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THE STRUGGLE
FOR DEMOCRACY
2018 Elections and Updates Edition
Updates Edition
Updates Edition
THE STRUGGLE
FOR DEMOCRACY
2018 Elections and Updates Edition
Edward S. Greenberg
University of Colorado, Boulder
Benjamin I. Page
Northwestern University
with assistance by
David Doherty
Loyola University Chicago
Scott L. Minkoff
SUNY New Paltz
Josh M. Ryan
Utah State University
Updates Edition
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Acknowledgements of third party content appear on page 645, which constitutes an extension of this
copyright page.
Copyright © 2020, 2018, 2016 by Pearson Education, Inc. 221 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, or its
affiliates. All Rights Reserved. Printed in the United States of America. This publication is protected by
copyright, and permission should be obtained from the publisher prior to any prohibited r eproduction,
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Greenberg, Edward S., 1942– author. | Page, Benjamin I., author.
Title: The struggle for democracy / Edward S. Greenberg, Benjamin I. Page ;
with assistance by David Doherty, Scott L. Minkoff.
Description: 12th edition, 2018 elections and updates edition. | Hudson
Street, N.Y., NY : Pearson, 2020. | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2018040806| ISBN 9780135246429 | ISBN 0135246423
Subjects: LCSH: United States—Politics and government—Textbooks. | Access Code Card
Democracy—United States—Textbooks. ISBN-10: 0-13-520276-0
Classification: LCC JK276 .G74 2020 | DDC 320.473—dc23 ISBN-13: 978-0-13-520276-0
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018040806
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1 18
ISBN-13: 978-0-13-558193-3
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ISBN-10: 0-13-524642-3
ISBN-13: 978-0-13-524642-9
Loose Leaf Edition

ISBN-10: 0-13-522948-0
ISBN-13: 978-0-13-522948-4
Instructor’s Review Copy:

ISBN-10: 0-13-524690-3
ISBN-13: 978-0-13-524690-0
Updates Edition
Brief Contents
To the Student xv
To the Instructor xvii
PART I Introduction: Main Themes
1 Democracy and American Politics 1
PART II Structure
2 The Constitution 17
3 Federalism: States and Nation 44
4 The Structural Foundations of American Government

and Politics 73
PART III Political Linkage
5 Public Opinion 102
6 The News Media 137
7 Interest Groups and Business Power 165
8 Social Movements 199
9 Political Parties 226
10 Voting, Campaigns, and Elections 256
PART IV Government and Governing
11 Congress 294
12 The Presidency 332
13 The Executive Branch 364
14 The Courts 395
vii
Updates Edition
viii Brief Contents
PART V What Government Does
15 Civil Liberties: The Struggle for Freedom 429
16 Civil Rights: The Struggle for Political Equality 463
17 Domestic Policies 493
18 Foreign and National Defense Policies 529
Appendix 564
Glossary 592
Endnotes 604
Photo Credits 645
Index 647
Updates Edition
Contents
To the Student xv The Changing Constitution, Democracy, and

To the Instructor xvii American Politics 39
Changing the Constitution Through Formal
Amendment 39
PART I Introduction: Main Themes
Changing the Constitution Through Judicial
1 Democracy and American Politics 1 Review 39
Changing the Constitution Through Political
The Struggle for Democracy: Robert Moses and the Practices 40
Struggle of African Americans for Voting Rights 2 Using the Democracy Standard: The Constitution:
What Is Democracy? 2 How Democratic? 41
The Origins of Democracy 3
Direct Versus Representative Democracy 5 3 Federalism: States and Nation 44
The Benchmarks of Representative Democracy 5
Objections to Representative Democracy 10 The Struggle for Democracy: A Patchwork of
Policies 45
How Do Government and Politics Work? 12
Federalism as a System of Government 47
Identifying the Factors That Influence Government
and Politics 12 Federalism Defined 47
Connecting the Factors That Influence Government Comparing American Federalism 47
and Politics: An Application 14 Federalism in the Constitution 48
Understanding Government and Politics Holistically 15 Federal, State, and Concurrent Powers 49
The Roles of States in the National Government 50
PART II Structure Relations Among the States 51
The Evolution of American Federalism 52
2 The Constitution 17 The Ascendant Power of the National Government 53
Federalism Before the Civil War 55
The Struggle for Democracy: Does the “Advice Expansion of National Power Following the
and Consent” of the Senate Matter? 18 Civil War 56
The American Revolution and the Declaration Expansion of National Power in the
of Independence 19 Twentieth Century 58
Key Ideas in the Declaration of Independence 20 Devolution and the Rethinking of Federal Power 60
Key Omissions in the Declaration of Independence 22 The Reassertion of Federal Power After 2000 61
The Articles of Confederation: Our First Constitution 22 Recent Pushback Against National Power 63
Provisions of the Articles 22 Fiscal Federalism 63
Shortcomings of the Articles 23 Origin and Growth of Federal Grants 64
Factors Leading to the Constitutional Convention 24 Types of Federal Grants 64
What Worried American Notables and Why 24 Federal Grants: Money and Control 65
The Constitutional Convention and a New Framework Strong States Versus a Strong National Government 68
for Government 27 Strong States: Diversity of Needs 68
Who Were the Framers? 28 Strong National Government: The Importance of
Consensus and Conflict at the Constitutional National Standards 68
Convention 29 Strong States: Closeness to the People 68
What the Framers Created at the Constitutional Strong National Government: Low Visibility of State
Convention 32 Officials 68
The Struggle to Ratify the Constitution 37 Strong States: Innovation and Experimentation 68
ix
Updates Edition
x Contents
Strong National Government: Spillover Effects and The People’s Attitudes About the Political
Competition 69 System 124
Using the Democracy Standard: American Federalism: The People’s Liberalism and Conservatism 128
How Democratic? 70 The People’s Policy Preferences 128
The People’s “Fitness to Rule” Revisited 132
4 The Structural Foundations of Using the Democracy Standard: Public Opinion: Does It
Determine What Government Does? 133
American Government and Politics 73
The Struggle for Democracy: The Walmartization of
American Manufacturing: Where Will All the
6 The News Media 137
Good Jobs Go? 74 The Struggle for Democracy: War with the
America’s Population 76 Watchdog 138
America’s Population Is Growing 76 How News Organizations Operate 139
America’s Population Is Becoming More Diverse 77 The Functions of the News Media in a Democracy 139
America’s Population Is Moving West and South 81 News Media Organizations 140
America’s Population Is Growing Older 82 Profit Motives of the News Media 142
America’s Population Is Becoming Economically News-Gathering and Production Operations 144
More Unequal 82 Online News Media 150
America’s Economy 87 Bias in the News 155
Main Tendencies of Capitalism 88 Ideological Bias 155
Globalization, Technological Change, and Nonideological Bias 157
Hypercompetition 89
Effects of the News Media on Politics 158
America’s Political Culture 93
Agenda Setting 158
Individualistic 94
Priming 159
Distrustful of Government 96
Framing 159
Believers in Democracy and Freedom 96
Fueling Cynicism 160
Populist 97
Fragmenting Comprehension 160
Religious 97
Using the Democracy Standard: The News Media:
Using the Democracy Standard: American Society, Do They Help or Hinder Democracy 162
Economy, and Political Culture: How Democratic? 100
PART III Political Linkage

7 Interest Groups and Business
Power 165
5 Public Opinion 102 The Struggle for Democracy: Disaster in the Gulf 166
The Struggle for Democracy: Vietnam: A Matter Interest Groups in a Democratic Society:
of Opinion? 103 Contrasting Viewpoints 168
Measuring Public Opinion 104 The Evils-of-Faction Argument 168
Public Opinion Polls 104 The Pluralist Argument 168
Challenges of Political Polling 105 The Universe of Interest Groups 170
Political Socialization: Learning Political Beliefs Private Interest Groups 170
and Attitudes 108 Public Interest Groups 173
How and Why People’s Political Attitudes Differ 110 Interest Group Formation and Proliferation 174
Party Identification 110 The Constitution 174
Race and Ethnicity 111 Diverse Interests 175
Social Class 115 A More Active Government 175
Geography 116 Disturbances 176
Education 116 What Interest Groups Do 177
Gender 118 The Inside Game 177
Age 119 The Outside Game 182
Religion 120 Interest Groups, Corporate Power, and
The Contours of American Public Opinion: Are the Inequality in American Politics 185
People Fit to Rule? 122 Representational Inequality 185
The People’s Knowledge About Politics 122 Resource Inequality 186
Updates Edition
Contents xi
Access Inequality 188 The American Two-Party System 231

The Privileged Position of Corporations 190 The Rules of the Game 231
Curing the Mischief of Factions 194 Minor Parties in American Politics 232
Using the Democracy Standard: Interest Groups: The American Two-Party System Since the
Do They Help or Hinder American Democracy? 196 Great Depression 234
The New Deal Party Era 235
8 Social Movements 199 The Dealignment Era 236
The Polarization Era 238
The Struggle for Democracy: Women Win the The Three Functions of Today’s Political Parties 239
Right to Vote: Why Did It Take So Long? 200
Parties as Ideological Organizations 240
What Are Social Movements? 201 Parties as Electoral Organizations 244
Major Social Movements in the United States 204 Parties as Governing Organizations 248
The Abolitionist Movement 204 Using the Democracy Standard: Political
The Populist Movement 204 Parties: How Do Our Two Major Political
The Women’s Suffrage Movement 205 Parties Affect Democracy? 253
The Labor Movement 205
The Civil Rights Movement 205 10 Voting, Campaigns, and
Contemporary Antiwar Movements 205 Elections 256
The Women’s Movement 208
The Environmental Movement 208 The Struggle for Democracy: The Reasons for
The Gay and Lesbian Movements 208 Trump’s Success 257
The Religious Conservative Movement 208 Elections and Democracy 259
The Anti-Globalization Movement 209 The Prospective (or Responsible Party) Voting Model 260
The Tea Party Movement 209 The Electoral Competition Voting Model 260
The Occupy Wall Street Movement 210 The Retrospective (or Reward and Punishment)
The “Black Lives Matter” Movement 211 Voting Model 261
The Role of Social Movements in a Democracy 212 Imperfect Electoral Democracy 262
Encouraging Participation 212 Which Party Model Works Best? 262
Overcoming Political Inequality 213 The Unique Nature of American Elections 263
Creating New Majorities 213 Elections Are Numerous and Frequent 263
Overcoming Constitutional Inertia 213 Election Procedure and Vote-Counting
Inconsistencies 264
Factors That Encourage the Formation of
“First-Past-the-Post” Wins 264
Social Movements 214
Real or Perceived Distress 214 Voting in the United States 265
Availability of Resources for Mobilization 215 Expansion of the Franchise 265
A Supportive Environment 216 Direct Partisan Elections 266
A Sense of Efficacy Among Participants 216 Barriers to Voting and Low Voter Turnout 267
A Spark to Set Off the Flames 217 Reform Proposals and New Struggles
over Voting Rights 269
Tactics of Social Movements 218
Who Votes? 270
Why Do Some Social Movements Succeed and
Income and Education 270
Others Fail? 219
Race and Ethnicity 272
Low-Impact Social Movements 219
Age 272
Repressed Social Movements 219
Gender 272
Partially Successful Social Movements 220
Does It Matter Who Votes? 273
Successful Social Movements 221
The Presidential Campaign 274
Using the Democracy Standard: Social Movements:
Do Social Movements Make America More or Less Preparing to Run and the Invisible
Democratic? 223 Primary 274
The Presidential Primary System 276
9 Political Parties 226

The General Election Campaign
Money in General Elections
278
281
The Struggle for Democracy: Populist Factions Election Outcomes 287
Take Hold for Republicans and Democrats 227 How Voters Decide 287
Political Parties in Democratic Systems 229 The Electoral College 288
Updates Edition
xii Contents
Using the Democracy Standard: Voting, Campaigns, The Framers’ Conception of the Presidency 335
and Elections: Do Voting, Campaigns, and Elections The Dormant Presidency 336
Make Government Leaders Listen to the People? 291
The Twentieth Century Transformation 337
How Important Are Individual Presidents? 341
PART IV Government and Governing The Powers and Roles of the President 342
Chief of State 342
11 Congress 294 Domestic Policy Leader 342
Chief Executive 344
The Struggle for Democracy: The 2018 Midterm Foreign Policy and Military Leader 346
Elections: Democrats Take Back the House But Lose
Party Leader 349
Ground in the Senate 295
The President’s Support System 350
Constitutional Foundations of Congress 296
The White House Staff 350
Enumerated and Implied Powers of Congress 296
The Executive Office of the President 351
Constraints on Congress 296
The Vice Presidency 352
Basis for Representation in Congress 298
The Cabinet 353
Is Congress Still Capable of Solving Big Problems? 298
The President and Congress: Perpetual Tug-of-War 354
Representation and Democracy in Congress 300
Conflict by Constitutional Design 354
Two Styles of Representation 300
What Makes a President Successful
Member Demographics 301
with Congress? 355
Representation in the House: Reapportionment
The President and the People 357
and Redistricting 303
Getting Closer to the People 358
Representation in the Senate 307
Leading Public Opinion 358
How Representative Is Congress? A Look Back
at the Arguments 307 Responding to the Public 359
Congressional Elections 307 Presidential Popularity 359
The Congressional Election Process 308 Using the Democracy Standard: The Presidency:
Presidents and the American People 361
Who Runs for Congress? 308
Money and Congressional Elections 309
The Incumbency Factor 311 13 The Executive Branch 364
Do Congressional Elections Ensure
Proper Representation? 312 The Struggle for Democracy: A Changing
The Congressional Legislative Process 313 Bureaucracy 365
Introducing a Bill 315 How the Executive Branch Is Organized 366
Referral to Committee 315 Cabinet-Level Departments 367
The Rules Committee 316 Independent Regulatory Commissions 369
Floor Action on a Bill 316 Independent Executive Agencies 369
Resolving Bicameral Differences 319 Other Federal Bureaucracies 371
Presidential Action on a Bill 320 What Do Bureaucracies and Bureaucrats Do? 371
Party and Leader Influences on the Executing Programs and Policies 371
Passage Process 320 Exercising Discretion 372
Voting in Congress 323 Regulating 372
Procedural and Substantive Votes 323 Adjudicating 373
Partisan Polarization and Party-Line Discretion and Democracy 374
Voting in Congress 323
Who Are the Bureaucrats? 374
Congressional Oversight of the Executive Branch 325 The Merit System 375
Nominee Confirmations 326 Political Appointees 376
Hearings and Investigations 326 How Different Are Civil Servants from
Impeachment 327 Other Americans? 378
Using the Democracy Standard: Congress: Is Congress Political and Governmental Influences on
Out of Touch with the American People? 328 Bureaucratic Behavior 378
The President and the Bureaucracy 378
12 The Presidency 332 Congress and the Bureaucracy 380
The Courts and the Bureaucracy 382
The Struggle for Democracy: The Presidency 333 The Public and Press and the Bureaucracy 383
The Expanding Presidency 334 Interest Groups and the Bureaucracy 384
Updates Edition
Contents xiii
The American Bureaucracy: Controversies and Rights of the Accused 446

