Gov - Final

Politics

Who gets what, when and how. Usually a winner and a loser which creates division. Common theme: authority

Popular Sovereignty

when the people in a country have the power and cannot be overruled

Sovereignty

the right to make decisions/take a certain action without being overruled

Economics

the production, consumption, and transfer of wealth.

Capitalism

an economic system in which the means of production of goods and services are privately owned and operated for a profit

Laissez-Faire

No government intervention in the economy. Taking the idea of the free market and extending it as far as it can go. Type of capitalism (most extreme version). "Let the people do as they wish" or "Allow them to do"

Regulated capitalism/Mixed economy

Capitalism with regulations on top of it (a mix between capitalism and socialism). Entrepreneurs are able to make profit, freedom to set up businesses, prices determined by market forces, and private ownership of businesses.

Socialism

an economic system in which the production of goods and services are owned by the state

Social Democracy

Kind of a mixed economy (capitalism) but high emphasis on equality. High taxes to provide more fairness, "free" everything (healthcare, education, etc.), everyone makes the same.

Authoritarian

the government has authority over the people (no popular sovereignty)

Totalitarian

government runs your entire life

Autocracy

One person controls

Monarchy

individual ruler who functions as head of state (ex: royal family)

Dictatorship

one person possesses absolute power, typically by force

Fascism

totalitarian philosophy, government glorifies the state and nation and assigns state control over every aspect of national life.

Oligarchy

few people have control

Theocracy

God has control

Anarchy

no control or form of government

Democracy

rule by people

Direct

the people vote on everything

Indirect/Representative

the people elect a representative to vote

Republic

rule by law

Preamble

6 purposes of the government

Perfect Union

Establishing justice

Domestic tranquility

General welfare

Common defense

Secure blessings of liberty

Articles

7 articles

Amendments

27 amendments

Rule of Law

nobody is above the law

Limited Government

afraid of a big government after overthrowing the king b/c it can cause problems

Federalism

dividing power between the national level and state/local levels for the people to have more power which creates a system that is equal nationally and gives power to the states and people

Separation of Powers

the powers of the government are separated (legislative, executive, & judicial branch) to not allow one branch of the government to control another to avoid an abuse of power and reduce strength

Judicial Review

the power of the courts to determine the validity of the acts of the Legislative or the Executive departments of the government

Marbury v. Madison

the court case that established the principle of judicial review

Bicameral Legislature

congress is split into two houses: the House of Representatives and the Senate which limits the power of the Legislative branch due to both Houses having to agree

Electoral College

\-a group of electors who get together to vote for the president

\-# in the House + # in the Senate = # of electoral votes per state

\-270 out of 538 votes needed to win president

\-435 (House) + 100 (Senate) + Amendment #23 = 538 votes

how it used to be (according to the Constitution) - people would elect 38 trusted people who would spend about 1 month, and then decide who they want to be president in December

\-how it is now (not in the Constitution) - each party chooses a select number of electors and then once the state votes on election day, whatever party wins the popular vote also wins the electors

Presidential System of Government

elects a head of government independently of the legislature, has a separation of powers

Parliamentary System of Government

the head of government in a parliamentary system answers directly to and is a part of the legislature, there are no separation of powers

Hamilton "The Least dangerous branch"

Hamilton defined the judicial branch as the "least dangerous" branch of the new national government because as the constitution states, the only power they have is to wait until someone in the federal government breaks a law and they try the case.

Legislative Supremacy

the legislative body has absolute sovereignty and is supreme over all other government institutions

Article I.

Legislative Branch.

Article II.

Executive Branch.

Article III.

Judicial Branch.

Article IV.

States, Citizenship, New States.

Article V.

Amendment Process.

Article VI.

Debts, Supremacy, Oaths, Religious Tests.

Article VII.

Ratification.

Qualifications of House

435 members

population based (1 or more representative per state)

2 year term

minimum age: 25 years old

7 year citizenship

"Lower House" -> shorter term, younger age

Qualifications of Senate

100 members

equality based (2 representatives per state)

6 year term

minimum age: 30 years

9 year citizenship

"Upper House" -> members are older, more experienced, harder to get into

Qualifications for presidency

Must be 35 years old or older

Lived in the U.S for 14 years

Must be a natural-born citizen

Qualifications for Supreme Court

There are no explicit requirements in the U.S. Constitution for a person to be a Supreme Court Justice. No age, education, job experience, or citizenship rules exist

How House members are chosen

voted by the people

How Senators are chosen

voted by State Legislatures

Number of House members Texas has

38

Census

the official process of counting the number of people in the US for reapportionment to take place every 10 years

