Points of View: Readings in American Government and Politics Book

Preface     ix
To the Instructor     xi
Democracy     1
How Democratic Is America?   Howard Zinn     2
How Democratic Is America? A Response to Howard Zinn   Sidney Hook     14
Rebuttal to Sidney Hook   Howard Zinn     26
Rejoinder to Howard Zinn   Sidney Hook     30
The Constitution     32
An Economic Interpretation of the Constitution of the United States   Charles A. Beard     33
Charles Beard and the Constitution: A Critical Analysis   Robert E. Brown     38
Federalism     44
Unfunded Mandates     44
Unfunded Mandates: Laws That Bind Us Together   George Miller     45
The Federal Unfunded Mandates Reform Act: "Lost in the Weeds"   Lamar Alexander     48
Gay Marriage: A Matter for the States or the Federal Government?     52
"States, Right?" Not in the Gay Marriage Debate   Adam White     53
Hands Off Constitutions: This Isn't the Way to Ban Same-Sex Marriage   J. Harvie Wilkinson III     55
Public Opinion     58
Polling Matters   Frank Newport     59
Leaders Should Not Follow Opinion Polls   Robert Weissberg     65
Voting     71
Turnout in the 2004 Presidential Election   Martin P. Wattenberg     72
Compulsory Voting Is the Best Way to Keep Democracy Strong   Arend Lijphart     79
Nonvoting Is Not a Social Disease   Austin Ranney     83
Campaigns and the Media     89
TV Ad Wars: How to Cut Advertising Costs in Political Campaigns   Fred Wertheimer     90
Damned Spots: A Defense of Thirty-Second Campaign Ads   Stephen Bates   Edwin Diamond     93
Elections     97
Nominations     97
Choosing Our Choices 2004   Robert E. DiClerico     99
The National Primary: An Excellent Idea   John Armor     103
The Regional Lottery Plan: America's Missing Constitutional Link   Larry J. Sabato     106
The Electoral College     111
A State-Based Plan for Electing the President by National Popular Vote   John R. Koza     112
Arnold: Terminate This Gimmick   Robert Weissberg     114
Political Parties     119
It's His Party: Bush Republicanism Is Here to Stay   Ross Douthat     121
Back to the Future: The Re-emergence of the Emerging Democratic Majority   John B. Judis   Ruy Teixeira     124
Interest Groups     134
Power in America: Who Has the Power?   G. William Domhoff     135
The Forces That Set the Agenda   Jeffrey H. Birnbaum     143
Congress     148
Representation: Redistricting     148
Redistricting: A Bipartisan Sport   Earl Blumenauer   Jim Leach     149
You Can't Compete with Voters' Feet   Bill Bishop     151
Representation: Legislative Role     155
The Legislator as Delegate$dGeneral Assembly of Virginia     156
The Legislator as Trustee   John F. Kennedy     160
The Legislator as Politico   George B. Galloway     163
Legislative Process: The Filibuster     167
It's Time to Change the Filibuster   Tom Harkin     168
Defending the Dinosaur: The Case for Not Fixing the Filibuster   Bill Frenzel     174
The Presidency     178
How the Presidency Regained Its Balance   John Yoo     179
You Go Too Far, Mr. President: The Founders Would Disapprove   Frederick A. O. Schwarz Jr.   Aziz Huq     181
All Hail ... King George?   Eric A. Posner     185
Bureaucracy     189
Downsizing the Federal Government   Chris Edwards     190
The Fox in the Henhouse: How Privatization Threatens Democracy   Si Kahn   Elizabeth Minnich     198
Courts     206
The Supreme Court and Judicial Review     206
A Jurisprudence of Original Intention   Edwin Meese III     207
What Did the Founding Fathers Intend?   Irving R. Kaufman     213
Judicial Selection     219
The Senate Is Supposed to Advise and Consent, Not Obstruct and Delay   John C. Eastman   Timothy Sandefur     220
Of Course Ideology Should Matter in Judicial Selection   Erwin Chemerinsky     227
Civil Liberties     235
Free Speech     235
Mandatory Student Fees Do Not Abridge Freedom of Speech$dAmerican Council on Education     236
Mandatory Student Fees Violate Students' Right to Free Speech$dPacific Legal Foundation     242
Freedom of Religion     245
Keep "Under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance   George Allen et al.     246
Remove "Under God" from the Pledge   Margaret Crosby$dACLU of Northern California      254
Criminal Rights     257
"We're in the Fight of Our Lives"   Bernard Gavzer     258
Just Make It a Fair Fight   John C. Kilwein     262
Civil Rights     274
Affirmative Action     274
Law School Admissions: The Case for Affirmative Action   Sandra Day O'Connor     276
Law School Admissions: The Case Against Affirmative Action   Clarence Thomas     281
Gender Equity     285
Wrestling with Title IX   John Irving     286
We Must Preserve Equity for Women in College Athletics   Joanna Grossman     290
Abortion     296
Abortion Politics: The Case for the Right to Privacy   Susan R. Estrich   Kathleen M. Sullivan     297
Abortion on Demand Has No Constitutional or Moral Justification   James Bopp Jr.   Richard E. Coleson     309