POLI 2051 : Exam 1 Notes
Document Summary
What is government and why do we have it: government: a formally established way of making and carrying out political decisions, supreme court is not a democratic institution. House races: absence of government is anarchy, politics: the competition to shape government"s impact on society"s problems and goals, who gets when, when, and how. Why do we allow ourselves into this arrangement: our government"s moral authority rests on the consent of the people, the government does things for us, so that"s why we enter into this arrangement. Without gov, we would have to exist in what some have called the state of nature. : social contract theory. State of natural is the absence of government and life is solitary, nasty, and short. It"s hard: what would life be like without government, social contract theory can guide us here, to some extent. You are born with these things: the people, as long as natural rights are respected, agree to be governed.
