Government 2306 Williams

UNIT 1 LECTURE NOTESFoundations and Political Participation

In this initial unit we will discuss two primary ideas, the foundations of Texas government and politics, then information about participation in the political process.

Chapters discussing Political Culture and The Constitution of your online textbook, along with the lecture notes, will help to provide us with the foundations we need in order to understand government and politics, not only in their relation to Texas, but also the our country’s system of government.

The remainder of the unit will discuss how we as citizens participate in our system of government. These chapters cover what are essentially the “Inputs” to the political system. Among the inputs to our political system we include political parties, voters, campaigns and elections, and finally interest groups. There are online chapters for each of these areas which you will need to read.

The Context of Texas Politics

Politics

The process that determines whose values will prevail in society. Political scientist Harold Lasswell defined it as the struggle to determine “who gets what, when, and how”. It involves conflict and the struggle for lesser resources. Political conflict is rooted in two general conditions of society: 1) scarcity, society’s resources are finite, but people’s appetites are not; 2) differences in values, people see things in different ways. In very basic terms, those that have “it” want to keep “it”, those that don’t have “it” want to get “it”.

Government

A public institution with the authority to allocate values in society.

Two aspects to government:

1) the institutions in a society which make decisions that affect the whole society 2) it also involves the processes by which decisions are made.

Know this: government is deeply involved in politics, but politics is also found in other aspects of society.

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Public policy

What government formulates. Laws, rules, regulations, ordinances - all these things are examples of public policy. There is seemingly no end to the policies that government formulates. This is largely in response to what you, the tax-paying public, requests.

Power

Those who decide political issues are said to have power, a term that refers to the ability of persons or institutions to control policy decisions.

Authority

Power exercised through the laws and institutions of government is known as authority. Authority can be more strictly defined as the recognized right of an individual, organization, or institution to make binding decisions.

Sovereignty

The ultimate authority to govern. Under modern theories of governing power, each individual has the authority to govern themselves. They concede some of this sovereignty to a government to help make an orderly society. This is the basis of what is called the “social contract”.

Legitimacy

The belief people have that their government is based upon morally right principles, and that therefore they should obey its laws. All governments, in order to be effective, must have this. Somehow, the people must recognize the right of the government to govern.

Democracy

The form of government based upon the theory that the legitimacy of any government must come from the free participation of its citizens. It is simply a set of rules determining who will exercise the authority of government. It is based on the idea of the consent of the governed, which has come mostly to mean majority rule.

Theories of Power in Modern Democracies

Essentially, there are three different theories of modern democracy in America, and who is able to exercise power under each:

1) majoritarianism. This is the concept the that numerical majority prevails not only in counting votes but also in determining public policy. This is sometimes referred to as classical democracy. The problem with this form of democracy is

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that sometimes minority groups can get overlooked when considering public policy.

2) pluralism. This holds that policies are effectively decided through power wielded by special interests that dominate particular policy areas. It helps to protect the rights of minorities. It tries to assure representation for all segments of a diverse (pluralistic) society. The problem with this form of democracy is that many times the will of the majority is thwarted.

3) elitism. The holds that policy is controlled by a small number of well-positioned, highly influential individuals. It is NOT democratic at all. In most theories of elitism the elite is an economic elite who controls the principal economic resources and products in society. The elite uses its economic power to gain and hold political power, sometimes openly and sometimes covertly.

No one of these theories completely explains how decisions are made, but each has its merits, and, as we shall see during this semester, helps to explain how things happen within our government institutions and processes.

Federalism

This is the sharing and/or division of power and authority among more than one level of government. It helps to diffuse authority, yet can also be confusing when trying to determine accountability. We will discuss this more fully when studying the second chapter. Federalism makes an impact on Texas politics in several ways:

1) a significant portion of state revenue each year comes from federal grants2) the U.S. Congress can appropriate funds through military bases, highway funding,

etc.3) the Constitution and laws of the U.S. are considered supreme, so when there is a

conflict between a state’s laws and the U.S., those of the U.S. take precedence.

Political Culture

According to your textbook, political culture can be defined as a “people’s shared framework of values, beliefs and habits of behavior related to government and politics.” As per your online textbook, “the concept of political culture refers to how we view the following four aspects of politics, government and society:

o The relationship between government and the peopleo Rights and responsibility of the peopleo Obligations of governmento Limits of government authority

Though not covered in your online textbook, there are several key factors that combine to create the unique political culture of Texas. These factors include:

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a) geographic sizeb) relative geographic isolation (until 20th century), and, in keeping with this, it

was sparsely populated until the 20th Centuryc) prior independence (a separate republic), which is fostered in an attitude of

intense state patriotism (we often think of ourselves as Texans first, and Americans second)

d) part of the “old south” as well as being a frontier area (the “wild west”)e) status as a former slave state, and the ramifications of our history of reluctance

(along with other southern states) to grant citizenship rights to former slaves, as well as Hispanics

f) diversity of population (see Impact of Population on Political Culture below)

These factors combine to produce a very unique political culture. Since it can be stated that culture drives institutions, it is vital that you understand how this mix has created a culture that is considered very conservative ideologically. As stated in your online textbook, “Texas political culture and ideology are well described by the combination of three main philosophical streams: classical liberalism, social conservatism and populism.”

“Classical liberalism places the primary political value on political arrangements that allow for the fullest exercise of individual liberty as long as the liberties of others are not unreasonably restricted. Classical liberal ideas often form the basis for opposition to the use of government to attain social objectives. They stress instead reliance on private initiatives or the free market to determine the best outcomes.”

The second philosophical stream that your textbook discusses is social conservatism. “Social conservatism derives from the classical conservatism rooted in feudal English and European thinking that viewed liberalism with suspicion, embraced traditional hierarchical social relations, and tended to interpret social change as a threat to established practices and beliefs. In contemporary forms, social conservatives tend to support the use of government to reinforce traditional social relations. They value established traditions, especially established religious beliefs and practices, and respect traditional authority figures such as business, military and religious leaders.” We especially see social conservatism work within party politics, and we will examine this more closely later. We also need to note that “classical liberalism and social conservatism sometimes exert countervailing, even contradictory pressures within the state’s political culture.”

Finally, your textbook recognizes the philosophical idea of populism. “Populism is concerned primarily with the well being of ordinary people, and emphasizes the popular will as the chief virtue of political position. Populism has both political and social dimensions. Politically, it tends to support involvement of the government in regulating society and the economy. But populism may also take socially conservative forms, or rely more on style and rhetorical appeal to ‘the people,’ rather than on the substance of

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what political leaders are actually advocating. Thus, depending on the context, populist appeals may support very different political positions.”

Your textbook goes on to state that “For much of the Texas Political history, classical liberalism, social conservatism and populism in practical terms have translated into a ‘low taxes, low services’ approach to government.” Texans have historically, and overwhelmingly, been suspicious of government, and seeming prefer as little government as possible. This philosophy is generally referred to as conservatism. This term is quite complex, and we will study it more in depth later in this unit. In general, it refers to a hostility of government activity, especially in the economic sphere. There is a strong support among Texans for the concept of capitalism. This is a set of rules governing the distributions of costs and benefits. It emphasizes the idea of the free market, or laissez-faire, as the ultimate regulator of who gets what.

In reality and in practice, most Texans actually use pseudo laissez-faire economics. What this refers to is that most business people don’t want government interference with regard to regulation or taxation, but if they get into trouble then they want government to help them out.

A differing philosophical view of government is called liberalism. In general (and again, we will study this in more depth later), liberals have a distrust of the free market. Liberals have often seen what they believe are abuses of capitalism by either wealthy individuals or corporations. In their view government is justified in taking a more activist role in not only the regulation of economic activity, but also in the redistribution of wealth within society.

Another factor to note is that most Texans favor and follow something of a belief in social Darwinism. People who succeed and prosper are worthy and deserve to be at the top of the socioeconomic ladder, while those that sink to the bottom are unworthy and deserve their poverty. This is exhibited by a resistance to government aid. In conjunction with the strong belief in capitalism, this leads to a belief in a trickle down theory of economics. This rejects the liberal’s idea of using government as a tool of economic redistribution, and accepts the notion that money will flow from the “top down”, meaning that if wealth is accumulated at a higher socio-economic status then when those groups spend it then it will ultimately trickle down to the lower classes, thus making them better. The liberals reject this notion in that they feel that the wealthier classes tend to hold onto their money and not spend it. To a degree they may be correct, because Texas has historically had one of the highest rates of poverty among all the states. There are many other indicators of the acceptance of the concept of social Darwinism among Texans (see slides in classroom discussion).

