AMERICAN POLITICS AND PUBLIC POLICY
POLITICS 101
FALL 2007
Class Sessions: Tuesday and Thursday 1:30-2:55 pm in Fowler 112
Films: Monday 7-9 pm in Weingart 117
Professor Peter Dreier
Office: Urban & Environmental Policy Institute (UEPI)
Office Hours: Tuesday and Thursday, 3-5 pm and by appointment.
Phone: (323) 259-2913 Email: dreier@oxy.edu
What This Course is About
Many Americans have become cynical about politics and government. They associate these words with “dirty” election campaigns, broken promises, corruption and scandals, or wars. But politics and government are about much more than that. They shape how we live. Almost every aspect of your life is in some way shaped by the outcome of politics and government, which is public policy. These include: Where you live, what you learn (or don't learn) in school, the kind of car you drive, your career ambitions, the kind of job(s) you take, the quality of the food you eat, and the quality of the air you breathe. They are also about what role the U.S. should play in the world, including when and whether the U.S. should go to war.
Politics and government can be a force for good or evil, for justice or injustice. Politics and government can be competent or incompetent. This course looks at the major institutions and ideas of American government, how policy is made, and what impact it has on society.
This course is intended to help you understand the workings of American government, to evaluate its strengths and weaknesses, and to help you decide how to participate in making government work better.
Government policies are made up of a series of decisions or choices over a period of time. These choices involve (a) whether to do anything at all about a problem or issue and (b) what to do. These choices involve actions such as passing laws, raising and spending money, creating regulations, enforcing (or not enforcing) laws and regulations, and adjudicating disputes.
All politics and public policy involves values -- what people think is good or bad, the proper role of government, and how society should be organized. Public policy involves political conflict -- differences between organized groups about what should and shouldn't be in the law and regulations.
A key to understanding American government, politics, and public policy is to compare our own political institutions to those of other countries, including other democracies. For example:
This course is organized around three key themes:
Part 1: Democracy and Society. This focuses on the major political views (sometimes called ideologies) about the appropriate role of government and citizenship in American society. How much of a voice should “ordinary” people have in their government - and other institutions? We will explore the different views of the “founding fathers” and how these views have evolved since then. We will also look at different views about what kinds of “rights” people have or assume they have and the ways that government protects and/or violates these “rights.” We will look at the differences between conservatism, liberalism, and other ideologies.
Part 2: Democracy, Social Class, and Social Justice. This focuses on the various forms of economic and social inequality in our society -- particularly socio-economic classes as well as race, gender, and geography. We will look at how these inequalities shape our political system and on the ways that government and politics promotes or discourages equality, fairness, and opportunity for people.. We will also examine the relationship between the private sector (business and the labor market), the public sector (government), and individual citizens.
Part 3: Political Participation. This focuses on the different ways that citizens, individually and as part of groups, take part in their government. We will examine the impact of the mass media, interest groups and their various resources, voting and election campaigns, political parties, electoral systems, and mass movements. We will look at the role that money plays in influencing politics and government. We will also look at how organized citizens can influence politics and government through interest groups and grassroots movements, including movements to address such issues as racism, sexism, economic inequality, and human rights and civil liberties..
Course Format and Requirements
The course will meet twice a week -- on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 1:30 ‑2:55 p.m. Every student is expected to attend every lecture and to arrive promptly at 1:30 p.m.
Films will be shown on Mondays at 7 p.m. in Weingart 117 These are required.
The basic elements of this course include:
Reading. Readings (books, articles, reports, tables and charts) will be assigned for each week, as specified below. Students are expected to do the reading before each class and be prepared to discuss the readings in class. All readings except the books -- The Democratic Debate, Savage Inequalities, and Ending the War in Iraq -- will be available on electronic reserve on the Oxy library website. Look for the website for Politics 101. I strongly recommend that you print these readings and keep them in a loose-leaf binder. This will help you prepare for class discussions, papers, and exams. Bring the readings to class with you. I may make some changes to the readings during the semester to keep abreast of current events and breaking news. In addition, I will distribute various tables and charts in class, or add them to the course website, throughout the semester.
Films. During the semester, we will screen and discuss films each Monday night (except the first week, when the films will be shown on a Tuesday night). I expect every student to see each film. The names and dates of the films are listed in the syllabus.
Class Discussion. Class discussions will center on the readings and films. Many of these sessions will involve discussions about public policy issues. Students are encouraged to debate these and disagree ‑‑ but to do so based on information and evidence as well as their own values.
Writing. Each student will have six writing assignments during the term ‑‑ three short essays, a profile of your Congressional district and Congressperson, a profile of two presidential candidates , a midterm exam, and a final exam. The schedule of writing assignments is on the last page of the syllabus.
In grading your written work, I will look not only at the content, but also at the style. Be sure to proofread your papers before handing them in. Look for spelling, punctuation, and grammatical errors. Be clear and concise. Don't repeat yourself. Cite your sources. Make sure you understand the assignment. It helps to do an outline before you begin writing. Show it to your discussion section professor and discuss it with him/her before revising. Students are also urged to take advantage of the college's Center for Academic Excellence (ground floor of the library) to get help with their essays. Don't be hesitant. The Center staff is eager to assist you and can help you improve your writing significantly. For most essays and both exams the following eight criteria will be used:
1. Do you have a clear thesis? This should be a sentence or two early in your essay.
2. Have you employed appropriate concepts?
3. Have you presented persuasive evidence to support your thesis or arguments?
4. Have you made appropriate reference to the assigned readings?
5. Have you made a tie‑in to current events? Refer to items in the daily newspapers when appropriate.
6. Have you sought to find a creative twist ‑‑ a different viewpoint, a distinctive argument, unusual evidence?
7. Is your prose readable? Read your prose aloud to check on this.
8. Is your essay mechanically flawless? Typos, misspellings, and punctuation errors are inexcusable.
Newspapers Clippings
I encourage students in Politics 101 to get in the habit of reading a daily newspaper. The most useful papers are the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, the Christian Science Monitor, and the Wall Street Journal. You can get a subscription to any of these publications, buy some of them in the bookstore, or read them in the library. You can also subscribe to the Washington Post National Weekly, which includes the best articles from the previous week's Washington Post. You can subscribe via the web.
