AP Government and Politics Guide:  

Amendments Quizlet 

15 Court Cases Quizlet 

Unit 1: Foundations of American Democracy: 

Documents to Know: Federalist Papers 10 and 51, Declaration of Independence, Brutus 1, Articles of Confederation

Court Cases to Know: Mullcoloch Vs. Maryland, US vs. Lopez 

Democratic Ideals: 

Popular Sovereignty: The idea that the government's right to rule comes from the people.  This ideal is shown in The Declaration of Independence.  

—> The Constitution was such a big deal because it was the blueprint for the first ever democracy! 

Representative Democracy (Republicanism): Representatives are elected by the people.  The government consists of elected officials.  

Participatory Democracy: widespread political participation is essential for democracy.  — How is this shown in the constitution? Everyone can vote

Pluralist Democracy: Like minded interest groups fight for their policies and ideas. (Every town for Gun Safety)

—How is this shown in the constitution? Major institutions have coalitions and many policies are written by interest groups.  

Elitist Democracy: The wealthy and elites have a disproportionate amount of power.  

—How is this shown in documents? Federalist 51 addressed this type of democracy from potentially occurring by warning against factions.  Brutus 51 feared elitist democracy! 

The Constitutional Convention: 

The Great Compromise: (A mix of the Virginia and New Jersey Plans). A bicameral legislature is created with the House that is proportional to population(to please populous states like Virginia);and the senate has 2 votes for each state(to appease small states like New Jersey.) — Article 1; Sections 2 and 3 

Electoral College: The purpose was to safeguard against the whims of the people.  To win the presidency you need 270 electoral college votes; if you don't get that many the house decides.  Every state gives a certain number of electors(number of representatives plus 2 senators). 

—> 10th amendment made voting rights up to the states 

⅗ths compromise: An enslaved person was counted as ⅗ of a person when deciding how many representatives to give each state.  (Article 1, section 2) 

Compromise on importation: Congress can't change slavery Restriction laws until 1808.  Also states that enslaved people were required to be returned to they’re plantation.  

Article V: Drafting of amendment process

2 Ways to Propose an Amendment: 

1. ⅔ of both houses agree 

2. ⅔ of state legislatures at a convention agree 

—>Ratification - ¾ of states ratify or ¾ of a convention ratify 

Debates on the ratification process: (of the constitution itself not amendments) 

• Required 9/13 states to ratify 

• Debates between Federalists(supported the stronger national government and the constitution) and Antifederalists(would only support ratification if a bill of rights was added and favored more power to the states) 

Debates over the control of central government and state governments —> Federalism 

1. Role of government surveillance increased after 9/11

2. Role of federal Government in public school education increased in 1960s with LBJ and The Great Society 

Checks and Balances:

Federalist 51 days that they would guard against tyranny and prevent self-interest! 

Separation of powers: leads to multiple access points for citizens to influence the government. Impeachment Prevents abuse of power.  

Federalism: 

1. How do societal needs affect the allocation of power between state and national government? 

Grants: 

Block Grant:  a grant given to a state for a specific area, but not a specific purpose.  (State officials have more authority) 

Categorical Grant: Grant given to a state for specific purpose.  (Federal Government has more authority) 

Revenue Sharing: Money given to a state to be used with no restriction.  (Grants in aid) 

Powers are interpreted differently based on the situation:

  10th Amendment says that all powers not stated in the constitution are allocated to the states. 

14th Amendment says that no state can make a law that takes away citizens rights.  

Concurrent Powers = Powers shared by the federal and state governments: taxing, establishing courts, making and enforcing laws 

Exclusive Powers to the national government = Enumerated (anything written in the constitution) and implied (necessary and proper clause) 

Commerce Clause: (article 1, section 8) Congress/ Federal government regulates commerce 

Necessary and Proper Clause: (article 1, section 8) elastic clause; expands the power of the federal government to make any laws they deem useful.  

Powers that cause debate: If someone breaks a law at the federal level but follows state laws should they be charged? 

Mcculloch v. Maryland: Expanded The Power of the Federal Government during the nationalization era.  Us is granted the power to establish a national bank,that bank cannot be taxed by the states.  —> ensures elastic clause 

Us v Lopez: Limits federal Power by saying that they can’t use the commerce clause for an unrelated thing.  

Unit 2: Interactions between branches of government:

Documents to know: Federalist 70 and 78

Court Cases to know: Baker vs. Carr, Shaw vs. Reno, Marbury vs. Madison 

Legislative Branch:

(Congress)

Passing the Federal Budget:  

The budget is proposed by the president, then goes to the congressional committee (congressional budget office/CBO), then it is approved by congress.  

Power Structure: 

House: 

1. Speaker of the House: most power in the house; the majority caucus nominates and the whole house nominates. This individual determines what goes on the House agenda, what bills go to committee, etc.  

2. Majority Leader: Equal to minority leader in the house.  In charge of the majority and elected by the majority party.  Make sure their party votes together.  