Impact of Population on Political Culture

The population of Texas has grown substantially since 1970. Immigration into Texas has come from several areas. In general, there has been a significant shift in the population of the U.S. from the cooler northern states to the so-called Sun-Belt (Southern states).

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There are two principle factors responsible for this shift. First, many of the older manufacturing centers of the upper Midwest to the Northeast United States started closing in the 1970s due to foreign competition (primarily the auto industry at first). Second, the high cost of heating fuels caused more people to move to the South to warmer climates. This has impacted the politics of the United States in several ways:

The 1990 Census gave Texas three (3) additional seats in the U.S. House of Representatives.The 2000 Census gave Texas two (2) more. Texas now has 32 members in the

U.S. House of Representatives. This effectively gives Texas more national influence.

According to the 2000 Census numbers, Texas has approximately 20.4 million people.

Texas has a total of 254 counties. The population of Texas is not evenly spread out. Most people in Texas live along or east of IH-35.

Race and Ethnic Information – Since 1850 Texas has been predominantly Anglo-American. However, between 1970 and 1990 the population totals of various racial groups in Texas were growing at far different rates:Anglo-Americans +34%Hispanic-Americans +111%

African-Americans +42%As of the 2000 Census, minorities now made up 45% of the population of the

state:Anglo-Americans 55%Hispanic-Americans 41%African-Americans 11%Asian-Americans 3%

According to recently released Census studies, as of the year 2005, Anglo-Americans were no longer the majority population in the state. Urban and Rural differences – As of 1998, it was estimated that 85% of the population of Texas lived in urban areas. The 3 largest Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs, a term used by the Census bureau to describe large, complex, multi-city urban areas), Houston, Dallas/Ft. Worth, San Antonio, account for 52% of the total population of the state.

Political Implications of Population Change

First of all, the economic differences between the Anglo-American population (which tends to be wealthier) and the Hispanic-American and African-American populations (which tend to be of lower socio-economic class) creates political conflict. What political scientists believe will happen is that as the population shifts from a single dominant group (Anglo-Americans) to the Hispanic-American and African-American groups (we can see this from above with these groups representing the largest increase in percent of population growth) we will see the more “liberal” attitudes of these groups becoming

more of a force in Texas politics and public policy in the future.

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Constitutional Democracy

Characteristics of Constitutions

A constitution can be defined as the basic law of a state or a nation that outlines the primary structure and functions of government. There are, essentially, two types of constitutions.

Ideal Constitutions – constitutions that set up the basic structure and functions of government, but allows the details of those structures and functions to be worked out by another entity, usually the legislature. An example of this type of constitution is that of the United States.

Statutory Constitutions – these are constitutions that go into considerable length to specify what government can and cannot do. It can be very detailed and can actually spell out what would be considered laws within its body. This is essentially what the current constitution of Texas is.

There are, basically, four purposes of constitutions. These include:

1) Legitimacy. Essentially this is an agreement between those who govern and the governed. The people believe that their government is based upon morally right principles and that they should therefore obey its rules. We spoke before about “sovereignty”, the recognized right of someone to rule. As said here previously, the modern theory of democratic government holds that individuals are free to govern themselves, except that they give up some of their autonomy in order to form an orderly society. We agree to give up our individual sovereignty in exchange for certain conditions. That is the basis of legitimacy.

2) Organizing government. Governments must be organized in some way that clarifies who the major officials are, how they are selected, and what the relationships are among those charged with basic governmental functions. The key concepts to remember here are separation of powers and the concept of checks and balances. The concept of separation of powers was first postulated by a French philosopher named Baron de Montesquieue. His proposal was that the power of government could better limited by separating governing authority into three branches, which he referred to as kings, lords, and commons. This model was used by James Madison to create the legislative, executive, and judicial branches of government. The theory is that by separating governing power into three competing institutions it can help limit that governing authority. Madison was a very shrewd observer of human nature, and noted that “ambition must be made to counter ambition”. By creating an adversarial relationship between the different branches of government he sought to limit the power that any one branch might have. Most states (including Texas) have largely adopted this as the basic model of

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democratic governments throughout our country. The concept of checks and balances was largely the design of Madison. It is an intricate design of not allowing any one branch of government to be able to function without some type of check by another branch. For example, the legislature is the branch given the power to conceive laws, but before any idea (bill) within the legislature can become a law it must be approved (signed) by the executive (in Texas, that would be the governor). If the executive feels that the proposed law is unwise, then they have the power to veto that law. In return, the legislature can usually override a veto, but this typically must be done by a two-thirds majority vote. These two concepts are key to helping keep government limited in its scope. Here in Texas, under out current constitution, we have gone quite far in limiting the power of various government officials.

3) Providing power. This states specifically what government can do. In a way, it is also a limiting factor in that, if viewed this way, because government can only do the things stated by the provisions here. In the U.S. Constitution, Article I, Section 8 spells out the specific powers that government has. These are referred to as enumerated powers. I do not expect you to know each of the powers listed, but I do expect you to know what this means.

4) Limiting power. In a sense this reflects the deep insecurity our Founding Fathers of the United States Constitution felt with regard to granting powers to government. Essentially they sought to find ways to protect the rights of individuals. They were keenly aware that as an organization, government was far more powerful than any individual. They created the Bill of Rights specifically for the purpose of protecting individual rights of citizens from arbitrary government action. Indeed, perhaps one of the most important aspects of government in the United States (and not just Texas) deals with the concept of limited power or limited government. The Founding Fathers sought to find ways to restrict the lawful uses of power that government could have over its citizens. This concept goes back to the ideas and theories of John Locke (see “Additional Study Notes, Chapter 2”). In essence, Locke felt that the powers of government should be strictly limited, and that government existed for the sole purpose of “protecting life, liberty, and property”. Locke’s writings had a profound influence on the Founding Fathers of the United States. They sought ways to limit government power in order to protect “essential liberty”. We have discussed several of the concepts used by the Founding Fathers that in effect limit government power, but they are summarized here

a. Grants of power – even though it provides power to the government, strictly defining the powers of government, in theory, limits government power because those are the only powers that government has. As mentioned above, Article I, Section 8 of the United States Constitution spells out the enumerated powers that the government has (raising taxes, regulating commerce, providing for an army and a navy, creating postal offices and postal roads are a few examples of what is

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in Article I, Section 8), which is probably the best example we have of specific grants of power. The Texas Constitution also provides for specific grants of power, but they are spread out throughout the entire constitution and not nearly as organized.

b. Denials of power – the U.S. Constitution also has specific denials of power. The government cannot suspend the right of habeas corpus (produce the body) except during wartime. This is an important legal concept that forces governments to explain the reason they are detaining people in jail. Without this governments would be free to arrest and detain people with little or no reason. Another example of a denial of power is the concept of ex post facto (after the fact) laws. The U.S. Constitution strictly prohibits the creation of these. What this means is that when a person commits an act that is not considered illegal at the time they commit it, the government cannot then create a law forbidding that act and then charging that individual with committing a crime. Government can indeed create such laws, but they only apply to acts committed after the law takes affect.

c. Separation of powers – in designing the government of the United States, James Madison followed the model set out by Baron de Montesquieu (see Additional Study Notes, Chapter 2 for a fuller explanation). Essentially, this model suggested a way to limit government power but dividing it into three branches, each branch having their own function. Madison’s concept was to check power with power (Madison himself states in Federalist Number 10 that “ambition must be made to counteract ambition”) by dividing the authority of the government so that no single institution could exercise great power without the agreement of other institutions. Texas, and most other states, followed this model by creating a three branch system of government: the executive (governor), the legislative, and the judicial.

d. Checks and balances – this concept was created by Madison himself as a way to further control the power of the government. Essentially what it does is create an intricate relationship between the three branches where no one branch can fully function without a check on it by another branch. For example, the legislature can pass bills, but they do not become laws without the approval of the governor. In addition, the concept of the balance provides that if the governor vetoes a piece of legislation that the legislature can override that veto with a 2/3s vote of both houses. To a degree this system is somewhat dysfunctional in Texas due to the strict limitations on government power created by the Constitution of 1876. Since our legislature can only meet every other year (and only for 140 days in that year), if a governor vetoes legislation after the legislative session has ended, then the legislature has no opportunity to override that veto. A little more information about the different branches of the Texas government as specified under the Texas Constitution can be found below.

