I. Modern governments confronted by many dilemmas.
A. Should government allow too much individual complete freedom or enforce law and order?
B. Allow businesses and private clubs to discriminate in choosing their customers and members or enforce equality among races and sexes?
C. These alternatives pose dilemmas of opposing philosophies that place different values of freedom, order, and equality.
D. Government must decide which values (norms) are harmed and which are helped by the policy choices made by government.
II. Why have government?
A. Government can be defined as the legitimate use of force - including imprisonment and execution - to control human behavior within territorial boundaries. Every government requires citizens to surrender some freedom to obtain its benefits. There are three principal purposes of government.
1. MAINTAIN ORDER: preserve life and protect private property.
2. PROVIDE PUBLIC GOODS: institute projects that benefit all individuals but are not likely to be produced by the voluntary acts of individuals.
3. PROMOTE EQUALITY: redistribute income and help disadvantaged groups in society.
B. Citizens differ on how vigorously they want government to maintain order, provide public goods, and promote equality. The two most controversial purposes, maintaining order and promoting equality, usually involve tradeoffs among citizens' basic values.
C. Five concepts figure prominently in political analysis. (A CONCEPT - a generalized idea that groups various events, objects, or qualities under a common classification or label.)
1. Three concepts identify the VALUES pursued by government.
a. Order
b. Freedom
c. Equality
2. How government chooses the right mix of order, freedom, and equality focuses on the process of choice rather than its outcome. Two concepts describe democratic government.
a. MAJORITARIAN democracy
b. PLURALIST democracy
III. The concepts of freedom, order, and equality have different connotations in American politics. Freedom and equality are positive symbols that are promoted in different ways by politicians. Order, on the other hand, is openly called for only in times of civil strife.
A. FREEDOM has been used in two major senses:
1. FREEDOM "TO" implies the absence of constraints on behavior - synonymous with liberty.
2. FREEDOM "FROM" implies immunity from some type of deprivation - in this sense, freedom comes close to guaranteeing equality.
B. ORDER can be viewed in either a narrow or broad sense.
1. The narrow view of order is less controversial and involves the protection of life and property. Most citizens concede the necessity of maintaining order in this sense.
2. The broad view of order encompasses SOCIAL ORDER. Social order refers to established patterns of authority in society and to traditional modes of behavior. The extent of the government's use of its POLICE POWER to enforce social order is controversial.
C. EQUALITY, the most controversial purpose of government, has been used in several senses:
1. POLITICAL EQUALITY: one man, one vote; equal access to political office.
2. EQUALITY OF OPPORTUNITY: equal access to public goods and social and economic advancement.
3. EQUALITY OF OUTCOME (RESULTS): social and economic equality as the final result of government policies to redistribute wealth and status.
D. Much of the controversy in contemporary politics centers on two major dilemmas of government:
1. The ORIGINAL dilemma: how much freedom to sacrifice for order?
2. The MODERN dilemma: how much freedom to sacrifice for equality?
3. The conflict between freedom and order is apparent; the conflict between freedom and equality represents more subtle value choices.
IV. People hold different ideological positions on the SCOPE of government: how far government should go to maintain order, provide public goods, and promote equality.
A. There is a range of actions from should the government do everything to should the government do anything. There are six basic positions:
1. TOTALITARIANISM - unlimited government control over all segments of society.
2. COMMUNISM - government owns the means of production and control of the economy.
3. SOCIALISM - government has a broad role for government in the national economic life, including government ownership of basic industries.
4. CAPITALISM - emphasizes free enterprise and private ownership, rejects a broad economic role for government.
5. LIBERTARIANISM - limited government, except to protect life and property.
6. ANARCHISM - opposite of totalitarianism, no government in any form.
B. American government and politics assume a middle ground, but from a capitalist position.
1. Practical politics in the United States avoids the extremes.
a. LIBERAL: supports a larger role for government in the distribution of public goods and the regulation of private enterprise.
b. CONSERVATIVE: favors the status quo or reduction in the size and role of government.
2. LIBERAL and CONSERVATIVE are labels for analyzing the government s role in providing for public goods, but these labels do not apply to other aspects of governmental action:
a. Liberals support government regulation of economic matter, oppose regulation of individual rights.
b. Conservatives oppose government jobs programs and economic regulation, but they favor controls over abortion and sexually explicit publication.
c. A clearer distinction between liberal and conservative positions considers the purpose and the scope of government action as well as the major value dilemmas in modern government.
V. A two-part framework of ideological orientations
A. A simple liberal-conservative scale classifies people only along a single dimension: more or less that of government activity.
B. By referring to the purposes of government as involved in the original and the modern dilemmas of politics, we can classify people on two dimensions:
1. FREEDOM versus ORDER
2. FREEDOM versus EQUALITY
C. This produces four categories:
1. LIBERTARIANS favor FREEDOM over both order and equality.
2. CONSERVATIVES favor FREEDOM over equality but ORDER over freedom.
3. LIBERALS favor FREEDOM over order but EQUALITY over freedom.
4. POPULISTS favor both ORDER and EQUALITY over freedom.
GOVERNMENT, POLITICS, and POLICIES
I. The nature of government
A. ALL government diminishes individual choice and freedom.
1. If people accept government, then such "freedom" must not be an absolute value to most people.
2. Anarchists, of course, do not accept government - they favor voluntary cooperation among individuals and groups.
3. Anarchist thought is more active in Europe; the LIBERTARIAN counterpart in the United States would favor the absolute minimum level of government.