Our library also subscribes to many "opinion magazines." These are weekly, bi-weekly, and monthly publications that look at politics and policy from a particular perspective -- conservative, moderate, liberal, progressive, libertarian, religious, feminist, environmental, and others. Among the more interesting are the Nation, American Prospect, Weekly Standard, New Republic, In These Times, Commonweal, American Spectator, Washington Monthly, and National Review. Many of these magazines have on-line versions. One of the best sources of information about American politics is a weekly magazine called National Journal. It is available in the library. (You need a subscription to get it on-line, unfortunately).
In an effort to help students develop the newspaper habit (which includes articles, commentaries and editorials on government, politics and public policy), you are asked to submit at the beginning of each Thursday section meeting a timely item from a daily newspaper which is directly applicable to one of the issues addressed in the Politics 101 readings for that week. Each week, attach a few notes that explain why you have chosen this article -- how it is relevant for the topics covered in class that week. These notes must involve no more than 100 words.
A minimum of ten clippings is required during our 14 week semester, but it is strongly suggested that you submit one each Thursday. (No make‑ups will be permitted.) Make sure you put your name on the clipping and that the name and date of the newspaper is identified.
On Thursdays, I will ask at least one student (selected randomly) to present very briefly to the group his/her clipping and its significance. This presentation should be no more than two or three minutes describing how the article, editorial or opinion piece illustrates and/or amplifies some aspect of that week's topic.
A great source of information about political campaigns is FactCheck (http://www.factcheck.org), which examines whether what candidates and media are saying is accurate.
Profile of your state or Congressional district
One of the assignments for the course will be a political profile of your home Congressional district). You will be expected to become familiar with the candidates in the November 2006 race, their positions on key issues, their voting records (if they’ve held office before), the major interest groups, the campaign funding, the TV ads, and other aspects of the candidates and the campaigns. You will be expected to learn something about the likely candidates for November 2008. One place to start looking is the local news media, which you may be able to access on the web or through Lexis/Nexis on the Oxy library website. Another good source is the publication National Journal and its bi-annual Almanac of American Politics. Another good sources is Congressional Quarterly’s (CQ) American Politics. Another good source is Project Vote Smart (http://www.vote‑smart.org/index.htm) which provides information about Congressional districts, and US Senate profiles. This assignment is due on Thursday, October 25.
Following the Presidential campaigns
The November 2008 election will be one of the most important in American history. The campaign for President – and the campaigns for Congress – have already begun.
Pick two candidates for President -- one Democrat and one Republican – and follow their campaigns during the semester. Use the New York Times as a key source, but also use the candidates’ own websites, or even sign up for their email lists, so you’ll get regular communication from the campaigns. Keep an ongoing journal of these campaigns, and write a 10 page paper (5 pages about each campaign), due at the end of the semester on Tuesday, December 4. You should focus on the following topics:
1. The biography and career of the candidates
2. The candidates’ views on major issues, including their records on these issues in elected office
3. The candidates’ source of campaign money
4. How the candidates are doing in the polls compared with their rivals in the same party
5. The major themes of the candidates’ campaigns, including how they seek to position themselves compared with their rivals
6. Each campaign’s strategy in terms of winning enough Electoral Votes to win the nomination
7. They key constituency groups, voter groups (ie demographics), and interest groups that the candidates are focusing on
8. How the news media cover these candidates’ campaigns
Grades
Your grades will be based on five factors:
20% on attendance and participation in class sessions and films, and your performance on the weekly news clipping assignments.
20% on the 3 written essay assignments.
20% on a mid‑term examination.
20% on a final examination.
20% on your Congressional profile and Presidential campaign analysis
1. Bruce Miroff, Raymond Seidelman, and Todd Swanstrom, The Democratic Debate: An Introduction to American Politics, Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 4th Edition, 2007.
2. Jonathan Kozol, Savage Inequalities: Children in America's Schools, New York: Crown Publishers, 1991.
3. Tom Hayden, Ending the War in Iraq, New York: Akashic Books, 2007.
Helpful Materials on Library Reserve
I will place examples of very good writing assignments in a folder on reserve in the Library for those who are interested in seeing what constitutes good responses to the bi-weekly writing assignments. (The names of the student authors are removed but the instructor's comments on the essays do appear as well as the grade assigned). It will be at the circulation desk.
Interesting Websites About American Politics
The internet has opened up a wide array of sources about American politics. There are thousands of websites on every conceivable topic. Fortunately, the University of Michigan has assembled the best of these resources and put them on its website. It includes such topics as upcoming elections at the federal, state, and local levels; biographies; campaign finances; political cartoons; members of Congress (including voting records); political consultants; a wide variety of domestic and foreign policy issues; lobby groups; news sources and periodicals; political advertising; political parties; the Presidency; public opinion; think tanks; and advocacy groups. I encourage you to browse this website at: http://www.lib.umich.edu/govdocs/psusp.html#policy.
Speakers on Campus
There will be a number of speakers on campus this semester discussing topics related to this course. We will alert you to these events and strongly encourage you to attend.
Academic Honesty
You should be familiar with the college’s policies regarding academic honesty and plagiarism. I take these issues very seriously and so should you.
Students with Disabilities
Accommodation of disability-related needs is available. Please let me know if you need some kind of accommodation.
Registering to Vote
If you are 18 years old and a U.S. citizen, you are eligible to vote. If you live outside California, or in California but far from home, you can register at home and vote by absentee ballot, but you have to request it. Regardless of where your parents live, you can register as a California resident, with your Oxy dorm as your home address. The Office of Student Life will have voter registration forms available. You can also get a California voter registration form on-line from the Cal. Secretary of State’s office: http://www.ss.ca.gov/elections/elections_vr.htm.
Discussion Topics and Reading Schedule
(LAT = LA Times; NYT = New York Times; NJ=National Journal)
Part I: Democracy and Society
Week 1: Politics and You
Thursday, Aug. 30 – Intro to the course
Week 2: The Democratic Debate: Different Views About Democracy and Government
Tuesday, September 4 – Films: “Occupation” (44 min.) and “Never Say Die” (46 min.)
