Intro to American Government

The quintessential summary of retrospective voting, according to Ronald Reagan, was

"Are you better off than you were four years ago?"

The Founders—and George Washington in particular—thought of political parties as

"factions" motivated by ambition and self-interest.

Ordinary advertising directed at or against a candidate, but not by any candidate's wish, is

"independent expenditure."

Certiorari is a Latin word meaning, roughly,

"made more certain."

In the late 1800s, voter turnout in a typical presidential election has been estimated to be

70%

Since 1962, the incumbent reelection percentage in the House has never dropped below

80%

Since 1964, African Americans have voted Democratic by at least

80%

A moral hazard is when a government policy, program or plan doesn't turn out how the government wanted.

False

According to Announcement #11, the reason that companies with more female executives are more profitible than those with fewer female executives is because being female means they are better executives.

False

According to Announcement #12, it's safe to assume that gaps in pay or hiring between men and women usually mean that something unfair or unjust is going on.

False

According to Announcement #12, measurable differences in academic performance, hiring, income, imprisonment, health, housing, and taxation, between groups of people are always the result of discrimination in some form.

False

According to Announcement #7, the reason there is traffic is because a) it's free to use the freeway and b) there are too many homes being built.

False

According to Announcement #8, an income tax is sometimes called an inflation tax

False

According to Announcement 10, Thomas Jefferson believed that larger government would be good for the development of many different types of communities from which individuals and families could choose to live and pursue happiness as they define it.

False

According to Announcement 9, the average of your ideological numbers (3.4) indicates that, as a class, you would be considered "classically liberal."

False

According to Announcement 9, your unique code numbers reveal how much group diversity there is.

False

According to announcement #12, the reason that only one gender was represented by the staff at the pre-school was because of the sexist hiring decisions made by the women who run the school.

False

According to the national voting comparison graph in the Powerpoint, Switzerland had the highest voter turnout.

False

Chief Justice John Marshall was a strong advocate of state's rights and the supremacy of state law (over federal law).

False

Civil liberties impose an obligation on others to behave a certain way or provide some resource like service or money.

False

Classical Liberalism refers to freedom of choice and government assistance of workers.

False

Congress has two chambers in order to represent two different sets of interests. The individual interests of voters, such as crime, jobs, education, health care, were to be represented by the House of Representatives. The way this was done was to allow individuals to decide, through voting, who served in the House of Representatives. The organizational interests of states, such as constraining the growth of federal power and preserving their own powers, were to be represented by the Senate. The way this was done was to allows states to decide, through appointment, who served in the Senate. In 1913, this system, which was designed to produce a "balance of powers" was altered which produced an imbalance of powers between the states and the federal government. The chamber that was changed was the House of Representatives.

False

Countries with unitary structures of government tend to have more "access points" that countries with federal structures of government.

False

Due to the "ratchet effect" government tends to decrease in both the size of its personnel and budget as well as the scope of its activity over time.

False

For this first time in California history, the 2010 census showed that California would not be receiving additional representatives. This is because our growth rate has slipped compared to other states. The quality of this growth has led to a u-shaped demographic curve in many areas of California meaning very few rich and poor people but lots of middle class people.

False

Germany, Mexico and the United States all have Federal government structures which means they all centralize power in the same way.

False

In democratic countries, policies that pass with widespread support from various interests are usually quite successfully implemented.

False

In terms of the "Public vs Private Interest" concept that was discussed, private interest refers to how interest groups work.

False

In the 2016 election, Donald Trump received 62,984,828 votes while Hilary Clinton received 65,853,514. However, Donald Trump won the Presidency because he had 57% of the electoral votes which is a majority. Based on the powerpoint lecture we can be sure that if the electoral college didn't exist then Hilary Clinton would have won the Presidency.

False

Judges who come from the "original intent" legal philosophy believe that laws should never change.

False

The AFDC/TANF program helps to reduce childhood poverty.

False

The 4 sectors of the economy include all of the following EXCEPT

Financial

Medicare became a cornerstone of Lyndon Johnson's __________.

Great Society

According to lecture, all of the following are problems associated with bureaucratic function except

It is easy to measure bureaucratic performance

Health care costs have exploded in the last few decades because of all of the following reasons EXCEPT...

Lower average incomes

The "clear and present danger" test emerged in the Supreme Court's decision in the case of

Schenck v. United States.

The origin of the movement to give more rights to women was probably the

Seneca Falls Convention.

A major difference between presidential campaigns and congressional campaigns is that

presidential races are generally more competitive.

In most states, candidates for office are chosen by

primary elections

If any given voter has an equal chance of being in a survey, the sample is best described as a __________ sample.

random

Between 1860 and 1900, the percentage of eligible voters participating in presidential elections

ranged between 65 and 80 percent

Historically speaking, minority groups had a tough time getting their issues addressed by lawmakers not primarily because lawmakers were opposed to minorities but because minorities are too small to single-handedly win an election, they were easily ignored. As a result, minority groups, like the NAACP, used two strategies to have their issues address. The first was to use the judicial branch (sue) to change things and the second was to ______

recruit allies to their cause by popularizing their struggle.

VEP measures of turnout might be preferable to VAP measures because they

remove ineligible voters from the equation

The authors suggest bureaucracy is the outgrowth of

representative democracy

Writing for the Supreme Court, Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes proclaimed that the Congress could punish dangerous speech when that speech

represented a "clear and present danger" to the United States.