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e. Bill of Rights – at the time that the United States Constitution was written, most of the states had already incorporated a Bill of Rights into their constitutions. The purpose of a Bill of Rights is to list specific rights (liberties) that citizens have which government cannot take away. Among these are freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and freedom of the press. Though we have come to focus more on national rights as described in the first ten amendments to the U.S. Constitution, we have to recognize that all states have included a Bill of Rights in their constitutions. Texas is no different, and indeed the First Article of the Texas Constitution is the Bill of Rights that you have as citizens of Texas (see below for more discussion).

f. Federalism – this further provides a limiting factor on government in the United States by creating a system of government in which the governing powers are shared by the national government and each of the states’ governments. It is further defined below.

A final concept regarding the purposes of constitutions is the concept of representative government. When creating the U.S. Constitution, the Founding Fathers of our country were reluctant to give direct power to the citizens. They feared what they referred to as the tyranny of the majority and proposed to control the power of the majority. (In actuality, they referred to it as the power of faction, and feared both majority and minority factions. Madison wrote directly about this in Federalist Number 10, which is considered one of the finest essays on political thought in the history of western civilization and is highly recommended reading.) Madison believed it was essential to keep most of government beyond the control of majority factions. Thus, the framers distinguished between a democracy and a republic.

1) In a direct democracy the public decides issues directly.2) In a republic, or representative government, officials elected by the public meet

in representative institutions to decide policy for the public.3) The Framers adopted the trustee theory of representation as proposed by the

philosopher Edmund Burke. Representatives were trustees, not necessarily obligated to the majority.

Your textbook spends considerable time discussing the history of the various constitutions that Texas has had. Although I do think it is important for you to know about these, and I highly recommend you should read them in order to have a better understanding of the development of governmental systems in Texas, I am not going to require that you know all of this information for the first exam.

What I do think is important is a thorough understanding of the current constitution that we have and the reasons for its coming into being. Therefore there are two constitutions that you should know about and understand fully.

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Constitution of 1869

The first of these is the Constitution of 1869, also referred to as the Radical Reconstruction Constitution. In many ways the constitution that we have today, and the provisions of it, are a direct result of what this constitution did. Immediately after the Civil War ended, President Lincoln had intended on minimal penalties to be imposed on states that had seceded from the union. Unfortunately, President Lincoln was assassinated and the so-called Radical Republicans came into power in Washington, D.C. This group of politicians was very angry at the southern states for having withdrawn from the union and sought to punish them for their actions. Since the southern states were already occupied by northern troops, it was relatively easy for them to enforce new policies on Texas, and all southern states, that were viewed very unfavorably.

The Radical Republicans enforced their will on Texas (and all southern states) through several actions:

1) they set aside the government already formed by Reconstruction in 18662) the enfranchised (grated voting rights) to former slaves and other minorities3) they disenfranchised (removed voting rights) from former Confederate

soldiers and other prominent whites in the state4) the imposed military rule across the state

Once they had accomplished these things, they forced the state, in 1868, to write a new constitution to replace the one written just two years earlier. This new constitution was ratified in 1869. Among the provisions were:

1) it greatly centralized power in the state government, especially in the office of the governor, giving him considerable appointive power

2) it provided for generous salaries for state officials3) it stipulated appointed judges4) called for annual legislative sessions5) took away considerable power from the counties and local governments, thus

giving more authority for governing decisions at the state level rather than with local governments

This constitution was easily ratified because all former confederates were barred from voting. This constitution, and other ones forced upon other southern states, was deeply resented by most white southerners.

In the elections of 1869, immediately following the ratification of this constitution, E.J. Davis was elected the new governor. Governor Davis had fought for the Union during the Civil War, and his term of governor (1870-1874) was marked by a large degree of corruption. With almost unlimited appointive power, Governor Davis was able to place friends and cronies in office, much to the chagrin of the ordinary Texans.

Eventually the power of the Radical Republicans in Washington began to wane. The cost of micro-managing the south was proving to be a burden, and many northerners were ready to move on. In the elections of 1873, Governor Davis was defeated by Democrat

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Richard Coke. The Republicans charged that the election was fraudulent, and the Republican dominated Supreme Court of Texas invalidated the results. However, the Democratic state legislature upheld Coke as the winner. For a while both acted as governor. Eventually, Davis stepped down when President Ulysses Grant withdrew his support for him from Washington.

Constitution of 1876

By 1875, the Democrats in Texas had finally obtained enough power statewide to call for a new constitutional convention. In September of that year, 90 delegates elected statewide gathered in Austin to write a new constitution. It was a very diverse group, including six African-Americans. However, the group most represented (just over half) were members of the Texas Grange. The Grange was a national movement of farmers during the 1870s. Though not quite a workers union, they nevertheless were brought together to try to gain reform of government policies in order to help farmers stay economically solvent.

The constitution that resulted from this convention was dramatically different than previous ones used in Texas. It was, essentially, a reaction to conditions of the times. The basic slogan of the convention was “Retrenchment and Reform”, indicating a strong movement back to the governing traditions that Texas had prior to the occupation of the state. The members of the convention had one thing in common, a strong distrust of government. Key elements that were built into the new constitution included:

1) Limiting the term of office of the governor to two years.2) Limited the legislature to biennial (every two years) sessions (if you are not

able to meet in session, you can’t make laws, which were largely viewed as mischief). A constitutional amendment later limited legislative sessions to only 140 days in those years that it did meet.

3) Judges were chosen by popular election rather than being appointed.4) The governor had very few appointments to offices that he could make.

Indeed, there are five major political offices (the Lieutenant Governor, the Attorney General, the Comptroller, the Commissioner of Agriculture, and the Commissioner of the General Land Office) that exist in the executive branch that are elected independently of the governor. Also, two major policy making bodies, the Texas Railroad Commission and the Board of Education, that are elected independently of the governor. This greatly weakens the power of the governor to make or have influence over policy decisions within the state. Having so many elected officials other than the governor in our state’s structure is referred to as the plural executive.

5) the debt that the state could incur was limited to $200,000.00

When finally put to election by the voters in 1876, it was overwhelmingly approved by a 2-1 margin. Why was this constitution so dramatically different from previous Texas constitutions, as well as the U.S. Constitution? Three key reasons:

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1) It was a strong negative reaction to the Reconstruction era. Keep in mind that most of the people living in the state during this time were of white heritage, as well as having supported the Confederacy during the Civil War. They strongly disliked what had been forced upon them by the so-called “carpet-baggers”, thus they did not want to allow their new government to have any of the provisions of the previous regime.

2) As well as being a negative reaction to Reconstruction, it was also a very negative reaction to the regime of Governor E.J. Davis. The corruption, lack of accountability, high salaries of government officials, all contributed to a strong distrust of government power. Thus the delegates sought to limit the power of all government officials as much as they could.

3) The Agrarian movement of the 1870s. Among other things, it sought to bring about greater participation of all citizens in government as well as a general feeling of further limiting the power of government.

It is this document that has now been our state constitution for over 120 years. It has 17 Articles (one has been stricken by an amendment), is over 81,000 words in length (only Alabama’s is longer), and has been amended 432 times (compare with the U.S. Constitution which has 7 Articles and has been amended only 27 times). It includes mis-numbered sections, misspelled words, and Articles that were left blank. One sentence contains 756 words. For all of its failings, it is still the basic document that governs us today.

Federalism

Texas exists (as we have said) within a federal system. This is a structure of government which is characterized by a division (or sharing of) powers between a national government and associated regional (or state) governments.

Why is this? It has to do with the historical origins of our country. Originally there were 13 independent colonies. After American Revolution, under the Articles of Confederation, they functioned mostly as autonomous states. Many people in the early days of our country were very suspicious of a strong, centralized government. One of the major compromises that led to the creation of the U.S. Constitution was to leave a lot of governing authority at the state level.

