GOVT 2306 Exam 2 Review + Study Guide

my teacher lowkey a furry

Define the 2 views on power for local government

§  Dillon’s rule said local governments only have the powers granted to them by the state government; state is indispensable to their function. Cooley Doctrine said local government is a matter of absolute right and the state may not take it away

Define voter apathy and its effect:

voter apathy is not caring about voting/politics by thinking votes don’t count or matter. The effect is lower turnout. Texas has historically low turnout across elections state and federal

List the 4 tools of local government:

1) ordinances 2) recall 3) initiative 4) referendums

List the 3 types of local elections:

  nonpartisan elections with no party labels, at-large elections with a larger basis, single-member district elections where 1 representative is elected per seat

Name the 4 major services cities provide:

1) water and streets 2) police and fire protection 3) sewer and sanitation 4) parks and recreation

Name the 4 sources of municipal government revenue:

taxes (property and sales), fees, bonds (certificates of obligation), tax exemptions

What the commissioners court is and does:

it is a local government located at the county level that is a legislative lawmaking body that makes rules and sets tax rates to determine how money will be spent (like establishing burn bans or conservation water efforts)

Merit system

a system in which people are hired based on accomplishments, experience, skillsets, like getting a job using a resume.

Spoils

a system in which people get positions and jobs based on who they know, how they know them, appeasement, familial connections (my grandaddy knew a guy who knew a guy)

Define metro government and 2 tools:

metro means metropolitan (big city) that consolidates units of local government under one authority in an urban area. Institutes ETJ (Extraterritorial jurisdiction) to increase its boundary. It annexes something which is an area or party of a city that has to be voted on to become incorporated

Define political parties and the main 2

political parties are groups that organize to win elections and control government to institute their policies. Democrats are the left leaning party whereas Republicans are the right leaning party

Explain the conservative ideology:

within conservatism there can be either fiscal conservatives or social conservatives. Fiscal is more concerned with government not playing a role with economics and leaving money untouched. Social is more concerned with government taking action in social affairs with things like Christian values. Conservatives in general don’t like taxes and oppose government assistance programs

Explain the liberal ideology

there is a split within liberalism into neo-liberalism which focuses less government involvement in the economy and more involvement with social programs. General liberalism focuses on government support in social and economic affairs through reforms that they argue extend democracy and protect individual freedoms and rights

Explain the libertarian ideology:

libertarians oppose government interventions with things like the minimum wage, hands off economics, oppose laws that make things illegal like marijuana possession, minimal role in economic and social issues

List the main electoral trends in Texas:

Texas elections and politics have become more partisan, more factionalist, there have been realignments of white voters (democrats to republicans), dealignment occurs when people leave parties to become independents, there has been less straight ticket voting (it was outlawed)

Define independents:

people that have no allegiance/affiliation to political parties. They may have different ideologies and they may choose to vote for different parties on different issues in different elections

Define stratarchy and its 4 levels:

power is diffused among and within levels of a party organization (federalism), highest level is national, then comes state, then comes county, lastly is precinct

Explain the roles of primary and convention:

primaries are when voters choose the nominees to go the general election, conventions elect state-level and senate-district party officers, conventions can be less than an hour or 1-2 days, they adopt the party platform (stances on issues) at the convention

What permanent party organization is and does:

it is an organization of precinct chairs, county and senatorial district executive committees, and the state executive committee; their tasks are: recruit candidates, devise strategies, raise funds, register voters

Define voter turnout and its effects:

voter turnout is the percentage of the voting age population that voted in elections by casting ballots. It’s highest during the presidential election years

What factors influence voting

1) laws that disenfranchise voters 2) anticipated consequences 3) mobilization efforts 4) costs (cost benefit analysis) 5) culture and subculture 6) education which is the strongest influence 7) income, gender, age, ethnicity, race

Current obstacles to voting vs. historical ones:

one current obstacle to voting is voter id laws (requiring photo id to vote at the polls), historical ones were: poll taxes, all-white primaries (designed to prevent African Americans and Latinos from primary voting), literacy tests (designed to prevent minorities from voting), grandfather clauses (people could not vote if their grandfathers could not vote before 1867, disqualified African Americans)

Expansion of suffrage

: national voter registration act (motor-voter law), expanding suffrage to include all persons (women, African Americans, minorities), trying to move towards state uniformity, passed amendments to include more participation (15^th prohibit denial based on race, 19^th prohibit denial based on gender, 24^th prohibits states from having poll taxes, 26^th forbids setting the minimum voting age above 18)

The media and campaigns:

television is how most voters learn about campaigns, sound bites are essential (brief statements to be easily quotable), campaigns communicate via email, texts, social media. Negative campaigns are when messaging focuses on negativity and uncivil fashions, addressing via negativity can both improve and decrease participation

Define PACs and the Texas Ethics Commission

§  PAC stands for Political Action Committee. They exist to raise and spend money on behalf of candidates by people, corporations, labor unions, and organizations. TEC (Texas Ethics Commission) regulates PACs and lobbying through restrictions and transparency. They have punishment power if violations occur

Soft money

unregulated political donations made to parties or spent on parties and candidates. The money is used to fund election activities that aren’t directly donated to campaigns

hard money

campaign money donated directly to candidates/parties and is restricted by federal law

