Examine how power order and justice as it relates to the ideology you choose promotes the public good.

Using an ideology discussed in the textbook, construct an argument explaining how this ideology upholds the public good by examining power, order, and justice.

Select an ideology discussed in the textbook. In an essay, examine how power, order, and justice as it relates to the ideology you choose promotes the public good.

book—- Magstadt, T. M. (2017). Understanding politics: Ideas, institutions, and issues. Australia: Cengage Learning.

chapters attached

Chapter 1. Introduction: The Study of Politics

Learning Objectives

· 1Discuss the value of studying politics.

· 2Identify the three basic elements of politics, as well as the dynamics of each.

· 3Analyze the methods, models, and approaches for studying politics.

· 4Evaluate whether politics brings out the best or the worst in human nature—or both.

Politics is not for the faint-hearted. There is virtually never a day without a crisis at home or abroad. Whenever we catch the news on our radio, TV, or computer, we are reminded that we live in a dangerous world.

In 2008, the spectacle of the world’s only superpower paralyzed by extreme partisanship and teetering on the brink of a “fiscal cliff” loomed like a gathering storm. No sooner had that danger receded than a new threat arose in the Middle East in the form of the so-called Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). There were even rumors of a coming end-of-the-world apocalypse—December 21, 2012, to be exact, the final day of the old Mayan calendar.

The politically charged atmosphere and the pervasive sense of an impending crisis was nothing new, but two events dominated the news in 2008. First, a financial meltdown and plummeting stock market wiped out fortunes and rocked the global economy to its very foundations. Second, Barack Obama became the first African American elected to the nation’s highest office.

Political culture plays a big role in shaping public policy, and optimism is part of America’s political DNA. Despite a deepening recession, there was a new sense of hope—perhaps it was the beginning of the end of two costly wars and the dawn of a new era in America. But by 2012 hope had given way to anger and disappointment.

What happened? In 2009, President Obama had moved to revive the U.S. economy, which had fallen into the deepest recession since the Great Depression of the 1930s. But the economic stimulus package he pushed through Congress, where the Democrats enjoyed a solid majority in both the House and Senate, was widely viewed as a Wall Street “bailout”—a massive multibillion dollar gift to the very financial institutions that had caused the problem. It was also criticized as a “jobless recovery”; unemployment rose to nearly 10% and youth unemployment (16- to 19-year-olds) rose about 25% in 2010. Nearly half of young people aged 16 to 24 did not have jobs, the highest number since World War II.

The conservative media (most notably FOX News) and the amorphous Tea Party movement eagerly exploited growing public discontent, handing the Democrats a crushing defeat in the 2010 midterm elections. Republicans regained control of the House and cut deeply into the Democrats’ majority in the Senate (see especially Chapters 11 and 13).

Obama also spearheaded a controversial health care reform that satisfied few, confused everyone, and angered many voters on both sides of the acrimonious debate. His decision to order a “surge” in Afghanistan, committing 30,000 more U.S. troops to an unpopular and unwinnable war, did not placate Congress or greatly improve his standing in the opinion polls, nor did his decision to withdraw the last U.S. combat troops from Iraq in December 2011.

Despite a constant chorus of criticism and a vicious media campaign of attack ads from the right, Obama was elected to a second term in 2012. He defeated Republican Mitt Romney by a margin of 5 million votes (51% to 47% of the popular vote) while taking 61% of the electoral votes. The embattled president’s troubles in dealing with a recalcitrant Republican majority in Congress

 

Chapter 2. The Idea of the Public Good: Ideologies and Isms

Learning Objectives

· 1Define the public good.

· 2Identify the three kinds of political ideologies.

· 3Identify the five core values.

· 4Describe the difference between a liberal and a conservative, as well as how these terms have changed over time.

· 5Determine whether or not one ideology or political persuasion better guarantees freedom, justice, and democracy.

In Lewis Carroll’s classic tale Alice in Wonderland, Alice loses her way in a dense forest and encounters the Cheshire Cat who is sitting on a tree branch. “Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?” asks Alice. “That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,” replies the Cat. “I don’t much care where,” says Alice. “Then it doesn’t matter which way you go,” muses the Cat.

Like Alice lost in the forest, we too occasionally find ourselves adrift when trying to make sense of complex issues, controversies, and crises. Governments and societies are no different. Political leadership can be woefully deficient or hopelessly divided over the economy or the environment or health care or a new threat to national security. Intelligent decisions, as Alice’s encounter with the Cheshire Cat illustrates, can take place only after we have set clear aims and goals. Before politics can effectively convert mass energy (society) into collective effort (government), which is the essence of public policy, we need a consensus on where we want to go or what we want to be as a society a year from now or perhaps ten years down the road. Otherwise, our leaders, like the rest of us, cannot possibly know how to get there. There are plenty of people eager to tell us what to think. Our purpose is to learn how to think about politics.

