George Mason University Schar School of Policy and Government GOVT Public Opinion and American Politics. Bill Schneider Fall Term 2018

Transcription

1 George Mason University Schar School of Policy and Government GOVT Public Opinion and American Politics Bill Schneider Fall Term 2018 Founders Hall 619 Thursdays, 4:30-7:10 pm Robinson B122 Overview The government of the United States was designed not to work. The Constitution was written 220 years ago by leaders who shared a deep distrust of government. They wanted it to be as weak as possible. Hence, they devised a system with divided powers and checks and balances. But somehow, it does work. What makes it work is public opinion. When there is an overwhelming sense of public urgency, all the pieces click into place. Things get done. This course will look at government by crisis and the way public opinion shapes policy. Topics will include health care, gun policy, income inequality, military intervention, terrorism and affirmative action. The course will also look at the dynamics that drive elections, the causes and consequences of political polarization, the rise of political movements like Trumpism and their policy consequences. Course materials Recommended for purchase: Bill Schneider, Standoff: How America Became Ungovernable (Simon & Schuster, 2018). Additional readings in the course outline below will be placed on reserve. 1

2 Course requirements 1. Two papers (each approximately 1,200 words). One paper will be assigned from the topics on the next page. The second paper will be chosen by the student from the same list. The papers should answer the question posed for that topic. Or, if approved by the instructor, the paper may answer a different question. Each paper is due on the day that topic is scheduled for class discussion. 2. A 20-minute class presentation based on the first paper written for requirement #1 above, due on the day the topic is scheduled for class discussion. The second paper (on the topic of your choosing) does not require a class report. 3. A final examination (approximately 1,200 words) answering this question: In a deeply polarized political environment, is there any middle ground on the issue you are writing about? Cite evidence to back up your argument. The final examination is due on December 10. Weekly topics: 2

3 August 30 September 6 September 13 September 20 September 27 October 4 October 11 October 18 October 25 November 1 November 8 November 15 November 29 December 6 How America Became Ungovernable America the Unusual a. Populism b. Political polarization a. The 2016 election and Trumpism b. The electoral college a. Climate change b. National debt a. Gun policy b. Immigration a. Abortion b. Affirmative action a. Health care b. Inequality a. Same-sex marriage b. Sexual harassment a. Taxes b. Infrastructure spending a. Foreign trade b. Economy and elections a. The press and politics b. Presidential impeachment a. Terrorism b. Government surveillance a. The Israel-Palestine conflict b. Military intervention 3

4 COURSE SCHEDULE August 30 How the U.S. Became Ungovernable September 6 America the Unusual For discussion: Students will be assigned questions based on the John Kingdon book. John W. Kingdon, America the Unusual (Worth, 1999) September 13 a. Populism Is it liberal or conservative -- or both? Schneider, Standoff, chapter 2. Michael Kazin, ``Trump and American Populism.'' Foreign Affairs, October 6, ( 06/trump-and-american-populism) b. Political Polarization What divides Americans? Schneider, Standoff, chapter 3 Bill Bishop, The Big Sort: Why the Clustering of Like- Minded America is Tearing Us Apart (Houghton Mifflin, 2008), chapter 1, ``The Age of Political Segregation'' 4

5 September 20 a. The 2016 election and Trumpism How did Trump win? Schneider, Standoff, chapter 11. Martin Longman, ``Addressing the Cultural Anxiety of the White Working Class,'' Washington Monthly, May 9, ( b. The electoral college Can it be reformed? Andrew Prokop, ``Why the Electoral College is the Absolute Worst, Explained,'' Vox, November 10, ( September 27 a. Climate change Why can't we do much about it? Joseph Castro and LiveScience, ``Popular Opinion on Climate Change,'' Scientific American, February 7, ( Yale Program on Climate Change Communication and George Mason University Center for Climate Change Communication, ``Politics and Global Warming,'' October 2017, pages ( content/uploads/2017/12/global-warming-policy-politics-october pdf) b. National debt 5

