1. Today’s Agenda What does it mean to institutionalize preferences?
Spatial modeling
A spatial model of ice cream trucks
A spatial model of federalism
A spatial model of slavery
Federalism
Calhoun and human nature
Critiques of Calhoun
Heresthetics and the civil war
Why was the civil war put off for so long?
Why did it have to happen when it did?
Calhoun in 1850, the year he died:
“This country will go to war over the election of a president in ten years”

2. Why so Hard to Change? Institutions in a democracy
My ideas are important!
Institutionalizing my preferences
Makes it harder for people to take power and make changes to my ideas!
Institutions are the legitimized preferences of past winning coalitions

3. How to Change?

4. Federalism…
…is a political system in which power is divided and shared between the national/central government and the states (regional units) in order to limit the power of government.
Examples of countries with federal governments: United States, Canada, Australia, India
Distinguish from
-- Unitary Governments - government power clearly lodged in central government and local governments are mere administrative units.
-- Confederations - group of sovereign states joining for limited purposes. Ultimate power resides with the sovereign states.

5. Calhoun
Despite being a horrible human, he wrote an excellent essay on federalism
Theory
Human beings care about things closer to them than things that are far away
Therefore, they should have some control over the things close to them
Power should go against power
Thus, states should have a veto

6. Critique of Calhoun
People also care about things that are close but not in terms of territory, such as other things they have in common
Race
Religion
Language
ethnicity

7. Confederalism…
…is a political system in which power held at the subnational level and limited powers given to the national government.
(United Nations, Articles of Confederation)
Examples of countries with federal governments: United States, Canada, Australia, India
Distinguish from
-- Unitary Governments - government power clearly lodged in central government and local governments are mere administrative units.
-- Confederations - group of sovereign states joining for limited purposes. Ultimate power resides with the sovereign states.

8. Consociationalism…
…is a political system in which power held at the level of some attribute of people (language differences, racial, ethnic differences) and there are a variety of ways that powers are given to the national government. (Netherlands, South Africa, Lebanon)
Examples of countries with federal governments: United States, Canada, Australia, India
Distinguish from
-- Unitary Governments - government power clearly lodged in central government and local governments are mere administrative units.
-- Confederations - group of sovereign states joining for limited purposes. Ultimate power resides with the sovereign states.

9. Origins
Just like democracy, an accidental contract between people who would not otherwise negotiate
Not an idea – a negotiation
South Africa?
Examples of countries with federal governments: United States, Canada, Australia, India
Distinguish from
-- Unitary Governments - government power clearly lodged in central government and local governments are mere administrative units.
-- Confederations - group of sovereign states joining for limited purposes. Ultimate power resides with the sovereign states.

10. An introduction to spatial models
A theory of where to put your ice cream stand on a beach

11. Customers: which stand is closer?

12. Which ice cream stand wins?

13. Which ice cream stand wins?

14. This is where they will end up: equilibrium
And this is why our political parties
are not that different from one another
This might also be why moderate Democrats
feared Bernie and
Republicans feared Trump

15. Socially optimal: minimize the distance of the
need to walk over hot sand
Notice that this would also give voters a true ideological choice
And note the difference between the market optimal outcome and the social optimal outcome

16. A spatial model of federalism
More centralized power
More state power
Big states
Small states

17. A spatial model of federalism
Note that this means that federalism and slavery outcomes were self enforcing
Abolitionist
Slave states
Big states
Small states

18. Civil War Why did it take so long to happen?
Why did it have to happen by 1860?

19. Missouri Compromise
Slave state must accompany a free state when entering the union
What is the institutional reason for such a compromise?

20. Spatial models

21. Lincoln Douglas debates
Lincoln: Should states be allowed to choose whether they are slave or not?

22. A new dimension Lincoln’s question Abolitionist Agrarian Commercial
Slavery

23. Heresthetics: slavery is unstable

24. The role of the Senate

25. Heresthetics: the election of 2016
Free trade protectionism
Not racism
Clinton
Bernie
Lower SES
Higher SES
Trump
Racism

26. Some events Slavery does not travel well Louisiana Purchase
Underground railroad
Makes the Compromise of 1850 necessary
Loss of the Senate balance rule
Slavery now unstable: no longer an equilibrium
Massive immigration makes slavery less necessary

27. Commerce clause history…
Nothing is interstate commerce ( )
Everything is interstate commerce ( )
Most, but not all things are interstate commerce (1994-present)
Examples of countries with federal governments: United States, Canada, Australia, India
Distinguish from
-- Unitary Governments - government power clearly lodged in central government and local governments are mere administrative units.
-- Confederations - group of sovereign states joining for limited purposes. Ultimate power resides with the sovereign states.

28. Famous Footnote
There may be narrower scope for operation of the presumption of constitutionality when legislation appears on its face to be within a specific prohibition of the Constitution, such as those of the first ten amendments, which are deemed equally specific when held to be embraced within the Fourteenth

29. Famous Footnote
It is unnecessary to consider now whether legislation which restricts those political processes which can ordinarily be expected to bring about repeal of undesirable legislation, is to be subjected to more exacting judicial scrutiny under the general prohibitions of the Fourteenth Amendment than are most other types of legislation

30. Famous Footnote
Nor need we inquire whether similar considerations enter into the review of statutes directed at particular religious or national or racial minorities . . . : whether prejudice against discrete and insular minorities may be a special condition, which tends seriously to curtail the operation of those political processes ordinarily to be relied upon to protect minorities, and which may call for a correspondingly more searching judicial inquiry

31. Clint Eastwood