GOVT2306: US and Texas Constitution and Politics
Course Introduction

Agenda Today

1 Announcements 2 PAWS Up Announcements 3 Course Overview 4 Introduction to the Topic of Government 5 Walkthrough of Clicker/Point Solutions, Canvas Modules, and AccessUH 6 Questions and Answers

Announcements

1 - No one is in any kind of trouble for GroupMes that were setup 2 - Related to the above, question for the class:

Would you like to have one official GroupMe for the class where I will post reminders and announcements? We can also use Microsoft Teams for this purpose, but there seems to be a strong preference for GroupMe.

You can use it for study groups, getting notes if you miss class, etc.

PAWS Up Announcements

Course Overview

• The Constitution and politics of the American federalist system and the state of Texas

• Federal government

    - Constitutional principles
    - Federalism
    - Separation of powers
    - Civil liberties
    - Civil rights
    - Political participation
    - The Constitutional delegation of powers to the three branches of government
    - The role of the states in the federal system

Course Overview

• The Constitution and politics of the American federalist system and the state of Texas

• Federal government

• State of Texas

    - Texas Constitutions 
    - Texas political culture
    - Texas political participation
    - Texas political parties
    - Texas elections
    - Delegation of powers in the Texas Constitution
    - Some comparison to the federal government
    - Some comparisons to other states

Introduction to Government

Introduction Government: Questions to consider

Introduction Government: Questions to consider

Introduction Government: Questions to consider

What is The State?

Other organizations

• Family

    - What does it have in common?
    - What is different?

Other organizations

• Family

• Church

    - What does it (government) have in common?
    - What is different?

Other organizations

• Family

• Church

• Community organizations (voluntary)

    - What does it have in common?
    - What is different?

Other organizations

• Family

• Church

• Community organizations (voluntary)

• Charities

    - What does it have in common?
    - What is different?

Other organizations

• Family

• Church

• Community organizations (voluntary)

• Charities

• Businesses - The Market

    - What does it have in common?
    - What is different?

Other organizations

• Organized crime

    - What does it have in common?
    - What is different?

Other organizations

• Organized crime

• vigilantes

    - What does it have in common?
    - What is different?

Other organizations

• Organized crime

• vigilantes

• terrorists

    - What does it have in common?
    - What is different?

What is “the state”?

The organized, coercive use of violent force commonly accepted as legitimate

• Coercive use of violent force
• Legitimacy

Introduction Government: Questions to consider

Introduction Government: Questions to consider

What is politics?

• Politics is the process of making collective decisions in the context of…

What is politics?

• Politics is the process of making collective decisions in the context of…

The State or government.

The difference between politics and everything else

These organizations all engage in collective action, but lack one thing the state has:

• Family
• Church
• Community organizations (voluntary)
• Charities
• Businesses - The Market

The difference between politics and everything else

These organizations all engage in collective action, but lack one thing the state has:

• Family
• Church
• Community organizations (voluntary)
• Charities
• Businesses - The Market

Coercive use of violent force

Studying other organizations

Family, church, the market, etc. are all about making collective decisions in:

The Voluntary Sphere

Politics is about

Making collective decisions in:

The Coercive Sphere

What is politics? Another aspect

When you think about politics, what are some words or phrases that come to mind?

What is politics? Another aspect

• Expensive or involves large amounts of money
• Distant
• Involves politicians or campaigns
• involves voting or decision making
• Involves rights
• National borders
• Controversial

What is politics

What is politics

• I took a Lyft this morning on city owned road to HCC Central Campus where I taught a class in a federal, state, and county funded community college.
• When I finished there, I rode Metrorail to the TSU/UH Athletic District stop
• I walked to my desk in the taxpayer funded, University of Houston campus
• Now we’re all here in this room funded mostly by tax dollars, directly or indirectly

What is politics?

• Not distant
• immediate,right here
• touches everything
• direct impacts are constant
• involves all of us
• It can be expensive, but it’s not always about money

Politics is powerful

• Immense power to achieve good ends
• Immense power to do incredible harm

Politics is powerful

George Washington

Politics is powerful

Frederick Douglass

Questions and Answers

Q&A on the topic (We’ll do Q&A on course stuff later)

Walkthrough of Clicker/Point Solutions, Canvas Modules, and AccessUH

Anyone who has already registered their account and has no questions about Clicker/Point Solutions, Canvas, or AccessUH is excused if you are absolutely sure you won’t need help later!

Questions and Answers

Authorship and License

• Author: Tom Hanna

• Website: tomhanna.me

• License: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.