Module 1: American Government and Civic Engagement

According to Mills, who controls the government?

a combination of business, military, and political elites. Most are highly educated, often graduating from prestigious universities

What is government?

1. The system for implementing decisions made through the political process 2. The formal institutions through which a land and its people are ruled 3. The system of people, laws, and officials that define and control the country in which you live ***the means by which a society organizes itself and allocates authority in order to accomplish collective goals and provide benefits that the society as a whole needs.****

What is the legal minimum voting age in the United States?

18

About what proportion of Americans report participating in some form of political action in the past year?

70%

Why are younger Americans less likely to become involved in some form of traditional political organization?

Americans are particularly likely to be put off by partisan politics. as American politics become more partisan in nature, young people turn away. Instead of identifying with a particular political party, young Americans are increasingly concerned about specific issues, such as same-sex marriage.

Who is C. Wright Mills?

Author of The Power Elite - support of the elite theory

Who is Robert Dahl?

Author of Who Governs.. one of the first to advance the pluralist theory - argued that

What do governments do?

Besides providing stability and goods and services for all, government also creates a structure by which goods and services can be made available to the people.

What is civic engagement?

Civic engagement is participation in activities that improve one's community or address wider social issues. Civic engagement can involve political and non-political activities. Typical forms of civic engagement include participating in the electoral process, volunteering, and advocacy or activism.

How do people influence the actions of government in the United States?

Civic engagement, (political engagement) or the participation that connects citizens to government, is a vital ingredient of politics. In the United States, citizens play an important role in influencing what policies are pursued, what values the government chooses to support, what initiatives are granted funding, and who gets to make the final decisions.

What sorts of governments are in Cuba, China, Saudi Arabia, and North Korea?

Cuba/China- Oligarchy ; Saudi Arabia- Monarchy ; North Korea - Totalitarian

How does civic engagement increase the power of ordinary citizens to influence government action?

Even those without money or connections to important people can influence the policies that affect their lives and change the direction taken by government. U.S. history is filled with examples of people actively challenging the power of elites, gaining rights for themselves, and protecting their interests. For example, slavery was once legal in the United States and large sectors of the U.S. economy were dependent on this forced labor. Slavery was outlawed and Black people were granted citizenship because of the actions of abolitionists.

Do young people tend to identify as liberal or conservative?

However, younger voters are more likely to lean in a liberal direction

What was the significance of McCullen v Coakley?

In 2007, the state of Massachusetts enacted a law that required protestors to stand thirty-five feet away from clinic entrances. The intention was to prevent women seeking abortions from being harassed or threatened with violence. Groups favoring the protection of women's reproductive rights supported the law. Groups opposed to abortion argued that the buffer zone prevented them from speaking to women to try to persuade them not to have the procedure done. In 2014, in the case of McCullen v. Coakley, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the law that created a buffer zone between protestors and clinic entrances.

What is the difference between latent preferences and intense preferences?

Latent preferences are not deeply held and do not remain the same over time.,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,intense preferences are based on strong feelings regarding an issue that someone adheres to over time.

Why are tradeoffs common in the U.S. Congress?

Members of the Senate and the House of Representatives usually vote according to the concerns of people who live in their districts. Not only does this often pit the interests of people in different parts of the country against one another, but it also frequently favors the interests of certain groups of people over the interests of others within the same state.

Are younger voters more likely to identify as Republican, Democrat, or independent?

More Americans under the age of thirty now identify themselves as Independents instead of Democrats or Republicans

What are the characteristics of capitalism?

The three defining traits of capitalism as an economic system are private ownership of property, pursuit of personal profit, and competition and consumer choice.

Are all socialist countries also oligarchies?

No

Are younger or older people more likely to report participation in some form of political party?

No

Do capitalism and democracy always go together? Why or why not?

No.

What provision of the Constitution protects freedom of speech?

The First Amendment of the Constitution

Why is representative democracy often associated with capitalism?

a democratic government promotes individualism and the freedom to act as one chooses instead of being controlled, for good or bad, by government. Capitalism, in turn, relies on individualism. At the same time, successful capitalists prefer political systems over which they can exert at least some influence in order to maintain their liberty.

What is an oligarchy?

a form of government where a handful of elite society members hold political power//////only members of a certain political party or ruling elite can participate in government. For example, in China, the government is run by members of the Chinese Communist Party.

What is totalitarianism? What is an example of totalitarian government today?

a form of government where government is all-powerful and citizens have no rights

What is monarchy? What is an example of monarchy today?

a form of government where one ruler, usually a hereditary one, holds political power

What is a direct democracy?

a form of government where people participate directly in making government decisions instead of choosing representatives to do this for them

What is a representative democracy?

a form of government where voters elect representatives to make decisions and pass laws on behalf of all the people instead of allowing people to vote directly on laws

What is majority rule?

a fundamental principle of democracy; the majority should have the power to make decisions binding upon the whole

What are toll goods?

a good that is available to many people but is used only by those who can pay the price to do so- private schools

What is democracy?

a political system in which people govern themselves, with capitalism.

Who was John Locke?

an English political philosopher of the seventeenth century, believed all people have natural rights to life, liberty, and property.

What is socialism?

an alternative economic system. In socialist societies, the means of generating wealth, such as factories, large farms, and banks, are owned by the government and not by private individuals. The government accumulates wealth and then redistributes it to citizens, primarily in the form of social programs that provide such things as free or inexpensive health care, education, and childcare.

