Drama of Democracy - American Government and Politics

781 Pages·1998·73.338 MB·English

by  George McKenna

THIRD EDITION

s
i
e
meO
L
e
O5 e
m
=
e
ce
THIRD EDITION
THE DRAMA OF DEMOCRACY
American Government and Politics
George McKenna
City College of New York
baw
Boston Burr Ridge, IL Dubuque, IA Madison, WI New York San Francisco St. Louis
Bangkok Bogota Caracas Lisbon London Madrid
Mexico City Milan New Delhi Seoul Singapore Sydney Taipei Toronto
McGraw-Hill
A Division of The McGraw Hill Companies
THE DRAMA OF DEMOCRACY: AMERICAN GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS
Copyright © 1998 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Previous edition © 1994. Printed
in the United States of America. Except as permitted under the United States Copyright Act of 1976, no part of
this publication may be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means, or stored in a data base or
retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher.
This book is printed on acid-free paper.
1234567890 DOW/DOW 90987
ISBN 0-697-32674-8
Editorial director: Jane Vaicunas
Sponsoring editor: Lyn Uhl
Developmental editor: Monica Freedman
Marketing manager: Annie Mitchell
Project manager: Amy Hill
Production supervisor: Melonie Salvati
Senior designer: Crispin Prebys
Photo research coordinator: Sharon Miller
Compositor: York Graphic Services, Inc.
Typeface 10/12 Times Roman
Printer: R. R. Donnelley & Sons Company
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
McKenna, George.
The drama of democracy : American government and politics / George
McKenna.—3rd ed.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-697-32674-8 (alk. paper)
1. United States—Politics and government. I. Title.
JK274.M516 1998
320.473—dc21 9726801
http://www.mhhe.com
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
George McKenna is a professor in the Department of
Political Science at City College of New York, where
he has taught for 34 years. He is the coeditor, with
Stanley Feingold, of Taking Sides: Clashing Views on
Controversial Political Issues, published by the
Dushkin Division of McGraw-Hill Companies, now in
its 10th edition. Among his other publications are
American Populism (New York: Putnam, 1974),
American Politics: Ideals and Realities (New York:
McGraw-Hill, 1976), Media Voices (Guilford, CT:
Dushkin Publishing Group, 1982), and Guide to the
Constitution (New York: Random House, 1984). He
has led local civic and environmental groups in New
York and New Jersey.
To Sylvia, After Thirty-Four Years
BRIEF CONTENTS
PART | 12 Mass Media 407
13 Interest Groups 449
THE AMERICAN REPUBLIC
14 Political Parties 489
15 Campaigns, Elections, and Voting 529
1 Democratic Government in America 3
2 Foundations of American Democracy 27
3 Federalism 63
PART V
DomesTIC AND FOREIGN POLICIES
PART Il
16 TheEconomy 5/75
RIGHTS AND LIBERTIES 17. Poverty and Welfare 609
18 Foreign Policy and National
4 First Amendment Freedoms 95
Defense 657
5 Civil Rights 129
6 Crime and Punishment 169
American Goveranveut Atlas 705
The Declaration of Independence 714
PART Ill The Constitution of the
United States 717
POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS The Federalist No. 10 727
The Federalist No. 51 730
7 Congress in Transition 205
Presidents of the United States 732
8 The Presidency: Powers and Limits 245
Glossary 733
9 The Bureaucracy 291
Credits 741
10 The Federal Judiciary 329
Index 743
PART IV
POLITICAL PARTICIPATION
11. Public Opinion and
Political Socialization 367
CONTENTS
The Declaration of Independence 30
PREFACE
The Ideas behind the Declaration 31
“Sober’—and Radical 33
The Constitution 36
PART | “A More Perfect Union” 36
The Delegates: An Extraordinary
THe AMERICAN REPUBLIC
Group 38
Politics and the Constitution 41
1 Democratic Government Economics and the Constitution 42
in America 3 Slavery and the Constitution 42
The Ratification Struggle 44
Tiananmen Square 3
The Bill of Rights and Other
