Please open Canvas and complete BRT 10.
Graded Essay
I have a “This is significant because” stamp.
See me if you need me to stamp that on the back of your hand.
Organized interests collectively report $3.2 billion a year in lobbying expenditures, and probably equally or greater amounts on non-reported lobbying-related activities. The most active organizations are now hiring upwards of 100 lobbyists to represent them. These statistics alone should tell us that special interests don’t “buy” politicians with campaign contributions. If they did, there’d be no point in spending all that money to hire lobbyists.
The reason to hire so many lobbyists is that genuine political influence is actually hard work. It requires building a compelling case and then making that case over and over and over again. It means being in multiple places at once…
Looking at lobbying in the aggregate, what jumps out is the stark imbalance in resources. Corporations blow everyone else out of the water. Business accounts for roughly 80 percent of all reported lobbying expenditures, about $2.6 billion dollars a year now…
[Q]uantity and quality matter: To hire more and more senior and connected people to be more places to make more and better arguments on your behalf with more detail and build more and more high-impact allies improves one’s chances.
Lee Drutman, “What We Get Wrong about Lobbying and Corruption”
Textbook Access
You have an email with the following workarounds:
1. Read the book on the OpenStax website. Choose View Online. You'll need to figure out the navigation, and this doesn't have the pins. Please be sure to access the pins on the class website and read those.
2. The same OpenStax website allows you to download a PDF of the entire book. Again, no pins, so read those on the class website.
3. Download the OpenStax app and read the book there. Be sure to get American Government, 3e (3rd edition). Again, no pins, so read those on the class website.
�4. I was able to go to the regular class website and read the chapters as usual on my phone.
To make up the quiz, go to Canvas and open the Ch. 9 In-class essay.
I will have the make-up essay prompt posted after 3rd Period
My plan is to have the essays scored by Thursday morning.
You’ll get a few brief comments on your own essay.
Then on Thursday I’ll have general comments and suggestions based on what I’m seeing in the two classes.
Please complete the following questionnaire ASAP.
Send me your total score.
Political Spectrum Questionnaire Name _________________________ Total ____________
For each statement, mark your degree of agreement. If you strongly agree, mark 5. If you strongly disagree, mark 1. If you are neutral, mark 3. You may mark any intermediate point as well. Then total your answers and write the total at the top of the page.
1. Abortion should be made illegal.
2. The United States should spend whatever it takes to have the strongest military in the world.
3. It is more important to protect people's jobs than to protect the salmon, spotted owl, or other endangered species.
4. It is OK for the United States to intervene in other countries when our vital interests are at stake.
5. Racial discrimination is no longer a major problem in the United States.
8. The death penalty is an appropriate punishment for some serious crimes.
9. It is more important to lower taxes than to provide higher levels of government services.
10. Until there is better scientific evidence, the government should not take action regarding climate change.
11. It should be a crime to burn the American flag.
12. Because drugs are such a serious problem, employers should be allowed to require employees to take random drug tests.
For each statement, mark your degree of agreement. If you strongly agree, mark 5. If you strongly disagree, mark 1. If you are neutral, mark 3. You may mark any intermediate point as well. Then total your answers and write the total at the top of the page.
13. Homosexuals should not be allowed to marry.
14. Affirmative action programs which give hiring preference to qualified women and minorities should be eliminated.
15. Private citizens should have an unlimited right to own guns.
16. People who are on welfare are generally lazy and don't want to work.
17. Search warrants should not be required if the police have reason to believe that a crime has been committed.
18. Immigration should be strictly controlled, and illegal immigrants should face serious legal punishment.
19. It should be illegal for doctors to assist terminally-ill patients commit suicide.
20. Books and movies which are offensive and sexually explicit should be banned.
Collective Action Problem
This video presents an example of a collective action problem.
When the video is over, be ready to explain what a collective action problem is.
Collective Action Problem
A collective action problem is a scenario in which there is conflict between the individual interest and the group interest. Each individual in the group faces a choice to either act selfishly or cooperate.
In a collective action problem it is always in the individual’s best interest to act selfishly, regardless of what the other individuals do. However, if all individuals act selfishly, then they all get worse outcomes than if they all cooperate. In other words, it is in the individual’s interest to act selfishly, but it is in the group’s interest to have everyone cooperate.
A collective action problem is a scenario in which there is conflict between the individual interest and the group interest. Each individual in the group faces a choice to either act selfishly or cooperate.
In a collective action problem it is always in the individual’s best interest to act selfishly, regardless of what the other individuals do. However, if all individuals act selfishly, then they all get worse outcomes than if they all cooperate. In other words, it is in the individual’s interest to act selfishly, but it is in the group’s interest to have everyone cooperate.
Identify a real-world situation where actors in the political system might face a collective-action problem.
Who Will Bell the Cat?
In which situation is the collective action problem likely to be worse?
Who Will Bell the Cat?
In which situation is the collective action problem likely to be worse?
Olson’s Law of Large Groups—The larger the group, the greater the free rider problem. That is, in larger groups, it is more likely that people will hang back, wait for someone else to do all the work, and still enjoy the benefits.
Example—Imagine a group project where all group members will receive the same grade. Would you be more have free riders in a group of three or a group of 100?