225. Ethics & Public Policy in South Florida

Instructor: Outside of class, I am best reached by e-mail. Other methods are slower and less certain. I rarely check voice mail, for example, but my extension is 4226. Leaving a message with Cheryl Dake, our Faculty Secretary at ext 4283, is probably the most reliable alternative to e-mail.

Class Meetings: At various times & places, see below

Texts: The Moral Sense by James Q. Wilson is available in the Bookstore. Expect $8-10 in photocopying expenses.

Grades: 3 exams (30% & 30%, 40%) For details, see below.

Synopsis:

• Public Integrity: from personal origins to constitutional standard
  • the moral sense in individual development
  • social development
  • historical evolution & contemporary challenges
  • Supreme Court and Public Ethics
• Public ethics and the effort to Guard against Corruption in metro Miami
  • Miami-Dade (MD) County Commission
  • MD Ethics Commission & related organizations
  • Regional Planning Framework & MD Transportation Develpment
    • Airport
    • Surface Rail & Road

Assignments:

Week I

1. 9 am Review of Course Outline in South 300
2. 1:30 pm in South Hall 300 The Moral Sense, pp. vii-xv, 1-40; "South Florida: Four Scenarios for the Region's Future," Collins Center
3. 1:30, SH 300, MS, 55-98; "Citistates Report"
4. 1:30, SH 300, MS, 140-190; Metro Gov. I: Executive Overview
5. 9:30, SH 300, MS, 190-250; Metro Gov. II: Board of County Commission

Week II

6. 9: 30, SH 300, Midterm Exam (30%);
7. 1:30, SH 300 Roberts, The Supreme Court and Public Service Ethics
8. 1:30, Library 127, Readings in Miami-Dade (MD) Public Ethics
9. 1:30, Lib 127, Readings in MD Planning Orgnizations
10. 9:30, Lib 127, Readings in MD transportation prospects and problems

Week III

11. 7 AM Departure from Commons for Cedar Rapids Airport. 2nd Midterm (30%) to be written in Chicago Midway Airport, 10:30-1.
12. Free until 3 pm departure for WPLG-TV Evening News with Michael Putney
13. 9:30 Clay Hotel Meeting Room with Lobbyist Dusty Melton
14. To be Arranged
15. Meeting at MIA with Manager of Government Affairs, TBD

Week IV

16. 10 am Robert Myers, Director of MD Com on Ethics & Public Trust
17. 8:30 am Clay Hotel dep for MIA; ETA Cedar Rapids 7 pm.
18. 10 am Exam (40%)

STUDY GUIDE FOR THE MORAL SENSE

Day 2: viii-xv: What is the book's purpose and why is it necessary? What is the effect on society of teachings associated with modern philosophers and social scientists, like Darwin, Marx, and Freud? Why is reference to "values" unlikely to help? What is the "moral sense?" 1-13: What is "moral or cultural relativism," how is it reflected in education, and what are some of its adverse effects in society as well as in the classroom? How strong is the "moral sense?" Having read to p. 13, review your answer to "what is the book's purpose" and offer a more specific account of why and how Wilson writes. Other key names & terms to know: Rorty, positivism, the "core self," two errors in understanding the human condition. 13-26: What two principles have been offered as a basis for social order and why is neither adequate? Why does Wilson's discussion of family, and especially child care, provide a more adequate basis? What specific meanings does Wilson attach to the "moral sense" and in what respect does he consider it to be "natural?" Other key terms or concepts: the difference between a"natural moral sense" and "universal moral rules" and why the difference matters. Infanticide, the conditions which lead to it, and what effect it has on Wilson's argument. Having read p. 26, review your answer to the book's purpose and give a more specific account. 29-40: How does sympathy operate in such a way as to yield norms which we apply to ourselves and others? What interplay of conditions (e.g. need/cost, individual/group) effect sympathy and make it more or less likely to result in actions that help others in distress. What is the most common way in which sympathy guides our action? Key terms: conscience and how it develops out of sympathy.

