Ideology and POLICY MAKING [AP Gov Review, Unit 4 Topic 8 (4.8)]

Summary

This video from the Heimlich channel delves into the impact of political ideologies on policy making in the U.S., exploring how values, attitudes, and beliefs shape public policy. It discusses debates such as making English the official language and the tension between multiculturalism and assimilation. The video provides historical context, contrasting conservative and liberal ideologies through examples like the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act of 1996 and the DREAM Act, illustrating how these ideologies translate into legislation and affect society.

Takeaways

• 📚 The video discusses the impact of political ideologies on policy making within the U.S. political culture.
• 🧐 Ideologies are defined by values, attitudes, and beliefs that influence the formation and implementation of public policy over time.
• 🔄 The debate over making English the official language of the U.S. is highlighted as an example of how conservative ideologies aim to unify Americans and reduce costs.
• 🚫 Liberals oppose the English-only policy, viewing it as oppressive and a threat to cultural heritage.
• 🌐 The debate between multiculturalism and assimilation is presented, with liberals supporting the former and conservatives the latter.
• 🏛 The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act of 1996 is cited as an example of conservative ideology being translated into law, aiming to break the cycle of welfare dependency.
• 🌱 The DREAM Act is an example of liberal ideology influencing policy, attempting to provide a path to citizenship for undocumented minors.
• 🤝 The DREAM Act was initially bipartisan but ultimately did not pass due to disagreements on immigration policy.
• 🏛 Executive orders can be used to implement policy when legislation fails, as seen with President Obama's action on the DREAM Act.
• 🔄 The power of executive orders is transient, as evidenced by President Trump's reversal of the DREAM Act protections.
• 🗳️ The video concludes by emphasizing that policy will always reflect the ideologies of those who vote and participate in the political process.

Q & A

What is the main topic of the video script?

The main topic of the video script is the impact of political ideologies on policy making in the United States.

What does the video aim to explain about political ideologies and policy making?

The video aims to explain how U.S. political culture, including values, attitudes, and beliefs, influences the formation, goals, and implementation of public policy over time.

What is the significance of the debate over making English the official language of the United States?

The debate over making English the official language is significant as it illustrates how different ideologies can lead to different policy proposals and reflects the ongoing struggle between unity and cultural diversity.

Why do conservatives propose making English the official language?

Conservatives propose making English the official language because they believe it will unite Americans of all backgrounds and save billions in federal and state spending on translation services and bilingual education.

What is the liberal perspective on making English the official language?

Liberals reject the idea of making English the official language as they see it as a tool of oppression and potentially racist, arguing that it would erase immigrants' cultural heritage.

What is the debate over multiculturalism versus assimilation?

The debate over multiculturalism versus assimilation is about whether American society should embrace the distinct cultures of its people or if there should be a normative set of American cultural values that all Americans should assimilate to.

How does the debate over multiculturalism versus assimilation relate to historical U.S. policy concerning American Indians?

The historical U.S. policy concerning American Indians often forced them to assimilate to American culture, including speaking English, dressing like Americans, and embracing Christianity, which is an early example of the assimilation debate.

What was the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act of 1996?

The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act of 1996 was a law addressing welfare policies, which limited welfare payments to five years, reflecting conservative ideology that welfare traps the poor in a cycle of poverty.

What is the DREAM Act and what does it aim to address?

The DREAM Act aims to address the situation of immigrants who entered the country illegally as minors. It sought to create criteria that would prevent their deportation and allow them to become American citizens.

How did President Obama's executive order relate to the DREAM Act?

President Obama's executive order made the deportation of immigrant minors impossible, effectively accomplishing the same goal as the DREAM Act, which had not been passed by Congress.

What is the potential issue with relying on executive orders for policy changes?

The potential issue with relying on executive orders is that they can be rescinded by subsequent presidents with different ideologies, as seen when President Trump rescinded the protections offered to DREAMers.

Outlines

00:00

😀 Political Ideologies and Policy Making

This paragraph introduces the topic of how political ideologies influence policy making in the U.S. The speaker aims to explain the impact of U.S. political culture, including values, attitudes, and beliefs, on the formation and implementation of public policy. It highlights the importance of understanding the differences between conservative and liberal ideologies and how they affect the passage of laws that reflect these beliefs. The paragraph sets the stage for discussing specific debates and laws that illustrate this point, such as the debate over making English the official language and the debate between multiculturalism and assimilation.

05:00

📚 Ideological Debates and Their Policy Implications

The second paragraph delves into two specific ideological debates: making English the official language of the U.S. and the broader debate between multiculturalism and assimilation. It discusses the conservative view that an official language could unite Americans and save government spending, versus the liberal perspective that it would be oppressive and erase cultural heritage. The paragraph also touches on the historical context of assimilation policies towards American Indians and the ongoing debate about whether there should be a set of universal American values. It provides examples of how these debates have not yet resulted in concrete policies but significantly influence the policy-making process.

