1. Foundations
of
American Political Culture
Dr. Christopher S. Rice
University of Kentucky

2. “DON’T NEED ELECTION”
“It seems to me that Vice President Al Gore is out of control.
He is prepared to spend more than $40 million on a campaign
that the American people don’t want. The polls clearly show that
the people want Texas Gov. George W. Bush for the next
president. Why would Gore put the country through all of the
political ads and commercials when the people have spoken
through the polls?
I think Congress should take the message the American
people have sent to them and appoint Bush as president. Then
they could get back to issues that are important, like Social
Security and health care.
I know some people might say that we must have elections
because the law says so, but this could put the business of the
American people on hold for some time. Is that what we want? I
say it’s time to appoint Bush and put this behind us.”
– Randy Martin, Lexington. Lexington Herald-Leader (2000)

3. Demos + Kratia =
“Rule by the People”

4. Democracy!

6. New England Town Meetings

7. Iowa Caucuses

8. ENLIGHTENMENT

9. HOW?

10. More
Informed

11. Sense of Responsibility

12. Political Tolerance

13. Mo’ Democracy
Mo’ Problems

14. Scale

16. Leisure

17. Representative
Democracy

18. “Rule by the Few,
Controlled by the Many”

19. Delegate
Representation

20. 4
Fundamental
Principles

21. 4 Fundamental Principles of
Representative Democracy
Popular
Equality
Sovereignty
Political (Civil)
Majority Rule
Liberties

22. 4 Fundamental Principles of
Representative Democracy
Popular
Equality
Sovereignty
Political (Civil)
Majority Rule
Liberties

23. Popular Sovereignty
The ultimate source of authority rests
with the people and the government
does the people’s bidding.

24. How do we
know it
when we
see it?

25. Policies
reflect
what the
people
want

26. People participate in the
political process

27. Government Leaders
Selected in
Competitive Elections

28. Elections
Are Free
and Fair

29. 4 Fundamental Principles of
Representative Democracy
Popular
Equality
Sovereignty
Political (Civil)
Majority Rule
Liberties

30. 1 Person = 1 Vote

31. Political Equality

32. Assumes equal moral
agency and reason

33. Social
Equality?
Social
Equality?
(cc) 2007 Flickr User Tavallai

34. Mo’ Money
“That’s more like it…”
Mo’ Problems

35. It’s a Distribution Problem

36. 4 Fundamental Principles of
Representative Democracy
Popular
Equality
Sovereignty
Political (Civil)
Majority Rule
Liberties

37. Political Liberty
Basic freedoms in the formation
and expression of the popular
will & its translation into policy.

38. First
Amendment
Freedoms

39. Without Political Liberty, the
other principles can’t function!

40. 4 Fundamental Principles of
Representative Democracy
Popular
Equality
Sovereignty
Political (Civil)
Majority Rule
Liberties

41. Majority
Rules

42. 4 Fundamental Principles of
Representative Democracy
Popular
Equality
Sovereignty
Political (Civil)
Majority Rule
Liberties

43. Assumptions

44. Fairly Sophisticated

45. Rational

46. Informed
(Delegate Representation)

47. Politically Active

48. Politically Tolerant

49. The Founders faith in the
viability of Representative
Democracy relied upon:
>A System of Checks and
Balances
>The Wisdom of a Well-
Informed Citizenry
>The Rule of Reason

50. The Founders faith in the
viability of Representative
Democracy relied upon:
>A System of Checks and
Balances
>The Wisdom of a Well-
Informed Citizenry
>The Rule of Reason

51. The Founders faith in the
viability of Representative
Democracy relied upon:
>A System of Checks and
Balances
>The Wisdom of a Well-
Informed Citizenry
>The Rule of Reason

52. The Jon
Stewart
Principle
High Quality Information
and Debate are
Essential to a
Functioning Democracy

53. The
Marketplace
of Ideas

54. HOT
vs.
COOL
media

56. “Sixty percent of those who use both [TV
and the Internet] simultaneously report that
they regularly have the television on while
they are using the Internet.”
Al Gore, The Assault on Reason

57. The Founders faith in the
viability of Representative
Democracy relied upon:
>A System of Checks and
Balances
>The Wisdom of a Well-
Informed Citizenry
>The Rule of Reason

58. “Reason - cold, calculating,
unimpassioned reason - must furnish
all materials for our future support and
defence. Let those materials be
moulded into general intelligence,
sound morality, and in particular, a
reverence for the Constitution and
laws.”
Abraham Lincoln (1838)

