Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Manufacturing A Protestant Consensus: Religion And Regime Entrenchment In The Eisenhower Era, John W. Compton

Political Science Faculty Articles and Research

The party regime concept is central to the study of American political development. Yet many questions about the processes through which party regimes are created, maintained, and dismantled remain unanswered. This article argues that religious bodies have historically played an important role in these processes. Specifically, I demonstrate that “mainline” Protestant groups made three distinct contributions to the entrenchment of the post–New Deal Democratic regime. First, the National Council of Churches (NCC) credibly reframed Democratic policy commitments as embodying universal values (as opposed to the preferences of favored interest groups). Second, the NCC's economic policy arm, which included representatives from …

Smoller, Moodian & King: Help Us Save The Earth, Fred Smoller, Michael A. Moodian, Richard King

Political Science Faculty Articles and Research

"

Orange County must do its part to help mitigate the climate emergency.

To this end, we recently received courtesy of state Senator Dave Min (SD-37), a $5 million grant to organize the Orange County Sustainability Decathlon. This competition will be held in 2023 at a site in Orange County, California.

This exciting new competition aims to motivate and empower California’s best and brightest to lead the state’s transition to 100 percent renewable energy. The decathlon will also address housing affordability challenges in California.

"

Smoller And Moodian: Issues Matter In Supervisor’S Race, Fred Smoller, Michael A. Moodian

Political Science Faculty Articles and Research

"Moorlach’s defeats need to be viewed in the context of a changing Orange County. OC has a long reputation of being the land of John Wayne, the Save Our State initiative, and the John Birch Society. However, Orange County today is diverse both culturally and politically."

Sars-Cov-2 And The (Dark) Future Of Society: A Machiavellian Approach To The End Of Body Sovereignty And The Beginning Of Bio-Feudalism, Andrea Molle

Political Science Faculty Articles and Research

As much as the event following 9/11 triggered massive changes in our understanding of privacy rights and increased our level of acceptance of government infringement on individuals’ freedom, the pandemic of the SARS-COV-2 is threatening to change our understanding of societal hierarchy and democratic process. In this essay, we imagine a society where two classes, defined by their susceptibility to infection, emerge, and a neo-feudal system is established. We suggest that it is possible to evaluate how likely a dystopian outcome is by using Machiavelli’s understanding of the impact of the Plague on medieval Florence. We also recommend following his …

Smoller And Moodian: Four Takeaways From The 2020 General Election, Fred Smoller, Michael A. Moodian

Political Science Faculty Articles and Research

"Here are four takeaways pertaining to Orange County from the historic 2020 general election."

Boyd And Blaser: An Uneven Covid-19 Toll In Orange County And Elsewhere — Orange County Isn’T The World, But Is Part Of It, Art Blaser, Louanne Boyd

Political Science Faculty Articles and Research

"Although the crisis is making many issues about humanity, disability, and normality more vivid, for the most part it is a new manifestation of thorny issues that were present before, and will continue in the future. But things won’t be the same. We hope for awareness of the uneven toll of coronavirus in Orange County. We offer three overlapping points of reflection, relevant specifically to Orange County, as part of California, the United States, and the world."

Mainero And Smoller: Response To Wagner, Mario Maneiro, Fred Smoller

Political Science Faculty Articles and Research

"Supervisor Don Wagner quibbles with typos and minor details, but fails to acknowledge the big picture about race relations and the Covid-19 crisis."

Mainero And Smoller: The Gop Is Self-Destructing, Mario Maneiro, Fred Smoller

Political Science Faculty Articles and Research

"The Republican Party is self destructing. Donald Trump is proudly marching the national and local GOP off a cliff by exploiting America’s racial divide and by rejecting science. The failure of virtually all GOP office holders–Mitt Romney is a notable exception–to challenge the president, emboldens him and deprives the country of needed true two-party balance.

We come to this conclusion from much different political perspectives: one of us (Mainero) is a conservative law professor who was Chief of Staff for Senator John Moorlach (R) when Moorlach was a County Supervisor and the other (Smoller) is a progressive political science professor. …

Smoller And Moodian: It’S Time To Rename John Wayne Airport, Fred Smoller, Michael A. Moodian

Political Science Faculty Articles and Research

"As Confederate statues and odes to Christopher Columbus are taken down across the country, Orange County must come to grips with its own tribute to a racially polarizing figure: John Wayne. The time has come to rename our airport and remove Wayne’s statue."

