1. Political Beliefs & Ideologies
Lecture Notes

2. Vocab
Political Party: An organization that seeks to achieve power by electing its members to public office.
Platform: A political party’s statement of principles and objectives.
Pluralism: The idea that political power should be distributed and shared among various groups in a society.
Two-party system: a political system in which two parties dominate the electoral process and control the government.

3. Evolution of the Two Party System
Alexander Hamilton and his followers became known as Federalists.
They favored a strong national government and drew their support largely from commercial and industrial interests in northern cities.
Thomas Jefferson and his supporters, became known as the Democratic- Republicans.
They favored a much weaker national government and strong state governments. They gained the backing of farmers and rural interests in southern states.

4. Evolution of the Two Party System
In 1796, John Adams, a Federalist, succeeded Washington in office. Four years later, however, Adams lost the election to Jefferson. After that defeat, the Federalist Party declined and, within a few years, disappeared altogether.
For a brief time, one party—the Democratic- Republicans—dominated U.S. politics. In the 1820s, however, disgruntled members broke away and formed a new political faction. First called National Republicans, the new faction later became known as the Whig Party. Around the same time, the remaining Democratic-Republicans became known simply as Democrats.
In the 1850s, the issue of slavery deeply divided the Whigs, and their party soon fell apart. A number of former Whigs joined with antislavery activists to form the Republican Party in During the Civil War and the presidency of Abraham Lincoln, the Republicans established themselves as the nation’s second major party. The Democratic and Republican parties have dominated American politics ever since.
Make chart on board to copy into notes

5. Two-Party System Today
Over the years, the two parties have evolved and changed, and so have their bases of support.
For example, the Democrats were once the strongest party in the South. Today the Republicans generally enjoy more support among southern voters.
The distribution of red and blue states led many political observers to conclude that the United States had become deeply divided along political lines.

6. Not as sharp a divide as we think
Not all party members agree with everything their party stands for

8. Size of the national Government
In general, Democrats support a strong federal government and look to it to solve a wide variety of problems.
Most Republicans favor limiting the size of the national government and giving more power to the states to solve problems at a local level.

9. Taxes
Republicans favor tax cuts to encourage economic growth and to allow people to keep what they earn.
Although Democrats favor tax cuts for the poor, they are more willing to raise taxes on affluent Americans in order to support programs that they see as beneficial to society.

10. Regulation of Business
Democrats generally support government regulation of business as a way to protect consumers, workers, or the environment. Most Republicans oppose what they see as excessive business regulation by the government believing that too much regulation prevents economic growth.

11. Social Issues
Republicans tend to oppose legalizing same-sex marriage, abortion, and gun control laws.
Democrats are more likely to support same-sex marriage rights, abortion, and gun control laws.

12. Environment Most Democrats favor strict environmental regulations.
Republicans tend to oppose such regulations because they believe it hurts businesses and the economy.

13. Types of Media Bias Placement Omission Labeling Selection of Sources
Where is an article located in a news source?
How far down in the story does the opposite belief appear?
Labeling
Using extreme labels for one group
Giving authority to one group
Spin
Interpretation
Authors opinion on an event
Omission
Leaving out one side of an article
Ignoring facts that disprove claims
Selection of Sources
Including more sources from one view than another
“experts say” or “most people believe”
Story Selection
Highlighting news stories that coincide with the agenda of one side, while ignoring the other

14. The Greeks Loved to argue!
Three forms of persuasion:
Pathos: Using emotion: fear, love, joy, hatred.
Ethos: Appealing to the way we see the world:
who we consider to be trustworthy
(celebrity endorsements)
what groups we want to belong to.
Logos: Using reason and logic.

15. Interest Groups
Americans join all kinds of groups that reflect their interests. When such groups seek to influence government, at any level, they are called special-interest groups or special interests. The term special interest refers to a particular goal or set of goals that unites the members of a group.
In the case of the National Rifle Association (NRA), for example, that goal is protecting the rights of gun owners. For the Wilderness Society, it is preserving wild lands.

16. The Role of Interest Groups
Seek to influence the making and content of public policy.
1st Amendment (right to assemble)

17. Difference between political parties and interest groups:
Interest groups do not nominate candidates for public office.

18. Difference between political parties and interest groups:
Interest groups are primarily concerned with controlling or influencing the policies of government
political parties are interested in winning elections and controlling the government.

19. Difference between political parties and interest groups:
Interest groups concentrate on the issues that most directly affect its members.
Political parties concentrate on a wide range of public affairs.

20. Difference between political parties and interest groups:
Interest groups are private organizations
Political parties are accountable to the public.

21. Types of Interest Groups
Business Groups
Voices for big and small businesses
Labor Groups
Workers who share the same type of job (teachers union)
Trade Associations
Found within business community
Agricultural Groups
Favors the free market economy and opposes government regulations
Professional Groups
Require extensive and specialized training (lawyers, doctors, etc)
Public Interest Groups
Institute certain public policies to benefit most people in the U.S

22. The electoral College
In spite of what many Americans believe, presidential elections are not technically decided by the popular vote.
Presidents elected by the Electoral College
Designed to protect the influence of small population states and minority votes.
Champion of the 2-Party System

23. Why the electoral college?
The Framers of the Constitution did not trust voters who were spread out over 13 states to choose the head of the executive branch.
Gave that responsibility to a group of electors who might better know who was best suited for that job.
At first, each state legislature chose its own electors.
After 1800, states began allowing voters to choose electors.

24. Sources of Funding
1-Small Contributors! LIKE ME!  Typically $5-$10 dollars….

25. 2-Wealthy Individuals (Fat Cats)

26. 3-Candidates
Yes, they and their families will give their own money to help their campaign. Ross Perot gave $65 million of his own money and lost!

27. 4- Political Action Committees (PACS)
PACs are private groups sponsored by corporations, trade associations, unions, or other interest groups. By law, PACs are allowed to collect donations and funnel that money into political campaigns.
In 1980, PACs contributed about $131 million to candidates. By 2012, the figure had risen to more than $560 million. Even adjusting for inflation, that is a substantial increase.
Many Americans believe that PAC campaign contributions give interest groups too much influence over elected officials.

28. Background: Citizens United v. FEC (2010)
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that corporations and unions have the same political speech rights as individuals under the First Amendment.
No compelling government interest for prohibiting corporations and unions from using funds to make election-related independent expenditures.
No limit to campaign finance
Reading -> then notes
Federal Election Committee (15 minutes + Discussion)