Federal Mud

In earlier posts (here and here), we discussed California's Station Fire as a case study in federalism. The story continues. Because the fire destroyed hillside vegetation, recent heavy rains triggered mudslides in neighboring communities. Local officials want federal action, as the Los Angeles Daily News reports:

Some local officials on Sunday demanded that the federal government pay for mud removal, blaming the mudslide damage on the U.S. Forest Service for scaling back firefighting efforts too early after the Station Fire broke out in late August.

La Cañada Flintridge Mayor Laura Olhasso blasted the U.S. Forest Service for allowing mud to flow from federal land into residential neighborhoods - a complaint similar to one made earlier by Los Angeles County Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich.

"I call on the federal government to take the responsibility to help our residents pay for cleaning up the mud," Olhasso said at a news conference in her mud-ravaged community. "The federal government must take responsibility for their mud that is coming out of their hills."

In an interview, Olhasso said she personally spoke to U.S. Rep. David Dreier, R-San Dimas, Sunday morning asking the area's congressman for help in getting the country's Federal Emergency Management Agency to quickly provide assistance to residents.

Citizenship and Recycling

A new study looks at different concepts of citizenship. In "The Story of Good Citizenship: Framing Recycling in the Context of Duty-Based and Engaged Citizenship," Donna L. Lybecker, Mark K. McBeth, and Kacee A. Garner of Idaho State University note that individuals differ on the question of "What is a good citizen?" In their abstract, they write:

Young individuals, in particular, are more likely to follow an engaged citizen view of citizenship. Engaged citizens are more participatory, global, and committed to social justice more than their duty-based counterparts. In this article we examine, with an innovative methodology and merging of citizenship and framing literature, the potential effects of increased engaged citizenship on policy issues. Our questions examine the characteristics of duty-based or engaged citizens and explore whether duty-based and engaged citizens would be more likely to support a policy, in this case recycling efforts, if the issue is framed in the context of their respective preferred citizenship norm. To provide an initial answer to these questions, we use the case study of recycling. We find that the engaged recycling frame was strongly supported by individuals with a more engaged view of citizenship while the duty-based frame was not necessarily more supported by duty-based individuals. We provide insights on how our study impacts political science and policy.

The full text of the article is in the February 2010 issue of Politics and Policy, available through your library.

Local Deliberative Democracy

In our chapter on federalism, we suggest that a decentralized political structure may provide more opportunities for deliberation and active citizenship. A recent article on the National League of Cities site makes a similar point:

[The] experimentation with neighborhood governance that has occurred in a handful of cities over a 30-year period represents a tremendous, and often overlooked, source of knowledge on these questions. Starting in the early 1970s, local governments in places like Portland, Ore.; Dayton, Ohio; and St. Paul, Minn., created neighborhood council systems as a way of engaging residents in public decision-making and problem-solving. The history of these neighborhood governance structures offers a rich legacy of successes, mistakes, strengths and weaknesses that can inspire and inform democracy reform at every level of government.

President Obama in Adversity

In our chapter on the presidency, we discuss chief executives who have faced hard times. President Obama is currently doing so. Though the overall unemployment rate is down a bit, it remains very high by the standards of recent decades. His health care legislation has stalled, at least for the time being. In some polls, his job-approval rating is below 50 percent. And there is an outside chance that Republicans would win the House or (less likely) the Senate in the 2010 midterm election.

Yet even if his poll numbers stay low and the other party triumphs in the midterm, the president need not lapse into political paralysis.

In their paper "What Can We Learn from Presidential Adversity?" Ryan J. Barilleaux, Marc Bacharach, and Jewerl Maxwell pointed out that presidents retain a great deal of power in difficult moments. Three examples help make the case.

Adversity makes it more difficult for the president to succeed with legislation and thus encourages the chief executive to take recourse in unilateral action. But adversity does not strip the president of the ability to shape policy. Some of Truman’s greatest policy achievements came during his tough times. Ford was able to conduct foreign policy and his veto strategy on spending was more successful than not Reagan concluded a key arms-control treaty withthe Soviet Union and conducted a military operation against Iran. Granted, presidential power is reduced by adverse circumstances, but it is not erased.

Capitalism, Socialism, and Public Opinion

In our chapter on civic culture, we note that American individualism has historically translated into a reluctance to embrace socialism. We also mention this point in our chapter on economic policy. New data from Gallup confirm the point:

Socialism" was one of seven terms included in a Jan. 26-27 Gallup poll. Americans were asked to indicate whether their top-of-mind reactions to each were positive or negative. Respondents were not given explanations or descriptions of the terms.

Americans are almost uniformly positive in their reactions to three terms: small business, free enterprise, and entrepreneurs. They are divided on big business and the federal government, with roughly as many Americans saying their view is positive as say it is negative. Americans are more positive than negative on capitalism (61% versus 33%) and more negative than positive on socialism (36% to 58%).

But in our chapter on public opinion, we note that pollsters must be cautious about assuming that the public has a great deal of knowledge about political terms. Gallup notes:

Exactly how Americans define "socialism" or what exactly they think of when they hear the word is not known. The research simply measures Americans' reactions when a survey interviewer reads the word to them -- an exercise that helps shed light on connotations associated with this frequently used term.

Madison and Active Citizenship

In an important new book, James Madison and the Spirit of Republican Self-Government, Colleen Sheehan makes an important point about Madison's thought:

The need to form an active citizenry whose ongoing participation in the life of the polity and responsibility for its destiny were no less part of Madison's republican vision than the doctrine of separation of powers and checks and balances. It was,
in fact, the more overarching concern for him. The modification of public opinion and the formation of the character of a republican citizenry is the crux of his political theory; it is the reason that he concentrated so much of his efforts on constructing a political environment that would encourage the commerce of ideas.

This analysis is very consistent with the approach that we take in our book. The chapters on citizenship and civic culture analyze the importance of individual duty. The chapter on public opinion distinguishes fleeting passions from deliberative opinions. And the chapter on the mass media mentions early efforts to foster the commerce of ideas.

A Very Unusual Campaign Web Ad

In a very unusual campaign web ad, California Republican Senate candidate Carly Fiorina portrays primary opponent Tom Campbell as an evil sheep: