Presentation Transcript

1. Hacker and Pierson discusses the breaking up of the economic political coalition that had kept a democratic majority in Congress for most of 50 years (1933-1983). See the shift as a general shift of power in Washington. Focuses on the concept of 1978 versus 1968. Reactions to new political realities take time to develop. Wedge social issues caused a rift between the Democratic party and some of its supporters (most of the South). Yet it took the oil crisis to actually move these voters over to voting for Republicans. Chapter 4 The unseen Revolution of the 1970s
2. Olson provided a how-to primer on political organization to realize demands in 1965. Organize on specific issues, keep the group small, and be willing to keep up pressure for years. Mancur Olson
3. Plotke, David. 1992. “The Political Mobilization of Business.” In The Politics of Interests: Interest Groups Transformed, ed. Mark P. Petracca. Boulder, CO: Westview Press. Discusses the mobilization of business in response to perceived threats to business interests: increased regulation, low public opinion, OSHA, EPA, etc. Mobilization began prior to the oil crisis, but did not have much effect until several years into the economic crisis. Five years of dissatisfaction with the status quo before the public could be convinced of another economic model. David Plotke
4. Expanding government regulation Famously stated “We are all Keynesians now.” Keynesian Republicans an even greater threat to business than Democrats. Businesses and the American Conservative Union found a made-for-TV, Goldwater Republican in the form of Ronald Reagan, a true conservative. Nixon
5. The Emerging Republican Majority (1969) Mediacracy: American Parties and Politics in the Communications Age (1974) Electoral Reform and Voter Participation (with Paul H. Blackman, 1975) Post-Conservative America (1982) Staying on Top: The Business Case for a National Industrial Strategy (1984) The Politics of Rich and Poor: Wealth and Electorate in the Reagan Aftermath (1990) Boiling Point: Democrats, Republicans, and the Decline of Middle Class Prosperity (1993) Arrogant Capital: Washington, Wall Street and the Frustration of American Politics (1994) The Cousins’ Wars: Religion, Politics and the Triumph of Anglo-America (1999) Wealth and Democracy: A Political History of the American Rich (2002) American Dynasty: Aristocracy, Fortune, and the Politics of Deceit in the House of Bush (2004) American Theocracy: The Peril and Politics of Radical Religion, Oil, and Borrowed Money in the 21st Century (2006) Bad Money: Reckless Finance, Failed Politics, and the Global Crisis of American Capitalism (2007) Kevin Phillips
6. Architect of the Republican takeover, in recent years very critical of Republican policies. “For Phillips, it was liberals who had repudiated the New Deal by moving “beyond programs taxing the few for the benefit of the many (the New Deal) to programs taxing the many on behalf of the few (the Great Society).” One step too far for blue-collar workers. Taxes remained relatively high at the lower incomes, but taxes had been falling at the higher income levels. Kevin phillips
7. Deep cuts in capital gains taxes and increases in payroll taxes. A negative real rate of inflation, high unemployment (fewer workers paying payroll taxes), wages not keeping pace with inflation (lower real wages), COLAs for social security (transfer payments are increasing with inflation), made these moves necessary to adjust to current realities. Deregulation of transportation, energy, and communication. It was an energy crisis. Regulated airfares were putting airlines out of business as the cost of jet fuel skyrocketed. Deregulation of energy similarly found ways to provide incentives to conserve and identify alternative energy sources. Communications was undergoing revolutionary changes as cable TV was replacing broadcast channels and new forms of broadcasting signals came online. Democrats during Carter administration
8. This view leaves out two key issues “public policy and organized interest groups.” Off season vs the regular season. Press and public erroneously see elections as the ballgame. Organized interests accurately see governing and policy decision-making as being the ballgame. Most voters pay little attention to what happens between elections, yet this is when the least policy work is being done because lawmakers are out campaigning. “Politics as electoral spectacle” (101)
9. Its all about organization. Individual achievement fits in with American political culture of individualism. 399 people and 36,000 lbs of equipment and supplies. “It was a feat of modern management.” Individuals achieve greatness on their own, not because they have a team of hundreds or thousands helping them to achieve these goals. The rich are rich because of their initiative, not because the government developed institutions and infrastructure that facilitated their success. Analogy of Sir Edmund Hillary (102)
10. “The clout that huge organizations wield in American life is real, and it is neither accident nor conspiracy…They can marshal vastly greater resources than can any individual…They can operate simultaneously in many different arenas…they are durable, even relentless, where individuals are flighty and, of course, mortal…They can sustain a focus for decades if need be: watching, waiting, planning, and then seizing an opportunity when the time is right.” Page 104 advantages of organizations
11. Health care coverage deemed “bad for ratings.” “something that was very hard to understand happening too slowly.” Media coverage of the real game (106)
12. Gauntlet of well-paid and experienced lobbyists. Short victory for the people in the Tax Reform Act of 1986. Once the press and the public moved on, the lobbyists remained, able to push their agenda unimpeded. The elitist model of political theory. “Year after year, they succeeded in adding back loopholes – one unnoticed provision at a time. They could do so not because public opinion had drifted rightward (it hadn’t), but because they were organized and their opponents were not. Backed by organizations, they pushed politicians to respond to their concerns. And nobody pushed back.” Gucci Gulch
13. Struggles over policy are long and require resources over multiple venues and a resolve to never quit even when you have won. For most of us there is insufficient payouts to be involved in this type of effort. For businesses and industries it can mean hundreds of billions of dollars. To put it in perspective: the most ever taken in a bank robbery was $1 billion by Saddam Hussein. endurance
14. Most Americans lack sufficient political knowledge to know whether they have even been helped or hurt, much less who is responsible or why. Example: with the passage of health care reform, have you been helped or hurt? Will heathcare reform cost you more or less than if nothing had been done? If it has made you better off, who should receive the credit? If it makes you worse off, who should take the blame? Who can I shoot?
15. Rich people vote, poor people don’t. Even if you are on the side of the poor, do you vote to benefit the poor, who probably will never even know what you did, or do you avoid angering the rich who will certainly know what you did? The poor have no voice because 1) they don’t speak up and 2) when they do they often are operating on bad information. Responsiveness to income groups
16. “the capacity to mobilize resources, Coordinate actions with others, Develop extensive expertise, Focus sustained attention, And operate flexibly across multiple domains of activity. These are the attributes of organizations, not discrete, atomized voters.” Formidable capabilities
17. Though intended to prevent the power of factions, our fragmented system allows for multiple veto points that prevent major reforms, but allows for the steady erosive drip of interest group pressures. Fragmented power
18. Economic interests put their money where the action is. More and more dollars going to efforts at lobbying. With hundreds of millions going to elections, but billions going to political pressure. “Why has Washington made the rich richer and abandoned the middle class? Because of the relentless effectiveness of modern efficient organizations operating in a much less modern and efficient political system.” What works for interest groups