’s acceptance. We are today living in a time of unprecedented technological innovation that is helping to propel humanity further the ladder of evolution. This would not be possible if vested interests were prevented from pursuing market acceptance.

CAPITALISM & DEMOCRACY ARE SIMILAR – 2

John Locke and Adam Smith would agree that there is no fundamental difference between a marketed product, service or even political idea. All interest groups competing in the marketplace are engaged in the same pursuit: acceptance. Companies competing for market dollars strive to offer the most cost efficient product or service that is also the most innovative. This in turn encourages competing peers to further maximize efficiency while also stretching the bounds of innovation in order to offer the best value. Marketing ideas is in essence the same we have witnessed with political campaigns striving for societal acceptance. Political organizations seeking for example the election of a particular individual to office must secure a majority of the market within a certain region. Competing campaigns offer different ideas to the market that seek to offer a better value. This constant battle allows all individuals to decide for themselves what “product” “service” or even “idea” is best. We all benefit from conflict.

CAPITALISM & DEMOCRACY ARE SIMILAR – 3

Let us look at the example of telecommunications to understand the benefits of conflict. Prior to 1996, there existed in Southern California like most other regions in the United States, two cellular telephone companies. These were the days of analog communications, or AMPS (Advanced Mobile Phone System). Southern California was home to Airtouch and LA Cellular prior to 1996. Both companies maintained prices that prevented the average consumer from fully utilizing their services, or even purchasing them at all. Everything changed with the signage of the 1996 Telecommunications Act by President Bill Clinton. The bill allowed for more efficient use of spectrum, thereby allowing easier access for companies to compete in wireless communications.

CAPITALISM & DEMOCRACY ARE SIMILAR – 4

Various competitors entered to compete for market acceptance, requiring all companies to strive for greater efficiency, while also providing even greater services. Consumers today face a wide selection of companies who individually offer greater communication services that go beyond voice services to encompass video calling and broadband internet. The invisible hand eliminates those companies that do not provide the greatest benefit for consumers.

CAPITALISM & DEMOCRACY ARE SIMILAR – 5

The ultimate nightmare may be the elimination of debate. Many have unwittingly called for this in the halls of government. It is not debate that threatens society, but the lack of contesting ideas. Policies enacted to prevent overly powerful monopolies help to maintain open competition. To have one overly powerful sphere of interest prevent debate is destructive to the system itself. Pluralism emphasizes both conflict and compromise with interest groups engaged in a constant pursuit of power that naturally results in established alliances to compete with peer spheres that are doing the same, resulting in the formation of two major spheres.

CAPITALISM & DEMOCRACY ARE SIMILAR – 6

Public policy would thereby stall until reaching a compromise between these two majority powers. This in turn helps to protect the majority of those residing in society. Every policy requires constant improvement for humanity to arrive closer to perfection. Those that call for the elimination of special interest groups or even the restriction of political debate are ignorant for this process benefits society immensely.