However, Article VI of the U.S. Constitution provides that the “Constitution, laws, and treaties of the national government take precedence over the constitutions and laws of the states.” This is known as the “supremacy of laws clause” of the U.S. Constitution, or, more simply, the supremacy clause. In other words, in the event of a conflict between the U.S. Constitution, or the laws of the U.S. and a state’s constitution or laws, the U.S. Constitution takes precedence. What is important to understand is that historically the states have been mostly left to themselves to create their own laws and policies on many areas of public policy. It has only been largely since the 1970s that we have seen a movement to create more centralized laws and regulations that would make certain policies uniform throughout the country. A recent example of the is the “Leave No Child

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Behind Act”, which sought to create national standards that all state schools had to live up to.

As an attempt to counter-balance the powers of the national government, the 10th Amendment to the United States Constitution states that “the powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people”. This has come to be known as reserved powers, which, in theory, are powers left to the states. Over the history of the United States there has been a struggle to understand the exact nature of the relationship between the states and the national government. At times it has become extremely violent (as evidenced by the Civil War), but at other times it has been fought out through the court systems. It is an evolving concept in that the exact nature is never clearly known. This continues today, and will continue into the foreseeable future.

Specific Features of the Texas Constitution

Your textbook does a very good job of summarizing the specific features of the Texas Constitution. However, there are a few things to note here.

Article I – the Bill of Rights. What is a bill of rights? Basically, it tells you of your protections against government interference. Provides for equality under the law, allows for religious freedom, the separation between church and state, freedom of the press, etc. As an interesting note about the Texas Constitution’s Bill of Rights, however, is that there is a provision that calls for a “test” for people who wish to hold public office. In order to do so you must acknowledge the existence of God. This is not enforced however, because that violates the U.S. Constitution (see “deadwood” below). We will discuss the concepts of civil rights and civil liberties later in the semester.

Article II of the Texas Constitution outlines the “separation of powers”. It is debatable as to whether this needs to exist here at all, considering that other articles establish the different branches of government and discuss their specific powers

Article III, establishes the legislature, its composition, qualifications, organization, and meeting time. It is extremely limiting! The legislature can only meet every other year (and since the 1950s, for only 140 days), unless called into emergency session by the governor. Salaries are also fixed, and can only be changed by constitutional amendment. It creates two houses, a Senate (31 members) and a House of Representatives (150 members).

Article IV specifies the executive branch. It is very IMPORTANT to note here is that the governor has limited authority to appoint other members of the executive branch. We will discuss the concept of the plural executive more fully later in the semester, but basically it means that other important executives are also elected independently of governor. These include the Lieutenant Governor, Attorney General, Comptroller of Public accounts, Commissioner of General Land Office, Secretary of Agriculture, and

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members of the Railroad Commission as well as the State Board of Education. All in all, the governor of Texas is one of the weakest governors in all of the United States.

Article V establishes the judicial branch. This is extremely confusing! Distinct features include:1) six different types of courts including two supreme courts2) each level of trial courts has concurrent, or overlapping, jurisdiction3) qualifications are such that no legal training is required for some positions (not

required to have a degree in law)4) all judges in Texas are elected

Articles III, IX, and XI deal with various levels of local government. Local governments fall into 3 categories: counties, municipalities, and special districts (which we will discuss more in last unit of semester).

There are many interesting little features of the Texas constitution that are generally ignored because of a variety of problems. These are known as “deadwood” because they cannot be made operational. Because they have been written into the constitution the only way we could get them out is with a constitutional amendment! One of the specific features of the Texas constitution that is a piece of deadwood is a provision that stipulates that you must be 21 to vote. Since this violates the laws of the U.S. it is just ignored.

Revision of the Texas Constitution

The “deadwood” referred to above is one of the reasons that many people talk about the need to revise our constitution. As we mentioned last time, it is a complex and confusing document: long, wordy, with many mistakes. Rather than create only the essential structure of the state government, the delegates who wrote our constitution in 1876 implemented many legislative provisions within the body of the document. This has led to it being amended an inordinate number of times (432 as of today, and counting!).

In general there are five things that advocates of constitutional reform generally focus on:

1) the biennial legislative session2) the judicial system3) the fragmented executive branch4) county government5) detailed provisions of the constitution.

There have been several attempts at revising and/or rewriting the current constitution. As of this date, no major overhaul has been successful.Why? In general, people seem satisfied with the way things are. Also, it is generally hard to get people to change things. Unless there is some major crisis, most people tend to resist change, especially Texans.

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Amendment Process

Finally, I want to mention one final thing about our constitution, how the Texas constitution can be amended.

In Texas there is only one way to amend our constitution, please know this:

1) proposals must originate in the legislature, and can only occur during a regular or special session.

2) must have a two thirds vote of both houses for an amendment a proposed change to be put to the Texas voters.

3) Legislature specifies the date of the election, and then the proposed amendment(s) must be advertised in a paper in each county once a week for four weeks starting 3 months prior to the election

4) Voters only have to approve of an amendment by a simple majority vote.

This process does NOT include the governor, other than if an amendment is approved by the citizens of the state, the governor’s office makes an announcement indicating such approval.

Voting, Campaigns and Elections

In order for us to begin to understand how and why we vote, we first must have an understanding of how and why we think the way we do. We all have certain ideas and beliefs about a wide variety of things, including political ideas, values and beliefs. Typically, we refer to these ideas, values and beliefs as “ideology”. However, before we discuss ideology, we first must understand where these ideas come from.

The learning process by which we teach and learn our political knowledge, beliefs, attitudes, values and habits of behavior is referred to as political socialization. These things tend to pass from one generation to the next, thus this is somewhat how we explain the conservative nature of the Texas political culture.

Essentially, there are five basic agents of political socialization: family, peers, schools, churches, and the media.

The family. This is considered to be the most important agent of political socialization. The reason for this is a learning theory from education called the “primacy principle”. What this says is that the things that we learn first are often lodged most firmly in one’s mind. In Texas we have a heritage of a general anti-government attitude and a conservative point of view that is passed along to our children. As children grow, they tend to develop the ideological traits that their parents have adopted, thus conservatism remains a dominant force in Texas government and politics.

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There are two other learning theories that you should be aware of. The second theory, structuring, states that early learning “structures” later learning. In other words, what we learn early in life tends to cause us to continue to learn in a manner that supports what we already believe. Thus we continue to behave in a manner consistent with what we learn at an early age. The third learning theory is called the “age-cohort tendency”. What this says is that if there is going to be significant change in our behavior (from that of our parents) it is going to happen at a younger age. It is very rare that older citizens change their positions on political opinions.

Schools, peers and churches. These agents help enable our conservative attitude. This is in large measure because they reflect the values already in place in society. We do not often associate ourselves with people who challenge the way we think. What these agents tend to do is reinforce these attitudes rather than challenge them (such as saying the Pledge of Allegiance in grades schools, for example). We are brought up to respect our government institutions and think that we should not challenge them.

The media. The media can simply be defined as those business organizations that exist to provide us with “news”, information about what is happening in the world around us. We generally separate the media into two types: broadcast (television and radio), and print (newspapers and magazines). I do not feel that it is overly important to know much (at this point) about the media). However, I do feel that you should be aware that the media tends, in Texas, to be pretty conservative, primarily because the media more often than not relies on advertising revenues from other businesses in the local areas, thus tending to reflect the business point of view on most issues (hard to bite the hand that feeds you). Many people today feel that the media is becoming even more conservative in light of the fact that many large media corporations are purchasing news outlets and thus controlling more of what gets distributed as news.

With regard to the political process, the media serve an important function because they provide us with a link to our political institutions and leaders. This is one of the important concepts from this unit: linkage institutions (political parties, interest groups, and the media). Because we do not often have direct access to our leaders today we rely on these groups to carry our “message” to our political leaders.

Ideology: a consistent pattern of behavior based on a core set of ideas, values and beliefs.

The two dominant systems of beliefs and values in America and Texas today are referred to as liberalism and conservatism. In your professor’s humble opinion, these terms are thrown about much too casually by many people including the media, as well as political pundits. What does it really mean to be liberal or conservative? This is not easy to answer.

Liberalism is often identified as being “left wing”, while conservatism is often referred to as being “right wing”.

How do we classify ideology? This can be VERY confusing.

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Many sources simplify this issue based mostly along economic policy, but today it is much more difficult to understand what the differences really are.

