SYLLABUS DRAFT

PS104 Problems US Politics / Fall 2009, University of Oregon

2009-05-05 version.

Instructor: Forrest Nabors

Email: fnabors@uoregon.edu

Please see “Staff Information” in Blackboard for instructor office hours, and for all information on Graduate Teaching Fellow (your teaching assistants).

Course Description

This course will present you with a set of current problems, as well as older, enduring problems in US politics, and will require you to work through all of them. The course will help you sharpen skills that are necessary to political science, and helpful to your general education and enlightened citizenship. No political science coursework is prerequisite to taking PS104.

Consider this simple experiment: Mark the clock, and then begin paying attention to a prominent source of American news. How much time has elapsed before a national political problem appears in the news discussion? Repeat the experiment several times per day, and you might marvel at how surrounded we are by political problems, and how easily we take these surroundings for granted.

This is not accidental. In a democratic republic political problems surround and press upon the people, because “We the People” are ultimately sovereign. In contrast, where one individual is sovereign, political problems cluster around that one ruler, whose individual or delegated judgment is repeatedly called upon to resolve them. But since American citizens ultimately rule the United States, we are all repeatedly called upon to resolve our national political problems.

How can we citizens assure ourselves that we will make prudent political judgments? An important function of political science in a democratic republic is to address this need, as this course will.

Course Goals and Format

The goals of this course are twofold:

1. That you can demonstrate competent understanding of a broad range of political problems; and
2. That you can demonstrate skill at analyzing them.

In other words, this course aims at enabling you to make independent, informed judgments about given and unforeseeable problems in US politics.

You will be regularly assigned pairs of short texts. Each author argues an opposing position on a political problem. From course beginning to end, in assignments and in class, I will ask you to methodically examine each problem closely, so that you can answer the following kinds of questions:

1. What is the apparent problem? Over what do the opposing positions disagree?
2. In a few words, what are the summary arguments of both sides? What sorts of arguments do they use? What are the political consequence or implications of their arguments?
3. Why are they opposed? What deeper causes explain their disagreement? – Over facts, over principles, or something else?
4. How could the opposing sides reach agreement? Could further research resolve the disagreement?
5. Is one argued position stronger to you? Why or why not? What additional arguments could you add to strengthen the weaker argument?

By repeatedly applying such questions as these to the political problems you will encounter, you will further develop the habits of analyzing political arguments.

Assignments and Grading

The graded assignments and readings will gradually but definitely increase in difficulty as you become more practiced at analysis. The topics we will read until week six will span civil liberties, national institutions, and public policy. We will then read much more challenging texts touching on problems fundamental to US politics.

• The first quiz will ask you to identify correct answers from closed lists of possible answers to questions about the texts we have read through week two.
• The second quiz will ask you to write-in the correct answers to questions about the texts we read in week three and four.
• The two short papers (3 double-spaced pages) should each be a complete analysis of one problem I select from later weeks’ readings.
• The take-home final will be a complete analysis of one problem I identify on the last day of class, Thursday/week ten.

Please do not take any of these assignments lightly. The written assignments will be graded strictly for clarity and concision. And you cannot write clearly and concisely unless your thoughts are already clear and concise. Throughout the course I will support you in developing the skills that will produce these results. If you regularly attend class and keep up with the readings, you will perform far better than otherwise.

In-class quiz #1 on Thursday of week two – worth 10% of your course grade

In-class quiz #2 on Thursday of week four – 10% of your course grade

Short paper #1 due Thursday of week six – 25% of your course grade

Short paper #2 due Thursday of week eight – 25% of your course grade

Take-home final, due Thursday of finals week – 30% of your course grade

Please turn in your short papers on the respective Thursdays of week six and eight, in class. Every business day a paper is late, it loses one full grade.

For each written assignment, including the take-home final, instructions will be posted on Blackboard.

If you believe a grade you received was unfair, first see the GTF who assessed your assignment. If the GTF affirms your grade, you may appeal your grade to me. I will re-grade the entire assignment, which could result in a net decrease or increase of your existing grade.

