Supplements

Page NOTE: These supplements below are the ones that are included in the daily reading assignments and therefore subject to the quizzes. There may be handouts given occasionally in class, but they are not subject to quizzing. However, all materials-- supplements, handouts, textbook readings, and lecture materials-- are included in the major tests. File Fallacies This article identifies a few common fallacies, although there are literally hundreds of fallacies, depending upon how they are organized. Fallacies are essentially poorly-reasoned or illogical arguments. An argument is an attempt to persuade, and consists of a conclusion (the goal of the argument) and one or more premises (the evidence, justification, reasons, etc.) Study this article carefully in order to better explain the logic of an argument and identify why it may be illogical or fallacious. You need not memorize or use exact terms in the article, as long as you fully explain your reasoning. It is far more important to understand and be able to communicate this than to remember a word, especially a Latin term that others will not understand. File Fallacies-- Test Yourself Remember that a portion of each test will include a few arguments about the material we are covering in that Unit. Your job will be to answer which fallacy is being committed in each argument. Hopefully you are still studying your "Fallacies" supplement as I have urged you. https://learning.hccs.edu/faculty/mark.tiller/Handouts/fallacies/view On the test, you should tell me both the title of the fallacy as well as explain why it is a fallacy. However, your explanation is more important than the title, so you don't have to name it. But if your explanation is lacking, naming the title that would help show that you understand which one it is. See the attachment for another speech by our favorite politician, Senator Fogbottom. You can test yourself with it to help prepare yourself for Test 1. File US Constitutional Norms Important constitutional norms are being eroded in the US today, something that is highly alarming to many Americans. File Four Key Indicators of Authoritarian Behavior (Table taken from Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt, How Democracies DIe (New York: Crown, 2018), pp. 23-24.) We have recently seen the erosion of democracy and a return to authoritarian rule in many countries around the world. Americans have long assumed that the United States, with its long tradition of republican democracy and constitutional processes, is invulnerable to the threat of authoritarianism. Yet we are witnessing an unprecedented era in which all previous norms and traditions are being challenged or altogether ignored. Especially fragile is our long tradition of TOLERANCE (the respect of the legitimacy of our political rivals) and "forebearance" (the RESTRAINT of political leaders in exercising their power). Is our republic in danger? File US Constitution Questions Worksheet Read the U.S. Constitution to find out the answers to the questions on this worksheet about the basics of the Constitution. This is a VERY important worksheet. It will prepare you both for the quiz and Unit One in general. We will often refer to it in the other units as well. If you fail to study these questions and answers now, you will be struggling with them in future lectures and tests. In addition to reading the Constitution itself for the answers, you may wish to use the textbook, Internet, or other sources to clarify meanings of terms you don't understand. But be sure to look at the actual constitutional language. Consider its organization to help you find answers: Article 1: Legislature (Congress), Article 2: Executive (Presidency), Article 3: Judiciary (Courts), Article 4: States and Federalism, Article 5: Amendment Process, Article 6: National Supremacy, Article 7: Ratification Process File Civil Liberties Optional Worksheet You may want to use this to organize some of your note-taking. It is not homework to turn in and is completely optional. If you use it, you may want to note what the current law is, what the most important precedent is, or something else that is particularly note-worthy in each case. Remember also that there are other guarantees of civil liberties in the Constitution as well as these found in the Bill of Rights, such as habeas corpus, no bills of attainder, no test of religion to hold public office, and no ex post facto laws. Some say not allowing titles of nobility is as well. File Non-Violent Civil Disobedience Martin Luther King, Jr. was deeply influenced by Mahatma Gandhi and the Indian independence movement. In the 1950s-60s American civil rights movement, MLK used many of the tactics employed be Gandhi to successfully win independence from the United Kingdom in 1947. File Affirmative Action File Public Opinion Polling: Use and Abuse Although I wrote this article long ago, the fundamental difficulties, flaws, and criticisms of polling remain much the same, and in some cases have become even more problematic. Don't worry about the names and historical examples. Focus instead on the problems. File Electoral College A good explanation of the Electoral College, by the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), an independent agency of the United States government, which collects and preserves official government documents and historical records. For an interactive (and more complete) version of this document, which hyperlinks to more information about many aspects of the Electoral College, see: https://www.archives.gov/electoral-college/about (or download the PDF immediately below first to get to the website) File A 19th Century Champion of Democracy: An Early Critique of Winner-Take-All Proportional representation is not a new idea! Cumulative voting and other means of achieving proportional representation have been used successfully in the past and are still being used in some cases. Unfortunately, its many benefits are still poorly understood by most Americans. File Representative Democracy in Theory vs. American Practice File Lawmaking Process File Taxes This page explains some of the more important taxes imposed by governments, and questions whether each of these taxes impose a greater burden on the wealthy or the poor. File War Powers Act Focus primarily on the underlined portions. File 8 Presidential Roles This may help you study the presidency and will help you understand the lecture on it. File Free Trade and Protectionism Read pages 1 through 3 and 6 through the top part of 10. These pages are subject to the quiz. In case you print this in a different format, pages 1-3 cover the "Introduction" and "The Case for Free Trade." The next part is "The Jobs Argument" and "The Bubba Argument." Of course, I encourage you to read the whole article. If you do, note that I wrote this long ago during the debate over the 1993 NAFTA free trade agreement with Canada and Mexico. However, the arguments are mostly unchanged and apply very well to the current debate about the Trans-Pacific Partnership. The biggest difference is now our largest trade deficit is with China, rather than Japan. Note that the volume of world trade today, including both goods and services is more than $25 trillion. File Foreign Policy Lessons This is by no means a comprehensive assessment of foreign policy history, but merely a few notes about some selected historical lessons that will help you understand the beginning part of my lecture. We will go into more detail in class about their implications for the basis of modern foreign policy. File WORKSHEET: Major Foreign Policy Lessons Since WWII You may wish to use this worksheet while you watch the PowerPoint. The comments under "analogies" are there as examples of how we have previously applied the lessons learned; don't worry if you aren't aware of them. The PowerPoint ends after the lessons of Vietnam, so you need NOT try to research those below it. I've drawn an X through it but left it intact for those of you who might have further interest. Link How Ideas Trump Crises An argument for globalism File Globalism This supplement has four parts. In the first part you will see many examples of internationalist organizations. Don't try to memorize the examples; this is just meant to illustrate how pervasive the new global order is. Focus on the big picture-- where we are headed, the five global problems identified, and what can be done.