In Brown v. Board of Education, the Supreme Court

ruled that racially separate schools were inherently unequal and therefore unconstitutional.

The difference between the results of two surveys or samples is called

sampling error

When registered nonvoters are asked why they did not vote, the most common response that they give refers to

scheduling conflicts or being "too busy."

Between 1789 and the Civil War, the Supreme Court was primarily occupied with the issues of

slavery and national supremacy.

As its rationale for the decision in Brown, the Supreme Court relied primarily on

social science evidence.

Unlimited money given to political parties, but not used to back candidates directly, is

soft money

People who join interest groups for a sense of pleasure, status, or companionship are joining because of

solidary incentives

The text suggests that our genetic background explains

some of our political ideology

Fiscally, what does Keynesian theory say the government should do during inflation?

spend less & tax more

Fiscally, what does Keynesian theory say the government should do during a recession?

spend more

Until ratification of the Seventeenth Amendment to the Constitution, members of the Senate were selected by __________.

state legislatures

Presidential electors were at first picked by

state legislatures rather than by voters directly

The Bill of Rights has come to apply to the states through the interpretation of

the Fourteenth Amendment.

The doctrine of nullification refers to

the claimed authority of the states to declare a federal law void for violating the U.S. Constitution.

The MOST important source of political values in the United States is probably

the family

In McCulloch v. Maryland, the Supreme Court held that

the federal government could pass any laws necessary and proper to the attainment of constitutional ends.

The text suggests that the abolition of the electoral college might lead to

the formation of third parties.

The difference between de facto and de jure segregation is that

the former results from private choices, the latter from public law

The cabinet officers are the heads of

the major executive departments

In Palko v. Connecticut (1937) the Supreme Court broadly ruled that certain provisions of the national Constitution's Bill of Rights apply to the state because of

the notions of ordered liberty and fundamental rights

According to the Coyne article on Cronyism, where interest groups engage in 'rent-seeking,' government officials engage in rent-extraction. This means government officials can extract items the value from interest groups because they have government officials have some things that interest groups want, This includes all of the following EXCEPT

the power to set speed limits

Article I, section 8 of the U.S. Constitution confers on Congress all of the following powers EXCEPT

the power to veto bills

In the First Congress, it was decided that appointed federal officials would be removable by

the president alone.

The First Amendment does NOT address

the right to bear arms

One way that Congress exercises authority over agencies is through

the statutes that create and define them.

Benefits to "disabled" folks face an incredible moral hazard which is that various interest groups continually push to expand the definition and terminology of "disability" in order to include larger numbers of people who can receive those benefits. The "moral hazard" is that the programs increase the number of people who the government categorizes as "disabled" - in other words, the 'solution' increases the 'problem' = moral hazard

True

By 2015, average student loan debt had surpassed $28,000 per student.

True

Cities with super tax bases don't have to worry too much about angry city residents who are unhappy with their city's policies but cities with normal tax bases do.

True

In 1965 the U.S. government began fighting a war in Viet Nam. This had an inflationary effect on the U.S. economy.

True

In Marbury v Madison (1803) the Supreme Court essential gives itself the power of judicial review.

True

In United States v. Lopez, the Supreme Court said that Congress had exceeded its commerce clause power by creating gun-free zones around schools.

True

In the 1880s, the Bureaucracy began to shift from one which provided services to citizens (post office, road construction) to one which regulated behavior. This shift represents a change in the governing ideology of the country from one of limited government to one in which government was thought to know better than the public about how to "improve" society.

True

In the case of Gibbons v Ogden, John Marshall ruled that any commerce that occurs between two or more states can be regulated by the federal government.

True

Interest groups tend to produce "research" that supports whatever interest they are trying to advance. This is what is meant by the "politicization" of science, or the corruption of science.

True

Iron Triangles were such a successful and lucrative arrangement between a legislative interest (congressional committee), and bureaucratic interest (agency or department) and private interest (interest group) that they've expanded to become a set of relationship between many legislative, bureaucratic, and private interests. Political Scientists call these "issue networks."

True

It's common for folks to presume that if there is a "gap" between the sexes, or "races," or ethnicities or whatever, in hiring, or applications, or employment, or home-ownership, or admission, or whatever, then there must be some form of discrimination going on. But as we discussed, "gaps" can be the result of many different factors of which "discrimination" is just one. Therefore, whenever we observe a "gap" we must prove, not presume, what its causes are.

True

Judicial Review refers to the power of the courts to declare actions taken by the legislative and executive branches of government to be unconstitutional

True

Making voter registration easier may raise the number of voters registered to vote but may lower the voter turnout since the new registrants are less motivated or informed which is why they hadn't registered before.

True

Parties are groups that organize to win elections.

True

People who believe that fiscal policy (Keynesianism) and monetary policy (monetarism) can be used to avoid recession and inflation generally believe that government actually has the capability to positively effect the economy. Most classical liberals believe those theories are mostly nonsense used to justify political goals; not economic goals.

True

Power precedes efforts to lobby for power. That is, before interest groups form to lobby government, there has to be government in possession of something worth lobbying for. Therefore, the existence of many interest groups is a consequence of how much power government has acquired (size) and over what areas of society government is willing to use that power (scope).

True

Primary elections were developed as a reform of national party conventions

True

Public assistance programs create moral hazards because if the poor work then their government provided assistance begins to go away.

