Political Culture and Ideology

Applying the Principles of the

Declaration of Independence
 Major Themes of the Declaration of
Independence
Self evident truths We hold these truths to be self-evident

Human equality All men are created equal

They are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights

Among these rights:
Natural rights Life
Liberty
Pursuit of happiness

Purpose of gov’t To secure rights

Measure of Justice Consent of the governed

Whenever any form of gov’t is destructive of the security of natural

Right of revolution rights

Limits to the Prudence:

Long-established gov’ts shouldn’t be overthrown for “light and transient causes”
right of revolution Experience:
Men are more disposed to suffer while evils are sufferable than to right
themselves
 Political Culture
• A general set of Ideas, attitudes and beliefs
• Shapes a region’s politics
• Political Cultures in the US may identify with certain
principles in the Declaration of Independence
• Political culture sometimes confused with ideology
• Most communities in the US participate in at least one of
the following:
– Traditionalism
– Individualism
– Moralism
 Traditionalism
Basic features Associated region Advantages Disadvantages
•Strong attachment The “Old South”: Stability Inflexibility
to long-established Predictability
institutions
South Carolina Lack of social mobility
North Carolina Laws and Tolerance of corruption in
•Preference for
traditional ‘modes Virginia customs tend to the public sector
and orders’ Tennessee remain constant Hostility to reform
•Suspicion of Georgia Fatalism
change
•Family legacies Mississippi
Alabama
Louisiana
Texas

Examples:
“If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”
“You can’t fight city hall.”
Uncontested elections
Political Dynasties (Bush, Thurmond, Moncrieff, Kennedy)
 Individualism
Basic features Associated region Advantages Disadvantages
•Strong belief in The “Old West”: Opportunity Isolation
self-reliance Privacy
•Preference for Wyoming Lack of community support
Texas Recognition of Intolerance of public sector
individual and
independent action; Colorado individual efforts involvement
free enterprise New Mexico Accountability Tolerance of corruption in
•Suspicion of public Arizona the private sector, provided
institutions
•Resistance to Nevada one isn’t caught
regulation Montana
•“The Self-Made North Dakota
Man” South Dakota

Examples:
“You’ll get my gun when you pry it from my cold dead hands.”
“You’ve got nobody to blame but yourself.”
Entrepreneurs, independent contractors
“Caveat emptor”
 Moralism
Basic features Associated region Advantages Disadvantages
•Strong belief in “New England”: Community •Intrusiveness
community, Accountability •Tolerance of corruption in the
“commonwealth”
Massachusetts
New Hampshire Active social public sector if it serves the
•Preference for
support “moral duty” of serving the
formal community Connecticut
structures commonwealth
action Maine •Inaction unless initiated by
•Suspicion of private New York “safety nets”
institutions and community officials
interests
Pennsylvania •High public debt; high taxes
•Strong regulatory Also prevalent in
presence the Pacific NW
and in capital
cities
Examples:
“Did you bring enough for everybody?”
“We’re from the government and we’re here to help you.”
Social Security, social welfare programs
Public education programs
 Political Culture v. Ideology
• Political Culture • Ideology
• A set of general • A set of specific
attitudes, ideas attitudes, ideas
and beliefs and beliefs
• Broadly informs • Provides or
and shapes a advocates a
region’s politics coherent plan for
social, political, or
economic action
 Examples of ideologies
• Political ideologies • Economic ideologies
– Libertarianism – capitalism
– Liberalism – communism
– Conservatism – globalism
– Anarchism – protectionism
– Socialism – Keynesianism
– Fascism – monetarism
– Communism – Market fundamentalism
– Communitarianism • Social ideologies
– Statism
– Tribalism
– Ethnocentrism
– Nationalism
– Feminism
– Multiculturalism
– Supremacism
 What ideology Is
• A set of specific ideas, attitudes and
beliefs
• Provides or advocates a coherent plan for
social, political, or economic action
• Plan is consistent with, and is explained in
terms of, the ideas, attitudes and beliefs
held
 What ideology is not:
• Ideology is not political culture
– Traditionalists are not necessarily conservatives
– Liberals are not necessarily moralists
• Ideology is not partisanship
– Democrats are not necessarily liberal
– Republicans are not necessarily conservative
• Ideology is not a policy position
– E.g. Abortion
• advocates are not necessarily libertarian or liberal
• opponents are not necessarily conservative or libertarian
– E.g. Immigration
• “Open border” advocates are not necessarily libertarian globalists
• “Closed border” advocates are not necessarily conservative ethnocentrists
Comparative Ideology 1:
Left and Right Wings

Motto of the French Revolution:

Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité
(liberty, equality, brotherhood)

Origins in the
FrenchAdvocates
National
Revolutionary Assembly
of
Advocates of
Liberté
LibertéandandFraternité, sympathetic
Egalité, opposing the
toThis
the distinction
ancien ancien régime,
régime (the Oldsat
grafted on the
onto
Order) the
sat
on right
American side
the left of the
Congress
side room
in the
of the early
room
19th Century
Left and Right: The Political Spectrum
The most common comparative model of ideological preference in the US

Left Wing Right Wing

Communism Socialism Liberalism Centrism Conservatism Statism Fascism