3. Minority Leader: Equal to the majority leader in the house.  In charge of the minority and elected by the minority party.  Make sure their party votes together.  

4. Majority and Minority Whip: Their job is to gauge the opinion of their party.  They are decided by a vote of each party’s caucus at the beginning of the house cycle.  

Senate: 

1. Majority Leader: Most power in the senate.  Determines when and if a bill is voted on.  Elected by the entire senate.  

2. Vice President: (President of the senate) Only power is to vote to break ties in the senate.  

3. President Pro Tempore: Oldest/ longest serving member of the majority party.  Only power is ceremonial proceedings of the senate.  

4. Minority Leader: Has similar power to house minority leader, except in the senate this individual is NOT equal to the majority leader.  

5. Majority and minority whip: Gauge the opinions of their party.  

Policy Making: 

House: 

House Rules Committee:  Determines when a bill will be subject to debate, when it will be voted on, how long debate will last, and whether amendments are allowed.  

Committee of the whole: When the entire house is meeting together.  

Discharge Petitions:  (only occur in the house) If a Representative gets 218 signatures on petition, their bill will automatically go for a vote to the whole house.  

Senate: 

Filibuster: (Only occur in the senate) Used by an individual senator to delay a motion or postpone action on a piece of legislation.  Can be used by either party.  

Cloture: This stops a filibuster with 60 votes in the senate and senate then proceeds to action.  

Unanimous Consent Agreements: Sets terms for debate and amendments of a bill. 

Advise and Consent Clause: Congress must advise the president.  When president makes a treaty or a nomination, the senate has to approve! 

Congressional Budget: 

Discretionary Spending: This is spending on programs and policies that the current congress and president decide on.  Example: a new bill, military, a border wall 

Mandatory Spending: This is required by existing laws and is already locked in before the budget is made.  This makes up the majority of the budget!  Example: social security 

—> This also includes entitlement programs which provide benefits for those who qualify under the law. Example: Social security, Medicare, Medicaid—> These are why as the population grows there is less money for discretionary spending unless the government increases taxes!   

Pork Barrel Spending: Legislation that directs funds to specific projects within a congressional district or a specific state.  

Logrolling: trading of votes on legislation by a member of congress in order to get the legislation passed.  

—>Both of these things are reasons why people might complain about congress having too much power or being corrupt.  

How is congressional behavior influenced by elections? 

• Ideological divisions witching congress can lead to gridlock: a slow or halt in congressional action because of disabilities to overcome disagreements.(This is usually because of partisanship) 

• Gerrymandering is the redrawing of house districts to benefit a specific interest group or party by redistricting which happens every 10 years based on the new census.  

Baker vs Carr(1961): Declared that the Supreme Court has the authority to review state redistricting maps and the equal protection clause requires districts to have roughly the same amount of constituents. “One man, one vote.” This case basically says malapportionment(unequal representation of constituents) is unconstitutional.  Ex. You can’t have one constitutional district with 10,000 constituents and the other with 100,000.  

Shaw vs. Reno(1993):  Declared that race conscious gerrymandering is illegal/ unconstitutional.  

• A divided government is when the president is a different party than one of the houses in congress.  

• During the lame duck period the president is at the end of their term, so congress is more likely to block presidential legislation, initiatives, and nominees.   

Different roles of congress people: 

Delegate:  Duty of congress person is to carry out constituents wishes.  

Trustee: Members of congress should make decisions based on their own knowledge and judgment. 

Politico: Congress person’s decision is a mix of trustee and delegate models.  They act as one or the other depending on the issue.(In class we were told that this model was when the congress person acted based on their party’s beliefs, but everything I have found in my textbook and online does not support that.) 

Executive Branch: 

The president/executive branch’s job is to execute the laws and policies.  

How have different presidents interpreted the formal/informal powers? 

—> Roosevelt expanded informal powers a lot because of the Great Depression and WW2.  Bush expanded them post 9/11.  Therefore, during a time of national crisis the president may expand the power of the presidency.  

Presidential Agendas and conflict in congress:  

Conflict in congress could be caused by presidential actions.  In the senate this can be shown through disagreements on approving presidential appointments such as cabinet members, ambassadors, or Supreme Court justices.  The Supreme Court one is really important because the president's longest lasting impact is judicial appointments! 

Presidential Elections: 

Incumbency Advantage:(This applies to congress people and the president.) Incumbents have more name recognition, media coverage, and campaign money so they are more likely to win an election.  (Not super relevant but both presidential candidates this year have this so that is probably a reason why it's such a close election.)

Open Primaries are when voters are not required to declare a party affiliation when voting in primary elections.  

Vs. 

Closed Primaries: Voters are required to register with an official party and vote in that party’s primary.  

Caucuses: This is when party officials host meetings to decide on who they want to send to the national conference, and who they want to nominate.  These are smaller, and usually more local.  

