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TAMU POLS 207 - The Role of Government
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Economic IssuesT  ---------------------------------  A(L  ----  C)Slavery was a example of a freedom market economy – eradicating this has taken it away because there are regulations on how much you have to pay your workers. Anarchy = less regulation. Totalitarianism = more regulation.Social IssuesA ---------------------------------  T(L  ----  C)Totalitarianism – regulations. Control over how you must act and how you must dress etc. So moving towards A means less regulations and moving towards T means more regulation.Patriot Act took away many of our freedoms, after 9/11 fear led to this act.Government can now check your library subscriptions, emails and other details. Liberals are against this and don’t believe that government should have this power.China currently has a free market economy that has created a huge amount of pollution.There are no regulations on emissions and therefore companies do nothing to stop them. This has created huge amounts of smog covering Beijing.FDA is government regulation, which is moving towards the T on the scale.However, it helps stop harmful chemicals arriving in our food etc. so we have to decide between total freedom and a little government regulation.Even freedom of speech is regulated by Supreme Court decisions.Freedom of speech is not absolute.Marriage between couples of a different race previously has not been allowed. Loving v. Virginia changed this in the 60s.Now the issue has moved to same-sex marriage. More and more people are in favor of same-sex marriages.Abortion is another social issue that is extremely controversial.Current rulings is that women should have the freedom to choose.The government have, however, regulated this by trimester.However some states have passed laws that state that a Doctor can lie to their patients. They can tell the parents that there is not problem with the child, even if there is. This takes away the freedom of the women to choose.Conservatives are more likely to support regulating behavior – they want to regulate speech, marriage and abortion.Whether you are in favor of this or not stems from your political culture.Political Ideology(2 Dimensional)Liberal ConservativeFreedom (A) -------------------------------- Order (T)(Civil Liberties) (Restrict Behavior)Equality ---------------------------------- Efficiency(Social welfare programs) (Free Market)It is often the case that the dimensions are not consistent with one another.In other words if a person values social freedom they will not necessarily value equality also.Liberal ----------------------------------------- ConservativeEquality + Efficiency -Freedom - Order ++ = add regulation by government.- = takes away regulation by government.College Station is fairly heavily regulated – sound regulations, and regulations on housing. Such as the rule in some districts that states no more than two unmarried people can share a house.Neither ideology believes in total regulation or total freedom.Belief in Freedom & Efficiency is Libertarianism.Belief in Equality & Order is Populism.Conservativehigh value for social order and economic efficiencyGovt. power must be used to regulate individual choices.Oppose use of government power to regulate economy.Economic inequality is the natural consequence of human ability and energy.They see the need to use government power to guide and limit human behavior in the realm of morals but oppose the use of government to restrict human behavior in the economic realmLiberalhigh value for social freedom and economic equalityValue private property and market and willing to support govt. intervention to promote individual welfare and regulate the economyLibertarianhigh value for social freedom and economic efficiency (minimal government involvement in all aspects of life)Emphasize the autonomy of the individual and minimal role of govt.—individual should be free from government restraint in both economic and non economic spheres (NOT ANARCHY as may be perceived. They believe in minimal intervention of government, not a society without government)Populistfavor government intervention in the economy to benefit the average or little guy.Populists are not anti capitalists. They accept most of the assumptions of liberalism especially emphasizing individualism, equality of opportunity and property rights.Populists support the use of government power to regulate individual behavior so that it conforms to traditional moral and social values. (NOT TOTALITARIAN for the same reason that libertarians are not anarchists)The Texas Political CultureConservatismThe conservatism characterized by Thomas Jefferson’s statement that “that government is best which governs least” has dominated Texas politics since the end of the Civil War.Conservatism refers to a general hostility to government activity, or laissez-faire, especially in the economic sphere and is consistent with the individualist political culture on economic issues and consistent with the traditionalist political culture on social issues.Texas conservatism minimizes the role of government in society while stressing an individualism that maximizes the role of businesspeople in controlling the economy.Social DarwinismThe belief that individuals who prosper and rise to the top of the socioeconomic ladder are worthy and deserving, while those who sink to the bottom are unworthy and deserve their poverty continues to dominate the thinking of many Texans.However, some people work 3 jobs at minimum wage and are still struggling. They are not lazy but many people class them as this just because they are poor.Texas has recently made it harder for children to get free healthcare – they have decreased the maximum income allowed and made it so families have to constantly reapply for it.The prevalence of Social Darwinism has resulted in many state policies that are unusually stingy toward the underprivileged.Emanating from pseudo laissez-faire economic doctrine and Social Darwinism is a trickle-down theory of economic and social development (holding that everyone’s situation can be bettered by insuring that business flourishes)People in the US are more likely to call themselves conservatives than liberals. Even the most liberal state (Massachusetts) has a higher percentage of conservatives.Texas is ranked 26 – have 16.7% calling themselves liberal and 35.5% calling themselves conservative. Figures 3.1-3.4 show these statistics in


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TAMU POLS 207 - The Role of Government

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