GOVT 2305 Final Study

According to the preamble of the Constitution, the functions of government are to...

Establish justice, ensure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty.

Politics is...

The making of policy decisions; who gets what, when, and how.

What is a republic?

A representative, or indirect government acting with the consent of the governed.

With the Great compromise, the framers

a House of Representatives, apportioned by each state's population, and a Senate with two members from each state, chosen by the state legislatures.

Three branches of government based on separation of powers among the...

Legislature, executive, and the judiciary; checks and balanced of each branch against the other two.

To ratify an amendment to the constitution...

It takes 2/3 approval of the US House and Senate, plus 3/4 approval of the state legislatures.

What is federalism?

The allocation of power between the national government and the states.

Significance of states?

They are the basic unit of government; establish local governments and are the building blocks of the federal government

Many states offer their votes one or more of these methods of direct democracy:

Direct initiative, indirect initiative, referendum, or recall

A bill, or proposed law, can only become a law if it is passed by...

Both houses of congress and approved by president.

Difference between "delegate" and "trustee"

A member of congress votes based on what his or her constituents want. A legislature would vote according to their own best judgement.

Magic numbers in the Senate and what they do.

41 to maintain a filibuster and prevent voting on senate floor. 60 to invoke cloture, close off debate to end filibuster.

Where do members of congress have their constituencies?

Both in their home districts and in Washington, D.C.

What does the War Powers Act of 1973 do?

Limits presidential authority, requires president to notify congress within 48 hours of sending troops overseas and to get congressional approval to put US forced to combat for more than 60 days.

What can the president do with approval of the senate?

Appoint executive officials, ambassadors, federal judges, and make treaties.

What is an executive order? What's the difference between it and a law?

A rule or regulation issued by the president. It can be reversed immediately by any later president.

Why does a bureaucracy exist and how is it designed to be?

It exists for the public good, and is designed to be impersonal. It gets its money from taxpayers but is not directly accountable to them.

What is the philosophy of judicial restraint?

It holds that courts should not seek to make policy. The Supreme Court must apply the original understanding of the Framers' intentions to its interpretation of the Constitution.

Each of the nine Supreme Court justices may issue or join in one of these three opinions:

For the majority, in concurrence (with majority), or dissenting.

The Bill of Rights...

First ten amendments to the US constitution, largely guarantees specific rights and liberties.

The First amendment says...

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.

The Supreme Court's decision in Pleggy v. Ferguson (1896)

Allowed racial segregation laws ignoring the Fourteenth Amendment's guarantee of equal protection of rights by the states.

Civil Rights Act of 1964

Banned discrimination in voting registration, public accommodations, public schools and facilities, and employment.

Political action committees (PACs)

Fund-raising committees that represent interest groups by giving campaign money to candidates for office.

What are public opinion polls?

Interviews or surveys with samples of people to measure the opinions of an entire population.

Democratic Party & Republican Party origins

1800 to limit government and expand the franchise; now is the liberal/left party. 1854 as an anti-slavery party; now is the conservative/right party.

Major political parties functions:

Form coalitions, recruit candidates for office, offer choice of candidates and programs, manage the transfer of power, staff and run the government, link the branches and levels of government, and make elected officials accountable to the voters.

The Constitution established..

An electoral college to select the president indirectly, it represented a compromise between direct popular election of the president and selection of the president by Congress.

Get-out-the-vote (GOTV)

Campaign activities to push political voters to the polls on election day.

Paid Media v. Free Media

Purchased print, radio, and TV campaign advertising. Positive press coverage by reporters for print and electronic news outlets.

Print media and Broadcast media

There is almost no regulation. Only slightly more regulation.

News paper industry

Shrinking, fewer daily papers, fewer readers, less competition, concentration for ownerships in a few large chains.

How can the media influence politics?

Through their use of agenda-setting, framing, gatekeeping, and priming of news stories. Most mainstream outlets have a liberal political bias.

Massive federal government intervention in the economy began with...

Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal programs. Did not end the Great Depression, but extended it.

To save social security for future generations...

Increase payroll tax, cut benefit levels, increase the retirement age, start means-testing for benefits, or use private accounts to allow workers to invest for greater returns.

If you want more of something, __________. If you want less of something, ______________.

Subsidize it. Tax it.

Government regulations regularly...

channel and slow economy activity.

League of Nations, United Nations, NATO were all designed...

Collective security, if one member nation was attacked, others would defend.

A tiny minority of Muslims world wide are...

Radical, fundamentalist "Islamists." Islamist enemies of America and West are Islamist Shia, like Iran's ruling mullahs. Wahabbist Suni Islamist, like al Qaeda.

The cold war was...

Usually fought through surrogates, brinksmanship, diplomacy, and espionage. Only occasionally flares into a shooting hot war, never directly between the US and Soviet Union.