midterm 1 study

Question 1

State of Nature

Answer 1

The state of human existence without a sovereign

Question 2

Hobbes:

Views on humans:

Answer 2

 Continually in competition for honour and dignity”-Vain
 Inclined to favor the private good over the public.-Selfish
 “…amongst men, there are very many that think themselves wiser, and abler to govern the public, better than the rest…”-Arrogant
 Easily confused about that which is good and that which is evil-So, kind of stupid, too.
 Idle hands are the devil’s workshop. (When “at ease”, we most like to try and show off or control others; see also Schopenhauer.)

Question 3

Hobbes viewed life in the State of Nature as being

Answer 3

Solitary, Poor, Nasty, Brutish and Short”.

Question 4

Why is life in the State of Nature so bad? hobbes

Answer 4

Constant conflict

Question 5

Why is there constant conflict? Hobbes

Answer 5

 All people are basically equal in both physical and mental capacities

 Without law, we all essentially have the right to whatever

 As we’re all equal, we also have fear (“diffidence”) towards one another. (Is that guy gonna take my stuff? Can I stop him if he tries to do so?)

 If I’m able to take out that neighbor, and take his stuff, other people will leave me alone. If I show weakness, that will only invite more assaults against me.

 Competition-We invade for gain
 Diffidence-We invade for safety
 Glory-We invade for reputation

 The “State of Nature”, then, is a state of perpetual WAR. “Where there is no common power, there is no law: where no law, no injustice”. (Anything goes in a war!)

Question 6

How do we get peace?

Hobbes

Answer 6

 “I authorize and give up my right of governing myself, to this man, or to this assembly of men, on this condition: that thou give up thy right to him, and authorize all his actions in like manner”.
 We agree amongst ourselves to submit to some other person or collection of persons, voluntarily, on confidence to be protected by them against all others.
 THE SOCIAL CONTRACT

Question 7

THE SOCIAL CONTRACT→

Answer 7

The Masses voluntarily transfer their rights and their liberty to The Sovereign. The Sovereign, in return, provides peace, order and stability for The Masses to live their lives and conduct their business

Question 8

The form of government preferred by Hobbes is

Answer 8

ABSOLUTE MONARCHY.
Hobbes believed that you had no right to rebel against the sovereign. “Whatsoever the sovereign doth is unpunishable by the subject”.→They’re providing you with order and peace, and they’re allowed to do so however they see fit.” The sovereign is judge of what is necessary for the peace and defence of his subjects”.

Question 9

Why Monarchy? hobbes

Answer 9

→Remember that Hobbes used security as the main criteria for determining which is the best form of government.

Question 10

4 Reasons why Hobbes preferred monarchy to other forms of government:

Answer 10

1. More than in any other form of government, there’s no difference between the public good and private good.
2. The monarch can receive advice in secrecy, and receives actual ADVICE, not just political speeches.
3. A monarch won’t flip-flop. An assembly may do X one day, and then Y the next day.
4. An assembly, by its contentious nature, cause a civil war. (Again, politics can cause strife.)

Question 11

Hobbes, like Locke, stresses the importance of …

Answer 11

roperty rights! (When we have a sovereign, we have clear lines as to what belongs to who; we can be secure in our possessions and can have courts to adjudicate disputes.)

Question 12

Remember that Hobbes did NOT AT ALL believe in

Answer 12

natural law” or “God-given rights”!

Question 13

Locke’s state of nature:

Answer 13

• Like Hobbes’ view of the state of nature, people are all basically equal.
• Unlike Hobbes, in Locke’s view of the state of nature, there is “mutual love” between people.
• People help each other with the understanding that, if they don’t, nobody will help them when they themselves need help.

Question 14

John Locke’s Law of Nature

Answer 14

-In Locke’s State of Nature, we exist under a “Law of Nature”, wherein it is understood that “no one ought to harm another in his life, health, liberty or possessions.”
-A law based on REASON and our common humanity. (Locke refers to it as our all being the creation of “an omnipotent and infinitely wise Maker”.)
-Only justified in harming another for PUNISHMENT for transgressing the law of nature, or REPARATION (the injured party getting satisfaction for their injury.)
-We’ve always existed in the State of Nature, and always do, until by our own consents make ourselves the member of some body politic.
-State of Nature is preferable to life under an absolute monarch.
However, we do NOT stay in the State of Nature.

Question 15

Locke’s 3 reasons why a society (commonwealth) is preferable to The State of Nature

Answer 15

1. The law is public and known by everyone. (No claiming you don’t know it or it doesn’t apply to you.)
2. Impartial judges, as opposed to people taking the law into their own hands. (If people act as both judge and executioner, they can let their emotions get the best of them.)
3. The law can actually be enforced. (In a state of nature, a bully can run amok.)

