Chapter+10.American

7/29/2019 Chapter+10.American

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CHAPTER 10Who Rules America?


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Of the people, by the people, for

the people?

The people reign in the American political

world, said de Tocqueville, as the Deity

does in the universe.

Tocqueville believed that the cultural

inheritance of Americans, the rapid

circulation of wealth and the high degree

of social-economic equality underpinnedAmerican democracy


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Emergence of undemocratic

tendencies

Concentrated wealth: Robber barons

Party machines in the major cities

Exclusion of certain groups from politicaland economic power

The military-industrial complex

Imperial ambitions and interests?


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Who runs America?

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Critical voices

Upton Sinclair, The Jungle

John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath

Howard Zinn,A Peoples History of theUnited States

Michael Moore, Stupid White Men


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The founders and the question of

power

The question of powerwho should hold itand how to control itwas very much ontheir minds

There were those like Patrick Henry whoworried about a new tyranny beingestablished

Others, like Alexander Hamilton and JohnAdams, worried about the unpropertiedriffraff


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Charles Beards An Economic

Interpretation of the Constitution argues that the founders cared little for the democratic

ideals expressed in the Declaration of Independence butmuch for the protection of the wealthy against thesuperior numbers of those who owned little or no

property by the system of checks and balances placed in the

government, the convention safeguarded the interests ofproperty against attacks by majorities. The House ofRepresentatives, Mr. Hamilton pointed out, was so

formed as to render it particularly the guardian of thepoorer orders of citizens, while the Senate was topreserve the rights of property and the interests of theminority against the demands of the majority.


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James Bryce seemed to

agree Those who invented this machinery of checks and

balances were anxious not so much to develop public

opinion as to resist and build up breakwaters against it.

But Bryce, like Tocqueville before him, also believed that

public opinion played an enormous role in America:

Towering over Presidents and State governors, over

Congress and State legislatures, over conventions and

the vast machinery of party public opinion stands out, in

the United Sates, or the great source of power, themaster of servants who tremble before it.


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Does public opinion rule?

Bryce argued that not only was there no

governing class that reproduced itself from

generation to generation in America, but

that public opinion cut across class lines

Bosses and their workers, those with

property and those without, were likely to

hold the same beliefs

Is this still true? See Figure 10.1


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Who shapes public opinion?

Today, it is commonplace to argue that

public opinion is influenced by powerful

elites and manipulated through the various

institutions and processes through whichcitizens learn about their society

Harold Laski and false consciousness: the

role played by churches, the media andschools

Noam Chomsky and Manufacturing

Consent


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The political conversation

Whose voices are express, listened to and acted upon?

E.E. Schattschneiders reminder that it is often what we

do not see, hear, and think about that is most revealing

of political power

But money and organization do matter

Figure 10.2 represents the process leading to the

formation of public awareness of and opinion on issues.

The crucial stage in this process involves opinion-

leaders and the channels through which their ideas are

communicated to the wider public.


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A biased information system?

Some argue that the interests of the wealthy and ideas

congenial to their interests are disproportionately

represented in the American political conversation

But the universe of opinion leaders in the United States

is quite diverse, despite being frequently portrayed as

ideologically conservative, particularly the media system

French political scientist Pierre Gervais argues that the

American system of countervailing power operates

through the media, as it does through other institutionsand processes in American society


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Countervailing power

checks and counterweights operate in the media

system, as in the system of government

They have been more influential at certain points

in American history than at others, but they havenever been inconsequential

Significant segments of the American population

are dubious about the power of big business and

favorable toward government regulation of

business. These segments of public opinion

represent a potential check on the power of

business


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Money and business power are

divided Business interests often line up on

difference sides of political issues

Money is influential, but it is a resource

that is held by many organized interests

and that is donated to both parties and

their candidates and spent directly by

groups on different sides of the sameissue

See Tables 10.1 and 10.2


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Spending by groups

527s: groups that spend money on

campaign ads that are not supposed to

directly promote or oppose a particular

candidate or party, see Table 10.3 andwww.opensecrets.org

Political Action Committees: subject to

contribution and spending limits
http://www.opensecrets.org/http://www.opensecrets.org/


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The governing class

Is there a governing class?

On the background of governors and U.S.senators, see Figures 10.3 and 10.4,

respectively Race and sex have been more important asbarriers to entry into the political elite than classbackground

Do presidents come from privilegedbackgrounds? The evidence suggests that thisis not usually the case (see box in text)


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So who rules America?

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Chapter+10.American