Vs. 

Party Conventions: The summer before a presidential election Democrats and Republicans each have conventions with everyone from their party to vote on who to officially nominate for president.  

Congressional and state elections are different from presidential elections.  It’s the same ballot, but congress has more districts and congress is 1 person that represents a smaller amount of people than the president who represents the whole country.  

The Electoral College: 

• This is the reason why swing states matter. Most states have the policy of all or nothing with their electoral college votes, so even if someone only wins a state by a few votes in the state, the winner gets all of the electoral college votes.  

• Basically, when Americans vote they are voting on who their state is going to vote for overall, different states' votes are just weighted differently based on population.  

• The amount of electors for each state is equal to the number of representatives in that state plus 2 senators.  

• The president needs 270 electoral votes to win the election.  

• Overall this system gives people in certain states more power to pick the president than others.  

Federalist #70: 

Alexander Hamilton argued that a single person as executive makes it easier to make decisions during wartime.  He also stated that a single executive can be held more accountable, which would give the people more power to check the executive branch.  Overall, this document was a justification of a single executive.  

22ndd Amendment: 

1. When a vacancy opens up in the spot for Vice President(usually because the president had died or resigned, so the VP was now president) the president appoints a new one with the approval of both houses of congress.  

2. The president can temporarily give up his position by writing a letter to the Speaker of The House. 

3. The Vice President can write a letter to remove the president from office.

Limited Interpretation and use of power: When a president uses more formal powers, and less informal.  

Expanded interpretation and use of power: When a president uses more informal powers.  

Judicial Branch: 

Court Curbing: Direct Legislation by congress to change the authority of the Supreme Court.  

Judicial Review: The Supreme Court is given the power to declare certain decisions by the legislative and executive branches unconstitutional.  The authority of the Supreme Court to strike down law or executive action if it conflicts with the constitution.  

Judicial Branch and how it’s independence checks states and other institutions: 

Article 3: 

This article of the constitution describes the power of. The judicial branch and how they are nominated and appointed.  This article also describes the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court.  

Federalist #78: 

Hamilton argued that the Federal judiciary would be unlikely to infringe upon rights and liberties but would serve as a check to the other two branches.  He stated that it is the weakest branch because there is the least power given to it in the constitution.  

• Marbury vs. Maddison(1803): 

This case established judicial review, which gave the Supreme Court the authority to strike down a law or executive action if it conflicts with the constitution.  

—>If a justice has judicial review and a life tenure could they potentially gain too much power? They could just overrule laws without having to worry about reelection.  

The two forms of final decisions: 

Precedent:  A decision that guides future courts in handling similar cases. 

Stare Decisis: The practice of letting a previous legal decision stand.  

—>Ideological mindsets of justices may change after a while once they learn the implications of having life tenure.  

—> Theoretically, the Supreme Court justices are the president's longest impact.  

Controversial Supreme Court decisions that led to challenges of Supreme Court legitimacy and power: 

• Plessy vs. Ferguson —> Brown vs. Board of Education

• McCulloch vs. Maryland

• Roe vs. Wade

• Miranda vs. TLO 

Judicial Restraint: The belief that judges should be cautious about overturning laws 

Vs. 

Judicial Activism: The belief that justices should use judicial review to create more policies.  

Checks on the Supreme Court from other branches: 

Congress can make amendments to override court decisions.  The senate has to approve justices and congress can impeach justices or change court jurisdiction.  

The president/the states can choose not to implement a Supreme Court ruling.  They also have the power to appoint the justices. 

The Federal Bureaucracy:  

They are responsible for carrying out the responsibilities of the Federal government.  The tasks performed by this branch are the actual action of the government, and the power comes from the agencies, commissions(a type of an independent regulatory agency created by congress, so presidents do not have as much power over these), and government corporations.  

—>The tasks that this branch actually performs are identified by writing and enforcing legislation, issuing fines, testifying before congress and issue networks(webs of influence between policy makers and advocates.). One type of issue network is Iron Triangles:  

Ways bureaucrats get hired:  

Political patronage: When the president gives out positions based on how much campaign support someone gives him. 

Civil Service: The merit based system for Federal jobs, excluding military appointments.  

Merit System: Writing and promoting people based on testing and qualifications rather than politics and personal connections. 

Discretionary and rule making authority is given to: 

Department of homeland security(INS, secret service, coast guard). Their job is to keep the people safe.  - DDepartment. 

DDepartment of transportation(TSA) - Department 

DDepartment of Veterans Affairs - Department 

DDepartment of Education - Department

Environmental Protaction Agency(EPA) - Agency 

Federal Elections Commision(FEC) - Commision 

Security Exchange Commision(SEC)- Commision 

Congressional Oversight: Used by congress to ensure that the executive branch agencies, bureaucrats, cabinet, and their officials act legally and in accordance with congressional goals.  This ensures that legislation is implemented as intended. (It's a check on the executive branch!) 