B. People usually are willing to accept limitations on choice and freedom for major benefits:
1. Maintaining security
a. For LIFE
b. For PROPERTY
2. Providing public goods
II. The nature of politics
Government decisions that deal with the maintenance of social order and the provision of collective goods often generate conflict because of:
Limitations of resources:
a. Such limitations prevent governments from doing all the things they might want to do.
b. Under expanding economies limitations of resources are not a major source of conflict.
c. When the economy stops growing limitations of resources become important.
2. Incompatible values:
a. Allowing freedom of speech v. protecting national security.
b. Providing trees to make paper v. maintaining forests.
Citizens engaged in conflicts because of:
1. Different PREFERENCES.
2. Different INTENSITY in their preferences.
3. Different RESOURCES: economic, sociological, and psychological.
C. Two major sources of conflict are:
1. FREEDOM v. ORDER:
a. INDIVIDUAL v. COMMUNITY:
b. NATION v. COMMUNITY:
2. FREEDOM v. EQUALITY:
III. The interrelationship between domestic politics and government
A. There is a struggle to influence government decisions on the objectives of government.
1. Maintaining social order is REGULATORY policy.
2. Providing collective goods is DISTRIBUTIVE policy.
B. During the twentieth century a new objective of government: provision for SOCIAL WELFARE and elimination of social INEQUALITIES.
1. This objective falls under the heading of REDISTRIBUTIVE policy.
2. All policies have some redistributive qualities to them.
3. Redistributive policies - a CONSCIOUS attempt by the government to manipulate the wealth, property rights, in society.
4. REDISTRIBUTIVE policies tend to produce more political conflict than REGULATORY or DISTRIBUTIVE policies.
IV. The relationship between government and economies
A. What is a LIBERAL, a CONSERVATIVE?
1. Popular American usage
a. LIBERALS - favor civil rights, social welfare, government management. They are in favor of MORE GOVERNMENT.
b. CONSERVATIVES - opposed to government action and government spending.
2. "Liberalism" - popular beliefs:
a. Human nature is selfish.
b. There is a NATURAL RIGHT to PRIVATE PROPERTY.
c. The powers of government should be distinctly LIMITED.
d. The price of goods should be determined in the MARKETPLACE.
I. Pure capitalism
A. Capitalism requires
1. ECONOMIC FREEDOM from the government
2. Protection for PRIVATE PROPERTY
3. SELF-INTEREST - for economic progress
4. Production for PROFIT
B. Capitalism changed during the nineteenth century
1. Independent craftsperson became a factory employee
2. Small businesses grew into MONOPOLIES
3. LABOR UNIONS developed.
C. In the twentieth century - capitalism became a corporate system
1. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of corporate powers.
2. To emerge from the Depression, U.S. government " primed" the economy through massive military spending
a. After World War II, the Cold War kept the U.S. on a military-based economy
b. During the Cold War, the U.S. built the most costly arsenal of weaponry in world history
c. To be one step ahead of the Soviets – massive government contracts for weapons.
d. Cold War abruptly ended in 1990 - defense cutbacks caused economic downturns.
II. Socialism
A. Expectations -
1. Society - aim for TOTAL EQUALITY
2. Government would "wither away"
3. Property - communally owned
4. Production - based on SOCIAL NEEDS, not for profit
B. Marx -
1. Soviet "socialism" created a bureaucratic political structure
2. Chinese "socialism" developed cult leadership around Chairman Mao Tse Tung
3. Cuban "socialism" - one-man rule
C. Contemporary socialist theories
1. PARTICIPATORY SOCIALISM - a truly equal noncompetitive society.
2. MARKET SOCIALISM - use some capitalist methods / strive for greater equality of outcome.
3. DEMOCRATIC SOCIALISM - requires political democracy and public decision making about the economy.
III. Capitalism / Socialism: Freedom / Equality
A. Freedom TO - the concern of capitalism
1. To pursue personal gain
2. To take advantage of opportunities
B. Freedom FROM - concern of socialism
1. From want, exploitation, oppression
2. From worry
C. EQUALITY OF OPPORTUNITY - concern of capitalism
1. Everyone has an equal chance
2. Equality of "results" impossible.
D. EQUALITY OF OUTCOME - concern of socialism
1. Equal in:
a. Income
b. Education
c. Occupational status
2. Equality of "opportunity" - impossible
IV. Capitalism / Socialism today:
A. Capitalism has penetrated nearly every nation
1. Ex Communist world - now in transition.
2. Multinational corporations are active nearly everywhere
3. Capital mobility means:
a. Production can be moved to where the costs are lowest
b. Employees are expendable if they do not produce at maximum efficiency
c. External costs, such as pollution, can be ignored
4. Free trade expands power of capital
a. The North American Free Trade Act (NAFTA) allows goods and capital to flow freely, but not free flow of labor
b. General Agreement on Trade and Tariffs (GATT) lowers labor, environmental, and health as safety in order to protect capital mobility.
B. Decline of competition
1. Concentration of capital - Increasing as Large monopolies form.
2. United States more like third world countries as capital flows to where labor is cheaper