Challenges 385 Unreasonable Searches and Seizures 447
Hostile Political Culture 385 Right to Counsel and Protections Against Self-
Incoherent Organization 386 Incrimination 448
Divided Control 387 Capital Punishment 450
Reforming the Federal Bureaucracy 387 Terrorism and the Rights of the Accused 454
Scaling Back Its Size 387 Right to Privacy 456
Becoming More Businesslike 390 Private Decisions 457
Protecting Against Bureaucratic Abuses of Power 391 Private Communications 458
Increasing Presidential Control 391 Using the Democracy Standard: Civil Liberties:
Using the Democracy Standard: The Executive So, Has the State of American Freedom Improved? 460
Branch: Does the Bureaucracy Advance or Hinder
Democracy? 392
16 Civil Rights: The Struggle for
Political Equality 463
14 The Courts 395
The Struggle for Democracy: Civil Rights,
The Struggle for Democracy: The Battle for the Courts 396 African Americans, and the Police 464
The Foundations of Judicial Power 398 The Status of Civil Rights Before 1900 465
Constitutional Design 398 An Initial Absence of Civil Rights in the
Judicial Review 398 Constitution 465
Civil Rights After Ratification of the Civil War
The Federal Court System: Jurisdiction and
Amendments 466
Organization 401
The Contemporary Status of Civil Rights for
The Jurisdiction of the Federal Courts 401
Racial and Ethnic Minorities 469
The Organization of the Federal Court System 402
The End of Government-Sponsored
Appointment to the Federal Bench 406 Segregation and Discrimination 469
Who Are the Appointees? 406 The Beginning of Government-Sponsored
The Appointment Process 408 Remedies to Right Past Wrongs 471
The Supreme Court in Action 410 The Contemporary Status of Civil Rights for
The Norms of Operation 410 Women 479
Control of the Agenda 411 Intermediate Scrutiny 480
Deciding Cases 412 Abortion Rights 481
Outside Influences on Supreme Court Decisions 414 Sexual Harassment and Hostile Environments 482
The Supreme Court as a National Policy Maker 418 American Women by Comparison 484
Structural Change and Constitutional Broadening the Civil Rights Umbrella 485
Interpretation 418 The Elderly and People with Disabilities 485
The Debate over Judicial Activism 423 Gay, Lesbian, and Transgender People 485
Using the Democracy Standard: The Courts: Using the Democracy Standard: Civil Rights: Is Equal
Does the Supreme Court Enhance Citizenship a Reality in the United States? 490
American Democracy? 426
17 Domestic Policies 493

PART V What Government Does
The Struggle for Democracy: Environmental
15 Civil Liberties: The Struggle for

Regulation in a Polarized Era 494
Why Does the Federal Government Do So Much? 495
Freedom 429
Managing the Economy 496
The Struggle for Democracy: Digital Surveillance Providing a Safety Net 496
and the War on Terror 430 Economic Policy 497
Civil Liberties in the Constitution 431 The Goals of Economic Policy 497
Explicit Protections in the Constitution 431 The Tools of Economic Policy 500
Incorporation of the Bill of Rights 433 The Federal Budget 503
First Amendment Freedoms 434 The Budgeting Process 503
Freedom of Speech 436 Federal Spending 504
Freedom of the Press 439 Federal Revenues 506
Religious Freedom 441 Budget Deficits and the National Debt 508
Updates Edition
xiv Contents
Regulation 510 Dimensions of America’s Superpower Status 533

The Role of Regulation 510 American Superpower: Structural Foundations 533
The Recent History of Regulation 510 American Superpower: Strategic Alternatives 542
Federal Safety Net Programs 512 What Goals for American Power? 542
Types of Federal Safety Net Programs 512 How to Use American Power? Competing
Social Insurance Programs 513 Viewpoints 543
Means-Tested Anti-Poverty Programs 515 Problems of the Post–Cold War World 544
Poverty in the United States 518 Security Issues 544
Health Care Policy 520 Economic and Social Issues 552
Key Components of the ACA 521 Who Makes Foreign and National Defense
Challenges and Changes to the ACA 522 Policies? 555
The American Safety Net in Context 523 The President and the Executive Branch 556
Factors That Have Shaped the American Safety Net 523 Congress 559
Using the Democracy Standard: Domestic Policies: Using the Democracy Standard: Foreign and
Do Americans Get the Economic Policies and Safety National Defense Policies: What Role Do the People
Net Programs They Want from Government? 525 Play in Foreign and Defense Policy Making? 561
Appendix 564
18 Foreign and National Defense
Glossary 592
Policies 529
Endnotes 604
The Struggle for Democracy: The Syrian Nightmare 530
Photo Credits 645
Foreign and National Security Policies and
Democracy 532 Index 647
Updates Edition
To the Student
W
hy study American government and politics, and why read this text-
book to do it? Here’s why: Only by understanding how our complex
political system operates and how government works can you play a role
in deciding what government does. Only by understanding the obstacles that stand
in your way as you enter the political fray, as well as the abundant opportunities you
have to advance your ideas and values in the political process, can you play an effec-
tive role.
You can learn this best, we believe, by studying what political scientists have dis-
covered about American politics and government. Political science is the systematic
study of the role that people and groups play in determining what government does;
how government goes about implementing its policy decisions; and what social, eco-
nomic, and political consequences flow from government actions. The best political
science research is testable, evidence-based, and peer-reviewed—as free as possible
from ideological and partisan bias as it can be.
The Struggle for Democracy not only introduces you to that research but also gives
you tools to decode the American political system, analyze its pieces, consider its link-
ages, and identify opportunities to make a difference. A simple but powerful frame-
work will guide you in discovering how government, politics, and the larger society
are intertwined and how government policies are a product of the interactions of
actors and institutions across these domains.
Our hope and expectation is that The Struggle for Democracy will enable your suc-
cess in your introduction to American government and politics course. But we are
interested in more than your classroom experiences. We believe that knowing how
politics and government work and how closely they conform to our democratic values
will also enable a lifetime of productive choices. Put all naïveté aside, however. Mak-
ing a mark on public policies is never easy. Like-minded individuals need to do more
than vote. Those who gain the most from government policies have, after all, substan-
tial resources to make certain that government treats them well.
But you have resources to make changes, too. Beyond voting, opportunities for
affecting change may come from your involvement in political campaigns, from using
social media to persuade others of your views or to organize meetings and demon-
strations, from participating in social movements, from contributing to groups and
politicians who share your views, and from many more such avenues. So, much like
waging war, making your voice heard requires that you know the “lay of the land,”
including the weapons you have at your disposal (we would call them political tools)
and the weapons of those arrayed against you. But, much like peacemaking, you need
to know how and when compromises can be reached that serve the interests of all
parties.
Lest all of the above seems too daunting, we also have tried to make this book
enjoyable, accessible, and fun. If your experience in reading The Struggle for Democracy
comes close to the pleasure we had in writing it, we have come as near as possible to
achieving our goal.
xv
Updates Edition
xvi To the Student
Meet Your Author

EDWARD S. GREENBERG is Professor Emeritus of Political Science and Research
Professor of Behavioral Science at the University of Colorado, Boulder. Ed’s research
and teaching interests include American government and politics, domestic and
global political economy, and democratic theory and practice, with a special empha-
sis on workplace issues. His multi-year longitudinal panel study, funded by the NIH,
examining the impact of technological change and the globalization of production on
Boeing managers and employees, is reported in more than a dozen journal articles and
in his book Turbulence: Boeing and the State of American Workers and Managers (Yale Uni-
versity Press, 2010, co-authored with Leon Grunberg, Sarah Moore, and Pat Sikora).
He is currently doing research on the global competition between Boeing and Airbus
and its impact on people who work in these firms.
Updates Edition
To the Instructor
B
en Page and I decided to write this book because, as instructors in intro-
ductory American government courses, we could not find a book that pro-
vided students with usable tools for critically analyzing our political system
and making judgments about how well our government works. The Struggle for Democ-
racy does not simply present facts about government and politics—it also provides
several analytical and normative frameworks for putting the flood of facts we ask our
students to absorb into a more comprehensible form. By doing so, I believe we have
made it easier and more satisfying for instructors to teach the introductory course.
Our goal all along was to create a textbook that treats students as adults, engages
their intellectual and emotional attention, and encourages them to be active learners.
Every element in this text is designed to promote the kind of critical thinking skills
scholars and instructors believe students need to become the engaged, active, and
informed citizens that are so vital to any democracy. Over the next several sections, I
show the elements we created to meet these objectives.
Features
Approach The Struggle for Democracy provides several analytical and normative
frameworks for putting the flood of facts teachers ask their students to absorb into
a more comprehensible form. Although all topics that are common and expected in
the introductory American government and politics course are covered in this text-
book, the two main focal points—an analytical framework for understanding how
politics and government work and the normative question “How democratic are we?”
(addressed in concluding remarks at the end of each chapter under the “Using the
Democracy Standard” headline)—allow for a fresh look at traditional topics.
This book pays great attention to structural factors—which include the American
economy, social and demographic change in the United States, technological innova-
tions and change, the American political culture, and changes in the global system—
and examines how they affect politics, government, and public policy. These factors
are introduced in Chapter 4—a chapter unique among introductory texts—and they
are brought to bear on a wide range of issues in subsequent chapters.
The Struggle for Democracy attends very carefully to issues of democratic political
theory. This follows from a critical thinking objective, which asks students to assess
the progress of, and prospects for, democracy in the United States and from a desire
to present American history as the history of the struggle for democracy. For instance,
Struggle examines how the evolution of the party system has improved democracy in
some respects in the United States, but hurt it in others.
Struggle also includes more historical perspective because it provides the necessary
context for thinking comprehensively and critically about contemporary political
debates. It shows, for example, how the expansion of civil rights in the United States is
tied to important historical events and trends.
Comparisons of developments, practices, and institutions in the United States
with those in other nations add another dimension to our understanding. We can bet-
ter comprehend how our system of social welfare works, for example, when we see
how other rich democratic countries deal with the problems of poverty, unemploy-
ment, and old age.
xvii
Updates Edition
xviii To the Instructor
COVERAGE In an effort to build a ground-up understanding of American politics

and the policy outcomes it does (and does not) produce, the chapters in Struggle mir-
ror the structure of our analytical pyramid framework. Part 1 includes an introduction
to the textbook, its themes, and the critical thinking tools used throughout the book.
Part 2 covers the structural foundations of American government and politics, address-
ing subjects such as the U.S. economy and political culture and its place in the interna-
tional system; the constitutional framework of the American political system; and the
development of federalism. Part 3 focuses on political linkage institutions such as par-
ties, elections, public opinion, social movements, and interest groups that convey the
wants, needs, and demands of individuals and groups to public officials. Part 4 concen-
trates on the central institutions of the national government, including the presidency,
Congress, and the Supreme Court. Part 5 describes the kinds of policies the national
government produces and analyzes how effective government is at solving pressing
social and economic problems. The analytical framework used in this book also means
that the subjects of civil liberties and civil rights are not treated in conjunction with the
Constitution in Part 2, which is the case with many introductory texts, but in Part 5,
on public policy. This is because we believe that the real-world status of civil liberties
and civil rights, while partly determined by specific provisions of the Constitution, is
better understood as the outcome of the interaction of structural, political, and gov-
ernmental factors. For example, the status of civil rights for gays, lesbians, and trans-
gendered people depends not only on constitutional provisions but also on the state of
public opinion, degrees of support from elected political leaders, and the decisions of
the Supreme Court.
PEDAGOGY The Struggle for Democracy offers unique features that help students bet-
ter understand, interpret, and critically evaluate American politics and government.
• Chapter-opening stories provide useful frames of reference for defining why

the principal topic of each chapter matters to the citizens of our American
democracy.
• A unique visual tool that maps out the many influences in the American polit-
ical process and how they shape political decisions and policies, the Applying
the Framework model makes clear that government, politics, and society are
deeply intertwined in recognizable patterns. The framework simplifies complex
associations, builds on the “deep structures” that underlay American politics
and government—the economy, society, political culture, and the constitutional
rules—and encourages holistic comprehension of American politics.
• More than one hundred figures and tables strengthen the narrative and help stu-
dents extract meaning and insights from data that drive political decision making
and government action.
• Timelines appear throughout this book to help students develop a sense of his-
torical context and to clarify the chronology of a particular period. Timeline topics
include federalism milestones and a history of the civil rights movement.
• Every chapter includes a marginal glossary of key terms to support students’
understanding of new and important concepts at first encounter. For easy refer-
ence, key terms from the marginal glossary are repeated at the end of each chapter
and in the end-of-book glossary.
• Every chapter includes a Using the Democracy Standard section to help students
consolidate their thinking about the American political system as a whole by
using a normative democracy “yardstick” that asks students to assess the degree
to which the United States has become more or less democratic.
• Review the Chapter sections organized around chapter learning objectives is
included at the end of each chapter to help students better understand and retain
information and to think critically about the material.
Updates Edition
To the Instructor xix
New to This Edition

Key updates to The Struggle for Democracy include the following:
• Substantial coverage of the contentious 2018 national midterm elections with spe-
cial attention to the partisan aspects of the election in Chapter 9, the voting and
campaign aspects in Chapter 10, the consequences for Congress in Chapter 11,
and the impact on the presidency in Chapter 12.
• Coverage throughout, but especially in Chapters 3, 10, 14, 15, 16, and 17, on
important rulings by the Supreme Court on religious liberty, LGBTQ rights, con-
gressional district gerrymandering, voting rights, and presidential powers.
• Consideration, especially in Chapter 12, “The Presidency,” and Chapter 18, “For-
eign Policy and National Defense,” on the changing relationships with America’s
traditional allies, efforts to tame the nuclear weapons and missile programs in
North Korea and Iran, China’s emergence as a competing world power, and Rus-
sia’s growing military aggressiveness in Europe and the Middle East, as well as its
continuing interference in the politics of democratic countries.
• Increased attention to the growing partisan bitterness in Washington and across
much of the nation that affects how government addresses or fails to address vir-
tually every major problem facing the nation whether it be energy, illegal immigra-
tion, climate change, or the shrinking middle class (Chapters 5, 9, 10, 11, and 17).
• Questions of whether and to what degree income and wealth inequality has
increased, and if it has, with what political and public policy consequences were
thoroughly considered during this revision. We also look closely at globaliza-
tion and technological change and their impact on Americans, with extensive
research and analysis of particular note evident in Chapters 4 and 18.
• The ways in which social, economic, and technological trends shape government
action are also considered, including executive orders increasing border security,
tightening immigration asylum processing, intensifying the expulsion of undocu-
mented immigrants, and rolling back financial industry and environmental regu-
lations (Chapters 4, 15, 17, and 18).
• Photos in this edition were selected not only to capture major events from the
last few years but to illustrate the relevancy of politics in our daily lives. They
show political actors and processes as well as people affected by politics, creating
a visual narrative that enhances rather than repeats the text. Each includes critical
thinking questions that allow readers to engage with the material more intensely.
• The data in all of the figures and tables have been updated throughout with the
intention of helping users think critically not only about political decisions in ret-
rospect but also about pending government action.
Revel™
Revel is an interactive learning environment that deeply engages students and pre-
pares them for class. Media and assessment integrated directly within the authors’
narrative lets students read, explore interactive content, and practice in one continu-
ous learning path. Thanks to the dynamic reading experience in Revel, students come
to class prepared to discuss, apply, and learn from instructors and from each other.
Learn more about Revel at www.pearson.com/revel.
• Chapter-opening Current Events Bulletins feature author-written articles that

put breaking news and current events into the context of American government.
Examples include the 2016 elections in context, the strained relationship between
the U.S. and Russia, and how Democratic turnout in the 2016 election helps to
explain Trump’s victory.
Updates Edition
xx To the Instructor
• Captivating videos bring to life chapter content and key moments in American
government. Videos are incorporated into the chapters, where pertinent, and can
also be easily accessed from the instructor’s Resources folder within Revel.
• ABC News footage and Smithsonian short documentary videos provide exam-
ples from both current and historical events. Examples of footage include FDR
visiting the newly completed Boulder Dam (Hoover Dam), an NRA lobbyist’s
proposition to put guns in schools one week after the Sandy Hook tragedy,
important events in African Americans’ struggle for equality, how war and the
preparation for war increased the role of the federal government, and President
Obama’s struggle to make a case for air strikes in Syria.
• Pearson Originals for Political Science are compelling stories about contempo-
rary issues. These short-form documentaries contextualize the complex social
and political issues impacting the world today. In addition to helping students
better understand core concepts, Pearson Originals inspire students to think
critically as empowered citizens who can inspire social and political change.
Explaining complex political issues in a simplified and entertaining way, Pearson
Originals for Political Science help students become informed members of society.
Videos in these short-form documentary series include Marijuana and Feder-
alism: Who’s in Charge?; Who Should Be Allowed to Call Themselves “Amer-
ican”?; and What Is the Emoluments Clause and Why Should I Care About It?
• Pearson’s Politics Hidden in Plain Sight video series does exactly that—pro-
vides students with concrete examples of how politics influences the activi-
ties of their daily lives—from using their cellphones to going to a convenience
store—in ways they likely had not previously noticed.
• In addition, each chapter concludes with an author-narrated video subtitled

