POSC10 Midterm

Hobbes philosophy

• gov necessary to restrain humanity’s natural state (war)

• w/o gov, life would be “brutish, nasty, and short”

• ppl must give up rights/liberties to gov in exchange for protection

• strong monarchy, even evil, is best gov

Locke’s philosphy

• gov primary responsibility is to protect private property

• denied divine right to govern (monarchy), ppl born equal

• social contract theory, if gov breaks improperly, breaks the contract

  • gov should preserve life, liberty, property, justice

• consent of people = true basis for right to rule

• influenced founders

Factors leading to American Revolution

• restrictions of expansion and migration of colonies

• new taxes/levies on goods/services

  • Sugar, Stamp, Tea acts, taxation without representation

• intolerable acts

  • Boston Port, Massachusetts Gov, Admin of Justice, Quartering Acts

Limitations of the Articles of Confederation

• no executive power, power vested in congress = weak gov

  • ppl more loyal to state than country

  • states retain sovereignty and independence

  • national gov unable to levy or regulate, no federal income

  • unicameral legislature (one chamber)

• no way to raise money, can’t force states into using Articles, can’t regulate trade, difficult controlling foreign affairs, no national military

Shay’s Rebellion

• impoverished farmers and veterans protesting against high taxes, debt collection, and foreclosure of farms

• catalyst for Constitution

• showed weakness of Articles since gov failed to maintain stability

The Great (CT) Compromise

• bicameral legislature

• president elected thru electoral college

• national gov supreme over state gov

3/5ths Compromise

• argument over whether slaves had congressional representation and federal taxation

• ended w/ slaves counting as 3/5ths of a person

Federalists

• proponents of constitution

• consisted of property owners, rich, higher economic class

• believed their own class more fit to govern

• favored central gov w/ 2 house legislatures, upper chamber elected by gov

• concerned about tyranny of majority over minority

Anti-federalists

• farmers, shopkeepers, laborers

• believed common man decent and democratic participation

  • saw elites as corrupt, wanted to provide greater indiv rights

• stronger state gov at expense of national gov power

  • smaller electoral districts, frequent elections, large unicameral legislature

• believed strong central gov would render states powerless, tax heavily, president too much power, gov responding to own interests

What are factions, how did Madison propose to deal with them?

• group of ppl motivated by same economic/political interest

• Madison proposed a large representative federal republic, increasing a variety of interests, making majority factions harder to form

Civil liberties

• specific rights that are guaranteed by constitution that cannot be denied to citizens of the gov

Civil rights

• rights given to groups that historically have been discriminated against that have been given equal treatment by gov and society’s opportunities

Reason for ratification of the Bill of Rights

• to appease anti-federalists concerns that there is a lack of protection for indiv liberties from the Constitution and that it created a central gov that was too powerful

Incorporation doctrine

• Supreme court legal doctrine that ensures that state/local gov follow the Bill of Rights like federal gov

• bc of due process clause of 14th amendment

Espionage Act of 1917

• designed to prevent interference w/ military operations, stop recruitment obstruction, prevent support of enemy nations

• made it illegal to make false statements intended to interfere w/ military, cause insubordination, or obstruct military recruitment or enlistment

• purpose to protect military during war time

Sedition Act of 1918

• expanded Espionage Act, broadened law to prohibit disloyal, profane, or abusive language regarding US gov

  • impedes 1st amendment right

Brandenburg v. Ohio

• BG: Brandenburg (KKK leader) convicted under Ohio’s Syndicalism Act for giving a speech w/ racist, anti-semitic, and violent rhetoric at TV event

• Issue: Court reviewed whether Ohio’s law violated 1st and 14th Amendments

• Ruling: Ohio law too broad, unable to punish for speech unless it meets following

  • speech intended to incite/produce imminent lawless action

  • speech likely to incite/produce such action

• Significance: decision invalidated “clear and present danger” making it difficult for gov to prosecute indivs for speech alone

New York Times Co. v. US and prior restraint

• BG: Ellsberg leaked a classified study to NYT and WP, Nixon admin fought to stop publication

• Issue: violated 1st amendment freedom of press

• Ruling: 6-3 in favor of NYT, believing gov did not meet heavy burden to justify prior restraint

• Significance: strengthened protections of 1st amendment, making it near impossible for gov to block media in advance

  • reaffirmed that press is used to watch gov power and is a check on the abuse of power

Griswold v. Connecticut and the right to privacy

• BG: Griswold convicted for providing contraception advice to married couples, violating 1879 state law

• Issue: CT prohibited any drug, medicinal article or instrument to prevent conception

• Ruling: Supreme Court ruled in Griswold’s favor stating that law was unconstitutional and established within constitution as the “right to privacy” from gov intrusion, esp within marital relations

• Significance: increased power of 1st amendment

Who has the right to vote in the US?

