Saturday, March 16, 2024

Adult Education Course at ACC's South Austin Campus

I will be teaching a course on citizenship at ACC's South Austin Campus during the summer of 2024. The impetus for the course was my concern about the growing polarization and tribalism of contemporary politics. The course is located on the Continuing Education schedule here. The course description is here. The information on the course section is here (tuition and fees). The syllabus is below:


 

Being a Citizen

GOVX 3000

Synonym 96442

Summer 2024

 

Instructor: Stefan D. Haag     

Phone: 512-925-2878

Office: South Austin Campus, Rm 1202

Office Hours: Wednesday 9:00 PM – 9:30 PM

Web Site: http://www.austincc.edu/shaag/Index.pdf

Email: shaag@austincc.edu

 

COURSE OBJECTIVE:

Are you frustrated with contemporary politics and have stopped paying attention? This course explores what it means to be a citizen and gives you a framework to help you understand and influence political decisions. By taking this course, you'll gain a unique advantage over others by understanding the nuances of politics and how to navigate them effectively.

The current level of polarization in American politics is not normal, but this course will give you the tools you need to bridge the gap between opposing viewpoints. You'll learn how to have civil discussions and reach an understanding of each other's perspectives, which is crucial for creating a better, more unified future.

If you're looking for a way to become more confident and engaged in politics, this course is an absolute must. It will transform you into a knowledgeable and influential citizen, who is capable of making a positive impact on the world around you.

 

REQUIRED MATERIALS:

The materials required for this course will be provided free to the students. They will consist of a few journal articles, magazine articles, Websites, articles by organizations promoting civic engagement, blogs, and videos. All materials will be accessed through the class Blackboard site. The cost of printing the materials is the student’s responsibility.

Students only need to bring a desire to learn, a willingness to participate, and the courage to express their views.


CLASS MEETINGS AND TOPICS:

Date

Topic

Specific Topics

July 10, 2024

What a Citizen Is & How
To Become One

What is a Citizen?

Political Polarization

State of Citizenship in the United States

The Civic Engagement Process

 

Date

Topic

Specific Topics

July 17, 2024

Head: Becoming Savvy Through Various Types of Media

Role of the Media

Types of Media

    Newspapers

    Magazines

    Journals

Fact-checking

 

July 24, 2024

Head: Internet, Social Media, and Voting Decisions

Websites

    Evaluation

Social Media

    Evaluation

Voting Decisions

    To Vote or Not to Vote

    For Whom or For What

 

July 31, 2024

Heart: Friendship in the City

“Patriotism”

Affiliation

Achieving Concord

 

August 7, 2024

Hands and Feet: Freedom Through Action

Community Service

Public Action

 

Due by July 10, 2024

Course Evaluation

Course Evaluation: Complete On-line Faculty Evaluation

Course Improvement: Suggestions for Course Improvements

ACADEMIC FREEDOM:

As described in Austin Community College Policy D-2, academic freedom protects professors and students in their search for truth and its free expression. However, professors and students also share a responsibility to respect the opinions of others and to ensure that course materials and discussions are relevant to the course objectives.

STUDENT ACCESSIBILITY SERVICES (SAS):

Each ACC campus offers support services for students with documented physical, cognitive, or psychological disabilities. Students with disabilities must request reasonable accommodations through the Office for Student Accessibility Services on the campus where they expect to take the majority of their classes. Students are encouraged to act three weeks before the start of the class.

 

CONCEALED HANDGUN POLICY:

The Austin Community College District concealed handgun policy ensures compliance with Section 411.2031 of the Texas Government Code while maintaining ACC’s commitment to providing a safe environment for its students, faculty, staff, and visitors. License holders are responsible for concealing their handguns at all times. Persons who see a handgun on campus are asked to contact the ACC Police Department by dialing 222 from a campus phone or 512-223-7999.

OTHER COLLEGE POLICIES:

Relevant college policies are posted on the Blackboard site for this class.

 

LEARNING OUTCOMES:

Upon completion of the course, students should be able to:

  • describe what it means to be a citizen of the United States and Texas.
  • describe the level of political engagement in Texas and the United States
  • describe how civic engagement can be increased in Texas and the United States.
  • use and evaluate various forms of media to learn about political issues that interest the
  • use their knowledge to influence politics at all levels of government.
  • deliberate civilly and responsibly in groups of people holding different political views without becoming combative or hostile.
  • understand how concord results from lo
    ve, empathy, honesty, and active listening to others’ positions on controversial issues.
  • recognize how freedom results from engagement in the political process through collective action.

