POLS 207 FLASHCARDS: Exam #1

What are some examples of policies that the federal government takes responsibility for?

Policies concerning war declaration, foreign relations management, immigration, etc.

What are some examples of policies that the state governments take responsibility for?

Policies concerning public health and safety management, welfare benefits, transportation, civil rights, taxation, marriage, drinking age, speed limits, etc.

What is policy conservatism?

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

What is policy liberalism?

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

From where do state and local governments derive their revenue?

Mostly from property taxes, however they also obtain some funding from gross sales taxes, individual income taxes, corporate income taxes (for states that have these; Texas is an exception), and vehicle registration fees

Why are states often referred to as “laboratories of democracy”?

States tend to be policy innovators; successful policy innovations in one state can then be adopted by other states as well as copied by the federal government

What are the defining characteristics of a federation?

The power and sovereignty are constitutionally divided between the national government and geographical units; it is the exception rather than the rule, as it is the least common form of government system to be used

What are the defining characteristics of a union?

All power and sovereignty belong to the national government, which might, however, delegate some powers to the geographical units (but has the authority to take this power back at any time)

What are the defining characteristics of a confederation?

The power and sovereignty belong mostly to the geographical units, which, however, delegated some limited powers to the national government

What is nullification?

The process of a state’s rejecting a federal law and making it invalid within state borders

What are enumerated (or delegated) powers?

Grants of authority explicitly given by the Constitution to the federal government, more specifically Congress

What are implied powers?

Broad, but undefined, powers given to the federal government by the Constitution

What does the Tenth Amendment state?

It guarantees that a broad, but undefined, set of powers is reserved for the states and the people; it states that the national government cannot usurp state powers

What was the importance of the Marbury v. Madison case of 1803?

It established the principle of judicial review (the power of the court to authoritatively interpret the Constitution)

What was the importance of the McCulloch v. Maryland case of 1819?

It established that Congress had both enumerated and implied powers granted by the Constitution

What is preemption?

The process of the federal government’s overriding areas regulated by state law

What do mandates do?

They force states or local governments to comply with federal rules under threat of penalties or as a condition of receipt of a federal grant; they can also be unfunded

What is constitutionalism?

It is a doctrine that a government’s authority is determined by a body of laws or constitution

Why are the states indivdual constitutions longer than the United States Constitution?

They are burdened with policy; they are more detailed regarding the day-to-day relationships between government and the people

What is the importance of federal grants-in-aid?

They are cash appropriations given by the federal government to the states to help finance a broad range of services, including health care, education, social services, infrastructure, and public safety

What do special districts do?

They are independent, special-purpose governmental units that exist separately from local governments (such as county, municipal, and township governments) with substantial administrative and fiscal independence; they are formed in order to perform a single function or a set of related functions (for example, water distribution)

What does the Sixteenth Amendment state?

It gives the federal government the ability to levy (collect) an income tax from all Americans

What does the Seventeenth Amendment state?

It gave people the right to vote for their senators instead of the state legislature; it established direct, rather than indirect, elections for U.S. senators

What comprises political culture?

The attitudes and beliefs broadly shared in a polity about the role and responsibility of government

What are the defining characteristics of traditionalistic political culture?

It is a political culture that views politics and government as the means of maintaining the existing social order; it does not stress mass participation, as the government in this case is only accessible to political elites - it is more about who you know, not what you know (a lot of social networking); it originated in the Southern colonies

What are the defining characteristics of individualistic political culture?

It is a political culture that views politics and government as just another way to achieve individual goals; it sees the government as more of a “commodity” - government supplies itself only when the people demand it

What are the defining characteristics of moralistic political culture?

It is a political culture that views politics and government as the means to achieve the collective good; it stresses that politics is for everyone and strongly advocates for government to be very active with mass participation (particularly at the local level)

What does the political culture of Texas look like?

A mix of individualistic and traditionalistic political cultures

From where do local governments derive their power?

The states (more specifically from state constitutions and state laws)

How do most states amend their constitutions?

Via legislative protocol, wherein an amendment is passed by the legislature and put to the voters in a referendum; some states use popular initiative, but not all; constitutional conventions as well as constitutional revision commissions are also methods that can be used, however these two are far less common

How has federalism changed over time?