Question 16

Remember the importance of procedural equality

Answer 16

the law being impartially and fairly applied to everyone equally, to Locke!

Question 17

Like Hobbes, Locke says

Answer 17

we need to surrender some of our rights (including the right to do whatever the Hell we want) in order enter into a social contract, form a commonwealth and receive PROPERTY RIGHTS, peace and order. “The great end of men’s entering society being the enjoyment of their properties in peace and safety”.

Question 18

Unlike Hobbes, Locke

Answer 18

wants us to enter into a society of laws, not one ruled by a monarch. (Locke views life under a monarch worse than the State of Nature.)
Locke says the first law to be created is the one establishing a legislature (Locke’s preferred form of government), and subsequently, that it be recognized that only the legislature can make laws.

Question 19

Locke emphasized the importance of

Answer 19

he impartial dispensing of the law.

Question 20

In the State of Nature, …locke

Answer 20

we can’t trust that the law will be enforced without emotion. (If someone steals from you, you may treat them more harshly than if they steal from someone else.)
→Thus, we surrender this right to be judge/jury/executioner to enter into a society where the law is clear and known by all, where the law is fairly and impartially dispensed, and where the law can actually be enforced.

Question 21

Rules by which Locke’s legislature must obey:

Answer 21

 Cannot have arbitrary power: Their power is limited to advancing the public good of society, and their power must apply equally to everyone in society. “Nobody can transfer to another more power than he has in himself; and nobody has an absolute arbitrary power over himself, or over any other to destroy his own life or take away the life or property of another…(the legislature) can never have a right to destroy, enslave or designedly impoverish the subjects”.–>In other words, even the legislature has to comport by The Law of Nature/God’s Will.
 The legislature has to, itself, obey the law of the land. (Can’t declare itself the exception from laws, unlike Hobbes’ monarch, who defined the law and was above the law.)
 Cannot take from anyone their property (lives, liberties or estates) without their consent. Taxes in order to maintain the society are OK, though, provided the majority of the society or of those chosen to represent them, decide that they’re necessary.
 The legislature can’t transfer the power to make laws to someone else.

Question 22

John Stuart Mill

“On Liberty”

Answer 22

Agrees with Locke and Hobbes that people voluntarily surrendered some of their rights in order to live in a society with a sovereign. (Social Contract) This sovereign keeps security and protects the citizenry, not only from external threats, but from one another. The citizenry, however, also needs protection from the sovereign!

Question 23

→How can individuals protect themselves from the sovereign?

mill

Answer 23

• The general recognition by the sovereign of certain rights and liberties possessed by their subjects.
• By formalized constitutional checks.

Question 24

The Basics of “On Liberty”

Answer 24

• Wrote the essay to assert “one very simple principle”, “The sole end for which mankind are warranted, individually or collectively, in interfering with the liberty of action of any of their number, is SELF-PROTECTION. The only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over any number of civilized community, against his will, is TO PREVENT HARM TO OTHERS.”
• “Over himself, over his own body and mind, The INDIVIDUAL IS SOVEREIGN.”
• In other words, you can’t do anything to someone “for their own good”.
• Gives a short list of things which a person can be compelled to do for the good of society, (testify in court, bear fair share in common defense), but otherwise it’s “Thanks for the security, Hobbes, thanks for the rule of law, Locke, now get out of my way!”

Question 25

The Tyranny of the Majority.. mill

Answer 25

-Mill stated that it’s not enough for individuals to be free from fear of abusive monarchs, we need to be wary of even well-meaning fellow citizens promulgating laws that infringe upon human liberty.

Question 26

Mill lists three main spheres of liberty:

Answer 26

Liberty of thought and feeling (freedom of opinion and expressing those opinions), Liberty of tastes and pursuits (being able to plan our lives the way we like it, without impediment from others, provided we don’t harm anyone else, even if people think that what we do is “foolish, perverse or wrong”) and Liberty of combination among individuals. (“Freedom to unite, for any purpose not involving harm to others: the persons combining being supposed to be of full age, and not forced or deceived”.)