Review Of The Third Disestablishment: Church, State, And American Culture, 1940-1975. By Steven K. Green, John W. Compton

Political Science Faculty Articles and Research

A book review of Steven K. Green's The Third Disestablishment: Church, State, and American Culture, 1940-1975.

Why The Covenant Worked: On The Institutional Foundations Of The American Civil Religion, John W. Compton

Political Science Faculty Articles and Research

Scholars of American civil religion (ACR) have paid insufficient attention to the micro-level processes through which civil religious ideas have historically influenced beliefs and behavior. We know little about what makes such appeals meaningful to average Americans (assuming they are meaningful); nor do we know much about the mechanisms through which abstract religious themes and imagery come to be associated with specific policy aims, or what Robert Bellah called “national goals.” This article argues that a renewed focus on the relationship between civil religion and organized religion can help fill this gap in the literature. More specifically, I draw attention …

Smoller: Phasing In The Voter’S Choice Act, Fred Smoller

Political Science Faculty Articles and Research

"Right now, 61% of Orange County voters are permanent absentee voters. With each passing election, this percentage increases as more and more people discover the ease and convenience of voting by mail. As part of legislation signed by the Governor (SB 450), 14 counties, including Orange, have been invited to participate in a pilot program known as the Voter’s Choice Act... Yet, Orange County has decided not to participate in this pilot program."

Smoller: Orange County Supervisors Should Support The Voter’S Choice Act, Fred Smoller

Political Science Faculty Articles and Research

"On Tuesday, Orange County Supervisors will consider the Voter’s Choice Act. The proposal will save the County’s voters millions of dollars, make voting easier and more convenient, and improve engagement in the political process."

Why You Can’T Count On Congress To Rein In A President Trump, Lori Cox Han

Political Science Faculty Articles and Research

"Donald Trump has made many promises on the campaign trail about things he will fix (a broken immigration system), change (the way trade deals are negotiated), and build (a wall on the southern border) if elected president. Those who do not support Trump, regardless of political party, comfort themselves with the constitutional reminder that our government includes three co-equal branches designed to protect against the accumulation of too much power in too few hands. Those checks and balances aside, could President Trump accomplish any of his stated objectives through unilateral actions?"

Review Of 'Republican Theology: The Civil Religion Of American Evangelicals', John Compton

Political Science Faculty Articles and Research

"Although I find Lynerd’s characterization of the Christian Right unpersuasive (for reasons explained below), Republican Theology nonetheless performs a valuable service in highlighting the reciprocal influence of religious and political ideas, particularly in the early years of the republic... Lynerd makes a strong case that American evangelicals, while aware of the potential for tension, viewed each commitment as indispensable to the formation of a Godly republic."

Smoller/Grindle: Time Is Now For An Ethics Commission, Fred Smoller, Shirley Grindle

Political Science Faculty Articles and Research

"Orange County is the only major metropolitan jurisdiction in California that does not have an Ethics Commission… For these reasons, a group of citizens have written an ordinance to establish an independent, non-partisan Ethics Commission tasked with overseeing ethics and campaign law violations by county elected and appointed officials and county employees."

Guest Editorial: Measure E Is A Hoax By Oc Supervisors, William R. Mitchell, Fred Smoller, Dave Baker, Shirley Grindle

Political Science Faculty Articles and Research

"Measure E is a hoax, It is moot and deceptive."

New Strategies For An Old Medium: The Weekly Radio Addresses Of Reagan And Clinton, Lori Cox Han

Political Science Faculty Articles and Research

"While a rich literature exists on presidential communications (including the public/rhetorical presidency and the presidential/press relationship), only recently have presidential scholars begun to analyze weekly radio addresses as an important primary unit of analysis (Rowland and Jones 2002; Sigelman and Whissell 2002a, 2002b). This article analyzes how the use of radio has fit into the overall development of White House communication strategies during the television age, and takes an in-depth look at how Reagan and Clinton used weekly radio addresses to communicate with both the American public and the news media. Specifically, the issues considered here include the strategy development …

Watergate Revisited, Fred Smoller

Political Science Faculty Articles and Research

This article focuses on the Watergate Scandal of 1972.