Reapportionment

determining what states will have a number of seats due to population

Redistricting

redrawing district lines according to population shifts to make them equal (takes place after reapportionment)

Malapportionment

when districts do not have equal population compared to other districts

Gerrymandering

when you purposely draw a district in order to benefit a political party, racial demographic, or specific candidate, takes place during redistricting

pro-incumbent

redrawing districts for the purpose of keeping an incumbent in office

partisan

drawing districts for the purpose of helping your political party

racial

putting large groups of minorities into majority minority districts (new way)

putting minority communities to overly populated white communities, making it so a white candidate would get selected (old way)

used to be done to keep minorities out, now it is used to get minorities into Congress

only type of gerrymandering that's supported by the Supreme Court

Impeachment

an accusation against the president by the House

Impeachment trials

carried out by the Senate

Election Day

held on the first Tuesday of November

Article 1, Section 8

powers of Congress (things that Congress are allowed to do)

Congress has the power to:

coin money, tax, declare war, borrow money

Article 1, Section 9

things that Congress cannot do

Congress cannot:

suspend Habeas Corpus, no Bill of Attainder, no Expos Facto Law (congress cannot pass a law and then punish you for doing it while it was still legal), no export taxes

Necessary and Proper Clause

gives Congress the power to pass laws deemed necessary and proper to facilitate the full exercise of the powers delegated to the federal government

Commerce Clause

gives Congress broad power to regulate interstate commerce and restricts states from impairing interstate commerce

Supremacy Clause

establishes that the federal constitution, and federal law generally, take precedence over state laws, and even state constitutions.

Commander in Chief

directs the armies in war (the president)

State of the Union Address

when the president makes a speech to all of Congress to let them know how the nation is doing and what he wants to do

4 things a president can be impeached for:

treason

bribery

high crimes

misdemeanors

Only court created by the Constitution

the Supreme Court

Who creates other courts, and fixes size of Supreme Court

Congress

Amendment process

Propose an Amendment: 2 ways to do it

Congress - ⅔ of both houses must agree

Convention- never been done before

Ratification- being put into place as law; 2 ways to do it

States Legislature- ¾ must approve it

Convention in each state- ¾ must ratify the amendment

5 Freedoms in Amendment 1

religion, assembly, press, petition, speech

Establishment Clause

prohibits congress from establishing a national religion (separation of church and state - Thomas Jefferson)

Free Exercise Clause

congress cannot pass a law that prohibits the free exercise of religion

Great Compromise

compromise between large state plan (virginia) and small state plan (new jersey). created the house of representatives for population to appeal to the bigger states and then the senate with 2 representatives per state to appeal to the smaller states

Large-state v. Small-state plans

the Virginia, or large state, plan provided for a bicameral legislature with representation of each state based on its population or wealth; the New Jersey, or small state, plan proposed equal representation for each state in Congress

Continuous body -

every 2 years, ⅓ of the Senate is reelected so the remaining ⅔ will be guaranteed experienced members

Incumbent

somebody who already holds a position in office

Constituents

anybody that a Congressman represents

House's constituent

people in the district

Senator's constituent

people in the state

President's constituent

people in the nation

PAC

political action committee, all about raising money for people to run for office

Off-year Elections (midterm elections)

elections that don't involve the president (every 4 years)

"The people's house"

House of Representatives

Leaders of each house

House of Representatives - Speaker of the House

Senate - Vice President/President Pro tempore

New Deal

the new deal, enacted by FDR, expanded the government's role in our economy, by giving it the power to regulate previously unregulated areas of commerce

Party Platform

a formal set of goals and ideas for a political party to have; list of the things you want to do

Presidential Succession

VP, Speaker of the House, President pro tempore of the senate, all cabinet posts based on order of creation (secretary of State, Treasury, etc...)

Cabinet

appointed by the president, in control of executive departments

War Powers Act

checks the president's power to commit the United States in an armed conflict

Treaties

peace agreements between nations, created by the president (an agreement between 2 or more countries to agree to do something a certain way)

Executive Agreements

made with another nation (president makes a treaty with another nation and the Senate has to approve, but technically they don't have to because the President made a treaty and they have the power to do that)

Executive Order

in the past the President used executive orders to carry out a law (makes orders supported by the law), now it is used to enforce things that the president wants and is not tied to a law

4 Presidential actions on a bill passed by Congress

signs it

it becomes a law

does not sign it

in 10 days and Congress is still in session, it becomes law anyway without his signature

pocket veto

official veto

goes back to the house it started in and Congress can override the veto with a ⅔ majority vote in both houses

Line-item veto

the president can veto parts/lines of the bill instead of all of it