Government and Politics Unit 5

Suffrage

The right to vote in elections :3

Electorate

all the people in a country or area who are entitled to vote in an election.

15th amendment

race should not prevent someone from voting

17th amendment

direct votes for senators

19th amendment

women can vote now :D

24th amendment

no poll tax

26th amendment

people can vote from age 18, not 21

Direct primary

preliminary election where the people vote for a party’s candidates → less than 25% of Americans show up

Recall

power of voters to remove a person from office through a vote before the end of their term; typically only for local offices (clearly not the president)

Referendum

a vote where the people decide on a specific policy (a public vote a law dealing with a specific issue)

Initiative

allows citizens to bypass state legislature to place proposed statues (in rare cases, even constitutional amendments) on ballots

Rational-choice voting

where you actually do research and think about which president would best represent your values in office and vote for that candidate

Retrospective voting

where you think about a candidate’s past actions (fairly recent past) and vote based on that

Prospective voting

where you vote based on how you think a person will do in office

Party-line voting

where you don’t really do any research and just vote based on your party :0

Motor voter law

requires states to allow voters to register by mail when they apply for a drivers license. Makes it easier for voters to register

Primary elections

the election where voters indicate which member of a party’s candidate they prefer

Closed primary

if you are not part of the candidate, you CANNOT vote in that primary

Open primary

primary election where people are not required to state their party affiliation (republicans can vote in democrat open primaries, etc.)

Nonpartisan Blanket primary

primary election where all the candidates running for an office run against each other at once instead of being divided into parties

General elections

Elections that actually put people in office

Midterm elections

general elections that happen directly in between a president’s 4 year term (ex. Congress seats)

Coattail effect

a phenomenon where a popular party leader (typically a president) is able to get votes for another candidate of the same party

Caucus

where people take an entire evening to walk around and stand next to which candidate they like → the candidate with the lowest vote gets eliminated and the voters choose another person (problem is that everybody can see which person you vote for)

Super Tuesday

United States’ presidential primary election day when greatest number of states hold primary elections or caucuses

Superdelegates

In the democratic party, where a delegate is unpledged, meaning that they can vote for whoever they want, not necessarily reflecting the beliefs of the people

Electoral college

the true voting system of the United States (majority vote)

Critical elections

an election that leads to major party realignment

Realigning elections

synonym for critical elections where there is an election that leads to a major party realignment

Dealigning elections

where an entire voter group abandons a party to become independent or nonvoting

Split-ticket voting

choosing republicans there, democrats here, republicans over there, etc.

Federal Election Commission

endorses federal campaign finance laws; public funding laws and contribution limits

Freedom of expression

right to hold any belief you have and express them freely without interference

Soft money

money that is donated indirectly → money given to the party, not the candidate (there is no restriction on the amount of money that can be given this way

Hard money

money that is donated directly to the candidate; there is a cap on the amount of money that can be given in this way

Federal Election Campaign Act 1974

Federal Election Commission

* limit on how much money is given
* limit on how much money they can spend

Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act (BCRA)

Set a restriction on soft money

Citizens United v. FEC

Limits on contributions from individuals/corporations = violation of 1st amendment freedom of speech rights

* political spending = protected speech

Two-party system

nearly all candidates are part of 1 of 2 parties (only a very few number are independent or 3rd party)

New Deal coalition

alignment of interest groups and voting blocs that supported the new deal and voted democrat from 1932-late 1960s

Divided government

when the executive and the legislative branches are of two different parties (example, when the president is democrat and the majority of the legislative branch is republican)

Gridlock

the government can’t get anything done because the government is divided between the two parties

Straight ticket

where you vote for the same party for all offices

Candidate centered campaigns

where the candidate themselves has a fanbase and the people vote for the individuals themselves, not their party (typically based on wealth and/or media exposure)

Interest groups

an organization of people that is interested in furthering a specific area and use various forms of advocacy to influence public opinion or policy

Political action committees (PACs)

raise money to influence people to vote for candidate

* connected → formed by corps or other entities
* only collect funds from members of their organization (donated directly to candidates + unlimited $ as long as individual limits are obeyed)
* non-connected → independently
* around specific interest (like gun-laws)
* limited by law
* accept donations from public + donate directly
* super → formed by anyone
* unlimited donations
* cannot coordinate with a candidate

Lobbying

seek to influence a politician or public official on an issue

Grassroots

influencing government officials by pressuring them through mail, letters, phone calls, etc. from large number of constituents

Iron triangle

relationship between bureaucracy, interest groups, and congress

Issue network

alliance between multiple interest groups + individuals to promote a common cause that influences government policy

Mass media

means of communication (news, television, movies, etc.)

Gatekeepers

the press calls attention to certain issues → the media sets the issues that politicians have to address

Media events

events that are staged for the media that look spontaneous

* ex. a president going to local stores to show that they are down-to-earth

Trial balloon

intentional news leak for political attention

Agenda setting

the power of the news media to place certain importance of topics on the “public agenda”

Fiscal policy

the use of government spending and taxation to influence the economy (expansionary + contractionary)

Monetary policy

set of actions the government takes to control the nation’s money supply and achieve economic growth

Discretionary spending

spending that must be approved every year (amounts can be raised or lowered)

* everything other than social security, medicaid, and interest on debt (SIM)

National debt

the total amount of money that the government borrowed (by various means)

Federal budget

the amount of money that is available for the federal government to spend in a specific year

Social welfare programs

programs that offer assistance to individuals in need (health care assistance, etc.)

Entitlement programs

a government program that guarantees benefits to a specific group of people

ex. food stamps, veteran’s admin programs

Fiscal year

a 12 month period for accounting or bookkeeping (typically does not coincide with regular year

* october - september

Appropriations

money set aside for a specific purpose (both mandatory and discretionary spending)

* for discretionary, has to go through a budget request with 12 house and 12 senate appropriations subcommittees

North American Free Trade Agreement
(NAFTA

reduced or limited tariffs between canada, us, and mexico, encouraging trade between the 3 countries

* typically on agricultural

United States-Mexico-Canada
Agreement (USMCA)

replaced NAFTA

more balanced than NAFTA

has to be renewed every 6 years

Mandatory spending

government spending that stays the same (no annual approval)

* social security, medicaid, and interest on debt (SIM)