this lecture will cover introductory topics related to Texas politics to begin what is politics Harold Laswell famously declared the Politics as who gets what when and how this deceptively simple description encompasses the wide scope of politics politics is how people decide how the resources of society are possessed by individuals and Society at Large politics determines what you are allowed to do and what you are not through criminal laws we allow the police to arrest individuals and confine them in jail and if convicted potentially incarcerate that person or even execute them for the most serious crimes politics determines whether you have a say in the decisions of society in dictatorships only in individual or small group of people make the decisions of society whereas in a democracy all citizens are permitted to participate in the decisions of society however even in democracies we limit participation in politics to adult citizens and that definition has evolved over time for much of American History you weren't considered an adult until you were 21 and we consequently limited the vote to people aged 21 and older politics determines how the economy Works do you have a more capitalistic free market economy where most of the property in society is privately owned by individuals and corporations for their individual benefit or do you have a more socialist economy where most property is collectively owned and the outcomes of the economy are required to benefit people equally politics determines whether you have basic rights and Liberties that the government is obligated to protect or whether the government or individuals can do anything they want regardless of the consequences to individuals or Society at Large politics determines what services are owed to you as a citizen and member of society does the government provide a free education or not does the government build and maintain roads and bridges and other Transportation infrastructure does the government provide police services or maintain a military politics will determine how much you are taxed in order to pay for the benefits we receive such as roadways public education public transport the military Social Security we must pay taxes so the government has the money necessary to provide these Services if we don't tax enough we can't provide those services but if we tax too much then people will not have enough money to meet their basic needs so making the determination of how we tax and probably more importantly what we tax is an important decision all societies must make politics is often something that people will say they dislike and there is much to dislike about politics however politics is a feature of human society that will never disappear and it is something that will govern your life whether you engage in it or not what is government government are the organizations and people that exercise political power if you are not from the United States you may be familiar with using the term government to meet the executive branch however that is not how we use this word in American politics if we want to talk about the executive branch we will say the executive branch or the administration when we say government we are talking about the entire system of organizations exercising political power this includes the Executive Branch the legislature and the courts why do we need government is necessary because our lives will be clearly worse if government did not exist Thomas Hobbes famously wrote in Leviathan that without a government people's lives would be quote solitary poor nasty brutish and short unquote by this hogs means that humans can and will commit horrible atrocities against one another if there is no authority to stop them they will steal other people's property they will murder and they will commit any act of violence they need to achieve their goals government can help to significantly reduce these events by creating laws that ban certain behaviors such as stealing or murder we prevent these activities from being regular features of Our Lives we can safely walk out of our homes and know that our property will still be there when we return and we won't be physically harmed as we go about our daily lives of course people still commit crimes we do have prisons police and Courts for this very reason but most people obey our laws when people do violate criminal laws we have a regulated system for arresting convicting and punishing those individuals which helps to discourage other people who might be inclined to commit the same offenses and maintains the social standard that criminal offenses are not permitted to achieve your goals whatever they may be the establishment of these basic rules for society helps to ensure people can trust one another you don't have to live in fear for your life or your property whenever you walk out of your home this means that you are willing to work towards Building Wealth because you know it will not be stolen you're willing to work with other people to achieve Collective goals that make modern society function the social contract theory is an important idea that undergirds the purpose of government the social contract theory is the idea that the government exists to protect us from the worst impulses of humanity inherently this means that the government is taking away certain liberties from us in particular we have collectively lost the ability to do anything and everything we want we cannot steal the things of our neighbor just because we want them we cannot kill our neighbor because we dislike them or we want their things so yes we have given up some of our Liberty but in return we have gained something so much more we have gained safety of course the great debate over the social contract remains how much can the government take away from you in the name of safety what is the best balance between individual liberty and the public good in the United States and in Texas we would say that there are very firm limits to what the government can do we would say that certain Liberties and rights are too important and must be maintained for individuals and Society but the exact definition of those boundaries are a source of constant debate in society American democracy is characterized by three things constitutionalism the separation of powers and checks and balances by constitutionalism I mean that Texas is governed by a constitution in fact Texas is governed by two constitutions the Constitution of the United States and the Texas Constitution every U.S state has their own Constitution which functions in much the same way as the U.S Constitution the purpose of both of these Constitutions are to limit the powers of government constitutions limit government power in a few ways notably both constitutions list the rights and Liberties of individuals and they limit government by how it is structured you were probably already familiar with how the government of the United States is structured to limit the government we divide the powers of government between the three branches the executive the legislative and the judicial by dividing the powers of government among these three branches we ensure that no person or group of people hold all of the powers of government therefore actions will need to be taken by multiple people or multiple groups of people in order to exercise most powers furthermore the separation of powers means that there are checks and balances on the power of individual officers and branches of government for example the Texas legislature holds the power to make laws however a law passed by the Texas legislature must be signed by the governor before it can take effect if the governor vetoes the proposed law then it is blocked from becoming law similarly the governor has the power to appoint executive officers but the Texas Senate must approve those appointments by the governor if the governor appoints someone who is unqualified to be in that particular position then the Senate can block that person from holding office these checks and balances help to ensure that when individuals or groups of people exercise powers granted to them by the Constitution they do so with buy-in from multiple groups in Texas as in the government of the United States political power is divided between three branches of government the legislative branch holds the power to make laws the Texas legislature is the legislative branch of the government of Texas the Executive Branch is responsible for enforcing the laws enacted by the Texas legislature the governor and other elected and appointed officials are the people responsible for exercising this power and the judicial branch is responsible for interpreting the law the judicial branch is the court system Texas and all states have their own separate court system from the federal courts American political culture can be characterized by three values Liberty equality and democracy by American political culture I mean these are the values that are shared by all Americans these values are collectively what we would say help to define the political characteristics of American society perhaps the most important of these three values to most Americans and most Texans is Liberty Liberty means the freedoms we enjoy both the US Constitution and the Texas Constitution protect individual liberties and rights such as the freedom of speech and the freedom of religion equality is another important value most Texans and most Americans would say that equality under the law is an important value people should be treated the same when they enter a courtroom when they exercise their right to vote or their right to protest certainly we could think about equality in other ways and depending on your political beliefs you probably do but within the context of this more Universal understanding of equality equality is about equality and political rights and participation democracy is the final characteristic of American political culture Texans and Americans strongly believe in the idea that the government should be responsive to the people it governs and that only a government accountable to the people is legitimate Texans also have their own unique political culture as to all regions and many states throughout the country if you've ever had the opportunity to live in a different state or even just travel you are likely well aware of the cultural differences that exist from one region of the United States to another the political culture of Texas includes the values of American political culture after all Texans are Americans but additional values are included such as individualism and traditionalism Texans tend to Value individualism by this I mean the Texans tend to think they should be left alone by the government Texans have traditionally preferred a smaller government with fewer Services provided to them and consequently lower taxes since the services are not provided this value system is likely a result of the sprawling geography of the state and how rural Texas was for much of its history Texans also tend to be very traditional and the politics of Texas has typically reflected this and the elected officials from both major political parties for much of its history of course Texas is no monolith nor is any state or the United States itself certainly the many Urban and growing population centers in Austin Dallas Houston and San Antonio are more likely to defy some of these values as they tend to be more politically liberal