Question 27

The Liberty of Thought and Discussion

Answer 27

• Essential to allow the airing of controversial opinions, to tolerate dissent.
• Uses the examples of both Socrates (“the tribunal, there is every ground for believing, honestly found him guilty, condemned the man who probably of all then born had deserved best of mankind, to be put to death as a criminal”) and Christ (“Men did not merely mistake their benefactor; they mistook him for the exact contrary of what he was, and treated him as that prodigy of impiety, which they themselves are now held to be, for their treatment of him”) as people who were put to death for speaking what was thought, at the time, to be shocking, but what was later to be found to be true.
• Stresses that neither those who sentenced Christ or Socrates to death thought that they were doing wrong, but that both Socrates and Christ were “radicals” and honestly committed the crimes with which they were charged.
• Uses Emperor Marcus Aurelius as the other side of the coin; the very wise person of his day who persecuted Christianity “knowing” it to be false. (Viewed it as offensive as Christians of Mills’ day viewed atheists.–>In other words, even the smartest of us can be wrong. If Marcus Aurelius can be so wrong about whether or not something is true, any of us can do it.

Question 28

Political Culture

Answer 28

“The general political orientation or disposition of a nation; the shared values and beliefs about the nature of the political world that give us a common language in which to discuss and debate political ideas.” Often passed down via family, schools, religious institutions and through the mass media

Question 29

Values

Answer 29

→The ideals or principles that most people agree are important, even if we don’t agree on HOW to go about championing that value. Can be thought of as the topics we agree are “in bounds” for political discussion.

Question 30

Procedural Guarantees

Answer 30

→A focus on fair rules and processes. Not necessarily equality of outcome, but everyone is treated the same. There is to be fairness and impartiality in application of the law.

Question 31

Individualism

Answer 31

That which is good for society is based on what is good for the individual.
→Individuals, not government, are responsible for their own well being.

Question 32

Ideologies→

Answer 32

The sets of beliefs about politics and society that help people make sense of the world

Question 33

The two major ideologies in the United States are

Answer 33

liberals (usually associated with the Democratic Party) and conservatives, (usually associated with the Republican Party).

Question 34

Ideologies are often placed on a simple, 2-dimensional left/right scale, …

Answer 34

with liberals being placed on the left, and conservatives on the right.

Question 35

, it is more accurate to view the ideological placement …

Answer 35

with one axis of the cross representing the Economic Dimension, and the other representing the Social Order Dimension.

Question 36

Economic Order Dimension

Answer 36

measures how much an individual wants the government to be involved in the economy. Conservatives and libertarians tend to want less government intervention in the economy, while liberals favor a positive government role.

Question 37

Social Order Dimension

Answer 37

measures how much people want the government to be involved in how people live their lives. Social conservatives (like the Religious Right) and some Democrats favor the government being involved in people’s social lives, while liberals and libertarians tend to want a minimal governmental role in deciding the choices individuals can make.

Question 38

3 main tasks of government:

Answer 38

Writing laws (legislative), executing laws (executive), interpreting (judiciary) laws.

Question 39

Legislative Branch

Answer 39

2 chambers (“Bicameral”). The Senate, and the House of Representatives. There are 100 Senators, 2 from each state, and they each serve for 6 years. Akin to Britain’s “House of Lords”. There are 435  Representatives, with the number of reps per state being allotted by each state’s population. Each representative serves  for 2 years. No term limits for either Senators or Representatives.
		Article 1 section 8 of the Constitution. Congress can do that which is “necessary and proper” to carry out its duties. (The “elastic clause”)
	Executive Branch

Question 40

Executive Branch

Answer 40

Article 2 of the Constitution. The President is the main figure in the executive branch. The President must be a natural born citizen of the United States.

Question 41

The President is chosen by the electoral college:

Answer 41

: On Election Night, each state (and the District of Columbia) basically has its own Presidential Election. Each state is assigned a number of electors based on how many senators they have plus the number of representatives they have. (So, there are 535 members of the electoral college, and a candidate must win 268 or more electors to be elected President).

Question 42

President can serve for …

Answer 42

2 terms of 4 years each

Question 43

impeachment.

Answer 43

The House votes to impeach (a majority vote is all that is needed), and then the president is tried in the Senate, where a 2/3 majority is needed to convict. A president may be impeached for “bribery, treason and other high crimes and misdemeanors”. Only 2 presidents have been impeached, Andrew Johnson and William Clinton.

Question 44

→How is the Parliamentary system (Prime Ministers) different from the Presidential system?

Answer 44

The principle alternative to a presidential system among contemporary democrats is called a parliamentary system in which the executive is a member of the legislature, chosen by the legislators themselves, not by a separate national election.

Question 45

Judicial Branch

Answer 45

Covered Article 3 of the Constitution. There are 9 members of the Supreme Court. Justices are selected by the President, and then confirmed (or denied) by the Senate. Members of the Supreme Court serve for life. The Supreme Court, plus lower Federal Courts. (District Courts (94 districts, 677 judges) and The Federal Courts of Appeals/Circuit Courts (13 Circuits, 179 judges).) Note that the lower Courts were created by Congress, not the Constitution!

