Freedom v' Power

1
Freedom v. Power

• POSC 120
• Introduction to Politics and Political Analysis
• Braunwarth

2
Liberty v. Order

• Politics essentially decides the tradeoff between
  Order and Freedom
• We like both but cant have maximum amounts of
  both
• Where this tradeoff lies is the central feature
  of any political system

3
Power

• Political Science differs from other sciences in
  part because of its emphasis on power
  (Machiavelli)
• Politics determines how power will be exercised
  Politics Matters
• Will we go to war? Who will Fight?
• Who have to pay taxes and who will avoid them?
• Public Policy allows for the repeated exercise of
  power

4
POWER

• Your textbook accentuates the interdisciplinary
  setting of politics
• What separate Political Science from other Social
  Science disciplines?
• Its emphasis on Power
• The common theme of all of your texts discussion
  of political games is how to gain, keep, and use
  Power
• From the power of overwhelming violence and
  destruction (Athens and Melos) to force and craft
  (Machiavelli) to strikes (Lysistrata) to the
  power of morality (Thoreau)

5
Wipeout Athens and Melos

• Melos risked destruction from overwhelming force
  if they did not capitulate to Athens
• How is this like the ward?
• McMurphy did not capitulate and was destroyed
• If you dont play societys game, you can be
  declared crazy or dangerous and locked up

6
Machiavelli

• To maintain order and existence you must be
  crafty like the fox and powerful like the lion,
  if necessary unscrupulously
• It is good to appear merciful and humane
• Prudent to satisfy needs and reward merit
• But it is safer to be feared than loved
• If you need to resort to violence, get someone to
  do it for you
• How is this similar to the Ward?
• Sounds like Nurse Ratched and the orderlies

7
Lysistrata

• What power do the objectively powerless women
  have over the men?
• They can go on strike
• How is this like the situation on the Ward?
• What happens when the patients dont play along?
• Impossible to maintain order

8
Thoreau

• Thoreau has a low opinion of the common man who
  needs to create a government to tell him what to
  do even when he knows such actions to be unjust
• How is this situation similar to One Flew Over
  the Cuckoos Nest?
• Thoreau feels we have an obligation to disobey
  such directives from such governments. Do you
  agree with both his assessment of the common man
  and the government created by such men?
• He feels that working within the system only
  perpetuates a system that tries to keep citizens
  fearful and insecure thus inhibiting their
  ability to gain the strength and wisdom necessary
  for the challenges of liberty

9
Thoreau

• Have you ever felt your government acted
  unjustly? How did you respond?
• What would you have done if you lived in Concord
  during Thoreaus time?
• Thoreau maintains that once individuals are ready
  to act according to their conscience they will no
  longer need or want government
• Assuming we have not reached that point yet, how
  are Thoreaus ideas relevant to contemporary
  democratic action?
• Thoreau can also be read as a lesson for
  necessity of citizens to be active and vigilant
  to protect their freedom from the encroachment of
  government power
• How is this similar to the situation on the Ward?

10
Civil Disobedience

• Must Be
• 1. Peaceful why?
• If violent, will be repressed violently
• 2. Selectively aimed at outrageous moral evil
  why not just attack position of the rulers?
• Will respond violently to protect themselves
• 3. Disobedience must be public why?
• Need to make moral partisans of the neutral and
  indifferent
• 4. Must be prepared to pay the price

11
Civil Disobedience

• Why did McMurphy fail?
• Resorted to Violence
• Examples of Other Failures?
• Socialist Movement, critics of Globalism/WTO
  why?
• Attacked position of rulers
• Did Thoreau succeed? Why or why not?
• Ultimately he was not able to generate support of
  the masses
• Examples of success stories?
• Civil Rights Movement, Womens Suffrage, Womens
  Movement, Labor Movement

12
The Ideal Versus the Real in Platos Republic

• Thrasymachus, the realist, is a sophist.
• A sophist is one who taught the skills necessary
  for political success.
• A sophist does not teach ethics.
• Socrates is the idealist.
• The purpose of politics is the happiness of the
  citizenry.
• Who has the stronger point?
• Politics is about the ongoing struggle between
  realists and idealists.
• How is Socrates like Thoreau?

13
Socrates

• Your book uses Socrates to discuss obligation to
  a political community that makes claims on our
  allegiance but
• Socrates can (and should) be read as less an
  example of obligation than as an example of Civil
  Disobedience carried to its logical end
• He peacefully and publicly disobeyed immoral laws
  and paid the ultimate price

14
Madison

• Madisons problem was how to balance liberty and
  authority/order
• How does Nurse Ratched address this problem?
• Would you run things differently?
• Madison recognized the need for authority and
  order but wanted a system that preserved much
  freedom and liberty
• What was the prevailing view on this question for
  a large state in Madisons time?
• What was Madisons creative solution?
• An extensive federal republic (state governments
  plus a powerful central government that derived
  power from the people with constitutional
  limitations on that power)

15
Escape From Freedom

• Why would people choose to escape from freedom
  (Fromm)?
• Freedom requires the wisdom and strength to make
  responsible decisions
• Can we trust people to make such choices when
  times are bad and people are fearful or are they
  likely to choose a democratic despot that plays
  on those fears and insecurities?

16
The German Citizen in the Nazi Regime and
Responsible Citizenship

• Severe, adverse conditions in a society can
  threaten freedom. How bad were the conditions in
  Germany in 1932?
• 1.7 million German solders had died in World War
  I
• 225,000 civilians had died
• Out of a population of 60 million, 6 to 8 million
  Germans were unemployed
• Germany struggled under heavy war reparations, as
  well as under the global depression

17
Key Questions

• How bad do you think the strain on German society
  was?
• Was the strain sufficient to warrant voting for
  the Nazis?
• As a German citizen, would you have supported
  Adolf Hitlers Nazi Party in 1932 and 1933?

18
Kennedy and the Cuban Missile Crisis

• President John F. Kennedy was faced with a
  problem the response to which could easily
  trigger a nuclear war blockade Cuba or conduct a
  surgical air strike?

19
Key Questions

• Could todays president be confronted with a
  choice as serious as Kennedy was?
• Why do you think that the choice of doing nothing
  in response to the missiles was rejected so
  quickly by the ExCom? Should it have had more
  serious consideration?
• As president of the United States, how would you
  have responded to the news that the Soviet Union
  had placed offensive nuclear missiles in Cuba?