Government: Nature and Purpose 7
Amendments 48
Why Government? Four Reasons 7
Amending the Constitution 48
Democratic Government 12
The Bill of Rights 50
Direct and Representative Democracy 12
The Bill of Rights and the States 53
Democracy in America 17
The Other Amendments 54
Plato’s Challenge 17
Reflections 58
The Jeffersonian Response: An Educated
Notes 59
Citizenry 18
The Hamiltonian Response: Political
Leadership 18
The Madisonian Response: Checks and Federalism 63
Balances 19
The Schoolhouse Door 63
The Lincolnian Response: Moral
The Nature and Purposes of Federalism 66
Leadership 19
Limiting Unfunded Mandates 69
Similarities and Continuities 20
The Federal System as a Marble Cake 70
Reflections 23
Three Purposes of Federalism 72
Notes 24
The Other Side of Local Autonomy 73
Why the National Government Has
Expanded 74
Foundations of
Implied Powers: The “Elastic Clause” 76
American Democracy 27
McCulloch v. Maryland (1819):
The Great Compromise 27 “Necessary” Means “Convenient” 77
xi
Xi Contents
The Commerce Clause: A “Hook” for African Americans: The Heritage of
Federal Power 78 Discrimination 132
The Civil War Amendments: Nationalizing Plessy v. Ferguson (1896): Separate but
Rights 79 Equal 133
Responses to Social and Economic The Brown Decision (1954) and Its
Change 81 Aftermath 134
Grants-in-Aid: Calling the Tune 82 Civil Rights in the 1960s 135
The “New Federalism”: From Reagan to The Future of Affirmative Action 143
Gingrich 84 Majority-Minority Congressional
The States Today: Hotbeds of Districts 144
Innovation 89 Busing and White Flight 146
Reflections 90 Women: Old Attitudes, New Dilemmas 149
Notes 91 The New Feminism 152
Women in the Workplace 154
The Legalization of Abortion 158
PART Il Reflections 164
Notes 165
RIGHTS AND LIBERTIES
4 First Amendment Freedoms 95 Crime and Punishment 169
The Skokie March 95 The Subway Gunman 169
Free Speech” “97 The Rights of Criminal Suspects 174
The Defense of Free Speech 98 State Police Powers 174
Schenck v. United States (1919): Clear and The Bill of Rights and the States 174
Present Danger 99 Selective Incorporation of the Bill of
Symbolic Speech 100 Rights 175
Academic Freedom 103 Suspects’ Rights in the 1960s: Four
Press Freedom 109 Cases 176
Prior Restraint: Almost Always Law and Order 180
Unconstitutional 109 Punishment 184
Obscenity: Changing Standards 110 Four Purposes of Punishment 185
Miller v. California (1973): Three Tests of Some Drawbacks of Punishment 187
Obscenity 112 Cruel and Unusual Punishment 188
Sex on Cable and the Internet 113 Overcrowded Jails and Prisons 189
Libel and Slander 115 Capital Punishment: The Furman and Gregg
The Right to Assemble 117 Cases 191
Church and State 118 Reflections 197
“Wall of SeparationY”e—t “Benign Notes 199
Religion” 119
“A Religious People” 119
Engel v. Vitale (1962): Banning Public PART Ill
School Prayer 121
POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS
Religion and State: Total Separation? 122
Reflections 124
Notes 125 7 Congress in Transition 205
The Professor Blushes 206
Congress and Parliament 208
Civil Rights 129
The Independence of Congress 209
The Bakke Case 129 Weak Party Control 209
xiii
Contents
Localism 210 Development of the Federal Bureaucracy 304
Bicameralism 212 The Spoils System 304
The Senate: Separate and Different 213 The Rise of the Merit System 306
A Bill Becomes a Law 215 The Hatch Act 308
Introducing the Bill 215 The Growing Power of Federal
Committees and Subcommittees: Little Bureaucrats 308
Legislatures 215 Political Appointees and Career
Hearings 218 Bureaucrats 310
Mark-Up 218 Problems of the Federal Bureaucracy 312
House Rules Committee 219 Red Tape and Waste 313
The House Floor 219 Excessive Regulation 314
Final House Passage 220 Lack of Accountability 316
Senate Passage 220 Incompetence and Mediocrity 318
Conference Committee 222 Suggested Reforms 319
Presidential Signature or Veto 223 Hug a Bureaucrat 323
