Office Hours: MW 4:15-6:15 PM, and by appointment
J.J. Pitney
Office: Pitzer 215
Telephone: 909/607-4224
E-mail:
jpitney@mckenna.edu
or profpitney@yahoo.com
Daniel Patrick Moynihan observed: “Some . . . deny the existence of evil and others the existence of grace. The art of politics is to live with the reality of both.” With this comment in mind, we take a realistic overview of American politics. This course aims to:
In addition to providing general background on American politics, this course also emphasizes certain themes. One is the continuing relevance of the Declaration of Independence. Historian Pauline Maier has called it "American Scripture," and since 1776, Americans have argued about its meaning. Another is the central role of religion in America political life. Tocqueville said that religion is the first of our political institutions. We shall ponder what he meant by that.
Many of the readings are provocative. Do not assume that your professor agrees with everything in the readings, or that you need to do so. Feel free to challenge anything you read, but back up what you say.
Classes
Classes will include lecture and discussion. Finish the readings
before class because our discussions will involve those readings.
We shall also talk about breaking news, so you must read a good news source
such as the
New York Times,
the Los Angeles Times or
ABC
"The Note" (http://abcnews.go.com/sections/politics/TheNote/TheNote.html)
Grades
The following will make up your course grade:
All three papers will develop your writing and analytic ability. When grading, I do take the quality of writing into account, applying the standards of Strunk and White. If you object to this approach, do not take this course – or anything else that I teach.
The research assignments will polish your ability to work the library and the Internet.
The final examination will test your factual knowledge and comprehension of the readings.
In addition to the required readings (below), I may also give you handouts and web links covering current events and basic factual information. The final will cover this material.
Class participation will hone your ability to think on your feet. This grade hinges on class discussions and a brief oral presentation. I will call on students at random, and if you often miss sessions or fail to prepare, your grade will suffer.
As a courtesy to your fellow students, please arrive promptly and refrain from eating in class.
Carefully check the due dates for papers, as well as the date of the final exam. Arrange your schedule accordingly. Do not plan on seeking extensions or make-up work.
Plagiarism will mean referral to the Academic Standards Committee.
Required Books
Saul D. Alinsky, Rules for Radicals (New York: Vintage, 1989).
James W. Ceaser and Andrew E. Busch, Red Over Blue: The 2004 Elections and American Politics ( Lanham, Maryland: Rowman and Littlefield, 2005).
Samuel P. Huntington, Who Are We? The Challenges to America's National Identity (New York: Simon and Schuster, 2004).
Peter Augustine Lawler and Robert Martin Schaefer, eds., American Political Rhetoric: A Reader, 5th ed. (Lanham, Maryland: Rowman and Littlefield, 2005).
William Strunk and E. B. White, The Elements of Style, 4th ed. (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1999).
Alexis deTocqueville, Democracy in America, trans. George Lawrence,
ed. J.P. Mayer (Garden City, New York: HarperCollins, 1969 [1835/40]).
Schedule (Subject to change, with advance notice).
In addition to the readings below, I may also supply you with various handouts and Internet links.
Aug 31: Introduction
"Our forefathers were blowing people up because they taxed their breakfast beverage, for God's sake. And it wasn't even coffee. They weren't even jittery. It was tea." -- Dennis Miller
Sept 5, 7: Principles of the American Political Order
"If all men are created equal, that is final. If they are endowed with inalienable rights, that is final. If governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed, that is final. No advance, no progress can be made beyond these propositions. If anyone wishes to deny their truth or their soundness, the only direction in which he can proceed historically is not forward, but backward toward the time when there was no equality, no rights of the individual, no rule of the people." -- Calvin Coolidge
ESSAY ASSIGNED SEPTEMBER 7, DUE SEPTEMBER 19.
READ STRUNK AND WHITE FIRST!
Sept 12, 14: The Constitution"Whereas resolution of the Cyprus problem is also consistent with American values, as enshrined in the rights guaranteed by the Constitution of the United States, which guarantees the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness..." -- S. Con. Res. 22 (107th Congress)
Sept 19, 21: American Character -- Service and Religion
“I sought for the greatness and genius of America in her commodious harbors and her ample rivers—and it was not there . . . in her fertile fields and boundless forests and it was not there . . . in her rich mines and her vast world commerce—and it was not there . . . in her democratic Congress and her matchless Constitution—and it was not there. Not until I went into the churches of America and heard her pulpits flame with righteousness did I understand the secret of her genius and power. America is great because she is good, and if America ever ceases to be good, she will cease to be great.” -- Not Alexis deTocqueville
Sept 26, 28: Citizenship, Civil Liberties and Civil Rights
"The main civil liberty I'm looking to protect is the 'me not getting blown up' one. I don't know if it's written down anywhere in Tom Paine's crib sheets, but that's my big one." -- Dennis Miller
INDIVIDUAL RESEARCH PROJECT ASSIGNED SEPT 28, DUE OCT 10
Oct 3, 5: Constitutional Development -- Federalism and Government Power"The budget should be balanced. Public debt should be reduced. The arrogance of officialdom should be tempered, and assistance to foreign lands should be curtailed, lest Rome become bankrupt." -- Not Cicero
Oct 10, 12: Opinion and the Media
"Those who profess to favor freedom and yet deprecate agitation, are men who want crops without plowing up the ground, they want rain without thunder and lightning. They want the ocean without the awful roar of its many waters." -- Frederick Douglass
Oct 19: Interest Groups
"If they don't have the guts to come up here in front of you and say, 'I don't want to represent you, I want to represent those special interests, the unions, the trial lawyers ... if they don't have the guts, I call them girlie men." -- Arnold Schwarzenegger
Oct 24, 26: Parties and Elections I
"I hate the Republicans and everything they stand for, but I admire their discipline and their organization." -- Howard Dean
GROUP RESEARCH PROJECT ASSIGNED OCT 26, DUE NOV 9
Oct 31, Nov 2: Parties and Elections II
"Democrats are the party of government activism, that says government can make you richer, smarter, taller, and get the chickweed out of your lawn. Republicans are the party that says government doesn't work, and then they get elected and prove it." -- P.J. O'Rourke
Nov 7, 9: Congress
“When one enters the House of Representatives at Washington, one is struck by the vulgar demeanor of that great assembly.” -- Tocqueville
Nov 14, 16: The Presidency and Bureaucracy
"In two years I had learned that the White House is a wonderful place for a writer, and a terrible place. Wonderful because what you wrote mattered, made an impact, sometimes made things better. Terrible because what I did was so removed from any ongoing reality that it seemed, sometimes, bizarre." -- Peggy Noonan
Nov 21, 23: Judiciary
"I was convinced that the law compelled a result that I would have opposed if I were a legislator." -- Justice John Paul Stevens, explaining why he backed decisions with "unwise" outcomes.
Nov 28, 30: Political Warfare I
"Anger is more useful than despair."-- Arnold Schwarzenegger, in Terminator 3
Dec 5, 7: Political Warfare II
“We’re not Spartans, we’re Americans! With a capital ‘A,’ huh? And you know what that means? Do you? That means that our forefathers were kicked out of every decent country in the world!” -- Bill Murray, in Stripes
Alinsky, 98-196.
Huntington, ch. 12.
FINAL EXAM: MONDAY, DECEMBER 12, AT 2 PM