American Politics Core Argument/Current Controversy

by Woolley, Peter J.; Papa, Albert R.

• ISBN13: 9780130879196
• ISBN10: 0130879193
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2001-06-12
• Publisher: Pearson

Summary

This book helps readers become intelligent evaluators of American political dialogue by exposing them to high-quality classic and contemporary selections from presidents, philosophers, and political scientists and the great arguments of American politics. It shows readers how to 1) arrangeand rearrangefacts, 2) identify the core arguments of public affairs, 3) evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of various theories of American politics, and 4) apply those theories to current problems. Combining both core readings in political science and recent arguments on current controversies in each chapter, it shows thecontinuityof political debates over decades and centuries and encourages readers to come to theirownconclusions while evaluating evidence and arguing over theory. The selections are excerpted/condensed for accessibility and chapter overviews and summaries place the readings in context and link the various arguments together.Features essays, excerpts, and speeches--classic, contemporary, and very recent readings--by presidents, philosophers, and political scientists on: The American Political Environment (Theories of American Government; Political Culture and Ideology; The Constitution and the Tradition of the Founders; The Tensions of Federalism); The Process of Democracy (Public Opinion and the Media; Political Parties; Interest Groups); Governmental Institutions (Congress; The Presidency; The Bureaucracy; The Judiciary); American Politics and Public Policy (Civil Rights and Liberties; Government and the Economy; America's International Relations).For anyone interested in American Government or Politics.