Tuesday, Sept. 4 – Rights and Responsibilities
*Young, "George Robert Twelves Hewes, A Patriot Shoemaker of Boston" (in The Way We Lived)
*Zinn, "Young Ladies Who Can Picket" (from Zinn, You Can't Be Neutral on a Moving Train)
*Dreier, “Rosa Parks: Angry, Not Tired” (Dissent, Winter 2006)
*Dreier and Appelbaum, “Campus Breakthrough on Sweatshop Labor” (Nation, June 1, 2006)
*Sheth, Hardin and Bhagwat, “SLAC Claims Victory as Hunger Strike Comes to a Close” (Stanford Daily, April 23, 2007)
*Slater, “Public Corporations Shall Take Us Seriously” (NYT Magazine, August 12, 2007)
*Greenhouse, “Battle Lines Drawn Over Ergonomic Rules” (NYT, Nov. 18, 2000)
*Greenhouse, “Bush Plan to Avert Work Injuries Seeks Voluntary Steps By Industry” (NYT, April 6, 2002)
*Dreier, “Mine Deaths Follow Weak Regulations” (National Catholic Reporter, Feb. 16, 2007)
*Schoch, “Labor Lends Its Clout to Port Pollution Battle” (LAT, January 28, 2006)
*Greenhouse, “Invoking Legacy of Civil Rights Movement, Drive Is On to Unionize Guards” (NYT, July 26, 2006)
Thursday, September 6 – Elite vs. popular democracy
Miroff, Seidelman, and Swanstrom, The Democratic Debate
Chapter 1, "Introduction: The Democratic Debate"
Chapter 2, "The Revolution and the Constitution”
Declaration of Independence (MSS, Appendix)
James Madison, "Federalist No. 10" (Appendix, pp. A12-A16)
Go to this webwite and calculate where you stand on the political spectrum. Bring the results to class on Thursday.: http://typology.people-press.org/typology
*Seib, "The Federal System: You Can Get Away from Washington‑‑But Not Government" (Wall Street Journal, June 21, 1995)
*Kettl, "Clueless in the Capital" (Washington Monthly, July/August 1999)
*Brownstein, "The Government Once Scorned, Becomes Savior" (LAT, Sept.19, 2001)
*Will, “The Case for Conservatism” (Washington Post, May 31, 2007)
*Harris, "Truth, Consequences of Kerry’s Liberal Label” (Washington Post , July 19, 2004)
*Alperovitz, “Tax the Plutocrats” (The Nation, Jan. 27, 2003)
*Dreier and Atlas, “The Missing Katrina Story” (Tikkun, January/February 2007)
*Cong. Bernard Sanders, "Whither American Democracy?" (LAT, Jan. 16, 1994)
*Klein, “Government By Bake Sale” (LAT, May 13, 2007)
*Greenberg, “Democrats Are Back -- But...” (American Prospect, July/Aug. 2007)
*Labaton, “OSHA Leaves Worker Safety Largely in Hands of Industry” (NYT, April 25, 2007)
Week 3 – The Rules of the Game
Monday, Sept. 10 – Films: “Free Speech for Sale” (57 min.) and “The Road to Clean Elections” (19 min.)
Tuesday, Sept. 11 – How the things we take for granted shape how we think and behave
*Dunham, et al., "Does Your Vote Matter?" (Business Week, June 14, 2004)
*Hook, “GOP Seeks Few Safe House Seats” (LAT, August 2, 2006)
*Quinn, “Battleground Blues” (Atlanta Journal-Constitution, July 8, 2004)
*Palast, "1 Million Black Votes Didn't Count..." (SF Chronicle, June 20, 2004)
*Geoghagan, “The Infernal Senate”(The New Republic,. Nov 21, 1994).
*Hertsgaard, “Recounting Ohio” (Mother Jones, November 2005)
*Richie and Hill, “Outmoded Electoral College Betrays Democratic Process” (Pasadena Star-News, July 22, 2004)
*Hertzberg, “VoteScam” (The New Yorker, Aug. 6, 2007)
*Littlefield, "Nader Republicans" (Atlantic Monthly, September 2004)
*Dionne, "Third Parties in Second Place," (Washington Post Weekly, July 10, 2000)
*Clawson, Neustadtl and Weller, “Dollars and Votes” (1998, updated in 2005)
*Carney, “The Death of Public Financing” (NJ, June 16, 2007)
*Cook, “Showing the Money” (NJ, July 7, 2007)
*Caruso, “Immigrants’ Call to Action” (NJl, June 17, 2006)
*Rauch, “Campaign Seasoning: Why Early Primaries Will Make for a Better President” (The Atlantic, July/August 2007)
*Seelye, “Michigan Joins Race for a `Me First’ Primary” (NYT, Aug. 22, 2007)
*Healy and Cooper, “To Keep Foot Clear of Mouth, Presidential Debaters Carefully Plot Each Tiny Step” (NYT, Aug. 19, 2007)
Thursday, September 13 – Federalism: Who Has Power in Los Angeles?
Miroff, Seidelman, and Swanstrom, The Democratic Debate
Chapter 15 -- “State and Local Politics: The Dilemma of Federalism” (read pages 455-472 only)
*Cooper, "The Two Worlds of Los Angeles" (The Nation, August 21/28, 2000)
*Candaele and Dreier, “LA’s Progressive Mosaic” (The Nation, August 21/28, 2000)
*Dreier, et al. “Movement Mayor: Can Antonio Villaraigosa Change LA?” (Dissent, Summer 2006)
*Gurwitt, “Mayor in the Middle” (Governing, February 2007)
*Zahniser, “Friends in High-Rise Places”(LA Weekly, August 2, 2006)
*”The West 100: Our List of the Most Powerful People in Southern California: The Top 10" (West: LAT Magazine, August 13, 2006)
Film: “The New Los Angeles”
Week 4 – The November 2008 Elections – What’s At Stake?
Monday, Sept. 17 – Film: “With God On Our Side: George W. Bush and the Rise of the Religious Right” (100 minutes)
Tuesday, Sept. 18 – The political environment
Miroff, Seidelman, and Swanstrom, The Democratic Debate
Chapter 4 – “Public Opinion and Political Culture”
*”Is America Turning Left?” and “Under the Weather” (The Economist, August 11, 2007)
*Will, “Democrats’ Prosperity Problem” (Wash.Post, June 10, 2007)
*Perlstein, “Will the Progressive Majority Emerge?” (The Nation, July 9, 2007)
*Kohut and Doherty, “Permanent Republican Majority?” (Wash.Post. Aug. 19, 2007
*Will, “The Road to a GOP House” (Wash.Post, May 3, 2007)
*Edsall, “The Rascals on the Right” (NYT, Dec 9, 2006)
*Kristol, “Why Bush Will Be a Winner” (Washington Post,July 15, 2007)
*Douthat and Salam, “What Is the Matter with Kansas? Economic Populism Makes a Comeback” (Weekly Standard, Nov. 20, 2006)
*Edsall, “Dems Work to Satisfy Competing Constituencies in ‘08" (Huffington Post, July 30, 2007)
*Gibbs and Duffy, “Leveling the Praying Field” (Time, July 23, 2007)
*Chait, “The Left’s New Machine: How the netroots became the most important mass movement in U.S. politics” (New Republic, May 27, 2007).
