Day 1 Political Culture 07 08 Political Culture Broadly shared values beliefs and attributes about how the government should function and how politics should operate American Political Culture emphasizes values of liberty equality and democracy o Value of liberty freedom from government interferences applies to personal and economic o Equality we place value on equality of opportunity Equal chance to participate Different types of Political Culture Three types o Moralistic Political Culture belief that government should be active in promoting public good and citizens should participate in public and civil activities to ensure that good Usually found in northeastern USA o Individualistic Political Culture belief that government should limit itself to providing order in society By limiting themselves the citizens will be allowed to pursue their economic and personal self interest AKA capitalism We don t want them involved in our business o Traditionalistic Political Culture belief that government should be dominated by political elites and guided by tradition Political Elites are wealthy educated experienced well connected and white male Texas has a mixture of Individualistic and traditionalistic Political Culture Texas is not moralistic because it doesn t do a good job for the poor and less well off o Texas is Individualistic because it s the pro business state We want less regulation Texas sued Environmental Protection Services several times because it harms our business Texas believes federal and state government should not interfere in our business o Texas is traditionalistic because of the oil field gas Also big businesses have a lot of say because they donate a lot of money to officials Lilly Ledbetter Law There s a wage gap between men and women Federal government addressed it This law is based on a young lady who discovered that she is being discriminated against wages The males were making more She filled a wage discrimination lawsuit The court doesn t even look at it and tell her that she does not fit the criteria to fill it because she had to fill it within 180 days within discrimination occurring first occurred when she received her first paycheck Workers are not supposed to know the pay of their co workers and thus federal government passed this law Lucy worked in the company for 20 years The statue of limitation resets on every paycheck so every 180 days The new act states that the 180 day statute of limitations for filing an equal pay lawsuit regarding pay discrimination resets with each new paycheck affected by that discriminatory action GOOD LAW Last year Texas controlled by republicans passed a law based on Lucy that women shouldn t be discriminated However this law was vetoed by governor Rick Perry because Kroger and Macy s said if you allow this law we will have a huge financial burden and would appreciate the veto of the law Businesses have big ordinance Why does Texas have Individualistic and Traditionalistic Political Culture o For years Texas was a one party state democratic If you wanted to run you ran as a democratic because it was the tradition Occasionally a republican would win state office During the1990s republicans became competitive at state level treasurer commissioner In early 2000s republicans won every statewide election and control of both chambers of state legislature o In Texas we have a state legislature at federal level o Second reason Texas has this culture is because of Provincialism Provincialism is very narrow limited and self interest view of the world o Texas became a state in the year 1845 Only white males were allowed to vote back then so they would only follow white male as officers After the end of civil war white male and 1 3 of African American were allowed to vote Now white officers have to keep both of them in mind TX was a racist state back then it s still a political white male state In 1970s women started to vote white men in charge didn t like to listen to women Why are business groups allowed to dominate So that they can contribute Texas has 4 distinct regions o Gulf Coastal Plains In the east the gulf will drive us economically Shipping oil gas lumber timber farming land b c it s fertile Main concern for this region is shipping o Interior lowlands In the west mixture of metropolitan and rural areas Economy is based on agriculture and cattle ranching o Great Plains In Northwest Central Texas economy is based on agriculture ranching and petroleum production Texas is in a drought so the main concern for this region is the drought o Basin and Range Province In the south lot of cartels drugs they want more border security and protection because it s their main concern Texas has 9 political regions o Panhandle rural and conservative o West In panhandle rural and conservative o North agriculture o East timber country o Central agriculture o Gulf coast oil shipping diverse economy and culture attracts immigrants from around the world o South plantation mentality Mostly rural and farm o Southwest valley agriculture immigration and drug problems o German Hill Country in the center Day 2 Economic Change in Texas 07 09 Obama is coming and did not want to meet underprivileged children Governor Perry talks to him about it Conservatives think Perry was correct to not shake Obama s hand Federal government is in charge of order control and immigration matters An economist named Joseph Schumpeter promotes that there is a history of creative destruction something is created in the free market which allows another market to flourish First big money maker in Texas was cotton o Barbed wire led to the growth of cotton Serious cotton cultivation began in 1821 By 1880 Texas led all states in cotton production Barbed wire allowed farmers to protect their crops o Railroad was a moneymaker too because of transportation With the expansion of railroads we were able to open new markets to the state o With the growth of the railroad industry it also had a downside By the end of 1800s half of the farmers in Texas were tenant farmers Tenant farmers you work for someone else you get a share of the cotton that you produce don t own your land Economically bad for the tenant farmer because you re depended on the property owner If you have a bad year with no crops you re screwed Some groups tried to help these farmers o In 1870s we saw a group farm cult called the Grange They were an agriculture based group their purpose was to implement better farming