midterm

agency loss

The discrepancy between what citizens ideally would like their agents to do and how the agents actually behave. This is significant because it affects how people are actually represented in government as agents of the law are unable to completely do what their citizens would ideally like their agents to do. Any delegation of authority raises the possibility of agency loss.

antifederalist

A loosely organized group (never \n a formal political party) that opposed ratification of the Constitution, which the group believed would jeopardize individual freedom and states’ rights. After ratification, the efforts of the Antifederalists led to adoption of the first ten amendments, the Bill of Rights. This was done to protect the people from tyranny.

articles of confederation

The compact among the thirteen original states that formed the basis of the first national government of the United States from 1777 to 1789, when it was supplanted by the Constitution. It gave too little power to the federal government and was thus very weak and replaced by the Constitution

bicameralism

The practice of having two legislative or parliamentary chambers that share power. In the US this resolved the dispute of popular representation through the creation of the House and the Senate. However, this created a problem of malapportionment.

bill of rights

The first ten amendments to the US Constitution. It was brought to help prevent tyranny and was adopted because of the AntiFederalists.

checks and balances

A constitutional mechanism giving each branch some oversight and control of the other branches. Examples are the presidential veto, Senate approval of presidential appointments, and judicial review of presidential and congressional actions. This helps prevent unfair control of power.

cloture

A parliamentary procedure used to close debate. Cloture is used in the Senate to cut off filibusters. Under the current Senate rules, three-fifths of senators, or sixty, must vote for cloture to halt a filibuster except on presidential nominations to offices other than Supreme Court justice. This is important because it makes the legislative process continue on.

collective action

An action taken by a group of like-minded individuals to achieve a common goal. This helps push action and often involves compromise.

commerce clause

The clause in Article I, Section 8, of the Constitution that gives Congress the authority to regulate commerce with other nations and among the states. This is significant because it gives the federal government power over the states. It’s one of the core powers Congress has, and states cannot because Congress is explicitly stated.

confederation

A political system in which states or regional governments retain ultimate authority except for those powers they expressly delegate to a central government. It gives the states power and allows the states to have their own sovereignty.

divided government

A term used to describe government when one political party controls the executive branch and the other political party controls one or both houses of the legislature. This could possibly hinder legislative progression, but could also prevent total domination of important legislature.

dual federalism

A system of government in which the federal government and state governments each have mutually exclusive spheres of action. This shows that federal and state government can coexist.

electoral connection

A book by Mayhew where he details that most legislators do “cheap talk”. Mayhew argues that most legislators are motivated by re-election. They mainly do so through advertising, credit claiming, and position taking.

electoral college

A body of electors in each state, chosen by voters, who formally elect the president and vice president of the United States. Each state’s number of electoral votes equals its representation in Congress; the District of Columbia has three votes. An absolute majority of the total electoral vote is required to elect a president and vice president, that being 270.

enumerated powers

The explicit powers given to Congress by the Constitution in Article I, Section 8. These include the powers of taxation, coinage of money, regulation of commerce, and provision for the national defense. This is significant as it specifically outlines the powers of the federal government, thus, in a sense limiting its powers.

executive order

A presidential directive to an executive agency establishing new policies or indicating how an existing policy is to be carried out. This gives the President power to directly enforce policies. This is as much power as a law.

federalist

Name given to two related, but not identical, groups in late-eighteenth-century American politics. The first group, led by Alexander Hamilton and James Madison, supported ratification of the Constitution in 1787 and 1788. Subsequently, Hamilton and John Adams led the second group, the Federalist Party, which dominated national politics during the administrations of George Washington (1789–1797) and Adams (1797–1801).