*Judis and Teixeira, “Back to the Future” (American Prospect, July/Aug. 2007)
*Hulse, “GOP Agenda in House Has Moderates Unhappy” (NYT, July 8, 2006)
*Cohen, “The New Congress: What’s Next?” (NJ, Jan. 26, 2007)
*Neuman, “Detroit’s Bullying Angel Is Set To Fight” (LAT, Aug. 11, 2007)
*Zernike, “Tight Race for Another Senator, This Time a Republican” (NYT, Aug. 13, 2006)
*Hulse, ”Leveled Colorado Playing Field Creates an Election Laboratory” (NYT, August 5, 2006)
*Barabak, “Iraq is Political Fault Line in Contested N.M. District” (LAT, May 14, 2006)
*Feldmann, “Democrats Seek Gains in Stem-Cell Issue” (Christian Science Monitor, July 28, 2006)
Thursday, Sept. 20 – The Candidates
Go to this NY Times website about the Republican and Democratic candidates for President. Read their profiles, their finances and their positions on key issues. http://politics.nytimes.com/election‑guide/2008/candidates
“”White House 2008 Rankings: The Republicans” (NJ, July 20, 2007)
*”White House 2008 Rankings: The Democrats” (NJ, Aug. 6, 2007)
*”2006 Vote Ratings: The Griddle in the Middle,” “Key Votes Used to Calculate the Ratings,” and Cohen, “Left to Right” (NJ, March 2, 2007)
*Barnes, “Can This Candidacy (McCain) Be Saved?” (NJl, June 30, 2007)
*Continetti, ”See Rudy Run” (Weekly Standard, August 6, 2007)
*Edsall, “Party Boy: GOP’s Future Belongs to Rudy” (New Republic, May 21,2007)
*Tumulty, “What Romney Believes” (Time, May 10, 2007)
*Ambinder, “Journey to the Right: Romney” (NJ, Feb. 9, 2007)
*Schneider, “The Poverty Candidates” (NJ, July 28, 2007)
*Herbert, “America in 2026" (NYT, June 22, 2006)
*Hook, “Edwards Announces `Tax the Rich’ Plan (LAT, July 27, 2007)
*Gerstenzantg, “Before Budget Fight, Bush Puts Up His Fists On Taxes” (LAT, July 27, 2007)
*Wolfee and Briscoe, “Across the Divide” (Newsweek, July 16, 2007)
*Barnes, “Hillary’s Home-Field Advantage” (NJ, July 14, 2007)
*Barlett, “Hillary: The Right’s Choice?” (LAT, Aug. 10, 2007)
Week 5: What’s the Appropriate Role of Government in Society?
Monday, Sept. 24 - Films: “The Great Health Care Debate” (45 min.) and “Wellstone” (80 min)
Tuesday, Sept. 25 – The Democratic Debate Over Health Care
*Krugman, “One Nation Uninsured” (NYT, June 13, 2005)
*Leland, “When Health Insurance is Not a Safeguard” (NYT, Oct. 23, 2005
*Pear, “Without Health Benefits, a Good Life Turns Fragile” (NYT, March 5, 2007)
*”Editorial- World’s Best Medical Care?” (NYT, Aug. 12, 2007)
*Capell, “The French Lesson in Health Care” (Business Week, July 9, 2007)
*Kuttner, “Canadian Drugs Aren’t the Cure” (Boston Globe, Aug. 18, 2004)
*Bernasek, “Health Care Problem? Check the American Psyche” (NYT, Dec. 31, 2006)
*Toner, “2008 Candidates Vow to Overhaul US Health Care” (NYT, July 6, 2007)
*Lindorff, “GM’s Health Care Double Standard” (InThese Times, April 27, 2005)
*Mintz, “Single Payer: Good for Business” (The Nation, Nov. 15, 2004)
*Gladwell, “The Moral-Hazard Myth” (The New Yorker, Aug. 29, 2005)
*Leeds, "Health Care Firms Spend Big to Head Off Reforms" (LAT, July 23, 2000)
*Hayes, “Michael Moore’s Sicko,” (The Nation, July 16/23, 2007)
*Gratzer, “Unhealthy Policies” (Weekly Standard, June 18, 2007)
*Pear, “GOP Leaders Fight Expansion of Children’s Health Insurance” (NYT, July 25, 2007)
Thursday, Sept. 27 – Is America Unique? - The U.S. in Comparative Perspective
*Kingdon, America the Unusual, 1999. (“Introduction” and “Public Policy”)
*Dreier, “The U.S. in Comparative Perspective” (Contexts, Summer 2007)
*Reynolds, “Social Citizenship: Lessons from Sweden” (from Taking the High Road, 2002)
*Johansen, “Scandanavia Gets Serious on Global Warming” (Progressive, July 2007)
*Dreier and Bernard, "Kinder, Gentler Canada" (American Prospect, Winter 1993)
*Smeeding, “The Poverty Quagmire” (Washington Post, Dec. 21, 2003)
*Greenhouse, "If the French Can Do It, Why Can't We?" (NYT, Nov. 14, 1993)
*Williams, “So, This is Heaven: Norway” (LAT, Nov. 8, 2001)
*Wilgoren, “Education Study Finds U.S. Falling Short” (NYT, June 13, 2001)
*Gornick and Meyers, “Support for Working Families: What the U.S. Can Learn From Europe” (American Prospect, January 1-15, 2001)
Week 6: What Should Government Do?
Monday, Oct. 1 – Film: “Trade Secrets” (120 min.)