Question 46

Judicial Power-

Answer 46

The power to interpret the law and tell whether or not a law has been broken

Question 47

Judicial Review

Answer 47

The power of the Supreme Court to rule on the Constitutionality of laws came about in the Supreme Court case of Marbury v. Madison

Question 48

Separation of Powers:

Answer 48

: The institutional arrangement that assigns judicial, executive and legislative powers to different persons or groups, thereby limiting the power of each. (In other words, the powers of each branch can’t be exercised by the other branches.)

Question 49

• Checks and Balances

Answer 49

The principle that allows each branch of government to exercise some control over the others. (Each branch has a way of making sure the other branches don’t get too powerful.) “A republican remedy”.

Question 50

• What powers does each branch have that the others do not? What are some of the checks each branch has on the others?

Answer 50

d

Question 51

• Why are checks and balances and the separation of powers good ideas? (Or are they?)

Answer 51

d

Question 52

Federalism→

Answer 52

A system of government where authority is divided between different levels of govt

Question 53

Federalist system

Answer 53

d

Question 54

Confederal system

Answer 54

d

Question 55

Unitary system

Answer 55

d

Question 56

 Enumerated Powers of Congress:

Answer 56

Congressional Powers explicitly given to Congress in the Constitution.

Question 57

 Necessary and Proper Clause:

Answer 57

Congress can do all that is, well, “necessary and proper” in order to carry out its duties. Also called, “The Elastic Clause”.

Question 58

necessary and proper clause…Also called, “The Elastic Clause”. Why?

Answer 58

d

Question 59

How has the relationship between State and Federal power changed over time? Why has it done so?

Answer 59

d

Question 60

 2 Views of Federalism

Answer 60

Dual Federalism vs. Cooperative Federalism

Question 61

Perks of Federalism

Answer 61

Competition Among the States. (Can be a drawback as well as a benefit, though. “Race to the Bottom”.)
Providing Increased Access to Government
Increased Flexibility Among States. (Also, states as “laboratories of innovation”

Question 62

Conflict Between the States and the Federal Govt

Answer 62

→ Fought in the Courts; McCulloch v. Maryland→A victory for the federal govt; “The power to tax is the power to destroy”. (So, the states couldn’t tax a federal institution.)
→Battle for supremacy swung between states and fed in the Courts
Lochner→Federal govt could not make NY limit how many hours its bakers could work

Question 63

New Deal vs. Four Horsemen:

Answer 63

FDR was president, tried passing laws using Congress to alleviate problems of The Great Depression. The Four Horsemen were 4 justices on the Supreme Court (Sutherland, Butler, McReynolds, van Devanter) who opposed FDR’s efforts at using the Federal Govt to intervene in the economy.

Question 64

Warren Court→

Answer 64

Late 1950’s through the early 1970’s, the Supreme Court took a more expansive view of the 14th Amendment and the role of the federal govt, generally. Expanded civil rights, criminal rights, the right to privacy.

Question 65

Ways the Fed Gov can influence the States

Answer 65

• Categorical Grants: Federal tax money earmarked for specific purposes
  - Block Grants: Federal tax money given to the states for more broad, loosely defined purposes
  - Unfunded Mandates: Federal govt tells the states to do something, but does not give them the federal cash to do so.

Question 66

The Federalist Papers

Answer 66

• 85 articles written by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison and John Jay promoting popular support for the Constitution.→Essentially, a PR campaign in support of the Constitution.
• Each was written under the name “Publius”.
• Spawned a counter-movement called, “The Anti-Federalist Papers”. (Most of that to which the Anti-Federalists objected was alleviated by the Bill of Rights.)

Question 67

Federalist 51

Answer 67

The One About Checks and Balances”.

Question 68

Why do we need checks and balances?

Answer 68

Ambition must be made to counteract ambition”. What does that mean?
“It may be a reflection on human nature, that such devices should be necessary to control the abuses of government. But what is government itself, but the greatest of all reflections on human nature? If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary. In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself.”
Not just “Checks and Balances”, but almost “Divide and Conquer”
Also discusses needing a way to keep a strong majority from bullying the minority (Where did we see that before? John Stuart Mill!)

Question 69

Federalist 10

Answer 69

“The One About Factions”

Question 70

What are factions?

Answer 70

Collections of people with an interest counter to the good of the commonwealth

Question 71

What can we do about factions?

Answer 71

Well, we can outlaw people being able to form into factions, but that’s worse than having factions exist. We can also try and control their harmful effects by having a large, diverse republican form of government.

