Introduction to American Politics
CMC Government 20
Mon, Wed 11-12:15
Roberts North 15
ZOOM: https://cmc-its.zoom.us/j/92228697468
J.J. Pitney
Office: Kravis 232
E-mail: jpitney@cmc.edu
Student Hours:
- Tuesday and Wednesday, 1-2 PM, and whenever I am in my office and not looking grumpy.
- If these times are inconvenient, just make an appointment for an in-person or Zoom meeting.
General
Daniel Patrick Moynihan observed: “Some . . . deny the existence of evil and others the existence of grace. The art of politics is to live with the reality of both.” With this comment in mind, we take a realistic overview of American politics. This course aims to:
- Help you understand past and present political events;
- Show you how the government directly affects you;
- Lay the groundwork for further study of government;
- Sharpen your thinking, writing, and speaking.
Some of the readings are provocative. Do not assume that your professor agrees with everything in the readings or that you must do so. Because constructive disagreement sharpens thinking, deepens understanding, and reveals novel insights, I not only encourage it, but I expect it. Feel free to challenge anything you read, but back up what you say. Bring light, not heat.
Classes
Classes will include lecture and discussion. Finish the readings before class because our discussions will involve those readings. We shall also talk about breaking news, so you must read a good news source such as Axios or Politico.
Grades
- Four three-page essays 15% each
- Final exam 30%
- Participation 10%
- The papers will develop your skills in writing, research, and political analysis. When grading, I take the quality of writing into account, applying the standards of Strunk and White. If you object to this approach, do not take this course – or anything else I teach.
- The final examination will test your comprehension of the class sessions and readings.
- In addition to the required readings (below), I may give you attachments and web links covering current events and basic factual information. The final will cover this material.
- Participation includes your activity in class and online. I will call on students at random, and if you often miss sessions or fail to prepare, your grade will suffer. In addition, you may volunteer comments and questions. This experience will hone your ability to think on your feet.
Blog
Our class blog is right here at https://cmcgov20.blogspot.com/. I shall post videos, graphs, news stories, and other material there. We shall use some of this material in class, and you may review the rest at your convenience. You will all receive invitations to post to the blog. (Please let me know if you do not get such an invitation.) I encourage you to use the blog in these ways:
- To post questions or comments about the readings before we discuss them in class;
- To follow up on class discussions with additional comments or questions.
- To post relevant news items or videos.
Details
- The papers will develop your research and writing skills. In grading, I will take account of the quality of your writing, applying the principles of Strunk and White’s Elements of Style. If you object, do not take this course or anything else I teach.
- In addition to the required readings (below), I may give you handouts, emails, and web links covering current events and basic factual information.
- Check due dates for coursework. Do not plan on extensions.
- Except as a documented disability accommodation, please do not use electronic devices (tablets, laptops, smartphones) in class. Take notes the old-fashioned way, by hand, on paper. Why? Research shows that it works better.
- Plagiarism and other forms of academic dishonesty are not victimless offenses, because they hurt fellow students. Please study our Statement of Academic Integrity, which reads in part: "The faculty of Claremont McKenna College is firmly committed to upholding the highest standards of academic integrity. Each faculty member has the responsibility to report cases of academic dishonesty to the Academic Standards Committee."
- This class welcomes viewpoint diversity. See: https://heterodoxacademy.org/library/advice-on-syllabus-language/
- Your experience in this class matters to me, and I have a particular interest in disability. If you have set up accommodations with Accessibility Services at CMC, please tell me about your approved accommodations so we can discuss your needs. You can start by forwarding me your accommodation letter. If you have not yet set up accommodations but have a temporary health condition or permanent disability, please get in touch with Ari Martinez, Associate Director of Accessibility Services, at accessibilityservices@cmc.edu to ask questions and start the process. For general information and the Request for Accommodations form, go to the CMC Accessibility Service’s website.
Required Books
Schedule (Subject to change, with advance notice).
Besides the readings below, I may supply you with additional material via the Internet.
January 22: Introduction
Feb 24, 26: Citizenship, Civil Liberties, Civil Rights
"I met my wife in jail after being arrested during a civil rights march." -- Rep. James Clyburn (D-SC)
"In a president, character is everything. A president doesn't have to be brilliant; Harry Truman wasn't brilliant, and he helped save Western Europe from Stalin. He doesn't have to be clever; you can hire clever. White Houses are always full of quick-witted people with ready advice on how to flip a senator or implement a strategy. You can hire pragmatic, and you can buy and bring in policy wonks. But you can't buy courage and decency, you can't rent a strong moral sense." -- Peggy Noonan
“What we can decide, we can undecide. But stare decisis teaches that we should exercise that authority sparingly. Cf. S. Lee and S. Ditko, Amazing Fantasy No. 15: ‘Spider-Man,’ p. 13 (1962) (‘[I]n this world, with great power there must also come — great responsibility’)." -- Justice Elena Kagan
"A congressional campaign is a lot like unmedicated childbirth: it's painful, it's messy, you don't think you can do what's required even as you're doing it, you likely consented to it months ago and now you're questioning your decisions, your likelihood to request drugs increases proportionally as you get closer to the big event, you gained weight, you don't realize you're screaming but everyone around you looks distressed, and your mother doesn't remember what it's like. Also, once you get what you want, you'll never sleep again. I'm sure there are things I'm missing, but I hear hormones make you forget so you'll do it every two years." -- Candace Valenzuela (CMC `06), 2020 candidate for US House, Texas 24.
