George Mason University Schar School of Policy and Government GOVT 490-007 Rule by the People Bill Schneider Fall Term 2017 Founders Hall 619 Thursdays, 4:30-7:10 pm bschneid@gmu.edu ENGR 1110 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 taxing and spending, deficits, health care, social issues, national security, military intervention, terrorism and race relations. The course will also look at the dynamics that drive elections, the causes and consequences of political polarization, the rise of political movements and their policy consequences. Course materials (recommended for purchase) Recommended for purchase: John W. Kingdon, America the Unusual (Worth, 1999) Robert S. Erikson and Kent L. Tedin, American Public Opinion, Sixth Edition (Routledge 2015) Additional readings in the course outline below will be placed on reserve. 1
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: How has public opinion affected, or not affected, policy? 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 paper (approximately 1,500 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. Paper is due on December 11. Choice of issues: abortion, affirmative action, immigration, inequality, foreign trade, military intervention, climate change, gun control, government surveillance -- or any other issue you choose, subject to approval by the instructor. 2
Topics for presentations and class discussion: Populism Raising the debt limit Income inequality Tax policy Immigration Foreign trade Health care Climate change Same-sex marriage Religious freedom Gun control Abortion Terrorism Government surveillance Affirmative action Police accountability Political polarization The electoral college The 2016 election and Trumpism Syria and the Islamic State The Israel-Palestine conflict Infrastructure spending U.S. Russia relations Military intervention 3
COURSE SCHEDULE August 31 Standoff: How the U.S. Became Ungovernable September 7 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 Read Erikson and Tedin, chapter 4, ``Macrolevel Opinion: The Flow of Political Sentiment'' September 14 a. Populism Is it liberal or conservative -- or both? Michael Kazin, ``Trump and American Populism.'' Foreign Affairs, October 6, 2016. George Packer, ``Hillary Clinton and the Populist Revolt,'' The New Yorker, October 31, 2016 b. The electoral college Andrew Prokop,~ ``Why the Electoral College is the Absolute Worst, Explained,'' Vox, November 10, 2016 4
September 21 a. Income inequality Do Americans resent the rich? Christina Pazzanese, ``The Rich and the Rest,'' U.S. News, February 9, 2016 b. Tax policy Why does the tax reform issue keep coming back? Pew Research Center, ``Federal Tax System Seen in Need of Overhaul,'' March 19, 2015 September 28 a. Immigration What should be done about illegal immigrants? Pew Research Center, ``Immigration: Key Data Points from Pew Research,'' September 24, 2013 Bradley Jones, ``Americans' Views of Immigrants Marked by Widening Partisan, Generational Divides,'' Pew Research Center, April 15, 2016 b. Trade Is the U.S. public protectionist? Pew Research Center, ``Free Trade Agreements Seen as Good for U.S., But Concerns Persist,'' May 27, 2015 October 5 a. Health care Why has the public been so skeptical? Joseph R. Antos, ``Health Care Reform after the ACA,'' The New England Journal of Medicine, May 7, 2014 Vann R. Newkirk II, The Atlantic, ``The Delayed Gratification of Obamacare,'' October 17, 2016 b. Climate change Why can't we deal with the problem? Joseph Castro and LiveScience, ``Popular Opinion on Climate Change,'' Scientific American, February 7, 2012 Cary Funk and Brian Kennedy, ``The Politics of Climate,'' Pew Research Center, October 4, 2016 5
October Read Erikson and Tedin, chapter 7, ``Group Differences in Political Opinions'' October 12 a. Same-sex marriage Why did public opinion change so dramatically? David von Drehle, ``How Gay Marriage Won,'' Time, March 28, 2013 2016 Karlyn Bowman, ``Gay Marriage, One Year Later,'' Forbes, June 23, b. Religious freedom Is it tolerant or repressive? 2014 Jonathan Rauch, ``The Great Secession,'' The Atlantic, July/August Joan Frawley Desmond, ``Tolerance, Religious Freedom and the 2016 Election,'' National Catholic Register, August 5, 2016 October 19 a. Gun control Why is it so difficult to pass? Pew Research Center, ``Continued Bipartisan Support for Expanded Background Checks on Gun Sales,'' August 13, 2015 b. Abortion Has public opinion changed since Roe? Danielle Kurtzleben, ``Despite Constant Debate, Americans' Abortion Opinions Rarely Change,'' National Public Radio, September 21, 2015 6
October 26 a. Terrorism Does the public accept the trade-off of privacy for security? Darren W. Davis, ``Public Opinion, Civil Liberties and Security in the Post-9/11 Context,'' chapter 5 in Barbara Norrander and Clyde Wilcox, Eds., Understanding Public Opinion, Third Edition (CQ Press, 2010) b. Government surveillance How much are we willing to tolerate? Lee Rainie and Shiva Raniam, ``Americans Feel the Tensions Between Privacy and Security Concerns,'' Pew Research Center, February 12, 2016 November Read Erikson and Tedin, chapter 4, ``Public Opinion and Democratic Stability'' November 2 a. Affirmative action Do white Americans support it? Simon Waxman, ``Poll: Yes to Affirmative Action, No to Racial Preferences,'' Boston Review, August 9, 2013 b. Police accountability Rich Morin and Renee Stepler, ``The Racial Confidence Gap in Police Performance,'' Pew Research Center, September 29, 2016 November 9 a. Political polarization What's behind it? 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'' b. The 2016 election and Trumpism How did Trump win? Martin Longman, ``Addressing the Cultural Anxiety if the White Working Class,'' Washington Monthly, May 9, 2017. 7
November 16 a. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict Is there a consensus? Connie Bruck, ``Friends of Israel,'' The New Yorker, September 1, 2014 Walter Russell Mead, ``Change They Can Believe In,'' Foreign Affairs, January/February 2009 b. Syria and the Islamic State What should the U.S. do to defeat the Islamic State? Stephen Biddle and Jacob Shapiro, ``America Can't Do Much About ISIS,'' The Atlantic, April 20, 2016 Shibley Telhami et al., ``American Public Attitudes Toward ISIS and Syria,'' Brookings Institution, January 8, 2015 November 30 a. The federal budget deficit Why is it so difficult to control? Peter Coy, ``The Tea Party's Pyrrhic Victory,'' Bloomberg Businessweek, October 17, 2013 b. Infrastructure spending Why is spending on public works different from spending on social welfare? Knowledge@Wharton, ``Can Infrastructure Spending Be a Silver Bullet?'' October 11, 2016 David Wessel, ``Spending on our Crumbling Infrastructure,'' Brookings Institution, March 10, 2015 December 7 a. U.S.-Russia relations A new Cold War? 2014 David Remnick, ``Watching the Eclipse,'' The New Yorker, August 11, Dina Smeltz, Stepan Goncharov and Lily Wojtowicz, ``U.S. and Russia: Insecurity and Mistrust Shape Mutual Perceptions,'' The Chicago Council on Global Affairs, November 4, 2016 b. Military intervention Where do Americans draw the line? John Mueller, ``The Iraq Syndrome,'' Foreign Affairs, November/December 2005 8
Academic Accommodation for a Disability If you are a student with a disability and you need academic accommodations, please see me and contact the Disability Resource Center (DRC) at 703-993-2474. All academic accommodations must be arranged through the DRC. Policy on Plagiarism 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 university-sponsored 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. <http://www.gmu.edu/facstaff/handbook/ad.html> 9