Exam 1

Why does government matter?

-You cannot escape it, it is everywhere
-We do not realize or we take for granted

The Policymaking System starts with ______. What are the components of this?

What is the 2nd step of The Policymaking System and its components?

What is the 3rd step of The Policymaking System and its components?

What is the 4th step of The Policymaking System and its components?

What is the last step of The Policymaking System and its components?

Define political culture

Broadly shared values, beliefs, and attitudes about how government and society should function

Political culture in U.S. states, according to political scientist Daniel Elazar:

• Moralistic

• Individualistic

• Traditionalistic

What is Texas political culture?

Define government

the institutions that make authoritatively binding decisions for society

Define politics, what is Harold Laswell’s definition?

Politics – the process through which these decisions are made

Harold Laswell – who gets what, when, and how.

What is the first part of Comparative Study of States and Communities?

Describes politics and public policy, and explains the differences from state to state and community to community

What is the 2nd part of Comparative Study of States and Communities?

Analyzes socioeconomic and political environments to arrive at explanations

What is the 3rd part of Comparative Study of States and Communities?

States and communities provide excellent “laboratories” for applying comparative analysis

What socioeconomic factors can we compare? What ideologies can we compare?

Socioeconomic: Education, Income, Race and Ethnic Composition

Ideologies: Liberalism and Conservatism

Define Liberalism in the states

A state’s tendency to expand welfare benefits, regulate business, adopt progressive state income taxes, and generally use government to achieve social change

Define Conservatism in the states

A state’s tendency to limit the welfare benefits, deregulate business, keep taxes low, and generally place less reliance on government and more reliance on individuals and the marketplace to achieve social goals

What is Federalism vs Unitary vs Confederation?

Why is Federalism so important in politics and policies?

What is the Constitutional Basis of Federalism?

The division of power, Supremacy Clause Article VI

What does the Supremacy Clause: Article VI of the Constitution state?

states the following are supreme:
• The U.S. Constitution
• Laws of Congress
• Treaties

What does the tenth amendment state about federalism?

national government cannot usurp state powers

Which war established national supremacy?

The Civil War (1861-1865)

What did the McCulloch v. Maryland (1819) case establish?

Established supremacy of federal law over state law. Enumerated and implied powers.

What did the Gibbons v. Ogden (1824) case establish?

the Commerce Clause gives Congress exclusive power to regulate interstate commerce

What did Brown v. Board of Education (1954) establish?

racial segregation in public schools violates the Fourteenth Amendment's Equal Protection Clause

What does Full Faith and Credit of Article IV, Section I of Constitution mean?

Each state must recognize official documents and judgments rendered by other states

What does Privileges and Communities of Article IV, Section 2 of Constitution mean?

Citizens of each state have privileges of citizens of other states.

What is extradition?

States must return a person charged with a crime in another state to that state for punishment.

What is Dual Federalism?

A system of government in which both the states and the national government remain supreme within their own spheres, each responsible for some policies

What is Cooperative Federalism?

A system of government in which powers and policy assignments are shared between states and the national government.

What does Fiscal Federalism mean?

The pattern of spending, taxing, and providing grants in the federal system

Fiscal Federalism - What is The Grant System?

How todays Intergovernmental Relations distribute the federal pie

What are Categorical Grants? What are the two types (Project vs Formula)?

-federal grants that can be used for specific purposes; grants with strings attached

-Project Grants: based on merit

-Formula Grants: amount varies based on formulas

What are Mandates?

-Mandates direct states or local governments to comply with federal rules under threat of penalties or as a condition of receipt of a federal grant.

What are the advantages of Federalism in a democracy?

• Increases access to government

• Local problems can be solved locally

• Hard for political parties or interest groups to dominate all politics

What are the disadvantages of Federalism in a democracy?

• States have different levels of service

• Local interest can counteract national interests

• Too many levels of government and too much money

What should the scope of national government be relative to the states?

• National power increased with industrialization, expansion of individual rights, and social services.

• Most problems require resources afforded to the national, not state governments.

What are the five main things a state government does?

State constitutions are the supreme law of the state and only subordinate to:

the U.S. Constitution, laws of Congress, national treaties.

What does Democracy refer to?

popular participation in government

What is Direct Democracy

means that the people themselves can initiate and decide policy questions by popular vote

What is Republicanism?

involves decision making by representatives of the people

What led to the development of Direct Democracy?

Developed in states and communities following a strong populist movement

What were three things the populist and progressive reform movement did?

• introduced a range of devices to bypass political institutions and encourage direct participation

• supported women’s suffrage, civil service, and restrictive immigration laws

• responsible for adoption of the three forms of direct democracy

What are the three forms of direct democracy?

-Initiative

-Referendum

-Recall

What is Initiative?

a percentage of voters, using a petition, may have a law or amendment placed on the ballot without legislative involvement

What is Referendum?

electorate must approve legislative decisions before they become law

What is Recall?

allows voters to remove an elected official before the end of their term

True or False: The U.S. Constitution provides for direct democracy measures

False

What are three arguments for Direct Democracy?

What is the argument for Representative Democracy?

• representative democracy better protects individual liberties and rights of minorities.

What are the four ways to change a state constitution? Define them.