How do they use oversight? 

Commitee hearings - Members of the bureaucracy are experts in certain things, so they use their knowledge to help make legislation.  

Power of the purse - The House of Representatives has the control over new tax bills, so they can control if funding goes to certain parts of the bureaucracy.  

Unit 3: Civil Liberties and Civil Rights: 

Documents to know: 14th Amendment’s Equal Protection and Due Process Clauses, “Letter from a Birmingham Jail,” The Civil Rights Act of 1964, The Voting Rights Act of 1965, Title IX of the Education Amendments Act of 1972

Court Cases to know: Engel vs. Vitale, Wisconsin vs. Yoder, Schenck vs. US, New York Times vs.. US, Tinker vs Des Moines, McDonald vs. Chicago, Gideon vs. Wainwright, Roe vs. Wade, Brown vs. The Board of Education 

How does the US Constitution protect individual liberties and rights?

The Bill of Rights has amendments specifically designed to protect civil liberties and civil rights.  The bill of rights is continuously interpreted by the courts.  This document consists of the first 10 amendments, which enumerate the rights and liberties of individuals.  This is a list of fundamental rights and freedoms that an individual possesses.  

Civil Liberties are constitutionally established guarantees and freedoms that protect citizens, opinions, and property against arbitrary government interference.  

These come from The Due Process Clause in The 14th Amendment which restricts the government from inhibiting citizens rights.  These are for the individual, and protect personal rights.   These are basically what the government can’t do to our rights.   The Due Process Clause limits states by inhibiting them from infringing upon individual rights.  

Cases dealing with the First Amendment: 

• Engel vs. Vitale(1962):

This case was the case that declared that it was not constitutional to hold a “voluntary” prayer in public schools, even if the prayer was nondenominational.  Their reasoning was that this violates The Establishment Clause. 

The Establishment Clause; 1st amendment protection against the government requiring citizens to support a religion.  

• Wisconsin vs. Yoder(1972): 

The Amish case.  This case held that compelling Amish children to attend school past the 8th grade violated the free exercise clause.  

The Free Exercise Clause: Protects the rights of individuals to exercise their religious beliefs.  

• Tinker vs. Des Moines Independent Community School District(1969): 

The Supreme Court held that “Symbolic speech” is protected by the first amendment.  The court ruled that the students were allowed to wear black armbands to protest.  This case says that Students and teachers do not give up their rights to freedom of expression when entering a school but Students and teachers freedom of speech is limited.  It can be limited if they disrupt the process of learning.  

• Schleck vs. The United States(1919): 

Socialists were distributing pamphlets to disobey the draft during WW1, and their pamphlets said to only peacefully protest, but the socialists were arrested and convicted under “The Espionage Act.”  It said the government had more rights during wartime, so the conviction did not violate the first amendment.  

“The Clear and Present Danger Test:” If your speech causes someone to do something to harm the public it could be limited.  

This case  is an example of The Supreme Court ruling in favor of states’ power to restrict individual liberty.  

• New York Times vs. US(1991): 

The Nixon Administration wanted to use “Prior Restraint” which is the ability of the government to protect security by preventing “The Pentagon Papers” from being published in The New York Times. The court ruled that The New York Times was allowed to publish the papers.  This case made it so the government had to prove a “heavy burden in order to use prior restraint.  This increased the freedom of the press.  

Prior Restraint: The suppression of material prior to publication on the grounds that it might endanger national security. 

Libel: A prohibited form of speech that the government is allowed to remove from publication.  This is when someone publishes something with false information with the intention to damage someone else’s reputation.  

Rights guaranteed by the Amendments: 

These cases involve constitutional interpretation of individual liberties.  The Supreme Court has attempted to balance claims of individual freedoms with laws and enforcement procedures that promote public order and safety.  Some of these conflicts surround the second amendment through questions of whether or not the government has the right to limit ownership of guns.  Regarding the 8th amendment these cases involve interpretation of “Cruel and Unusual Punishment.” With this amendment questions arise such as whether the state's decisions in statutes(state legislations) regarding punishments such as the death penalty are constitutional.  Other cases interpreting these amendments may involve concerns about government collection of metadata, and how that interferes with individual rights.  

4th Amendment: 

Ex Post Facto Laws:  It is illegal to criminalize conduct that was legal at the time it occurred.  

Bills of Attaindder: It is illegal to have a law that is passed by congress that punishes an individual without a trial.  

Writ of Habeas Corpus:  A criminal must have a document that sets out the reasons for their arrest or detention.  

Warrant: Must be issued by a judge to authorize the police to search something.  

Probable Cause: The reasonable belief that a crime has been committed that is required to search without a warrant.  

The Exlusionary Rule: A rule that evidence obtained without a warrant is inadmissible(not usable) in court. 