“Why It Matters,” helping students to put chapter content in a real-world con-
text. For example, Chapter 16, “Civil Rights: The Struggle for Political Equal-
ity,” concludes with a discussion of the real-life implications of affirmative
action in college admission and on campus—a topic immediately relevant to
today’s undergraduate students.
Updates Edition
To the Instructor xxi
• Shared Media activities all allow instructors to assign and grade both pre-written
and their own prompts that incorporate video, weblinks, and visuals and ask stu-
dents to respond in a variety of formats, in writing or by uploading their own
video or audio responses. Pre-written assignments around the Pearson Originals
for Political Science videos are available.
• Interactive maps, figures, and tables featuring innovative Social Explorer tech-
nology allow for inputting the latest data, toggling to illustrate movement over
time, and clicking on hot spots with pop-ups of images and captions. Examples
include Figure 12.2: Trends in Presidential Job Approval, 1946–2018 (line graph);
Figure 9.2: Presidential Elections, 1960 and 2012 (map); and Figure 11.2: Women
and Minorities in the U.S. Congress (bar chart).
• Interactive simulations in every chapter (beginning with Chapter 2) allow stu-

dents to explore critical issues and challenges that the country’s Founders faced
and that elected officials, bureaucrats, and political activists still face today. Stu-
dents apply key chapter concepts in realistic situations. For example, in Chapter 3,
students have the opportunity to imagine themselves as federal judges; in
Chapter 8, they lead a social movement; and in Chapter 15, they are police officers.
Updates Edition
xxii To the Instructor
• Interactive Conclusion and Review summaries using video, learning objectives,

image galleries, and flashcards featuring key terms and definitions allow students
to review chapter content. In addition, a common, recent events bulletin called
“The Stuggle for Democracy in Context” appears in every chapter and briefly
examines how recent events relate to the material presented in the text.
• Assessments tied to primary chapter sections, as well as full chapter exams, allow
instructors and students to track progress and get immediate feedback.
• Integrated Writing Opportunities To help students reason and write more clearly,
each chapter offers two varieties of writing prompts:
• Journal prompts in nearly every section across the narrative ask students to
consider critical issues that are first presented in a relevant photograph and
associated photo caption. These questions are designed to reinforce one of the
material’s primary goals: to equip students to engage critically with American
government and thereby ensure a healthy, thriving democracy.
Updates Edition
To the Instructor xxiii
• Shared writing prompts, following each chapter’s Conclusion and Review sec-
tion, encourage students to consider how to address the challenges described
in the chapter in an essay format. For example, in Chapter 3, students must
argue for or against the proposition that the federal government should not
provide funds to support large infrastructure projects, such as the construction
and expansion of interstate highways. Through these shared writing prompts,
instructors and students can address multiple sides of an issue by sharing their
own views and responding to each other’s viewpoints.
• Essay prompts are from Pearson’s Writing Space, where instructors can assign
both automatically graded and instructor-graded prompts. Writing Space
is the best way to develop and assess concept mastery and critical thinking
through writing. Writing Space provides a single place within Revel to create,
track, and grade writing assignments; access writing resources; and exchange
meaningful, personalized feedback quickly and easily to improve results. For
students, Writing Space provides everything they need to keep up with writ-
ing assignments, access assignment guides and checklists, write or upload
completed assignments, and receive grades and feedback—all in one con-
venient place. For educators, Writing Space makes assigning, receiving, and
evaluating writing assignments easier. It’s simple to create new assignments
and upload relevant materials, see student progress, and receive alerts when
students submit work. Writing Space makes students’ work more focused and
effective, with customized grading rubrics they can see and personalized
feedback. Writing Space can also check students’ work for improper citation
or plagiarism by comparing it against the world’s most accurate text compar-
ison database available from Turnitin.
• Learning Management Systems Pearson provides Blackboard Learn™,
Canvas™, Brightspace by D2L, and Moodle integration, giving institutions,
instructors, and students easy access to Revel. Our Revel integration deliv-
ers streamlined access to everything your students need for the course in these
learning management system (LMS) environments. Single Sign-on: With single
sign-on, students are ready on their first day. From your LMS course, students
have easy access to an interactive blend of authors’ narrative, media, and assess-
ment. Grade Sync: Flexible, on-demand grade synchronization capabilities allow
you to control exactly which Revel grades should be transferred to the LMS
gradebook.
• Revel Combo Card The Revel Combo Card provides an all-in-one access code
and loose-leaf print reference (delivered by mail).
Updates Edition
xxiv To the Instructor
Supplements
Make more time for your students with instructor resources that offer effective learn-
ing assessments and classroom engagement. Pearson’s partnership with educators
does not end with the delivery of course materials; Pearson is there with you on the
first day of class and beyond. A dedicated team of local Pearson representatives will
work with you to not only choose course materials but also integrate them into your
class and assess their effectiveness. Our goal is your goal—to improve instruction
with each semester.
Pearson is pleased to offer the following resources to qualified adopters of The
Struggle for Democracy. Several of these supplements are available to instantly download
on the Instructor Resource Center (IRC); please visit the IRC at www.pearsonhighered
.com/irc to register for access.
TEST BANK Evaluate learning at every level. Reviewed for clarity and accuracy, the
Test Bank measures this book’s learning objectives with multiple choice, true/false,
fill-in-the-blank, short answer, and essay questions. You can easily customize the
assessment to work in any major learning management system and to match what is
covered in your course. Word, BlackBoard, and WebCT versions available on the IRC
and Respondus versions available upon request from www.respondus.com.
PEARSON MYTEST This powerful assessment generation program includes all of

the questions in the Test Bank. Quizzes and exams can be easily authored and saved
online and then printed for classroom use, giving you ultimate flexibility to man-
age assessments anytime and anywhere. To learn more, visit, www.pearsonhighered
.com/mytest.
INSTRUCTOR’S MANUAL Create a comprehensive roadmap for teaching class-

room, online, or hybrid courses. Designed for new and experienced instructors, the
Instructor’s Manual includes a sample syllabus, lecture and discussion suggestions,
activities for in or out of class, and essays on teaching American Government. Avail-
able on the IRC.
POWERPOINT PRESENTATION Make lectures more enriching for students. The

PowerPoint Presentation includes a full lecture outline and full-color images of maps
and art. All PowerPoints are ADA compliant.
LIVESLIDES Social Explorers are data-rich interactive maps and figures that enable
students to visually explore demographic data to understand how local trends impact
them while improving data and statistical literacy. LiveSlides are dynamic lecture
slides, which give you a direct path to all the Social Explorers within your Revel
course. Available within Revel and on the IRC.
Acknowledgments
Heartfelt thanks and gratitude go to Ben Page, friend and long-time collaborator, who
co-authored many editions of this book, though not this one. For over a year after I
first broached the idea about our doing a textbook together, we hashed out whether
it was possible to write a textbook that would be consistent with our standards as
teachers and scholars, offer a perspective on American government and politics that
was unique in the discipline, and do well in the marketplace. Once we concluded that
it was possible to produce a textbook that hit these benchmarks and that we passion-
ately wanted to make happen, we spent more than two years writing what became
the First Edition of The Struggle for Democracy. When Ben and I started this process, we
were only acquaintances. Over the years, in the process of collaborating on the publi-
cation of several editions of this textbook, we became and remain very good friends.
Updates Edition
To the Instructor xxv
Though Ben has not been an active co-author on this edition of Struggle, his brilliant
insights, analytical approach, and elegant writing are visible on virtually every page,
and it is why his name sits next to mine on the cover and the title page. Ben Page, of
course, is one of the most brilliant, cited, visible, and admired political scientists in the
world, and hardly needs additional praise from me. But, I will say that I feel extraordi-
narily lucky to have worked with him for a good part of my academic career.
This edition of Struggle has been refreshed by and has benefited from the work of
three extremely talented and energetic young political scientists, all former teaching
assistants of mine in the large introductory course on American government and pol-
itics at the University of Colorado, Boulder, and all now launched on their own aca-
demic careers as teachers and scholars. David Doherty of Loyola University C hicago,
Josh Ryan of Utah State University, and Scott Minkoff of SUNY New Paltz, took on
a substantial portion of the burden of producing this new edition of Struggle, each
taking responsibility for updating three chapters and each responsible for creating or
modernizing chapter features that make this book such an exciting tool for student
learning. I am grateful to each of them and hope and trust we will work together on
future editions.
I also want to thank the many students, teaching assistants, and faculty at the
University of Colorado and other universities, colleges, and two-year institutions who
have used this book over the years as a learning and teaching tool and who have let
me know what worked and what didn’t work in previous editions. I appreciate their
insight and candor.
My thanks also go to my editor at Pearson Higher Education, Jeff Marshall, who
has been a champion of this book and my principal guide into the brave new world
of textbooks in the digital age. To Jeff and to all of his very smart and very capable
colleagues at Pearson, I express my very special appreciation. Allison Collins, our
developmental editor, who heroically kept David, Josh, Scott, and me on track, offered
compelling suggestions for content updates, helped with everything from photo selec-
tion to the design of line art, and acted as liaison with the many people involved in the
complex process of getting this book out the door and into the hands of teachers and
students. My thanks also go to Anju Joshi and her team at Lumina Datamatics; Megan
Vertucci, Jennifer Jacobson, and Rebecca Green at Ohlinger Studios; the magnificent
team at Social Explorer; and Tara Cook at Metrodigi. The shrewd and judicious con-
tributions of these individuals to the production of Struggle are apparent on every
printed page and on every digital screen.
Thanks go to John Aughenbaugh, of Virginia Commonwealth University, Leslie
Baker, of Mississippi State University, Anita Chadha, of the University of Houston,
Downtown, Lisa Iyer, of Riverside City College, Stephanie Paul, of the University of
Alabama, and Kevin Wagner, of Florida Atlantic University, who reviewed our work
and supplied insights and expertise on this revision.
We also wish to thank the many professors who gave their time to provide invalu-
able input during the following conferences and Pearson events:
Spring 2018 Revel Editorial Workshops Christopher Hallenbrook, Bloomsburg

University; Ben Christ, Harrisburg Area Community College; Laci Hubbard−Mattix,
Spokane Falls Community College−Pullman; Shobana Jayaraman, Savannah State
University; Jeneen Hobby, Cleveland State University; John Arnold, Midland Col-
lege; Reed Welch, West Texas A&M; Amanda Friesen, IUPUI; Thomas Ambrosio,
North Dakota State; Ted Vaggalis, Drury University; Coyle Neal, Southwest Baptist
University; Hanna Samir Kassab, Northern Michigan University; Julie Keil, Saginaw
Valley State University; Henry Esparza, University of Texas at San Antonio; Sierra
Powell, Mount San Antionio College; Edgar Bravo, Broward College; Alicia Andreatta,
Angelina College; Robert Sterken, The University of Texas at Tyler; Jessica Ander-
son, University of Louisiana Monroe; Pat Frost, San Diego Miramar College; Scott
Updates Edition
xxvi To the Instructor
Robinson, Houston Baptist University; Cessna Winslow, Tarleton State; Carrie Cur-
rier, Texas Christian University; Paul Jorgensen, University of Texas Rio Grande Val-
ley; Steve Lem, Kutztown University; Meng Lu, Sinclair Community College; James
Pearn, Southern State Community College; Blake Farrar, Texas State University; Carlin
Barmada, NVCC; Michael Chan, California State University, Long Beach; Mehwish,
SUNY Buffalo State; Daniel Tirone, Louisiana State University; Richard Haesly, Cali-
fornia State University, Long Beach; Hyung Park, El Paso Community College; Jesse
Kapenga, UTEP; Stephanie A. Slocum−Schaffer, Shepherd University; Augustine
Hammond, Augusta University; Shawn Easley, Cuyahoga Community College; D arius
Smith, Community College of Aurora; Robert Glover, University of Maine; Carolyn
Cocca, State University of NY, College at Old Westbury; Benjamin Arah, Bowie State
University; Ahmet Turker, Pima Community College; Eric Loepp, UW−Whitewater;
Holly Lindamod, University of North Georgia; Denise Robles, San Antonio College;
Asslan Khaligh, A lamo−San Antonio College; Brandy Martinez, San Antonio
College; Andrew Sanders, Texas A&M University, San Antonio; Mohsen Omar,
Northeast Lakeview College; Heather Frederick, Slippery Rock University; Heather
Rice, Slippery Rock University; Leslie Baker, Mississippi State University; Jamie
Warner, Marshall University; Will Jennings, University of Tennessee; Arjun B anerjee,
University of Tennessee, Knoxville; Jonathan Honig, University of Tennessee;
Rachel Fuentes, University of Tennessee, Knoxville; Andrew Straight, University of
Tennessee, Knoxville; Margaret Choka, Pellissippi State Community College; Christo-
pher Lawrence, Middle Georgia State University; LaTasha Chaffin, College of Charles-
ton; Jeff Worsham, West Virginia University; Cigdem Sirin−Villalobos, University of
Texas at El Paso; Lyle Wind, Suffolk Community College; Marcus Holmes, College
of William & Mary; Kurt Guenther, Palm Beach State College; Kevin Wagner, Florida
Atlantic University; Eric Sands, Berry College; Shari MacLachlan, Palm Beach State
College; Sharon Manna, North Lake College; Tamir Sukkary, American River College;
Willie Hamilton, Mt. San Jacinto College; Linda Trautman, Ohio University−Lancaster;
Dr. William H, Kraus, Motlow State Community College; Kim Winford, Blinn
College; Lana Obradovic, University of Nebraska at Omaha; Doug Schorling, College
of the Sequoias; Sarah Lischer, Wake Forest University; Ted Clayton, Central Michigan
University; Steven Greene, North Carolina State University; Sharon Navarro, University
of Texas at San Antonio; Curtis Ogland, San Antonio College; Henry Esparza, UT San
Antonio; Mario Salas, UTSA; Robert Porter, Ventura College; Will Jennings, University of
Tennessee; Haroon Khan, Henderson State University; Brenda Riddick, Houston Com-
munity College; Julie Lantrip, T arrant County College; Kyle C. Kopko, Elizabethtown
College; Kristine Mohajer, Austin Community College (ACC); Dovie D. Dawson, Central
Texas College; Joycelyn Caesar, Cedar Valley College; Daniel Ponder, Drury University
APSA TLC 2018 Mujahid Nyahuma, Community College of Philadelphia; Tahiya