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They supported a strong federal government and laid the foundations of the government.

federalist 51

Papers convincing the people to support the new constitution with the checks and balances of the new system. It focused on the limitation of the concentration of power.

free-rider problem

A situation in which individuals can receive the benefits from a collective activity whether or not they helped to pay for it, leaving them with no incentive to contribute. This is significant as it increased the cost of the collective activity per individual.

gerrymandering

Drawing legislative districts in such a way as to give one political party a disproportionately large share of seats for the share of votes its candidates win. This is significant as it blocks proper representation of voters as it redistricts to favor one political figure over another.

grants to the states

Also known as the “Carrot”, simply put its grants with “strings” attached. So the federal government gets something in exchange for money given to the state. This is important as it’s almost an exchange. The state gets money in exchange for furthering the federal government’s goals.

great compromise

The agreement between large and small states at the Constitutional Convention (1787) that decided the selection and composition of Congress. The compromise stipulated that the lower chamber (House of Representatives) be chosen by direct popular vote and that the upper chamber (Senate) be selected by the state legislatures. Representation in the House would be proportional to a state’s population; in the Senate each state would have two members.

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This is significant as it lead to the US senate being one of the most malapportioned government bodies in the world.

incorporation

The Supreme Court’s extension of the guarantees of the Bill of Rights to state and local governments through its various interpretations of the Fourteenth Amendment.

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This gives the people protection from the state and local government as well, which is significant, especially since these protections were specifically designated for the federal government.

incumbency advantage

Incumbent reelection rates are over 80%.

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Incumbents have advantages newcomers wouldn’t have, these include: resources and staff, brand name, experience, and power.

Although there are advantages with incumbency, there are also advantages newcomers have

insurance company with an army

This is an analogy for the federal government. The insurance aspect is the fact that there are guaranteed benefits based on legislation. And the army aspect is due to the federal government having a military.

judicial review

The authority of a court to declare legislative and executive acts unconstitutional and therefore invalid.

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This power was given to the courts after Marbury v Madison. It gave the Supreme Court to declare congress unconstitutional. This serves as an important form of checks and balances

majority rule

The principle that decisions should reflect the preferences of more than half of those voting. Decision-making by majority rule is one of the fundamental procedures of democracy.

This is significant as it ensures the desires of the people (or at least the majority) are answered for

nationalization of politics

The shifting of political agenda within the local, state, and federal level, specifically becoming a national political or debate issue. Shifting to the national government responsibilities traditionally exercised by the states. People care less about local politics, leading to small local voter turnout.

necessary and proper clause

the last clause of article 1 section 8, it grants congress the power to make all laws that are necessary and proper and to execute those laws→ founders foresaw problems that they would not be able to predict, so gave the constitution and government a way to persist through changing times

New Jersey plan

This plan featured a unicameral legislative body, every state would get an equal number of delegates, they wanted a legislature with more power than the Articles of Confederation, they also wanted a plural executive elected by legislature for the sake of diffused power.

This plan is significant because we can see the roots of the Great Compromise and the form of government which would benefit the smaller states or those who favored state’s rights. The Great Compromise ended up adopting representation by state in the Senate to please the smaller states.

pork barrel legislation

Legislation that provides members of Congress with federal projects and programs for their individual districts.

This is significant as this is often times highly unethical. Constituents get an unfair portion of federal spending in exchange, and this funding comes from federal taxes, such as the federal income tax. Thus, money collected from the people are not being used in a way which equally benefits society. However, this is also incredibly nuanced as legislators are pressured to fulfill their constituent’s desires in order to be elected again.

primary election

An election held before the general election in which voters decide which of a party’s candidates will be the party’s nominee for the general election.

This is significant as the results dictate who will eventually run for public office.

prisoner’s dilemma

A situation in which two (or more) actors cannot agree to cooperate for fear that the other will find its interest best served by reneging on an agreement.

This is significant as it shows how self interest will impede on the best possible solution. The Federal government in the US was designed to help avoid the prisoner’s dilemma a much as possible through the federal government’s ability to declare war and such.

republic

A form of democracy in which power is vested in elected representatives.