Super PACs

independent expenditure only committees that may raise unlimited money from corporations, unions, nonprofits, and individuals

dark money

is resulting from loopholes in court decisions and disclosure laws which opens the door for dark money since it comes from nonprofit groups with anonymous sources that are not disclosed

How the state manages voting procedure

: the state voting procedure is managed by the Texas Election Code (other TEC) which concerns parties, primaries, and elections

Define the Texas qualifications for voting:

1) be at least 18 2) be a citizen of the U.S. 3) be registered to vote 30 days before and election 4) not a felon or mentally incompetent by a court order 5) resident for at least 30+ days and in an area covered by an election

Define the print media:

it is the media of newspapers and magazines that used to be a primary source

Define the electronic media:

television and radio that has now become a mainstream outlet over print but less than digital

Define the digital media

§  the internet and social media that has become the new primary for numerous people through things like: news website, social media blogs/forums

Soft news

more infotainment seen on electronic and digital media that is more sensationalized.

Hard news

more cold and informative on the radio and in print sources

Explain how the media maintains democracy

we used to have partisan news with yellow journalism (original fake news/clickbait), we then moved to professionalism and democracy; have reporting be actual, objective, neutral and accurate, not based on partisanship, ideology, or economic interest; investigative journalism to oust corruption and publish records, which leads to uncovering political scandals

What factors set the public agenda

agenda setting is when the news outlets and media will set the problems/issues of the day/of the segment. The government and public leaders also agenda set when they signal or discuss things

How views are shaped with agenda setting, priming, framing:

agenda setting is by the media running headlines and new stories, priming is when the media indicates how important an issue is or which part of a situation is most important, framing is when the media provides meaning or defining central themes of an issue

The digital age and civic engagement

the digital age has led to higher civic engagement (Pew Research), civic engagement is action by citizens to address issues of public concerns, growth has occurred due to social media sites

What research on media bias says

: the media is indeed biased. There can be a corporate media bias. There is so much bias that it inevitably balances itself out

Interest groups and money:

groups have an easier time obtaining their goals than individuals, especially if the group is well-financed, money plays a major role in government and elections at the state level so groups achieve their goals by helping to finance campaigns

Define interest groups:

they are organizations that seek to influence government officials and their policies on behalf of members sharing common views and objectives

List reasons for interest groups

1^st amendment protections such as the right of association and right of assembly have allowed organizing into groups for political purposes. When political parties are weaker, interest groups will stand in and be more for people’s voices due to the weak parties

Define the 4 major types of interest groups:

1) Economic 2) Professional/Public Employee groups 3) Social groups 4) Public interest group

Explain Texas Power Groups and what they do

they are an effective interest group strongly linked with legislative members and bureaucrats for the purpose of influencing decision making

Define lobbying

lobbying is an attempt to influence government decision making that may or may not fail as it is a negotiation

Define electioneering

active campaigning by interest groups to support or oppose candidates and taking action to urge the public to support or oppose candidates

Explain how interest groups are regulated:

they are regulated by the Texas Ethics Commission through regulating PACs, donations, and monitoring activities when they try to influence the government. They mandate electronic campaign disclosure reports and enact laws that prohibit raising money during certain times

Internal factors in interest groups

alignment with broad public beliefs (or dis-alignment)

External factors

political culture of individualism, relatively weak political parties, and unwieldy constitution (all Texas)

Define legislature typing and what Texas has

there are two types: unicameral and bicameral. Texas uses bicameral with 2 chambers: House and Senate

What sessions are and do:

they are a session/meeting of the Texas legislature that is constitutionally mandated; regular session begins 2^nd Tuesday in January of odd-numbered year, 140 days max. Special are called by the governor for no more than 30 days max

Define redistricting and gerrymandering:

redrawing boundaries after the federal 10 year census to create single-member districts with approximately equal population (use geography). Gerrymandering is drawing the boundaries of a district to include or exclude certain groups of voters to affect election outcomes in the districts (use partisanship)

List the different qualifications and characteristics of Texas legislators:

: qualifications differ for the House and Senate based on: age, residency, citizenship, and acknowledging the existence of a supreme being. Texas legislators are typically males that are Anglo and republicans. They also usually have some college educated background

What the different presiding officers are:

the House of Representatives is led by the Speaker of the House. The Senate is led by the Lt. Governor called the President of the Senate

Explain the committee system and types:

§  committees exist to inform and research to develop policies in smaller groups from the general legislature. There are 4 types: 1) Substantive 2) Procedural 3) Select 4) Interim

What caucuses are and do:

they are informal groups that form around different things such as: partisanship, philosophy, race, ethnicity, or special interests. Some causes are: party, racial/ethnic, ideological, bipartisan

What powers the legislature has

1) making public policy 2) financial power and authority with the budget 3) oversight and administrative powers like investigation 4) impeachment and removal

The 3 periods of regular sessions

1^st period is 30 days devoted to introducing bills and resolutions, emergency appropriations, and confirmation or rejection of recess appointments. 2^nd period is 30 days devoted to committee considerations on bills and resolutions. 3^rd and last period is 80 days devoted to floor debate and voting on bills and resolutions