Tuesday, Oct. 2 - Governments Regulate the Behavior of Institutions and People
*Mintz, "Remembering Thalidomide" (Washington Post Weekly, July 22-28, 1996)
*Cauchon, “Study: Higher Taxes Cut Smoking” (USA Today, Aug. 10, 2007)
*Roberts and Watson, “Should Cigarettes Be Outlawed?” (U.S. News, April 18, 1994)
*Ellingwood, “Montgomery Eateries Dread Smoking Ban” (LAT, Dec. 17, 2002)
*Mozingo, "Residents Want Action After Fatal Accident on Figueroa" (LAT, Oct. 18, 1998)
*Hamberger, “EPA Puts Mandated Lead-Paint Rules on Hold” (LAT, May 10, 2005)
*Bradsher, “Stricter Rules for Tire Safety Were Scrapped by Reagan” (NYT, Sept. 4, 2000)
*Warrick, "Is U.S. Beef Safe to Eat?" (Washington Post Weekly, April 16-22, 2001)
*Story, “Lead Paint Prompts Mattel to Recall 967,000 Toys” (NYT, Aug. 2, 2007)
*Barringer, “California Air is Clearer, But Troubles Remain” (NYT, Aug 3, 2005)
*Greenhouse, “Among Janitors, Labor Violations Go with the Job” (NYT, July 13, 2005)
*Greenhouse, “Hotel Rooms Get Plusher, Adding to Maids’ Injuries” (NYT, April 21, 2006)
*Weber, “The Factories of Lost Children” (NYT, March 25, 2006)
*Reich, "The Bridgestone Tire Controversy" (from Locked in the Cabinet, 1997)
*Nagourney and Kirkpatric, "Urged by Right, Bush Takes on Gay Marriages" (NYT, July 12, 2004)
*”Five Rights Women Could Lose” (MS, Summer 2005)
*Lake, “The Polls Speak: Americans Support Abortion” (MS., Summer 2005)
Thursday, Oct. 4 –Governments Provide Services and Invest in People and Institutions
*Broder, "Gramm's Life of Entitlements" (Washington Post, March 6, 1995)
*David Horsey, “Meanwhile, in Washington, D.C...” (Cartoon, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, April 2003)
*Nazario, "Going to School Hungry" (LAT, November 20, 1994)
*Bergmann, "Decent Child Care at Decent Wages" (American Prospect, Jan. 1-15, 2001)
*Hage, Fischer, and Black, "America's Other Welfare State" (U.S. News & World Report, April 10, 1995)
*Gosselin, “The 90s: Private Boom Stingy on Public Good” (LAT, Aug. 5, 2001)
*Isaacs and Schroeder, “Where the Public Good Prevailed” (American Prospect, June 4, 2001)
*Cimons, "Fluoridation: A Shining Public Health Success" (LAT, Jan. 26, 1995)
Week 7 - Governments Protect People from Physical Harm And Secure Order
Monday, Oct. 8 - Film: “Atomic Cafe” (86 min) or “Iraq for Sale” (75 min)
Tuesday, Oct. 9 - Order and Safety at Home and Abroad
*Dreier and Reiman, "Prisoners of Misleading Facts" (Dissent, Spring 1996)
*Fortunato, “Corporate Crime and Voting Rights” (Dissent, Summer 2002)
*Herbert, “Who Gets The Death Penalty?” (NYT, May 13, 2002)
*Perry, Pfeifer & Oldham, “San Diego Was In No Shape for This Fight” (LAT, Oct. 31, 2003)
Miroff, Seidelman, and Swanstrom, The Democratic Debate
Chapter 18, “Post-Cold War Foreign Policy” and “US Foreign Policy After September 11" (read pages 566-575 only)
*Judis, “Imperial Amnesia” (Foreign Policy, July/August 2004)
*King, "Is Congress Giving Too Much Surveillance Power...? Yes" (Insight, Jan. 14, 2002)
*Smith, "Is Congress Giving Too Much Surveillance Power...? No" (Insight, Jan.. 14, 2002)
*”Limiting Civil Liberties” (LAT, March 10, 2002)
*Huq, “Flying While Muslim” (TomPaine.Com, August 17, 2006)
*Bixler, "Immigrants' Rights at Risk?" (Atlanta Journal Constitution, Feb. 27, 2002)
Thursday, Oct. 11 - The War in Iraq
Hayden, How to End the War in Iraq (entire book)
Week 8 - The Dilemmas of Globalization: The U.S. Role in the World
Monday, Oct. 15 – holiday, no film
Tuesday, Oct. 16 – holiday, no class
Thursday, Oct. 18 Sweatshops, Human Rights, and The Environment
*Blanding, “The Case Against Coca Cola” (The Nation, May 1, 2006)
*Hayden and Kernaghan, “Pennies an Hour, and No Way Up” (NYT, July 6, 2002)
*Kristof, “Let Them Sweat” (NYT, June 25, 2002)
*Van Der Werf, “Labor Violations Found at Factory Used for College Apparel” (Chronicle of Higher Education, Feb. 9, 2001)
*Thompson, "Mexican Labor Protest Gets Results" (NYT, Oct. 8, 2001)
*Friedman, "Knight Is Right" (NYT, June 20, 2000)
*Kuttner, “Double Standard” (American Prospect, June 31, 2003)
*Kahn, "Playing the China Card" (NYT, July 7, 2000)
*Landler, "Making Nike Shoes in Vietnam" (NYT, April 28, 2000)
*Arnold, “Translating Union into Khmer” (NYT, July 12, 2001)
*Easterbrook, "Here Comes the Sun" (The New Yorker, April 10, 1995)
*Bethell, “The False Alert of Global Warning” (American Spectator, May 18, 2005)
*Krugman, “Swift Boating the Planet” (NYT, May 29, 2006)
*Hertsgaard, “Global Storm Warning” (The Nation, October 17, 2005)
Part II: Democracy, Social Class, and Social Justice
Week 9 Is America a “Class” Society?
Monday, Oct. 22 – Film: “The Corporation” (120 min.) or “Wal-Mart” (97 min.)