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The United States is a democratic Republic. It is a republic in the sense that chosen electives vote for the President through the electoral college, but democratic in the sense that local elections are direct in election, as well as congressional elections.

separation of powers

The distribution of government powers among several political institutions. In the United States, at the national level power is divided between the three branches: Congress, the president, and the Supreme Court. This is significant as it helps avoid tyranny and unfair control of power through centralized power.

shared federalism

A system in which the national and state governments share in providing citizens with a set of goods.

This is significant as this idea applies to several shared powers such as taxation, borrowing money, charter banks and corporations, and enforcing laws and administering a judiciary

speaker of the house

The presiding officer of the House of Representatives. The Speaker is elected at the beginning of each congressional session on a party-line vote. As head of the majority party, the Speaker has substantial control over the legislative agenda of the House.

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This is significant as the powers given to the Speaker of the House are dependent on conditional party government, meaning that the power given to the party majority is based on the ideological consensus among members of the party.

status quo bias

Institutional bias that fundamentally favors continuation of current public policy.

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It is much easier to “kill” a bill than it is to pass one, meaning that there is a higher transaction cost of passing a bill and the bill must consecutively pass process after process to be passed.

supermajority

A majority larger than a simple 51 percent majority, which is required for extraordinary legislative actions such as amending the Constitution or certain congressional procedures. For example, in the Senate sixty votes are required to stop a filibuster.

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This is significant as it ensures that the vast majority of people agree with the action. This way, legislative actions will be better received as the vast majority of people approve of and agree with this decision.

supremacy clause

A clause in Article VI of the Constitution declaring that national laws are the “supreme” law of the land and therefore take precedence over any laws adopted by states or localities.

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This is significant as it ensures that the federal government is powerful enough to make the states work in unison.

ticket-splitting

The act of voting for candidates from different political parties for different offices—for example, voting for a Republican for president and a Democrat for senator.

Although this phenomenon may not make sense at a first glance, it is significant as it helps voters get what they want, for example if they want local issues to be fixed, regardless of what party they prefer, they may pick a mayor who promises to fix for example street lights while voting for their preferred party during the presidential campaign.

transaction cost

The costs of doing political business reflected in the time and effort required to compare preferences and negotiate compromises in making collective decisions.

this is significant as it is another aspect to consider when making or producing legislature and the feasibility of said legislature

tyranny of the majority

This is a weakness to majority rule, where the majority will do as it pleases in favor of the majority such as making policies or taking actions, however this often times oppresses the minority.

unanimous consent agreement

A unanimous resolution in the Senate restricting debate and limiting amendments to bills on the floor.

Unanimous consent is when nobody objects which is significant as it shows complete support for an action or a decision

unfunded mandate

Also referred to as the “stick” where states may be required to administer policies they might object to or may even be asked to pay

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These oftentimes deal with accessibility such as the education for all handicapped children act or the civil rights act

unitary government

A system of government in which a single government unit holds the power to govern the nation (in contrast to a federal system, in which power is shared among many governing units

veto

The formal power of the president to reject bills passed by both houses of Congress. A veto can be overridden by a two-thirds vote in each house.

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This is significant as it is a crucial aspect of the checks and balances system that is enforced

virginia plan

Constitutional blueprint drafted by James Madison that sought to reform the Articles of Confederation. Introduced at the Constitutional Convention (1787), the plan proposed a tripartite national government, but unlike the subsequent Constitution, it provided for a popularly elected legislature that would dominate national policymaking.

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bicameral legislature, representation based on population, powerful legislature that could make any law, and indirect executives (like prime ministers in other countries) that were elected by a lower house, not by the people

1st amendment

freedom of religion, petition, assembly, and speech

2nd amendment

right to bear arms

3rd amendment

soldiers can’t force themselves into your house

4th amendment

unreasonable search and seizure

5th amendment

due process, private property can’t be taken for public use without just compensation

6th amendment

speedy trial, jury,

7th amendment

jury trial in certain civil cases

8th amendment

excessive bail

9th amendment

enumerated rights shall not be used to construe or disparage the rights of others

10th amendment

non enumerated powers are reserved for the states