Marion County, Tennessee was formed in 1817 and currently all seven cities within its boundaries combined account for 34,202 (thousand) acres. Within a short period time, Marion County will experience over 40,000 (thousand) acres of traditional forestland being converted to private, rural residential development. These former forested tracts are all located in remote areas of the county with very few existing public services. The intent of this dissertation is to demonstrate how government structure and funding mechanisms result in a type of rural sprawl that is rapidly fragmenting thousands of acres throughout Tennessee and the United States as timber companies sell their forest lands to private developers. This dissertation contends that local governments in Tennessee are not designed by state statute to address the public need of open space and recreation; nor does their fragmented institutional structure result in well-planned decisions related to growth. As a result, private development interests appear to determine how land is divided and utilized in the rural counties of Tennessee and specifically the South Cumberland Plateau in Tennessee. This dissertation will explore how devolution has created a climate whereby local officials support and encourage rural growth for the rational purpose of revenue production, without considering the potential negative consequences of unplanned growth. The first case study of this dissertation outlines a series of actions taken by various governmental actors in response to a recent drought situation where towns were running out of drinking water, while rural water lines were being extended to new development. The second case study chronologically outlines specific actions taken by governmental units to consider whether to sell recreation land for private development. The third case study chronologically outlines a series of actions taken to limit sprawl through conservation with the support of local officials. Each case study occurred simultaneously in one county with interrelated governmental actors and events.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Columbia University. / Vita. Bibliography: p. [101]-103.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Columbia University. / Vita. Bibliography: p. [101]-103.

President Jimmy Carter once said, “I had a different way of governing.” In attempting to explain what he meant by this, Carter has been variously described as a political amateur, a trustee, a non-political politician, an “active-positive” president, and a forerunner of the 1990s’ New Democrats. It is argued here, however, that mere secular descriptions and categories such as these do not adequately capture the essence of Carter’s brand of politics and his understanding of the presidency. Rejecting Richard Neustadt’s prescriptions for effective presidential leadership, Carter thought political bargaining and compromise were “dirty” and “sinful.” He deemed the ways of Washington as “evil,” and considered many, if not most, career politicians immoral. While he fully supported the institutional separation of church and state, politics for Carter was about “doing right,” telling the truth, and making the United States and the world “a better demonstration of what Christ is.” Like two earlier Democrats, William Jennings Bryan and Woodrow Wilson, Carter understood politics as an alternative form of Christian ministry and service. In this regard, Carter was a presidential exception. Carter’s evangelical faith gave his politics meaning, skill, vision, and a framework for communication. Using Fred Greenstein’s categories of presidential leadership, Carter’s faith provided him with “emotional intelligence”, too. However, Carter’s evangelical style provoked many of his contemporaries, including many of his fellow Democrats. To his critics at home and abroad, Carter was often accused of being arrogant, stubborn, naive, and ultimately a political failure. But as evinced by his indispensable role in negotiating peace between Israel and Egypt, his leadership style also provided him some remarkable achievements. The research here is based on a thorough examination of President Carter’s many writings, his public papers, interviews, and opinion pieces. Written accounts from former Carter administration officials and from Israeli and Egyptian participants at Camp David are also used. This project is largely descriptive, qualitative in approach, but quantitative data are used when appropriate and as supplements.

The implementation of term limits on state legislators has provided a wealth of data for study. Florida, the second largest state in the Union with term limits, has not been comprehensively studied. This research examines the effects of term limits on electoral competition, member composition, legislator career paths, legislative leadership, and intra- and inter-governmental influences on Florida's legislature. This study looks at the Florida legislature from 1992 when term limits were enacted through 2004, three electoral cycles in which term limits have been in effect. This study uses both quantitative and qualitative data where appropriate. Electoral data is used to assess electoral and demographic effects, as well as member career trajectories. Interview data with current and former legislators, lobbyists, and executive branch officials is used to analyze both changes in legislative organization and intra- and inter-governmental influences on the legislative process. Term limits has only created greater competition when a legislative seat opens and has actually created a greater advantage for incumbents. Women and minorities have only made minimal gains in winning seats post-term limits. Newly elected legislators are not political novices with a vast majority having previous elective experience. Leadership is more centralized under term limits and the Senate has gained an advantage over the more inexperienced House. Lastly, the influence of staff, lobbyists, and most importantly, the governor has greatly increased under term limits. This research finds that term limits have not produced the consequences that proponents had envisioned.