True

The "revolving door" is a condition where former politicians retire to become CEOs of large organizations, or vice versa. Many regard this as a corrupt practice, but it is a function of how much understanding government rather than understanding the market has become the key to financial success. That is, profits which derive from satisfying government officials rather than satisfying customer preferences.

True

The American experience suggests that many of the Antifederalists' primary concerns were not unwarranted.

True

The Founders believed that states should be the "laboratories of democracy" which means that if citizens don't like the policies being created by their city leaders they can leave which pressure those leaders to change their policies. In this way, states can "experiment" with different rules to see which work and which creates free lessons that other states can learn from. An central government that create rules for the whole nation to live makes it difficult for this system to operate.

True

The Supreme Court reached its highest point of activism during the tenure of Chief Justice Earl Warren.

True

The excessive use of executive privileges by Presidents can lead their opponents to accuse them of being "dictatorial." President Franklin Roosevelt, a Democrat, used the executive order more than any other president and was accused by Republicans of being "dictatorial." When President Trump became President he signed a rash of executive orders in his first few months and was accused by Democrats of being "dictatorial." In contrast, many in the news pointed to the fact that President Obama used the executive order moderately and therefore, it was implied, he was not "dictatorial." However, and as you can see from the graph below, President Obama used the executive memoranda more than any previous president and since executive orders and executive memoranda are both executive "laws" they have the same effect. This is another example of how it's important to understand how government works before drawing political conclusions or accepting political conclusions from the "news" or other sources.

True

The following cartoons and newspaper all appeared in 1937. They all relate to an instance in which a President (executive branch) became angry with the Supreme Court (legislative branch) and attempted to "reorganize" that branch to suit his needs. Many people consider FDR one of the greatest Presidents in American history, but this is clearly an example of a President tampering with the principles of separation of powers and checks and balances.

True

The number of interest groups has grown rapidly since the 1960s.

True

The primary reason for the formation of most countries was security. As a result, the military budgets % for most countries was high at the founding of the country and tend to go down as the budgets for non-military items (welfare) increases.

True

The pro of the "merit" system of bureaucratic hiring is that bureaucratic are more knowledgeable than they were under the patronage system. The con is that bureaucrats cannot be easily fired which alters the incentives for how they perform their job, usually in a negative way.

True

Presidents are now limited to two terms by the

Twenty-second Amendment

In 1971, ratification of the __________ to the U.S. Constitution extended voter eligibility to all persons age 18 or older.

Twenty-sixth amendment

Congress was designed by the Founders in ways that almost inevitably make it __________.

unpopular

The most common form of political participation is

voting

To discourage segregation, federal laws began to

withhold federal funds from segregated schools.

Between 1915 and 1925, the size of the eligible voting population in the United States almost doubled. The main reason for this was that

women were given the right to vote

The interstate commerce that the federal government can regulate is now interpreted to include

almost any kind of economic activity

The definition of bureaucracy includes all of the following notions EXCEPT

an issue network

Religious diversity flourished in the United States due to the absence of a(n)

an official government religion.

an interest group is

an organization of people with a common goal seeking to influence public policy, that is, the rules.

According to Announcement #13, getting "permission" to work tends to disproportionately and negatively impact those who are either young, poor, or minority workers because

getting a "permission" slips costs a lot of money

All of the following have been proposed as solution to the social security funding problem EXCEPT...

guaranteed incomes

According to lecture, a political ideology is an ordered set of ideas about all of the following except

how the economy should work

According to the text, African Americans are

overwhelming Democratic

National party conventions were developed as a reform of

party caucuses

When using the term "elite," social scientists are referring to

people who have some valued resource, such as money, schooling, prestige, or political power

The right of free expression, although not absolute, enjoys a higher status than the other rights granted by the U.S. Constitution. This is known as the doctrine of

preferred position

Americans are more willing to tolerate __________ than __________.

economic inequality; political inequality

One unintended consequence of the Supreme Court's heavy caseload is an increase in the influence wielded by

law clerks.

"Stare decisis" is usually translated as

let the decision stand.

The "bureaucratic" view of politics views government actions as reflections of the interests of

officials whose careers are entirely within and dependent upon government "doing" something

Exit polls are conducted

on election day at polling places

Andrew Jackson established the precedent that a president's veto can be used

on policy grounds even when a bill may appear to be constitutional.

In this Supreme Court decision, the Court held that the federal guarantees of free speech and free press also applied to the states.

Gitlow

The current chief justice of the Supreme Court is __________.

John G Roberts Jr

The first chief justice of the Supreme was __________.

John Jay

All of the following are reasons the Founders opted for a federal structure of government, EXCEPT:

It would help insure the concept that the Federal government was "supreme" over states.

Based on the textbook's definition of an "issue," would a homogenous (relatively non-diverse) country like Sweden have MORE or LESS issues to politically deal with?

Less

In most European countries, voter registration is

automatic

Soft money is money that is obtained by

political parties

the textbook refers to the activity by which an issue is agitated or settled as

politics

WWII changed the economic circumstances Americans and the sociocultural self-image of many minority groups. Both of these events helped _______ the struggle for civil rights.

popularize

Civil society is used to describe

private, voluntary groups

In McCulloch v. Maryland (1819), the Supreme Court ruled that

the national government could charter banks and the states could not tax those banks.