59. “Faith in the power of reason - the belief
that citizens can govern themselves
wisely and fairly by resorting to logical
debate on the basis of the best
evidence available, instead of raw
power - was and remains the central
premise of American democracy. This
premise is now under assault.”
Al Gore, The Assault on Reason

60. Why has America’s public discourse
become less reasoned?

61. “The aide said that guys like me were ‘in what we call
the reality-based community,’ which he defined as
people who ‘believe that solutions emerge from your
judicious study of discernible reality.’ ... ‘That's not
the way the world really works anymore,’ he
continued. ‘We're an empire now, and when we act,
we create our own reality. And while you're studying
that reality—judiciously, as you will—we'll act again,
creating other new realities, which you can study too,
and that's how things will sort out. We're history's
actors…and you, all of you, will be left to just study
what we do.’”
Unnamed Bush aid, quoted by Ron Suskind, NY Times
Magazine, October 17, 2004

62. “The mental muscles of
democracy have begun
to atrophy.”
Al Gore, The Assault on
Reason

63. Why does your generation hate
America?

64. Problems

65. Scale / Population

66. Complexity of Issues

67. Are High Quality Info &
Debate Available?

68. Are people really rational
and competent?

69. Majority Tyranny?

70. Elite
theory of democracy

71. Instability due to
unrealistic
assumptions

72. The
masses
are asses

74. Downgrading role
of masses
Upgrading role of
elites

75. Hedging on government
responsiveness

77. Irrational

78. Politically Intolerant

79. Low participation
among the masses

80. Delegate
Representation

81. Trustee
Representation

83. Limiting the impact of
universal participation…

84. Constitutional Barriers

85. Increased
participation costs

86. Apathy is A-
OK!

87. FAIL

88. The American Creed

90. Values of the American Creed

91. Individualism
a commitment to
personal
initiative, self-
sufficiency and
material
accumulation

92. Unity
&
Diversity

93. Unity
the principle that Americans are one
people and form an indivisible union

94. Diversity
the idea that individual and group
differences should be respected

95. Diversity
these differences are themselves a sort
of strength

97. Commitment to rule of law
under a constitution
The idea that fundamental law
should serve as a restraint on
human behavior

98. “For as in absolute governments
the king is law, so in free countries
the law ought to be king and there
ought to be no other”
Thomas Paine

99. Liberty
the belief that individuals should be
free to act and think as they choose,
provided they do not infringe
unreasonably on the freedom and
well-being of others.

100. Equality
the belief that all individuals are
equal in their moral worth and are
entitled to equal treatment under
the law

101. Self-government
the belief that the people are the ultimate
source of governing authority and must
have a voice in how they are governed

102. Populism
Hostility of the common person to
power and the powerful

104. 2 Flavors

105. liberal populism

107. conservative populism

109. Photo Credits
Slide 4: (cc) 2007 Flicker User Creativity+
Slide 9: (cc) 2006 by Flickr user tony.eckersley
Slide 10: (cc) 2006 by Flickr user Mathias L.
Slide 11: Photo (cc) 2005 by Flickr user monkeyc.net
Slide 12: Photos (cc) 2007 by flickr user That Other Paper (Austin, TX)
Slide 14: (cc) 2004 Flickr User Ian_Ransley
Slide 24: (cc) 2007 by Flickr user Eduardo Cruz
Slide 25: (cc) 2007 by Flickr user Cesar R
Slide 33: (cc) 2007 Flickr User Robleto
Slide 39: (cc) 2007 Flickr User Freakgirl
Slide 41: Photo (cc)2006 by Flickr user jjn1
Slide 50: (cc) 2006 Flickr User letouj
Slide 53: (cc) 2006 Flickr User Chadh
Slide 55: (cc) 2006 Frickr User nouQraz
Slide 57: (cc) 2007 Flickr User Rickydavid
Slide 77: (cc) 2005 Flickr User Brave Heart
Slides 83 & 84: www.lumaxart.com/
Slide 85: (cc) 2007 Flickr User Adam Polselli
Slide 86: (cc) Flickr User Thorne Enterprises
Slide 88: (cc) 2007 Flickr User ΛβΠ L
Slide 89: (cc) 2007 Flickr User Silversprite
Slide 90: (cc) 2007 Flickr User Enrico Fuente