2222 Chapter 1 | Understanding American PoliticsLiberty also means that within broad limits, people are free to determine what they
want from government and to organize themselves to demand their preferred policies
from elected officials. Thus, in the case of immigration policy, it is acceptable to hold
the view that America should have open borders, and it is also acceptable to demand
(and lobby Congress to enact) a complete ban on immigration—or to hold any view in
between these extremes.
A system in which individuals are free to form their own views about what
government should do virtually guarantees conflict over government policy. James
Madison recognized this essential trade-off between liberty and conflict. He argued
that suppressing conflict by limiting freedom was “worse than the disease” (worse
than conflict). To put it another way, any political system that prioritizes liberty will
have conflict.
Another consequence of valuing liberty (and the inevitable conf lict over policy
that results) is the need for compromise in the policy-making process. In most
policy areas, Americans and their elected officials hold a wide range of views,
with no consensus on what government should do. Getting something done
requires fashioning an agreement that gives no one what he or she really wants,
but is nevertheless better than nothing. Standing on principle and refusing to
compromise may sound like a noble strategy, but it often results in getting none
of what you want, as other individuals or groups work to change policy without
your involvement.Equality
Another principle of democracy is equality. Even though the Declaration of
Independence boldly declared that “all men are created equal,” this did not mean
that all people were entitled to the same income or even the same social status (and
the Founders obviously ignored slavery, as well). Instead, the most widely embraced
notion of equality in the United States today is the equality of opportunity—that
is, everyone should have the same chance to realize his or her potential. Political
equality also means that people are treated the same in the political system.
Everyone has one vote in an election, and everyone is equal in the eyes of the law—
that is, we are all subject to the same rules that limit how we can lobby, contribute,
work for a candidate, or express our opinions. In practice, political equality has not
always existed in America. In our early history, only white men could vote and in
many states those men needed to be property owners in order to vote. Slowly, political
equality expanded as property requirements were dropped; black men (in 1870, but
restrictions persisted into the 1960s), women (in 1919), and 18- to 20-year-olds (in
1971) got the right to vote. (For more on the expansion of the right to vote, see Chapter
5.) Today, although wealthy people clearly can have their voices heard more easily
than poor people (through campaign contributions or independent expenditures on
political ads), the notion of political equality is central to our democracy.
Like democracy, political equality also contributes to resolving conflict. First, if
people know that they will be treated equally by the political system, they are more
likely to respect the system. Indeed, one of the triggers for revolutions around the
world is reaction against rigged elections or policies that benefit only the supporters
of winning candidates. Political equality also gives us cues about how to get involved
in politics. Most fundamentally, it suggests that the way to change policy is to elect
candidates who share your views, rather than appealing to a friend or relative who
works in the government or offering a bribe to a bureaucrat.equality
In the context of American politics,
“equality” means equality before the
law, political equality (one person,
one vote), and equality of opportunity
(the equal chance for everyone to
realize his or her potential), but not
material equality (equal income or
wealth).Full_02_APT_64431_ch01_002-029.indd 22 16/11/18 1:35 PM