Transcript November 22, 2011

November 22, 2011
Three Branches of Government in
the United States
 Executive
 Legislative
 Judiciary
Basic idea in the Constitution:
The separation of powers
Films about Presidents
 Abraham Lincoln (1930)
 Young Mr. Lincoln (1939)
 Wilson (1944)
 Sunrise at Campobello (1960)
 JFK (1991)
 Truman (1995)
 Nixon (1995)
 W (2008)
Fictional Presidents
 Being There (1979) – Chauncey Gardner
 Independence Day (1996) – Thomas Whitmore
 Dave (1993) – Bill Mitchell
 The American President (1995) – Andrew Shepherd
 Murder at 1600 (1997) – Jack Neil
 Air Force One (1997) – James Marshall
 Wag the Dog (1997) – unnamed
 Primary Colors (1998) – Jack Stanton
Films about Congress
 Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)
 Advise and Consent (1962)
 Tail Gunner Joe (1997)
 Legally Blonde 2 (2003)
Films about the Supreme Court
 First Monday in October (1981)
 The Pelican Brief (1993)
 Amistad (1997)
 The People vs. Larry Flynt (1996)
Films about Law and Lawyers
 Inherit the Wind (1960)
 To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)
 A Few Good Men (1992)
 The Firm (1993)
 The Pelican Brief (1993)
 A Time to Kill (1996)
 Runaway Jury (2003)
 The Lincoln Lawyer (2011)
Interest groups
 Interest groups are part of civil society and try to
influence public policy
 They achieve influence primarily through the collection
and transmission of strategic information to the three
branches of government (sometimes called lobbying)
 They may directly provide campaign funds to presidents
and legislators who want to get elected to re-elected
 They may decide to take disputes over executive
decision or legislation to the judiciary
Examples of Large Interest Groups
 National Rifle Association (NRA)
 American Association of Retired Persons (AARP)
 American Federation of Labor – Congress of Industrial
Organizations (AFL-CIO)
 National Association of Manufacturers (NAM)
 U.S. Chamber of Commerce
 American Medical Association (AMA)
 American Bar Association (ABA)
 Sierra Club
Anti-NRA Propaganda
Types of Interest Groups
 Radical vs. Status Quo
 Single-issue vs. Multiple-issue
 Categories:
 Producer associations
 Consumer groups
 Environmental groups
 Civil liberties and human rights groups
 Peak associations: e.g. U.S. Chamber of Commerce,
AFL-CIO
Interest group strategies
 Groups can modify or protect the status quo
 directly, by prevailing at the ballot box
 indirectly, by pressuring other actors to modify or
preserve a certain policy for them
 To be influential, pressure groups must have access to
the key players involved in the decision-making process
 Access depends on whether policy makers will listen to
this particular group
 Interest groups that represent large constituencies will
tend to have better access than others
Interest group tactics
 Nearly all groups testify at hearings, lobby government
officials, make informal contacts with legislators, present
research or technical information, send letters to members
to inform them about their activities, enter into coalitions
with other groups
 Some interest groups publicize candidate-voting records,
conduct direct mail fundraising efforts, buy issue advocacy
advertisements in the print or electronic media, contribute
time and staff to election campaigns, endorse candidates,
and participate in protests and demonstrations
Interest group success
 How do we measure interest group success?
 Passed legislation
 Campaign contributions
 Public opinion (the more favorable the better)
 Media visibility
Social Movements
 A social movement is large group of people focused on
carrying out, resisting, or undoing large-scale social
changes
 Examples:
 Civil rights
 Anti-war
 Environmental
 Pro-Life
 Social movements may include coalitions of organized
interests and interest groups
Is the Tea Party a Social Movement?
 Grass Roots vs. Astro Turf Organizations
 Funding of the Tea Party by the Koch Brothers and
Tom DeLay
 Role of Politicians like Sarah Palin, Dick Armey, Karl
Rove, and others
 Relationship between the Tea Party “movement” and
the Republican Party
Trailer for new film on the Tea Party