Federal Government Unit 5
What are two advantages of being the majority party in the U.S. Congress?
- Being the majority in Congress means your party represents the majority membership in all standing committees, and -Your party selects the chair of all standing committees in Congress.
Proportional Representation and Responsible Party
-Proportional Representation is when Political Parties receive the number of legislators corresponding to the percentage of the vote they won. -Responsible Party System is where the party can punish a candidate if they vote against their party. They can take away their party label, the candidate will have to run as Independent in the next election, and they can withdraw campaign funding to a candidate.
What 2 inventions led to the development of mass-readership of newspapers during the last half of the 19th century?
-The high-speed rotary machine -Telegraph
What are the 6 distinct eras in the evolution of American Political Parties? What were the major political parties of each, what issues divided them, what were the political figures associated with each, and what events contributed to the rise or demise of the dominant political party of each.
1) Creation of Parties (1789-1812)- Divided by Constitution, Federalists (A. Hamilton) v. Anti-Feds (T. Jefferson), ended because the Constitution was ratified. 2) Era of Good Feeling (1817-1825)- 1 party, Jefferson's Democratic-Republican, J. Monroe ran unopposed for 2 terms. 1816-Last time Federalist party is seen. 1824- A. Jackson formed Democratic Party, Adams & Clay formed Whig Party (held together by hatred for Jackson) 3) Jackson - Civil War (1828-1860)- Democratic party (Jackson 1828-1837, Martin Van Buren 1837-1841) and Whig party (first Whig Pres. in 1840- Zach Taylor). 1850s- Whig party split due to slavery, Republican Party is created. 1856- first Repub. nominee, 1860- Lincoln, first Repub. Pres. Repub. still considered 3rd party, south secedes, Repub. becomes dominant party. 4) Post-Civil War (1864-1892)- Democrat party was concentrated in the south known as the "solid south". Repub party was dominant 5) Progressive Period (1896-1928)- Repub. party becomes progressive, wanted govern. to regulate business. Teddy Roosevelt - "Trust Buster". 1912 Election split Repub. party. Woodrow Wilson (D) creates Direct Primary, ratifies 17th Amendment and adds the 19th. 6) Modern Period (1932-Present)- Started w/ Franklin Roosevelt and the Great Depression. FDR (D) serves 4 terms, his "New Deal" stopped Laissez-Faire economics and replaced it with federal regulation and support.
What amendments to the Constitution removed the restrictions on voting and were responsible for establishing universal suffrage?
15th (1870)-race 19th (1920)- gender 24th (1964)- banned Poll tax 26th (1971)- lowered the voting age
What was the significance of the presidential election of 1912 and 1948?
1912- Teddy Roosevelt split the Republican party, it also showed that 3rd parties don't last, but the can be very influential on the other parties to adopt some of their values. 1948- The significance of this election was that the "solid south" did not stay and vote strictly Democratic.
Yellow Journalism
A form of newspaper publishing in vogue in the late nineteenth century that featured pictures, comics, color, and sensationalized news coverage.
Proportional representation
A voting system that apportions legislative seats according to the percentage of the vote won by a particular political party.
Winner-takes-all system
An electoral system in which the party that receives at least one more vote than any other party wins the election.
What are the provisions of the Federal Election Campaign Act? What were the 1974 Amendments? What was the significance of the US Supreme Court's decision in Buckley v. Valeo?
Created the FEC, puts a limit on campaign contributions and requires disclosure of who contributed to your funds, how much was spent, and what you spent it on. The 1974 Amendments set contribution limits and established the FEC (Federal Election Commission. In Buckley v. Valeo the SC decided that they can limit contributions but not spending.
Direct Techniques vs Indirect Techniques
Direct Techniques- Interest groups hire lobbyists, contact officials personally, and use PACs. Indirect Techniques- "Shotgunning"- try to persuade the general public to support their cause "Rifling"- Have a powerful constituent contact their senator or representative.
What divides American political parties today?
Economic
General Election
Election in which voters decide which candidates will actually fill elective public offices.
How did the elitist and pluralist view differ regarding how issues were represented in government policy making?
Elitism believed that policy making is controlled by a few people, Pluralist believed that all significant issues would be represented by government.
What are the distinctions between European political parties and American political parties?
European politics support 3rd parties, America does not. European 3rd parties have something to gain by running through Proportional Representation, but in America we use a winner-takes-all system, so 3rd parties gain nothing.
What was the view of political parties expressed by our founding fathers George Washington and Thomas Jefferson?
George Washington hated political parties, warned against them. Thomas Jefferson did not like political parties, but eventually became the head of the republican-democratic party.
What is the method of selecting political party nominees (chronological order)?
In the early 1800's, the party candidates were nominated by using a closed meeting of powerful individuals (caucus), in the 1830's - 1840's a party convention was used and beginning in the 1910's a Direct Primary is used to select a candidate.
Lobbyist
Interest group representative who seeks to influence legislation that will benefit his or her organization or client through political and/or financial persuasion.
What is necessary to win a Primary election in Texas?
Majority vote
Political Action Committee (PAC)
Officially recognized fund-raising organizations that represent interest groups and are allowed by federal law to make contributions directly to candidates' campaigns.
527 Political Committee
Organizations created with the primary purpose of influencing electoral outcomes; the term is typically applied only to freestanding interest groups that do not explicitly advocate for the election of a candidate.
What does it take to win a General Election?
Plurality vote
What is a PAC? Who receives most of the campaign contributions distributed by PACs?
Political Action Committee, and their job is to raise money to give to the candidates running for public office. Most of the funds go to Incumbents.
Electoral college
Representatives of each state who cast the final ballots that actually elect a President.
Single-Member district election and at-large election
Single-Member election is when a political subdivision is divided into districts and each district selects one public official At-Large elections are when every citizen votes to select a public official
Independent Expenditures
Spending for campaign activity that is not coordinated with a candidate's campaign.
What is straight-ticket voting? How does this differ from the "coat-tail effect"?
Straight ticket voting is when you vote for one party only, but the coat tail effect is when you vote straight ticket because of a strong, influential, and popular candidate gets your vote so in turn the other candidates within the same party get a vote
Who was the only minor-party candidate in the 20th century to win more votes than a major-party candidate in a presidential election?
Teddy Roosevelt
What amendments were added during the progressive era, and what was the changing view of regulation of business?
The 17th and 19th were added. People wanted more regulation on big businesses.
What role did the U.S. Constitution provide for political parties?
The constitution did not mention anything about political parties.
What do interest groups use if they do NOT have deep pockets or a large membership? Describe the role of amicus curiae briefs play in this.
They rely on Judicial redress and use amicus curiae briefs to get involved in a case in order to state their arguments for or against a policy.
In a two-party system, what group of voters do both political parties have to attempt to attract?
Voters in the political center.