The huge new demands for Social Security benefits and medical payments under Medicare is largely due to

the population getting older.

A marginal district is one in which

the winner in an election gets less than 55 percent of the vote.

The impressionable years hypothesis states that

young people's political attitudes are strongly influenced by what happens in their mid-teens and twenties.

The Constitution specified that states would have certain powers called "reserved" powers and the central government would have powers written in the Constitution called "implied" powers.

False

The difference between an executive agreement and a treaty is that executive agreements need Senate approval.

False

The dominant party during both the 3rd and 4th party systems were the Democrats.

False

The graphs from the Powerpoint clearly show that the more money that is spent on education, the better that students learn and perform.

False

The logic of collective action would say that rice consumers would be a more effective interest group than rice producers.

False

Under the delegate style of democracy, elected representatives are "delegated" the authority to make their own decisions about how to best serve their voters.

False

If not by genetic background, families likely transmit politics through

Family discussion, activism, and the political cues of parents are all true.

More than twenty-five hundred presidential vetoes have been made since 1789. Congress has overridden approximately what percentage of these?

4%

How many members are there in the U.S. House of Representatives?

435

According to lecture, the decline in trust that Americans have for government might be the result of

A. Excessive numbers of baby boomers B. An unusually high degree of trust of government after the end of the depression and WWII C. Heightened expectations about what government can and should be able to do. D. A and B E. B and C !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Although the Coyne article examined "cronyism" within the context of the defense industry, the logic of 'cronyism' can be applied to all of the other industries EXCEPT

A. The education industry B. The construction industry C. The marijuana industry D. The finance industry E. All of the above and any industry that is subjected to government rules can be vulnerable to 'cronyism'!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Abraham Lincoln _________without prior congressional approval.

A. raised an army B. spent money C. blockaded southern ports D. suspended the right of habeas corpus E. All of these choices are correct.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Founders envisioned that Congress "shall make all laws..." However, when government assumed more power over society in order to "solve" society's "problems," government began to involve itself in very complex matters that required "experts" to figure out. As a result, politicians began creating laws that allowed these "experts" (bureaucrats) some room to make laws themselves since it was thought that, "they know best." This was the same time that "social sciences" were created (1880s-1890s) and the reason why social science was created; people with degrees (political science, sociology, education, etc) who were going to use science to fix society and help it "progress." But the problem is that bureaucrats are not elected and yet they have been given the power to make laws - this violates the concepts of democracy which says that those who make the laws ought to be directly accountable (by voting them in or out of office) to the people. Ironically, when democratically elected politicians give unelected bureaucrats the power to make laws it benefits them both: bureaucrats get power and politicians evade accountability. This is transfer of the power to "make all laws" is called....

Administrative discretion

No matter how one feels about the role of religion in politics, religion has played a large role all of the following political struggles EXCEPT

Affirmative Action

Of the following, which is an example of a select committee?

Aging, Ethics, and Indian Affairs are all true.

Discretionary authority

Allows legislators to evade accountability

Judicial Review is a power granted to the judicial branch by the U.S. constitution.

False

Like, Medicare, most public assistance programs are indexed.

False

Medicare had a recessionary impact on the US economy

False

Politicians (government) love recession because it allows them to raise people's taxes and cut their programs.

False

Which of the following involves a cash subsidy to poor working families?

Earned Income Tax Credit

In the __________ decision, the Supreme Court ruled that the establishment clause forbids prayer, even a nondenominational one, in public schools.

Engel v. Vitale

Parties do all of the following EXCEPT

Form to influence public policymaking

George Washington limited himself to two terms, and no president served more until

Franklin Roosevelt

A bill is passed to the president for action while Congress is still in session. After ten days he or she has still not approved it. What happens to the bill?

It becomes law.

Hispanic turnout in the United states is lower because

Lower English proficiency, lack of voting experience, and lower income and education are all true

Appealing to a person's sense of right and wrong in order to get them to behave a particular way is an exercise of a form of power known as

Moral Suasion

Which interest group is an example of an institutional interest?

National Association of Counties

Purposive incentives are most likely to motivate people who join the

National Organization for Women (NOW).

In 1856, this state became the last one to require voters to own property to vote.

North Carolina

In the __________ decision, the Supreme Court ruled that "separate-but-equal" facilities were constitutional.

Plessy v. Ferguson

What effect does the media most likely have on the political agenda?

Publicize issues by giving them most attention

Which factors can influence the results of a poll?

Question wording and order and sampling technique all influence poll results.

___________committees are more or less permanent bodies with specific legislative responsibilities.

Standing

Which is NOT a power of Congress specifically enumerated in Article I, section 8?

To grant titles of nobility

A good way to 'kill' inflation is through high interest rates; because then people will spend less.

True

Judges may disagree on what's constitutional or not because they may hold different legal philosophies.

True

The Supreme Court entered its most active period with the arrival of Chief Justice __________.

Warren

Which statement regarding the voting habits of men/women is correct?

Women are more likely to favor activist policies.

The passage of the Medicare bill was made possible by

a Democratic landslide in the 1964 elections.

Fiscal policy means

changing taxes & spending

When the Framers drafted the Constitution, the Antifederalist opposed it primarily on the grounds that the new government

gave too much power to the national government

The reasons that fewer workers are coming into the US labor market include a lower birth rate among American females and

government created work disincentives

The single most important activity of interest groups, in the eyes of many lobbyists and academic students of lobbying, is

supplying credible information.