On Classroom Policies

In my view the collegiate classroom is a place of honor, and honorable conduct necessarily precedes the best kind of educational experience. I expect that together we will uphold the honor of our classroom, as well as observe university rules. I do not keep personal lists of classroom do’s and don’ts. Feel free to ask if you have any questions.

Be sure you know what academic honesty and its opposite are. I encourage you to take pride in upholding academic honesty, even if at the cost of failing honorably. A helpful reference: http://libweb.uoregon.edu/guides/plagiarism/students/

Special Needs

Please contact me with as much advanced notice as possible if you have documented needs that require accommodation.

Texts

Scott, Gregory and Loren Gatch, eds. 2003. 21 Debated Issues In American Politics. 2^nd ed. Noted on the schedule as (S&G). The book is available at the UO Bookstore.

All other readings posted on Blackboard.

Schedule

WEEK ONE

Monday: Course introduction

Tuesday: Issue 3 Abortion (S&G)

Wednesday: Issue 4 Gun Control (S&G)

Thursday: Issue 9 The Electoral College (S&G)

WEEK TWO

Monday: Issue 10 News Media (S&G)

Tuesday: Issue 11 Congress (S&G)

Wednesday: Congressional Term Limits (Blackboard)

Thursday: Quiz #1; No readings due, you may leave upon completing the quiz.

WEEK THREE

Monday: Issue 12 The Presidency (S&G)

Tuesday: Graff, Henry; “Bush and the Plight of the Presidency” (Blackboard)

Wednesday: Issue 13 The Judiciary (S&G)

Thursday: Balkin, Jack; “Alive and Kicking” (Blackboard)

WEEK FOUR

Monday: Issue 14 Economic Policy, The Flat Tax (S&G)

Tuesday: Issue 15 Economic Policy, Republicans vs. Democrats (S&G)

Wednesday: Issue 16 Environmental Policy (S&G)

Thursday: Quiz #2; No readings due, you may leave upon completing the quiz.

WEEK FIVE

Monday: Issue 17 Social Policy, Welfare (S&G)

Tuesday: Podesta, John and Robert Rector on Poverty in America (Blackboard)

Wednesday: Issue 18 Social Policy, Bilingual Education (S&G)

Thursday: Fonte, John and Gary Gerstle on Americanization (Blackboard)

WEEK SIX

Monday: “Brutus” vs. “Publius” (James Madison), 1787 (Blackboard)

Tuesday: Brutus vs. Publius, continued

Wednesday: Brutus vs. Publius, continued

Thursday: Paper #1 assigned; Brutus vs. Publius, concluded.

WEEK SEVEN

Monday: Abraham Lincoln vs. Stephen Douglas, 1858 (Blackboard)

Tuesday: Lincoln vs. Douglas, continued

Wednesday: Lincoln vs. Douglas, continued

Thursday: Paper #1 Due; Lincoln vs. Douglas, concluded.

WEEK EIGHT

Monday: William Jennings Bryan vs. President William McKinley, 1900-1901 (Blackboard)

Tuesday: Bryan v. McKinley, continued.

Wednesday: Bryan v. McKinley, continued.

Thursday: Paper #2 assigned; Bryan v. McKinley, concluded.

WEEK NINE

Monday: Theodore Roosevelt vs. President William H. Taft, 1912 (Blackboard)

Tuesday: Roosevelt vs. Taft, continued.

Wednesday: Roosevelt vs. Taft, continued.

Thursday: Paper #2 Due; Roosevelt vs. Taft, concluded.

WEEK TEN

Monday: Franklin D. Roosevelt vs. President Herbert Hoover, 1932 (Blackboard)

Tuesday: Roosevelt vs. Hoover, continued

Wednesday: Roosevelt vs. Hoover, continued

Thursday: Take-Home Final Exam distributed; Roosevelt vs. Hoover, concluded.

Thursday of Finals Week, take-home final exam due.