P SC 1113 1st Edition Lecture 1 Outline of Last Lecture I Went over the syllabus thoroughly Outline of Current Lecture I Introductory Quotes A Alexis de Tocqueville 1835 B Brookings Institution 2005 II Is America on the Right Track or the Wrong Track III Are There Structural Concerns a Diffuse support b Specific support IV Politics Who Gets What When and How V How Important is Managing the Economy to Us VI Are There Concerns with the Way Our Government Resolves Conflicts VII Five Fundamental Principles Underlining Our Democracy Current Lecture I Introductory Quotes we do not need to know these on the exam Professor Johnson used them as an introduction to this course and said it was unnecessary to write them down A Alexis de Tocqueville 1835 B Brookings Institution 2005 II Is America on the Right Track or the Wrong Track A In a poll approximately 30 of responders said America is on the right track while approximately 61 said it is on the wrong track B He asked the class and we were slightly more pessimistic about 20 of us said it is on the right track while about 80 of us said it is on the wrong track C What could be influencing this opinion Has there been recent bad news These notes represent a detailed interpretation of the professor s lecture GradeBuddy is best used as a supplement to your own notes not as a substitute a Annexing of Ukraine b ISIS c Ebola d Ferguson e CIA Interrogation Practice Reports D Was 2014 just depressing frustrating angering unnerving news wise a Last year the survey said 29 63 so it was about the same b This split is pretty constant It doesn t vary much with bad news or good news E Has there been good news this year a Stock market is improving b Gas prices are getting cheaper c More people think now is a good time to find a quality job III Are There Structural Concerns A There are no calls for extreme changes B Two different types of support for government a Diffuse support How we feel about the system we ve chosen b Specific support How we feel about those who are running the system i We can get a feel for how our nation feels about specific support by examining things like 1 Presidential ratings the U S is pretty 50 50 on Obama 2 How well we feel Congress is doing the U S generally doesn t like Congress 3 How much support we hold for the Supreme Court the U S generally likes the Supreme Court C This must mean that we like democracy diffuse but we are unhappy with who s running it how they re running it and their decisions specific IV Politics Who Gets What When and How A Are there concerns with the services our government offers Is it doing too much Too little B The government provides some services for all while other services are for some a Maybe all isn t really all Ferguson police maybe aren t protecting everyone as they should be b Maybe we re frustrated with who s in the some V How Important is Managing the Economy to Us A If we took this concern away most people think we d feel better about the track the U S is headed on VI Are There Concerns with the Way Our Government Resolves Conflicts A Is it not quick enough Think Medicare we ve been searching for a solution for many many years B Is the Federal Government setting a bad example a Thomas Patterson introduced the idea of game vs governing i Game Any time we try to get anything done it turns into who won a desire to make headlines and a power struggle a ii negative aspect of our government Governing Policies discussed issues talked about processes are followed a positive aspect of our government VII Five Fundamental Principles Underlining Our Democracy A Equality in Voting B Individual Freedom C Equal Protection of the Law D Majority Rule Minority Rights E Voluntary Consent to be Governed