Notes 4 Chapter 1

꒰🖇꒱ Notes on American Government and Civic Engagement ♡꙼̈ ࿐ ࿔

 💢 ❱   . . . 9.12.2ᴏ21 . .

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 ꒰ •̤ ▿ •̤* ꒱ ᕼEᖇE ᗯE GO ❕❕

❝ 1.1 What is Government? ❞ 

₪━ 𝙜𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙣𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩: The way society is organizing and using authority in order to accomplish goals 

₪━These are the purpose of the government (in America) 

    「✧」 Form a more perfect union 

        ⇘ : : this was added because of the failure of the Articles of Confederation 

        ⇘ : : created to link states together 

    「✧」Establish justice 

        ⇘ : : Thomas Jefferson's belief as the most scared duties of the government 

        ⇘ : : the law should be reasonable, fair, and impartial 

    「✧」Insure domestic tranquility 

        ⇘ : : Prime function: maintaining peace within the nation 

        ⇘ : : Mention by James Madison in Federalist papers No. 51

    「✧」Provide for the common defense

        ⇘ : : defending the nation against attacks from both foreign & domestic

        ⇘ : : Navy, Army, Air Force, and Coast Guard

    「✧」Promote the general welfare 

        ⇘ : : services that are provided by the government: improving education, lower taxes, welfare, disability, social security 

    「✧」Secure the blessing of Liberty 

        ⇘ : : freedom is not absolute because it could lead to people infringing freedom of others 

       ⇘ : : protecting natural rights 

₪━For a State/Country to exist there are 4 characteristics

    「✧」Population: there must be people (there is no maximum or minimum) 

    「✧」Territory: there should be some recognized boundaries 

    「✧」Sovereignty: there should freedom from any rule from the outside and the rule on the inside 

    「✧」Government: there should be political organization 

₪━ Origins of of the State 

    「✧」Force Theory: a group or a person forcefully took control of an area 

    「✧」Evolution Theory: evolved naturally out of the early families 

    「✧」Divine Right Theory: (religious) God or any belief of a superior being gave the "right" to rule 

    「✧」Social Contract Theory: aroused out of  a voluntary act of free people 

₪━How to classify Government by 3 standards 

     「✧」who can participate in the governing process

     「✧」the geographic distribution of government power within the state

     「✧」relationship between the legislative (lawmaking) and the executive (law0 executing) branches of government 

₪━ Different Types of Government 

    「✧」Democracy: supreme political authority rests with the people  

        ⇘ : : direct democracy: exists where the will of the people is translated into law directly themselves 

       ⇘ : : indirect democracy: a small group of people chosen by the people to act as their representation 

    「✧」Dictatorship: where those who rule are not responsible for the will of the people 

    「✧」Autocracy: there is only one person who hold unlimited political power

    「✧」Oligarchy: the power to rule is held by a small, usually self-appointed elite

₪━ Forms of Government 

    「✧」Unitary: all of the power is held by a single central agency 

    「✧」Confederate: a confederation is an alliance of independent states 

    「✧」Presidential: features an elected president who serves as the head of State (chief of executive) 

    「✧」Parliamentary: head of the state is either a king, queen, or president

        ⇘ : : the head is simply a figure head 

        ⇘ : : the head of the government is the prime minister and their cabinet are both the executive branch and legislative branch 

    「✧」Federal: the powers of the government is divided between a central government and several local governments 

₪━ American Concept of Democracy 5 notions 

    「✧」Individual Worth: democracy is firmly based upon the importance of 1 person 

    「✧」Equality: equality of opportunity and equality before the law 

        ⇘ : : " All men are created equal"

    「✧」Majority rule, Minority Rights: majority of the people will be right more often than wrong. However, majority shall always listen to minority arguments. 

        ⇘ : : protection for minority and letting the majority (the people) rule 

    「✧」Compromise: the process of blending and adjusting competing views and interests 

    「✧」Individual Freedom: freedom is given of all will allow 

        ⇘ : : proper balance between freedom and law 

❝ 1.2 Who Governs? Elitism, Pluralism, and Tradeoffs❞

₪━Elite Theory:

    「✧」belief that political power rests in the hands of small elite group of people 

        ⇘ : : C. Wright Mill's wrote a book and it had statistics to support this claim 

        ⇘ : : government is controlled by businesses, politics, and military 

        ⇘ : : the rich secure government position and allocate more resources to themselves 

₪━ Pluralist Theory:

    「✧」belief that political power rests in groups of people 

        ⇘ : : there are access points within the three branches of government 

       ⇘ : : people are able to get involved and could be as the government is accessible to all

₪━ Trade offs:

    「✧」government action and public policy are an ongoing arc of tradeoffs or compromises 

    「✧」A famous tradeoff would be the framing of the U.S Constitution, between Federalists and Anti-Federalist 

    「✧」Many tradeoff made by the government is about one of the many freedoms in the 1st amendment which is freedom of speech

    「✧」Many tradeoffs happen in Congress because representatives are voting according to their people. This is difficult because different parts of the country are against one another. 

❝ 1.3 Engagement in a Democracy❞

₪━Participatory democracy = broad participation by everyone

       「✧」 Pros => closest to Democracy, representing people well (directly involved)

       「✧」Cons => could get logistically difficult

            ⇘ : : Examples of today: Town hall meetings, Initiatives, and Referendums

₪━Pluralist Democracy = many different parties

     「✧」individuals work through groups formed around common causes in influencing political decisions

    「✧」Pros => good ideas could surface, don’t have domination (one group)

    「✧」Cons => inefficient (slow to zero decision making), good ideas could die because it is hard to make everyone happy

            ⇘ : : Examples of today: Interest groups

₪━Elite Democracy = limited participation

    「✧」Pros => more educated to the general public => allows to make more informed decisions, more decisive

    「✧」Cons =>possibly going against the idea of democracy, represents the interests of the elite, *could be* an oligarchy not a democracy

            ⇘ : : Examples of today: Electoral College

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