ABOUT ME:


 

I taught politics and government at Kaskaskia College in Illinois before joining ACC in 1979. My interest in politics grew out of a year in Burma after high school, serving in the Air Force after college, and taking graduate courses at SIU-Carbondale. My passions are competing in SCCA Solo events, reading about politics, writing my blog, listening to country music, and enjoying Austin’s many sights and sounds. 



 

 


Tuesday, March 5, 2024

How Did Abbott and Paxton Do in the 2024 Republican Primary Election?

Governor Greg Abbott still wants the Texas Legislature to approve his signature agenda item: school vouchers. In response, he targeted several incumbents in the 2024 Republican primary election by supporting opponents who would vote for vouchers. Similarly, Attorney General Ken Paxton seeks revenge against many Republicans who supported his impeachment in the House of Representatives during the 88th Texas Legislature. Paxton endorsed candidates in Texas Republican primary elections who opposed his impeachment in the Texas House of Representatives. Here is a list of candidates for the Texas House who either did not seek reelection or who were targeted both by Abbott and Paxton.



Note
: An asterisk (*) indicates the incumbent is not seeking reelection.

Source: Texas Tribune for the designation of the House members' position on school vouchers and Paxton's impeachment. The Lib/Con Score is from a personal email from Professor Jones at Rice University.  

Saturday, February 24, 2024

The Vote Choice: Selecting Candidates

The second decision in voting involves a choice of a candidate to support with your vote or a decision on an issue of public policy. We’ll consider a decision about candidates first.

You’ve already made a plan to vote. However, you have to decide which candidates to support for all of the offices on the ballot. Political scientists note that there are three bases for the vote choice: (1) Party affiliation; (2) Issue positions of the candidates; and (3) candidate characteristics. 

If you’re affiliated with a political party (either party), then vote for the party with which you’re affiliated. The percentage of Texas registered voters that affiliate with the Republican Party of Texas is, according to the UT/Texas Tribune Poll of February 2024), approximately 37 percent (That does not consider Republican Leaning Independents [RLI] as partisans). According to the same poll, approximately 37 percent of Texas registered voters identify with the Democratic Party (same caveat about Democratic Leaning Independents [DLI]). That leaves 36 percent of registered voters who are Independents (identify with no political party on the first question in the party identification question).

Political scientists know that the strong partisan identifiers are most likely to vote for their party’s candidates (usually 80-90 percent). The so-called weak partisans are less likely to vote for their party’s candidates (75 percent or less). Actually, Independents who lean toward one of the political parties are more likely than weak partisans to support the candidates of the political party toward which they lean.

If you’re an Independent, you don’t have partisanship on which to cast your vote, which leaves two factors to shape your choice of candidates. Some voters choose political issues to determine their choice of candidates. The question then becomes: Which issue or issues are important to you? If you are only concerned about one issue, then you are a one-issue voter. Your vote is based on the candidate’s position on that issue in each contest. You only care about that one issue and cast your vote accordingly. However, if you care about several issues, it would be best to rank the issues, research the candidates’ positions on the issues, and then cast your vote for the candidate who most aligns with you on the issues.

Other non-partisans choose candidates based on the candidates’ personal characteristics. There are two methods of choosing candidates based on the candidate’s character. The older is James David Barber’s Presidential Character, which bases the vote on two factors: (1) Energy Level: How much effort the candidate puts into his work, and (2) Affect for the Job: How much a candidate enjoys his political office and her reason for seeking the job. The factors can be combined to produce four character types:

Active-Positive: A person devotes high levels of energy to her job and has high satisfaction from performing the duties of the job. Also, the person sought the job to help others.

Active-Negative: A person who devotes high levels of energy to her job but lacks satisfaction from the job. Performing the duties of the job is burdensome. Also, the person sought the job for personal reasons, usually to overcome a feeling of low self-esteem.

Passive-Positive: A person who puts little energy into performing the job but finds satisfaction in the job. The person sought the job to help others but expends little energy in performing the duties of the position. Instead, she delegates responsibilities of the position to others.

Passive-Negative: A person who puts little energy into the performing the duties of the office and considers the duties burdensome and not worthy of her efforts.

A more recent conception of character by Stanley A. Renshon considers three factors: Ambition, Integrity, and Relatedness. Ambition is the person’s desire to succeed. Ambition motivates a person to action. It’s uninhibited drive. Integrity places limits on a person’s ambition. Relatedness is a person’s relationship with others. It’s how a person views others who are close to her. Most recently, Renshon has woven in the idea of the times as important in the person chosen for his character. His analysis of Donald Trump provides a rich analysis of what makes him unique.