Our analysis on ideological types is based upon looking at ideology on these four policy areas:

1) economic issues2) social issues (government’s role in resolving complex social problems: school

desegregation, health issues, etc)3) government’s role in deciding moral issues4) position on civil liberties

Below are summaries of how each of these ideologies views these different issues.

Conservatism:1) Economic issues: basic belief in laissez-faire, but in practice tend to be

pseudo laissez-faire. That is, the theoretical assertion that an unregulated economy produces the best results coupled with practical support for government policies that help business to overcome problems in the marketplace. Commonly referred to as the “right wing” of the political spectrum. Conservatives often argue that economic problems are caused by over-regulation by the government.

2) Do not necessarily believe that government has a role in solving social issues.

3) Do tend to believe that government should support “traditional values”, including morality, and teaching respect for institutions. Believe in government having a role in the regulation of religion, sexual activity (except that government should NOT distribute condoms), and drug use. This tends to come from a very pessimistic view of how people behave. Have to save people from themselves.

4) Civil liberties: complex! Believe government has no role in regulating ownership of handguns, but then support things that would limit freedom of expression in certain areas (including religion). Also tend to be “tough on crime”, to the degree that they do not fully support all Bill of Rights issues involving rights of the accused.

Liberalism:1) Economic issues: more apt to blame “market failure” for economic problems

and to place more faith in the ability of government to direct economic activity. Commonly referred to as the “left wing” of the political spectrum.

2) Do tend to support government involvement in solving social problems (expansion of voting rights).

3) Prefer that government NOT be involved in moral issues. This primarily stems from belief that each individual has right to determine their own destiny.

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4) Civil liberties: also complex! Tend to support restriction of gun ownership rights, but otherwise they are considered “civil libertarians”, strongly supporting freedom of expression, religion, and rights of accused.

In addition to liberals and conservatives, there are also two other ideological types that deserve mention here: libertarians and populists. These are two ideological types that have a certain amount of influence in policy areas. Generally speaking (and very simply), libertarians distrust government influence in just about every sector of policy issues. We cannot consider them as simply anarchists, because they do view the role of government as being somewhat legitimate, but very limited. Populists are the polar opposites of libertarians. In general, they view the role of government as being very active in virtually all policy areas.

REMEMBER: all of the above are to a degree generalities. Even within ideological types there can be wide variation on policy issues. In most circumstances, citizens can vary widely in how they feel ideologically based on specific policy issues. For example, a person may find his or herself strongly conservative when it comes to economic issues, but more liberal when it comes to social issues. This is not at all uncommon.

What is important to remember for our class is that TEXAS is STRONGLY CONSERVATIVE!!!! This has a very strong affect on party politics in this state. In general, today, we associate the Republican Party with conservatives, and the Democratic Party with liberals. However, Texas, up until a generation ago, was primarily a Democratic state. Why would that be? Is Texas liberal? Not at all. The primary reason that Texas was a Democratic state was the influence of the Civil War and the fact that the Republican Party was the party which was in power in Washington during that period. The Republicans during this period were largely dominated by radicals who wanted to punish the South for the Civil War. Many were strong abolitionists, and they supported a military occupation of the South to enforce policies that were very unpopular. The distaste for these policies was so strong that even though the South was considered ideologically conservative, it still took several generations of voters to pass before the South started becoming more Republican.

One thing to note: the Democratic Party in Texas is still quite conservative in terms of comparing it with the Democratic Party in other parts of the United States.

With regard to the actual concept of voting, the term suffrage is simply defined as the right to vote.

Today, in the United States, you must be 18 years of age on election day and a citizen of the United States in order to register to vote. Another common provision is that one not be under indictment for a felony or already been convicted of a felony to be able to vote. However, all states have provisions that allow ex-felons to possibly regain their voting status after a certain period of time (assuming good behavior).

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Originally the U.S. Constitution left it up to the states to determine who had the right to vote. In most areas this meant that you had to be a white male, own property, and be of certain religious beliefs (usually protestant) to qualify to vote.

In many ways the history of the United States can also be viewed as a struggle of many groups to obtain the right to votes. The expansion of voting rights has been especially important to two groups: women and minorities (especially African-Americans).

For women, the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution (1920) granted them the right to vote.

The end of the Civil War saw three important constitutional amendments added that were designed to provide citizenship and voting rights to former slaves.

The 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution (1865) put an end to the institution of slavery.The 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution (1868) is a long a wordy amendment that carries a lot of meaning in several policy areas, but for our purposes here it was important because it granted citizenship to ex-slaves.The 15th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution (1870) state that the right to vote “shall not be denied on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.” This essentially granted former slaves (African-Americans) the right to vote.

Unfortunately, African-Americans still met resistance (principally in the south) to voting rights after this. Many “gimmicks” were devised to continue to restrict their right to vote. Among these were the following:

1) Poll taxes - a certain fee was required to be able to vote, though it was not necessarily overly expensive

2) White-only primaries – since you must be a member of a party group to participate in a primary, the political parties were able to control who was on the ballots during the primaries, as well as who could vote in the primaries. The net affect was that when it came time to vote in the general election, only white candidates were on the ballots.

3) literacy tests – these were exams to determine if you were qualified to vote, at least from an intellectual point of view. The interesting thing to note from these was that they were not required for white people, who were already considered sufficiently intelligent to vote.

The Civil Rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s saw many new initiatives to try to remove these barriers to minority participation in the electoral system.

24th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution (1964) – outlawed poll taxes for the Presidential, Vice-presidential, U.S. Senate, and U.S. House of Representative elections.

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Voting Rights Act of 1965 – prohibited any government from using voting procedures that denied a person the right to vote on the basis of race or color.

1966 – Supreme Court rules that 24th Amendment protections from poll taxes extend to all elections. Following this, the Texas Legislature passes a law that allows for registration of all people, but still restricts it to period from October 1 through January 31 in any year. This is overturned in a 1971 U.S. District Court decision that finds the practice of restricting registration to certain dates illegal.

After that ruling the state legislature then revises law so that the registration procedures are now:

- voters may register in person or by mail- registration remains in effect as long as voter remains qualified (doesn’t move,

no convictions, or register somewhere else)- voters may register at any time and vote in any election, provided that they are

registered 30 days before an election

Finally, in order to bring us up to date with voting rights, the 26th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution is passed in 1971, which lowers the voting age to 18 years old.

To vote in Texas today you must be all of the following:- U.S. citizen at least 18 years of age on election day- A resident of the state and county for the 30 days immediately preceding

election day- A resident of the election precinct on election day- Registered to vote 30 days before election day

Why should you vote? Essentially there are three points of view. From the standpoint of the individual, it may not seem logical or important, but many people do because they have been taught that it is their civic duty. For candidates, it is quite important that people vote. Candidates cannot win elections without votes, and they must recognize each individual’s reasons for voting. Finally, for the political system it is very critical that people vote. Voting legitimizes government, decreases alienation and opposition, influences public policy, and, when done on a large scale, insures against dishonesty in elections.

Why don’t people in Texas vote? There are several reasons for this:1) Political socialization – we don’t encourage it. We are taught to accept government.2) Political party system – historically weak in Texas with one dominant party. This

discourages public policy debates from different viewpoints.3) Socioeconomic and ethnic status – Texas has historically been considered a poor

state. Statistically the poor are less likely to vote.4) Americans vote too much. In Europe typical voter votes only 2 to 3 times in a four

years period whereas many Americans are faced with a dozen or more separate elections on the same period of time. Americans are also expected to vote for a wider range of political offices too. With and average of one elected official for every 440

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citizens there is virtually an election somewhere in the U.S. every week. We are weary of voting.

Campaign – the period of time before voting day begins when candidates attempt to influence potential voters to support them.