This amendment also protects against searches of Metadata.(Phones) 

5th Amendment: 

Grand Jury: A group of citizens who, based on evidence presented to them, decided whether or not a person should be indicted on criminal charges and subsequently tried in court.  

Double Jeopardy: Protects an individual acquitted of a crime from being charged with the same crime again in the same jurisdiction.  

The Miranda Rule/ Miranda Rights: The right to remain silent and to have an attorney present during questioning.  These rights must be given by police to individuals in custody suspected of criminal activity as a part of the due process clause.  

Self-incrimination: Individuals cannot be compelled to give testimony that might lead to charges against them. - Although, The Supreme Court does have a sanctioned public safety exception that allows unwarned interrogation to stand as direct evidence in court.  

6th Amendment: 

The right to counsel, a speedy and public trial, and an impartial jury.  

8th Amendment:

 Bail: An amount of money that provides as a security to allow the charged individual to be freed while awaiting trial. - Excessive bail and punishment is prohibited.  

Selective incorporation: When things are argued to the Supreme Court piecemeal(multiple parts) process through which the Supreme Court has affirmed the rights and protections within the Bill of Rights and also applied them to the states.  This is also the concept that the Supreme Court picks cases that can be used to decide if in a certain situation our rights apply, and to set a precedent regarding that specific right for the future.  

Selective incorporation cases: Gideon vs. Wainwright, Roe vs. Wade, Mcdonald vs. Chicago 

• McDonald vs. Chicago(2010):

This case deals with the 2nd Amendment! 

Context: DC vs. Heller declared that a law in Washington DC that placed restrictions on handguns to be unconstitutional. —> This decision did not yet apply to the states, so they had to use selective incorporation to pick a case in one of the states that dealt with something similar.  

—>They picked McDonald vs. Chicago, which declared that a policy restricting ownership of handguns in the city of Chicago was unconstitutional.  The majority’s reasoning was that the 14th amendment makes the 2nd amendment justification for arguments that one has the right to own a gun.  

• Gideon vs. Wainwright(1963): 

This case deals with the 6th amendment!

Gideon was convicted of theft, but he was too poor to afford a lawyer so he went to jail.  The Supreme Court ruled that was not fair, so they extended the right to an attorney to those who cannot afford one by providing everyone with a public defender in criminal cases.  

• Roe vs. Wade(1973): - Overturned in 2022 by Dobbs vs. Jackson’s Women’s Health Clinic. 

Roe was a woman who wanted to get an abortion in Texas, but could not get one because “her life was not threatened.” 

“The right to privacy” is not explicitly stated in the constitution, but the Supreme Court interpreted the Due Process Clause to protect the right of privacy from state infringement. This interpretation was used to justify this case.  

This case extended the right to privacy to a woman’s decision to have an abortion while recognizing compelling state interests in potential life and maternal health.  

Civil Rights: Individuals are protected by the government from discrimination based on characteristics such as race, national origin, religion, and sex.  These rights are guaranteed to all citizens under the Equal Protection Clause.  This protects the minority from majority abuse.  This clause was stated in the 14th amendment.  

The leadership and events associated with civil, women’s and LGBTQ rights are evidence of how the equal protection clause can support and motivate social movements such as: 

—>Dr. Martin Luther King’s “Letter from a Birmingham Jail:” 

This was written by Dr. Martin Luther King when he was in jail, and is important because it calls the civil rights movement to the country’s attention.  It does this in a way that promotes nonviolent protesting in order to force a community to deal with the civil rights issues.  In his letter King calls out those who have not taken a clear side regarding the fight for civil rights, so he encourages protests like the bus boycott so that everyone is forced to pick a side.  He argued that the goal of America is to be free, therefore everyone should have civil rights based on the natural rights listed in the constitution.  

“Freedom must be demanded by the oppressed.”  

—> The National organization for Women and the Women’s rights movement andd to contrast the poor-life(anti abortion) movement  were other examples of  social movements motivated by the equal protection clause.  

Government Responses to social movements: 

• Brown vs. The Board of Education(1954): 

This case deals with the 14th amendment.  

The case began because Brown wanted his daughters to be moved to the all-white school because it was safer for them to walk to from their home, but the school wouldn’t let them attend.  —> Brown and 7 others took this case to the Supreme Court . —>The Supreme Court ruled in his favor and overturned Plessy vs. Ferguson.  

This case declared that “separate but equal” was inherently unequal, and declared that race-based school segregation violates the 14th amendment’s equal protection clause.  Although this was ruled in 1954, it took much longer for schools to become desegregated because certain southern states just refused to adhere to this decision until the national guard was sent.  

The Civil Rights Act of 1964: (The Civil Rights amendment) 

This was legislation passed that outlawed racial segregation in public schools and places.  This authorized the attorney general to sue individual school districts that failed to desegregate. 

The Voting Rights Act of 1965: 

This legislation outlawed literacy tests and authorized the justice department to send Federal officers to register voters in uncooperative  states, cites, or counties.  

