The End

Final exam is Tuesday, in this classroom, 9-noon.

 A former Trump aide reviews Texas v. California:

The spirit of the Alamo still burns in Texans, in a way that, one hopes, the Spirit of ’76 still burns in American hearts. There may come a point when Texans stop simply wishing California would buzz off and mind its own business. If the Lone Star way of life is to survive, Texans must fight for it. Then we shall see whether California’s long experiment with postmodern deracination and anti-masculinity can stand up to Texas’s more robust embrace of the old virtues.

 I’m not a betting man, but were that conflict to erupt, my money would be on Texas..

There is actually some support for Texas secession -- or "Texit." 

The Russians promoted Texit. 

There was also a CalExit campaign -- also with roots in Russia. 

And some are even talking about a "national divorce."

The Founders rejected the idea of multiple confederacies.

Secession is unconstitutional  

Lincoln explained:

The Constitution provides, and all the States have accepted the provision, that "the United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a republican form of government." But if a State may lawfully go out of the Union, having done so it may also discard the republican form of government; so that to prevent its going out is an indispensable means to the end of maintaining the guaranty mentioned; and when an end is lawful and obligatory the indispensable means to it are also lawful and obligatory.

And next year comes the 250th anniversary of the Declaration 

Danielle Allen!

Saving Private Ryan (start at 6;00) and the actual Lincoln letter

Texas v. California IV

Questions on practice final?

War crimes 

We shall adjourn at noon for course evaluations.  

.............................California...........Texas.........Florida

Population 2020-22    -+233k.............+563k.............+467k

Supp. poverty rate.......17.7%..................14.3%..............16.0%

Homeless per 10k...........47........................9.......................13

Unemployment (Sept)...5.5%...................4.1%.................3.8%

Viol crimes per 100k....508.2....................406............... 290.2

Public schools rank.......#32.......................#40.................#41

Disability QOL.............#2........................#19...................#13

Taxes and Fiscal Policy

Stanford study:

BUT CONSIDER DISTRIBUTIONAL EFFECT

• TEXAS 
• CALIFORNIA

Top One Percent

The federal picture

Union representation in 2024: 

• Texas 4.5%
• California: 15.4%

Opportunity Atlas

Practice Final 2025

 The following will give you an idea of the format of the final exam. As you prepare, also reread the air midterm:  \https://gov20h.blogspot.com/2025/10/air-midterm-2025.html

I. Briefly identify 12 of 14 items (4 points each). Explain each item's meaning and significance. What is fair game for an identification?

• Items that we have discussed in class or on the blog;
• Items that appear in bold or italics in the readings;
• Items that cover several pages in the readings.

1. Democratic memos
2. Original application and original sense
3. Partisan trifectas
4. Article II
5. The jury “as a political institution”
6. Majority faction
7. The 10th Amendment
8. The Creationism Act
9. Transactional politics
10. The exclusionary rule
11. Timothy Matlack
12. Upton Sinclair and EPIC
13. Michele Bachmann
14. The nuclear freeze

II. Short essays. Answer three of four. Each answer should take about half a page. (6 points each).

• Briefly explain the origin and meaning of this passage: “[O]f those men who have overturned the liberties of republics, the greatest number have begun their career by paying an obsequious court to the people; commencing demagogues, and ending tyrants.” 
• Explain the differences among PIE, PO, PIG, and POG.
• Explain the origin and meaning of this passage: "Whenever possible, go outside the experience of the enemy."
• What does Mike Madrid say about Latinx?

III. Answer two of three essay questions (17 points each). Each answer should take about 2-3 large bluebook pages or 3-4 small bluebook pages.

• How would Tocqueville explain why a case such as Edwards v. Aguillard came to the Supreme Court?
• See this article.  Why did the witness invoke Madison and Hamilton?  What would supporters and opponents of the president say to these Founders?  https://www.foxnews.com/politics/impeachment-witness-tells-lawmakers-to-consider-having-to-answer-to-hamilton-and-madison-in-the-afterlife
• In certain ways, do Texas and California depart from their red- state/blue-state stereotypes?  Explain.

Bonus Questions (one point each). Very briefly identify the following:

Robert F. Prevost

Robert Bonta

Kevin Roberts

Robert Yandow

Robert Garcia

• 
  

Texas and California III

For next week, finish Miller

Will discuss any other topics you want

Experience survey on Monday: bring your devices

Tale of the Tape (percent D)

California 

                                    1992                2024

Assembly seats           57.5%              75.0%

Senate seats                 60.0%             75.0% 

US House seats           57.7%             82.7%

Texas

State House seats       61.3%                41.3%   

State Senate seats       58.1%               35.5%

US House seats          70.0%               30.0%

The Big Sort:

In 1976, Democrat Jimmy Carter narrowly carried Texas and Republican Gerald Ford narrowly carried California.

Precinct-level national maps

• 2024 (another map here)
• 2020
• 2016

Overall political party strength in Texas and California

What accounts for the shift?

• Change in demographics and economics
• Ideological sorting 

1994 in California and Texas:

Institutional Stuctures

• News deserts in California and Texas
• "The Lone Star  Constitution places many shackles on state government" (Miller 135).
• "Redeemer Constitution"
• Lieutenant Governor
• The controversial AG
• California Constitution -- the Progressive imprint
• Annual legislative salaries: 
• Texas: $7,200 California: $128,215 .

