government exam 3 part two

generally speaking, what do state governments do?

enforce state laws, conduct elections, create and collect state taxes

what aspects of elections do states/localities control?

the rules, procedures, timing, overall logistics. controlling who can vote and how. they manage the operation of Election Day.

what aspects of elections do the federal government control?

enforcing rules/laws of who can vote, and campaign rules for federal candidates.

what are some typical state taxes? are they typically more progressive or more regressive?

sales tax, property tax, income tax (most have), corporate tax, excise (alcohol) tax. they’re regressive.

what’s the difference between a county and a city?

county is an official state division that covers a large area of land, including multiple cities. a city is a small specific area with a corporate charter.

what powers are assigned to counties for elections? what county-level position usually leads their county’s election processes?

maintaining registration rolls, preparing polling sites, administration and staffing, recording/oversight of votes. Supervisor of Elections oversees it.

who is Alexis de Tocqueville? what did he believe about Americans and their culture compared to Europe?

an early observer of america. he believed americans are hopeful, prosperous, and free. a model for the rest of the world.

what are some claims about components of American exceptionalism that are generally accepted?

religion, individualism, diversity, patriotism, and class consciousness.

when compared to those in other countries, how are Americans different across each of the five accepted claims of American exceptionalism?

more than half the country practices religion, and we have higher religiosity (degree of engagement with religion) than other advanced countries. we are more diverse, and individualistic/free speech. although we have weaker class consciousness.

what did the founding fathers think about political parties? how quickly did we get parties?

they hated or underestimated them. they mostly saw them as dividing and intolerant (feared groups only cared about their own side and would turn into competition). almost immediately because of disagreements between hamilton and jefferson.

what is the first function of parties? what is a long coalition? what are their goals?

parties in the government. parties allowing legislators to form long coalitions in the government (power sharing arrangement to always vote together). their goals were to ensure voting together, and avoid votes that will spilt members.

what was the defining issue that Federalists and Democratic-Republicans fought over during the First Party System?

over how much power the federal government should have. federalists wanted a strong central government, while democratic-republicans wanted more power for the states.

how did the Republican Party originally form? what was the first Party System to feature Republicans versus Democrats?

it formed in the 1850s to stop slavery from spreading. the third party system was the first one to feature republicans vs democrats.

how do the parties “flip” in terms of issues/coalitions during the Fifth Party System?

the parties swapped voters over civil rights. white southerners moved to the republican side while northern liberals moved to democrats because the democrat party turned into advocating for civil rights/social programs.

what is duverger’s law? how does it explain our two-party system?

where a multiparty system cannot occur in election systems (only two-party). It explains it because theirs no point wasting your vote on a third party that has no chance. the two big parties have the only shot.