Successful candidates follow two simple rules of campaigning:1) get your name recognized in a popular way2) keep your arguments simple and emotional

Campaign resources – two primary resources: people and money.People are comprised of professionals and volunteers. Professionals plan, organize, manage, write speeches, and raise money. Volunteers distribute literature, register and canvass voters, and get supporters to the polls.Publicly funded campaigns – money comes from a central pool that is shared equally by all candidates. The United States is one of few democracies which do not use this method of campaign funding.Privately funded campaigns – money comes entirely from private citizens or groups.Reform of campaign funding has primarily focused on restricting how much individuals can contribute to a campaign.Buckley v. Valeo (1976) – Supreme Court ruling that held that the restrictions of the Federal Campaign Act of 1972 suppressed 1st Amendment guarantee of free speech. Impact was important for individuals who wished to fund their own campaigns (Ross Perot, for example). This protection was also extended to Political Action Committees (PACs).“hard money” – contributions that go directly to a candidate. These are easy to track (all candidates must, under state law, report direct contributions), and are usually limited.“soft money” – contributions that go to political parties or PACs. These are very difficult to track and regulate.Negative campaigning – the practice of using personal attacks on candidates by their opponents. Harmful to democracy for four reasons:1) some elections are being decided on the basis of inaccurate or irrelevant charges2) discussions of public policy are being pushed aside3) many good people may not enter public life for fear of being publicly humiliated4) citizens are disheartened and thus more apt to stay home on election day

Primary – an election held within a party to nominate candidates to the general election or to choose delegates to a presidential nominating convention. It is held on the 2nd Tuesday in March in even numbered years in Texas. A candidate for any political office must win a majority of votes cast to receive party nomination. If no majority is acquired then the two leading candidates have a runoff thirty days later.

The two types of primary elections that I want you to know about are the following:

Open primary – any registered voter may participate in a party’s primary.

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Closed primary – only registered members of a party may participate in that party’s primary.

By law Texas holds a closed primary, but voters may vote in any party’s primary with the understanding that once they have voted in one party’s primary they may not participate in the affairs of another party in that same year.

Administration of primaries is the responsibility of each party. Most of the duties fall upon the county chairperson who is responsible for arranging for polling places, voting machines, and counting votes.

General elections – held in even numbered years on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November to choose state and national executives and legislators, and state judges. General elections are run by the state governments (each state runs its own election). That is why it is often said that even though we may be voting nationally, we are still having 50 separate elections. In Texas, the chief election official is the Secretary of State. It is the job of the Secretary of State to certify the results of the general elections.Special elections – may be called to fill vacancies in Congress or the state legislature, or to vote on proposed constitution amendments. However, the most common use of special elections is when cities choose their councils, or special districts (such as school districts) choose their boards.Absentee or early voting – Texas voters may vote absentee for a period of two weeks before the election at the county clerk’s office or at a variety of polling places around the county. Prior to 1987, absentee voting was restricted to those with cause (illness or a planned absence from the county). In 1987 Texas implemented early voting. This allows people to cast ballots for a two week period prior to the general election. The primary purpose of early voting was to try to increase the number of voters who turn out for elections. This has been met with modest results however, as voter turnouts have not seen much of any increase. Another concept to try to improve voter turnout has been to try to increase the number of people who are registered to vote. In an attempt to do this, the United States Congress passed (in 1993) what became commonly referred to as the motor voter law. This required the states to offer voter registration to persons when they renewed their driver’s licenses. Again, this has only met with modest success.

Political Parties

It is very important to note: political rivalry is based upon ideological differences. This is what helps to explain how organizations such as political parties or interest groups form. Thus, in order to better understand the nature of political parties (and later on, interest groups), it is first necessary to understand what specific political ideologies exist today, and what their characteristics are.

Ultimately, it comes down to something that is referred to as an interest.

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An interest is something of value that people share and that is affected by government activity, thus they feel that it is important to defend the interest. An interest may be economic, religious, ethnic, racial, or perhaps even environmental. Whatever it is people feel strongly about it and feel the need to do something about it.

All these things we have talked about so far discuss how and why we think the way we do. Because we have certain beliefs, we want our government’s policy to reflect those things we believe strongly in. Thus we tend to organize ourselves into groups that reflect our interests.

Ultimately some of these groups come together in what are known as political parties. A political party can be defined as electoral organizations seeking to control government. The political party is the one institution that aims to develop broad policy and leadership choices and then presents them to the voting public to accept or reject. This process gives citizens the opportunity, through elections, to influence how they will be governed. Thus, political parties are one of what we have already discussed as a “linkage institution”, an institution that provides a link between ordinary citizens and elected officials.

Party Competition and Majority Rule: The History of U.S. Parties

Party competition in American today takes place primarily between the Democratic and Republican parties. Competition between these two major parties narrows the choices of options to two and in the process enables people with different opinions to render a common judgment. In electing a party, voters choose its candidates, its philosophy, and its policies over those of the opposing party.

1) The first parties in American originated from the rivalry between those who favored a strong national government that defended commercial interests (Federalists) and the supporters of states’ rights and small landholders (Jeffersonian Republicans, which eventually became the Democratic party).

2) Emergence of grass-roots political parties during the Jacksonian era strengthened the power of popular majorities.

3) Dissention over the issue of slavery, resulting in the Civil War, ended nearly three decades of competition between the Whigs and the Democrats.

4) After the Civil War, the nation settled into a pattern of competition between the Republican and Democratic parties that has prevailed ever since.

Durability of the two parties is due not to the ideological consistency but to their remarkable ability to adapt during periods of crisis and remake themselves with new bases of support, new policies and new pubic philosophies.

The post Civil War era brought political change to parties known as “realignment”. A party realignment disrupts the existing political order because a significant proportion of voters favored one party over the other. Realignment results in an enduring change in

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party coalitions which forces the government to take new policy directions. There are 4 elements of realignments:

1) The disruption of the political order because of the emergence of one or more unusually powerful and divisive issues.

2) An election contest in which the voters shift their support strongly in favor of one party.

3) A major change in policy through the action of the stronger party.4) An enduring change in the party coalitions, which works to the lasting

advantage of the dominant party.

Keep in mind that realignments are relatively rare, there has to be major changes in existing political order for these to occur.

A de-alignment offers an alternative explanation for electoral change. This has come into use in more recent times. It suggest that the U.S. electoral system, rather than undergoing a realignment favorable to one party, has been in the process of moving a partial but enduring number of voters away from partisan loyalties. The de-alignment thesis portrays a wavering sector of voters as shifting its support from one party to another, arguing that parties have a weaker hold on the voters than in the past. Increases in split-ticket voting and in numbers of voters who label themselves as “independents” are indicators of this trend. Please keep in mind that much of this theory is based on the decline of partisanship, which did indeed seem to be evident from the 1960s through the early 1990s. However, since the mid 1990s, we have seen a renewal of heavily partisan activities among policy makers in Washington. This seems to be despite the fact that many voters still identify themselves as independent and not belonging to one of the major parties. The two major parties have drifted further towards their “core constituencies” in recent years, which has increased partisan rancor in many parts of the country.

Texas, historically, has been dominated by a single party, thus it is described as having a one party system. The dominate party for the majority of the period from 1875 until approximately the mid-1980s was the Democratic Party. This was due to the backlash against the Republican Party which was the major party in Washington at the end of the Civil War. The Radical Republicans sought to punish the South for their part in the Civil War. This included military occupation of the South as well as many programs that brought much economic hardship to the region. As a result most white southerners joined the Democratic Party, and that heritage was handed down for several generations.

A one party system is not considered by political scientists to be a viable electoral system. With the lack of party competition there is often little serious debate over issues, and voter turnout is quite low.

Beginning in the mid-1980s Texas began to see a trend of increased party competition from the Republican Party. This was primarily due to the ideological inconsistency of the citizens of Texas with the Democratic Party platforms. Some theorists feel that we

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have entered into a period of increased party competition here in Texas as a result of this movement, but others feel that it is more symptomatic of a realignment, and that we will simply shift our loyalties from the Democrats to the Republicans. Only time will tell which will prevail.

Electoral and Party Systems

While the United States has historically been a two-party system, most other democracies have multiparty systems, in which three or more parties have the capacity to gain control of government separately or in coalition.

1) The primary factor that helps to perpetuate the two party system in the U.S. is plurality voting with single-member districts. Election of a single candidate who receives the most votes within a specific geographical area perpetuates the power of a dominant in an area making it difficult for challenging parties to gain power. The way our system of elections is set up, under the U.S. Constitution, there are no provisions for run-off elections. Thus, whoever gets the most votes (not necessarily a majority) in general elections is the one who gets to occupy public office. This is what is meant by plurality voting (the most, not necessarily the majority). In addition, U.S. Congressional districts are defined as specific geographical areas. Within each district only one person gets to serve. This perpetuates a winner-take-all type of system which discourages potential third parties.

