OU Tyler Johnson American Federal Gov. Exam 1

What are the three P's? (Potential explanatory variable for pessimism)

Policy

Players

Processes

3 reasons of low participation ?

They can't, They don't want to, and no one asked

4 reasons why they participate?

Material benefits

Collective Outcome

Social gratification

Civil Gratification

Gosnell's reasons for Non Voting

Physical Difficulties (Sickness)

Legal Admin (No ID, fear of loss of business or wages),

They don't believe in it (disbelief in women’s voting, disgust with politics), Inertia.

Participation Outcomes

Awareness, Engagement, and Voice of underrepresented

3 ways to change the constitution?

Revolution, Amendments, Interpretation

What are ways that are blocking change to government?

Military, Cost, and Time

Components of Stealth amending?

It's sneaky, It's secretive, It's undetectable

How many governments are there in the United States?

89,000

Chain of federalism?

Fed-State-County-Cities-School/Local

Miller and Stokes classic model of representation

How often a representative votes the way the majority wants - idea of congruence rather than voting the way they may personally feel;
The public controls reps through elections

What are three main restrictions?

Time, Place, and Manner

What is Gillions continuum?

Protest leads to awareness leads to change

What are the judicial philosophies om how to interpret the consitution?

Textualism

Originalism

Strict

Living constitution

what challenges are considered in the constitution’s amendability?

No amendability/rigid - Risk of losing legitimacy

Easily amended _ constitution becomes a weapon

braod categories of recent proposed amendments

rights

electoral changes

values

Diffrent types of representation

Delegate, Partisan, Trustee, Politico, Descriptive, Collective

Delegate

Do what the district wants

Partisan

Do what the pary wants

Trustee

Do what I think is best

Politico

Choose one fo the above based on issue

Descriptive

Think demographically/identify and link to underrepresented groups

collective

elected officials stand for groups broader, more dispersed than a geographical location

pros of federalism?

increased opportunities for citizens

try different approaches/expermentation

respect of subculture

handle the size of the country

cons of federalism

lack of uniformity in law from place to place

coordination/collaboration is difficult

confusion in where to go get problems solved

textbook defition of civil liberties"

"Limitations on government power, intended to protect freedoms upon which government may not legally intrude"

5 fredoms provided by the first amendment

speech, religion, assembly, petition of the government, free press

What is a critique of the first amendment that some Americans agree with?

30% of Americans agree with the statement "The first amendment goes too far in the rights it guarantees"

How does the free exercise clause protect Americans?

The free exercise clause prohibits the government from regulating religious beliefs and practices

Ideal of federalism vs. reality of federalism in America

Ideal: "system of shared sovereignty between two levels of government (one national and one subnational) occupying the same geographical region";

In America: a bunch of subnational levels of government

Eulau and Karps perspective on representation?

service, allocation of resources, symbolic representation

Are americans satisified or dissatisfied with he state of the union?

Dissatisfied

what shapes decision-making

• constituency interests

• presidential interest

• group interest

• personal interest

• party interest

What is government?

the means by which a society organizes itself and how it allocates authority in order to accomplish collective goals and provide benefits that the society needs

politics

process of gaining and exercising control within a gov for the purpose of setting and acheiving particualr goals

democracy

a political system in which people govern themselves

democracy w capitalism

democratic government promotes individualism and the freedom to act as one chooses, capitalism in turn relies on individualism

socialism

the means of generating wealth is owned by the government

oligarchy

China: when the government is run by the members of CCP

if gov chooses to support invidualism

government may loosen regulation on business and industries or cut taxes so people have more money to invest in business

equalitarianism

equal treatment for all and destruction of socioeconomics equalities

if gov chose equalitarianism

raise taxes in order to spend more on public education, transportation, housing

politics

is the process choices are made how resources will be allocated and which economic and social politics government will pursue.

Indivual liberty

1st Amendment

representative democracy

elect representative to a make decision and pass law on behalf of all the people.

direct democracy

people participate in directly making government decision - ancient athens.

elite theory

that a set of elite citizens is really in chanrge of government in the U.S gov and others have no influence

pluraist

political power tests w/ competing interest groups who share influence in government

C Wright Mills argued gov was controlled by a combination of

1. business

2. military

3. political beliefs

social capital

the collective value of all social network and the inclination that arise from these networks to do things for each other.

natual rights

beleived to be God-given rights to life, liberty, and property.