Nyahuma, NCAT; Christopher Lawrence, Middle Georgia State University; Jason
Robles, University of Colorado; Tim Reynolds, Alvin C ommunity College; M arilyn C.
Buresh, Lake Region State College; Frances Marquez, G allaudet University; Natasha
Washington, Liberal Arts and Communications; Jonathan Honig, University of
Tennessee–Knoxville; Ayesha Ahsanuddin, University of Tennessee–Knoxville; Arjun
Banerjee, The University of Tennessee–Knoxville; Jesse R. Cragwall, Tusculum Col-
lege and Pellissippi State Community College;
Ms. Amnah H. Ibraheem, University
of Tennessee–Knoxville; Karl Smith, Delaware Technical Community College; Richard
Waterman, University of Kentucky; Peggy R. Wright, ASU–Jonesboro; Christopher
Hallenbrook, Bloomsburg University; Eric Loepp, UW–Whitewater; Robert Glover,
University of Maine; Heather Rice, Slippery Rock University; Shawn Easley, Cuyahoga
Community College; B enjamin Arah, Bowie State University; Andrew Straight,
University of Tennessee; Rachel Fuentes, University of Tennessee at Knoxville; Steph-
anie A. Slocum−Schaffer, Shepherd University; Will Jennings, University of Tennessee
Updates Edition
To the Instructor xxvii
APSA 2017 Jooeun Kim, Georgetown; Leonard L. Lira, San José State University;
Abigail Post, University of Virginia; Jamilya Ukudeeva, Chabot College; Shannon
Jenkins, University of Massachusetts–Dartmouth; Matthew Platt, Morehouse College;
Sara Angevine, Whittier College; Andy Aoki, Augsburg University; Stephen Meinhold,
University of North Carolina–Wilmington; Manoutchehr Eskandari−Qajar, Santa
Barbara City College; Clayton Thyne, University of Kentucky; Alice Jackson, Morgan
State University; Mark Rom, Georgetown University; Krista Wiegand, U niversity of
Tennessee; Geoffrey Wallace, University of Washington; Precious Hall, Truckee Mead-
ows Community College; Patrick Larue, University of Texas at Dallas; Margot Morgan,
Indiana University Southeast; Patrick Wohlfarth, University of Maryland; Christian
Grose, University of Southern California; Clinton Jenkins, George Washington Uni-
versity; Jeffrey W. Koch, US Air Force Academy and SUNY Geneseo; Albert Ponce,
Diablo Valley College; Justin Vaughn, Boise State University; Joe Weinberg, University
of Southern Mississippi; Cindy Stavrianos, Gonzaga University; Kevan M. Yenerall,
Clarion University; Katherine Barbieri, University of South Carolina; Elsa Dias,
Metropolitan State University of Denver; Maria Gabryszewska, Florida International
University; Erich Saphir, Pima Community College; Mzilikazi Kone, College of the
Desert; Mary McHugh, Merrimack College; Joel Lieske, Cleveland State University;
Joseph W. Roberts, Roger Williams University; Eugen L. Nagy, Central Washington
University; Henry B. Sirgo, McNeese State University; Brian Newman, Pepperdine
University; Bruce Stinebrickner, DePauw U niversity; Amanda Friesen, IUPUI; LaTasha
Chaffin, College of Charleston; Richard Waterman, University of Kentucky
MPSA 2018 Adam Bilinski, Pittsburg State University; Daniel Chand, Kent State
University; Agber Dimah, Chicago State University; Yu Ouyang, Purdue University
Northwest; Steven Sylvester, Utah Valley University; Ben Bierly, Joliet Junior College;
Mahalley Allen, California State University, Chico; Christian Goergen, College of
DuPage; Patrick Stewart, University of Arkansas, Fayettville; Richard Barrett, Mount
Mercy University; Daniel Hawes, Kent State University; Niki Kalaf−Hughes, Bowling
Green State University; Gregg R. Murray, Augusta University; Ryan Reed, Bradley
University; Kimberly Turner, College of DuPage; Peter Wielhouwer, Western Michigan
University; Leena Thacker Kumar, University of Houston−DTN; Debra Leiter, Uni-
versity of Missouri Kansas City; Michael Makara, University of Central Missouri; Ola
Adeoye, University of Illinois–Chicago; Russell Brooker, Alverno College; Dr. Royal G.
Cravens, Bowling Green State University; Vincent T. Gawronski, Birmingham−Southern
College; Benjamin I. Gross, Jacksonville State University; Matthew Hitt, U
niversity of
Northern Colorado; Megan Osterbur, New England College; Pamela Schaal, Ball State
University; Edward Clayton, Central Michigan University; Ali Masood, California
State University, Fresno; Joel Lieske, Cleveland State University; Patrick Wohlfarth,
University of Maryland; Steven Greene, NC State; Will Jennings, University of
Tennessee; Haroon Khan, Henderson State University; Kyle Kopko, Elizabethtown
College; Hyung Lae Park, El Paso Community College; Linda Trautman, Ohio
University–Lancaster
Updates Edition
Updates Edition
CHAPTER
1
AT LONG LAST, THE RIGHT TO VOTE
The 1965 Voting Rights Act allowed
African Americans in the Deep South
to vote for the first time without fear.
In this photo from the period, African
Americans wait to enter the Haywood
County Courthouse to register to vote,
unimpeded by the brutalities and
humiliations of Jim Crow. Passage
of the act, an example of the struggle
for democracy at work in American
politics, put an end to a long history of
refusing to protect the voting rights of
minorities.
Do measures such as voter ID requirements
for voting, recently implemented in a
number of states, and which mostly affect
the youngest and oldest voters, rural
people, and racial and ethnic minorities,
suggest that the struggle for democracy
must continue? Or does it mean that our
democracy has matured and we no longer
need worry about access to the voting
booth?
DEMOCRACY AND
AMERICAN POLITICS
CHAPTER OUTLINE AND LEARNING OBJECTIVES
WHAT IS DEMOCRACY?
1.1 Explain democracy as the standard by which American government
and politics can be evaluated.
HOW DO GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS WORK?

1.2 Construct an analytical framework for examining how government
and politics work.
M01_GREE6429_12_SE_C01.indd 1 11/15/18 11:30 AM
Updates Edition
2 Chapter 1
The Struggle for Democracy

ROBERT MOSES AND THE STRUGGLE OF AFRICAN AMERICANS
FOR VOTING RIGHTS
Although the right to vote is fundamental to democracy, African Americans in the South were
not able to vote in any numbers until after 1965, despite passage of the Fifteenth Amendment in
1870, which prohibited discrimination in voting on the basis of race, color, or previous condition
of servitude.
In Mississippi in the early 1960s, only 5 percent of African Americans were registered to vote,
and none held elective office. In Walthall County, not a single African American was registered,
although roughly three thousand were eligible.1 A combination of exclusionary voting registration
rules, economic pressures, hard and stubborn racial discrimination, and violence kept them from
the polls.
When the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) launched its Voter Education
Project in 1961 with the aim of ending black political powerlessness in the Deep South, its first
step was to create “freedom schools” in the segregated counties of Mississippi, Alabama, and
Georgia. The first freedom school was founded in McComb, Mississippi, by a remarkable young
man named Robert Parris Moses. Shrugging off repeated threats to his life, vicious assaults,
arrests, fines, and public recriminations, Moses taught African American citizens about their
rights under the law and sent them in droves to county registrars’ offices.
Despite the voter registration efforts of Moses and other SNCC volunteers, African Americans in
the Deep South would have to wait four more years—for the passage of the 1965 Voting Rights
Act—to exercise their constitutional right to elect representatives to govern in their names. 2 The
Voter Education Project, a key building block of a powerful and growing civil rights movement,
along with many moral and political acts of defiance, did eventually force federal action to sup-
port the citizenship rights of African Americans in the South. Robert Moses and many other
African Americans were willing to risk all they had, including their lives, to gain full and equal
citizenship in the United States. They would, most assuredly, have been gratified by the election
of Barack Obama in 2008 as the nation’s forty-fourth president.
* * * * *
The struggle for democracy is happening in many countries today, where people often fight
against all odds for the right to govern themselves and to control their own destinies even as
the rise of authoritarian nationalism in places such as Hungary, Poland, and Turkey has made
their efforts more difficult.3 In the United States, democracy, although honored and celebrated,
remains an unfinished project and may even be threatened. The continuing struggle to protect
and expand democracy is a major feature of American history and a defining characteristic of our
politics today. It is also a central theme of this book.
WHAT IS DEMOCRACY?
1.1 Explain democracy as the standard by which American government and
politics can be evaluated.
Why should there not be a patient confidence in the ultimate justice of the people? Is
there any better, or equal, hope in the world?
—Abraham Lincoln, First Inaugural Address
anarchist Anarchists believe that people can live in harmony without any form of authority;
One who believes that people are natu-
however, most people believe that when living together in groups and communities,
ral cooperators capable of creating free
and decent societies without the need there is a need for an entity of some sort to provide law and order; to protect against
for government. external aggressors; and to provide essential public goods such as roads, waste
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Democracy and American Politics 3
disposal, education, and clean water. It is safe to say that most people do not want
to live in places where there is effectively no government to speak of, as in Somalia,
or where there is a failed state, as in Haiti and Yemen. If government is both neces-
sary and inevitable, certain questions are unavoidable: Who is to govern? How are
those who govern encouraged to serve the best interests of society? How can gov-
ernments be induced to make policies and laws that citizens consider legitimate and
worth obeying? How can citizens ensure that those who govern carry out both laws
and policies that the people want and do so effectively? In short, what is the best form
of government? For a majority of Americans, the answer is clear: democracy.
Democracy’s central idea is that ordinary people want to rule themselves and
are capable of doing so.4 This idea has proved enormously popular, not only with
Americans, but with people all over the world.5 To be sure, some people would give
top priority to other things besides self-government as a requirement for good soci-
ety, including such things as safety and security, the widespread availability of good
jobs, or the need to have religious law and values determine what government does.
Nevertheless, the appealing notion that ordinary people can and should rule them-
selves has spread to all corners of the globe, and the number of people living in dem-
ocratic societies increased significantly for several decades6 until its recent setbacks
in countries such as Hungary, Poland, Turkey, and Venezuela where more autocratic
governments have come to power, and in the United states and Western Europe where
disillusionment with democracy has increased some.7
It is no wonder that a form of government based on the notion that people are
capable of ruling themselves has enjoyed widespread popularity, especially com-
pared with government by the few (by the Communist Party in China and in Cuba,
for example) or by a single person (by dictator Kim Jong-un in North Korea). Some
political thinkers argue that democracy is the form of government that best protects
human rights because it is the only one based on a recognition of the intrinsic worth
and equality of human beings. Others believe that democracy is the form of gov-
ernment most likely to produce rational policies because it can count on the pooled
knowledge and expertise of a society’s entire population: a political version, if you
will, of the wisdom of crowds, something like the wiki phenomenon.8 Still others
claim that democracies are more stable and long-lasting because their leaders, elected
by and answerable to voters, enjoy a strong sense of legitimacy among citizens. Many
others suggest that democracy is the form of government most conducive to eco-
nomic growth and material well-being, a claim with substantial scholarly support.9
(In the years ahead, the relative economic growth of India, a democracy, and China, a
one-party-state, will be a real-world test of this proposition.) Still others believe that
democracy is the form of government under which human beings, because they are
free, are best able to develop their natural capacities and talents.10 There are many
compelling reasons, then, why so many people have preferred democracy.
Americans have supported the idea of self-government and have helped make
the nation more democratic over the course of its history.11 Nevertheless, democracy in
America remains an aspiration rather than a finished product. The goal behind this book
is to help you think carefully about the quality and progress of democracy in the United
States. We want to help you reach your own judgments about the degree to which poli-
tics and government in the United States make the country more or less democratic. You
can then draw your own conclusions about which political practices and institutions in
the United States encourage and sustain popular self-rule and which ones discourage
and undermine it. To help you do this, we must be clear about the meaning of democracy.
The Origins of Democracy

Many of our ideas about democracy originated with the ancient Greeks. The Greek
roots of the word democracy are demos, meaning “the people,” and kratein, meaning
“to rule.” Greek philosophers and rulers, however, were not uniformly friendly to the
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4 Chapter 1
DEMOCRACY AND ECONOMIC

GROWTH
Some scholars assert that fully func-
tioning democracies are a prereq-
uisite to economic growth, a claim
that is supported by fast-growing
India—symbolized in the top photo
by the skyscraper boom in Mumbai’s
business district—but belied by the
Chinese example in the bottom photo.
China, whose economic growth is
without precedent—note the gleaming
high-speed train and visually captivat-
ing skyline in Shanghai—is anything
but a democracy ruled as it is by the
Central Committee of the Communist
Party and its paramount leader,
Xi Jinping.
Can you think of other examples that
address the question of the relationship
between economic growth in a society and
its form of government? Were Britain,
France, Germany, and Japan democracies
when they were in their most dynamic
periods of economic activity? Or, do you
believe that the relationship is the other
way around, that economic growth makes
it more likely that a society will become
more democratic as its middle classes
insist that they have a greater say in
society’s affairs? If so, will China become
more democratic in the long run?
idea that the many could and should rule themselves. Most believed that governing
required the greatest sophistication, intelligence, character, and training—certainly
not the province of ordinary people. Aristotle expressed this view in his classic work
Politics, in which he observed that democracy “is a government in the hands of men of
low birth, no property, and vulgar employments.”
Instead, the Greeks preferred rule either by a select few (by an aristocracy, in which
democracy
a hereditary nobility rules, or by a clerical elite, as in Iran today) or by an enlightened
A system of government in which the
people rule; rule by the many as opposed one, somewhat akin to the philosopher-king described by Plato in his Republic or as in
to rule by one, or rule by the few. England in the time of Elizabeth I. Democracy, then, is “rule by the people” or, to put
it as the Greeks did, self-government by the many, as opposed to oligarchy (rule by
oligarchy
Rule by the few, where a minority holds
the few) or monarchy (rule by the one). The idea that ordinary people might rule them-
power over a majority, as in an aristoc- selves represents an important departure from most historical beliefs.12 In practice,
racy or a clerical establishment. throughout human history, most governments have been quite undemocratic.
monarchy Inherent in the idea of self-rule by ordinary people is an understanding that govern-
Rule by the one, such as where power ment must serve all its people and that ultimately none but the people themselves can be
rests in the hands of a king or queen. relied on to know, and hence to act in accordance with, their own values and interests.13
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In this sense, democracy is more a set of utopian ideas than a

description of real societies. Until recently, examples of democra-
cies or near-democracies over the course of human history have
been few.14 Athens of the 5th century bce is usually cited as the pur-
est form of democracy that ever existed. There, all public policies
were decided in periodic assemblies of Athenian citizens, though
women, slaves, and immigrants were excluded from participa-
tion.15 Nevertheless, the existence of a society where “a substantial
number of free, adult males were entitled as citizens to participate
freely in governing”16 proved to be a powerful example of what
was possible for those who believed that rule by the people was
the best form of government. A handful of other cases of popular
rule kept the democratic idea alive across the centuries. Beginning
in the 5th century bce, for example, India enjoyed long periods
marked by spirited and broadly inclusive public debate and dis-
course on public issues. In the Roman Republic, male citizens
elected the consuls, the chief magistrates of the powerful city-state.
In the Middle Ages, some European cities were governed directly
by the people (at least by men who owned property) rather than by
nobles, church, or crown. During the Renaissance, periods of popu-
lar control of government (again, limited to male property holders)
occurred in the city-states of Venice, Florence, and Milan.
Direct Versus Representative Democracy

To the ancient Greeks, democracy meant direct democracy, rule
by the common people exercised directly in open assemblies. They
believed that democracy implied face-to-face deliberation and
RULE BY THE FEW
decision making about the public business. Direct democracy requires, however, that all Although the elected president of Iran
citizens be able to meet together regularly to debate and decide the issues of the day.17 is influential in determining what the
Such a thing was possible in 5th century bce Athens, which was small enough to allow Iranian government does, real power
all male citizens to gather in one place. Men had time to meet and to deliberate because in the country is exercised by an
unelected clergy and the Revolutionary
women provided household labor and slaves accounted for most production.
Guards, the country’s leading security
Because direct (participatory) democracy is possible only in small communities force with considerable influence in
where citizens with abundant leisure time can meet on a face-to-face basis, it is an the political sphere. The mullahs (or
unworkable arrangement for a large and widely dispersed society such as the United clerics), the ideological custodians of
all Iranian institutions and debates,
States.18 Democracy in large societies must take the representative form, since millions
listen to presidential addresses for any
of citizens cannot meet in open assembly. Representative democracy is a system in slackening in ideological commitment.
which the people select others, called representatives, to act on their behalf. Is a system that is responsive, in theory,
to the many but run, in reality, by the few
likely to retain legitimacy over the long
The Benchmarks of Representative Democracy term? How might the people of Iran move
Democracy is rule by the many. What does this mean in a large society where repre- their system to one where the majority
rules rather than the few?
sentatives of the people make government policies? How can we know that the many
are in charge when they are not themselves making decisions in public assemblies,
direct democracy
as the ancient Athenians did? What features must exist in representative systems
A form of political decision making
to ensure that those who govern do so on behalf of and in the interest of the people? in which policies are decided by the
This involves more than the existence of elections.19 After all, autocratic states such as people themselves, rather than by their
Turkey, Egypt, and Russia hold elections. representatives, acting either in small
face-to-face assemblies or through the
Three additional benchmarks are necessary to clarify our understanding of repre- electoral process as in initiatives and
sentative democracy in large societies: popular sovereignty, political equality, and political referenda in the American states.
liberty, with the latter two being necessary for the first (that is to say, for popular sov-
representative democracy
ereignty to work, political equality and political liberty must exist). A society in which
Indirect democracy, in which the people
all three flourish, we argue, is a healthy representative democracy. A society in which rule through elected representatives;
any of the three is absent or impaired falls short of the representative democratic ideal. see liberal democracy.
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6 Chapter 1
DIRECT DEMOCRACY
In small towns throughout New
England, local policies and budgets
are decided at regular town meetings,
in which the entire town population is
invited to participate.
What are some advantages of town
meetings? What might be the drawbacks?
What other kinds of forums might there be
where direct democracy is possible?
popular sovereignty POPULAR SOVEREIGNTY Popular sovereignty means that people are the ultimate
The basic principle of democracy that source of government authority and that what the government does is determined by
the people are the ultimate source of
what the people want. If ultimate authority resides not in the hands of the many but
government authority and of the policies
that government leaders make. in the hands of the few (as in an aristocratic order) or of the one (whether a benevolent
sovereign or a ruthless dictator), democracy does not exist. Nor does it exist if gov-
ernment consistently fails to follow the preferences and to serve the interests of the
people. The following six conditions are especially important for popular sovereignty
to flourish.
Leaders Are Selected in Competitive Elections The existence of a close match