Tuesday, October 23 – Wealth and Power
Miroff, Seidelman, and Swanstrom, The Democratic Debate
Chapter 3, "The American Political Economy"
*Cohen, “Line Up” (NY Times Magazine, July 24, 2005)
*Barnet, “Lords of the Global Economy” (The Nation, Dec. 19, 1994)
*Kristof, “CEOs Getting Handed A Bigger Slice of the Pie” (LA Times, May 30, 2006)
*Peterson, “Exec Pay Is Focus of Public Attention” (LA Times, May 15, 2006)
*Johnston, “Tax Benefits To the Rich and Patient” (NY Times, May 11, 2006)
*Johnston, “IRS Will Cut Tax Lawyers Who Audit the Richest” (NY Times, July 23, 2006)
*Hofmeister, “Idaho Town Has Much Invested in Elite Retreat” (LATimes, July 11, 2003)
*Dreier and Candaele, “Labor Law Reform Not Just for Unions” (TomPaine.Com,May 10, 2007)
*Gosselin, “Middle, Lower Classes Feel Pinch” (LAT, Sept. 27, 2003)
Thursday, October 25 – Interest Groups and Money in Politics
Miroff, Seidelman, and Swanstrom, The Democratic Debate :
Chapter 8, “Campaigns: Organized Money Versus Organized People”
Chapter 9, "Interest Group Politics"
*Krugman, “A Test for Democrats” (NYT, Aug. 3, 2007)
*Worth, "Cash Collectors For Kerry Race Run the Gamut" (NYT, August 16, 2004)
*Edsall, Cohen and Grimaldi, "Pioneers Fill Warchest, Then Capitalize" (Washington Post,March 16, 2004)
*Confessore, “Welcome to the Machine” (Washington Monthly, July/August 2003)
*Sen. Phil Gramm, “In Defense of PACS” (in Bresler, ed., Contemporary Controversies, 1993)
*Sifry, "How Money in Politics Hurts You" (Dollars & Sense, July/August 2000)
*Fineman and Simon, “Costly House Race Set in Land of Poverty” (LAT, Oct 31, 2002)
*Ackerman and Ayres, “Patriot Dollars Put Money Where the Votes Are” (LAT, July 17, 2003)
*Nyhart and Claybrook, “The Dash for Cash” (LAT, April 27, 2003)
*Wayne, "Scholars Urge New High Court Ruling" (NYT, Nov. 10, 1996)
*Labaton, "How A Company Lets Its Cash Talk" (NYT, Oct.17, 1999)
*Hertzberg, “Abramoffed” (The New Yorker, January 9, 2006)
*Cassidy, “The Ringleader” (The New Yorker, August 1, 2005)
*Stone, "Go-To Guy" (NJl, July 17, 2004)
*Stolberg, “A Capitol Hill Mystery: Who Aided Drug Maker?” (NYT, Nov. 29, 2002)
*Zeleny and Hulse, “Congress Votes to Tighten Rules on Lobbyist Ties” (NYT, Aug. 3, 2007)
*Van Natta and Banerjee, “Bush Policies Have Been Good to Energy Industry” (NYT, April 21, 2002)
*Toner, "Debate on Patients' Rights Sends Lobbyists Into Battle" (NYT, June 20, 2001)
*Eilperin, "Speaker Hastert Offers Access, For a Price" (New Orleans Times-Picayune, March 11, 1999)
*Mydans, "Freshman Withstands An NRA Fusillade" (NYT, May 9, 1994)
*Cleeland, “Farm Workers Urge Davis to Sign Binding Arbitration Bill” (LAT, August 11, 2002)
*Noah, "Environmentalists Take a Leaf From Book of Right and Target Enemies, Allies in Issue Campaigns" (Wall Street Journal, July 19, 1996)
Week 10: How Much Inequality and Poverty is OK?
Monday, October 29 – Film: “Waging a Living” (80 min.)
Tuesday, October 30: The Economy and Inequality
Miroff, Seidelman, and Swanstrom, The Democratic Debate
Chapter 17, “Economic and Social Policy”
*Krugman, “For Richer” (NY Times Magazine, October 20 2002)
*Johnston, “Very Richest’s Share of Wealth Grew Even Bigger, Data Show” (NYT, June 26, 2003)
*Wolff, "The Rich Get Richer...And Why the Poor Don't" (American Prospect, Feb.12, 2001)
*Samuelson, "Indifferent to Inequality?" (Newsweek, May 7, 2001)
*Sen. James Webb, “Class Struggle” (Wall Street Journal, Nov. 15, 2006)
*Cassidy, “Relatively Deprived” (New Yorker, April 3, 2006)
*Eckholm, “America’s Near-Poor Are Increasingly at Economic Risk, Experts Say” (NYT, May 8, 2006)
*Andrews, "Report Finds Tax Cuts Heavily Favor the Wealthy" (NYT, Aug. 13, 2004)
*Birnbaum, “Where America Shops: Wal-Mart” (America@Work, April 2001)
*Greenhouse, “How Costco Became the Anti-Wal-Mart” (NYT, July 15, 2005)
*Groves, “Sidewalks Smooth for Well-Heeled” (LAT, July 30, 2006)
Thursday, Nov. 1 -- Poverty, Work, and Welfare
* Conlin and Bernstein, “Working and Poor” (Business Week, May 31, 2004)
* Mohan, "Though Far from Poor, A Family Struggles Daily" (LAT, May 18, 2004)
*DePalma, “New York’s Pain, Reflected on a City Block” (NYT, June 2, 2003)
*Rivera, “Getting By Gets More Costly for Families” (LAT, Sept. 24, 2001)
*Atlas, Candaele, and Dreier, “Florida Gets It Right” (Commonweal, June 3, 2005)
*Dukakis and Mitchell, “Raise Wages, Not Walls” (NYT, July 25, 2006)
*Greenhouse, “Maryland Is First State to Require Living Wage” (NYT, May 9, 2007)
*Krauthammer, "Pull the Plug on Welfare to Solve Poverty" (LAT, Nov. 21, 1993)
*”Five Media Myths About Welfare” (Extra, May/June 1995)
*Edelman, “The True Purpose of Welfare Reform” (NYT, May 29, 2002)
*"5 Years After Welfare Reform, Success Stuns Even Critics" (USA Today editorial, August 20, 2001)
*Rodgers, "Target Poverty, Not Welfare" (USA Today, August 20, 2001)
Week 11: Education and Opportunity
Monday, Nov. 5 – Film: “Children in America’s Schools” (120 min.)
Tuesday, Nov. 6 –The Realities of Our Public Education System
Kozol, Savage Inequalities (Introduction and Chapters 1-4)
Thursday, Nov. 8 -- Does Education Reduce or Widen Inequality and Opportunity?
