• THIS MORNING:
• Political culture and popular philosophy of government



• SOME GENERALIZATIONS:
• Ideas have a powerful effect on politics.
• Proposition: substantive differences between liberals and conservatives are often overstated.
• The Democratic party is essentially a "left" of middle group while Republicans are more to right of middle.
• Republicans are greatly influenced by a conservative vocal faction.
• But when push comes to shove they often adopt or at least live with middle-of- the-road policies.
• There is no real socialism or conservatism in the United States.
• To see what the extremes of political philosophies look like visit:
• Foreign political parties: http://www.psci.unt.edu/es/elect.htm
• Libertarian party: http://www.lp.org/lp.html
• Green party: http://www.greens.org/
• Socialist Party USA: http://socialist.org/
• Reform Party: http://www.reformparty.org/
• U. S. Taxpayers party: http://www.ustaxpayers.org/index.shtml
• For your own edification (and possible minor extra credit) why not visit a couple of these sites to explore the range of opinion about government and them compare it to the standard Democratic-Republican debate.
• Example: What does the Libertarian Party say about impeaching President Clinton?
• A public "philosophy" dominates politics in the United States.
• This philosophy, which I call general-welfare liberalism, consists of a set of interconnected ideas, beliefs, values, and attitudes that dominates public policy making.
• The domination of this set of beliefs crowds out competing ideas to the detriment of political discourse and enlightened understanding.
• The public philosophy has several consequences:
• Understanding this philosophy is essential for understanding American government.
• It determines what kinds of policies will and will not be pursued.
• It "justifies" the surprisingly tight bond between government and the economy.
• It limits American democracy and political capacity.
• "General-welfare liberalism" consists of two strands, "classical" liberalism and mixed feelings about active government.



• THE LIBERALISM COMPONENT:
• American interpretation of classical liberalism
• See the Declaration of Independence for an excellent example of this philosophy
• Liberalism's components:
• Political equality
• Emphasis on individual political rights and liberties
• Humans have natural, inalienable rights that can be known
• Property rights
• Note as an aside, these rights have been extended to abstract entities such as corporations and groups.
• Limited government and distrust of public (i.e., governmental) power
• Central government is to be distrusted, even feared.
• State and local government preferable
• Unwavering faith and trust in:
• Individualism
• The American dream
• The power of economic growth to solve problems
• Economic and social mobility
• Hence, distrust of poor and welfare programs
• Rationality
• Science and technology as solutions to public problems.
• Optimism and progress
• Economic growth will solve collective problems
• Misunderstanding of the difference between public and private power
• "Hubris" "... the greatest nation on earth."
• America has a special place in the world.
• Tone: pragmatism or practical thinking
• Main proposition: belief and faith in these ideas shapes public policy process and content.
• Welfare reform rests to a large extent on these beliefs.
• THE GENERAL-WELFARE COMPONENT:
• There is now agreement that the national government manage the economy to lessen, if not eliminate, depressions, recessions and inflation.
• Government should attempt to take the "rough edges off capitalism."
• Ours is sometimes called a "mixed system"
• Our conceptions of welfare and social justice reflect this idea.
• But more is involved than making life bearable for the average citizen.
• There is a very specific way the U.S. government and private economic actors, especially large ones, work together to attempt to achieve growth with social harmony
• This idea sometimes goes under the name state capitalism

• STATE CAPITALISM:
• Proposition: policy making in is dominated by corporate-government partnership.
• Goals of this partnership:
• Promote economic growth but not redistribute wealth.
• Maintain social peace, especially by managing
• Labor-management conflict
• Corporate-citizen conflict
• Legitimize the economic and social order.
• Proposition: undertaking these tasks requires a corporate-government partnership.
• One can attribute the political battles in Washington partly to the government's inability to finance and enforce these goals

• STATE CAPITALISM IN PRACTICE:
• Macroeconomic policy: fiscal and monetary policy
• The Federal Reserve system
• Regulation as promotion of business interests
• What seems to be a regulation sometimes turns out differently
• Warning labels often protect industries from lawsuits and other government action.
• Tobacco and now television "warning labels"
• Transportation, communications, banking
• Direct and indirect support of business
• Subsides and direct aid to specific industries
• Tax cuts and revenue expenditures
• Industrial policy
• Research and development
• "Infrastructure" (e.g., roads, harbors, airports)
• Protection: tariffs, quotas
• Current example: help for American steel industry
• "Human capital" (schools, health, job training)
• Functions:
• Supply of trained, "disciplined" labor to enhance productivity
• Legitimation
• Stabilize economy and create a market for goods and services



• SUMMARY:
• Conflict between liberalism and the general-welfare is what is at the heart of the current debate in Congress over the role of government.
• Manifestations of liberalism
• Term-limits
• Manifestation of general-welfare
• Health care

• NEXT TIME:
• We won't cover all of these topics so will continue tomorrow.
• The constitution.
• The written constitution embodies many classical liberal ideas.
• The unwritten constitution embodies many general-welfare notions.
• Reading:
• Class web site articles under public philosophy.
• "The Concept of a Public Philosophy"
• "Laissez-faire"
• "Main Ideas"
• "General-welfare in Practice"
• Start Patterson, We the People, Chapter 3.
• The Declaration of Independence.

Go to Notes page

Go to American Political System page

Go to H. T. Reynolds page