Bases on the cultural patterns of the fifty states identified by Daniel Elazar, Texas is located at a midpoint between traditionalist and individualist political cultures.Individualistic Political CultureIt is an approach to government and politics that emphasizes private initiative with minimum government interference.This political culture stresses the importance of the individual and private initiative.Self-reliance, Texas is a frontier state and fairly rural. People are expected to look after themselves rather than relying on others.It emphasizes a role of government limited to protecting individual rights, ensuring that social and political relationships are based upon merit rather than tradition, family ties, or personal connections.Moralistic Political CultureIt is an approach of government and politics in which people expect government to intervene in the social and economic affairs of the state, promoting the public welfare and advancing the public good.This political culture regards participation in political affairs as one’s civic duty.If you are expecting the government to help you, you must be part of the system. Unlike individualistic, who feel that government should be small.Traditional Political CultureIt is an approach to government and politics that sees the role of government as the preservation of tradition and existing social order.Resistance to change. Gay marriage will not happen for a while in Texas most likely.In this view, government leadership lies in the hands of the established social elite, and the level of participation by ordinary citizens in the policymaking process is relative low.According to this political culture, the role of government is to protect and preserve the existing social order.Texas is a mixture of individualistic and traditional political cultures.Texas Political CultureProfessor Elazar believes that the political culture of Texas is a hybrid that includes both traditionalistic an individualistic elements.Texas’s traditional political culture is represented in the state’s long history of one-party rule, low levels of voter turnout, and social and economic conservatism.Texas’s individualistic political culture is represented in the state’s strong support for private business, opposition to big government, and faith in individual initiatives.Political culture is a useful concept because it focuses on a state’s history and development as important factors influencing politics and policy.Participation rates higher for moralistic and lower for traditionalistic. Texas has a very low turnout for elections due to its political culture.Purposes of GovernmentWhat are the roles that government should play in supporting society.1. Maintain OrderEstablish law to preserve life and protect property2. Provide Public GoodsBenefits and services available and beneficial to everyone. (Externalities)EducationSanitationBenefits the market is unable to provide.Street lightsParksUtilitiesFree market ideal believes that all these should be provided by the private sector but that is not what happens in the US. The government provides for these services but there can be privately funded roads, parks and utilities.However, if a private enterprise did this, how would they tax it? Everyone would argue that they were not using the service – free-rider problem. Everyone wants to use the good but nobody wants to pay for it.3. Promote Equality- Help the poor (newest and most controversial use of government).Residents of Texas want the government to maintain order but don’t want to pay higher taxes etc. to fund this maintenance of order.People like to have control over most aspects of their lives – therefore, parents often choose to home-school their children because they don’t trust the local school district.The Role of GovernmentTotalitarian ----------------------------------------------- AnarchyTotalitarianism – government should have unlimited power (Hitler with Nazis, Stalin with Communist Russia). Also in North Korea and monarchies such as Saudi Arabia.Anarchy – no government power (no government). Example is Somalia.The Role of the Government in the EconomySocialism --------------------------------------------------Capitalism(Equality) (Efficiency)Socialism – government owns the basic goods and services provided to members of the societyCapitalism – individuals own the basic goods and services provided to member of the society, and do with them as they please.As resources become more abundant, and society becomes more civilized, government moves closer and closer to socialism. It works much better under these circumstances.Healthcare is a promotion of equality, so that people are healthy to work and so that they can look after their children if they cannot afford healthcare.Free market system does not allow for child labor laws or compulsory education – this means that children can be used to earn money. This is the most efficient system for capitalism. Hong Kong has the freest market in the world. Hong Kong belongs to China, which is a Communist country. Economic and political systems have to be separated; Communism is a political system, capitalism is an economic system.US is 6th in the free market economy rankings.Argument for SocialismLabor in a market system becomes less and less valuable as it becomes more productiveArgument against SocialismWhen everything is divided equally there is no incentive for the individual to produceArgument for CapitalismIt maximizes economic growth and promotes freedom of individual wealthArgument against CapitalismIt leaves less intellectually and socially privileged without means for quality of lifePOLS 207 1st Edition Lecture 6Outline of Current Lecture II. The Texas Political CultureA. The Concept of Political CultureIII. Purposes of Governmenta. The Role of Governmentb. The Role of Government in the EconomyCurrent Lecture: The Texas Political CultureDifferent States have different cultures and this affects the policies that they enforce and the policies that citizens want.The Concept of Political Culture- Political culture is a shared framework of values, beliefs, and habits in behavior in regard to government and politics.- Texas political culture is distinctive for a variety of reasons.o The state’s great size and its relative geographic isolation until the 20th century are important factors. Isolated, allows Texas to create its own culture without interference from other