2) European democracies use proportional representation and multi-member districts, which encourages smaller parties to compete for power. They can draw support from minority factions and take more decisive stands on issues.

3) Historically, the American two-party system encourages both parties to stay near the center of the political spectrum and avoid divisive issues in order to attract the most voters. Both parties tend to follow shifts in public opinion.

4) Groups that support a party are collectively referred to as a party coalition. European parties tend to divide along class lines while American parties must attract broad coalitions since they have to accommodate a wide range of interests to gain the voting plurality necessary to win elections.

5) In a general sense, the American Democratic and Republican parties appeal to different coalitions of the electorate and vary somewhat in stands and priorities for policy.

The most important thing to remember about political parties is that they exist to get candidates elected to office in order to influence public policy. Thus, political parties sometimes sacrifice ideological consistency in order to simply win an office.

In order to appeal to the broadest possible number of voters parties attempt to create platforms (statements of what the party’s position is on a variety of issues) that will appeal to a coalition (wide and varied groups) of interests. It is impossible to make everybody happy, but the party attempts to make enough people happy so that its candidates are successful and can win office.

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Party Organization

Political parties in the United States follow a fairly typical pattern of organization despite the differences between the states. Generally speaking, the parties are divided into the permanent organization and the temporary organization. The permanent organization consists of little more than a skeleton force of people who conduct the routine but essential business of the party. The main persons who are members of this group are typically the precinct chairperson(s), county chairperson, the County Executive Committee, the District Executive Committee, the State executive Committee, and the State Chairperson. The party’s primary purpose of winning elections requires far more people and much greater activity. The party comes alive in election years in the form of a temporary party organization geared to capturing power.

The temporary party organization is focused on the spring primary and the fall general election. It attempts to choose attractive candidates and mobilize voters to support them. In Texas, party membership is determined by the act of voting, since the parties do not maintain permanent party rolls (membership lists – remember that in Texas by law we have closed primaries, but in practice they are open because of the lack of these lists). Whichever primary a voter votes in, they are considered members of that party for the remainder of that year, and may only participate in runoffs (if there are any) of the party for which primary they voted in.

In the 254 counties of Texas, there are more than 6,000 precincts, each having from 50 to as many as 3,500 voters. However, only a small fraction of those who vote in the primaries – who are themselves only a fraction of the total number of registered voters and a smaller fraction of the citizens of voting age – participate in conventions or other party affairs. With regard to the overall organization of the party, voters who voted in a party’s primary may attend precinct conventions and cast ballots for the precinct chairperson. In addition, precinct conventions are able to send to the county convention one delegate for every 25 votes cast for the party’s gubernatorial candidate in the last election. Thus primary voters are able to participate in choosing the delegates to the county convention. It is unlikely, however, that anyone other than longtime party members will be chosen for these positions. The main function of the precinct convention is to select delegates to the county convention, which is the next echelon of the temporary party organization. The main function of the country convention is to select delegates to the state convention.

Both major parties hold their state conventions on a weekend in June during even-numbered years. The party state executive committee (SEC) decides when and where the convention is to be held. Depending on the year of the election cycle in which it occurs, the June convention performs some or all of the following activities:

1) It certifies to the Secretary of State the party nominees for the general election in November.

2) It writes the party platform.

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3) It selects the members of the SEC.4) It names the Texas committeeman and committeewoman to the national party

committee.5) During presidential years, it selects the “at-large” delegates to the national

party convention (who are not committed to supporting any particular candidate, as opposed to the “pledged” delegates who are sworn to support specific candidates and whose identity depends on the support candidates received in the March primary election).

6) It selects a slate of presidential electors to serve in the Electoral College in the event the party’s candidates for president and vice president win in Texas.

Interest Groups

Interest – something that has value and is considered worth defending, whether it is economic, religious, ethnic, racial or anything else.

Interest group – a private organization of individuals who have banded together because of a common cause or interest.

Political interest groups – groups that try to influence public policy to the advantage of the members of the group.

Interest groups differ from political parties in the following respects:1) The focus of parties is broad, encompassing many interests, while the focus of a

group is narrow, comprising just one interest2) Parties attempt to gain power by running candidates in elections while groups merely

try to influence officeholders.3) Parties must appeal to citizenry for support while groups may work entirely behind

the scenes.

Types of Interest Groups Economic: business, labor, professional associations

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Citizen groups: public interest groups

The two most important things to understand about interest groups are that not all interests are organized, and that organized interests are much more powerful than unorganized interests.

There are three general rules of interest-group formation:1) economic producing groups are more likely to be organized than consuming groups2) regardless of the type of group, people with more education and income are more

likely to join than are people with less income and education3) citizens who join groups out of personal involvement (as opposed to economic stake)

tend to feel very strongly about the particular issue that is the group’s reason for existence.

Economic Interest Groups

Business & Agricultural Groups: groups with a direct economic interest in governmental actions. Support policies that favor development of business, low taxes for benefits, low governmental interferance in business activity.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is the world's largest business federation representing the interests of more than 3 million businesses of all sizes, sectors, and regions, as well as state and local chambers and industry associations. More than 96% of U.S. Chamber members are small businesses with 100 employees or fewer.

As the voice of business, the Chamber's core purpose is to fight for free enterprise before Congress, the White House, regulatory agencies, the courts, the court of public opinion, and governments around the world.

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Labor Groups: press for policies to improve working conditions and ensure better pay and benefits for their members. Although labor unions were highly influential in the 1930s, 40s and 50s, their strength and political power have waned in the last several decades. Today, members of labor make up only 12.4% of the labor force- people over the age of 16 who are working.

Examples: AFL-CIO, American Federation of Teachers, AFSCME

The American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) is a voluntary federation of 56 national and international labor unions. The AFL-CIO was created in 1955 by the merger of the AFL and the CIO.

The AFL-CIO union movement represents 12.2 million members, including 3.2 million members in Working America, its community affiliate. We are teachers and miners, firefighters and farm workers, bakers and engineers, pilots and public employees, doctors and nurses, painters and plumbers—and more.

Professional Associations: Most professions that require advanced education or specialized training have organizations to protect and promote their interests. furthering members’ interests in state and federal legislatures, supporting policies that benefit specific industries. For instance, the medical industry has worked to restrict lawsuits for medical malpractice, placing caps on the amount of money families may sue for and implementing time limits on how long families have to sue when a loved one is injured or killed as a result of a medical procedure.

Examples: American Medical Association, American Bar Association

As the leading professional organization for the study of political science, APSA focuses on the following core objectives:

Promoting scholarly research Promoting high quality teaching and education Increasing academic and non-academic opportunities for members. Strengthening the professional environment for political science. Representing the professional interests of political scientists. Defending the legitimacy of scholarly research into politics and government. Recognizing outstanding work in the discipline.

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Citizen Groups: organized interests formed by individuals drawn together by opportunities to promote a cause in which they believe that that does not provide them significant individual economic benefits.

Citizen Interest Groups

Public InterestForm with the broad goal of

working for the “public good”

Single IssueFocus on a single

issue or policy area

IdeologicalOrganized in support of a

particular political or philosophical

perspective

Founded in 1958, AARP is a nonprofit, nonpartisan membership organization that helps people 50 and over improve the quality of their lives.

AARP has offices in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

As a social welfare organization, as well as, the nation’s largest membership organization for people 50+, AARP is leading a revolution in the way people view and live life.

AARP’s mission is to enhance the quality of life for all as we age, leading positive social change, and delivering value to members through information, advocacy, and service.

Public Interest Group: represent interests of those whose concerns are not addressed by traditional lobbies. They claim to represent the broad interests of society as a whole. While economic groups seek direct material benefits for their members, public interest groups seek benefits that are less tangible and more broadly shared.

Example: While the National Association of Manufacturers seeks policies economically favorable to corporations, the League of Women Voters seeks policies, such as simplified voter registration and increased governmental transparency that benefit the public in general.

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The League of Women Voters, a nonpartisan political organization, encourages informed and active participation in government, works to increase understanding of major public policy issues, and influences public policy through education and advocacy.

Single Issue: Organized to influence policy in one particular areaExample: MADD’s effort to increase drinking age to 21. In the late 60s and early 70s, up to 29 states reduced the drinking age from 21 to 18. However, MADD worked with the Reagan Administration to tie highway funding to having a drinking age of 21, and so all of the states increased their drinking age back to 21. Other groups, such as the Sierra Club, focus on the environment, the NRA focuses on preservation of gun rights.