This was done by states with low voter turnout being placed on a waiting list(the preclearance list.)  This forces states to have all voting rights checked by the justice department.  —> In 2013, Shelby County vs.  Holder challenged the preclearance list because the Supreme Court said that “it is not needed anymore.”  

Title IX of The Education Amendments Act of 1872: 

This states that any school that takes Federal funding must give equal rights to men and women.  This led to women’s sports becoming more accessible, and more women were able to get jobs that required higher education! 

Sometimes, the Supreme Court has allowed the restriction of the civil rights of minority groups andd sometimes they protect civil rights. Complexity Examples: 

• Plessy vs. Fergunson(1886) stated that Jim Crow Laws which restricted African Americans rights to public places were allowed as long as things were “separate but equal.” 

• The Supreme Court upheld the rights of the majority in cases that limit and prohibit majority-minority districts.  

• The debate regarding affirmative action(a policy benefiting those who tend to suffer from discrimination or are members of a historically disadvantaged group.). 

Unit 4: American Political ideologies and beliefs

Required Documents: Declaration of Independence, Federalist #51 and 78, 

Required Court Cases: None 

Core beliefs of US citizens and what they value determines that person’ s party and influences American Political Culture.  

Individualism: The belief that individuals should be responsible for themselves and their own decisions.  If a person values this more, their trust in the government tends to decrease.  

Equality of Opurtunity: the belief that everyone has an equal chance to succeed and that social status and success is based on effort.  (Equality of success is different, and Americans tend to not favor equality of success.) 

Ex. Affirmative action creates equality of opportunity. 

Free Enterprise:  This is the concept related to the economy that people and businesses can make their own decisions, but the government can regulate them.  Laissez Faire is when the government has as little influence on the economy as possible.  The US has a mixed economy, so it is not fully Laissez Faire, that’s why we call it a free enterprise economy.  

Rule of Law:  No one including the government is above the law and no single branch is more powerful than the others.  This is why the government is required to be transparent about laws and policies.  

Social Contract Theory is the concept that we have an agreement with the government, andd we give up certain rights to the government in order to be a citizen in this nation.  

Limited Government: This theory is based on Locke’s theory.  He said that the government cannot take away the rights of life, liberty, and the ability to own property.  This theory also ensures that the government is run for and by the people, so we can kick someone out with an election if we don't like them.  

Political attitudes: These are the socialization factors that cause someone to form their political beliefs/ Ideology.  

Family(biggest factor), schools, peers, media, social environments(groupthink influences how people vote), civic and religious organizations, globalization(people consider other countries when forming beliefs.) 

Generational effect: The major events and tragedies that occurred during someone’s lifetime affect their beliefs.  

Ex. The Silent Generation is more democrat because of the Great Depression.  

Lifecycle effect: DDifferent stages of life result in different levels of political ideals. 

Ex. Younger people care more about Education

Scientific Poll: A representative poll(represents the population) with statistically significant sample size and a sample that was randomly selected and has neutral language.  

Methods/ types of polls: 

Opinion Polls: Polls used to estimate public opinion.  

Benchmark Polls: Polls done at the start of the campaign to find out which issues are important to voters and how popular a candidate is.  

Tracking Polls: A survey/poll done throughout the campaign.  

Entrance Polls: A poll taken as people are entering an even

Exit Polls: A poll taken as you are leaving the place where you vote.(How media knows election results) 

Sampling techniques: 

1. A representative sample that weighs the percentages of the population of a certain group to more accurately represent the population.  

2. Random selection means that the people were selected randomly, so this is usually done using a digital dial to prevent bias.  

Mass survey: a survey taken from about 1500 respondents.  This usually has a low margin of error.  

Focus Group:  A small group discusses specific things. to gage public opinion.  

Remember: Question wording and order affect poll results!!

Quality and credibility of data:

• Scientific polling can be. accurate in predicting elections, but it may be affected by people not answering truthfully or the. Results of the polls influencing how people vote(this phenomenon is known as horse-race journalism.) 

• Having knowledge of. Public opinion is important for candidates. to know what to say, and how to say it.  - Public opinion influences policy!

• Sometimes uneducation or misunderstanding of words can make polls inaccurate.  

• Plus, congress doesn't have to follow polling so it can be inaccurate in predicting policy. 

Party Ideologies:

Us Political Culture: 

Ideologies how you pick your party —> your party influences the candidates you align with —> the candidates influence formation of public goals and policies. 

• Public policy reflects voters' opinions because the government is elected. 

• Balancing US core beliefs is reflected in policy debates. Ex.  Individuals are reflected in the belief that there should be no public healthcare, because people who believe this think that people should take care of themselves.  

Laissez Faire Economy: No government involvement in the economy.  

Vs. 

Command and control economy: and Communism

—> US is a mix of those two economies 

Libertarians: 

• Favor a laissez-faire economy

• Favor no regulation of the marketplace beyond protection of rights and voluntary trade 

• This party wants the government to do the bare minimum.  