Negative Checks and Fragmentation 225 Reflections 324
What Else Do Members of Congress Notes 326
Do? 228
Constituency Service 229
Congressional Oversight 233
The Federal Judiciary 329
Congressional Investigations 233 uy
Reflections 240 The Midnight Appointments 330
Notes 242 Organization and History of the Federal
Judiciary 332
District Courts 332
The Presidency: Powers U.S. Courts of Appeals 339
and Limits 245 Special Courts 333
The Supreme Court 333
The Death of a President 245
Marbury Reconsidered 336
The Founders’ Intentions 247
Dred Scott: A Self-Inflicted Wound 337
The President and the People 248
The Court in the 1930s: Nine Old Men 338
The President and Congress 253
Judicial Self-Restraint. 339
The President and the Bureaucracy 258
Judicial Activism 339
The President and the Courts 265
The Court Today 342
The President and the World 268
The Warren Court 343
Presidential Style and Character 274
The Burger Court 344
Presidential Activism 275
The Rehnquist Court 345
The Vice President 281
Is the Court Making Up Its Own
The First Lady 283
Laws? 347
Reflections 286 Confirmation Politics: Bork and
Notes 286 Borking 351
Restraints on the Supreme Court J57
Self-Imposed Limits: Cases and
The Bureaucracy 291
Controversies 357
The Bureau and the Attorney General 291 Constitutional Amendments 358
The Nature of the Federal Bureaucracy 294 Limiting the Court’s Jurisdiction 358
Weber’s Model Bureaucracy: Hierarchy, Impeachment 359
Specialization, Rules 299 Appointment 360
The U.S. Bureaucracy: A Distinctive Reflections 361
System 300 Notes 362
xiv Contents
PART IV Coverage of “Issues”: Abortion 434
The Politics of Entertainment 435
POLiticAL PARTICIPATION
What to Do about the Media? 437
“Public” Journalism? 437
11 Public Opinion and Media Self-Criticism 438
Political Socialization 367 Government Regulation 439
440
Economic and Social Pressures
The Ups and Downs of Jimmy Carter 367
Reflections 443
Opinions, Attitudes, and Values in
Notes 443
America 371
Qualities of Public Opinion: Intensity,
Stability, Direction 372
Elite and Mass Opinion: On Tolerance 384 13 Interest Groups 449
Ideologies of the Left and the Right 386
The Death and Life of the B-1 Bomber 450
Liberalism and Conservatism: The Meanings
Interest Groups in America 454
Change 388
Economic Interest Groups 454
Political Socialization 392
Single-Issue Interest Groups 457
Childhood: Trusting Authority 392
Ideological Interest Groups 459
Adolescence: Questioning Authority 393
Civil Rights Interest Groups 459
Peer Group and Community Influences 393
Religious Interest Groups 460
The Mass Media 394
Public Interest Groups 460
Measuring Public Opinion 396
Is There a Public Interest? 461
Sampling Techniques 397
State and Local Interest Groups 463
The Wording of Questions 398
Justifying Interest-Group Politics: Pluralist
The Interview 398
Theory 465
The Role of Public Opinion Polls 400
How to Succeed in Lobbying 469
Reflections 402
Respectability 469
Notes 403
Coordination, Information, and Media
Access 470
Wealth 471
12 Mass Media 407
Reaching the Grass Roots 478
The African-American Church Burnings 408 Staying Power 479
Agenda Setting: Is There a Media White House Support 480
Monopoly 410 Uses and Abuses of Lobbies 480
Free Trade in Ideas 410 Regulating Interest Groups 482
The People’s Press 410 Reflections 484
Concentration in the News Media 411 Notes 485
The Rise—and Decline—of Network
News 414
The Old Days: Owner and Sponsor
14 Political Parties 489
Control 418
The Newsroom Revolution 419 The Siege of Chicago 489
Criticisms of the Press 420 The Nature and Purpose of American Political
Too Negative? 420 Parties 493
Media Bias? 423 The Looseness of American Parties 493
Media Coverage of the 1984 Presidential The Emergence of American Parties:
Campaign 430 Federalists versus Republicans 495
1988 and 1992 Campaign Coverage 431 Improbable Alliances 497
Media Coverage of the 1996 Presidential Some Functions of Parties 498
Campaign 433 Third Parties 504