6 Should Americans be concerned? Peter Coy, ``The Tea Party's Pyrrhic Victory,'' Bloomberg Businessweek, October 17, ( Pew Research Center, ``With Budget Debate Looming, Growing Share of Public Prefers Bigger Government,'' April 24, ( October 4 a. Gun policy Why is it so difficult to pass gun laws? Schneider, Standoff, Chapter 6, pp Kevin H. Wozniak, ``Public Opinion about Gun Control Post- Sandy Hook,'' Criminal Justice Policy Review, Volume 28, Issue 3 (April 1, 2017), pp ( b. Immigration Why is it so difficult to pass immigration reform? Schneider, Standoff, Chapter 6, pp Dylan Matthews, ``Polls Show Americans are Closer to Democrats than Donald Trump on Immigration,'' Vox, February 12, ( Carroll Doherty, ``Americans Broadly Support Legal Status for Immigrants Brought to the U.S. Illegally as Children, Pew Research Center, June 18, ( 6

7 October 11 a. Abortion Has public opinion changed since Roe? Schneider, Standoff, Chapter 7, pp Danielle Kurtzleben, ``Despite Constant Debate, Americans' Abortion Opinions Rarely Change,'' National Public Radio, September 21, ( 0/despite-constant-debate-americans-abortion-opinions-rarelychange) Sarah Kliff, ``What Americans Think of Abortion,'' Vox, April 8, ( b. Affirmative action Do white Americans support affirmative action? Schneider, Standoff, Chapter 7, pp Simon Waxman, ``Poll: Yes to Affirmative Action, No to Racial Preferences,'' Boston Review, August 9, ( Scott Jaschik, ``White Perceptions of Affirmative Action,'' Inside Higher Ed, October 30, ( rvey-draws-attention-white-perceptions-affirmative-action) October 18 7

8 a. Health care Is Obamacare here to stay? Schneider, Standoff, Chapter 5, pp Ashley Kirzinger, Bryan Wu and Mollyann Brodie, ``The Public's Priorities and the Next Steps for the Affordable Care Act,'' Kaiser Health Tracking Poll, January 26, ( b. Income inequality Do Americans resent the rich? Christina Pazzanese, ``The Rich and the Rest,'' U.S. News, February 9, ( Alana Semuels, ``New Census Data Show More Americans Emerging from Poverty,'' The Atlantic, September 12, ( October 25 a. Same-sex marriage How did public opinion change so quickly? Schneider, Standoff, Chapter 7, pp Sarah McCammon, ``Same-Sex Marriage Support at All-Time High, Even Among Groups that Opposed It,'' National Public Radio, June 6, ( David von Drehle, ``How Gay Marriage Won,'' Time, March 28, ( 8

9 b. Sexual harassment Compare the impact of the Clarence Thomas and Harvey Weinstein episodes. Schneider, Standoff, Chapter 7, pp Nikki Graf, ``Sexual Harassment at Work in the Era of #MeToo, Pew Research Center, April 4, ( November 1 a. Taxes Why does the issue of tax reform keep coming back? Schneider, Standoff, Chapter 5, pp Eric Levitz, ``After GOP Tax Bill Went Into Effect, It Becae Less Popular, New York, March 7, ( b. Infrastructure spending Why is spending on public works different from spending on social welfare? David Wessel, ``Spending on our Crumbling Infrastructure,'' Brookings Institution, March 10, ( Jonathan Lemire and Martin Krutsinger, ``Trump Infrastructure Plan Relies on State, Local Funding, RealClearPolitics, February 12, ( rastructure_plan_relies_on_state_local_funding_ html) November 8 9