An example of a difference in treatment toward certain groups that courts have referred to as a "constitutional" form of discrimination is

taxing different classes at different rates.

In the Slaughter-House Cases (1873), the Supreme Court ruled

that the "privileges and immunities" clause of the Fourteenth Amendment did not protect citizens from discriminatory actions by state governments

The historical reference to a "wall of separation" between religion and the state can be found in

the writings of Thomas Jefferson.

When government becomes larger,

there's more rules there's more lawyers there are more lawsuits the courts are more crowded ALL OF THE ABOVE

Bureaucracy and freedom of choice are inversely related

true

James Madison felt that direct popular participation in the decisions of government was

a recipe for disaster

Applying the logic of Announcement #11, allowing a referee to pre-determine the winner of football game would be an example of

equality of results

Franklin Roosevelt's court-packing plan would have allowed him to name a new justice

for every incumbent justice older than age seventy

Which of the following is NOT a changing feature that leads to the development of interest groups.

foreign aggression and military action

Today, the federal government contains how many cabinet departments?

15

The Social Security Act became law in __________.

1935

The peak of the labor union movement in the United States occurred in the year

1945

Congressional elections are held every

2 years

In order to win the presidency today, a candidate must win _________ electoral votes.

270

According to Announcement #16, Wal-Mart would be closest to an example of a

monopsony

Divided government is

more common in modern times than unified government.

Since 1911 the size of the House of Representatives has been fixed at _______ members.

435

According to Announcement #2, the minimum number of sentences that your discussion replies must have is

5

Put the history of American Federalism in proper historical order.

1. The Marshall Years, during which time the Supreme Court helps the federal government expand it size and scope 2. The Jackson Years, during which time State governments begin to resist the growing power of the Federal government 3. The Civil War, when the federal and state governments go to war over who should have the final say over the rights of state citizens 4. Dual federalism, when the federal government and states leave each other alone 5. Cooperative federalism, when state governments seek federal help and the federal government uses the opportunity to expand 6.Devolution - when attempts are made to shrink the size of government as return power to the states

Although typical responses today about why women were excluded from voting in the past were include words such as "domination" and "sexism" and "paternalism," the cultural fact is that women had been subjected to a form of discrimination based on a desire to protect women on both moral and economic grounds. Morally, it was thought that politics was a all of the above area of human activity such that women should be shielded from that area since they were the primary care-givers to children. The thinking was that preserving the moral and ethical virtue of women would help preserve the moral and ethical bonds of the community well into the future. Economically, most jobs were in the manufacturing sector where physical strength was a necessity and physical injuries were routine. Thus, laws treated women differently to insure that the primary care-givers preserved their well-being for the sake of the physical health and welfare of children. From this perspective, it's easy to understand why the women's movement occurs (1848) right when America is transitioning from the manufacturing sector to the knowledge & information sector where tools and technology equalize the rate of productivity between men and women.

1. all of the above 2. manufacturing 3. manufacturing 4. knowledge & information

According to lecture, since individuals can't do everything for themselves, they form networks of associations with other individuals to achieve common goals and provide things for the good of the community. Since individuals are diverse (as we discovered since no two students had the same ideological code) different networks are created - some of which both you and your neighbor belong to and others which you and your neighbor are opposed. In this instance, you and your neighbor have cross-cutting cleavages which means on some things you share values and goals and others you don't. Since you and your neighbor might need each other to achieve goals and share values on some issues, you moderate your behavior toward them on all those issues that you might disagree. This helps maintain a civil society in which individuals who disagree still listen to each other and respectfully interact. When government steps in to achieve some goal or to provide things for the community it crowd's out those networks which had been doing that before. When this happens, it dissolves cross-cutting cleavages which then begins to destroy civic duty . Many folks who believe that government CAN do things and SHOULD do things to "help society progress" frequently overlook how that form of "help" might actually be quite destructive to the communities, shared values, and civil interaction that develops when groups form to help themselves and others.

1. cross cutting cleavages 2. civil society 3. crowd's out 4. cross cutting cleavages 5. civil society

As the economy of the North shifted to a manufacturing economy, the North experienced tremendous job growth which in turn increased the Northern population and led to more Northern represenation in Congress. As a result, Congress began to create taxes on imports (which protects Northern producers from foreign competition) which hurt the agricultural economy of the South because the South's largest customer, England, could no longer profitably sell textiles in the U.S. As a result, the South felt that the North was passing laws which directly damaged the wealth and health of Southerners. So they believed they should seceed from the United States.

1. manufacturing 2.representation 3. all of the above 4. agricultural 5. secede from

According to the results from a "U.S. Citizenship Test" administered by Newsweek magazine, only __________ of the test takers knew that the U.S. House of Representatives had 435 members.

14%

How would the government know where to build a new road, open a restaurant, or offer more classes?