Texas and California II

Student hour today: 1:45-2:45

For Monday, read Miller ch. 6-10.

2020 Census:  California and Texas

Religion:  California and Texas

Crime

• Violent crime rates and firearm mortality rates
• Property crime rates

Texas is urban: Compare cities

Largest non-Mexican immigrant group by state

Asian Percentage of Total Population: California and Texas

Year	California (%)	Texas (%)
1960	~2.0%	~0.1%
1970	~2.8%	~0.2%
1980	~5.3%	~0.8%
1990	~9.6%	~1.9%
2000	~10.9%	~2.7%
2010	~13.0%	~3.8%

Comparing state economies

• WWII and the Second Great Migration
• The end of the Cold War in CA (Miller 61-62):

Tale of the Tape (percent D)

California 

                                    1992                2024

Assembly seats           57.5%              75.0%

Senate seats                 60.0%             75.0% 

US House seats           57.7%             82.7%

Texas

State House seats       61.3%                41.3%   

State Senate seats       58.1%               35.5%

US House seats          70.0%               30.0%

Background:  

• Texas and the Confederacy
• California and Progressivism

The Big Sort:

In 1976, Democrat Jimmy Carter narrowly carried Texas and Republican Gerald Ford narrowly carried California.

Precinct-level national maps

• 2024 (another map here)
• 2020
• 2016

Overall political party strength in Texas and California

What accounts for the shift?

Ideological sorting 

1994 in California and Texas:

Texas and California I

Presentations: Monday: Zoe, Zoey, and Reese

For Wednesday, Miller through ch. 5.  Will leave time open for discussion.  Topics?

Federalism:

• There are 90,837 governments (federal, state, local) in the US
• Plus 574 tribal governments
• List
• Morongo -- government
• Gaming: California v. Cabazon Band of Mission Indians,  and IGRA 1988
• The surprising champion of Native Americans

Statehood politics is hardball politics.

Texas, California -- Fearful symmetry:

•  JFK, November 22, 1963 (and the missal)
• RFK, June 5, 1968

Mexican-American War and Civil War

Divergent paths:

• Union Square in San Francisco did not take its name from labor unions.
•  Texas Confederate monuments (their real purpose)

2020 Census:  California and Texas

Religion:  California and Texas

Crime

• Violent crime rates and firearm mortality rates
• Property crime rates

Texas is urban: Compare cities

Comparing state economies

Better Call Saul

Presentations:: Lily, David, Sydney,

Monday: Zoe, Zoey, and Reese

For Monday: Miller, ch. 1-5.

Isolationism 1940-41

On 1/23/1941, Charles Lindbergh testified before the House Foreign Affairs Committee, calling for a negotiated peace with Hitler.  He had this exchange with Rep. Luther Johnson (D-TX):

Madison did stress the importance of interest as a political motive.  From Federalist 10:

But the most common and durable source of factions has been the various and unequal distribution of property. Those who hold and those who are without property have ever formed distinct interests in society.

But Madison thought that there was much more to human nature.  From Federalist 55:

As there is a degree of depravity in mankind which requires a certain degree of circumspection and distrust, so there are other qualities in human nature which justify a certain portion of esteem and confidence. Republican government presupposes the existence of these qualities in a higher degree than any other form.

Abraham Lincoln, Community Organizer

Qualities of an organizer

• Curiosity
• Irreverence
• Imagination
• A sense of humor
• A bit of a blurred vision of a better world
• An organized personality
• A well-integrated political schizoid
• Ego
• A free and open mind, and political relativity
• Communication

Obama Commandments for Effective Organizing

1. You are an Organizer.
2. Things are always great. Be positive.
3. Think with your head: be driven by your heart.
4. People will come to the campaign for Barack. They stay because of you.
5. Empower yourself and others will be empowered.
6. Respect your community and your coworkers.
7. NEVER lie.
8. The phone is your greatest tool and your best friend.
9. If it is not written down, it does not exist.
10. Campaigns are won when goals are met.
11. Have goals. Be accountable. Make others accountable.
12. “Some” is not a number, “soon” is not a time. Only hard numbers count.
13. Keep it simple.
14. Listen actively.
15. Time is the most valuable resource you have. Don’t waste it.
16. Have a back-up plan for every situation.
17. Look and act professional. You are Barack’s surrogate in your community.
18. When you’re not working, remember that the other side is.

TACTICS

• RULE 1: Power is not only what you have, but what the enemy thinks you have.
• RULE 2: Never go outside the experience of your people
• RULE 3: Whenever possible, go outside the experience of the enemy
• RULE 4: Make the enemy live up to their own book of rules.
• RULE 5: Ridicule is man’s most potent weapon.
• RULE 6: A good tactic is one that your people enjoy. (compare with p. 139-41)
• RULE 7: A tactic that drags on too long becomes a drag.
• RULE 8: Keep the pressure on, with different tactics and actions, and utilize all events of the period for your purpose.
• RULE 9: The threat is usually more terrifying than the thing itself.
• RULE 10: The major premise for tactics is the development of operations that will maintain a constant pressure upon the opposition.
• RULE 11: If you push a negative hard and deep enough it will break through into its counterside.
• RULE 12: The price of a successful attack is a constructive alternative.
• RULE 13. Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it.

TIME IN JAIL" (156-158)