Materials that will help you to get the most out of this class: the on-line versions of the syllabus and course schedule, paper grading criteria handout (on-line), citation instructions handout (on-line), and the High Point University Honor Code.

Lowi, et al., "The Citizen and Government" (Chapter 1)

Lowi, et al., "The Founding and the Constitution" (Chapter 2, just the first section on the political philosophers most influential at the time the US was founded).

Selection from John Kingdon, America the Unusual  (part one; part two). The full citation for this book: John Kingdon. 1998. "American Ideology." In America the Unusual. New York: St. Martins. Pp. 23-56.

Lowi, et al., "The Founding and the Constitution" (Chapter 2, up to the sections on the Constitutional Convention)

The Declaration of Independence (or see We the People's appendix). Try to discern what the main complaints of America's colonists were.

The Articles of Confederation (or see We the People's appendix). Focus on trying to understand how America's first document conceived the relationship between the states, the national government, and everyday citizens.

Edmond S. Morgan, "The Second American Revolution," a review of Gordon Wood's The Radicalism of the American Revolution (New York Review of Books, 1992, 8pp)

HW Brands, "Founders Chic" (Atlantic Monthly)

Jay Tolson, "Founding Rivalries" (US News & World Report)

Lowi, et al., "(Chapter 2, read all sections on the Constitution and the amendment process)

David Brian Robertson, "Madison's Opponents and Constitutional Design" (American Political Science Review). Read up to "Altering Madison's Substantive Plans for the Constitution" (pg. 238)

Sanford Levinson, "The Democratic Deficit in America" (Harvard Law and Policy Journal, 2006, 7pp)

In class, I indicated that I would post some interesting data on the use of "hope" and "change" in inaugural addresses. Chart one looks at which presidents have talked the most about "hope." Chart two looks at the balance of references to "hope" and "change" over time. By the way, social scientists often use "content analysis" like this.

David Brian Robertson, "Madison's Opponents and Constitutional Design" (American Political Science Review). Read the remainder of the article.

Federalist 10: The Utility of the Union as a Safeguard Against Domestic Faction and Insurrection (also in We the People's appendix)

Federalist 51 "The Structure of the Government Must Furnish the Proper Checks and Balances Between the Different Departments" (also in We the People's appendix)

Lowi, et al., "Federalism" (Chapter 3)

Lowi, et al., "Civil Liberties" (Chapter 4, first half)

Andrew Rudalevige, "The War on Terrorism's Toll on the U.S. Constitution" (Foreign Affairs, 2007, 5pp)

Lowi, et al., "Civil Rights" (Chapter 4, second half)

United States vs. Morrison, et al. (2003, the majority opinion, 3pp). This reading is short but difficult; pay attention to the logic and major court cases cited.

Martin Luther King, I Have a Dream

A selection from Lawrence H. Fuchs, The American Kaleidoscope (Wesleyan Univ. Press, 1990, 21pp)

Robert Putnam, "The Strange Disappearance of Social Capital" (PS: Politics and Political Science, 1994). Please read the first 15 pages carefully and review the charts at the end.

The Economist, "The Glue of Society" (2005, 6pp)

The Economist, "Vote for Me, Dimwit" (2007, 1p)

Michael X. Delli Carpini, "In Search of the Informed Citizen" (Communication Review, 2000, 18pp)

Lowi, et al., "Public Opinion" (Chapter 5)

Sidney Verba, Kay Scholozman, and Henry Rady, "The Big Tilt" (American Prospect, 1997, 7pp)

Sidney Verba, "Would the Dream of Political Equality Turn out to Be a Nightmare? " (Perspectives on Politics, 2003, 17pp).

Lowi, et al., "Political Parties and Elections" (Chapter 10, second half)

Dan Gilgoff, "A Fake Democracy? (USN&WR, 2006, 4pp)

Charles S. Bullock, "Two Generations of Redistricting" and Michael McDonald, "Drawing the Line" (Extensions, 2004, 10pp)

Marshall Ganz, "Voters in the Crosshairs" (The American Prospect, 1994, 11pp)

Dan Gilgoff, "Everyone is a Special Interest" (US News & World Report, 2006, 2pp)

Steven Levy, "Campaigns Get Personal" (Newsweek, 2008, 1p)

Handout using survey data from the annual American National Election Survey (2005, 2pp): Who gets contacted by the parties and urged to register and vote? Please look carefully at the data to identify which socioeconomic and demograpic characteristics most closely correlate with being contacted by a party about voting.

Lowi, et al., "Political Parties and Elections" (Chapter 10, first half)

What socioeconomic and demographic factors most highly correlate to partisan identification?  Handouts from the annual American National Election Survey (2005) that look at party affiliation over time: (1) Democrats by group affiliation; (2) Republicans by group affiliation.

Lowi, et al., "The Media" (Chapter 7)

Jay Tolson, "The Media on Trial" ( US News & World Report , 2004, 5pp)

Ted Koppel, "Commercial Pressures and the News." Washington, DC: National Public Radio, November 18, 2005. You can listen to this five minute interview in either  *.wav or *.mp3 formats.

Lowi, et al., "Interest Groups" (Chapter 8). If we do not have time to spend a day on this topic in class, it will not be covered on your in-class exam, but you will want to consider how interest groups make America's democracy more or less accountable when you write the paper component of your exam.

Lowi, et al., "Congress" (Chapter 9)

Steven Stark, "Too Representative?" (The Atlantic Monthly, 1995)

Lowi, et al., "The Presidency" (Chapter 10)

Thomas Cronin and Michael Genovese, Selections from The Paradoxes of the American Presidency

Norman J. Ornstein and Thomas E. Mann "When Congress Checks Out" (Foreign Affairs, 2006, 8pp).

Aziz Huq, "Imperial March" (Democracy Journal, 2008, 12pp).

Lowi, et al., "Bureaucracy" (Chapter 11)

Michael Grunwald, "Why Hurricane Katrina was a Man-Made Disaster" (The New Republic, 2006, 7pp)