Political Ends and Means

In politics, ends and means are inextricably intertwined. Implicit in debates over public policy is a belief in the idea of the public good, that it is the government’s role to identify and pursue aims of benefit to society as a whole rather than to favored individuals. But the focus of policy debates is often explicitly about means rather than ends. For example, politicians may disagree over whether a tax cut at a particular time will help promote the common good (prosperity) by encouraging saving and investment, balancing the national budget, reducing the rate of inflation, and so on. Although they disagree about the best monetary and fiscal strategies, both sides would agree that economic growth and stability are proper aims of government.

In political systems with no curbs on executive authority, where the leader has unlimited power, government may have little to do with the public interest.* In constitutional democracies, by contrast, the public good is associated with core values such as security, prosperity, equality, liberty, and justice (see Chapter 13). These goals are the navigational guides for keeping the ship of state on course. Arguments about whether to tack this way or that, given the prevailing political currents and crosswinds, are the essence of public policy debates.

Ideologies and the Public Good

The concept of Left and Right originated in the European parliamentary practice of seating parties that favor social and political change to the left of the presiding officer; those opposing change (or favoring a return to a previous form of government), to the right. “You are where you sit,” in other words.

Today, people may have only vague ideas about government or how it works or what it is actually doing at any given time.* Even so, many lean one way

 

Week 1 Assignment: Essay – Benefiting the Public Good

Submit Assignment

Due Jan 13, 2019 by 11:59pm Points 80 Submitting a file upload

Required Resources

Read/review the following resources for this activity:

 

Textbook: Chapter 1, 2

Lesson

Minimum of 1 scholarly source

Instructions

One role of government is to ensure that policies benefit the people within their jurisdiction.

 

For local governments, it would be the townspeople or city dwellers.

For the state governments, it would be the people living within the state.

For the federal government, it would be everyone within the borders of the country.

Using an ideology discussed in the textbook, construct an argument explaining how this ideology upholds the public good by examining power, order, and justice.

 

Select an ideology discussed in the textbook. In an essay, examine how power, order, and justice as it relates to the ideology you choose promotes the public good.

 

Writing Requirements (APA format)

 

Length: 1.5-2 pages (not including title page or references page)

1-inch margins

Double spaced

12-point Times New Roman font

Title page

References page (minimum of 1 scholarly source and textbook/lesson)

Grading

This activity will be graded based on Week 1 Essay Grading Rubric.

 

Course Outcomes (CO): 1

 

Due Date: By 11:59 p.m. MT on Sunday

 

Rubric

Week 1 Assignment: Essay – Benefiting the Public Good

Week 1 Assignment: Essay – Benefiting the Public Good

Criteria Ratings Pts

This criterion is linked to a Learning Outcome Ideology explanation

20.0 pts

Uses the ideology by name and discussed its founder while explaining the central features of the ideology.

16.0 pts

Name of ideology is used, but missing at least two central features without crediting the founder.

12.0 pts

Ideology is not explained or all central features are missing.

0.0 pts

Idealogy is not explained and all central features are missing

20.0 pts

This criterion is linked to a Learning Outcome Power, order and justice

20.0 pts

Addresses each concept—power, order, and justice—in relation to the ideology. Explains how the ideology keeps power, order, and justice intact.

16.0 pts

Addresses at least two out of the three concepts. Doesn’t relate these concepts back to the ideology.

12.0 pts

Addresses only one of the concepts. Does not relate these concepts to their ideology.

0.0 pts

Addresses none of the concepts

20.0 pts

This criterion is linked to a Learning Outcome Public good

20.0 pts

Explains how the public good is upheld through the ideology chosen. The argument is concise.

16.0 pts

Explains how the public good is upheld through the ideology chosen. The argument is not concise.

12.0 pts

It is unclear how the public good is upheld or the public good doesn’t relate to the ideology.

0.0 pts

Does not address public good.

20.0 pts

This criterion is linked to a Learning Outcome Scholarly resources

10.0 pts

Uses both the book and, at least, one outside scholarly source.

8.0 pts

Uses only the book or a scholarly source.

6.0 pts

Uses only a scholarly source and the source is not scholarly.

0.0 pts

Does not use the book or scholarly source.

10.0 pts

This criterion is linked to a Learning Outcome APA

5.0 pts

All sources are properly cited and referenced according to APA standards.

4.0 pts

Sources are either properly cited or referenced, missing one of those elements.

3.0 pts

The citation and/or reference are incorrect.

0.0 pts

No APA format was used.

5.0 pts

This criterion is linked to a Learning Outcome Writing

5.0 pts

Presents information using clear and concise language in an organized manner (minimal errors in English grammar, spelling, syntax, and punctuation).

4.0 pts

Presents information using understandable language but is somewhat disorganized (some errors in English grammar, spelling, syntax, and punctuation).

3.0 pts

Presents information using understandable language but is very disorganized (many errors in English grammar, spelling, syntax, and punctuation).

0.0 pts

Presents information that is not clear, logical, professional or organized to the point that the reader has difficulty understanding the message (numerous errors in English grammar, spelling, syntax, and/or punctuation).

5.0 pts

Total Points: 80.0