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Texas Political Culture & Federalism

The document discusses the origins and principles of federalism in the United States. It explains that federalism was developed by the Constitution's framers to create a government with shared sovereignty and balanced power between federal, state, and local authorities. The document also outlines three political cultures identified by Daniel Elazar: moralistic, individualistic, and traditionalistic. Moralistic culture prioritizes government and community, individualistic focuses on personal freedom, and traditionalistic emphasizes family ties and hierarchical decision-making. A region's political culture can impact the type of political representation its citizens receive.

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Elijah Nyakundi
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89 views3 pages

Texas Political Culture & Federalism

The document discusses the origins and principles of federalism in the United States. It explains that federalism was developed by the Constitution's framers to create a government with shared sovereignty and balanced power between federal, state, and local authorities. The document also outlines three political cultures identified by Daniel Elazar: moralistic, individualistic, and traditionalistic. Moralistic culture prioritizes government and community, individualistic focuses on personal freedom, and traditionalistic emphasizes family ties and hierarchical decision-making. A region's political culture can impact the type of political representation its citizens receive.

Uploaded by

Elijah Nyakundi
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Texas Politics 1

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Date

Texas politics

1. Sovereignty refers to where multiple governments work together and share authority over a

specific territory. It is the supreme power and authority of a state to govern itself or any other

state.

The origin of federalism started from a meeting that resulted in the making of The United States

constitution. With the idea of forming a new American government, the constitution framers

developed the idea of federalism. Their main idea was to create a government that would hold

sovereignty and balance power amongst each other. Thus, it created federal, local, and state

branches of the government.

According to Kristina Mitchell in lecture unit 1 on the purpose of the government, “there is no

universal answer to the question: ‘what is the purpose of government?’ but in Jefferson’s words

and in the ideas of Hobbes, Locke, and Rousseau, we can see the predominant schools of thought

on the question, which can help us more wisely form our own normative positions when thinking

of the government of our own country, the state of Texas, and our local government as well”

(Kristina Mitchell 2017). Declaring that there is no single answer for the government helped

generate more answers that help form our own answers.

The state’s role in the process of decision-making in our government is mandated to make their

own decisions as long as it does not compromise the constitution. A state provides a
Texas Politics 2

representative who is entrusted the power to represent and make decisions based on its citizens’

desires. In a nutshell, the states represent people in the decision-making process.

2. Daniel Elazar, a political scientist, highlights three political cultures: moralistic,

individualistic, and traditionalistic. In moralistic culture, it places a high value on government

and the common good, emphasizing conscience and ethical standards. Individualistic culture

considers the government as a “utilitarian requirement" while championing personal freedom and

the ability to make their own decisions. Lastly, traditionalistic cultures advocate for family and

social ties more than other cultures. It looks towards the hierarchy approach, where those on the

top take a decision-making role.

In moralistic culture, examples include voting, political participation, vying for an office

position, organizing political campaigns and meetings to deliberate citizens' concerns. etc., the

examples for individualistic culture have little concern in general issues about citizens. They

distance themselves from people and are less concerned about the politics of a state. Lastly, in

traditionalistic culture, they tend not to change any rules for it to fit citizens' desires. They rather

keep everything unchanged and advocate for higher social status people to occupy the office.

A region’s political culture might affect the type of political representation used due to the

diversity of personal beliefs. One culture differs from the other. Hence, each person has their

own political representation, and they can be affected if they live in a traditional state and be

represented in a moralistic culture.


Texas Politics 3

References

Cole, T. M., Katz, E., & Tarr, G. A. (1996). Federalism and rights. CrossRef Listing of Deleted DOIs,

26(2), 154. https://doi.org/10.2307/3330680

Blackboard Learn. https://ttu.blackboard.com/bbcswebdav/pid-3328875-dt-content-rid-

18508241_1/courses/201857-POLS-2306-D10/regions.html

McGraw-hill Education (n.d.). https://router-integration.mheducation.com/v1/ltiproxy

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