A. where the traffic congestion is the worst, where the lines are longest, and where the student waitlists are largest B. where the prices of those things are highest C. where there are the most politically important voters D. where interest groups want it to be build, opened, or offered. E. both c & d.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

According to Announcement #16, "externalities" are when when social costs (or benefits) exceed private costs (or benefits). For example, if I build and sell guitars for a living, I'm responsible for buying all of the inputs to production: wood, paint, tools, sandpaper, glue, etc. These things would be part of the "cost" of production. However, when I apply a nice shiny nitrocellulose finish to the guitar in my garage workshop, the chemical produces an overspray which may be damaging to the plants and pets of my neighbors. This damage is a cost of production that is "socialized" - meaning someone else is paying for this cost - not me, the producer. This is a "negative" externality. Ideally, I should pay ALL costs of production including the cost of any damage done to your plants or animals. This is true because I receive ALL benefits. That is, when I sell a guitar I get ALL the money - my neighbors don't get a penny of it and yet I've imposed a part of the production cost on them. That is, all benefits are 'private' but all costs are not - some have been "socialized." The goal then is "privatize" costs - meaning to make sure all costs associated with producing a good or service are paid for by the producer since they receive all of the benefits. The opposite would be to "socialize" costs - meaning everyone must pay for the cost of producing the good or service whether one benefits from it or not. The following are examples of goods or services that have entirely "socialized" costs

A. City buses B. Napa Valley College C. Interstate 80 E. All of the above are examples of "socialized" costs!!!!!!!!!!!!!

"Rent-seeking" fits with the standard Marxist/Socialist belief that the "rich and powerful" use their money to buy elections and manipulate politicians. Curiously, this is also the story spoon-fed to students in colleges without any reference to the opposite side of this relationship which is called- "rent-extraction" According to Announcement #17 this concept of "rent-extraction"

A. Is when government officials use their publicly-granted powers to extract payments from interest groups. B. Is when government officials use their publicly-granted powers to extract votes from interest groups. C. Redirects the blame for political corruption away from the wealthy elites and on governmental elites instead D. Is a classical liberal argument about the dangers of allowing government to have too much power E. All of the above!!!!!!!!!!!1

The following is an example of a valence issue.

A. Richard Nixon being more supportive of anticrime measures than his rival B. Jimmy Carter appearing to favor honesty in government more than his opponent C. Ronald Reagan being more closely identified with a strong economy than his opponent D. George H. W. Bush being more closely linked to patriotism than his opponent E. All of these choices are true.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Which is an example of political participation?

A. Voting B. Keeping informed about government. C. Giving money to a candidate. D. Attending a school board meeting. E. All of these choices are true.!!!!!!!!!!!!

According to the logic of Announcement #13, a "price floor" is created so that sellers can get more for the item they are selling than the market is willing to pay - the "market" meaning the average of what millions of individual buyers think is a fair price. Since sellers can't force any of these buyers to pay the price they want, sellers turn to government to force buyers to pay them what they want. They do this because government can legally force people to do things they don't want to do. However, the market has it's own laws and the laws of supply and demand say that the higher the price, the lower the demand. Meaning, you can force people to pay a high price, but people will respond by choosing to buy less. We can see this presented on the graph below Here you see that coffee sellers were getting the market price for coffee represented by P. At that market price, supply and demand are in "equilibrium" - meaning buyers are willing to pay the exact price that sellers are willing to sell at. Everybody's happy. However, coffee sellers have decided that they want a higher price and so they get government to create a "minimum" price (a price floor). The new government set minimum price is now Pf. At this new higher price, more profit can be made. And since more profit can be made more coffee makers would enter the market to provide more supply at Q2. BUT.... at this higher price, there are fewer buyers for coffee. And so with the new "minimum price" for coffee a new equilibrium is reached at point B which indicates that the amount actually sold will fall to Q1. Makes sense right? There's nothing tricky here - higher price, fewer buyers, less sold. So, at this new price (P1), a gap develops between the amount of coffee supplied (Q2) and the amount of coffee demanded (Q1). This "gap" shows that at the new "minimum" price, there's way more supply of coffee than there is demand - meaning lots of coffee will sit on shelves and not be sold. The "minimum wage" is also a price floor because it sets a minimum price for the item workers are selling - their labor. Like the group of coffee makers, a group of workers may not like the price that the market places on what they have to sell. Like the coffee makers, workers can't force employers to pay them what they want. And, like the coffee makers, the group of workers turn to government to create a "minimum" price which forces buyers to pay them the price that they want. BUT.... at this higher price, there are fewer buyers for labor. And so with the new "minimum price" for labor a new equilibrium is reached at point B which indicates that the amount actually sold will fall to Q1. So, at this new price (P1), a gap develops between the amount of labor supplied (Q2) and the amount of labor demanded (Q1). This condition can also be called

A. excess labor B. unemployment C. people out of work D. all of the above !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

For classical liberals, societies with the MOST equality of opportunity will have the LEAST equality of outcomes. WHY? BECAUSE individuals are diverse and allowing them, without government obstruction, to pursue happiness in their own individual ways, with their own individual tastes and preferences, and their own individual set of skills and aptitudes, will lead to a DIVERSE range of outcomes. That is, a diversity of people will lead to a diversity of outcomes. For classical liberals, the converse is also true: societies that make laws to ensure an equality of results will have the LEAST equality of opportunity because laws will advantage some and disadvantage others by attempting to "equalize" differences in skills, aptitudes, tastes, preferences So, for example, in a society where we want an equality of results, a new law is proposed requiring every job to pay no more or less than 50k a year. All will be paid the same so as to make outcomes equal and ensure that we do not send a message that some are valued more than others. According to the classical liberal view, what kinds of opportunities and choices might be destroyed because of this policy?