10 a. Foreign trade Are Americans protectionist? Bradley Jones, ``Americans are Generally Positive About Free Trade Agreements, More Critical of Tariff Increases, Pew Research Center, May 10, ( Shrutee Sarkhar, ``Economists United: Trump Tariffs Won t Help the Economy, Reuters Business News, March 13, ( b. Economy and elections Does the state of the economy determine election outcomes? Mike Moffatt, ``How Much Does the Economy Influence Presidential Election Outcomes? ThoughtCo., March 17, ( Diana Mutz, ``Status Threat, Not Economic Hardship, Explains the 2016 Presidential Vote, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, April 23, ( November 15 a. The press and politics Why does President Trump call the press ``the enemy of the American people? Schneider, Standoff, Chapter 11. Michael Barthel and Amy Mitchell, ``Americans Attitudes about the News Media Deeply Divided Along Partisan Lines, Pew Research Center, May 10, ( content/uploads/sites/13/2017/05/ /pj_ _media- Attitudes_FINAL.pdf) 10

11 b. Presidential impeachment How did President Bill Clinton survive impeachment? Schneider, Standoff, Chapter 4. Joshua Zeitz, ``Looking Back on Clinton s Impeachment, American Heritage, Vol. 63, Issue 2 (2018). ( November 29 a. Terrorism Why do terrorists target the U.S.? Schneider, Standoff, Chapter 8. Katherine Zimmerman, ``The Never-Ending War on Terror, Foreign Affairs, May 11, ( b. Government surveillance Are Americans willing to accept a trade-off of surveillance for security? Abigail Geiger, ``How Americans Have Viewed Government Surveillance and Privacy Since Snowden Leaks, Pew Research Center, June 4, ( Lee Rainie and Shiva Raniam, ``Americans Feel the Tensions Between Privacy and Security Concerns,'' Pew Research Center, February 12, ( December 6 11

12 a. The Israel-Palestine conflict Are Americans now divided over Israel? Connie Bruck, ``Friends of Israel,'' The New Yorker, September 1, ( Laura E. Adkins, ``(Almost) Everything You Knew About the Polls and Israel is Wrong, The Forward (April 29, ( b. Military intervention Where do Americans draw the line? John Mueller, ``The Iraq Syndrome,'' Foreign Affairs, November/December ( 01/iraq-syndrome) John Mueller, ``The Iraq Syndrome Revisited,'' Foreign Affairs, Postscript March 28, ( Students with disabilities If you are a student with a disability and you need academic accommodations, please contact the Disability Resource Center (DRC) at All academic accommodations must be arranged through the DRC. Policy on Plagiarism 12

13 The profession of scholarship and the intellectual life of a university as well as the field of public policy inquiry depend fundamentally on a foundation of trust. Thus any act of plagiarism strikes at the heart of the meaning of the university and the purpose of the School of Public Policy. It constitutes a serious breach of professional ethics and it is unacceptable. Plagiarism is the use of another's words or ideas presented as one's own. It includes, among other things, the use of specific words, ideas, or frameworks that are the product of another's work. Honesty and thoroughness in citing sources is essential to professional accountability and personal responsibility. Appropriate citation is necessary so that arguments, evidence, and claims can be critically examined. Plagiarism is wrong because of the injustice it does to the person whose ideas are stolen. But it is also wrong because it constitutes lying to one's professional colleagues. From a prudential perspective, it is shortsighted and self-defeating, and it can ruin a professional career. The faculty of the Schar School takes plagiarism seriously and has adopted a zero tolerance policy. Any plagiarized assignment will receive an automatic grade of "F." This may lead to failure for the course, resulting in dismissal from the University. This dismissal will be noted on the student's transcript. For foreign students who are on a universitysponsored visa (eg. F-1, J-1 or J-2), dismissal also results in the revocation of their visa. To help enforce the Schar School policy on plagiarism, all written work submitted in partial fulfillment of course or degree requirements must be available in electronic form so that it can be compared with electronic databases, as well as submitted to commercial services to which the School subscribes. Faculty may at any time submit student's work without prior permission from the student. Individual instructors may require that written work be submitted in electronic as well as printed form. The SPP policy on plagiarism is supplementary to the George Mason University Honor Code; it is not intended to replace it or substitute for it. < 13