Question 72

Amending the Constitution

Answer 72

→If our current wants and needs do not seem to be keeping up with what’s in the Constitution, perhaps we should change the Constitution?

→Either a National Convention called by Congress at the request of 2/3s of the State legislatures, then ratified by the legislature in 3/4s of the states or ratifying conventions in 3/4s of the states (never happened, probably never will.)
→Or, a 2/3s vote in both houses of Congress, and then either 3/4s of the state legislatures approve of it, or there’s a ratifying convention in 3/4s of the states.

Question 73

Literalist vs. Living Document

Answer 73

d

Question 74

Tools of Direct Democracy

Initiatives:

Answer 74

Citizens petition to place a proposal or constitutional amendment on the ballot, to be adopted or rejected by a majority vote. Bypasses the legislature.

Question 75

Referendum

Answer 75

: An election in which a bill bypasses the state legislature and is submitted to the voters for approval.

Question 76

Recall elections:

Answer 76

Voters vote to remove elected officials from office before the expiration of their terms.

Question 77

The Work of Edmund Burke

Answer 77

→Key concepts: The “Natural Aristocracy”, the rule of REASON, representation of INTERESTS.

Question 78

Should representatives do what their constituents want them to do (delegates), or should they follow their own judgment and wisdom in reaching decisions (trustees)? burke

Answer 78

d

Question 79

Who/What is the Natural Aristocracy?

Answer 79

Every walk of life (every sort of person) will produce a vanguard, a best and brightest from their ranks.

Question 80

What makes the Natural Aristocracy so special? What qualities about them mean they should lead?

Answer 80

Judgment, Virtue and Wisdom (from experience).

A “well appointed” state should produce a Natural Aristocracy as a matter of course.

Question 81

How do we know the Natural Aristocracy won’t abuse their power?

Answer 81

Because they’re the natural aristocracy! People of such judgment, wisdom and virtue would not abuse their office; once people in power start to use their positions of power for person profit (for example), you know they’re not the natural aristocracy.

Question 82

What does Burke mean that government will rest on “reason” and not the “general will”? What are the differences between the two?

Answer 82

Reason is what comes about through discussion and debate by wise “natural aristocrats” who have the nation’s best interest in mind. On the other hand, “the general will” is like popular opinion, fickle and subject to emotion. Burke would think that representatives should trust their own best judgment, rather than just doing what their constituents want them to do.
Will can never be the standard of right and wrong, and right and wrong are what matter in politics.

Question 83

what means a lot to burke?

Answer 83

Debate and deliberation

Question 84

burkes beliefs

Answer 84

• Burke feels that representatives are there not to represent constituents, specifically, but their interests. (So, a representative from Pittsburgh wouldn’t be representing Pittsburghers, specifically, but steelworkers all over the country.)
• However, Burke also says that the foremost “interest” that a representative is to champion is that of the nation, as a whole. (So, that rep isn’t just representing Pittsburgh, or steelworkers, but her first thought should be with what’s good for America, generally.)
• Burke views interests as: Broad, Relatively Fixed, Few in Number and Clearly Defined. Usually economic in nature.

Question 85

Virtual Representation vs. Actual Representation. What are the differences between the two?

Answer 85

Virtual: You didn’t necessarily vote for that representative, but they are still representing your interests. Actual: You voted for the representative.)

Question 86

What does Burke mean when he says that the Virtual must have some basis in the Actual?

Answer 86

Think of the example of Irish Catholics and American Colonists; Not only were these groups unable to vote for representatives in Parliament, but no member of Parliament was trying to represent their interests, either.)

Question 87

What does Burke mean when he says representatives should worry about their constituencies’ INTERESTS, but not OPINIONS?

Answer 87

Think Locke: Can people be emotional, flighty, act in the “heat of the moment”? Is that when we’re at our best?

Question 88

The Work of Carl Schmitt

Answer 88

→Fierce critic of liberalism. “Liberalism, with its contradictions and compromises…” is a political philosophy where it is “…possible to answer the question “Christ or Barabbas?” with a proposal to adjourn or appoint a commission of investigation.”

Question 89

“Parliamentarism …shmitt

Answer 89

(by which Schmitt means really any democratic republican system) exists today as a method of government and a political system. Just as everything else that exists and functions tolerably it is useful-no more, no less. It counts for a great deal that even today it functions better than other untried methods and that minimum of order that is today actually at hand would be endangered by frivolous experiments. Every reasonable person would concede such arguments. But they do not carry weight in an argument about principles. Certainly no one would be so undemanding that he regarded as an intellectual foundation or a moral truth as proven by the question, “What else?”