AP US Government and Politics - Unit 4

equality of opportunity

A widely shared American ideal that all people should have the freedom to use whatever talents and wealth they have to reach their fullest potential.

equality of results

Distributing desired things equally to all groups, including those who are historically disadvantaged due to race, ethnicity, gender or socioeconomic status.

political culture

An overall set of values widely shared within a society.

political socialization

The process through which individuals in a society acquire political attitudes, views, and knowledge, based on inputs from family, schools, the media, and others.

political ideology

A coherent set of beliefs about politics, public policy, and public purpose, which helps give meaning to political events.

reformer

A person devoted to bringing about reform, as in politics or society.

exit poll

Public opinion surveys used by major media pollsters to predict electoral winners with speed and precision.

framing

The way an issue is posed; how an issue is framed can significantly affect decisions and judgments.

margin of error

Rate of error in a random sampling - usually +/- 3% for a sample of at least 1,500 individuals.

public opinion

The distribution of the population's beliefs about politics and policy issues.

push poll

A type of poll that attempts to influence opinions secretly using a poll.

random sampling

The key technique employed by survey researchers, which operates on the principle that everyone should have an equal probability of being selected for the sample.

sample

A relatively small proportion of people who are chosen in a survey so as to be representative of the whole.

sampling error

The level of confidence in the findings of a public opinion poll. The more people interviewed, the more confident one can be of the results.

conservatism

A political philosophy based on tradition and social stability, stressing established institutions, and preferring gradual development to abrupt change and little to no restrictions economically.

liberalism

A political philosophy based on belief in progress, the essential goodness of the human race, and the autonomy of the individual and standing for the protection of political and civil liberties while preferring economic protections through regulations.

libertarianism

A laissez-faire political philosophy advocating only minimal state intervention in the lives of citizens.

progressive

A person who favors progress or reform of current positions, especially in political matters.

radical

Political views, practices, and policies of extreme change.

reactionary

Opposing political or social change and a desire to revert back.

moderate

Professing or characterized by political or social beliefs that are not extreme or beliefs from multiple ideologies.

authoritarian

A style of government characterized by submission to authority. It tends to oppose individualism and democracy. In its most extreme cases it is one in which political power is concentrated in a leader or leaders, who possess exclusive, unaccountable, and arbitrary power.

Blue Dog Democrats

Fiscally conservative Democrats who are mostly from the South and/or rural parts of the United States.

Democratic Party

One of the two main political parties in the United States that favors liberal policies.

Republican Party

One of the two main political parties in the United States that favors conservative policies.

policy agenda

The issues that attract the serious attention of public officials and other people actively involved in politics at the time.

Medicaid

A public assistance program designed to provide health care for poor Americans and funded by both the states and the national government.

gross domestic product

The sum total of the value of all the goods and services produced in a year in a nation.

entitlements

Policies for which Congress has obligated itself to pay X level of benefits to Y number of recipients. Social Security benefits are an example.

income tax

Shares of individual wages and corporate revenues collected by the government. The Sixteenth Amendment explicitly authorized Congress to levy a tax on income.

Medicare

A program added to the Social Security system in 1965 that provides hospitalization insurance for the elderly and permits older Americans to purchase inexpensive coverage for doctor fees and other medical expenses.

revenues

The financial resources of the government. The individual income tax and Social Security tax are two major sources of the federal government's revenue

Social Security Act of 1935

Created both the Social Security program and a national assistance program for poor families, usually called Aid to Families with Dependent Children.

consumer price index

The key measure of inflation—the change in the cost of buying a fixed basket of goods and services.

Earned Income Tax Credit

Also known as the EITC, a refundable federal income tax credit for low- to moderate-income working individuals and families, even if they did not earn enough money to be required to file a tax return.

entitlement programs

Government programs providing benefits to qualified individuals regardless of need.

Federal Reserve System

The main instrument for making monetary policy in the United States. It was created by Congress in 1913 to regulate the lending practices of banks and thus the money supply.

fiscal policy

Use of the federal budget—taxes, spending, and borrowing—to influence the economy; along with monetary policy, a main tool by which the government can attempt to steer the economy. Fiscal policy is almost entirely determined by Congress and the president.

income distribution

The way the national income is divided into "shares" ranging from the poor to the rich.

inflation

A rise in price of goods and services.

demand-side economics (Keynesian)

Named after English economist John Maynard Keynes, the theory emphasizing that government spending and deficits can help the economy deal with its ups and downs. Proponents of this theory advocate using the power of government to stimulate the economy when it is lagging.

supply-side economics

An economic theory, first applied during the Reagan administration, holding that the key task for fiscal policy is to stimulate the supply of goods, as by cutting tax rates.

laissez-faire

The principle that government should not meddle in the economy.

means-tested programs

Government programs providing benefits only to individuals who qualify based on specific needs.

monetarism

An economic theory holding that the supply of money is the key to a nation's economic health, with too much cash and credit in circulation producing inflation.

monetary policy

Government manipulation of the supply of money in private hands—one of two important tools by which the government can attempt to steer the economy.

poverty line

The income threshold below which people are considered poor, based on what a family must spend for an "austere" standard of living, traditionally set at three times the cost of a subsistence diet.

progressive tax

A tax by which the government takes a greater share of the income of the rich than of the poor— for example, when a rich family pays 50 percent of its income in taxes, and a poor family pays 5 percent.

flat (proportional) tax

A tax by which the government takes the same share of income from everyone, rich and poor alike.

redistributive policy

A policy that provides to one group of society while taking from another through policy solutions, such as tax increases to pay for job training.

regressive tax

A tax in which the burden falls relatively more heavily on low-income groups than on wealthy taxpayers. The opposite of a progressive tax, in which tax rates increase as income increases.

Social Security Trust Fund

The "account" into which Social Security employee and employer contributions are "deposited" and used to pay out eligible recipients.

social welfare policies

Policies that provide benefits, cash or in-kind, to individuals, based on either entitlement or means testing.

surplus

A situation where revenue exceeds expenditures.

transfer payments

Benefits given by the government directly to individuals—either cash transfers, such as Social Security payments, or in-kind transfers, such as food stamps and low-interest college loans.

underemployment rate

Expenditures that are determined by how many eligible beneficiaries there are for a program or by previous obligations of the government and that Congress therefore cannot easily control.

unemployment rate

As measured by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the proportion of the labor force actively seeking work but unable to find jobs.

vouchers

Money government provides to parents to pay their children's tuition in a public or private school of their choice.

superfund

A fund created by Congress in 1980 to clean up hazardous waste sites. Money for the fund comes from taxing chemical products.

tariff

A special tax added to imported goods to raise their price (passed onto consumers), thereby protecting businesses and workers from foreign competition.