Day 3: 55-78: How does sympathy provide a basis for fairness, especially in childhood? What three meanings are associated with fairness? Which meaning has priority in settled societies and why is private property essential to fairness in such society? Other key terms: theory of equity, the importance of rules or norms in reciprocity, the Prisoner's Dilemma and its significance, Darwin's explanation for rules of equity and reciprocity plus Wilson's addition to it, Wilson's criticism of Rawls on fairness. 79-98: How is self-control related to time and why is it important, especially in terms associated with sympathy and etiquette. How is the development of self-control in children related to family environment? Why does Aristotle call self-control a "mean?" What is addiction and to what extent do moral rather than prudential considerations apply to it? Other key terms: temperance, attention deficit disorder: its components, its relationship to impulsiveness, delinquency and drug use, its treatment.

Day 4: 141-163: What mistakes by "experts" prevent parents from understanding the moral qualities of their children? What difference does parental training seem to make? What is the "paradox of attachment;" why is it important for the relationship between sociability and morality? What differences in temperament and child-rearing lie behind the emphasis on differing components of the moral sense in Japan and the U.S.? Other key terms: authoritarian vs. authoritative child-rearing, observational learning, rights vs. duties as terms indicating cultural differences in child-rearing, the effect of adversity on adolescent children, definition of family in terms of marriage, the day-care debate. 165-190: What is the neurochemical, genetic, and embryological basis for "female choice?" Why is courtship so heavily stressed in Wilson's account of "female choice" and how is it stressed even more in his later account of marriage's effect upon men? What features of modern society release aggressiveness in men and promote a warrior culture? If social roles are driven so strongly by nature, as indicated by studies of kibbutzim, why is Wilson's account of differences in temperament, social roles or orientations, and moral sentiments so scattered and tentative? Other key terms or phrases: prevalence of polygyny over monogamy, adaptive value of male physical aggressiveness (confirmed by evidence from Africa), Wilson's critique of gender studies based on Kohlberg's theory of moral development, Wilson's conjecture to explain why strong evidence supporting the existence of a matriarchy is absent and will probably remain so, the effect of gender on fairness and on sympathy.

Day 5: What forces work against the broadest application of a moral sense and how did the development of consensual marriage in the West contribute to the expansion? What family system emerged in England & NW Europe that reenforced the change? What did exploration and commerce add? Why is private property, plus commercial law and public order, so important? What ambiguities plague the legacy of the Enlightment? Other key terms or phrases: universalism and why abolition of slavery was important to it, the Enlightenment and its contribution to universalism, failure of religious explanations for the growth of universalism in the West, slavery as the most extreme form of parochialism, endogamy as a less extreme form, difference between the English and French Enlightenment, esp. on the connecting religion and morality, systems of thought vs. habits of life.225-251: How does commitment lend strength to dispositions that make up the moral sense? Is the violence that breaks out between people with ethnic and national commitments the main reason for wrong action? What other conflicts are important for explaining wrong action? How is choice distinguished from freedom; which does Wilson support and why? Which has the support of intellectuals and reformers and how does Wilson defend his dismissal of them? How does Wilson define "character" and what features about it does he emphasize? What confusion and imbalances threaten the support our culture offers for developing characters? Other key terms or phrases: affiliative drive, amoral familialism, the importance of courage, varied ways in which the idea of replacing commitment with choice are expressed, basing moral or political philosophy on a single principle vs. basing it on an intuition or sentiment, radical individualism, sympathy's link to anger, the moral senses magnified and muted by democratic politics

Day 7:

1. What are three summary reasons supporting the argument that the Supreme Court has adopted an "individual responsibility model of official conduct?"
2. What concerns have critics of the model expressed? How does such a model differ from the alternative model based on an "absolute immunity doctrine?"
3. Why is the Bivens case important?
4. What did the Court hold in Smith v. Wade (1983) and what burden of proof did it impose in later cases on plantiffs in constitutional tort cases?
5. What rule is proposed by the Circuit Court in the Crawford case to reduce the burden of litigation on public servants and how did the Supreme Court respond?
6. What are "regulatory ethics" and what price is required for their adoption and expansion?
7. What are "anticipatory public integrity restraints" and what important support did the Court provide for them in the case involving Adolphe Wenzel?
8. How is such support continued in Buckley v. Valeo and Crandon v. U.S. but limited somewhat in U.S. v. Nat. Treasury Union Employees?
9. What impact has the "personal responsibility model" had on expanding the authority for administrative investigations? Illustrate with reference to LaChance v. Erickson?"
10. How has the Court expanded the application of the Hobbes Act, except for a requirement stipulated in McCormick v. U.S. as modified by the Evans Case?
11. What is the "intangible rights doctrine" and how is it advanced by Salinas v U.S.?