between what the people want and what government does, however, does not neces-
autocracy sarily prove that the people are sovereign. In an autocracy, for example, the will of the
General term that describes all forms of people can be shaped through coercion or propaganda to correspond to the wishes of
government characterized by rule by a the leadership. For influence to flow from the people to the leadership, some mech-
single person or by a group with total
power, whether a monarchy, a military anism must ensure responsiveness and accountability to the people. The best mech-
tyranny, or a theocracy. anism ever invented to achieve these goals is the contested election, in which both
existing and aspiring government leaders periodically face the people for judgment.
Elections in which voters choose among competing candidates and political parties is
one of the hallmarks of democratic political systems.
Elections Are Free and Fair If elections are to be useful as a way to keep govern-
ment leaders responsive and responsible, they must be conducted in a fashion that is
free and fair. By free, we mean there is no coercion of voters or election officials and
no serious barriers that prevent people from running for office and voting. By fair,
we mean, among other things, that election rules do not favor some parties and can-
didates over others, that ballots are accurately counted, and that there is no outside
interference by other countries.
People Participate in the Political Process A process is useful in conveying the will
of the people and in keeping leaders responsive and responsible only if the people par-
ticipate. If elections and other forms of political participation attract only a minority of
the eligible population, they cannot serve as a way to understand what the broad pub-
lic wants or as an instrument forcing leaders to pay attention to what the people want.
Widespread participation in politics—including voting in elections, contacting public
officials, working with others to bring matters to public attention, joining associations
that work to shape government actions, and more—is necessary to ensure not only
that responsive representatives will be chosen, but that they will also have continuous
incentives to pay attention to the people. Because widespread participation is so cen-
tral to popular sovereignty, we can say that the less political participation there is in a
society, the weaker the democracy.
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High-Quality Information Is Available If people are to form

authentic and rational attitudes about public policies and
political leaders, they must have access to accurate political
information, insightful interpretations, and vigorous debate.
These are the responsibility of government officials, opposi-
tion parties, opinion leaders, and the news media. If false or
biased information is provided, if policies are not challenged
and debated, or if misleading interpretations of the political
world (or none at all) are offered, the people cannot form
opinions in accordance with their values and interests, and
popular sovereignty cannot be said to exist.
The Majority Rules How can the opinions and preferences

of many individual citizens be combined into a single bind-
ing decision? Because unanimity is unlikely—so the insis-
tence that new policies should require unanimous agreement
for them to be adopted would simply enshrine the status
quo—reaching a decision requires a decision rule of some
sort. If the actions of government are to respond to all citi-
zens, and each citizen is counted equally, the only decision
rule that makes sense is majority rule, which means that the
government adopts the policy that the most people want. 20
The only alternative to majority rule is minority rule, which would unacceptably VOTING IN A DANGEROUS PLACE
elevate the preferences and the interests of the few over the many. In a burqa that completely covers
her, a woman shows, by her inked
Government Policies Reflect the Wishes of the People The most obvious sign of finger, that she had cast a ballot in
popular sovereignty is the existence of a close correspondence between what govern- the April 2014 presidential election in
Afghanistan. Voter turnout was very
ment does and what the people want it to do. It is hard to imagine a situation in which
high—more than 60 percent of eligible
the people rule but government officials continuously make policies contrary to the voters went to the polls—an outcome
expressed wishes of the majority of the people; sovereign people would most likely that surprised many observers because
react by removing such officials from power. of Taliban threats to bomb polling places.
Is voting, clearly important to people in
But does the democratic ideal require that government officials always do exactly
Afghanistan and in other troubled spots
what the people want, right away, responding to every whim and passing fancy of the around the globe, a sufficient condition
public? This question has troubled many democratic theorists, and most have answered for democracy, or must other conditions
that democracy is best served when representatives and other public officials respond exist to ensure that political leaders act as
to the people after the people have had the opportunity to deliberate among themselves representatives of the people?
about the issues.21 We might, then, want to speak of democracy as a system in which
government policies conform to what the people want over some period of time.
POLITICAL EQUALITY The second benchmark of representative democracy and a majority rule
necessary condition for popular sovereignty to exist is political equality, the idea that The form of political decision making in
each person, having an intrinsic value that is equal to that of other human beings, car- which policies are decided on the basis
of what a majority of the people want.
ries the same weight in voting and other political decision making.22 Imagine, if you
will, a society in which one person could cast a hundred votes in an election, another political equality
person fifty votes, and still another twenty-five votes, while many unlucky folks had The principle that each person carries
only one vote each—or none at all. Democracy is a way of making decisions in which equal weight in the conduct of the
public business.
each person has one, and only one, voice.
Most people know this intuitively. Our sense of what is fair is offended, for instance, 1965 Voting Rights Act
when some class of people is denied the right to vote in a society that boasts the outer A law that banned racial discrimination
in voting across the United States; it
trappings of democracy. The denial of citizenship rights to African Americans in the
gave the federal government broad
South before the passage of the 1965 Voting Rights Act is such an example. We count it powers to register voters in a set of
as a victory for democracy when previously excluded groups win the right to vote. states, mostly in the South, that had
Political equality also involves what the Fourteenth Amendment to the long practiced election discrimination,
and required that such states pre-clear
Constitution calls “equal protection,” meaning that everyone in a democracy is treated any changes in its election laws with the
the same by government. Government programs, for example, cannot favor one group Department of Justice.
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8 Chapter 1
WORTH THE WAIT

In the top photo, African Americans
wait outside a polling station at a rural
grocery store in Alabama in order
to vote in the 1966 national election,
something that was only possible
because of the passage of the 1965
Voting Rights Act that invalidated
many practices by state governments
designed to keep African Americans
from voting. About 50 years later, Afri-
can Americans voters helped to elect
the first black U.S. president, Barack
Obama. In the bottom photo, voters
line up early to participate in the 2016
general elections in Raleigh, NC.
Are voting rights for African Americans
in any danger today? If so, what role
should the federal government take in
ensuring that voting rights are protected?
over another or deny benefits or protections to identifiable groups in the population,

such as racial and religious minorities. Nor should people be treated better or worse
than others by law enforcement agencies and the courts. Taken together, political
civil rights equality and equal treatment are sometimes called civil rights.
Guarantees of equal treatment by But does political equality require that people be equal in ways that go beyond
government officials regarding political
having a voice in decision making and treatment by government? In particular, does
rights, the judicial system, and public
programs. democracy require that inequalities in the distribution of income and wealth not be
too extreme? While many do not think this is the case, thinkers as diverse as Aristotle,
Rousseau, and Jefferson thought so, believing that great inequalities in economic cir-
cumstances almost always translate into political inequality.23 Political scientist Robert
Dahl describes the problem in the following way:
If citizens are unequal in economic resources, so are they likely to be unequal
in political resources; and political equality will be impossible to achieve. In the
extreme case, a minority of rich will possess so much greater political resources
than other citizens that they will control the state, dominate the majority of
citizens, and empty the democratic process of all content.24
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POLITICAL EQUALITY UNDER

THE FLAG
Although Americans enjoy formal
political equality, some Americans,
clearly, are more equal than others in
their ability to mobilize resources that
enable the exercise of real political
influence. A homeless person sleeping
on a park bench in Brooklyn, New
York, though probably eligible to vote,
is less likely than better off Americans
to register, cast a ballot, circulate a
petition, make a campaign contribu-
tion, or petition members of Congress
or the administration.
What, if anything, can be done to ensure
that policy makers hear from more than
a limited number of better-educated and
more affluent Americans?
Later chapters will show that income and wealth are distributed in a highly
unequal way in the United States, that the scale of this inequality has become dra-
matically more pronounced over the past four decades, and that this inequality more
often than not translates into great inequalities among people and groups in the polit-
ical arena. For example, powerful groups representing the most privileged sectors of
American society shape elections and legislation more than other Americans do.25 In
such circumstances, the political equality benchmark is in danger of being violated.
POLITICAL LIBERTY A third benchmark of democracy in representative systems,

and a necessary condition for popular sovereignty to exist, is political liberty. Political political liberty
liberty refers to basic freedoms essential to the formation and expression of majority The principle that citizens in a democ-
racy are protected from government
opinion and its translation into public policies. These essential liberties include the
interference in the exercise of a range of
freedoms of speech, of conscience and religion, of the press, and of assembly and basic freedoms such as the freedoms
association embodied in the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, for example. of speech, association, and conscience.
Philosopher John Locke thought that individual rights and liberties were so funda-
mental to the good society that their preservation was the central responsibility of any
legitimate government and that their protection was the very reason people agreed to
enter into a social contract to form government in the first place. social contract
Without these First Amendment freedoms, as well as those freedoms involving The idea that government is the result
of an agreement among people to form
protections against arbitrary arrest and imprisonment, the other fundamental princi-
one, and that people have the right to
ples of democracy could not exist. Popular sovereignty cannot be guaranteed if people create an entirely new government if the
are prevented from participating in politics or if authorities crush any opposition terms of the contract have been violated
to the government. Popular sovereignty cannot prevail if the voice of the people is by the existing one.
silenced and if citizens are not free to argue and debate, based on their own ideas, val-
ues, and personal beliefs, and to form and express their political opinions.26 Political
equality is violated if some people can speak out but others cannot. Voting without
liberty can lead to elected autocrats such as Vladimir Putin in Russia and Abdel Fattah
el-Sisi in Egypt, an outcome that is clearly undemocratic because, among other things,
opposition voices have been silenced.
For most people today, democracy and liberty are inseparable. The concept of
self-government implies not only the right to vote and to run for public office, but also
the right to speak one’s mind, to petition the government, and to join with others in
political parties, interest groups, or social movements.
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10 Chapter 1
Over the years, a number of political philosophers and practitioners have viewed
liberty as threatened by democracy rather than as essential to it. It is our position that
self-government and political liberty are inseparable, in the sense that the former is
impossible without the latter.27 It follows that a majority cannot deprive an individual
or a minority group of its political liberty without violating democracy itself.
liberal democracy
Representative democracy Objections to Representative Democracy
characterized by popular sovereignty,
liberty, and political equality; see
What we have been describing—a system of representative government characterized
representative democracy. by popular sovereignty, political equality, and liberty—commonly is called liberal
democracy. Not everyone is convinced that liberal democracy is the best form of gov-
majority tyranny
ernment. What are the main criticisms that have been leveled against representative,
Suppression of the rights and liberties
of a minority by the majority. or liberal, democracy as we have defined it?
THE THREAT OF “MAJORITY TYRANNY” James Madison and the other F ounders
FEAR CAN UNDERMINE
DEMOCRACY of the American republic feared that majority rule was bound to undermine free-
Political hysteria has periodically dom and threaten the rights of the individual. They created a constitutional system
blemished the record of American designed to protect certain liberties against the unwelcome intrusions of the major-
democracy. Fear of communism, cap- ity. The fears of the Founders were not without basis. What they called the “popular
tured in this editorial cartoon, was
widespread in the United States for
passions” have sometimes stifled the freedoms of groups and individuals who have
much of the 20th century and led to dared to be different. In the 1950s, for example, many people in the movie industry
the suppression of anti-establishment lost their jobs because of anticommunist hysteria whipped up by Senator Joseph
political groups by federal and state McCarthy and others.28 For a time after the 9/11 attacks on the United States, and after
authorities who were acting, in their
the attack in San Bernardino, California in 2015, Muslims became targets of popular
view, in the name of a majority of
Americans. hostility. Mexican American immigrants are routinely derided for taking jobs from
Why was such hysteria able to take hold others, especially in periods of high unemployment or when popular political leaders
in the United States? Can such political label them criminals.
hysteria happen again?
Although there have been instances in our history of majority tyranny,
when, as in the South after Reconstruction, the majority has violated the
citizenship rights of a minority, there is no evidence that the many con-
sistently threaten liberty more than the few or the one. To put it another
way, the majority does not seem to be a special or unique threat to liberty.
Violations against freedom seem as likely to come from powerful individ-
uals, powerful groups, or government officials responding to vocal and
narrow interests as from the majority of the people.
Liberty is essential to self-government, and all who value democracy
must guard against threats to liberty, whatever their origin. But we firmly
reject the view that majority rule inevitably or uniquely threatens liberty.
Majority rule is unthinkable, in fact, without the existence of basic politi-
cal liberties.29
T H E T H R E AT O F T H E P E O P L E ’ S I R R AT I O N A L I T Y A N D
INCOMPETENCE Political scientists have spent decades studying the
attitudes and behaviors of U.S. citizens, and some of the findings are
not encouraging. For the most part, the evidence shows that individual
Americans do not care a great deal about politics and are rather poorly
informed, unstable in their views, and not much interested in participat-
ing in the political process.30 These findings have led some observers to
assert that citizens are not well equipped for the responsibility of self-
governance and that public opinion (the will of the majority) should not
be the ultimate determinant of what government does.
Is the American public uninformed, unsophisticated, and unstable
in its views? This is a serious charge that is addressed in various places
throughout this book. We suggest that much of the evidence about individ-
ual opinions often has been misinterpreted and that the American public,
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taken in aggregate, is more informed, sophisticated, and stable in its views than it is
generally given credit for, though there remains considerable room for improvement.
THE THREAT OF MAJORITARIAN DEMOCRACY TO MINORITIES We have sug-

gested that, when rendering a decision in a democracy, the majority must prevail. In
most cases, the minority on the losing side of an issue need not worry unduly about its
well-being because many of its members are likely to be on the winning side in future
decisions about other matters. Thus, people on the losing side of one issue, such as
welfare reform, may be part of the majority and winning side on another issue, such
as how much to spend on education. In most policy decisions in a democracy, what
prevents majority tyranny over a minority is that the composition of the majority and
the minority is always shifting, depending on the issue.
However, what happens in cases that involve race, ethnicity, religion, or sexual
orientation, for example, where minority status is fixed? Many people worry about
the possibility that the majority would then pose a threat.31 The worry that unbridled
majority rule leaves no room for the claims of minorities has some historical founda-
tions because majorities have trampled on minority rights with alarming frequency.
Majorities long held, for example, that Native Americans and African Americans were
inferior and undeserving of full citizenship. Irish, Eastern European, Asian, and Latin
American immigrants to our shores, among others, have been subjected to long peri-
ods of intolerance, as have Catholics, Jews, and now Muslims. Gays and lesbians have
been violently victimized.
As Robert Dahl has convincingly argued, however, no evidence supports the
belief that the rights of minorities are better protected under alternative forms of
government, whether rule by the few (note the persecution of the Christian minority
in China by the Communist ruling party) or by the one (note the persecution of Shia
Muslims under the rule of Saddam Hussein in Iraq). Dahl affirms that, given its other
benefits, majority rule democracy is to be preferred.32
In any case, democracy, as we have defined it, requires the protection of crucial
minority rights. Recall that majority rule is only one of the defining conditions of
popular sovereignty and that popular sovereignty is only one of the three basic bench-
marks of democracy, the others being political equality and political liberty. The posi-
tion of minorities is protected in fully developed representative liberal democracies,
in our view, by the requirements of equal citizenship (the right to vote, to hold public
office, to be safe from violence, and to enjoy the equal protection of the law) and
access to the full range of civil liberties (speech, press, conscience, and association).
To the extent that a majority violates the citizenship rights and liberties of minorities,
society falls short of the democratic ideal.
* * * * *
So, how democratic are we? After reading this chapter, it should be easy to see how
and why the democratic ideal can be used as a measuring stick with which to evaluate
American politics. We have learned that the fundamental attributes of liberal repre-
sentative democracy are popular sovereignty, political equality, and political liberty.
Each suggests a set of questions that will be raised throughout this book to encourage
critical thinking about American political life.
About popular sovereignty, we should ask:
• Do citizens participate in politics?

