Written assignment 1

Federalist essay  10, attributed to James Madison by most scholars, is perhaps the most cited by defenders of the Constitution. What are Madison's main arguments in this document? Are they persuasive? Why? Is this document still applicable to the political situation today? Why, or why not?

The answers to these questions should be addressed in a two to three page paper, in a conventional 12-point font, written with conventional one-inch margins, and turned in at the beginning of class on Thursday, September 2.

What Should We Know About American Government?

I. Is Government the Solution?--Or, the Problem?

A. Government as the Solution for Many Problems

1. Government is necessary to protect people, manage conflict, and to provide essential services.

2. Getting "politics" out of government--often, when a significant number of people become frustrated with a government's inability to solve complex problems, they call for "getting politics out of government," because politicians have become "captives" of "special interests."

a. What is a "special interest"--most often, a special interest is a group with whom the labeler takes exception to--who they regard as being in opposition to their interests. According to its main architect, James Madison, the US Constitution is structured to prevent this kind of thing from happening, as he explained in Federalist Papers number 10.

b. Politics, of course, is how governments negotiate social conflict, and is therefore a vital part of how governments operate, and how the people governed express their approval or disapproval of various proposed solutions to these problems.

B. Government as Part of the Problem

1. Political Disagreements over the "size" of government--arguments over the "size" of government usually revolve around its cost, or its regulatory powers today. Such disagreements actually predate ratification of the Constitution, and as we shall see next week, were central to the arguments of those opposed to the ratification of the Constitution.

2. Analogous to this disagreement over the size of government is the disagreement over which powers--and how much power--the Federal government should have, particularly in relation to other governmental bodies known as the states. Many of the Framers argued that the states were closest to the people, and therefore more responsive to the needs of the people (many Framers also saw this as a grave danger to social order, which is why they advocated for a stronger Federal government). If you have paid any attention to today's political scene, you may have noticed that this disagreement is still very much a part of political disagreements today.

C. Democracy--there are, of course, a variety of different kinds of governments throughout the world, from one man dictatorships to anarchist communes. Democracy, the kind of government we enjoy in the United States, attempts to strike a balance between personal freedom, while also providing for the common defense and common welfare.

1. Direct democracy--is defined as being the form of government where "the people" make political decisions for themselves, rather than electing some intermediary to represent their interests. The place where direct democracy was first put in place an a substantial scale was in ancient Athens--but is should be noted that in ancient Athens, "the people" represented were Athenian citizens, limited to those males who owned substantial amounts of property, making up perhaps 20 percent of the city's population.

2. Representative democracy--the people usually do not vote on issues, but rather vote for representatives are then delegated the responsibility for voting on those issues in the name of the people they represent.

3. Governmental legitimacy--a government having the kinds of institutions and methods in place that promote democracy are more likely to be seen as legitimate by those people it claims to represent, even when they do not agree with a particular policy the government implements.

II. Two Kinds of Democracy

A. Parliamentary system--all national authority is vested in an elected national legislature, than then chooses the chief executive (the Prime Minister).

1. Prime Minister--usually the head of the majority party, which also maintains control of the the apparatus of government as long as that party maintains control of parliament. In modern times, this power is controlled by restrictions on how long a party can maintain control of the legislature before having to hold a new round of elections (a term usually not longer than 5 years).

2. Political power is held almost exclusively by the prime minister and her close associates, or cabinet. They control the administration of laws, and set most policies. The courts usually do not interfere with governmental policies, trusting the government to remain within constitutional bounds and counting on regular elections to moderate these policies.

B. Presidential system--political power is divided between a separately elected President and Congress. This means that the president may belong to one party, while another party controls Congress--or even that opposing parties control the two branches of Congress, as is the present case. The bureaucracy therefore reports to two (or more) masters, and because of these divided loyalties, the actions of the bureaucracy may please neither--nor anyone else, for that matter. The theory underlying this system is that policies should be tested for their political acceptability at every stage of the process, and not only at election time as is the case in a Parliamentary system.

III. The Puzzles of American Government

A. Who Governs?

1. "Special interests"--are those interests that we disagree with, generally. Labor, various business groups, various ethnic groups--all have been labeled "special interests" at one time or another. "Special interests," of course, are perceived as working against the interests of "the people." In fact, James Madison in Federalist 10 argued that the competition amount special interest groups--a multiplicity of interests--would preclude the interests of any one special group from prevailing over the interests of another. To a certain extent, for Madison, governmental gridlock wasn't a flaw of this new system of government, but a feature.

B. To What Ends?--American government has changed tremendously since the Constitution was first adopted in 1787. In most states then, women could not vote (nor could most men who did not own a substantial amount of property) and most African Americans were still enslaved. There was not Federal income tax; in fact, the government financed itself largely through the sale of land west of the Appalachian Mountains to willing (largely white) settlers. This worked for them at this time, but also caused grave crises in the history of the country, some of which came close to causing its demise. The point of this argument is that the Founders were not clairvoyants, nor soothsayers; neither did they agree with each other over what exactly different sections of the Constitution they constructed meant. For us today to attempt to discern what their "original intent" was is not only foolish, but a disservice to the flexible instrument of governance that they bequeathed to us.

C. What American Politics Means for Us

1. Separation of Powers--the President and Congress are rivals, even when they are from the same political party. Because of this, political stalemates are the rule, rather than the exception. This inertia usually can only be overcome by a national crisis, a powerful tide of public opinion (usually a result of a national crisis), or by tough political bargaining.

2. Federalism--political power in the United States is not only divided between the various branches of the federal government, but also between the national government and the various state governments, as well. State government policies dominate on issues dealing with education, law enforcement, and land-use planning, although there have been in the recent past federal incursions in these areas, as well

a.States Rights--what happens when states violate the rights of their citizens (Jim Crow, etc?)

3. Judicial review--an independent court system adjudicates disputes between citizens and their government(s)

4. Freedom of speech and assembly--center around the rights of citizens to criticize their government, or certain elements of it.