• Legislative Proposal–the most common method; an amendment is passed by the legislature and put to the voters in a referendum

• Popular Initiative–citizens can bypass the legislature for a direct vote if they obtain a requisite number of petition signatures

• Constitutional Convention– not common

• Constitutional Revision Commissions–rarely used but effective

What are four reasons the Texas Constitution is a notoriously poor document?

Details of the Constitution of Coahuila y Tejas, 1827

-It combined the Mexican state of Coahuila and the former Spanish province of Texas into a single state

-Three departments, single-chamber legislature

-Banned any new slaves

Details of the Republic of Texas Constitution, 1836

-Drafted during Texas Revolution

-Unitary republic (one state)

-Legalized all slavery

Details of Texas State Constitution of 1845

-Established Texas as 28th US state

-Bicameral congress, slavery still legal

Details of Confederate Constitution of 1861

-Seceded states, protected slavery

-Bicameral congress

Details of Texas Constitution of 1866

-Texas rejoins the US

-Abolished slavery, but few protections for freedmen

-US Congress invalidated the document, put Texas under military rule

Details of Texas Reconstruction Constitution of 1869

-complied with reconstructions orders, Texas reenters the Union

-Governor-appointed judges

Why was the Texas Constitution of 1876 needed?

due to Governor Davis’ corruption and power imbalance allowed in 1869 Constitution

What were four goals of the Texas Constitution of 1876?

What is the Texas Constitution of today like?

What is the principal function of Local Government?

Providing services

How many local governments are in the US?

Over 90,000

How do the functions of local government differ by state?

How do county governments differ in their organization?

What fraction of counties have the Traditional county commission structure?

one-third of counties

What is the County administrator structure?

Elected commission appoints administrator/manager

What is the Elected county executive/county mayor structure?

Voters elect chief executive officer separately from county commission

What kinds of County officials are there?

Include commissioners, sheriff, coroner, district attorney, clerk, tax assessor, etc.

What can Home rule charter counties do?

Can exercise all powers not specifically prohibited by law or charter

Where do Municipal Corporations derive their powers and rights from?

The Legislature

What is a Municipal charter, what are the two types?

Functions as a constitution for a municipality. Types: Home Rule and General Law

What is a Home Rule charter?

grants a city or town broad powers of self-governance and autonomy from state legislative control

What is a General Law charter?

follows Dillon's Rule, meaning they can only exercise powers explicitly granted by the state legislature.

Like counties, municipal governments are creations of the

state

The Home-Rule Charter Amendments, 1912, enabled cities to _______. These provide rules under which a city will _________

-adopt home-rule charters with a majority vote of qualified voters.

-operate and the form of government, and may grant the power to annex land

Cities and towns less than 5,000 are chartered by _______. What about more than 5,000?

<5,000 - General Law

>5,000 - Home Rule

Forms of city government: Commission

Gives legislative and executive power to a small body, usually of five members

Forms of city government: Council-manager

Elected council or commission appoints manager

Forms of City Government: Elected mayor (hybrid mayor-manager form of government)

About two-thirds of councilmanager communities elect a mayor

What are nonpartisan elections?

elections in which the candidates’ names appear on a ballot without indication of their party affiliation.

Local Election Systems: Single-member district systems?

Candidates are chosen by voters in separate geographically defined districts

Local Election Systems: Combination election systems?

Some officials are elected at large; others from single-member districts

Local Election Systems: Federal court intervention?

Getting harder for cities to defend exclusive reliance on at-large elections

What is a special district?

A unit of local government created for the provision of specific services not provided by a general-purpose government

What are the two types of special districts?

School district and nonschool district

From where do state and local governments derive their revenue?

-Taxes (property, sales, income)

-Federal grants

What did Marbury v. Madison (1803) establish?

established the principle of judicial review, power of the courts to declare legislative and executive acts unconstitutional.

What is Preemption?

-the act or doctrine of one authority, law, or action superseding or taking precedence over another. (Ex: Supremacy Clause)

What is usually contained in state constitutions?

-Preamble: Purpose/intent of constitution

-Bill of Rights: individual liberties

-Three branches

-Local government policies: Home rule/General Law

What is constitutionalism?

Legal principle stating that a government's authority is limited by a higher law, such as a constitution. Limited government.

What was the political climate of the Constitutional Convention of 1875 (retrenchment and reform)?

a fierce conservative and agrarian backlash against Reconstruction, centralized power, and high spending

What were the conditions of the annexation agreement for Texas to join the United States in 1845?

Texas kept its public lands and debt while ceding military and defense properties

What are the differences between the Bill of Rights in the Texas and U.S. constitutions?

Texas one is more detailed, 30 amendments

What is the process to amend the US constitution?

-Proposal: By Congress or State Conventions, 2/3rd majority

-Ratification: By State Legislature or Ratifying Conventions, 3/4th majority

What is the 16th amendment?

gives the U.S. Congress the power to collect a federal income tax from citizens without basing it on each state's population

What is the 17th amendment?

established the direct popular election of U.S. senators by the voters of each state

Who were the Radical Republicans?

a powerful faction within the U.S. Republican Party that fought to end slavery and secure civil rights for African Americans