Keywords

💡Political Ideologies

Political ideologies are sets of beliefs and values that influence the political behavior of individuals and groups. In the video, the theme revolves around how these ideologies, particularly conservative and liberal, shape policy making in the U.S. The script discusses how the ideologies held by voters can lead to the passing of laws that reflect their beliefs, such as more liberal policies if more liberal voters participate in elections.

💡Policy Making

Policy making refers to the process by which decisions are made regarding the laws and regulations that govern a society. The video explains how U.S. political culture, including values, attitudes, and beliefs, influences the formation, goals, and implementation of public policy over time. It illustrates this through debates and laws that reflect differing ideologies.

💡Conservative Ideology

Conservative ideology is a political philosophy that emphasizes the importance of tradition, stability, and the maintenance of established institutions. In the script, conservatives are depicted as advocating for policies such as making English the official language and pushing for assimilation, reflecting their belief in unity and a shared cultural heritage.

💡Liberal Ideology

Liberal ideology is a political philosophy that values individual rights, equality, and social justice. The video script uses the liberal ideology to contrast with conservative views, showing liberals as opposing the official English language policy and supporting multiculturalism, indicating their belief in the preservation of cultural diversity.

💡Multiculturalism

Multiculturalism is the coexistence of diverse cultures within a society, often promoting the idea that all cultures should be equally valued and respected. The video discusses the debate between multiculturalism and assimilation, with liberals championing multiculturalism as a way to embrace the distinct cultures of people living in the U.S.

💡Assimilation

Assimilation refers to the process by which immigrants adopt the cultural traits of the host society. In the context of the video, conservatives push for assimilation, arguing that there should be a normative set of American cultural values that all Americans should conform to, as opposed to the liberal view of embracing multiculturalism.

💡Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act of 1996

The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act of 1996 is aU.S. law that reformed welfare policy by limiting welfare payments and requiring work. The video uses this law as an example of how conservative ideology, which argues against welfare dependency, has been translated into legislation.

💡Welfare State

A welfare state is a concept of government in which the state plays a key role in the protection and promotion of the economic and social well-being of its citizens. The script mentions the expansion of the welfare state during Lyndon Johnson's Great Society and how it was later criticized by conservatives, leading to the reform mentioned above.

💡Dream Act

The DREAM Act is proposed legislation aimed at providing a path to citizenship for certain immigrants who were brought to the U.S. as minors. The video script highlights the DREAM Act as an example of liberal ideology influencing policy, focusing on the rights of undocumented minors and the political struggle to pass such legislation.

💡Executive Order

An executive order is a directive issued by the President of the United States that manages operations of the federal government. The video discusses President Obama's use of an executive order to protect immigrant minors when the DREAM Act failed to pass, illustrating how ideology can influence presidential actions and policy.

💡Immigration

Immigration refers to the movement of people from one country to another with the intention of residing there. The video script addresses the issue of immigration, particularly the situation of minors brought to the U.S. illegally by their parents, and how differing ideologies affect the policies and laws surrounding this issue.

Highlights

Introduction to the impact of political ideologies on policy making in the U.S.

Explanation of how U.S. political culture influences policy formation, goals, and implementation.

Discussion on the role of voting in reflecting the ideologies of the people in policy making.

The debate over making English the official language of the United States and its ideological underpinnings.

Conservative arguments for an English-only policy to unite Americans and save government spending.

Liberal opposition to an English-only policy, viewing it as oppressive and erasing cultural heritage.

The ongoing debate's connection to the numbers of immigrants and its fluctuation over time.

Introduction to the debate between multiculturalism and assimilation in American society.

Historical context of U.S. policy towards American Indians and the concept of assimilation.

Current debates on whether there is a set of universal American values for assimilation.

Example of conservative ideology influencing law: The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act of 1996.

Conservative views on welfare creating a cycle of poverty and the need for reform.

Liberal ideology's influence on the DREAM Act and its aim to provide a path to citizenship for undocumented minors.

Bipartisan support and the political struggle over the DREAM Act's stricter immigration limits.

President Obama's executive order to protect DREAMers and its vulnerability to political change.

President Trump's reversal of the DREAMer protections as an example of executive order instability.

Conclusion on the direct relationship between ideology, voting, and policy outcomes.

Call to action for viewers to subscribe for more educational content on political ideologies and policy making.

