I. INTRODUCTORY REMARKS

Monday, August 28: Trump's America

• Paul Krugman (2017), “How Republics End,” The New York Times (April 19).

II. THE FOUNDATIONS OF AMERICAN DEMOCRACY

Wednesday, August 30: “A More Perfect Union”

• Kollman (2017): Chapter 1.
• The Constitution of the United States.
• James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and John Jay, The Federalist Papers: Number 10 & Number 51.

Friday, September 1: How (Not) to Read the Constitution

• Kollman (2017): Chapter 2.
• Laurence H. Tribe and Michael C. Dorf (1991), On Reading the Constitution: Excerpt.

  LABOR DAY HOLIDAY: Monday, September 4

Wednesday, September 6: A Legacy under Attack

• Howard Zinn (1987), “A People’s Constitution:  Some Truths are Not Self-Evident,” The Nation, 245: 87-88.
• Seth Masket (2017), “Trump Has Already Crossed the Red Line. Now What?” Vox (August 8).
• Aziz Huq and Tom Ginsberg (2017), “How to Lose a Constitutional Democracy,” Vox (February 21).

Friday, September 8: American Federalism

• Kollman (2017): Chapter 3.
• Jelani Cobb (2016), “Post-Election, Liberals Invoke States’ Rights,” The New Yorker (November 28).

  ^{QUIZ #1: Friday, September 8}

Monday, September 11: Freedom of Speech and Dissent, part 1

• The Bill of Rights.
• Kollman (2017): Chapter 4.
• Conor Friedersdorf (2017), “The Most Shortsighted Attack on Free Speech in Modern U.S. History,” The Atlantic (August 23).

Wednesday, September 13: Freedom of Speech and Dissent, part 2

• Kollman (2017): Chapter 4 (continued).
• Sonja West (2013), "Censorship 101: What Schools are Really Teaching Students when we let them Censor their Speech," Slate (December 6).
• "Code of Students Rights and Responsibilities," The University of Vermont.

Friday, September 15: Religion and the Separation of Church and State, part 1

• Kollman (2017): Chapter 4 (continued).
• Edward F. Harrington (2005), “The Metaphorical Wall,” America, 192 (January 17): 10.

Monday, September 18: Religion and the Separation of Church and State, part 1

• Kollman (2017): Chapter 14 (continued).
• Garrett Epps (2016), “The Strange Career of Free Exercise,” The Atlantic (April 4).

Wednesday, September 20: The Right to Privacy

• Kollman (2017): Chapter 4 (continued).
• Mark R. Levin (2005), “Death by Privacy,” National Review, March 14.
• Daniel J. Solove (2011), “Why Privacy Matters Even if You Have ‘Nothing to Hide,’” The Chronicle of Higher Education May 15.

 Friday, September 22: Capital Punishment

• Kollman (2017): Chapter 4 (continued).
• John Paul Stevens (2010), "On the Death Sentence," New York Times Review of Books (December 23).
   

 ^{QUIZ #2: Friday, September 22}

III.  LINKAGE INSTITUTIONS

Monday, September 26: Measuring Public Opinion

• Kollman (2017): Chapter 9.
• Shedon R. Gawiser and G. Events Witt, "20 Questions a Journalist Should Ask About Poll Results," National Council on Public Polls.
• Vann Newkirk, II (2016), “What Went Wrong with the 2016 Polls?” The Atlantic (November 9).

Wednesday, September 27: Governing by Public Opinion

• Kollman (2017): Chapter 9 (continued).
• Jill Lepore (2015), “Politics and the New Machine,” The New Yorker (November 16).

Friday, September 29: Voter Registration and Turnout

• Kollman (2017): Chapter 10. 
• Jeff Jacoby (1996), “Making It Too Easy to Vote?” The Boston Globe, July 18: A15 .

Monday, October 2: Voting Behavior

• Kollman (2017): Chapter 10 (continued). 
• Matthew Robinson (2002), “Party On, Dudes,” The American Spectator, March/April.

Wednesday, October 4: Political Parties, part 1

• Kollman (2017): Chapter 12.
• Michael Lind (2016), "This is What the Future of American Politics Looks Like," Politico (May 22).

Friday, October 7: Political Parties, part 2

• Kollman (2017): Chapter 13.
• Ezra Klein (2014), "A Third Party Won't Fix What's Broken in American Politics," Vox (December 8).

  FALL RECESS: Monday, October 9

Wednesday, October 11:  Interest Groups

• Kollman (2017): Chapter 11. 
• Lee Drutman (2015), "How Corporate Lobbyists Conquered American Democracy," The Atlantic (April 20).

Friday, October 13: PACs and the Role of Money in Politics

• Kollman (2017): Chapter 11 (continued).
• Floyd Abrams and Burt Neuborne (2011), "Debating 'Citizens United,'" The Nation, January 13.