Table of Contents

Preface	xv
Acknowledgments	xvii
Part One The American Political Environment
Competing Theories of American Government	1	(34)
Core Readings
Democracy in America	9	(2)
Alexis de Tocqueville
Class: America's Dirty Little Secret	11	(4)
Michael Parenti
The Power Elite Now	15	(5)
Alan Wolfe
The Irony of Democracy	20	(3)
Thomas R. Dye
L. Harmon Zeigler
Who Governs?	23	(4)
Robert Dahl
Current Controversy: Is Direct Democracy a Better Way?
From Representative Democracy to Participatory Democracy	27	(3)
John Naisbitt
Pitfalls of Direct Democracy	30	(5)
Daniel A. Smith
Political Culture and Ideology: The Air We Breathe	35	(17)
Core Readings
Government as a Contract	39	(2)
John Locke
The Mayflower Compact	41	(1)
Natural Liberalism	42	(2)
Louis Hartz
The Gettysburg Address	44	(1)
Abraham Lincoln
Liberal Culture and Capitalist Society	45	(2)
Edward S. Greenberg
Current Controversy: Divided We Stand: How Deep Do Our Differences Run?
The Cultural War for the Soul of America	47	(3)
Patrick J. Buchanan
The Negotiable and Non-negotiable in Our Civic Conversation	50	(2)
W. King Mott, Jr
The Constitution and Its Framers	52	(34)
Core Readings
System of Politics	57	(2)
James Harrington
Laws Establishing Political Liberty in a Constitution	59	(3)
Baron de Montesquieu
Obliging the Government to Control Itself (Federalist No. 51)	62	(3)
James Madison
An Economic Interpretation of the Constitution of the United States	65	(2)
Charles A. Beard
The Founding Fathers: A Reform Caucus in Action	67	(5)
John P. Roche
A Reconsideration of the Framers' Intent	72	(4)
Martin Diamond
Current Controversy: How Do We Best Achieve Constitutional Change?
Who Interprets? Judicial Review and ``Departmentalism''	76	(6)
Bruce Peabody
Recast Judicial Supremacy	82	(4)
Scott E. Gant
The Tensions of Federalism	86	(21)
Core Readings
We the States: Against a Consolidated National Government	91	(2)
Patrick Henry
Federalist No. 39	93	(4)
James Madison
An Incomplete National Government	97	(5)
Alexis de Tocqueville
Current Controversy: Should the National Government Enforce Education Standards for Local Communities?
Washington Bureaucrats versus Community and Parental Values	102	(1)
Bob Schaffer
Making the Grade: Federalism and National Education Reform	103	(4)
John A. Donnangelo II
Part Two The Processes of Democracy
Public Opinion and the Media: Prologue to a Democratic Force?	107	(24)
Core Readings
Why Online Polls Are Bunk	113	(2)
Chris Suellentrop
The Disenchanted Man	115	(2)
Walter Lippman
The Nattering Nabobs of Negativism	117	(3)
Spiro T. Agnew
Perrier in the Newsroom	120	(3)
Jonathan Cohn
Current Controversy: The Media: Friend, Foe, or Fake?
Culture of Fear	123	(3)
Barry Glassner
Rush from Judgment: How the Media Lost Their Bearings	126	(5)
James Fallows
Parties and Elections: The Crisis of Electoral Politics	131	(41)
Core Readings
The Crisis of Electoral Politics	139	(3)
Martin P. Wattenberg
Ballot Blocks: What Gets the Poor to the Polls?	142	(5)
David Callahan
The Scourge of Parties	147	(2)
George Washington
When Parties Lose, Who Wins?	149	(3)
Larry J. Sabato
Inevitable Losers: The Problem of Presidential Selection	152	(5)
Albert R. Papa
Selling Politicians Like Breakfast Cereal	157	(1)
Adlai E. Stevenson
Money Can't Buy You Love	158	(3)
Tucker Carlson
Current Controversy: Wither the Parties?
The Southern Captivity of the GOP	161	(6)
Christopher Caldwell
Third Out: Why the Reform Party's Best Days Are Behind It	167	(5)
Sean Wilentz
Interest Groups: Democratic Duty or the Devil's Work?	172	(32)
Core Readings
Federalist No. 10	177	(4)
James Madison
The Scope and Bias of the Pressure System	181	(3)
E. E. Schattschneider
Interest Group Liberalism	184	(4)
Theodore Lowi
Political Snipers	188	(4)
Robert Dreyfuss
Current Controversy: What Should Be Done About Campaign Finance?
Clean Elections: How To	192	(3)
Ellen Miller
The Futile Quest for the Ideal Congressional Campaign Finance System	195	(9)
Bruce Larson
Part Three Governmental Institutions
Congress: A Question of Representation	204	(25)
Core Readings
The Trusteeship Theory of Representation	208	(1)
Edmund Burke
Perceptions of Constituency	209	(4)
Richard J. Fenno, Jr
Congress: The Electoral Connection	213	(3)
David Mayhew
Congress Against Itself	216	(2)
Roger Davidson
Walter Oleszek
Congressional Government	218	(2)
Woodrow Wilson
Current Controversy: The Dilemma of Congressional Leadership
The Rise of the Public Speakership	220	(6)
Douglas B. Harris
Newt's Legacy	226	(3)
David Frum
The Presidency: A Question of Leadership	229	(29)
Core Readings
Energy in the Executive (Federalist No. 70)	233	(2)
Alexander Hamilton
Buchanan Presidents, Lincoln Presidents, and Taft Presidents	235	(2)
William Howard Taft
Rating the Presidents	237	(5)
Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr.
Leader or Clerk?	242	(4)
Richard Neustadt
The Presidential Character	246	(7)
James David Barber
Current Controversy: High Crimes and Misdemeanors?
For Impeachment	253	(2)
Gary L. Mc Dowell
Against Impeachment	255	(3)
Carl R. Sunstein
Lawrence H. Tribe
Bureaucracy: Responding to Whom?	258	(18)
Core Readings
The Liberal Principles of Decentralized Self-Government	261	(2)
Herbert Hoover
The Jungle	263	(3)
Upton Sinclair
Bureaucracy and Constitutionalism	266	(3)
Norton E. Long
Bureaucracy and the American Regime	269	(2)
James Q. Wilson
Current Controversy: Can We Run Government Like a Business?
Privitization and Public Control: Why Make Public Management More Businesslike?	271	(5)
Richard A. Loverd
The Judiciary: A Question of Legitimacy	276	(32)
Core Readings
The Least Dangerous Branch (Federalist No. 78)	280	(3)
Alexander Hamilton
The Judiciary's Power to Mold the Government	283	(2)
Brutus
The Doctrine of Judicial Review	285	(2)
James Thayer
Judicial Self-Restraint	287	(4)
John Roche
The Vision of Our Time	291	(2)
William J. Brennan
The Steel Seizure Case	293	(7)
William Rehnquist
Current Controversy: How Political Must Judicial Appointments Be?
The Confirmation Mess	300	(5)
Stephen Carter
The Political Court	305	(3)
Randall Kennedy
Part Four American Politics And Public Policy
Civil Rights and Liberties	308	(32)
Core Readings
On Liberty	312	(3)
John Stuart Mill
The Virginia Statute of Religious Freedom	315	(1)
Thomas Jefferson
What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?	316	(3)
Frederick Douglass
Uneasy Preferences: Affirmative Action, in Retrospect	319	(6)
Charles Fried
Abortion Politics	325	(3)
Susan Estrich
Kathleen Sullivan
Dishonoring the Boy Scouts	328	(3)
Larry P. Arnn
Current Controversy: How Far Shall We Go to Deter Crime?
For the Right to Carry	331	(4)
Clifford Stearns
Privacy and Surveillance Technology: Do We Really Want the Police Seeing Through Our Clothing?	335	(5)
Thomas C. Weisert
Government and the Economy	340	(32)
Core Readings
Labor and Capital-Partners	344	(3)
John D. Rockefeller, Jr.
Redefining the Contract	347	(6)
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Secrets of the Temple	353	(4)
William Greider
Current Controversy: How Much Should the Government Intervene in the Economy?
For Limiting the Ability to Tax	357	(3)
Pete Sessions
Frayed-collar Workers in Gold-plated Times	360	(4)
Robert B. Reich
A Modest Suggestion for Modest Government	364	(8)
Philip A. Mundo
International Relations	372	(27)
Core Readings
The Mischiefs of Foreign Intrigue-and the Impostures of Pretended Patriotism	376	(2)
George Washington
The Monroe Doctrine	378	(1)
James Monroe
War Message: To Vindicate the Principles of Peace	379	(5)
Woodrow Wilson
Half-Truths into the Frenzy of War	384	(2)
Robert M. LaFollette
Support Any Friend, Oppose Any Foe	386	(3)
John F. Kennedy
False Hopes and Alluring Promises	389	(2)
Robert F. Kennedy
Current Controversy: When, How, and For What Should the United States Intervene with Military Force?
Civil War in a Sovereign Nation	391	(4)
Kay Bailey Hutchison
Never Again	395	(4)
Mary L. Landrieu
Appendix I: The Unanimous Declaration of the Thirteen United States of America	399	(4)
Appendix II: The Articles of Confederation	403	(8)
Appendix III: The Constitution of the United States	411	(10)
Appendix IV: Judicial Process and Federalism	421	(12)
Marbury v. Madison (1803)	421	(3)
McCulloch v. Maryland (1819)	424	(3)
Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. et al. v. Sawyer (1952)	427	(6)
Appendix V: First Amendment	433	(14)
Schenck v. U. S. (1919)	433	(2)
Texas v. Johnson (1989)	435	(3)
Engel v. Vitale (1962)	438	(4)
Lynch v. Donnelly (1984)	442	(5)
Appendix VI: Criminal Justice	447	(10)
Gideon v. Wainwright (1963)	447	(3)
Miranda v. Arizona (1966)	450	(4)
Furman v. Georgia (1972)	454	(3)
Appendix VII: Civil Rights	457	(8)
Brown v. Board of Education (1954)	457	(3)
Craig v. Boren (1976)	460	(2)
Regents of the University of California v. Bakke (1978)	462	(3)
Appendix VIII: Privacy	465	(12)
Griswold v. Connecticut (1965)	465	(4)
Roe v. Wade (1973)	469	(3)
Boy Scouts of America et al. v. Dale (2000)	472	(5)
Appendix IX: Competing Theories of American Government	477