Another view of the personal basis of the vote choice hinges on the personal traits that people desire in a leader:

Apart from how they see the candidates on the issues, voters form images of the personal qualities and abilities of the candidates, and these perceptions are important influences on the vote. One important aspect of personal character is the perceived honesty and trustworthiness of the candidates—what might be termed an integrity dimension. Another important dimension, which might be termed competence, involves the experience and knowledge of the candidates; in particular, voters are unlikely to vote for someone whom they feel lacks the experience and ability to handle the job of president. A third important dimension involves the leadership ability of the candidates. Those who are perceived as strong and inspiring leaders are much more likely to be preferred by the voters. Finally, there is an empathy dimension; voters favor candidates whom they see as concerned and caring about people like them. These four dimensions of personal traits may vary in their importance; perhaps one of the dimensions will be particularly important in any given election, while another will be relatively unimportant in that election. (Italics added)





Sunday, February 4, 2024

Are Liberals Different from Conservatives in Terms of Morality?

I remember reading Jonathan Haidt's "The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion" in 2012. I thought at the time that the idea of moral foundations was an interesting explanation of the reason that people adopted a political view on moral issues. More recently, I have discovered a debate over whether the differences between liberals and conservatives on moral foundations are correct.

In 2009, Jesse Graham, Jonathan Haidt, and B.A. Nosek identified differences between liberals and conservatives on the five moral foundations that are innate in all humans. These five moral foundations are the following pairs of moral positions:
  1. The Care/Harm Foundation makes humans sensitive to suffering and needs. The result is that humans attempt to protect the vulnerable through laws that punish those who harm other humans and provide care for those who are less fortunate. 
  2. The Fairness/Cheating Foundation causes humans to seek others who want fairness in society and seek to punish those people who cheat the system to promote their own interests. To some, fairness denotes equality. For others, fairness dictates proportionality. A person should be rewarded based on their contributions, even if the result is unequal. 
  3. The Loyalty/Betrayal Foundation promotes the group to which one belongs and benefits for group members. Thus, loyalty to the "in-group" as well as hostility to the "out-group" is demanded. Members of the "out-group" are evil and need to be eliminated.
  4. The Authority/Supervision Foundation promotes social order and opposes chaos.
  5. Sanctity/Degradation Foundation promotes the preservation of whatever is holy or sacred, whether objects, ideals, or institutions. 

Source: Jonathan Haidt, The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and                                Religion, 1st Edition, Kindle Edition
 On the scale created and refined by Graham, Haidt, and Nosek, liberals score highest on Care and Fairness, and much lower on Loyalty, Authority, and Sanctity. On the other hand, Conservatives score about the same on all five Moral Foundations. Haidt maintains that everyone is in favor of the positive aspect of the Moral Foundations and opposed to the negative aspect. 

Trevin Wax notes that the addition of a sixth Moral Foundation--Liberty/Oppression builds on the Authority/Supervision Foundation to support liberty and oppose the tyranny of oppression. 

However, what's true of contemporary very conservative individuals in terms of the Moral Foundations? What has been the effect of former President Donald Trump on conservatives as well as the Republican Party? 
  


  

Thursday, February 1, 2024

Is a Blue Texas Coming? The Decision to Vote or Not to Vote

 So, you’re questioning whether you want to vote or not. What’s involved in the decision? There are actually two questions: Will I vote? For whom or what will I vote?

I’ll consider the “Will I vote?” question first:

·   If you decide not to vote, you have given others the authority to make a decision that will affect you and the people you love. Your single vote will probably not determine the result of an election that involves a large number of voters; however, by not voting, you have made the votes of those who do participate more significant in determining the outcome of the election.

·   If you decide to vote, there are several questions to be answered:

o   Am I eligible to vote? What are the qualifications for voting in the election in which you are voting?

o   What type of election is it? There are several types of elections depending on your election jurisdiction. Each election may have different qualifications and conditions. Is it a referendum? Is it a primary election? Is it a recall election? Is it an election to approve a constitutional amendment? Is it a bond election?

o   How is the voting conducted? Can I vote by mail? If so, what is required to cast a ballot by mail? If so, when do I have to request my ballot? How can I submit the ballot by mail? When do I have to submit the ballot? When does the ballot have to be received? To whom do I address the ballot? If I made a mistake on the ballot, can I correct it? If so, how do I correct it?

o   When can I vote? Is in-person early voting available? What are the dates and hours for in-person early voting? Where can I vote early in person?