- Theodore Lowi, et al., American Government: A Brief Introduction, 17th ed. (New York: Norton, 2023).
- Alexander Hamilton, James Madison and John Jay, The Federalist Papers (New York: Signet, 2003 [1788]).
- William Strunk and E. B. White, The Elements of Style, 4th ed. (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1999).
- Alexis deTocqueville, Democracy in America, trans. George Lawrence, ed. J.P. Mayer (New York: Harper Perennial Modern Classics, [1835/40]). Please use the Lawrence/Mayer edition, which has gone through several printings. Other translations have different wording, which would cause confusion.
Besides the readings below, I may supply you with additional material via the Internet.
January 22: Introduction
"After 50 years at the center of all of this, I know that believing in the idea of America means respecting the institutions that govern a free society: the presidency, the Congress, the courts, a free and independent press. Institutions that ... echo the words of the Declaration of Independence: `We hold these truths to be self-evident.' Rooted in the timeless words of the Constitution, `We the People.'" -- President Biden's farewell address
January 27, 29: Democracy, Equality, and the Study of Politics
"If all men are created equal, that is final. If they are endowed with inalienable rights, that is final. If governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed, that is final. No advance, no progress can be made beyond these propositions." -- Calvin Coolidge
- Lowi, ch. 1
- Declaration of Independence
- Frederick Douglass, "What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?" July 5, 1852 (abridged version), https://newtranscendentalist.medium.com/an-abridged-version-of-what-to-the-slave-is-the-4th-of-july-frederick-douglass-1852-68516ede8d15
- Alexander Stephens, "The Cornerstone Speech," March 21, 1861, http://teachingamericanhistory.org/library/document/cornerstone-speech/
Feb 3, 5: The Constitution
"[T]o paraphrase what our founders said in the Constitution of the United States: they said the truths that are self-evident, that every man and woman — that men and women were created equal and that we must go forward in recognition of that." -- Nancy Pelosi (spot the mistake!)
- Lowi, ch. 2.
- The Constitution
- Hamilton, Federalist # 1, 8, 9, 10 49.
- Akhil Reed Amar, "Founding Myths," ch. 2 of Myth America, ed. Kevin M. Kruse and Julian E. Zelizer (New York: Basic, 2022)
FIRST ESSAY ASSIGNED BY FEBRUARY 3,
DUE BY FEBRUARY 14.
DUE BY FEBRUARY 14.
Feb 10, 12: Double Security -- Federalism and the Separation of Powers
["O]f those men who have overturned the liberties of republics, the greatest number have begun their career by paying an obsequious court to the people; commencing demagogues, and ending tyrants." -- Alexander Hamilton
"So this is how liberty dies... with thunderous applause." -- Padmé Amidala
"So this is how liberty dies... with thunderous applause." -- Padmé Amidala
- Lowi, ch. 3
- Hamilton, Federalist # 39, 51.
- David French, "The Police Power of the States to Control a Pandemic, Explained," The Dispatch, March 17, 2020, https://thedispatch.com/article/the-police-power-of-the-states-to/
- Adam Nagourney, "The L.A. Fires Expose a Web of Governments, Weak by Design," New York Times, January 19, 2025.
Feb 17, 19: American Political Culture
“I sought for the greatness and genius of America in her commodious harbors and her ample rivers—and it was not there . . . in her fertile fields and boundless forests and it was not there . . . in her rich mines and her vast world commerce—and it was not there . . . in her democratic Congress and her matchless Constitution—and it was not there. Not until I went into the churches of America and heard her pulpits flame with righteousness did I understand the secret of her genius and power. America is great because she is good, and if America ever ceases to be good, she will cease to be great.” -- Not Alexis deTocqueville
- Tocqueville, 9-20, 231-261, 277-315, 340-363, 525-530.
- Abraham Lincoln, Second Inaugural Address.
- Barack Obama's keynote address at the Sojourners/Call to Renewal "Building a Covenant for a New America," June 26, 2006, https://sojo.net/articles/transcript-obamas-2006-sojournerscall-renewal-address-faith-and-politics
SECOND ESSAY ASSIGNED BY FEB 19,
DUE BY FEB 28
"I met my wife in jail after being arrested during a civil rights march." -- Rep. James Clyburn (D-SC)
- Lowi, ch. 4.