MADD was incorporated on September 5, 1980, the mission or purposes of MADD as stated in its Articles of Incorporation were “To aid the victims of crimes performed by individuals driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs, to aid the families of such victims and to increase public awareness of the problem of drinking and drugged driving."

Ideological Groups: broad agenda that derives from a philosophical or moral positionExamples: Christian Coalition of America, NAACP, NOW

Our Mission: Represent the pro-family point of view before local councils, school boards, state

legislatures and Congress Speak out in the public arena and in the media Train leaders for effective social and political action Inform pro-family voters about timely issues and legislation Protest anti-Christian bigotry and defend the rights of people of faith

NAACP – National Association for the Advancement of Colored PeopleObjectivesThe following statement of objectives is found on the first page of the NAACP Constitution - the principal objectives of the Association shall be:

To ensure the political, educational, social, and economic equality of all citizens

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To achieve equality of rights and eliminate race prejudice among the citizens of the United States

To remove all barriers of racial discrimination through democratic processes To seek enactment and enforcement of federal, state, and local laws securing civil

rights To inform the public of the adverse effects of racial discrimination and to seek its

elimination To educate persons as to their constitutional rights and to take all lawful action to

secure the exercise thereof, and to take any other lawful action in furtherance of these objectives, consistent with the NAACP's Articles of Incorporation and this Constitution.

NOW strives to:

o eliminate discrimination and harassment in the workplace, schools, the justice system, and all other sectors of society;

o secure abortion, birth control and reproductive rights for all women;o end all forms of violence against women;o eradicate racism, sexism, and homophobia;o promote equality and justice in our society.

NOW achieves its goals through direct mass actions (including marches, rallies, pickets, counter-demonstrations, non-violent civil disobedience) intensive lobbying, grassroots political organizing and litigation (including class-action lawsuits.)

A special category of interest group: governments

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The U.S., states, cities, and other governmental units have lobbyists (e.g. City of Austin has a $4 million lobby team to represent its interests in Austin and DC)2/3 of states and most major cities have lobbyists

Groups also assist: Council of State Governments, National Governor’s Conference, National Association of Counties, National Conference of State Legislators

Book discusses: Growth and Distribution of Interest Groups Massive increase in the # of groups in the last 30+ years PUBLIC INTERST GROUPS have demonstrated the largest growth PRIVATE SECTOR (for profit) GROUPS represent the largest number of groups

Tactics Used by Interest GroupsInterest groups enhance democratic government in many ways, such as providing information, getting people involved in politics, and contributing to debate about issues. In doing this they involve themselves in many activities.1) Interest groups involve themselves in electioneering through supporting candidates

for public office. Some of this influence is accomplished through political action committees (PACs) – a committee formed by an organization, industry, or individual for the purpose of collecting money and then contributing that money to selected political candidates and causes. Texas currently has no limits on how much these groups can contribute to candidates.

2) Lobbying – to lobby is to attempt to influence policy makers. Lobbyists are individuals who are hired by specific interest groups to directly work (face to face) with policy makers (inside lobbying) in order to gain favorable legislation or rulings for the group who hired them. Lobbyists generally feel that making direct contact with legislators is the best lobbying technique. Contributing money to politicians is the best way to ensure personal access to legislators. However, the power of money in the interest-group system brings up uncomfortable questions about democracy. When policy is made at the behest of a few rich interests working behind the scenes, then government is plutocratic (that is, government by the wealthy), not democratic. Because the volume of legislation and the difficulty legislators have in staying informed, information is one of the most important resources available to lobbyists. Information is a tool of influence not only in dealing with the legislature, but also in dealing with the bureaucracy. In addition there is also the process of outside lobbying, in which groups call upon their members to bring pressure to bear upon elected leaders through a variety of methods. Among the most common of these

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types of methods is letter writing campaigns. Members are persuaded to send a “message” to their elected leaders indicating how they wish their elected officials will either support or not support particular issues.

3) Interest groups also work to persuade the public. Some interest groups attempt to influence the government indirectly by “educating” the public. This can help by increasing the amount of information on public available to citizens on pubic policy. However, citizens have to be cautious in that the viewpoint may tend to be one-sided. Citizens should always questions the accuracy of information from these sources.

4) Litigation: interest groups turn to lawsuits to change policy, government agency behavior, and the actions of other groups they oppose

a) sponsor litigation: Roe v. Wade, Brown v. Board of Educationb) amicus curiae briefs: groups file what are known as “friend of the court”

briefs in particular legal cases in an effort to support its legal argument for the desired outcome in a case.

Because courts make policy by interpreting and applying the law, interest groups are active in the judicial process. The NAACP provides and outstanding example of an interest group that was able to press its case in the courts after having been unsuccessful both in electoral politics and in lobbying the legislative and executive branches.

Why do people join interest groups? Groups make “selective benefits” only available to members including: Information benefits: Special newsletters, periodicals, training programs,

conferences, and other information provided to group members to entice others to join.

Material benefits: Special goods, services, or money provided to group members to entice others to join.

Solidary benefits: Selective benefits of group membership that emphasize friendship, networking, and consciousness-raising. You get to attend an annual reception or convention in some great destination like Vegas or NYC.

Purposive benefits (incentives): Selective membership benefits that emphasize the purpose of the group and the pursuit and accomplishment of important group goals. Feeling that you have a purpose, that you are contributing to society and making a difference.

Views on Interest Groups

Pluralist theory of American politics holds that society’s interests are most effectively represented through the efforts of groups and that organized groups provide for the representation of society’s many and diverse interests. Sometimes special interests can wield too much power, wrongly prevailing over the general interest. Single-issue politics occurs when separate groups organized around nearly every conceivable policy issue press their demands and influence to the utmost, at whatever cost to the broader society.

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The pluralist account of interest group influence falls short when the question of equal representation of interests in society is raised.

1) The positive aspects of contributions of groups to self-government are that they can convey to policymakers popular sentiment regarding desired policy. The provide minorities a way to call attention to their needs. In this way diverse interest in society can be accommodated. Lastly, interest groups can raise issues that are neglected by the party system.

2) The negative aspects of pluralist interest group theory focus on interest group liberalism and economic bias.

a. Interest group liberalism describes the tendency of officials to support the policy demands of interest groups that have a special stake in a policy. They may use society’s resources to benefit a minority.

b. The group representation system gives advantage to America’s economically oriented groups, particularly corporations.

c. Middle class interests are favored over those of less advantaged sectors of society.

3) James Madison described the dilemma inherent in group activity. In a free society, open advocacy of self-interest is desirable even though government could fall under the control of a dominant interest, whether of the majority or of the minority. In order to protect Americans from the potential threat of tyranny from the numerical majority, Madison’s proposal for separation of powers and checks and balances actually gives minorities the opportunity to block changes in policies that may be desired by the majority.

4) Although they do offer some positive influences in government, their efforts to skew the process of government to benefit themselves can make a corrupting influence and deflect public policy-making into private channels.

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Models of Interest Group Interaction in GovernmentIron triangles and issue networks describe two patterns of group influence through which most public policy is decided. An iron triangle (see graphic below) is a stable set of bureaucrats, legislators, and lobbyists who seek to develop and perpetuate policies beneficial to their common purposes. An issue network is a less formal grouping of officials, lobbyists and policy specialists who are brought together by their shared interest and expertise in a particular policy area. Participants may leave or join the issue network as policy dictates. Once the issue is resolved, the network disbands.

As society has grown more complex, administrative agencies or bureaus have been created to regulate various private interests to protect the public. These agencies often exist within the executive branch of government. Since the administrators who run these agencies have considerable latitude in interpreting laws, the executive branch of government may be an interest group target. Though regulatory agencies are intended to be independent, the often become dominated by the interest they were

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created to control. Co-optation is the transition of an agency from guardian of the public interest to a defender of private interests. This results from several factors:a) those who serve in regulatory agencies tend to come from (and later return to) the

regulated industryb) even the best intentioned regulators may develop personal ties to people

associated with the regulated interest that make it difficult to remain independentc) once needed regulations are in place, public awareness of the regulated interest

declines, making it easier for the industry involved to co-opt the regulators without public scrutiny.

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