The United States has reached a level of polarization unseen since the Civil War, as liberals and conservatives grow increasingly unable to find common ground. In fact, this polarization has led to instances of politically motivated violence over the past several years. Examples include the protests and riots in various cities in response to the deaths of African Americans at the hands of police, clashes between groups such as Antifa and the Proud Boys, and the events of January 6th, 2021, as thousands of protestors gathered in Washington, D.C. over the legitimacy of Joe Biden's 2020 Electoral victory before suddenly storming the Capitol. This paper argues that such polarization and violence should not be seen as unusual or unprecedented, but is instead a manifestation of a major observation found in moral foundations theory, taken to its logical conclusion: that liberals and conservatives place larger emphasis on differing foundations in their moral reasonings, thus allowing the two sides to accuse one another of moral deficiency, if not malice outright, and furthermore see violence against the other as increasingly justified. Supplementing this attitude are declines in social capital and participation, thereby driving social atomization and balkanization, exacerbated by the rise of biased news sources, especially on social media.

Voting is an indispensable feature of American democracy. Voting amplifies the voice of the electorate. Not voting disempowers individuals and communities. Despite protective legislation such as the Voting Rights Act of 1965, many Americans experience electoral difficulties today. Following record-breaking turnout in the 2020 presidential election and under the guise of election security, some Republican lawmakers have introduced and supported legislation that restricts the ability of many Americans to vote. Research on communities of color, low-income communities, and disabled communities demonstrates the inhibitive effect of these measures. In contrast, conventional wisdom claims that older voters are more likely to vote than younger voters. One theory to explain this disparity is that older voters face fewer obstacles to voting. This thesis investigates the validity of that claim by comparing voter turnout, reasons for not voting, and reported difficulty voting in the 2020 American presidential election. Using an intersectional approach, this thesis hypothesizes that elderly Americans face additional challenges voting as the effects of age compound the marginalization of other identities. In a series of logistic regressions conducted using data from the American National Election Studies and the Cooperative Election Study in 2020, this thesis finds that elderly voters are more likely to have participated in the 2020 presidential election. This thesis also finds that young nonvoters report not voting due to psychological reasons at higher rates than older nonvoters, while older nonvoters report not voting due to institutional barriers. Finally, this thesis finds that voters who report poor health report have an increased probability of reporting difficulties voting. Despite not finding widespread support, this thesis concludes by arguing that the electoral rights of elderly Americans remain a salient issue for researchers, organizers, and policymakers.

Election administrators anecdotally mention that many ballots get signed by someone else in the household, such as the husband signing the wife's ballot. If household members are signing each other's ballots mistakenly, then there should be a rise in mismatched signatures as the number of people in the household increases. By matching household addresses of registered voters and the addresses that ballots were mailed to from the 2020 Florida general election, the study found that the probability of a signature mismatch did increase as the number of household members increased. While the data showed that black and Hispanic households have more people in a household, the household size did not account for the higher rates of signature mismatches among blacks and Hispanics. This research proposes placing the voter's name under the signature line to reduce the number of mismatched signatures. Other envelope design features, such as arrows, power of attorney notices, and layout, were measured to determine the effectiveness of envelope designs. Simpler design features were more effective. If the voter's name can be added under the signature line without disruption, it could decrease the number of ballots signed by the wrong household member. Overall, household members signing the wrong ballot contribute approximately one additional mismatched signature per 100,000 ballots. With over 15 million voters in Florida, where close elections and recounts are the norm, preventing this problem from occurring can make a difference in electoral outcomes.

The purpose of this thesis is to examine changing attitudes towards transgender individuals, in that they are overwhelmingly marginalized and discriminated against. Recently, the Trump Administration has sought to limit their protections, such as their right to enter a restroom facility of their preferred gender identity. Up until recently, there was not such an overwhelming presence of transgender media available to the public. The emergence of the transgender community owes its success in part due to the Civil Rights Movement, where gays and lesbians came out in droves to push for their rights and the ability to live their lives freely and authentically. The extant literature on gays and lesbians, in addition to the findings here, will contribute to the expansion of knowledge available on transgender individuals and their rights, and how public policy addresses them. In this thesis, I argue that by examining the ratings given by the general public on those who identify as transgender via a feeling thermometer provided by the American National Election Survey, the results demonstrate that there is an upward trend of attitudes towards transgender individuals. Using multiple regression analyses, I found that region and frequency of attendance to religious services are among the influential demographic variables that determine changing attitudes towards transgender individuals. This research should add to the existing literature on LGBTQ+ politics, in a way that proves both meaningful for future survey research and for the future of LGBTQ+ rights.

This thesis examined the impact of political knowledge on forms of political engagement in the United States. Prior literature has established a relationship between political knowledge and political engagement, where those with higher political knowledge were more likely to engage politically through acts such as voting. This study distinguished between the various forms of political engagement and political knowledge, and seeks to provide relevant data on who is more likely to have political knowledge, and what impact having political knowledge has. This served to reexamine trends found in past literature, in order to see if these trends have persisted or changed over time. This study analyzed data from the American National Election Studies (ANES) from 1988-2016 to explore the relationships between political knowledge and political engagement utilizing various regression models. Consistent with past literature, this study found demographic gaps in the distribution of political knowledge, although these gaps appear to be closing. While political knowledge had a strong and significant relationship with voting, the effects of political knowledge did not hold across all forms of engagement.