The American System
 Two major questions each
society must answer about
government
 Who gets the power?
▪ Political SCIENCE
 How should that power be used?
▪ Political PHILOSOPHY

Power –
 the ability to have someone
act in a certain way

Authority –
.
 The RIGHT to use power
.
 Americans accept this if those in
.
power act in accordance with the laws

Legitimacy –
 Authority conferred by law using
some form of a constitution
Democracy
Direct or Participatory
- ALL citizens vote on laws
- Works on a small scale
- Problem: not everyone is able to
make informed decisions
Representative
- Competitive races for popular votes
- “Elitist” democracy?
- Many positives for large societies

Founding Fathers on Representative Democracy
 The will of the people does not always serve the
common interest or public good.
 Slows the process to prevent “knee-jerk”
reactions.
 Hinders demagoguery.
 Minimized risks of:
▪ The tyranny of the masses
▪ Self-serving office holders

Modern Times and Representative Democracy
 Some states allow some degree of Direct
Democracy
▪ Initiative
▪ Referendum
 Modern technology allows more access to greater
information for larger numbers of people

Elected Officials have the POWER (of the vote) ?
 Majoritarian –
▪ vote as the majority of people like
▪ Delegates of the people
▪ Serves to stay in office by pleasing majority
 Public Trustee
▪ Votes what the politician feels is in the “best” interest of the
people (even if they don’t know it’s best)
 Partisan
▪ Votes as the political party wants
 Politico
▪ Votes in a manner that is most expedient at the moment

Political Elite have the real power ?
 Small group who are not necessarily elected
 Pull all of the strings behind the scene
 Disproportionate power compared to general
public
 Who are these elites?
▪
▪
▪
▪
Marxist view
Power Elite view
Bureaucratic view
Pluralist view

Marxi$t View of Political Elite
 Karl Marx
 All history is a class struggle
 The class which dominates the economy – capitalists in
USA – dominates the government.

Power Elite View of Political Elite
 C. W. Mills
 Top officials (in military, business and
politics) hold real power
 Modern view includes media heads, union presidents and
special interest group leaders

Bureaucratic View of Political Elite
 Max Weber
 Administrations come and administrations
go, but the bureaucrats are in place
over a long time
 The bureaucrats push agendas by
implementing action (or inaction)
when enforcing laws

Pluralist View of Political Elite
.
 Modern times have NO such thing
..
 Competing interests cancel each other out
 Power comes from ability to compromise .
with other groups
.
Does self-interest drive our
democracy?
YES
SORT OF
Everyone is in it for Everyone is in it for
themselves, so
themselves!
they cancel each
other out when
policy is written.
NO
There are a lot of
good people and
good legislation
that do what is
needed, not what
is popular.
Opposing political philosophies
Liberals
Tend to want
to make changes
to the status quo
Establish
a society
which
best
benefits
the
people
Conservatives
Tend to want to
stay the course
and keep what is
working.

America has a long history of shifting political
thought!
 Major economic shifts
 Crises
 Definition of the major problems
of the day
 Definition of public interest of the day
 Deeply held beliefs (factor against change)



Politics is not clear cut
Cannot be defined by mathematical or
scientific formulas
Politics deals with people
and their preferences
 Preferences change
 People do not always act in
totally predictable ways