- Martin Luther King, "Letter from Birmingham Jail," https://www.africa.upenn.edu/Articles_Gen/Letter_Birmingham.html
- Federalist # 84
- ACLU of Southern California, "Dealing with Law Enforcement," https://www.aclusocal.org/en/dealing-law-enforcement
March 3, 5: Congress
"I was born in Vietnam after the Vietnam War, and my family and I fled a communist government and were rescued by the US Navy, and were given sanctuary in America. My patriotism is rooted in my gratitude for America's grace and generosity. I love this country. On January 6th, four decades after my family fled a place where political power was seized through violence, I was in the United States Capitol fleeing my fellow Americans." -- Former Rep. Stephanie Murphy (D-FL)
- Lowi, ch. 5.
- Hamilton, Federalist # 47, 48, 57, 63.
- Tocqueville, 196-230.
- Readings from congressional memoirs.
March 10, 12: Presidency
"In a president, character is everything. A president doesn't have to be brilliant; Harry Truman wasn't brilliant, and he helped save Western Europe from Stalin. He doesn't have to be clever; you can hire clever. White Houses are always full of quick-witted people with ready advice on how to flip a senator or implement a strategy. You can hire pragmatic, and you can buy and bring in policy wonks. But you can't buy courage and decency, you can't rent a strong moral sense." -- Peggy Noonan
- Lowi, ch. 6
- Hamilton, Federalist # 70, 71, 73
- Tocqueville, pp. 121-138.
- Tevi Troy, "How the White House Makes Policy," National Affairs, Winter 2025, https://www.nationalaffairs.com/publications/detail/how-the-white-house-makes-policy
March 17, 19: Spring Break
March 24, 26: Bureaucracy
"Every restraint and requirement originates in somebody's demand for it." -- Herbert Kaufman
- Lowi, ch. 7
- Tocqueville, 690-695
THIRD ESSAY ASSIGNED BY MARCH 24,
DUE APRIL 4.
March 31, April 2: Law and the Courts
“What we can decide, we can undecide. But stare decisis teaches that we should exercise that authority sparingly. Cf. S. Lee and S. Ditko, Amazing Fantasy No. 15: ‘Spider-Man,’ p. 13 (1962) (‘[I]n this world, with great power there must also come — great responsibility’)." -- Justice Elena Kagan
- Lowi, ch. 8,
- Tocqueville, pp. 99-105, 262-276
- Federalist # 78.
- Andrew Guthrie Ferguson,"The Joy of Jury Duty," The Atlantic, May 3, 2013, https://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2013/05/the-joy-of-jury-duty/275444/
- Edwards v. Aguillard (482 U.S. 578 (1987)), https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/482/578/case.html. Read the syllabus, skim and sample the opinions. See background materials here: https://www.oyez.org/cases/1986/85-1513.
April 7, 9: Public Opinion and the Media
“The real opposition is the media. And the way to deal with them is to flood the zone with shit.” -- Steve Bannon
- Lowi, ch. 9.
- UC San Diego, "News, Spin, and Fake News."
April 14, 16: Elections
"A congressional campaign is a lot like unmedicated childbirth: it's painful, it's messy, you don't think you can do what's required even as you're doing it, you likely consented to it months ago and now you're questioning your decisions, your likelihood to request drugs increases proportionally as you get closer to the big event, you gained weight, you don't realize you're screaming but everyone around you looks distressed, and your mother doesn't remember what it's like. Also, once you get what you want, you'll never sleep again. I'm sure there are things I'm missing, but I hear hormones make you forget so you'll do it every two years." -- Candace Valenzuela (CMC `06), 2020 candidate for US House, Texas 24.
- Lowi, ch. 10.
- Mike Madrid, The Latino Century: How America's Largest Minority Is Transforming Democracy (New York: Simon and Schuster, 2014), EXCERPTS.
- Malcolm X, “The Ballot or the Bullet” http://www.edchange.org/multicultural/speeches/malcolm_x_ballot.html
FOURTH ESSAY ASSIGNED APRIL 14,
DUE APRIL 25.
April 21, 23: Parties
"Mass violence in Congress seemed possible in 1850. Now, 171 years later, it’s in the national mindscape once again. And for good reason. The echoes of 1850 are striking. We’re at a moment of extreme polarization when outcomes matter, sometimes profoundly." -- Joanne Freeman, PO `84
"Mass violence in Congress seemed possible in 1850. Now, 171 years later, it’s in the national mindscape once again. And for good reason. The echoes of 1850 are striking. We’re at a moment of extreme polarization when outcomes matter, sometimes profoundly." -- Joanne Freeman, PO `84
April 28, 30: Groups and Organized Interests
"Power is not only what you have, but what an opponent thinks you have. If your organization is small, hide your numbers in the dark and raise a din that will make everyone think you have many more people than you do." -- Saul Alinsky
Return to homepage
- Lowi, ch. 12.
- Tocqueville, 189-203, 513-524.
- Saul Alinsky, Rules for Radicals (New York: Vintage, 1989 [1971]), EXCERPTS
May 5, 7: Wrapup
"We must never forget that victory to the rebellion meant death to the republic. We must never forget that the loyal soldiers who rest beneath this sod flung themselves between the nation and the nation's destroyers." -- Frederick Douglass
- Brief readings on politics in 2025, TBA.
FINAL EXAM: TUESDAY, MAY 13, 9 AM
