GOPO Notes Chapter 1

1. U.S. Government and Politicians in Context

a. Government by the people requires faith in our common
human enterprise
i. A belief that if we are educated we can be trusted to
run ourselves.
b. Constitutional democracy requires constant attention to
protecting the rights and opinions of others
c. Constitutional democracy means government by
representative politicians
2. Defining Democracy
a. Three types of direct democratic systems:
i. Initiative
1. Create a new law
ii. Referendum
1. Change an existing law
iii. Recall
1. Remove a politician from office in between
elections
b. Conditions conducive to constitutional Democracy
i. Educational conditions
1. You need an educated citizenry to have people
be able to understand elections.
ii. Economic conditions
1. A relatively prosperous nations with an
equitable distribution of wealth provides the
best context for democracy. You need to be
prosperous and not hungry for a democracy to
survive.
iii. Social Conditions
1. You need a society that has many overlapping
associations and groupings, so they do not
identify completely with a single group. The
smaller the number of groups, the more likely
fighting is to break out aka. The civil war.
iv. Ideological conditions.
1. You need the democratic consensus to govern
in a democracy. Basically you all need to belief
that democracy is the best political practice.
c. Democracy as a system of interacting values
i. Personal Liberty
ii. Respect for the individual
iii. Equality of opportunity
iv. Popular consent
v. Democratic values in conflict
d. Democracy as a system of interrelated political processes

i. Free and fair elections

1. Political competition and choice.
2. Everyone casts only one vote at the end of it
all.
ii. Majorite and Plurarlity rule
1. Majority is over 50%
2. Plurality is most amount of votes
3. But sometimes majority rule can interfere with
the rights of individuals
iii. Freedom of Expression
1. Voters need access to facts, competing ideas,
and the views of candidates. Non-government
news needs to flourish.
iv. The Right to Assemble and Protest
e. Democracy as a system of independent political structures.
i. Federalism
1. Division of power between national and state
governments
2. Separation of Powers: executive, judicial,
legislative
3. Bicameralism
4. Checks and balances
5. Bill of Rights
3. The constitutional Convention of 1787
a. North-south compromise. 2/3 majority in the senate be
required to ratify a treaty.