My Goal for This Course

A Video Interlude

My Goal for This Course

My Goal for This Course

Course Overview

• The three branches of government in the US and Texas
• Ethics and government
• Policy overview

Course Overview

• The three branches of government in the US and Texas

    - US Congress and the Texas Legislature
    - The Presidency and federal bureaucracy; the Texas plural executive
    - Federal Courts and the Texas Courts
    - Local government

Course Overview

• The three branches of government in the US and Texas

• Ethics and government

• Policy overview

    - Public Finance
    - Economic Policy
    - Social Policy
    - Criminal Justice
    - Foreign Policy

Course Overview

• The three branches of government in the US and Texas

• Ethics and government

    - General ethics as it relates to government
    - Congressional ethics
    - Executive branch ethics
    - Judicial ethics
    - Ethics and the Citizen

Introduction to Government

Introduction Government: Questions to consider

Introduction Government: Questions to consider

Introduction Government: Questions to consider

What is The State?

For the upcoming slides

• For the upcoming slides, please make a list for each organization of things it has in common with government and things that are different about it.
• You should be able to think of at least one thing in common and one different thing for each organization.
• Some of these can be as little as one or two words.
• Please attach your list to your first Journal assignment for an additional 5 points.

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”?

Drug Free Gun Free School Zone

What is “the state”?

Severa Federal, State, and Local Criminal Penalties

What is “the state”?

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

• Organized
• Coercive
• violent force
• Legitimacy

What is “the state”?

• Organized

    - Not just an individual or small group

What is “the state”?

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

• Organized

• Coercive

    - Intended to change behavior 

What is “the state”?

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

• Organized

• Coercive

• violent force

    - Not economic power but physical violent force
    - The state's economic power is based on taxation and regulation - still physical violent force

What is “the state”?

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

• Organized

• Coercive

• violent force

• Legitimacy

    - Commonly accepted as the rightful government or at least "the only game in town"

What is “the state”?

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.

Collective action

• Many people think of government as the organization that solves problems of collective action for a group of people.

• Collective action: When a group of people cooperate to achieve a common goal.

Collective action

• Many people think of government as the organization that solves problems of collective action for a group of people.
• These people think of politics as the process of making decisions about collective action.

Collective action

• Many think of government as the organization that solves problems of collective action for a group of people.
• These people think of politics as the process of making decisions about collective action.
• But every organization we just looked at engages in collective action.
• The first set engage in at least some collective action that benefits society.

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

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

What is politics?

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 drove a quarter mile to the transit center this morning on a city owned road then took a Metro Park and Ride bus 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 I’m teaching this course for a state university funded by a combination of private and government funds

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 when it unites us to common goals consensually
• Immense power to do incredible harm when it imposes severe criminal penalties inappropriately

Politics is powerful

George Washington

Politics is powerful

Frederick Douglass

To think about this semester

John Wick

To think about this semester

Graphic Credits

• Metrorail, Houston Public Works, and PGH Hall photos from their respective institutions

• Frederick Douglass from Marc Perrone on X.com

• George Washington Quotes from Justin Reddy on X.com

• School Zone sign from Norton Publishers

• John Wick from Lionsgate Films

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.

Tom Leard Hanna