Transcripts

hey there and welcome back to heimlich

history now we've been going through

unit 4 of the ap government curriculum

and in this video that means it's time

to talk about how political ideologies

affect policy making so if you're ready

to get them brain cows milked well then

let's get to it so in this video here's

what we're trying to do explain how u.s

political culture for example values

attitudes and beliefs influences the

formation goals and implementation of

public policy over time or a simpler way

to say it is this how do our ideologies

inform the kind of policy we make if

you'll remember in the last video i

talked about the differences between the

characteristics of conservative and

liberal ideology and i won't rehash that

here but for now we just need to talk

about how people who hold those

ideologies get laws passed that reflect

their beliefs and probably it goes

without saying but hey i'm going to say

it anyway that the policies that are

made into law here in america reflect

only the beliefs of the people who

actually vote all things being equal if

more people who hold liberal ideology

vote we're going to have more liberal

policies and vice versa with

conservative ideology okay so with that

established let's consider two debates

and two laws that illustrate this point

first is the ongoing debate over making

english the official language of the

united states just about every year

conservatives in congress propose such a

policy and every year it dies now

conservatives want to do this because

they believe it will unite americans of

all backgrounds and then additionally

they argue that such a law would save

billions in federal and state spending

as it stands hospitals are mandated to

provide translators for patients who

need them many schools must hire

bilingual teachers and counselors and

some states spend millions out of their

election budgets to print ballots in

several languages and it's true a

nation's language is one of the most

powerful cultural artifacts to bind

people together in a shared heritage

however liberals reject the idea of

making english the official language

because they see it as a tool of

oppression and in some cases straight up

racist and precisely because language is

such a powerful cultural artifact

liberals argue that to require

immigrants to learn english at the

expense of their native language is

tantamount to an erasure of their

cultural heritage now this debate has

been going on for decades and it waxes

and wanes depending on not surprisingly

the numbers of immigrants entering the

nation however up till now it has been

just a debate and no official policy has

been passed either way but it is a good

illustration of how ideology affects and

informs policymaking the second debate

is related to the first namely the

debate over multiculturalism versus

assimilation the idea here is whether as

americans we should embrace

multiculturalism which values and

upholds the distinct cultures of the

people that live here or whether there

exists a normative set of american

cultural values that all americans

should assimilate to and this debate has

a long history going all the way back to

the u.s policy concerning american

indians in many cases during the process

of westward expansion american indians

were given the choice to be displaced

from their land or assimilate to

american culture which in those days

meant to speak english dress like

americans and embrace christianity etc

etc and those debates are still

happening today liberals tend to

champion multiculturalism while

conservatives push for assimilation and

the crux of this debate is whether or

not there are a set of universal

normative american values by which every

american should be measured

conservatives tend to say yes liberals

tend to say no okay those are two

examples of ideological debates that

have so far not resulted in concrete

policy but now let's consider two

examples of policies that illustrate how

ideology makes its way into law first on

the conservative side we can consider

the personal responsibility and work

opportunity act of 1996. this was a law

addressing welfare policies which

provided government funds to the poor

ever since the policies of lyndon

johnson's great society the welfare

state in america was significantly

expanded and this was a triumph for

liberalism but starting in the 1980s

conservatives got all kinds of twitchy

about this legislation because as they

argued the system of welfare trapped the

poor in a cycle of poverty the

conservatives argued like this if the

poor were receiving welfare benefits

they had no incentive to go to work and

that just means that they would sit at

home while big daddy government paid all

their bills and so a

republican-dominated congress passed the

personal responsibility and work

opportunity act which limited welfare

payments to five years and the result

was that the numbers of those on welfare

dropped precipitously and conservatives

considered this a win because to them it

reasserted the american work ethic and

now let's consider how liberal ideology

resulted in legislation and for this

we'll consider the dream act which

addressed immigration and more

specifically the situation of immigrants

who entered the country illegally but

were minors that means their parents

immigrated illegally but obviously the

children had no choice in the matter the

dream act aimed to create a set of

criteria through which those minors

would not be deported but could become

american citizens and initially this

legislation was somewhat bipartisan but

not surprisingly it was more favored by

liberal democrats the bill was

introduced several times but it never

passed republicans wanted stricter

immigration limits in return for their

cooperation but democrats weren't

willing to bend on that one but despite

the failure of the bill president obama

a democrat took matters into his own

hands and issued an executive order to

address the situation basically the

executive order made the deportation of

these immigrant minors impossible and

that essentially accomplished the same

thing but the problem with executive

orders is that when there is a new

executive new orders can be made case in

point president trump who styled himself

tough on immigration rescinded this

order and removed many of the

protections offered in the dreamers

program so all in all you can see how

ideology shapes the kind of policy that

we end up with and that policy is always

going to reflect the ideology of the

people who actually vote okay thanks for

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