Essentials of American government

1 Limited Government in the Age of High Expectations 1

2 Beliefs, Values, and American Society 6

Nature of American Beliefs and Values 6

Values and American Society 20

3 Constitutional Government 46

Origins 47

American Constitution 50

Ratification 58

Adaptive Constitution 59

Assessing the Constitution 66

4 Federalism and Intergovernmental Relations 70

Federalism in Theory and Practice 71

Evolution of American Federalism 75

Fiscal Federalism: The Rise and Fall of the Federal Role 79

A Changing Court Role? 88

Pressure for National Standards 90

American Federalism and Public Expectations 91

5 American Political Parties in Transition 94

Functions of Parties 95

Crisis and Change in the American Party System 101

Party Decline? 109

Explaining Party Change 115

Toward the Millennium: A New Role for Political Parties 118

6 Political Participation and Electoral Behavior 122

Patterns of American Electoral Behavior 123

Dealignment, Realignment, and the Modern American Voter 142

Nonelectoral Political Participation 147

7 U.S. Legislators and Their Constituents 155

Representation and Congress 156

Congressional Elections 159

Legislators as Rational Actors 166

Work of Members of Congress 172

8 Congress as Policymaker 177

Functions of Congress 178

Structure of Power in Congress 179

Congress Under Fire 188

Reform and Change in Congress 197

Conclusion: Can Congress Lead? 203

9 Presidential Power 206

Formal Sources of Power 207

Informal Powers 210

Presidency in Crisis 213

Presidential Abuse of Power and the Congressional Response 229

Presidential Resources 233

Assessing Presidential Power at Century's End 245

10 Federal Bureaucracy 249

Federal Bureaucracy: Organization and Function 251

Bureaucracy: How Uncontrollable? 257

Bureaucratic Critiques in Perspective 263

Reform Attempts 264

11 Organized Interests: The Real Power? 271

Interest Groups and Lobbysts 273

Economic Groups 275

Professional Groups 281

Promotional Groups 284

Political Action Committees 286

Washington Lobby 290

Interest Groups: For and Against 291

12 Supreme Court and Judicial Politics 296

American Legal System 298

Supreme Court's Decisionmaking 302

Court and Political Power 310

Court, the Public, and Politics 324

13 Regulating Morality

Civil Rights, Liberties, and the Conscience Issues

328

Overview of Morality Issues 329

Civil Liberties 330

Equality and Civil Rights 337

14 Social Policy in America

Self-Reliance and State Dependence

345

Federalism 348

Social Security, Medicare, and the Electoral Connection 349

Philosophy of Self-Reliance 352

Health Care Reforms 353

15 Managing Economic Change 357

State and Economy in the United States 358

Ideology and Economic Policy 361

Institutions and Economic Policy 365

Economic Policy and Public Expectations 372

16 American World Role 374

Institutional Context 375

American Foreign Policy in the Post-Cold War World 379

17 American Political System at Century's End 385

Assessing the American Polity 385

Reform and Renewal 390

Appendix Constitution of the United States of America 393