A. opportunity to have trade your time for money B. careers that require massive amounts of schooling and other personal investment C. lower paying careers that younger people start out with since those employers can't afford to pay a Jamba Juice clerk 50k a year D. a range of consumer choices since many services and goods can;t be provided by companies who must pay every employee 50k a year, and can't attract high value employees at that low rate E. The opportunity to use my property as I choose F. all of the above !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Campaign finance reforms

A. required candidates to raise money from many small donors. B. required donations to be reported to the FEC. C. made the media more powerful in elections. D. benefited incumbent politicians. E. All of these choices are true. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

civil liberties are

A. the protections the Constitution provides against the abuse of government. B. the protecting of certain groups, such as women, gays, and African Americans. C. free speech, free press, religious freedoms, and the rights of the accused. D. both b & c E. both a & c !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

How would the market know where to build a new road, open a restaurant, or offer more classes?

A. where the traffic congestion is the worst, where the lines are longest, and where the student waitlists are largest B. where the prices of those things are highest C. where there are the most politically important voters D. where interest groups want it to be build, opened, or offered. E. both a & b !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

People of all religions who attend worship services regularly are more likely to vote

Republican

At the outset of the New Deal, the Supreme Court was dominated by justices who opposed the welfare state and federal regulation.

True

In __________, the Supreme Court ruled that the Court can review the decisions of the highest state courts if they involve a federal law or the federal Constitution.

Martin v. Hunter's Lessee

The bureaucratic view of political elites, which argues that appointed officials dominate government, is associated with

Max Weber

The practice of mandating busing plans to remedy school segregation patterns was approved in the case of

Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education.

Historically, when disputes have arisen over who has power, the central government or the state, over an issue, it goes to the ________ for resolution

The Supreme Court

During the early years of the Republic, this department, under the direction of Alexander Hamilton, was "the principal federal office."

Treasury department

"Progressivism" was a movement embraced by both political parties that sought to help society "evolve" to become better and eventually, "perfect."

True

A Federal structure of government creates many "access points" which has the consequence of justifying the expansion of the government.

True

According to Announcement #17, the cronyism and potential corruption created by the "Revolving Door" is more likely to occur when government "regulations" becomes more numerous and complex.

True

According to Announcement #2, I will only grade your 1st reply to discussion prompts.

True

According to Announcement #6 where I provided the answers to natural rights/private property question, the Founders believed that private property rights create a HUGE incentive to becoming a knowledgeable citizen because property owners had something to LOSE which would compel them, out of pure self-interest, to want to become knowledgeable about politics and government in order to protect what they had.

True

According to Announcement #8, the lowest income tax bracket in 2015 is still higher than the highest tax bracket in 1913.

True

According to Henry Hazlitt, the "Lesson" can be reduced to a single sentence which is that economics consists of not just looking at the immediate but at the longer term effects of a policy AND looking at the consequences of a policy not just for one group but for all groups. In other words, in politics people try to evaluate policies based on the immediate impact of a policy on one group. Economics forces us to evaluate policies based on those things PLUS its long term impact on all groups in society.

True

According to lecture, the line that separates what's under public authority vs what's under private authority has, over time, moved in the direction of greater public authority

True

Although it's true that voter turnout in the US than most European countries, Americans actually vote more than Europeans since we have many more elections.

True

Although society might benefit from having government performs certain tasks, it also costs money and soaks up resources to perform those tasks. For example, when government creates a "Department of Road Building" the thinking is that our country's transportation and road "problems" will get better. Maybe. Maybe not. However, there will definitely be costs. First, creating the Department, staffing it with employees, and allocating it a budget to pay for equipment and tools takes money from taxpayers that those taxpayers might have had a better use for. Second, it puts many private companies out of business because many of them will be unable to compete with the new Department which does NOT depend on profit to survive. As a result, the Department can buy the best equipment, pay the most salary, and produce the worst roads and this will have no impact on their budget because they get their money from taxpayers who are forced to pay by law. Private companies cannot force anyone to pay - they must actually please customers in order to generate revenue. Third, the new Department pull many people out of the labor market; engineers, road workers, clerical staff, etc which reduces the available supply of labor for everyone else. That reduction in labor supply increases the cost of labor which then translates to rising prices. Finally, since everyone who works at the Department of Road Building is a government employee hired through the merit system, they cannot be easily fired which reduces their productivity, the overall quality of their performance, and the incentives they have to keep costs down. So due to the Department's existence we know some of the costs will be: higher taxes, higher prices, worse quality product, and industry specific unemployment and business closure. Now, what we don't know for sure is whether the benefits of this new Department will be greater than the costs. Statists tend to presume that the benefits of state action (like creating a Department of Road Building) exceed, and therefore justify, the costs. That's what makes them statists.

True

Scholars refer to a period when a major, lasting shift occurs in the popular coalition supporting one or both parties as

a critical election or realignment period.

Elections based on a plurality system discourage new parties from forming because

a plurality system requires parties to form alliances with other parties to win elections.

When an agency such as the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) makes an important decision, it is quite likely to be taken to court. This is an example of what is meant by

adversary culture

The Espionage and Sedition Acts that were passed in 1917 and 1918 placed restrictions on publications that

advocated treason, insurrection, or forced resistance

In an open primary

any voter may vote for any party, but only one party.