During the first decades of the republic, many politicians held that states’ rights allowed states to disobey any national government that in their view exceeded its powers; such a doctrine was largely discredited after the Civil War; then dual federalism became the dominant doctrine; during the New Deal of the 1930s, cooperative federalism emerged and held sway until the 1960s; since then, the situation is summarized by the term competitive federalism, whereby responsibilities are assigned based on whether the national government or the state is thought to be best able to handle the task at hand

What is ad hoc federalism?

The process of choosing a state-centered or nation-centered view of federalism on the basis of political or partisan convenience

What is centralized federalism?

The notion that the federal government should take the leading role in setting national policy, with state and local governments helping implement the policies

What is cooperative federalism?

The notion that it is impossible for state and national governments to have separate and distinct jurisdictions and that both levels of government must work together

What is dual federalism?

The idea that state and federal governments have separate and distinct jurisdictions and responsibilities

What is fiscal federalism?

The system by which federal grants are used to fund programs and services provided by state and local governments

What is judicial federalism?

The idea that the courts determine the boundaries of state-federal relations

What is nation-centered federalism?

The belief that the nation is the basis of the federal system and that the federal government should take precedence over state governments

What is new federalism?

The belief that states should receive more power and authority and less money from the federal government

What is state-centered federalism?

The belief that states are the basis of the federal system and that state governments should take precedence over the federal government

What is the philosophy behind the current Texas Constitution?

To limit the powers of both the state government and the governor (in response to the oppressive Davis administration), restrain government spending, promote agricultural interests, and obtain a strong, popular control over the government (citizen legislature)

What was the political climate like at the Constitutional Convention of 1875?

This was the result of the determination of the Democrats of Texas to eliminate the Constitution of 1869; ninety delegates were selected to attend from all over the state; the members were conservative and reflected the retrenchment and reform policy of the Grange (an organization of farmers)

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

Texas would retain control over their public lands, thus giving them the ability to extinguish their debt; in addition, Brown's bill provided that Texas could be divided into several smaller states as needed in order to deal with future "balance" between slave states and free states, and that no slavery would be allowed north of the old Missouri Compromise line

What was the historical development of the Texas Constitution?

Texas has had five state constitutions, as well as two before it became a state; first was the Constitution of Coahuila y Tejas in 1827, then the Republic of Texas in 1836, the Texas State Constitution of 1845 (when Texas joined the Union), the Confederate Constitution of 1861, the Presidential Reconstruction Constitution of 1866, the Congressional Constitution of 1869, and finally the Constitution of 1876, which remains in place to this day; the Texas Constitution today is long and detailed, having been amended approximately 483 times - it is too easy to amend and too difficult to overhaul

How is the Bill of Rights in the Texas Constitution different from the Bill of Rights in the U.S. Constitution?

With its more positive tone, it provides much the same protections as the U.S. Bill of Rights, however it also extends beyond federal protections; for example, Sec. 3a explicitly forbids any discrimination based on sex, race, color, creed, or national origin

In general terms, what are elections?

Decisive events in which all registered voters cast ballots for their preferred candidates for a political office

What are at-large elections?

Elections in which city or county voters vote for council or commission members from any part of the jurisdiction

What are single-member district elections?

Elections in which candidates run for a specific district and all members of the county can vote for them

What is a closed primary?

A nominating election in which only voters belonging to that party may participate

What is an open primary?

A nominating election that is open to all registered voters regardless of their party affiliations

What is a runoff primary?

An election held if no candidate receives a majority of the vote during the regular primary; the top two finishers face off again to determine the nominee for the general election; such elections are held only in some states, primarily in the South

What constitutes a county and what do counties do?

A geographical subdivision of state government; responsible for providing public safety and justice, holding elections at every level of government, maintaining people’s most important records, building and maintaining roads, bridges, and in some cases, airports, providing emergency management services, providing health and safety services, collecting property taxes, issuing vehicle registration and transfers, and registering voters

What constitutes a city and what do cities do?

An incorporated political jurisdiction formed to provide self-governance to particular localities; responsible for managing the needs of people who live and work in close quarters, providing basic services, such as sanitation, water, law enforcement, and utilities, and enacting and enforcing ordinances to protect citizens and foster a better environment

What is normally contained in state constitutions?