• 15th amendment guarantees right to vote for anyone regardless of race/color, doesn’t cover gender

• 19th amendment allowed women to vote

• Citizens, 18+

• NOT felons, severely mentally disabled

13th Amendment

• Banishment of slavery

14th Amendment

• All former slaves now US citizens

15th Amendment

• Right to vote for people regardless of race/color

Efforts to keep African Americans from voting in the South

• Jim Crow laws

  • required segregation within public schools/facilities, restaurants, trains etc.

  • states banned interracial marriage

• poll taxes, property taxes, literacy exams

• grandfather clauses

Civil Rights Act of 1964

• bans discrimination in public accommodations (anti-Jim Crow)

• prohibits discrimination in employment

• provides for federal gov to enforce these provisions

Voting Rights Act of 1965

• outlaws discrimination in voting (literacy tests, poll taxes)

• places states/sections of states under review for any change of voting laws

• toughest passages no longer in force, can still bring claims but burden now on claimant not state

Affirmative action

• policies designed for disadvantaged groups giving them compensatory treatment

• supreme court motions

  • Bakke v. UC Davis (racial quotas unconstitutional)

  • SFFA v. Uni of Carolina (admission based on race)

  • SFFA v. President and Fellows of Harvard Gov (^)

Federalism

• division of power btwn central gov and states, sharing sovereignty over the same territory

Confederation

• independent states unite to achieve certain specified common goals

  • national gov weak, derives power from states and is subservient to them

  • Articles of Confederation

Unitary System of Government

• constituent states are strictly under power of central gov

• sovereignty solely in central gov

Enumerated powers

• given to federal gov by constitution

  • declaring war, coining money, regulating interstate commerce

Reserved powers

• given solely to the state

  • regulating marriage, establishing schools, issuing drivers licenses

Concurrent powers

• shared by both federal and state

  • borrowing money, building highways, maintaining courts, levying taxes

Supremacy clause

• national gov supreme in conflicts btwn state and national law

• constitution cannot be interpreted different from state to state

• states cannot nullify a federal law they deem unconstitutional

The relationship between the states and the federal government under federalism (and how this relationship changed over time)

• states v. states

  • settled by supreme courts

  • 3 clauses: full faith and credit, privileges and immunities, extradition

  • horizontal federalism

• state v. local

  • states maintain considerable power though subservient to national gov

  • unitary system

  • Dillions rule: all local gov lack inherent sovereignty and must be authorized by state gov

Block grants

• grants to a state with only general spending guidlines

• advocated by Reagan in promotion of New Federalism and return of power to states

• popular for governors and states, good flexibility

• uses differ state to state

Categorical grants

• funds appropriated for a specific purpose

• allocated based on a specific formula (often population based)

• comes with detailed conditions on use

Unfunded mandates

• congress required states to implement/fund some program w/o providing funding

Reasons for low turnout

• structural

  • election timing (during week, home tasks, # of elections), election overload

• institutional

  • voter registration requirement (places more responsibility on indiv over gov)

  • turnout dropped w/ registration laws

  • laws varies across states

• individual

  • busy

  • political attitudes inconsistent w/ participation

Patterns in vote choice

• party affiliation

• race and ethnicty

  • most non-white ppl vote democratic

• gender

  • women more democratic

• religion

  • jewsn and catholics vote more democratic

  • protestants vote more republican

• income

  • higher income vote more republican

Sampling and sampling bias

• every major attribute of larger population of sample should scale up

• bias occurs from over or under-emphasizing characteristics

  • overlook homeless cell phone users

  • over represent older indivs w/ landlines

• when bias is extreme enough, sample is wrong can have disastrous results

The Literary Digest Poll and why its prediction was so wrong

• BG: 1920, LD polled over 1 mil ppl, data believed that FDR would win election by 20 pts

• actual results opposite

• sampled from 2 sources: telephones and automobile registration lists

• over-sampled affluent, resulting in major votes being republican

What is political socialization and what is the primary agent of socialization?

• the lifelong process thru which indivs acquire political attitudes, beliefs, values, and behaviors

• person’s family tend to be the biggest influence of political socialization