• They only care about protecting private property and individual liberties.  

Idealoligies andd government role in the marketplace:  

Economic decisions are made by the president, congress, and The Fedderal Reserve(7 people appointed by the president that set monetary policies and regulate money) 

Economic terms: 

Economic recession = decline in economic activity demonstrated by 2 quarters with a negative GDP

Consumer Price Index(CPI) = Tracks the prices of everything at the time. (Measures the cost of living.) 

Gross DDomestic Product(GDP) = The total value of goods andd services of the economy.  

Inflation = Rise in prices without increased wages.  

Economic Iddealoloigies: 

Fiscal Policy = government use of taxes/ spending in attempt to lower unemployment or change the economy.  

Vs. 

Monetary Policy = Stuff done by the FED. (Open Market operations, discount rate, reserve requirement.)

Social Political Ideologies

 liberal = Believe that the government should not get involved in personnel and privacy stuff and want more national involvement in healthcare. They support the affordable care act, medicare(healthcare for old people), and medicaid(health care for lower income people.). Overall, they favor more Education and religious freedoms.  

Conservative =  Belief that the government should not care about social equality but they should get involved in certain things like banning books.  They oppose government health care and support school vouchers.  Overall, they favor state and local having more power than the Federal government.  

Unit 5: Political Parties and Interest Groups 

Required Documents: None!

Required Court Cases: Citizens vs. The Federal Election Commission(2010) 

Voting Rights Protection in the Constitution: 

15th Amendment: Prohibits states from discriminating against prospective voters on the basis of race.  

17th Amendment: Gives the people the voting right to directly elect their senators.(Before this the state legislators picked them.   

19th Amendment: Expanded voting rights to women.  

24th Amendment: Prohibits congress and the states from imposing taxes as a condition for voting in Federal elections.  

26th Amendment: Expanded the voting age from 21 to 18.  

Models of Voting Behavior: 

Rational Choice Voting: Voting based on what is received to be in the individual's self-interest.  

Retrospective Voting: Voting based on candidates past. (Usually voting to re-elect someone.) 

Prospective Voting: Voting based on what the candidate says they will do in the future.(predictions) 

Party Line Voting: Voting based on party.  (Voting for one political party across the ballot.)

Overall factors that influence who a voter will choose are partydentification, ideological orientation, candidate characteristics, religious beliefs, gender, race, ethnicity, and other demographic characteristics.  

Role individual choice and state laws play in voter turnout: 

Voter turnout is the percentage of eligible voters who showed up to vote.  It can be looked at based on “demographics” to see the percentages of certain groups that showed up to vote.  Demographics can be socioeconomic status, occupation, and educational background.  

—>This can also be affected by a candidate's characteristics such as race, gender, education, religion, appearance, etc.  

Political efficacy is a person’s belief that they could create change politically.  It is basically does the voter believe their vote matters? This affects voter turnout! If a person believes that their vote can actually make a difference, they are more likely to go vote! 

• Registration requirements which vary by state may affect voter turnout.  For example, some states allow you to register on Election Day to vote, other states require you to register weeks or months in advance. Another example is that some states require you to get a voter ID card in order to be allowed to vote, so that may limit who can vote.  

• Polling locations may also affect voter turnout, because it may be more accessible for some than others to get to the place to vote.  

Midterm elections: (Congressional or presidential) 

Primaries: (voting for the nomination for a party.) (The type is different based on state.) 

Open Primary: Can déclaré party to vote for on voting day. 

Closed Primary: Must déclaré party before voting day.  

Blanket Primary: The voter can vote in all primaries.  

Caucuses: When people go to a public place and meet with like minded people to determine who their party should nominate for president.  

Demographics, political efficacy, and political engagement are all used to predict whether or not a candidate will vote.  

Linkage Institutions: 

Channels that connect Individuals with the government  such as elections, political parties, interest groups and the media.  

Parties: Democrat and republican are the two most dominant.  Being a member of a political party can help one feel a sense of belonging and frame of reference in the political world, and can help someone decide who to vote for.  

Interest groups: These are groups that want to get the government to make laws and policy that supports their members.  

Economic Interest Groups: Interest groups that advocate one half of financial interest.  Example: Chamber of Commerce 

Public Interest Groups: Groups that act on behalf of a broad group of people that want to do something for the public benefit.  Example: The Sierra Club 

Single Issue Groups: An interest group focused on one idea. 

Government Interest Groups: Groups that try to get the government to support global, state, or local governments more.  Example: The coalition of governors 

Elections:

Individuals use elections to choose their representation, so this is their most direct link to linkage institutions and policy making.  

Media: 

Forms of media: 

Traditional news media, social media, investigative journalism, political commentary.  

—> Increasingly diverse choices of media may cause influence over politics, because different people hear different things because they have different sources of media.  Political participation is influenced by media coverage.  —> Media bias has become increasingly controversial(example CNN vs. Fox.) 

