Political Science 101 Final

credit claiming

is when an elected official trys to assume the credit for some government success

judicial activism

is when judges substitute their own political opinions for the applicable law, or when judges act like a legislature (legislating from the bench) rather than like a traditional court.

going public

taking issues straight to the public in order to pressure agreement from congress

pork barrel projects

State projects that are paid for by the federal government but deliver jobs and $ to the state (construction

judicial restraint

theory of judicial interpretation that encourages judges to limit the exercise of their own power. It asserts that judges should hesitate to strike down laws unless they are obviously unconstitutional, though what counts as obviously unconstitutional is itself a matter of some debate.

stealth candidates

they are politicians that want you to vote for them but they don't want you to know where they stand on the issues.

Rally around the flag effect

to explain increased short-run popular support of the President of the United States during periods of international crisis or war

going around congress

using executive orders, loopholes, intelligence agencies

Median Voter Theorem

"a majority rule voting system will select the outcome most preferred by the median voter".

two non-institutional constraints on president

-public opinion -time (only a certain amount of time that congress is in session, while including vacation time)

In what ways are political parties weaker?

1) Parties have lost control over presidential candidate selection. With the rise in importance of presidential primaries, parties no longer choose the candidates. This is now done by voters in the primaries. 2) Parties have been bypassed by federal 'matching funds' in presidential elections. The matching funds- introduced in the mid-1970s - are given to the candidates, not the parties. 3) Television, opinion polls and 'new media' have bypassed parties as the medium by which candidates spoke to and heard from voters. Party rallies and party-organised 'torch-light' processions etc. were the traditional way in which candidates spoke to and heard from voters. Nowadays, politicians increasingly talk to voters through the media of television and the internet, and voters 'talk back' through opinion polls. 4) Campaigns are more candidate-centred and issue-centred than they were. Voters tend to vote more for a particular candidate, or because a candidate holds a certain view on an issue of importance to the voter (such as abortion or the environment), than for the party label. This has also shown itself in the rise of split-ticket voting and of 'independent' voters.

hard money

A hard money loan is a specific type of asset-based loan financing through which a borrower receives funds secured by real property. Hard money loans are typically issued by private investors or companies.

purposive benefit

A purposive incentive refers to a benefit that comes from serving a cause or principle; people who join because of these are usually passionate about the cause or principle.

PAO

Ability of party to recruit, nominate, and elect candidates to political office through mobilization of voters

Agenda Setting

Agenda setting describes a very powerful influence of the media - the ability to tell us what issues are important. As far back as 1922, the newspaper columnist Walter Lippman was concerned that the media had the power to present images to the public. McCombs and Shaw investigated presidential campaigns in 1968, 1972 and 1976. In the research done in 1968 they focused on two elements: awareness and information. (1) the press and the media do not reflect reality; they filter and shape it; (2) media concentration on a few issues and subjects leads the public to perceive those issues as more important than other issues.

Gerrymandering

In the process of setting electoral districts, gerrymandering is a practice intended to establish a political advantage for a particular party or group by manipulating district boundaries. The resulting district is known as a gerrymander (/ˈdʒɛriˌmændər/); however, that word can also refer to the process. In addition to its use achieving desired electoral results for a particular party, gerrymandering may be used to help or hinder a particular demographic, such as a political, ethnic, racial, linguistic, religious, or class group, such as in U.S. federal voting district boundaries that produce a majority of constituents representative of African-American or other racial minorities, known as "majority-minority districts"

Short Answer Judicial Restraint

Judicial restraint is a theory of judicial interpretation that encourages judges to limit the exercise of their own power. It asserts that judges should hesitate to strike down laws unless they are obviously unconstitutional,[1] though what counts as obviously unconstitutional is itself a matter of some debate.[2] Judicial restraint is sometimes regarded as the opposite of judicial activism. In deciding questions of constitutional law, judicially restrained jurists go to great lengths to defer to the legislature. Judicially restrained judges respect stare decisis, the principle of upholding established precedent handed down by past judges. Minimalists argue that judges should make only minor, incremental changes to constitutional law to maintain that stability. They ask judges to do this by creating small, case-specific rulings rather than broad, sweeping rulings.

