POLS 206 1st Edition Lecture 5 Outline of Last Lecture I Current Events II Summary of Housing Crisis a When this crashed homeowners owed way more than what their home was worth and were underwater since they had liquidated those assets b Rational Choice Theory III Goods a Commodities things or assets that we all get even if we didn t help in its creation Not everyone pays taxes IV Major Role of Government V Privatization i Roads and prisons are good examples ii It can compromise other qualities that we value though VI Problems with the Rules of Government VII Colonial Experience a Declaration of Independence i Act of political persuasion b Articles of Confederation 1 There was an inherent distrust of a strong central government Outline of Current Lecture I Current Events a President rallies MC and public for support i 60 70 of Americans opposed the airstrikes II Articles of Confederation III Philadelphia Convention IV James Madison a Father of the constitution V Agendas Objective and Values VI Federalist Papers a Federalist 10 i Large republic a The system was designed to be slow and inefficient that does not mean that it is flawed b Is Madison s argument right i Does it keep representation faithful Current Lecture I Current Events a President rallies MC and public for support wants them to put pressure on congress i Still a huge amount of people that are undecided ii 60 70 of Americans opposed the airstrikes iii Do you think he will be successful in altering opinions b Possibly a new way out i Russia proposes to place weapons under international monitoring ii Syrian foreign minister said that they would accept the proposal iii MC working on a draft proposal to submit to the UN Security Council but it would be very logistically difficult to move all of these weapons in an efficient and safe manner iv How will the rebels react to this And what happens when they see that we have made promises that we haven t kept II Articles of Confederation a All national power placed in congress b Super majorities with unanimous consent c Weak national government d The number of collective action problems became evident i Could raise armies and navy and enter into treaties ii Could not regulate interstate commerce or raise taxes 1 No national currency and that made it difficult to have transactions take place between the states iii Economic depression Shay s rebellion due to the farmer s inability to pay taxes III Philadelphia Convention a Economic trouble motivated delegates to be sent to a meeting to avoid civil war or revolution b Agreed to amend the articles but not completely changed them which is what eventually ended up happening c Changed the rules so that ratifications would take place with 9 13 states approval d The delegates were the elites of their time i Landowners doctors lawyers professionals Federalists ii Farmers rural people less educated Anti Federalists 1 Under represented at Philly convention IV James Madison a Emerged as the leader and the father of the constitution b Founding fathers often revered in our eyes and in truth they were the elites of their time wealthier upper class that wanted to maintain the status quo c Their philosophy about human nature is what set a precedent for the governmental structure People are self interested and they created ways to channel that selfish interest into something productive V Agendas Objective and Values a They had built in rules to achieve certain goals b No such thing as a neutral institution advantageous for some detrimental for others c Federalist Papers explain the rationale of our founding fathers d Wanted gridlock they wanted things to move slowly and make sure that the lower class was unable to overtake the government VI Federalist Papers a Written to persuade people to adopt the constitution b 85 essays 10 and 51 are important c Why the government was the way it was i Sought to design an institution to protect the status of the privileged d Federalist 10 i Factions or groups of people existed to advance their own agenda 1 Young people gun owners etc ii Human nature will drive people to form factions iii Different people have different interests iv Upper class versus lower class v Thought that conflict would lead to anarchy tyranny and disorder 1 How did Madison propose to fix this a He said that it was impractical to try and do so b Cure would be worse than the disease c Rather design institutions to temper them vi Control violence with a representative government 1 Indirect form of democracy a Elect people who are faithful to our interests b Minority perspective diluted vii Large republic 1 There is more diversity with a larger republic 2 Creates a problem with collective action though 3 Classic democratic theory was that republics had to be small a Madison contradicted this b He wanted government to cumbersome c Most of the time gridlock will ensue d Hinges on the hope that representatives will act in the interest of the people due to the fact that they are motivated by the idea of re election e The system was designed to be slow and inefficient that does not mean that it is flawed e Is Madison s argument right i Does it keep representation faithful 1 Assuming they want to be re elected yes 2 Assuming people pay attention 3 Assuming they want to stay in the good graces of the people a Presidential final term 4 Assumes elections are competitive