• Can citizens be involved when they choose to be, and are political leaders responsive?
• Do institutions, such as political parties, elections, interest groups, and social
movements, effectively transmit what citizens want to political leaders?
• What is the quality of the public deliberation on the major public policy issues of
the day?
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12 Chapter 1
• Do the news media and political leaders provide accurate and complete information?
• Does government do what citizens want it to do?
• Does government effectively carry out the policies they have instituted in response
to what the people want?
About political equality, we should ask:
• Do some individuals and groups have persistent and substantial advantages over
other individuals and groups in the political process?
• Is the political game open to all equally?
• Do government decisions and policies benefit some individuals and groups more
than others?
About political liberty, we should ask:
• Are citizens’ rights and liberties universally available, protected, and used?
• Are people free to vote?
• Can people speak openly and form groups freely to petition their government?
• Do public authorities, private groups, or the members of the majority threaten
liberty or the rights of minorities?
These questions will help us assess where we are and where we are going as a
democracy. They will help us go past superficial evaluations based on the existence or
nonexistence of this institution or that institution—for example, an elected legislature—
and allow us to raise questions about the quality of democracy in the United States and
its prospects. Of popular sovereignty, political equality, and political liberty, none are
attainable, of course, in perfect form. They are, rather, ideals to which our nation can
aspire and standards against which we can measure everyday reality. Throughout this
book, we will revisit these questions about the quality of democracy in the United States.
* * * * *
Throughout Struggle for Democracy, we will regularly revisit these topics. And, as a
conclusion to each chapter, you will find a formal assessment for weighing how well
American government and politics measure up to the democratic ideal. Jump forward
to the “Using the Democracy Standard” section at the end of Chapter 2 for a preview.
HOW DO GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS WORK?

1.2 Construct an analytical framework for examining how government
and politics work.
In addition to helping you answer questions about the quality and development of
democracy in the United States, this text offers an analytical framework for examining
how American government and politics work.
Identifying the Factors That Influence Government and Politics

If we are to understand why things happen in government and politics—for example, the
passage of the 1965 Voting Rights Act—we must begin with what biologists call taxonomy:
placing things in their proper categories. Refer to the analytical framework in Figure 1.1.
We believe that each and every actor, institution, and process that influences what our
politics are like and what our national government does can be placed into four main
categories: (1) structure, (2) political linkage, (3) government, and (4) government action.
STRUCTURE Structural factors play key roles in determining what issues become
important in politics and government, how political power is distributed in the p
opulation,
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FIGURE 1.1 THE ANALYTICAL FRAMEWORK

Various actors, institutions, and processes interact to influence what government does. Structural factors—
the economy, society, the p olitical culture, the international system, and constitutional rules—play a
foundational role in shaping government actions. They may influence the g overnment directly, or, as
is more often the case, they may exercise influence through political linkage—public opinion, the news
media, interest groups, social movements, political parties, and elections. In a democratic society,
government institutions—the presidency, Congress, the Supreme Court, and the federal bureaucracy—
should reflect these influences both in the policies they create and in the actions they take.
Action What government does.

Laws • Policies • Executive Orders • Treaties • Court Rulings
Government
The set of institutions and actors responsible for making, carrying out, and
interpreting laws.
Congress • President • Executive Branch • Courts
Political Linkage
The connections between structure and government that organize and
transmit the demands of the people.
Public Opinion • Parties • Interest Groups • Voting • Elections • Movements
• Media
© Edward S. Greenberg
Structure
Features of American life that help determine what issues are important,
who has power, and what the rules are.
Constitution • Federalism • Economy • Demographics • Culture • World
and what attitudes and beliefs guide the behavior of citizens and public officials. This cat-
egory includes the economy and society, the constitutional rules, the political culture, and
the international system. These are the most fundamental and enduring factors that influ-
ence government and politics. They form the foundation on which all else is built. They
are the most enduring parts of the American system, and the slowest to change.33
POLITICAL LINKAGE Political linkage factors transmit the wants and demands
of people and groups in our society to government officials and together help shape
what government officials do and what policies they adopt. These include public
opinion, political parties, interest groups, the news media, and elections. While not a
formal part of government, they directly influence what sorts of people are chosen to
be government officials and what these officials do once they are in office.
GOVERNMENT Government factors include all public officials and institutions that
have formal, legal responsibilities for making public policy for the United States. These
include Congress, the president and the executive branch, the federal b ureaucracy,
and the federal courts, including the Supreme Court.
GOVERNMENT ACTION This is about what government does. This category

includes the wide range of actions carried out by government: making laws, issuing
rules and regulations, waging war and providing national defense, settling civil
disputes, providing order, and more.
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14 Chapter 1
Connecting the Factors That Influence Government

and Politics: An Application
To understand how government and politics work in the United States, we must
appreciate the fact that the structural, political linkage, and governmental categories
interact with one another in a particular kind of way to determine what actions
government takes. One way to see this is to look at these categories in action, using
the passage of the 1965 Voting Rights Act as an example (see Figure 1.2). The V oting
Rights Act, which transformed the politics of the South, offered federal protection
for African Americans who wished to vote and run for public office. Connecting and
considering together the main factors of political life—structure, political linkage, and
government—can help explain why government takes certain actions.
A conventional analysis of the passage of the 1965 Voting Rights Act might look
solely at government, focusing attention on Congress and its members, on President
Lyndon Johnson (who was the most vigorous proponent of the legislation) and his
advisers, and on the Supreme Court, which was becoming increasingly supportive of
civil rights claims in the mid-1960s. Knowing these things, however, would not tell us
all that we need to know. To understand why Congress, the president, and the Court
acted as they did in 1965, we would want to pay attention to the pressures brought to
bear on them by political linkage actors and institutions: public opinion (increasingly
supportive of civil rights), the growing electoral power of African Americans in states
outside the South, and most important, the moral power of the civil rights movement
inspired by people like Robert Moses and Martin Luther King Jr.
Even knowing these things, however, would not tell us all. Our inquiry into the
1965 Voting Rights Act would have to go deeper to include structural factors: economic,
FIGURE 1.2 APPLYING THE FRAMEWORK: PASSAGE OF THE 1965 VOTING RIGHTS ACT
Action Domestic Policy: 1965 Voting Rights Act
Government • Courts: The Supreme Court steadily expanded the reach of the “equal protection” clause
of the Constitution’s 14th Amendment.
• President: President Johnson pushed hard for federal protection of African American
voting rights.
• Congress: The pro-civil rights majority in Congress was responsive to voting rights
issues.
Political Linkage • Movements: Dramatic civil rights demonstrations highlighted the denial of the vote to
African Americans in the South.
• Public Opinion and Interest Groups: The public, the media, and interest groups grew
more supportive of the civil rights movement and its goals.
• Elections: The votes of African Americans proved decisive in the most populous and
electoral vote-rich states in the 1960 and 1964 elections.
© Edward S. Greenberg
• Economy: Industrialization in the 20th century spurred the Great Migration of African Americans
Structure from the South to growing cities in the North.
• Economy and Demographics: African Americans outside the South improved their political,
social, and economic standing during the ﬁrst half of the 20th century.
• World: Cold War rivalry with the Soviet Union is waged mostly in countries with black and
brown populations; segregation in U.S. weakens America’s appeal.
• World: Fighting racist Nazi Germany in World War II creates pressure to integrate U.S. Armed Forces.
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cultural, and social change; constitutional rules; and the international position of the
United States. For example, economic changes in the nation over the course of many
decades had triggered a “great migration” of African Americans from the rural South
to the urban North. Over the long run, this population shift to states with large blocs
of Electoral College votes, critical to the election of presidents, increased the political
power of African Americans. Cultural change increased the number of Americans
bothered by the second-class citizenship of African Americans, even as combat service
in World War II and the Korean War led many black Americans to insist on full citi-
zenship rights. Finally, the Cold War struggle of the United States against the Soviet
Union played an important role. Many American leaders, recognizing the contradic-
tion between asking for the support of people of color in Third World countries in the
struggle against communism while treating African Americans in the United States as
second-class citizens, sought an end to the system of official segregation in the South
(known as Jim Crow).34 Jim Crow
We see, then, that a full explanation of why the 1965 Voting Rights Act happened Popular term for the system of legally
(government action) requires that we take into account how governmental, political linkage, sanctioned racial segregation that
existed in the American South from the
and structural factors interacted with one another to bring about significant change in end of the 19th century until the middle
American politics. Modeling complex government actions can be a c hallenging task, but of the 20th century.
application of an analytical framework can help. The framework developed for Struggle
for Democracy (see Figure 1.1) is just such a tool.
Understanding Government and Politics Holistically

This way of looking at things—that what government does can only be u nderstood
by considering structural, political linkage, and governmental factors—will be used
throughout this book and will help bring order to the information presented. We
will suggest that action by public officials is the product not simply of their per-
sonal desires (although these are important), but also of the influences and pressures
brought to bear by other governmental institutions and by individuals, groups, and
classes at work in the political linkage sphere. Political linkage institutions and pro-
cesses, in turn, can often be understood only when we see how they are shaped by the
larger structural context, including such things as the national and global economies
and the political culture.
Keep in mind that, as in all complex systems, influence sometimes flows in the
opposite direction, from government to political linkage actors and institutions to
structural factors. For example, federal tax laws influence the distribution of income
and wealth in society, government regulations affect the operations of corporations,
and decisions by the courts may determine what interest groups and political parties
are able to do. We will want to pay attention, then, to these sorts of influences in our
effort to understand how the American political system works.
Keep in mind as well that government actions do not necessarily hold for all time.
Even laws can change, whether by passage of new laws or reinterpretation of existing
ones. For example, after the Supreme Court in 2013 overturned an important section
of the Voting Rights Act, a number of states controlled by Republicans quickly passed
laws that shortened the period for early voting and required IDs for access to the ballot
in the name of stopping voter fraud. Critics pointed out that these statutes would lower
turnout among the poor, racial and ethnic minorities, and younger voters, all of whom
tend to vote for Democrats. The courts in 2016 sided with the critics of these restrictive
laws in a series of decisions in the Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh Circuit Courts of Appeal.
Do not worry about remembering exactly which actors and influences belong to
which category in our model; the book’s chapters are organized into sections cor-
responding to the categories. Do not worry, either, about exactly how the people and
institutions in different categories interact with one another. This will become clear as
you become more familiar with the American political process.
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CHAPTER 1
REVIEW THE CHAPTER
WHAT IS DEMOCRACY? Because democracy holds a very special place in

Americans’ constellation of values and is particularly rele-
1.1 Explain democracy as the standard by which American vant to judging political processes, it is the standard used
government and politics can be evaluated.
throughout this text to evaluate the quality of our politics
Democracy is a system of rule by the people, rooted in and government.
three fundamental principles: popular sovereignty (mean-
ing that the people ultimately rule), political equality HOW DO GOVERNMENT AND
(meaning that each person has an equal say in determin- POLITICS WORK?
ing what government does), and political liberty (meaning
that the people are protected from government interfer- 1.2 Construct an analytical framework for examining how
government and politics work.
ence in exercising their rights).
Ensuring that all three aspects of democracy are The organizing framework presented in this chap-
available and practiced has played an important role in ter visualizes the world of American politics as a set of
American history and remains an important theme in our interrelated actors and inf luences—institutions, groups,
country—as well as many other parts of the world—today. and individuals—that operate in three interconnected
The United States is a liberal representative democ- realms: the structural, political linkage, and governmental
racy—meaning that the people do not rule directly but sectors. This way of looking at American political life as
through elected representatives and have broad civil and an ordered, interconnected whole will be used throughout
political rights, but the majority does not always get its way. the remainder of the book.
LEARN THE TERMS
1965 Voting Rights Act A law that banned racial discrim- liberal democracy Representative democracy character-
ination in voting across the United States; it gave the federal ized by popular sovereignty, liberty, and political equality.
government broad powers to register voters in a set of states, majority rule The form of political decision making in
mostly in the South, that had long practiced election discrimi- which policies are decided on the basis of what a majority of
nation, and required that such states pre-clear any changes in the people want.
its election laws with the Department of Justice. majority tyranny Suppression of the rights and liberties of
anarchist One who believes that people are natural cooper- a minority by the majority.
ators capable of creating free and decent societies without the monarchy Rule by the one, such as where power rests in the
need for government. hands of a king or queen.
autocracy General term that describes all forms of govern- oligarchy Rule by the few, where a minority holds power
ment characterized by rule by a single person or by a group over a majority, as in an aristocracy or a clerical establishment.
with total power, whether a monarchy, a military tyranny, or political equality The principle that each person carries
a theocracy. equal weight in the conduct of the public business.
civil rights Guarantees of equal treatment by government political liberty The principle that citizens in a democracy
officials regarding political rights, the judicial system, and are protected from government interference in the exercise
public programs. of a range of basic freedoms such as the freedoms of speech,
democracy A system of government in which the people rule; association, and conscience.
rule by the many as opposed to rule by one, or rule by the few. popular sovereignty The basic principle of democracy that
direct democracy A form of political decision making in the people are the ultimate source of government authority
which policies are decided by the people themselves, rather and of the policies that government leaders make.
than by their representatives, acting either in small face-to- representative democracy Indirect democracy, in which the
face assemblies or through the electoral process as in initia- people rule through elected representatives; see liberal democracy.
tives and referenda in the American states. social contract The idea that government is the result of an
Jim Crow Popular term for the system of legally sanctioned agreement among people to form one, and that people have
racial segregation that existed in the American South from the the right to create an entirely new government if the terms of
end of the 19th century until the middle of the 20th century. the contract have been violated by the existing one.
16
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l’ont raillé et battu ; il s’est isolé de ses parents, de ses camarades ; il
a vécu tout seul, pendant des années, avec les animaux et les
arbres… Il devient tirailleur et voilà qu’au lieu de prendre en pitié sa
simplicité d’esprit, les uns le tournent en dérision, d’autres l’injurient
et d’autres le frappent ; et c’est ainsi qu’au lieu de s’éveiller de sa
longue enfance il reste dans ses ténèbres, et c’est ainsi qu’on le croit
fou… Il n’est pas fou : il ne sait pas vivre. De nos paroles, de nos
gestes, de notre vie, il ne sait rien ; chaque fois qu’il a fait effort pour
sortir de son trou sombre, il s’est trouvé quelqu’un pour l’y rejeter
d’un mot cruel ou d’un coup de pied… Je lui enseignerai la vie : il
saura qu’un homme en vaut un autre ; il répondra aux injures par les
injures, aux coups de poing par les coups de poing. Il connaîtra,
quelque jour, que la valeur des gens se mesure à l’opinion qu’ils ont
d’eux-mêmes ; il verra que l’abîme qui sépare de lui le reste de
l’humanité n’est qu’un ruisseau ; une fois apprise la douzaine de
grimaces indispensables à notre existence quotidienne, il sera un
homme comme toi et moi. Quand il placera en trois temps son
mousqueton dans son bras droit, quand il articulera nettement, en
bon français, son numéro matricule et le nom de son village, quand il
distribuera des œillades aux filles et des gifles aux mauvais
plaisants, qui donc s’avisera encore de juger qu’il est fou ?… Mon
vieux Cang, ma vieille mère Thi-Baÿ, je vous prie de ne parler de ma
démarche à personne, pas même à Maÿ. Dans quelques mois, je la
renouvellerai, lorsque j’aurai fait de Hiên un homme raisonnable…
Donnez-moi encore une tasse de thé !
L’Aïeul s’en alla. Les pensionnaires de Thi-Baÿ avaient reconnu
sa voix et, résignés à l’attente, s’étaient assis contre la barrière du
jardin ; et plus d’un jetait de temps à autre un regard navré vers le
fourneau éteint où refroidissaient les sauces succulentes. Au départ
du lieutenant, ils se dressèrent sur leurs talons et le saluèrent,
ébahis de son air préoccupé.
Pourtant nul n’osa questionner le vieux sergent, dont les sourcils
restèrent fâcheusement froncés tant que dura le lamentable repas.
*
* *
— Alors, demanda Hiên pour la deuxième fois, dans quelques
mois je serai comme tout le monde ?
Il est agenouillé contre la chaise de rotin où l’Aïeul fume sa pipe
en considérant les flancs de la montagne ensanglantés par le soleil
couchant. Les perspectives enchanteresses que son lieutenant lui a
fait entrevoir ont consolé de son échec le prétendant repoussé ; il se
délecte à les contempler d’un œil ébloui et sa main étendue sur
l’accoudoir de la chaise néglige d’agiter l’éventail japonais.
— Tu seras comme tout le monde, ni plus ni moins fou. Tu n’as
qu’à regarder vivre les autres hommes, à les écouter vivre et tu
seras pareil à eux. Et qui sait ? Peut-être Maÿ elle-même viendra-t-
elle te prendre par la main ! Tu auras appris à dire les mots
convenables, à faire les gestes convenables ; le tout est de parler et
de gesticuler au moment convenable ; jamais femme ne résista au
gaillard avisé qui sut choisir son heure.
Hiên écoute, bouche bée ; un univers s’ouvre devant lui.
L’incendie du soleil couchant a gagné le ciel tout entier ; les lentilles
de verre du Phare flamboient ; les crêtes empanachées de bambou
semblent tracées à l’encre de Chine sur un écran de pourpre.
Cependant, malgré le ciel embrasé, malgré la brise chargée
d’odeurs qui fait frissonner les citronniers, malgré les notes égrenées
par les gongs des pagodes invisibles, l’Aïeul est mécontent. Il
regrette sa promesse : il voudrait que le pauvre Hiên ne sortît jamais
de son heureuse inconscience, qu’il continuât à passer, paisible et
ignorant, au milieu des ignominies et des haines inaperçues, qu’il
n’apprît point à vivre…
Mais déjà il n’est plus temps : Hiên le Maboul vivra. Il vivra et il
souffrira ; ses illusions crèveront l’une après l’autre comme des
bulles de savon. Il vivra enfin « comme tout le monde ».
VII
Fatigué de marcher de long en large devant la maisonnette en