Excerpts

The rationale for this volume is twofold. The first is to expose students to some of the important arguments of politics that impinge on the great experiment in American government. Every chapter contains recent essays, excerpts, and speeches, but students should see that every current controversy has an ancestry of decades, if not centuries. We hope students will learn, first, to identify the great questions of public affairs in America and next to become familiar with some of the people and arguments that have over many decades or centuries addressed the persistent questions of public affairs.Our second rationale is to provoke a discussion of American politics in the way that politics has, at root, been discussed for millennia. This discussion goes beyond merely describing the laws, the Constitution, the processes--that is, the facts. With these readings, the inquiry of students might be directed toward the proper arrangement of facts in order to test a theory of American politics, as well as to discuss the "ought" that Aristotle says is the true aim of politics. We like to frame our own introductory courses around the question,which theory of American government best describes politics as it is?(See Chapter 1:)Or which theory best describes how politics ought to be? Or which theory has the best explanatory power? Or which has the best predictive power?Another rationale follows the first two: Instructors who wish not to evangelize in the classroom can structure their course around thecompeting theoriesof American politics, allowing students to evaluate the utility of those theories and to confront their own felt notions of political society.The text presents several competing theories:pluralism, elite theory,and that perennial American favorite that we callcivics book democracy.In subsequent chapters, the readings address the usual subtopics of American government but include competing viewpoints and evaluations. Thus, by studying an American government textbook, a student becomes aware of the basic details of American government and politics. But by using this volume of core readings as a supplement, the student also learns how to arrange facts, what the core arguments of public affairs are, what the strengths and weaknesses of various theories of American politics are, and how to apply those theories to current problems. At the end of a semester, the student should have the tools and practice to be an intelligent evaluator of American political dialogue.We have done our best to excerpt, condense, or digest the pieces so that they can be read as easily as possible in a country where the language of common discourse changes rapidly--and where many students have been exposed to only the most watered down and oftentimes third-hand summaries of great controversies.Each chapter includes several articles drawn from historical documents, as well as important scholarly works. These are the core arguments. Each chapter ends with two or more articles that address a current political topic. Judicial rulings and other primary documents are contained in the appendixes.Each excerpt is preceded by an introductory paragraph that contains biographical information about the author and alerts the reader to the subject and perspective of the text. The reader then sets out on a journey with a road map that should help to identify important landmarks along the way and point to the ultimate destination: the author's conclusion.We have discovered that our students prefer to be introduced to and acquainted with the writings of famous historical figures more than with relatively obscure or notorious journalists. And they equally prefer to draw their own conclusions on current controversies once armed with several good arguments. We hope this volume of collected readings will inform, educate, and arm students, whether they be political science major