INTRO TO METRO

• Area

1. After reviewing the opening chapter of Citistates by Neal Pierce (Cole# 307.76 P356c), explain the importance of these centers for any nation, but especially this one. How has the premise of "citistates" been confirmed by experience in locations outside of southern Florida? What is "anti-urbanism" and how is it linked to a distressed social fabric? What kind of organizations have begun to reverse the trend? What is an "edge city," what problems are associated with it, and how can they be most effectively addressed?
2. What alternative views of the future does the Collin Center Report of 2001 propose? What are the two main "drivers of change?" Compare the events associated with each scenario for the overlapping period 2003-2004 and not the most significant differences. How important are housing patterns and transportation infrastructure in determining the future? Be specific about the range of current conditions and future prospects?
3. After reviewing the documents by Pierce and Johnson that form the Citistates Report, explain the regional challenge of air space management and airport systems. Why is Miami Beach important in the larger picture of regional development? To what challenge does "Eastward Ho!" speak and how is it related to downtown redevelopment? What is the "scourge of South Florida" and what culprits have been identified? What solutions are available?
4. For a recent update, locate by LexisNexis the article by William Yardley in the Miami Hearld, posted Dec. 7, 2007, on the "regionalists" and entitled "Group's vision: Think regional." What challenges have the group faced?

• Government

1. Description including organization table at the end of the section on County Government. Questions to be answered by the time you return to campus. a) Why is the top line in the organiation table dotted at one end? b) To what extent are the Mayor and BCC equals, at least in theory? What about in practice? c) How is the MIA governed under the current table? c) Where would MIA go in the table under proposals for an airport authority? d) What impact would such a change have on Metro government?
2. Metro Mayor and County Manager: a) who is the mayor, what is his background in Metro government, what are his aspirations? b)what policies are highlighted in his annual Metro message this year and what does he offer on airport governance? c) to whom is the county manager accountable, when, and how, d) who was the previous manager and how did he differ from the current one, e) what issues are emphasized on his web pages.
3. Board of County Commissioners (BCC) Review the BCC home page and the description page above. How many commissioners are they, how are they elected, for how long, and at what intervals? How important is the BCC Chairperson, who holds the office (for the person currently exercising its powers, use LexisNexis to see the Miami Herald's article by Karl Ross, Feb. 27, 2004), what are its main powers, esp. those unshared with any other commissioner. What stand on an airport authority has the chairperson taken?
4. Main Public Bodies excising oversight functions for Miami-Dade Government: Commission on Ethics and Public Trust: who are the commissioners, what does it mainly do (and not do) and how does it do it? What does the recent report by Robert Meyers, its Executive Director, reveal about what corruption is, where the push for progress in public integrity at the county level came from, what legislative measures resulted in "structures" created, in reforms to election campaign practices and to procurement and contracting, and in the regulation of lobbying and lobbyists? How does the report characterize past enforcement at the federal and state level and what expectations does it support about the future? Why? How are they re-enforced by private initiatives (What, for example, is CityEthics, how does the Miami Chamber of Commerce and the University of Miami help? What recommendations support these expectations? How does the conclusion attempt to balance these expectations? What doubts and criticism lie in the background? What does the Miami-Dade Inspector General do and how does it differ from the Ethics Commission? Why is it so much easier to demonstrate the achievements of OIG than the Ethics Commission? Be able to explain some of these recent achievements (see esp. the conviction of Monzon-Aguirre). What features distinguish the "trusts?" See for example the PHT (Public Health Trust), and the Children's Trust? What conflict of interest problems do these bodies have? (see Watchdog Report, 4th article in recent columns list)?
5. NOTE: By exploring the following links:SFRPC, MPO, PTP CITT, MD P&Z, SFRTA, PTAC, MIC, be able to explain the origin, purpose, governance, differing responsibilities, and most notable initiatives of each of the organizations supported by the above sites.