Government Exam 1

Interstate compacts

Agreements between multiple states on how to share something. Very common on resources, sharing of water, transportation of hazardous waste across state lines. Must be approved by Congress.

Intense preferences

Based on strong feelings regarding an issue that someone adheres to over time. More likely to donate time and money to campaigns or attend political rallies.

Why is civic engagement important?

Becoming active in community & engaging in wide variety of community-based volunteer efforts & help government do its job.

Ideology

Beliefs and ideals that help shape political opinion and eventually policy.

Pre-Founding challenges? What did America look like pre-founding?

British colonists in North America had peacefully accepted rule by the king and Parliament. Much of their pride, however, stemmed from their belief that they were heirs to a tradition of limited government and royal acknowledgement of the rights of their subjects. Colonists' pride in their English liberties gave way to dismay when they perceived that these liberties were being abused. People had come to regard life, liberty, and property not as gifts from the monarch but as natural rights no government could take away. A chain of incidents—the Proclamation of 1763, the trial of smugglers in courts without juries, the imposition of taxes without the colonists' consent, and the attempted interference with self-government in the colonies—convinced many colonists that the social contract between the British government and its citizens had been broken. In 1776, the Second Continental Congress declared American independence from Great Britain.

Downsides of federalism

Chief among them are economic disparities across states, race-to- the-bottom dynamics (i.e., states compete to attract business by lowering taxes and regulations), and the difficulty of taking action on issues of national importance.

Shared powers

Collect taxes, establish courts, regulate interstate commerce, regulate banks, borrow money, provide for the general welfare, punish criminals.

Social capital

Collective value of social networks that arise from networks to do things for each other, accompanies this decline in membership in small, interactive groups. Networks of individuals, a sense that one is part of an entity larger than oneself, concern for the collective good and a willingness to help others, and the ability to trust others and to work with them to find solutions to problems.

Slavery issue & 3/5th's compromise

Compromise b/w northern and southern states that called for counting of all state's free population, 60 percent of its slave population for both federal taxation and representation in Congress.

Legislative

Congress has power to pass legislation, may declare war, may impeach the president, may establish the number of Supreme Court justices and regulate the Court's jurisdiction. Senate has power to ratify treaties signed by president, must give consent to president's appointment of federal judges, ambassadors, and heads of executive departments.

"Founding Fathers on Religion" (hot reading)

Deists and Unitarians who believed in unalienable Rights being endowed by a Creator. They believed in freedom, Freedom of Religion, based on tolerance and freedom of individual conscience. The founders were consistently insistent in the Articles of Confederation and the Constitution is NOT wanting religion to influence democracy in America.

Politics

Exercising control within government for purpose of achieving goals.

Tradeoffs

Exist between two related factors on a continuum.

Marijuana laws

Federal or states? Legal or illegal?

Federalism & city and state competition (e.g. OKC Thunder)

Federalism creates an environment (Robertson & Judd) in which states and cities decide how much to tax businesses. States & cities hence can vary in how much they tax or are willing to invest in businesses. Large businesses and sports franchises, like the OKC thunder, can search around to find the best deal. Cities and states then compete to lower taxes and invest in infrastructure to attract the businesses and there is a race to the bottom in government services because taxation is too low. Robertson and Judd say this is a problem and the way to fix it is to have a strong national government so the states and localities don't have the incentive to lower the taxes too much and spend wastefully stadiums.

Private goods

Food, clothing, housing provided by private businesses. People can purchase what they need in the quantity in which they need it.

Framer's views of central and executive authority

Framers were scared of central and executive authority. It's why they made the Articles of Confederation weak. When they gathered to design the Constitution, they knew they needed a stronger federal government and president, but the proper amount of power in the presidency (how strong) was a tough tradeoff with which they had to deal. Fear of executive authority led them to divide power up in the Constitution even as they strengthened the federal government and the executive (president).

Direct Democracy

People participate directly in making government decisions. "All male citizens were allowed to attend meetings of the Assembly."

