unit 3 civil liberties and rights, & unit 4 political ideologies

Defendants rights

• warrants required

• probable clause (reason)

• exclusionary rule: Evidence obtained illegally (without a warrant) cannot be used in court

• incorporation doctrine : 4th Amendment protections apply to state governments through the 14th Amendment's Due Process Clause

• no warrant: can search in plain views, consent, emergency, automobile exception

Plea Bargain

legal agreement defendant pleads guilty to a lesser charge for reduced sentence or the dismissal of other charges

Civil Rights Act of 1964

prohibits discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin in areas such as employment and public accommodations

Rational Basis

requires that the law be rationally related to a legitimate government interest

medium scrutiny

• standard of judicial review

• used to evaluate laws that discriminate based on gender or legitimacy

• requiring that the law serves an important government objective

strict scrutiny

•  highest standard

• deals with suspect classification (based on race and national origin) or fundamental rights (guaranteed under the Constitution)

• Need to have a compelling state interest to have these laws upheld

De- Jure Sanctioned

Discriminatory laws or practices that are enforced by legislation or policies, often impacting marginalized groups

-sanctioned=legislation made segregation

De facto segregation

The practice of racial or social segregation that occurs without legal enforcement, resulting from social, economic, or cultural factors rather than laws

-fact= natural segregation

equality of result

equity for disadvantaged

quid pro quo

sexual favors required as condition for holding job/promotion, employers liable

liberals (progessive, democrat)

Favors an active government role in regulating the economy & promoting equality

• less defense spending

• protect rights of accused

• gov should not regulate personal matters

• active gov role in public education

• separation of church in state in school

• oppose vouchers, social liberty, increase taxes

Conservatives (republican)

Favors “traditional American values,” respect for authority, law and order, and national defense

• more defense spending

• punish crime and increase police

• gov should protect traditional values even if intrudes indiv freedoms

• support vouchers, social order

• less concerned with establishment clause in public schools

Core American Attitudes about politics

Equality of opportunity, the rule of law, limited government

-result in party affiliation

political socialization

is personal/background traits that influence one's views about politics and government

• Influences: family, religion, education, race, ethnicity, social class, location, age, political events

public opinion measured

• benchmark

• tracking

• entrance/exit polls

• focus groups

problems of measurement of public opinions

1. Margin of error

2. Push polling

3. Bandwagon effect

4. Social-desirability bias/Bradley effect

5. Question format: Forced choice vs agree/disagree

Libertarian (democrat)

big reduction in defense spending

• Support decriminalization of “victimless” crimes

• protecting rights of accused

• gov not regulate private matters

• favor private education, favor max social liberty 

fiscal policy

government spending of raising taxes, issued by president, to influence the economy

-progressive income tax bracets: + tax rate, + tax US income, lowers income inequality which lowers taxes

-flat income tax: taxes ppl at same rate = fixed and equal

Keynesians

• demand- gov manage economy through fiscal policy ( during economic downturns) to stabilize output and reduce unemployment

• democratic party + gov spending

• shift demand curves for good saving and spending

Supply siders

economic growth is best achieved by lowering taxes and decreasing regulation to encourage businesses to produce more goods and service

•  republican party,

• less gov and taxes

• gov $$ supply to the people

monetary policy

Federal Reserve (the Fed) manages the money supply and interest rates to influence the economy

-reserve requirement: % deposit banks need to keep on reserve

- discount rate: interest rate banks pay to borrow $ from federal reserve

- open-market operations 

mandatory budget

social security, meidare(old), medicaid(poor)

discretionary budget

health care, military, eduaction, labor

random sampling & reliable polls

• For populations over 500,000, pollsters= 15,000 phone calls

=> 1,065 respondents, poll has a sampling error of only +/- 3%

opinion saliency

how strongly people feel about an issue and how important it is to them when forming political opinions/voting

opinion stability

how consistently people hold an opinion over time

opinion-policy congreuence

alignment between public opinion and government policy

-how closely government action reflects what the people want