Roles of the media: 

1. Gatekeepers: (agenda setting) They décidé what issues are newsworthy.  

2. Scorekeepers: “horse race journalism” = They reveal who is winning before the polling locations actually close, so we know who the winner of an election Horse RaceJournalism can cause media to impact elections by people basing their opinions on popularity rather than qualifications of candidates.  

3. Watchdog: They serve the purpose of keeping an eye on government/business.  

Political Parties impact on electorate and government: 

Political parties have a large effect on the electoral college because they have “the winner takes all the rules” so the party that wins that state gets all the electoral votes.  Without political parties, the votes may have been split up more between candidates within states which may lead to a different outcome in elections.  

Political Mobilization: These are efforts by the political party to encourage members to vote, so therefore this causes political parties to increase voter turnout.  

Party platforms may shape an Individual's platform, which may lead to a change in policy just because someone wants to support the party.  

Candidate recruitment encourages those elected to be whom the party leaders want to represent them, not necessarily the general public.  

Parties organize a group of party leaders, office holders, and voters who work together to elect candidates to political office. 

—> Parties adapt based on current political beliefs and trends.  

Battleground State: A state where the polls show a close contest between the democrat and republican in a presidential election.  

Swing State: a state where levels of support for the parties are similar and elections swing back and forth between Democrats and republicans.  

Get out the voote(GOTV): Efforts by campaigns to mobilize supporters.

How parties change and adapt: 

Candidate centered Campaigns: A trend in which candidates develop their own strategies and raise money with less influence from the part elite.  - Their role has been weakened, and that is why we are stuck with Trump and Biden.  In the Republican Party right now, no one wants to go against Trump so there are no candidate-centered campaigns, the republicans are all just dying to please him and his voters.  

—>Parties modify their policies and messaging to appeal to various demographic coalitions.  Party coalition: groups of voters who support a political party over time.  —> Realignment is when the groups of people who support a political party shift their alliance to a different political party.  (Example: college graduates have become more democratic.) (Another example is a regional realignment: in the 1960s the south shifted republican and the north shifted democrat because of LBJ’s stance on civil rights issues.) 

—>The structure of parties has been influenced by these realignments and critical elections: A major national election that signalés a change in the balance of power between the two parties.  

—> Parties use technology to identify target voters, and enhance mobilization efforts.  

Structural barriers that inhibit third parties: 

• In comparison to proportional representation systems(an election where people vote for the party, not the person.-NOT US) we have a member plurality system(you vote for the person.) This inhibits a third party from becoming popular.  

• The “winner takes all system” also inhibits third parties and independents.  

• Democrats or republicans may try to incorporate third-party agendas into theirs to get third party and independent voters.  

More Interest Group stuff:

Benefits of interest groups: 

• Interest groups may represent very specific OR more general interests.  

• They can dedicate voters and office holders, draft legislation, and mobilize membership to apply pressure on and work with legislators and government agencies.  

• Interest groups can work with party coalitions, they may have long-standing relationships with bureaucratic agencies or congressional committees.  

—> Some things that inhibit interest groups are that they may be impacted by inequality of political and economic resources, unequal access to resources, and the “free rider problem”(people who do not belong to interest groups, but benefit from them. Example: non-union workers are free riddlers because they benefit from the raises that the unions negotiated.) 

—>Interest groups, professional organizations, social movements, the military, bureaucratic agencies, and elections are competing factors in influencing policy change, because lawmakers want to please all!

Social Movements: 

These are different from interest groups! They are loose groups that educate the public and put pressure on the policy makers in an effort to bring out societal change.  

—> These are mostly protest movements.

Presidential Elections: 

1. Primaries / Caucuses 

2. The General election 

Campaigns in the election: 

• They are inhibited by being overly dependent on professional consultants, riding campaign costs/intensive funding efforts. 

• They are sometimes benefited and sometimes inhibited by the duration of election cycles.  

• Currently, there is further reliance on social media for campaigns.  

• Citizens United vs. Federal Election Commision(2010):

This case dealt with deferral legislation and case law pertaining to campaign finance and the debate over the relationship between money and free speech.  This case was when a conservative group wanted to raise money and show a movie that goes against Hilary Clinton.  A law prevented this group from raising the money to do this, so they went to SCOTUS.  

Their argument was that money = free speech, and that there should be no limits on how much an organization, union, or corporation should spend on a candidate.  -  The Supreme Court agreed with them, and overall this led to allowing groups with large amounts of money more say in elections.  

Political Action Committees(PACs) 

These within individuals, organizations, and unions that formed to raise money to elect a certain politician and defeat other ones.  All PACs have a money limit and everything must be reported.  

Super PACs: PACs that can receive unlimited amounts of money.  These can receive “dark money” which is money anonymously donated to a campaign.  Candidates cannot interact with or coordinate with a super PAC.