Why are forms of governmental systems sometimes confused with economic systems?

because certain types of political thought or governmental organization are closely related to or develop with certain types of economic systems. For

What is elite theory?

claims political power rests in the hands of a small, elite group of people

What is pluralist theory?

claims political power rests in the hands of groups of people

What are the goals of government?

economic prosperity for the nation, secure national borders, and the safety and well-being of citizens. provide benefits for their citizens such as education, health care, and an infrastructure for transportation.

What are some examples of tradeoffs in American government?

freedom of speech issues- the right to express their opinions on matters of concern to them; the federal government cannot interfere with this right..................neither the federal government nor state governments can allow someone's right to free expression to interfere with someone else's ability to exercise his or her own rights. Example- right to abortion and right for protestors to protest abortion............the government may attempt to resolve conflicting concerns within the nation as a whole through tradeoffs.... like guns

What are public goods?

goods or services that are available to all without charge: Examples: national security and education, military, police, fire department, public schools

What are private goods?

goods provided by private businesses that can be used only by those who pay for them. Examples- clothes, food, gas

What are common goods?

goods that all people may use but that are of limited supply - fish in the sea, clean drinking water

What is the tradeoffs perspective?

government action and public policy are influenced by an ongoing series of tradeoffs or compromises. Tradeoffs also occur as a result of conflict between groups representing the competing interests of citizens.

What forms does civic engagement take?

individual engagement: staying informed about debates and events (local, state, nation) Awareness...news, tv, public broadcasting system, national public radio, reputable internet sites, write/email political representatives, VOTE................ Group engagement- book clubs, political campaigns, fundraising efforts for campaigns, registering people to vote, poll workers,..... POLITICAL ENGAGEMENT< COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT (habitat for humanity) SOCIAL ENGAGEMENT( protests, marches, boycotts, civil disobedience)

What is the subject of the book Wealth of Nations?

industrial capitalism,

What is political power?

influence over a government's institutions, leadership, or policies

What is the significance of the Twenty-Sixth Amendment?

lowered the voting age in national elections to eighteen, was ratified by the states and went into effect in 1971.

What is Common Cause?

non-partisan organization that seeks to hold government accountable for its actions. It calls for campaign finance reform and paper verification of votes registered on electronic voting machines. Voters would then receive proof that the machine recorded their actual vote. This

What evidence is there that an elite control American politics?

one-third of U.S. presidents have attended Ivy League schools, Among members of the House of Representatives, 95 percent have a bachelor's degree, as do 100 percent of members of the Senate. The majority of the men and women in Congress also engaged in either state or local politics, were business people, or practiced law before being elected to Congress.11 Approximately 75 percent of both the Senate and the House of Representatives are male, and about 21 percent of members of Congress are people of color.12 The nation's laws are made primarily by well-educated White male professionals and businessmen.

What concept is most closely associated with Adam Smith?

people should be allowed to operate as they wish and keep the proceeds of their work. Competition would ensure that prices remained low and faulty goods disappeared from the market.

What is Who Governs?

pluralist theory that politicians seeking an "electoral payoff" are attentive to the concerns of politically active citizens and, through them, become acquainted with the needs of ordinary people. They will attempt to give people what they want in exchange for their votes. 40 percent of the members of Congress are millionaires; twelve members hold over half of the Congress's collective net worth.

Who is Robert Putnam?

political scientist - argued that civic engagement is declining...........Although people are still interested in volunteering and working for the public good, they are more interested in either working individually or joining large organizations where they have little opportunity to interact with others. Putnam considers a number of explanations for this decline in small group membership, including increased participation by women in the workforce, a decrease in the number of marriages and an increase in divorces, and the effect of technological developments, such as the internet, that separate people by allowing them to feel connected to others without having to spend time in their presence.

What is the concept of minority rights?

protections for those who are not part of the majority

What is partisanship?

strong support, or even blind allegiance, for a particular political party

What is civil disobedience?

the active, professed refusal of a citizen to obey certain laws, demands, orders or commands of a government. By some definitions , civil disobedience has to be nonviolent to be called "civil". Hence, civil disobedience is sometimes equated with peaceful protests or nonviolent resistance. ( BLM protests)

What is ideology?

the beliefs and ideals that help to shape political opinion and eventually policy

What economic system is often associated with democracy?

the economic system of capitalism in Western Europe

What political concepts are associated with John Locke?

the idea that people should govern themselves through elected representatives and not a king; only those representatives chosen by the people had the right to make laws to govern them.

What is politics?

the process by which we decide how resources will be allocated and which policies government will pursue//////// the process of gaining and exercising control within a government for the purpose of setting and achieving particular goals, especially those related to the division of resources within a nation.

What is The Power Elite?

the wealthy use their power to control the nation's economy in such a way that those below them cannot advance economically. Their wealth allows the elite to secure for themselves important positions in politics. They then use this power to make decisions and allocate resources in ways that benefit them. Politicians do the bidding of the wealthy instead of attending to the needs of ordinary people, and order is maintained by force. Indeed,

Are younger voters who identify with a political party more likely to support the Democrats or Republicans?

young people who do identify with one of the major parties have in recent years tended to favor the Democratic Party.

What is social capital?

—"the collective value of all 'social networks' [those whom people know] and the inclinations that arise from these 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.