ruine dont on lui avait confié la garde, Hiên le Maboul s’arrêta,
appuya délicatement la crosse de son mousqueton dans la
poussière et joignit les mains sur la croisière de la courte baïonnette
plate. Tout autour de lui, une quarantaine de tirailleurs, agenouillés
ou étendus derrière une levée de terre, guettaient à travers les trous
de la haie la venue de leurs camarades qui figuraient l’ennemi.
Dans la rizière jaune quadrillée de talus verts, des buffles
pataugeaient et leurs cornes noires, rejetées vers le garrot,
émergeaient seules de la vase.
Au-dessus de la dune emplumée d’aréquiers, le soleil se levait,
globe écarlate encore enveloppé de brume matinale, et tout était
doré, les palmes retombantes, les fûts rigides et lisses des
aréquiers, les colonnes penchées et rugueuses des cocotiers, les
joncs et les roseaux des talus, les crabiers tournoyant lourdement
sur les mares vides, les merles-mandarins juchés sur les dos gris
des buffles, les mousquetons des tirailleurs.
Seule la forêt qui fermait l’horizon était encore noyée d’ombre
violette et silencieuse, car aux cigales et aux perruches il faut, pour
leurs concerts étourdissants, la pleine lumière et la pleine chaleur de
l’après-midi. La route de Baria déroulait le long de la rizière son
ruban rouge bordé de manguiers glauques. Dans le feuillage déteint
des niao-li se détachaient les croix noires du cimetière ; plus près, la
maison de l’Aïeul élevait au-dessus des cactus ses vérandas roses.
Hiên replaça le mousqueton sur son épaule et recommença sa
promenade, glorieux de sa mission spéciale et ne soupçonnant point
que le lieutenant avait simplement voulu le soustraire à l’émotion des
coups de feu qui allaient éclater tout à l’heure.
Un mois a passé depuis que Hiên le Maboul a fait pour obtenir la
main de Maÿ une tentative malheureuse. Depuis un mois, il apprend
à vivre. Sous l’œil bienveillant de l’Aïeul, qui le protège contre les
violences et les sarcasmes, il a pris peu à peu confiance en lui-
même et essaie de se persuader qu’il n’est point si différent d’autrui
qu’il avait pu le croire.
Des instructeurs patients ont insinué peu à peu dans ses
articulations raides et rouillées, dans son cerveau engourdi,
quelques secrets de « l’École du Soldat » et des bribes de théories.
Sans doute, sa science nouvelle est bien fragile et le moindre heurt
la ferait s’écrouler comme un château de cartes ; mais l’Aïeul est là
qui veille, et nul n’osera toucher à son œuvre.
Pietro n’est plus à redouter : cinq semaines d’amabilité forcée et
de bienveillance imposée l’ont persuadé de sa déchéance ; à
présent, promenant parmi ses anciens esclaves son sourire amer, il
se convainc aisément qu’ils n’ont pas cessé de le détester et de le
fuir, mais qu’ils ne le craignent plus. Tout en opérant cette
constatation douloureuse, il multiplie les courbettes et fait le gros
dos.
Délivré de la terreur qui le paralysait, Hiên suit et retient avec une
facilité surprenante les leçons de ses professeurs. Chaque soir, il
complète les enseignements de la journée en causant avec l’Aïeul à
deux galons. Il l’évente, lui offre la tasse de thé ou la pipe, lui roule
des cigarettes et l’écoute parler ; il grave dans sa mémoire chacune
des paroles entendues, et chaque mot lui fait entrevoir des horizons
dont il s’ébahit : il découvre la vie.
En même temps, son amour pour Maÿ a crû ; l’Aïeul n’a rien
voulu tenter pour l’en guérir et se contente de hausser les épaules
avec pitié. Amour tout platonique, juge-t-il, et dont le meilleur remède
sera la possession physique et habituelle de l’idole. En attendant de
connaître que Maÿ ne pourra lui donner ni plus ni moins que
n’importe quelle autre femme, Hiên continue de la placer sur un
piédestal et d’avoir pour elle la vénération idiote que témoignent les
nègres du Congo aux fétiches ridicules qu’ils ont taillés dans les
poteaux de leurs cases. Cette petite fille aux yeux froids, aux lèvres
rouges et dédaigneuses, le fascine et le méduse. A ses côtés, il perd
l’audace que lui ont suggérée les discours de l’Aïeul et, comme aux
premières heures, il se sent « maboul ». Il la devine sournoise et
hostile, prête à mordre ou, ce qui le paralyse plus sûrement encore,
prête à se moquer. Il faudra bien pourtant, quelque jour, lui confier
son pauvre amour. A cette pensée, Hiên le Maboul sent la sueur
inonder son front, qu’il essuie avec sa manche.
Les vapeurs qui flottaient en traînées opaques autour de la lisière

obscure s’évanouirent, balayées par le soleil éblouissant. Des
cimiers de cuivre, des plaques de ceinturons, des baïonnettes
étincelèrent entre les taillis ; une patrouille montra ses quatre
salaccos laqués au-dessus du fossé de la route et disparut aux
premiers coups de fusil tirés de la maisonnette en ruine.
Hiên le Maboul s’immobilisa, les doigts crispés sur la crosse du
mousqueton : qu’allait-il arriver ? Pourquoi la section du sergent
Cang fusillait-elle les camarades des trois autres sections ?… Oui,
pourquoi ?… Pourquoi surtout l’Aïeul omit-il de révéler au pauvre
Maboul les mystères du service en campagne à double action et des
cartouches à blanc ?
Rasés contre le talus, les quatre salaccos reprenaient leur course
le long de la route ; une autre patrouille filait entre les buissons de la
dune, effarouchant les crabiers criards et faisant fuir dans le feuillage
léger des bambous un vol de tourterelles et de pigeons verts. La
lisière du bois se hérissait de mousquetons brillant entre les herbes
et crachant de minuscules fumées blanches ; toute la rizière
s’emplissait du bruit de la fusillade crépitante. De petits groupes
surgirent des taillis, les jugulaires rouges volant sur les vestons kaki,
et se blottirent derrière les lignes de roseaux. D’autres les suivirent ;
d’autres encore, et les petites fumées devinrent plus distinctes ;
d’abri en abri, elles avancèrent ainsi par bonds, avec un tumulte
grandissant de détonations, de commandements et de cliquetis de
culasses.
Les coups de fusil cessèrent soudain ; les baïonnettes jaillirent
des fourreaux ; la ligne entière se dressa derrière les talus depuis la
dune jusqu’à la route et se jeta vers la haie, au chant précipité des
clairons, avec des rugissements de vague déferlant sur la grève.
Devant elle les croupes grises et pelées des buffles fuyaient au
hasard.
Une minute après, vainqueurs et vaincus, suants, boueux,
s’alignaient sagement sous l’œil de leurs gradés. On fit l’appel, il
manquait un homme. Pietro compta les files, les recompta : il
manquait un homme… Pietro alla porter la nouvelle grave à l’Aïeul :
Hiên avait disparu… De grands éclats de rire interrompirent son
discours : un caporal ramenait le fugitif couvert de toiles d’araignées.
Piteux, le piètre soldat expliqua que, lors de la charge, la fusillade et
les hurlements l’avaient épouvanté au point de lui faire perdre la
tête : soupçonnant que ces gaillards qui accouraient, la face terrible
et la baïonnette haute, nourrissaient à son égard les projets les plus
noirs, il s’était réfugié dans la chambre abandonnée, et c’est là qu’on
l’avait trouvé, tapi au milieu des plâtras et des nids de termites, les
deux mains sur les oreilles.
— Pourquoi as-tu quitté le poste que je t’avais confié ? interrogea
l’Aïeul.
— J’avais peur, Aïeul, j’avais peur… Je ne savais pas que l’on se
battait pour rire. Personne ne me l’avait dit.
C’était vrai, en somme : on avait oublié de renseigner Hiên, et
l’Aïeul reconnut, à part lui, que tous les torts étaient de son côté.
La compagnie défila derrière les clairons, qui chantaient à pleins
poumons.
*
* *
A l’heure des cigarettes et des chiques de bétel, Phuc, le

guitariste, eut une inspiration regrettable : il entreprit le malheureux
Hiên sur l’événement du matin, et cela en présence de Maÿ.
— Connais-tu, demanda-t-il, certain redoutable guerrier qui lutte
à la manière des lièvres et se tapit dans son terrier lorsque vient
l’ennemi ?… Des gens, mal informés sans aucun doute, m’ont
affirmé qu’il se nommait comme toi Phâm-vân-Hiên : coïncidence
curieuse, hein ?… D’autres, et ceux-là mentaient à coup sûr, étaient
prêts à jurer qu’il avait avec toi une ressemblance prodigieuse :
même figure osseuse, mêmes yeux en boules, même bouche
baveuse…
Hiên le Maboul tourna la tête : Maÿ abaissait ses paupières
bombées et pinçait ses lèvres. Mais elle ne riait pas : elle n’avait pas
entendu, probablement.
— Tais-toi, souffla Hiên, tais-toi !
Et ses bons yeux éplorés suppliaient aussi le railleur de cesser le
jeu cruel. L’autre poursuivit, impitoyable :
— On dit encore que ce héros avait le même numéro matricule
que toi…
Et, s’emparant de la ceinture où, sur la toile rouge, s’étalaient les
chiffres noirs, il ajouta triomphalement :
— Et, ma foi, on n’a pas tort !… C’est donc toi, le guerrier
intrépide, le héros qui se tapit dans la poussière, le lièvre
valeureux ?
Cette fois, Maÿ entendit, et un rire méchant secoua sa poitrine
sous la tunique de soie, fit onduler sa gorge renversée, plissa
vilainement sa bouche ; ses yeux convulsés par la joie mauvaise
eurent un regard méprisant et ironique pour le martyr affaissé. Celui-
ci, un moment, éprouva l’envie lâche de rire, lui aussi… Hier, il l’eût
fait ; mais aujourd’hui les leçons de l’Aïeul lui ont façonné une
conscience et un honneur de civilisé…
Il se dressa, les poings fermés, les dents serrées, en face de
l’insulteur qui osait le bafouer devant son aimée :
— Tais-toi ! cria-t-il, ou je te casse la mâchoire !
— Oh ! oh ! le lièvre sort de son trou ! ricana Phuc.
Un effroyable coup de poing s’abattit sur le visage du joli
guitariste : les narines ensanglantées, les lèvres saignantes, il
s’écroula sur la terre battue et roula jusqu’à la route. Il se releva, fou
de colère, hurlant des injures d’une voix enrouée et tous deux
s’empoignèrent furieusement.
Ce fut une magnifique bataille. Phuc était petit, souple comme
une vipère, et la rage centuplait sa vigueur de gymnaste ; mais Hiên
avait la force effroyable d’un gorille, dont il avait aussi les longs
membres noueux et velus. Deux fois son adversaire, glissant et se
tordant, réussit à éviter l’étreinte terrible des larges mains, mais une
troisième tentative échoua lamentablement. Saisi par la nuque et par
le fond de son pantalon, il se sentit balancé une seconde, au-dessus
de la route poussiéreuse et fut jeté soudain par delà la levée de
pierres sèches dans le sable : il s’abîma dans l’écume et les algues,
avec un bruit sourd.
Les yeux froids de Maÿ s’éclairèrent de lueurs singulières. Elle
avait assisté à tout le combat avec une sorte de joie féroce ; tandis
qu’elle appuyait ses deux mains contre son cœur palpitant, elle
souhaitait obscurément que l’un des deux combattants fût tué devant
elle. Hiên le Maboul, brandissant à bras tendus le misérable Phuc,
lui parut superbe : une beauté farouche illuminait la figure maigre
aux pommettes saillantes ; les yeux agrandis par la fureur lançaient
des éclairs. Un instant Maÿ admira sincèrement Hiên le Maboul.
Mais Hiên rajustait son turban et ne remarqua rien ; eût-il compris,
d’ailleurs ?
VIII
Lorsque Hiên le Maboul, attrapant par le fond de sa culotte ce

mauvais plaisant de Phuc, l’envoya rouler par-dessus la levée de
pierres sèches, il était loin de se douter que son haut fait lui vaudrait
le bonheur. Il en est ainsi pourtant : les railleurs sont fixés désormais
sur la ligne de conduite à suivre, et si quelqu’un songeait encore à
décocher quelque quolibet à l’ancien souffre-douleur, la vue des
grosses mains dures et poilues et le souvenir du traitement qu’elles
infligèrent au loustic imprudent suffiraient à le détourner de son
projet. Les bourreaux de Hiên ont tous désarmé : Pietro, par crainte
de l’Aïeul, et les autres, par crainte des poings rocailleux.
Maÿ s’est humanisée. Non que son dédain pour l’amoureux
tremblant se soit atténué ; mais elle éprouve à son endroit cette
curiosité malsaine et irrésistible qui pousse beaucoup de femmes
vers la force brutale. Il n’est plus pour elle le timide Hiên, le gauche
et ridicule esclave qui balbutie des mots incohérents, le balourd aux
mains frissonnantes : elle ne voit plus en lui que le lutteur qui
précipita dans le sable de la plage le misérable Phuc, le glorieux
lutteur dont les muscles se gonflaient, dont le visage s’était
transfiguré dans l’ardeur du combat. Sa chair, qui a frémi pendant
que les deux hommes étaient aux prises, s’émeut encore à l’image
de la bataille et du vainqueur.
De cette émotion, Hiên le Maboul n’a rien deviné ; il sait
seulement que les regards de son idole ont parfois pour lui des
douceurs inespérées ; il sait que Maÿ s’efforce de le moins rudoyer,
et il se figure, incurable nigaud, qu’il a désarmé son hostilité à force
de soumission aveugle et d’humble dévouement.
L’Aïeul a bientôt surpris la flamme allumée dans les yeux de la
fillette ; il est fixé sur la nature toute matérielle du feu interne d’où
cette flamme a jailli et dès maintenant se croit assuré de la marche
future des événements. Quelque jour, un fossé prêtera son talus
complaisant à l’amoureux transi et à la poupée incandescente…
Hiên le Maboul confiera son secret à l’Aïeul, l’Aïeul narrera la chose
au vieux Cang et l’on mariera sans tarder les deux coupables…
N’est-ce point là ce que rêve Hiên, après tout ?… Et ils auront
beaucoup d’enfants et ils seront très heureux : conclusion toute
naturelle et morale d’un acte naturel et nullement immoral, dans ce
pays où fleurit le mariage libre, où la virginité ne constitue point pour
les jeunes filles une dot indispensable…
En attendant d’échanger avec Maÿ le bétel et la noix d’arec, Hiên
nage dans la béatitude : l’amour est entré dans sa vie et il découvre
que la vie est un paradis terrestre. Cependant il continue de
s’instruire, et, n’étant plus troublé par les brimades et les rebuffades,
il fait des progrès foudroyants.
*
* *
En dépit de ses progrès journaliers, l’exercice continuait à