For Travis County, Texas, these are the answers:

·         To be eligible to vote:

o   You can register if you are 17 years and 10 months of age. However, you must be 18 years of age or older on Election Day for the election in which you desire to participate.   

o   You must be a United States citizen.

o   You must register in the county in which you reside.

o   If convicted of a felony, you must be “off papers” or your right to vote has been restored otherwise.

o   You must be mentally competent to vote, as ruled by a probate court with jurisdiction.

·    In addition, you must register to vote at least 30 days before the election in which you desire to participate. To register in Texas, you can complete a form online and present it to the county official responsible for voter registration. You can also complete a voter registration form with a deputy registrar of the county. The deputy registrar will turn in the completed form. You will receive a copy of the registrar’s form, which indicates that you are registered to vote. You can also go to the county official who is responsible for voter registration and complete the form.

·   What type of election do you desire to vote in? There are several types of elections in Texas. The general election is in November in even-numbered years. All other elections are special elections and may be held in November of odd-numbered years or in May of any year, which is when many municipalities hold their elections to elect city officials and get approval for municipal bonds. The November election date is the first Tuesday after the first Monday. The May election date is the first Saturday in May. Primary Elections are conducted by political parties to nominate their candidates for positions on the general election ballot. Primary elections are held on the first Tuesday in March. Runoff Elections are held when no candidate in an election receives at least fifty percent of the vote in the original election for certain local and primary elections. Runoff Elections are conducted on the Tuesday twelve weeks after the original election. The Texas governor can also call special elections to fill vacancies in certain offices.

·    In Texas, one can vote by mail or early vote by mail or in person. The rules for voting by mail are detailed and limited to registered voters with certain conditions. Early voting commences two weeks before the election. In-person early voting in Travis County is conducted at voting locations throughout the county. Registered voters can vote at any of the designated voting locations, not just in their voting precinct.

·   If you decide to vote either during in-person early voting or on Election Day, you will need to know where to vote, the Days and hours for voting, and what you must possess to vote.

o   The locations for early in-person voting vary by county in Texas. In Travis County, you can vote at any location specified by the County Clerk as an in-person early voting location.

o   The days and hours of early in-person voting also vary by county. Again, the County Clerk is the source. (Travis County Clerk (traviscountytx.gov)

o   Election Day voting times also vary by county. In Travis County, polling locations are specified by the County Clerk. Hours are 7 am to 7 pm. If you are in line to vote at 7 pm, you will be allowed to vote.

o   If you possess one of the following forms of acceptable photo ID, you must present it when voting in person:

      •     Texas Driver License issued by the Texas Department of Public         Safety (DPS),
      •      Texas Election Identification Certificate issued by DPS,
      •      Texas Personal Identification Card issued by DPS,
      •      Texas Handgun License issued by DPS,
      •      United States Military Identification Card containing your                 photograph,
      •      United States Citizenship Certificate containing your                       photograph,
      •      United States Passport (book or card).
    • Except for the U.S. Citizenship Certificate, which does not expire, for voters aged 18-69, the acceptable form of photo identification may expire no more than four years before being presented for voter qualification at the polling place. For voters       aged 70 or older, the acceptable form of photo identification may be expired for any length of time if the identification is otherwise valid.

Now, you know what information or documents are necessary before you vote. In the next post, we’ll consider what you must decide to cast a vote that is meaningful to you.       

Sunday, January 14, 2024

Is A Blue Texas Coming?

In a recent journal article, Professor Seth McKee, Oklahoma State University, assesses party identification (PID) in the South. He covers all of the states of the confederacy both in terms of PID and voting behavior. He uses data that allow him to analyze PID from 1992 to 2020 and voting behavior from 2008 to 2020.

He first defines PID and its importance in political science and indicates how it will be conceptualized in his study. He follows the common practice of considering Independents who lean to one of the major political parties (Democratic Party or Republican Party) as partisans. I have previously posted on my problem with that conceptualization; so I won’t consider it in this post.

His findings lead to the following conclusion:

. . . The principal findings in this study reiterate Republican dominance in contemporary southern politics. In the last several presidential elections, the white electorate has increased their GOP ID, and especially rural white voters who continue realigning to the Republican Party. Black and Hispanic voters have also tilted toward the GOP, albeit modestly to the point of inconsequential in the case of African Americans, but more notably so among Latinos, and particularly those living in Florida and Texas. Finally, white voters are more participatory than their Black and Hispanic neighbors, to the point that their turnout more than offsets their declining share of the southern electorate.