Monday, October 16: The News Media

• Kollman (2017): Chapter 14.
• Nicholas Kristop, (2017), “We’re Journalists, Mr. Trump, Not the Enemy,” The New York Times (August 24).

 ^{QUIZ #3: Monday, October 16}

Wednesday, October 18: Exam Review

• No reading assignment.

   ^{MIDTERM EXAM: Friday, October 20}

IV.  GOVERNMENT INSTITUTIONS

Monday, October 23: Congress as a Representative Body

• Kollman (2017): Chapter 5.
• John R. Hibbing and Elizabeth Theiss-Morse (1998), “Too Much of a Good Thing: More Representative is Not Necessarily Better,” PS: Political Science & Politics, 31 (1): 28-31. 

Wednesday, October 25: Congress as a Lawmaking Body

• Kollman (2017): Chapter 5 (continued).
• Todd S. Purdum (2010), "The Audacity of Nope," Vanity Fair (October).

Friday, October 27: Responsiveness without Responsibility? 

• Kollman (2017): Chapter 5 (continued).
• Lee H. Hamilton (2004), “The Case for Congress,” The Wilson Quarterly, Vol. 28, No. 2 (Fall): 12-17.

Monday, October 30: Presidential Powers

• Kollman (2017): Chapter 6.
• Garrett Epps (2009), “The Founder’s Great Mistake,” The Atlantic, January/February.
• Todd S. Purdum (2010), "Washington, We Have a Problem," Vanity Fair (September).

Wednesday, November 1: Electing the President

• Kollman (2017): Chapter 6 (continued).
• Carolyn Jefferson-Jenkins (2001), “Who Should Elect the President?  The Case Against the Electoral College,” National Civic Review, Summer 2001: 173.

Friday, November 3: Campaigning vs. Governing

• Kollman (2017): Chapter 6 (continued).
• John Paul Rollert (2017), “Presidents Aren’t CEOs,” The Atlantic (January 20).
• Matthew Yglesias (2017), “The Bullshitter-in-Chief,” Vox (May 30).

Monday, November 6: The Rise of the Bureaucratic State

• Kollman (2017): Chapter 7. 
• Roberta Lynch (1994), “Can Markets Govern?” The American Prospect, December 1. 

Wednesday, November 8: The Courts and Judicial Review

• Kollman (2017): Chapter 8. 
• James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and John Jay, The Federalist Papers: No. 78.
• Geoffrey R. Stone (2014). “Do We Need a Supreme Court?” The Huffington Post (May 22).

Friday, November 10: The Court as Politician

• Kollman (2017): Chapter 8 (continued).
• David S. Cohen (2016), “Grand Theft Judiciary: How Republicans Stole the Supreme Court,” Rolling Stone (November 14).

Monday, November 13: The Least Dangerous Branch?

• Kollman (2017): Chapter 8 (continued).
• Laurence Tribe (2012), “Chief Justice John Roberts’s Ruling Restores Faith in the Court’s Neutrality," The Daily Beast, June 28 [online].

    ^{QUIZ #4: Monday, November 13}

V.  POLITICS AND PUBLIC POLICY

Wednesday, November 15: Social Welfare Policy, Part 1

• Kollman (2017): Chapter 16.

Friday, November 17: Social Welfare Policy, Part 1

• Kollman (2017): Chapter 16 (continued). 
• Alana Semuels (2016), "The End of Welfare as We Know It," The Atlantic (April 1).

 THANKSGIVING RECESS:  November 20-24

Monday, November 27: Social Security

• Kollman (2017): Chapter 16 (continued).
• Jim Tankersley (2012), "Who Destroyed the Economy? The Case against Parasitic Baby Boomers," The Atlantic (October 5).

Wednesday, November 29: Health Care, part 1

• Kollman (2017): Chapter 16 (continued).
• Margot Sanger Katz (2015). “No, Giving More People Health Insurance Doesn’t Save Money.” The New York Times (August 5).

Friday, December 1: Health Care, part 2

• Kollman (2017): Chapter 16 (continued).
• Sarah Kliff (2016), "Is Obamacare Failing?" Vox (August 24).
• Dylan Matthews (2017), “A Political Scientist Explains the Real Reason Obamacare Repeal is so Hard,” Vox (March 24)

Monday, December 4:  Economic Policy and the Budget

• Kollman (2017): Chapter 15.
• James K. Galbraith (2010), “In Defense of Deficits,” The Nation, March 4.
• Fred Barbash (2011), “What They Don’t Know about the Deficit,” CQ Weekly (June 11).

VI. CONCLUDING THOUGHTS

Wednesday, December 6: American Democracy Imperfectly Realized

• Paul Krugman (2014). “When Government Succeeds.” The New York Times (November 16).

Friday, December 8: Exam Review

• No reading assignment

   ^{FINAL EXAM}

^{SECTION D:  Monday, December 11 from 10:30-11:20 AM in Lafayette Hall, room 302
SECTION C: Friday, December 15 from 10:30-11:20 AM in Lafayette Hall, room 302}