Max Weber: The Nature of Bureaucracy

Please print and read:

Max Weber's The Nature of Bureaucracy.

Public Opinion by Walter Lippmann

The Massless Media by William Powers

Language and Politics by George Orwell
Bring a copy with you to our next meeting.

Lippmann, Walter: Public Opinion, The World Outside and the Pictures in Our Heads

Please read Water Lippmann's Public Opinion: "The World Outside and the Pictures in Our Heads" (1921).

George Orwell: Language and Politics

Please read George Orwell's Language and Politics

Next Week: Political Parties, Elections, and Interest Groups

For next week, please skip ahead in the syllabus and begin reading Dye's Chapter #7, "Political Parties: Organizing Politics" and Chapter #8, "Campaign and Elections: Deciding Who Governs".

Marbury v. Madison

Please read Chief Justice John Marshall's opinion in Marbury v. Madison (1803).

The decision can be tough sledding so Findlaw has a summary and explanation.

Another brief summary.

Senate Parliamentarian

Faye Fiore and Janet Hook of the L.A. Times have written a very interesting article about the Senate Parliamentarian.

Mid-Term Exam

You will be given your mid-term exam the week of March 29, 2010. It will be a take-home exam. You will turn it in to me the week of April 12, 2010 during the first five minutes of our first class meeting.

LBCC Academic Calendar 2009-2010

Readings (March 8-12, 2010)

1. The Federalist Papers #70

Readings, February 22-26, 2010

1. The Federalist Papers #52
2. The Federalist Papers #62

Office Hours:

I am available to see students from 2:00 until 4:00 PM on Tuesday afternoon. During those hours I will be in one of the following offices (adjuncts are not assigned permanent offices): 2322, 2323, or 2324.

If you need to see me at some other time, please send me an e-mail (fhemker@lbcc.edu) to make an appointment. I am not on campus on Monday or Wednesday.

Extra-Credit Opportunity: The State of the Union Address

On January 27, 2010, at approximately 6:00 PM PST, President Barack Obama will give his State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress. By answering questions about the speech you can earn extra-credit. I will update this post with links to video and text transcriptions of the speech.

Follow this link for text transcriptions of previous State of the Union addresses.

UPDATE:

State of the Union 2010 (Courtesy CBS and Youtube.com)

Questions:

1. What is the one thing that has unified Democrats and Republicans (that they all hated)?
2. For how many Americans were unemployment benefits extended?
3. How much cheaper was COBRA health insurance?
4. How many tax cuts were passed?
5. Whom does President Obama mention as a group whose taxes were decreased?
6. How many people saw their income taxes increased?
7. How many people are working now who would otherwise be unemployed?
8. What is the name legislation that allowed this recovery?
9. What is the number one focus for President Obama in 2010?
10. How much money will President Obama give banks to make loans to small businesses?
11. What area of the economy is most ripe for innovation?
12. What kind of power plants does President Obama want to see built?
13. How much does President Obama want to increase America’s exports? How many jobs will this increase support?
14. What countries were the key partners in trade agreements that President Obama mentioned?
15. What’s the best anti-poverty program, according to President Obama?
16. What health problem is First Lady Michelle Obama tackling?
17. How much does the Congressional Budget Office estimate that President Obama’s health reforms will bring down the deficit?
18. When does President Obama’s spending freeze take effect? How long will it stay in effect?
19. Whose tax cuts will not be extended?
20. What does President Obama want Congress to publish on a single website before there is a vote?
21. Which issue tends to unify our country?
22. What is the false choice President Obama references?
23. When will our troops start coming home from Afghanistan?
24. How many Americans are working in Haiti to help them rebuild?

Readings (2)

For week three (January 25-29, 2010), please download, print, and read the following items:

1. The Federalist Papers #1
2. The Federalist Papers #10
3. The Federalist Papers #51
4. The Constitution of the United States (also in the textbook)

ISBN Numbers

A number of students have asked for the textbooks' ISBN numbers. Here they are:

Politics in America: ISBN 0136027180

California (Longman State Politics Series): ISBN 020567979X

Assigned Readings (1)

Please print out the following readings and bring them with you to class.

Declaration of Independence

An Economic Interpretation of the Constitution by Charles Beard

The Perpetuation of Our Political Institutions: Address Before the Young Men's Lyceum of Springfield, Illinois by Abraham Lincoln

UPDATE:

Link to An Economic Interpretation... added. Link to Lincoln's Lyceum Address added.

Remember, please print these documents and bring them with you to class.

Textbooks

This class will use the following textbooks:

1. Dye, Thomas R. and Bartholomew H. Sparrow, Politics in America, 8th ed. (New York, New York: Pearson Education, Inc.), 2009.
2. Fiber-Ostrow, Pamela, Longman State Politics Series: California, 7th ed. (New York, New York: Longman), 2009.

Copies of these books may be found for purchase at the Viking bookstore, on Amazon.com, or for rent on site like Chegg.com (among other places). This list is not intended to be complete.

UPDATE: ISBN numbers added.

Introduction to American Government, Spring 2010

Students,

Welcome to the blog that we'll be using to keep in touch with you over the course of the coming semester. This will be the first time that I use a blog, so it will begin very minimally, but will develop as we move forward.

Thanks,

Adjunct Instructor Frederick Hemker