Common goods

Goods that all people may use free of charge but that are of limited supply, such as fish in the sea or clean drinking water.

Public goods

Goods/services available to all without charge. (National security and education).

Bicameral (Great Compromise)

Legislature with two houses, such as U.S. Congress.

Articles of Confederation Failure (why didn't it work?)

National government had no power to impose taxes, could not regulate foreign trade/interstate commerce, could not raise an army, the Articles could not be changed without unanimous vote, each state had only one vote in Congress regardless of its size, there was no national judicial system.

Key issues the Framer's grappled with at the convention?

North vs. South (slavery), large vs. small states, federal government states, how strong or weak to make the presidency.

Enumerated powers

Powers given explicitly to the federal government by the Constitution power to regulate interstate and foreign commerce, raise and support armies, declare war, coin money, and conduct foreign affairs.

Latent preferences

Ppl are not deeply committed to and that change over time.

Engagement

Ppl involved in political activities such as, signing petitions, contacting elected representatives, or contributing money to campaigns. Younger Americans less likely to become involved in traditional political organizations. They're less likely to be put off by partisan politics. "Partisanship"

The New Federalism

Premised on idea that decentralization of policies enhances administrative efficiency, reduces overall public spending, and improves policy outcomes.

Executive

President is commander-in-chief, responsible for conducting foreign affairs, appoints federal judges, ambassadors, and heads of executive departments, grant pardons to those who have broken federal laws, has power to veto legislation passed by Congress.

Toll good

Private schooling. Available to many people, and many people can make use of them, but only if they can pay the price.

Layer-cake

Programs and authority are clearly divided among the national, state, and local governments.

Marble-cake

Programs and authority are mixed among the national, state, and local governments.

Types of Political participation

Protest (Civil rights movement/sit ins), boycotts, voting.

Government

Society organizes itself in order to accomplish goals and provide benefits, economic prosperity, secure borders, and safety of citizens.

Judicial

Supreme Court hears cases involving federal law, nation's final court appeal, has power to declare laws and actions by executive branch unconstitutional. Chief Justice of the Supreme Court presides over impeachment trials.

Separation of powers

The sharing of powers among three separate branches of government.

Selling points of Constitution

The splitting power apart aspect is a Fed 51 argument and it is aimed at the Anti-Federalists to assure them that the new fed government and presidency would not become too all powerful.

Representative Democracy

Voters elect representatives to make decisions and pass laws on behalf of all people instead of allowing people to vote directly on laws.

Civic engagement

Working to make a difference in the civic life of our communities and developing the combination of knowledge, skills, values and motivation to make that difference.

Benefits of federalism

because our federal system creates two levels of government with the capacity to take action, failure to attain a desired policy goal at one level can be offset by successfully securing the support of elected representatives at another level. Thus, individuals, groups, and social movements are encouraged to actively participate and help shape public policy.

Cooperative federalism

both levels of government coordinated their actions to solve national problems, such as the Great Depression and the civil rights struggle of the following decades. In contrast to dual federalism, it erodes the jurisdictional boundaries between the states and national government, leading to a blending of layers as in a marble cake.

Unfunded mandates

federal laws and regulations that impose obligations on state and local governments without fully compensating them for the administrative costs they incur.

Block grants

for broad purposes, state localities get flexibility.

Federalism

institutional arrangement that creates two relatively autonomous levels of government, each possessing the capacity to act directly on behalf of the people with the authority granted to it by the national constitution.

Categorical grants

more targeted, less flexibility as federal government dictates what it can be used for.

Elastic cause

necessary and proper cause, enables Congress "to make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying" out its constitutional responsibilities.

Limited government

principle of classical liberalism, free market libertarianism, and some tendencies of liberalism and conservatism in the United States.

Dual federalism

states and national government exercise exclusive authority in distinctly delineated spheres of jurisdiction.

Antifederalists

those who did not support ratification of the Constitution.

Federalists

those who supported ratification of the Constitution.