A preamble, a bill of rights, articles that describe separation of powers between the executive, legislative, and judicial branches, and a framework for setting up local governments

What is the process used to amend the Texas Constitution?

Legislative protocol - the legislature, by a two-thirds vote of all members of each house, may propose amendments revising the constitution and proposed amendments must then be submitted for approval to the qualified voters of the state

What is the process used to amend the United States Constitution?

An amendment may be proposed by a two-thirds vote of both Houses of Congress, or, if two-thirds of the states request one, by a convention called for that purpose; the amendment must then be ratified by three-fourths of the state legislatures, or three-fourths of conventions called

What constitutes a city commission system?

A form of municipal governance in which executive, legislative, and administrative powers are vested in elected city commissioners

What constitutes a council-manager system?

A form of municipal governance in which the day-to-day administration of government is carried out by a professional administrator

What constitutes a mayor-council system?

A form of municipal governance in which there is an elected executive and an elected legislature

What constitutes a strong mayor system?

A municipal government in which the mayor has the power to perform the executive functions of government

A state in which people view government as an extension of the marketplace would likely be characterized as a state with a(n) ____________ political culture

Individualistic

According to the text, the biggest roadblock on the road to independent policy action in most states is…

Money

For local governments, population expansion and population contraction create a struggle between accommodating new growth in fast-developing areas versus the challenge of…

Managing decline

Population characteristics can best be described as…

Dynamic

States with a higher level of voter turnout tend to be…

Moralistic

The so-called Great Recession of 2008/2009 in the United States created a situation where many states became ____________ with regard to the federal government

Financially dependent

Which political culture stresses preserving a well-established society?

Traditionalistic

____________ states have geographies that create difficult choices between centralized schooling with long bus rides or local schools with less opportunities for students

Large, rural

____________ states tend to commit less public money to areas such as education

Traditionalistic

True or False: Daniel Elazar divided states into four different types of political culture: traditionalistic, moralistic, individualistic, and idealistic

False

True or False: For state and local governments, money is the largest reason why independent policy action is not taken

True

Governments at each level have basic similarities that make ____________ meaningful

Comparisons

True or False: Individualistic states tend to view the role of government as one where they are trying to build the best possible society

False

True or False: Public opinion polls often show that citizens place more trust in the federal government than in their state and local governments

False

Socio-demographics refers to the way that states differ with regard to…

Size, age, and ethnicity

True or False: State governments can determine what classes a student pays for, whether they want to take those classes or not

True

True or False: The comparative method uses similarities and differences as the basis for explaining why the world is the way it is

True

The primary purpose of state and local government is to provide services to…

Their respective populations

Variance is another word for…

Difference

Which governments are heavily involved in shaping K-12 education?

Local and state

____________ governments are responsible primarily for law enforcement and fire protection

Local

____________ political cultures view politics the same as any other business

Individualistic

____________ states have political parties that compete like corporations to provide goods and services to their citizens

Individualistic

A researcher wants to compare states by depicting the size of each state’s population rather than using the number of square miles in each state. Which type of map should the researcher use?

Cartogram

The price of soda in different states may vary due to…

Variations in the tax rate

According to the text, the Supreme Court, like the president, find it hard to resist…

Ad hoc federalism

Alexander Hamilton invoked the ____________ Clause in order to create a national bank

Necessary and Proper

Because the Constitution could not list every possible situation the government may face, it provides for ____________ powers

Implied

True or False: Exclusive powers are those only granted to states

False

True or False: General revenue sharing grants give states much discretion as to how to spend the money

True

Grants-in-aid are ____________ given by the federal government to the states

Cash appropriations

One of the advantages of federalism identified in the text is that it ____________ between state and federal governments

Reduces conflict

True or False: States’ rights advocates believe that states should be free to make their own decisions

True

True or False: The Constitution contains very little about the powers of the states

True

True or False: The Southern states formed a confederacy during the Civil War

True

The ____________ were in favor of a stronger central government

Federalists

True or False: The federal system of government in the United States was designed at the Constitutional Convention

True

The idea that state and federal governments have separate and distinct responsibilities is referred to as ____________ federalism

Dual

The political system in which national and regional governments share powers and are considered independent equals is called…

Federalism

True or False: The president ultimately decides the powers and limitations of the different levels of government

False