*Harris, “State’s Separate Systems for Rich and Poor” (LAT, May 19, 2002)
*Levine, "Schools: Standards Are Important, But Money is Vital" (LAT. May 21, 2000)
*Helfand, “Teacher Shortage Hitting Inner Cities Hardest, Study Says” (NYT, Dec. 8, 2000)
*Anderson, "Smaller Classes Aid Test Scores, Results Show" (LAT, Dec. 29, 1998)
*Symonds, “Closing the School Gap” (Business Week, Oct. 14, 2002)
* Tyson, “Needed: Affirmative Action for the Poor” (Business Week, July 7, 2003)
*Halstead and Lind, “The National Debate Over School Funding Needs a Federal Focus”(LAT, Oct. 8, 2000)
*Reich, “How Selective Colleges Heighten Inequality” (Chronicle of Higher Education, Sept. 15, 2000)
*Dreier, “Presidential Legacy” (American Prospect, January 27, 2003)
*Table 4.3: Individualism in American Culture
*Table 1.1: Socioeconomic Status of Entering Classes (from Carnevale and Rose, Socioeconomic Status, Race/Ethnicity, and Selective College Admissions, The Century Foundation, 2003)
*Table 2-4: Percentage Enrolling in College, by Family Income and Year, 1970-2003
*Table 2-5: Probability of a College Degree by Family Income and Year, 1970-2003
Week 12: Race, Gender, and Civil Liberties
Monday, Nov. 12 – Film: “Guilty by Suspicion” (106 min.)
Tuesday, Nov. 13 - Race. Gender, and Class in American Politics
*McClain and Stewart, "America's Dilemmas" (from Can We All Get Along?, 3rd edition, 2002)
*Thernstrom and Thernstrom, "We Have Overcome" (New Republic, Oct. 13, 1997)
*LeDuff, "At a Slaughterhouse, Some Things Never Die: Who Kills, Who Cuts, Who Bosses Can Depend on Race" (NYT, June 16, 2000)
*Leonhardt, “Blacks’ Mortgage Costs Exceed Whites’ of Like Pay” (NYT, May 1, 2002)
*Gettleman, "Old Times They are Not Forgotten" (NYT, Dec. 21, 2003)
*Davis, "The Slippery Slope of Racial Profiling" (Colorlines, December 2001)
*Yin, "The Two Sides of America's `Model Minority'" (LAT, May 7, 2000)
*McIntosh, "White Privilege-Unpacking the Invisible Knapsacks" (Peace and Freedom, 1989)
*Samuel, “Young, Black and Post-Civil Rights” (American Prospect, Sept. 2007)
*Liptak, “O’Connor Leap Moved Women Up the Bench” ( NYT, July 5, 2005)
*Conway, “Women and Political Participation” (PS, June 2001)
*Ivins, “He Loves Us Not” (Mother Jones, September/October 2004)
*Marano, "Running Harder to Catch Up" (from Kesselman, McNair, and Schniedewind, eds., Women: Images and Realities, 1995)
*Blair, "Shattering the Myth of the Glass Ceiling," (LAT, May 1, 1996)
*Walsh, "Where Women's Work is Job No. 1" (LAT, Sept. 28, 1996)
*Chesler, “Public Triumphs, Private Rights” (MS, Summer 2005)
Thursday, Nov. 15 – Civil Liberties, Civil Rights, and the Court System
Miroff, Seidelman, and Swanstrom, The Democratic Debate
Chapter 14, “The Judiciary and the Democratic Debate”
Chapter 16, “Civil Liberties and Civil Rights”
*Schneider, “The Bush Court” (NJ, July 7, 2007)
*Sunstein, “The Myth of the Balanced Court” (American Prospect, Sept. 2007)
*Greenhouse, “On the Wrong Side of 5-4, Liberals Talk Tactics” (NYT,
July 8, 2007)
*Schkade and Sunstein, “Judging By Where You Sit” (NYT, June 11, 2003)
*Volokh, “The US Constitution Says We All Have to Live with Being Offended” (LAT, July 18, 2001)
*McCain, “Black Leaders Refuse to Pledge Allegiance to Flag” (Washington Times,
June 22, 2001)
*Gettleman, "Confederate Flag Still Flies, as Do Lawsuits to Shelve It" (LAT, July
25, 2001)
*Gettleman, “Alabama’s Top Judge Defiant on Commandments’ Display” (NYT, August 21, 2003)
*Savage, "School Vouchers Win Backing of High Court" (LAT, June 28, 2002)
*Dolan, "Pledge: Phrase `Under God’ Is Ruled Illegal" (LAT, June 27, 2002)
*Press, “Faith Based Furor” (NYT Magazine, April 1, 2001)
Part III: Political Participation
Week 13: The Mass Media
Monday, Nov. 19 – Films: “Out Foxed” and “The Public Mind”
Tuesday, Nov. 20 -- Are the Media Biased? How Do They Influence Politics?
Miroff, Seidelman, and Swanstrom, The Democratic Debate
Chapter 6, "The Media: Who Sets the Political Agenda?"
*Bennett, Lawrence, and Livingston, “Press Politics in America: The Case of the Iraq War” (from When the Press Fails: Political Power and the News Media From Iraq to Katrina, 2007)
*Dolny, “Think Tank Sources Fall, But Left Gains Slightly” (Extra, March/April 2007)
*Howard, “Power Sources” (Extra, March/June 2002)
*Witt, "We Rarely See Those Who Labor" (Baltimore Sun, Aug 22, 1999)
*Taylor, “TV’s Political Profits” (Mother Jones, May/June 2000)
*Boykoff and Boykoff, “Journalistic Balance as Global Warming Bias” (Extra,November/December 2004)
*Yassin, “Demonizing the Victims of Katrina” (Extra, November/December 2005)
*Candaele and Dreier, “Where Are the Jocks for Justice?” (The Nation, June 28, 2004)
*Rutenberg and Zernike, “Bush Campaign’s Top Outside Lawyer Advised Veterans Group”(NYT, August 25, 2004)
*Morin, "The Power of the People" (Washington Post Weekly, July 23-29, 2001)
*Evans, “The Watchdog Didn’t Bark” (Salon.Com, July 16, 2002)
*Coen, "Free Trade = Freedom: FTAA Coverage Spins Pro-Business as Pro-Democracy" (Extra!, July/Aug 2001)
*Parks, “Foreign News: What’s Next?” (Columbia Journalism Review, Jan/Feb 2002)
Week 14: Ways to Participate: Elections and Grassroots Movements
Monday, November 26 -- Films: “The Democratic Promise: Saul Alinsky & His Legacy” (45 min.) and “One Day Longer” (45 min.)