When Congress formally sets aside money for a specific use, it is called a(n) __________.

appropriation

In Europe, the vast majority of candidates

are nominated by party leaders

On the issue of state sovereignty, the text states that since around 1992, the Supreme Court has

begun to restore the view that states have the right to resist some forms of federal action.

The First Amendment states that Congress shall make no law prohibiting the "free exercise" of religion. It may, however,

bind religions to laws that bind all others.

According to the text, Americans' knowledge of politics is

by any measure woefully ignorant

If California and Arizona sue each other over water usage from the Colorado River, the case can be heard only

by the Supreme Court.

If you, as a public figure, are grievously harmed by the written statements of someone who cannot prove that they are true, you

can collect damages if you demonstrate malice.

authority refers to a right to exercise power that is derived from

charasmatic leader tradition laws ALL OF THE ABOVE none of the above

Progressives called for electoral reforms, such as the initiative and the referendum, to give

citizens a direct say in making laws.

direct democracy is impractical because

citizens don't have enough time citizens don't have enough information citizens lack the energy to participate citizens lack interest ALL OF THESE ARE CORRECT

A diversity case is one involving

citizens of different states.

The type of committee most likely to deal with a bill near the end of its legislative process is the __________ committee.

conference

The purpose of a filibuster is to

delay action in a legislative body

Under the original U.S. Constitution, members of the House, unlike members of the Senate, were selected by ___________.

direct elections

From the Civil War to the 1930s, the Supreme Court was primarily occupied with

economic regulation by government.

The term superdelegate refers to

elected officials and party leaders who are not required to pledge themselves in advance to a presidential candidate.

The modern Republican Party

emerged as a major party only after the Civil War.

Applying the logic of Announcement #11, allowing a referee to make sure the rules of the game are applied equally to both teams so that the outcome reflects whichever team played better is an example of

equality of opportunity

Today, and most definitely since the 1964 Civil Rights Act, laws allow the government to tell private property owners how they can or cannot use their property when it comes to how services are offered to people or how and by whom that property is to be managed. The articles I gave you in the Civil Rights Discussion II area about the potential new law in California does precisely this. Private property owners are being told how and by whom their property is to be used. This is an example of equality of opportunity or equality of results?

equality of opportunity

According to Announcement #6, which I sent you this week, since property rights in Mexico are not as secure as they are in the US, my grandmother makes only limited investments into her home in Michoacan.

false

According to lecture, Republicans are conservative and Democrats are liberal

false

According to lecture, an individualistic culture emphasizes how the environmental enables an individual to achieve things

false

Americans are more likely to believe in equality of results than in equality of opportunity.

false

Classical liberalism essentially refers to the idea of limited government and government assistance for those in need.

false

Institutional interest groups deal with the free-rider problem much more than membership interest groups

false

Organizations that attract members by appealing to a coherent set of usually controversial principles are called

ideological interest groups

In 1955, the Supreme Court ruled that desegregation should be

implemented "with all deliberate speed."

After 1936, the Supreme Court stopped

imposing any serious restrictions on state or federal power to regulate the economy, leaving such matters in the hands of legislatures.

A means tested social program is limited to people of certain

income levels

Gerrymandering leads to all of the following except

increased government activity

In about half of the states, voters can use this procedure to place legislative measures directly on the ballot by getting enough signatures.

initiative

Most political ads are

negative

The scholarly evidence that political action committee (PAC) money buys votes in Congress

is sketchy at best

In Federal Election Commission v. Wisconsin Right to Life, the Supreme Court held that

issue advocacy was protected by the First Amendment and could not be banned.

When it comes to voting, Americans ages 18 to 20 are

less likely than older Americans (ages 65 and older) to register and vote.

All of the following are basic elements of the U.S. political culture EXCEPT

liberty equality STABILITY individualism accountability

The first organized political party in American history was

made up of the followers of Jefferson

The Hatch Act allows federal civil service employees to

make campaign contributions.

The distinctive feature of the Jacksonian era of political parties was

mass political participation

Medicaid differs from Medicare in that it provides

medical assistance to the poor.

Putnam worried that Americans might be losing social capital because

they are less and less likely to join voluntary associations.

According to the Coyne article, the complexity of the law almost requires that all businesses requires teams of lawyers to help them navigate the tricky structure of law and regulation. As a consequence, cost of doing business becomes more expensive which in turn drives up the prices of all goods and services.

true

As discussed in the powerpoint, the moral hazard of making our political system ever more democratic, is a decline in how much people participate in the democratic system. That is, an increase in the quantity of democracy decreases the quality of democracy.

true

Contrary to accusations of "voter suppression" or that efforts are made to make it difficult for some to register to vote, the graph in the powerpoint clearly demonstrates that voter registration is readily accessible and pervasive for any citizen interested enough to vote.

true

Devolution refers to the transfer of authority and power from the central government back to the state from where it was originally located.

true

Judges who subscribe to the "living Constitution" legal philosophy believe that both the laws AND the principles embedded in the Constitution should change over time.

true

The Constitution says the the Federal government has only a very limited set of powers and yet the US Federal government employs more people than any other organization on Earth - 3 million directly employees, 13 million indirectly. That's beyond dispute. This massive expansion in the size and scope of the Federal government has come primarily through a convenient interpretation of one power - the commerce clause.

true

The main issue dividing the two parties during the Jeffersonian system was the powers of the new federal government

true

The main issue during the Jacksonian period was state power (i.e. slavery) slavery

true