représenter pour Hiên la tâche la plus ingrate qui pût lui être
imposée ; il continuait à préférer sans conteste aux mouvements
compliqués et multiples du maniement d’armes les efforts pénibles
mais familiers de la corvée.
Il était écrit que ce dernier tracas ne viendrait plus à la traverse
de sa félicité.
Un matin, en présence des quatre sections formées en carré, le
sergent-major proclama qu’après le réveil de la sieste la solde
mensuelle des tirailleurs leur serait payée par le capitaine selon
l’usage établi, et que, l’opération terminée, il leur serait fait part de
modifications très importantes au tableau de service.
A l’heure dite, la compagnie s’aligna dans l’allée de flamboyants,
tandis que se massait devant la porte du camp la foule des
créanciers, toujours avertie de cette cérémonie intéressante. Sous la
véranda de la grande case étaient disposées des tables drapées de
couvertures grises, sur lesquelles scintillaient les piles de sapèques,
de piastres, de sous neufs. Derrière les tables, trônait le capitaine
flanqué de ses comptables et de ses officiers.
Les tirailleurs regardaient l’Aïeul qui, sous ses moustaches
dorées, souriait au soleil épandu sur le camp, aux clochettes
pourpres des hibiscus, à la fumée bleue de son cigare, et les braves
petits bonshommes, accroupis sous les flamboyants, souriaient à la
pensée joyeuse de leur dieu. Content de l’ombre fraîche de la
véranda et l’âme illuminée de toute la lumière extérieure, il fumait
paisiblement et causait avec le capitaine et le sous-lieutenant, que
sa gaieté gagnait et qui riaient aussi.
La séance commença : un par un, les sergents, puis les
caporaux, puis les tirailleurs s’approchèrent des tables, empochèrent
leur mince tas de piastres, de piécettes, de sous et de sapèques. Ils
saluaient, faisaient demi-tour et s’en allaient jusqu’à la palissade, où
se payaient les dettes du mois. Le règlement de comptes n’allait pas
sans criailleries et sans querelles. Le tirailleur célibataire qui, entre
deux pauses d’exercice, avait englouti à crédit de succulentes
soupes au vermicelle ou grignoté de délicieux caramels aux
amandes avait une tendance déplorable à reprocher aux vendeuses
d’avoir allongé sa note et n’extrayait qu’à regret de sa poche les
écus si péniblement gagnés. Tout le long de la palissade
s’échangeaient des protestations larmoyantes et des injures.
Mais cela ne dura pas : le paiement de la solde touchait à sa fin ;
les rangs se reformèrent sous les flamboyants, et tout le monde fit
silence, dans l’attente des nouveautés promises.
L’Aïeul se leva, et, s’appuyant d’une main sur la table, annonça
que lui, lieutenant, prenait à dater de ce jour le commandement de la
compagnie, le capitaine ayant achevé ses deux ans de Cochinchine
et devant s’embarquer, avant la fin de la semaine, à Saïgon ; le
sous-lieutenant quittait également le Cap-Saint-Jacques et partait
pour Biên-Hoa, où l’on constituait de nouvelles unités. Ainsi l’Aïeul
se trouvait rester seul officier à la compagnie, mais il comptait sur la
bonne volonté de tous et sur leur dévouement pour ne point
succomber sous le fardeau pesant de ses multiples attributions.
Les figures ouvertes et réjouies des gradés européens, les larges
sourires des tirailleurs lui répondirent aussitôt. Sur son ordre, le petit
fourrier lut avec volubilité un considérable document auquel les
Français ne comprirent pas grand’chose, et les indigènes encore
moins. De la traduction hachée et filandreuse qu’en fit le sergent
Cang la lumière ne jaillit pas davantage.
L’Aïeul donna quelques éclaircissements : le gouvernement de
l’Indo-Chine, persuadé de l’importance stratégique du Cap-Saint-
Jacques, avait résolu de porter sa garnison de tirailleurs d’une
compagnie à un bataillon ; le camp destiné à loger tout ce renfort
serait construit dans le terrain vague dit de « la maison Lacourse »,
où se faisaient habituellement les exercices de service en
campagne. Les tirailleurs de la compagnie déjà présente au Cap
seraient chargés de cette construction. En conséquence, le
« tableau de service » était suspendu, l’exercice et les théories
supprimés, et tous les jours de la semaine, à l’exception du
dimanche, consacrés aux travaux.
Un murmure de joie courut dans les rangs et, sous l’œil navré de
l’adjudant Pietro, Hiên le Maboul frotta vigoureusement ses mains
l’une contre l’autre.
Déjà l’Aïeul répartissait la besogne et formait des groupes : les
bûcherons, qui couperaient dans la forêt les arbres les plus droits et
d’essence convenable ; les charpentiers, qui débiteraient ces troncs
en madriers et en chevrons ; les maçons, qui dalleraient le sol des
cases ; les manœuvres, qui piétineraient la boue et la paille de riz
pour en faire du torchis, garniraient de ce torchis le clayonnage des
murs et les plafonds, attacheraient les faisceaux de paille sur les
toits ; les terrassiers, enfin, recrutés parmi les gens dépourvus
d’aptitudes spéciales mais dotés de bras musclés ; à ceux-là
incomberait la tâche de pousser les wagonnets Decauville, de
creuser les caniveaux et fossés. Parmi eux fut Hiên, à qui échut en
partage le wagonnet no 4, de moitié avec son voisin de lit et ami
Nho. Chacun de ces groupes fut placé sous la direction d’un sergent
français, secondé d’un sergent indigène et de caporaux. L’Aïeul se
réservait la surveillance générale des travaux, dont il avait dessiné
les plans. Quant à Pietro, dont les hautes capacités se trouvaient
ainsi sans emploi, il reçut mission de veiller au maintien de la
discipline sur les chantiers, mais sans avoir à s’immiscer dans le
détail des constructions.
Chaque gradé dressa la liste de ses ouvriers, en fit l’appel, les
avertit de leurs fonctions nouvelles. Ce fut un moment de tapage
étourdissant, de numéros matricules vociférés à plein gosier
auxquels répondaient des « Présent ! » non moins vigoureux. Puis le
calme et l’ordre se rétablirent, et, dans le silence profond qui suivit,
le sergent Cang annonça que l’Aïeul, en l’honneur de sa prise du
commandement, offrait à chaque escouade une bouteille de choum-
choum [10] , et les rangs furent enfin rompus, avec des cris et des
gambades folles.
[10] Alcool de riz.
*
* *
Sur la terre battue, devant la maison de Cang, Hiên le Maboul et

Maÿ sont assis côte à côte ; la nuit tombante résonne du
bruissement de l’écume sur le gravier de la plage, résonne aussi des
chants des tirailleurs, un peu ivres. Maÿ ne regarde pas son
compagnon ; à quoi pense-t-elle, ses yeux durs ensanglantés par le
soleil couchant ? A quoi pense-t-elle, tandis qu’elle chantonne, d’une
voix menue de toute petite fille, une romance séculaire et
mélancolique ?
L’amoureux, que ragaillardissent l’événement du jour et la gorgée
d’alcool qu’il vient d’ingurgiter, sent bouillonner dans son cœur une
allégresse inusitée, et, subitement, il lui vient une idée géniale :
pourquoi n’offrirait-il pas à la fillette de goûter à son choum-choum ?
Il se rapproche d’elle, hésitant et gauche, le bol de faïence aux
doigts :
— Sœur aînée, veux-tu boire du choum-choum que l’Aïeul m’a
donné ?
La chanteuse s’arrête court : est-ce bien Hiên le rustre, Hiên le
balourd, Hiên le Maboul, qui lui adresse cette proposition galante ?
On lui a changé son sauvage !
— Je veux bien en boire un peu !
— Je vais chercher une autre tasse, réplique Hiên, émerveillé de
son succès.
— Mais non ! mais non ! Je boirai dans ton bol… Ne te trémousse
pas ainsi : tu vas tacher ma tunique.
Elle boit à petits coups et sourit, tout de suite échauffée et rose.
Elle a souri ! elle a souri ! Elle a fait cette aumône imprévue au
pauvre honteux qui n’osait point tendre la main ! Il n’en croit pas ses
yeux et il rit aussi, il rit bêtement… Imbécile, qui ne sait point que
l’heure fuit et qu’avec elle s’envole l’occasion unique !
Maintenant le bol est vide et Maÿ ne rit plus et reprend sa petite
chanson triste, et Hiên le Maboul la regarde, les yeux ronds, la
bouche ouverte et les bras ballants.
IX
Hiên le Maboul s’assit au revers d’un fossé et respira

bruyamment ; la sueur ruisselait sur son torse nu, sur ses flancs où
saillaient les côtes, trempait son pantalon de toile retroussé jusqu’au
genou. Autour de lui s’élargissait la tranchée creusée dans la dune ;
des tirailleurs à demi nus, eux aussi, lançaient des pelletées de terre
dans des wagonnets rouges ornés de numéros peints au coaltar. Le
noir et barbu Castel, campé sur la marge du fossé, encourageait les
travailleurs de sa grosse voix pacifique. Il faisait chaud dans ce trou
que les dunes abritaient des brises salées, où le soleil déjà haut
dardait des rayons obliques, transmuant chaque grain de sable en
un diamant ; nul refuge que l’ombre maigre de quelques aréquiers
déplumés échappés au coupe-coupe et à la hache.
— Hiên !… Nho !… appela un caporal.
Hiên bondit sur ses pieds ; il s’accrocha des deux mains au bord
droit de la benne ; Nho saisit le bord gauche, et tous deux, raidis,
poussèrent le wagonnet pesant sur les minces rails qui geignirent. A
la sortie de la tranchée, la voie changeait de direction ; le wagonnet
accéléra sa course ; les rails chantèrent plus âprement ; les essieux
mal graissés grincèrent, la lourde caisse de tôle oscilla sur ses axes,
se redressa, oscilla de nouveau et finalement reprit son aplomb. La
voie filait tout droit, désormais, à travers la rizière, jusqu’aux
chantiers.
Le joyeux Nho caracola sur le remblai sans lâcher la plaque
peinte au minium et décocha une ruade amicale à son compère ;
Hiên lui répondit par une bourrade sans méchanceté : ils se
regardèrent et rirent de leur plaisanterie inoffensive et du clair soleil
épanoui sur la plaine. Derrière eux, d’autres coureurs se
rapprochaient, martelant de leurs pieds nus les traverses de fer.
Hiên et Nho allongèrent leur trot qui devint un galop insensé ; ils
passèrent comme une trombe devant un sergent qui hurla des
injures indistinctes, devant des gardiens de buffles qui s’esclaffèrent
au spectacle de ces deux enragés, congestionnés et suants. Les
roues franchissaient avec un gémissement bref les joints craquants,
broyaient les cailloux rencontrés. La voie descendait maintenant en
pente douce. Hiên et Nho sautèrent sur le châssis, ravis de se faire
voiturer sans effort et tirant la langue aux gens des wagonnets vides
qui remontaient.
Le camp s’étalait devant eux, dressant au-dessus de l’ancienne
rizière les carcasses de ses cases inachevées et les toits de paille
de ses ateliers. Hiên le Maboul le considéra avec fierté, comme si
l’œuvre de l’Aïeul eût été la sienne.
L’œuvre prospérait : le remblai de sable fauve gagnait à vue
d’œil, comblait petit à petit la plaine boueuse et plantée de joncs où
grouillaient encore les serpents d’eau et les scorpions ; sur le sol
neuf s’agitait la fourmilière des travailleurs affairés et criards :
terrassiers renversant dans la mare les wagonnets de sable,
remorquant des brouettes chantantes et vermoulues, traçant à la
pioche les contours des futurs fossés ; scieurs de long débitant des
planches ; menuisiers penchés sur leurs établis, rabotant, sciant,
faisant un bruit d’enfer ; forgerons halant les manivelles des
soufflets, cognant à coups de marteau sur l’enclume, transformant
des vieux morceaux de fer en outils.
Grimpés sur le toit d’une case dont les charpentes seules étaient
achevées, une nuée de couvreurs improvisés groupaient en
faisceaux des feuilles de palmier d’eau et les attachaient aux
chevrons avec des liens de bambou ; d’autres leur passaient la paille
au bout de longues perches ; d’autres, accroupis sur leurs talons,
tressaient des claies.
Autour d’une case déjà couverte, les peintres s’escrimaient,
badigeonnant de chaux les cloisons de torchis sec et enduisant de
coaltar les poteaux des vérandas. Deux bœufs à bosse tournaient
dans un trou circulaire, piétinant de la boue et de l’herbe ; deux
tirailleurs, installés à califourchon sur les vastes dos, encourageaient
leurs montures avec des cris et des coups de rotin sur les oreilles.
Là-bas, sur la route écarlate, pareils à une procession de
fourmis, les bûcherons rentraient de la forêt. Le casque en bataille,
un sergent pourvu d’une équerre et d’un niveau transmettait avec
ses bras étendus d’incompréhensibles signaux à des porte-mire
indociles, et ses jurons faisaient leur partie dans le concert
étourdissant des brouettes, des marteaux, des scies, des haches,
des rabots.
Debout à l’arrière du wagonnet dévalant la rampe, Hiên le
Maboul huma avec délices les odeurs de bois vert et de paille sèche
que lui apportait le vent :
— C’est l’Aïeul qui a fait tout ça, dit-il avec orgueil à son
camarade.
Nho répondit avec le même enthousiasme :
— Oui, l’Aïeul est intelligent !
Tous deux promenaient sur les chantiers en ébullition des
regards satisfaits. Absorbés dans leur contemplation béate, ils
atteignirent sans y songer le moins du monde le bas de la côte et,
comme la voie débouchait par un dernier virage dans le camp
nouveau, le wagonnet, abandonné à son bon plaisir, fit un écart
prodigieux ; les quatre petites roues quittèrent les rails, la benne
renversa sur le talus sa charge de sable et les deux conducteurs
négligents, ayant décrit dans l’air deux trajectoires parallèles, furent
engloutis par les joncs.
Ils reparurent, enfoncés dans l’eau croupie jusqu’aux genoux,
barbouillés de vase, braillant et gesticulant. Les pelleteurs et les
piocheurs, délaissant leur besogne, s’appuyèrent sur les manches
de leurs outils et saluèrent d’un rire formidable l’apparition des deux
amphibies noirs de boue et verts d’herbes aquatiques ; puis, cédant
aux objurgations furieuses du sergent Cang, ils s’empressèrent de
replacer sur les roues le véhicule échoué dans le remblai. Cang
fulminait :

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Ebook The Struggle For Democracy 2018 Elections and Updates Edition Edward S Greenberg Online PDF All Chapter

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The Struggle For Democracy: 2018

Elections and Updates Edition Edward

Malaysia s General Elections 2018 Understanding the

The Struggle for Development and Democracy Volume 1 New

Democracy, Elections, and Constitutionalism in Africa

Going Big FDR s Legacy Biden s New Deal and the

The Politics of Transnational Peasant Struggle

Growing Democracy in Africa Elections Accountable

Primary Mathematics 3A Hoerst

Campaigns, Elections, and the Threat to Democracy: What

Revel’s variety of writing activities and

Superior assignability and tracking

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Loose Leaf Edition

Instructor’s Review Copy:

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PART I Introduction: Main Themes

1 Democracy and American Politics 1

3 Federalism: States and Nation 44

4 The Structural Foundations of American Government

PART III Political Linkage

5 Public Opinion 102

6 The News Media 137

7 Interest Groups and Business Power 165

8 Social Movements 199

9 Political Parties 226

10 Voting, Campaigns, and Elections 256

PART IV Government and Governing

12 The Presidency 332

13 The Executive Branch 364

14 The Courts 395

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PART V What Government Does

15 Civil Liberties: The Struggle for Freedom 429

16 Civil Rights: The Struggle for Political Equality 463

17 Domestic Policies 493

18 Foreign and National Defense Policies 529

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To the Student xv The Changing Constitution, Democracy, and

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PART III Political Linkage

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Access Inequality 188 The American Two-Party System 231

9 Political Parties 226

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The American Bureaucracy: Controversies and Rights of the Accused 446

17 Domestic Policies 493

15 Civil Liberties: The Struggle for

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Regulation 510 Dimensions of America’s Superpower Status 533

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• Interactive Conclusion and Review summaries using video, learning objectives,