Tuesday, November 27 – Does It Matter Who Wins?: Political Parties and Elections
Miroff, Seidelman, and Swanstrom, The Democratic Debate :
Chapter 7, "U.S. Parties: Who Has a Voice?"
*Vandehel and Ellperin, “From Something Bad, Maybe Something Good” (Washington Post Weekly, July 1-14, 2002)
*Brooks, “How to Reinvent the GOP” (NYT Magazine, August 29, 2004)
*Pace, “GOP Changes Spending of Billions” (Washington Post, August 5, 2002)
*Robbins, "What I Voted For" (The Nation, Aug 6, 2001)
*"An Open Letter to Ralph Nader" (The Nation, Feb. 16, 2004)
*Nichols, "Is this The New Face of the Democratic Party?" (The Nation, Aug 6/13, 2001)
*Hill and Richie, "De-Spoiling the Election" (The Nation, July 12, 2004)
*Singer, “The Progressive Frontier” (In These Times, August 1, 2005)
*Nichols, “Tammy Baldwin’s Turn” (The Nation, July 25, 2004)
*Dreyfuss, “The Three Conversions of Walter B. Jones” (Mother Jones, Jan/Feb 2006)
*Kenny, “Hello, I’m a Democrat” (In These Times, June 2007)
*Edsall, “Independent Voters Swing Dems’ Way” (Huffington Post, July 5, 2007)
Thursday, November 29– What Do Grassroots Movements Accomplish?
Miroff, Seidelman, and Swanstrom, The Democratic Debate
Chapter 10, "Mass Movement Politics"
Chapter 19, "Afterword: The Prospects for Popular Democracy"
*Brownstein, "Imbalance of Power Defines Struggle Over Health Care" (LAT, July 25, 1994)
*"Women's Suffrage," (from Robert Cooney and Helen Michalowski, The Power of the People, 1977)
*Mitelman, "Rose Schneiderman and the Triangle Fire" (American History Illustrated, July 1981)
“Dreier, “Why He Was in Memphis” (American Prospect, January 15, 2007)
*Reed, "Sisterhood Was Powerful" (American Prospect, July 17, 2000)
*Mosle, "How the Maids Fought Back" (The New Yorker, Feb. 26/ March 4, 1996)
*Chavez, “Dolores Huerta and the United Farm Workers Union ( in Ruiz and Korrol, eds., Latina Legacies, 2005)
*Greenhouse, "Priest vs. Big Chicken In Fight for Labor Rights" (NYT, Oct. 6, 1999)
*Greenhouse, "Janitors, Long Paid Little, Demand a Larger Slice" (NYT, April 26, 2000)
*Greenhouse, “The New Face of Solidarity” (NYT, July 16, 2006)
Week 15: Voting and Election Systems
Monday, December 3 – Films: “Vote for Me” (Part 4, 85 min.) and “Unprecedented: The 2000 Presidential Election” (50 min.)
Tuesday, December 4 -- Why Is Voter Participation So Low?
Miroff, Seidelman, and Swanstrom, The Democratic Debate
Chapter 5, "Where Have All the Voters Gone?"
*Wallsten, “Conservatives Put Faith in Church Voter Drives” (LAT, Aug. 15, 2006)
*Bai, “Who Lost Ohio?” (NYT Magazine, November 21, 2004)
*Bai, “Machine Dreams” (NYT Magazine, August 21, 2005)
*Callahan, “Ballot Blocks” (American Prospect, July/August 1998)
*Neuborne, “Reclaiming Democracy” (American Prospect, March 12-16, 2001)
*Squire, et. al., "Redistricting and Gerrymandering" (from The Dynamics of Democracy, 1995)
*Engstrom, “The Voting Rights Act” (PS: Political Science and Politics, December 1994)
*Merl, “State’s Redrawn Congressional Districts Protect Incumbents: Remapping Has Eliminated a Handful of ‘Swing’ Areas and Diminished Competition (LAT. Feb. 9, 2002)
*Ingram, “Revised Districts Hinder Minorities, Critics Say” (LAT, Sept. 6, 2001)
*Lyman, “Ruling Has Texans Puzzling Over Districts” (NYT, July 22, 2006)
Thursday, December 6 – Should We Try to Increase Voter Turnout?
*"A Comparison of Political Systems" (Chart from Dalton, Citizen Politics in Western Democracies)
*Morrison, “A Better Way?” (NJ, January 4, 2003)
*Romney, "S.F. Takes the Lead in New Voting Method" (LAT, Aug. 9, 2004)
*Mehlman, "It's Too Easy to Vote, Not Too Hard" (LAT, January 6, 1997)
*Ornstein, “Vote - Or Else” (NYT, August 10, 2006)
*Halstead and Lind, “How the Majority Can Rule” (Washington Post Weekly, March 25-31, 2002)
*Amy, Real Choices/New Voices: The Case for Proportional Representation Elections in the United States (Introduction, pp. 13‑20)
*Guinier, "What Color Is Your Gerrymander" (Washington Post, March 27, 1994)
*Greenhouse, “Justices Permit Race as a Factor in Redistricting” (NYT, April 19, 2001)
WRITING ASSIGNMENTS FOR POLITICS 101
Assignment Passed Out Due in Class
Essay: Weeks 1-3 Tues. Sept.4 Tues., Sept. 11
Hand in 2 Presidential Candidates to Profile Thurs. Sept. 20
Essay: Weeks 4-6 Thurs., Sept. 27 Thurs., Oct. 4
Midterm exam: Weeks 1-8 Thurs., Oct. 11 Thurs., Oct. 18
Congressional Profiles Due Thurs., Oct. 25
Essay: Weeks 9-11 Thurs., Nov. 1 Thurs. Nov. 8
Presidential Candidates Profiles Due Tues., Dec. 4
Final Exam Tues., Dec. 4 Tues., Dec. 11*
*The final exam should be handed in to my office before 4 p.m., on Tuesday, December 11