This current state of affairs appears to paint a grim picture of southern Democratic prospects, but most likely not. For instance, the South’s impressive population change and population growth via urbanization (Bullock et al. 2019), migration (Morris 2021), and generational turnover (McKee 2019), all fosters [sic] Democratic affiliation. Also, the increase in college-educated voters, and declines in white Protestantism and white rural voters (Hood and McKee 2022b), favors Democratic allegiance. To be sure, these developments can be painfully slow in transforming the political status quo (as was true for southern Republicans from the 1950s to 1980s), but it has already happened in Virginia, and now Georgia seems to be following in the Old Dominion’s footsteps (Bullock 2022c).

Lastly, two more immediate short-term conditions augur favorably for Democrats’ electoral fortunes and nurturing Democratic affiliation. First, the recent Supreme Court ruling in the Alabama case of Allen v. Milligan (2023) upheld enforcement of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act (for now). This means the Yellowhammer State will redraw its congressional boundaries so that a second district (out of seven total) allows Black voters the opportunity to elect a candidate of their choice (a Democratic candidate should prevail). This decision may cause a ripple effect, increasing Democratic representation in multiple southern states that currently dilute minority representation by packing these voters into as few districts as possible (Edsall 2023).

Although McKee offers no timeline for the realignment of Texas or any other Southern State, he does not see it happening in this decade. My view is much different, at least for Texas. I see the 2024 election as a realigning election.

If the Republican Party’s primary elections and caucuses go as predicted, the Republican presidential nominee will be Donald Trump. There is no doubt that Ted Cruz will secure the Texas Republican Party’s nomination for US Senator. At the top of the ballot in Texas will be Donald Trump and Ted Cruz; I cannot imagine two more polarizing candidates.

What must Texas Democrats do to carry these two offices and convince voters to vote for Democratic Party candidates in all contested elections in 2024? Civic engagement, of which voting is one component, requires the head, the heart, and the hands. The diagram below demonstrates the process:


Source: Bernie Ronan, “The Civic Spectrum: How Students Become Engaged Citizens,” The Civic Spectrum: How Students Become Engaged Citizens | Kettering Foundation

Let’s start with the head. What needs to be done? First, the targets that you want to mobilize to vote need to know about the election. Myriad pieces of information need to be accessible so that the person knows how to check their voter registration, what’s on the ballot, dates of voting, voting locations, hours of voting, etc.

There are many ways to contact individuals that you want to mobilize, but some are more effective in actually producing a person who shares your views on the election and makes it to the polls.

First, you need to identify registered voters who are likely to share your views concerning politics. In Texas, a registered voter’s record of voting (not for whom they voted) is a public record. The election officer in the county has this information, which can be procured. You can search for people in your neighborhood who have participated in recent elections, whether they voted in a political party’s primary election, which primary election they participated in, and whether they voted during the Early Voting period or on Election Day. With this information, you can develop a strategic plan to connect with those people that you discern are more likely to share your values and political views.

Second, you need to decide how you are going to connect with the people that you’ve identified. Consider how you can meet in face-to-face contact as that has proven to be the most effective method of obtaining civic engagement. Recently, some groups have made claims of a 20 percent increase in voter turnout through social relational organizing methods, where many people create a group and attempt to increase voter turnout by contacting their family, friends, and acquaintances through texts. Although voter turnout can be increased through this method, few academic studies employ a methodologically sound field experiment. For the results to be valid, one must have an experimental group and a control group. There is only one study, to my knowledge, that uses an experimental group and a control group to measure the increase in voter turnout using social media. The results from this study were a 10 percent increase in the experimental group over the control group, which received no social media contacts to increase voter turnout. The more effective method used shame rather than a positive message to increase voter turnout (Haenschen, 2016, 2019, 2023).

The heart is fed through connections to the community. You must feel good about the community, which leads to affiliation with groups, political and nonpolitical. This affiliation nurtures affiliations with other groups and individuals. The final stage is concord, which is defined as a feeling of harmony and agreement. This leads to participation, whether political or nonpolitical. We will consider voting in the next post.

Sources:

              Haenschen, K. (2023) “The Conditional Effects of Microtargeted Facebook Advertisements on Voter Turnout,” Political Behavior, 45 :1661–1681

              Haenschen, K. (2016). “Social pressure on social media: Using Facebook status updates to increase voter turnout.” Journal of Communication, 66(4), 542–563.

Haenschen, K., & Jennings, J. (2019). “Mobilizing millennial voters with targeted internet advertisements: A field experiment.” Political Communication, 36(3), 357–375.

McKee, S. (2023). “Party Affiliation in the Southern Electorate,” Political Research Quarterly, Forthcoming.

Monday, December 25, 2023

Texas Registered Voters Party Identification, December 2023

 The Texas Tribune/University of Texas Poll results: 34 Percent Republican Party; 29 Percent Democratic Party; 37 Percent Independent.