American Politics Commons^™

American Government (Ega), Brett Larson, H. Lee Cheek

Political Science Grants Collections

This Grants Collection for American Government was created under a Round Twelve ALG Textbook Transformation Grant.

Affordable Learning Georgia Grants Collections are intended to provide faculty with the frameworks to quickly implement or revise the same materials as a Textbook Transformation Grants team, along with the aims and lessons learned from project teams during the implementation process.

Documents are in .pdf format, with a separate .docx (Word) version available for download. Each collection contains the following materials:

• Linked Syllabus
• Initial Proposal
• Final Report

Making Evangelicals Great Again? American Evangelicals In The Age Of Trump, Brantley W. Gasaway

Faculty Journal Articles

This article analyzes the ways in which American evangelical Christians have responded to the presidential campaign and presidential administration of Donald Trump, with a particular focus on the faction of politically progressive evangelicals. While over 80% of white evangelicals voted for Trump and over 70% continue to support his presidency, progressive evangelicals have vociferously opposed him. This article summarizes the proposals, protests, and petitions of progressive evangelicals with respect to four broad issues: racial justice, immigration, healthcare, and economic policies. Though some conservative and moderate evangelicals have also criticized Trump’s personal behavior and politics, numerous factors hinder their potential partnerships …

Handcuffing The Vote: Diluting Minority Voting Power Through Prison Gerrymandering And Felon Disenfranchisement, Rebecca Harrison Stevens, Meagan Taylor Harding, Joaquin Gonzalez, Emily Eby

The Scholar: St. Mary's Law Review on Race and Social Justice

For the purposes of legislative redistricting, Texas counts prison populations at the address of the prison in which they are incarcerated at the time of the census, rather than their home prior to incarceration—regardless of whether the prisoners themselves maintain a residence in their home communities and intend to return home after incarceration. This deprives those home communities of full representation in the redistricting process. Combined with Texas’s felon disenfranchisement laws, this also results in arbitrarily bolstering the representational power of some Texans on the backs of other Texans who themselves are unable to vote. All of this takes place …

Making Democracy Count: The Seemingly Technical Procedures That Can Make Or Break A Census, Charlotte Schwartz, Jeffrey Zalesin, Rachel Brown

The Scholar: St. Mary's Law Review on Race and Social Justice

Abstract forthcoming

Dordt Prepares For Ppci, Jeff Taylor

Faculty Work Comprehensive List

Posting about ­­­­­­­­the upcoming Presidential Politics of Iowa Conference to be held at Dordt University, October 24-27, 2019, from In All Things - an online journal for critical reflection on faith, culture, art, and every ordinary-yet-graced square inch of God’s creation.

https://inallthings.org/dordt-prepares-for-ppci/

Open Letter: To Eliott Abrams (U. S. Venezuela Envoy), Peter Mclaren

Education Faculty Articles and Research

An open letter from Peter McLaren to Eliott Abrams, the the Special Representative for Venezuela at the U.S. Department of State.

A Spanish translation is available here.

Recent U.S. And International Assessment Of Baltic Security Developments, Bert Chapman

Libraries Faculty and Staff Scholarship and Research

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this paper is to analyse Baltic security developments from U.S. government and military resources, scholarly journal articles, and multinational public policy research institute assessments. METHODS: The aim is to analyse the content and rhetoric within these resources to learn how those producing these materials view Baltic security developments and their viewpoints on how the U.S. and its allies should respond to these developments focusing on increasing Russian regional assertiveness. RESULTS: The author provides interpretations of Baltic security developments, Russian Baltic policy, and U.S. and NATO responses to these developments in materials produced by U.S. civilian and …

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.

Notoriously Ruthless: The Idolization Of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Lucille Moran

Political Science Honors Projects

It is now a fixture of mainstream commentary in the United States that Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has become a popular idol on the political left. Yet, while Justice Ginsburg’s image and story has reached an unprecedented level of valorization and even commercialization, scholars have yet to give sustained attention to the phenomenon and to contextualize it: why has this idolization emerged within this context, and what is its impact? This paper situates her portrayal in the cultural imagination as the product of two political forces, namely partisanship and identity politics. Considering parallel scholarly discourses of reputation, celebrity, …

Trump Assault On Primaries Disempowers The People, Evan Barrett

Highlands College

A newspaper column by Evan Barrett.

Published newspaper columns written by Evan Barrett on this topic, which vary somewhat in content from this commentary, appeared in the following publications:

Havre Daily News, September 17, 2019

The Missoulian, September 16, 2019

The Montana Standard, September 17, 2019

Havre Herald, September 18, 2019

Missoula Current, September 19, 2019

The Montana Post, September 19, 2019

Helena Independent Record, September 19, 2019

Democracy Unchained: Contractualism, Individualism, And Independence In Buchanan’S Democratic Theory, John Thrasher

Philosophy Faculty Articles and Research

Contrary to the claims of some of his critics, James Buchanan was an ardent democrat. I argue that Buchanan’s conception of democratic governance organized by a contractually justified constitution is highly distinctive because of his commitment to a strong conception of individualism. For Buchanan, democracy is neither justified instrumentally—by the goods it generates—nor by reference to some antecedent conception of justice. Instead, democracy is the only political option for a society that takes individualism seriously. One implication of this view is that democracies can only be limited by the rules they collectively give themselves in the form of constitutions. I …

Morrow, Edwin Porch, 1877-1935 (Sc 3470), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid and scan (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 3470. Letter, 25 October 1920, of Kentucky Governor Edwin P. Morrow to Sim Smith, Albany, Kentucky. Written on letterhead of the Republican State Central Committee, the letter declares that the upcoming election in Kentucky “hangs by a thread” and will be won “if the mountain women come to the polls.” The letter pleads for efforts “above all” to “fire every man so that he will bring his women out” in order to thwart the stated intention in the Bluegrass of outvoting this constituency.

Technologizing The Divine, Peter Mclaren

Education Faculty Articles and Research

"Technology has helped us to define who we are as a species. But for all of its potential for good, it has wrought a malignant vengeance, calumniating the poor as disposable wastrels and inducing all but the owners of the means of production to endure many species of alienation. An intemperate obstacle arises when we attempt to technologize human spirituality."

Infinity Wars: Post 9/11 Superhero Films And American Empire, Peter J. Bruno

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

In the last two decades, superhero films have accounted for some of the most popular and financially lucrative films of all time. This thesis analyzes some of the aesthetic and ideological dimensions of various superhero films following their post 9/11 boom. Beginning with America’s response to the events of 9/11 and a subsequent retreat into a Manichean world of good versus evil, I introduce the term “empirical reality” in order to account for the ways daily American life is shielded from the worst effects of U.S. foreign policy. On screen this manifests by perpetuating the myth of the “clean war” …

Stuart E. Eizenstat To Senator James O. Eastland,, Stuart Eizenstat

Eastland Correspondence: Carter Administration

Typed letter signed undated from Stuart E. Eizenstat to Eastland, re: undocumented aliens. Typed memorandum on Eastland Senate letterhead entitled Tentative Plans (Frank Moore), re: presidents trip to Jackson & Yazoo City, Mississippi.

Leap Of Faith Megaprojects: The Effect Of Civic Dialogue On Megaproject Legacies In The St. Louis Region, Nathan Theus

Theses

Megaprojects are unique capital improvements that are defined by their large-scale development plans and construction budgets. Industrial Belt cities, like St. Louis, are no stranger to these projects, and both government actors and private developers have walked hand in hand in planning and constructing megaprojects, while assuring the general public that the benefits would always outweigh the costs. Though there has been considerable quantitative research analyzing the statistical economic effects of various megaprojects, there has been relatively little discussion on other, specifically, qualitative means of analysis. This paper will examine the role civic dialogue has on the perceived and real …

President And Mrs. Richard M. Nixon, Undated, Richard M. Nixon, Pat Nixon

Eastland Correspondence: Nixon Administration

Christmas card undated from President and Mrs. Nixon; envelope.

Mrs. Richard M. Nixon To Mrs. James O. Eastland, 13 May 1974, Pat Nixon

Eastland Correspondence: Nixon Administration

Engraved invitation from Mrs. Nixon to Mrs. Eastland, re: luncheon on 13 May 1974; envelope.

Gretchen Poston To Senator James O. Eastland, [June 1978], Gretchen Poston

Eastland Correspondence: Carter Administration

Copy typed memorandum from Eastland, re: status of children. Attached: copy typed letter dated 14 June 1978 from Gretchen Poston, White House Social Secretary, to Eastland, re: information for social function files.

President Jimmy Carter To 'The Congress Of The United States,' [Undated 1979], Jimmy Carter

Eastland Correspondence: Carter Administration

Copy typed letter undated from Carter to 'The Congress of the United States,' re: Reorganization Plan No. 2 of 1977, State Department, Agency for International Communication; 6 pages. Attached: copy typed manuscript entitled 'Reorganization Plan No. 2 of 1977'; 7 pages. Copy printed invitation from President Carter, re: White House Conference on Balanced National Growth and Economic Development on 29 January 2 February 1978; envelope. Original removed to VIP Restricted Access location.