Marbury vs. Madison

Marbury v. Madison, 5 U.S. 137, was a landmark United States Supreme Court case in which the Court formed the basis for the exercise of judicial review in the United States under Article III of the Constitution

polarization

Political polarization refers to cases in which an individual's stance on a given issue, policy, or person is more likely to be strictly defined by their identification with a particular political party

statutory interpretation

Statutory interpretation is the process by which courts interpret and apply legislation. Some amount of interpretation is often necessary when a case involves a statute. Sometimes the words of a statute have a plain and straightforward meaning.

Super PACs

Super PACs are organizations that can raise unlimited funds from individuals, corporations, and other groups to support or defeat a political candidate.

paradox of public opinion

The U.S. public was "operation- ally liberal" and "ideologically conservative, Representation, Casework, and Congressional Behavior = Love Media Portrayals and Congressional Scandals = Hate

PIG

The ability of party leaders to direct both the everyday workings of Congress and the behavior of rank and file members in electoral office to follow and implement party policies and directives

PIE

The extent or power of partisan loyalty in the electorate

honeymoon effect

The honeymoon period is a metaphor that is used to compare the new president coming to power and his first few months with the honeymoon of a newly-married couple.

Short Answer: Federalist 78

The judicial branch is weakest, says Hamilton, Hamilton opposes vesting supreme judicial power in a branch of the legislative body because this would verge upon a violation of that "excellent rule," the separation of powers. Besides, due to the propensity of legislative bodies to party division, there is "reason to fear that the pestilent breath of faction may poison the fountains of justice." Hamilton, therefore, praises the Constitution for establishing courts that are separated from Congress.

Median Voter Theorem

The median voter theorem states that "a majority rule voting system will select the outcome most preferred by the median voter".[1] The median voter theorem makes two key assumptions. First, the theorem assumes that voters can place all election alternatives along a one-dimensional political spectrum.[2] It seems plausible that voters could do this if they can clearly place political candidates on a left-to-right continuum, but this is often not the case as each party will have its own policy on each of many different issues. Similarly, in the case of a referendum, the alternatives on offer may cover more than one issue. Second, the theorem assumes that voters' preferences are single-peaked, which means that voters choose the alternative closest to their own view. This assumption predicts that the further away the outcome is from the voter's most preferred outcome, the less likely the voter is to select that alternative.[3] It also assumes that voters always vote, regardless of how far the alternatives are from their own views. The median voter theorem implies that voters have an incentive to vote for their true preferences. Finally, the median voter theorem applies best to a majoritarian election system.

original intent

The theory of interpretation by which judges attempt to ascertain the meaning of a particular provision of a state or federal constitution by determining how the provision was understood at the time it was drafted and ratified.

Short answer: going public

This is significant as this is when the president goes over the heads of congress in order to make somehting happen, this really illustrates the principal of a democracy as it is the popular response of the people that catalyzes a reaction in favor of something from congress, fearing loss of office, the legislatures are bound to side on the part of the public.

soft money

a contribution to a political party that is not accounted as going to a particular candidate, thus avoiding various legal limitations.

Third Parties

a political party organized as an alternative to the major parties in a two-party system.

signing statements

a written pronouncement issued by the President of the United States upon the signing of a bill into law.

Advertising

advertising is the use of an advertising campaign through the media to influence political debate, and ultimately, voters

filibuster

an action such as a prolonged speech that obstructs progress in a legislative assembly while not technically contravening the required procedures.

executive orders

are legally binding orders given by the President, acting as the head of the Executive Branch, to Federal Administrative Agencies. Executive Orders are generally used to direct federal agencies and officials in their execution of congressionally established laws or policies.

going under congress

illegal means

power of the sword

belongs to the president as commander and chief although congress has the power to declare war, it is the president who is in charge of the troops

going through congress

going through the official congressional channels for decisions, usually time cumbersome

plain meeting

dictates that statutes are to be interpreted using the ordinary meaning of the language of the statute. In other words, a statute is to be read word for word and is to be interpreted according to the ordinary meaning of the language, unless a statute explicitly defines some of its terms otherwise or unless the result would be cruel or absurd.

Open rules

is a set of regulations for debate on the floor of the House of Representatives which permits general debate and allows members to offer amendments

PACs (Political Action Commitee)

is a type of organization that pools campaign contributions from members and donates those funds to campaign for or against candidates, ballot initiatives, or legislation.

living constitution

is the claim that the Constitution has a dynamic meaning or that it has the properties of an animate being in the sense that it changes.

gerrymandering

manipulate the boundaries of (an electoral constituency) so as to favor one party or class.

3 m's of participation

message (target audience and platform), media, and management (time, money and human resources)

position taking

one of three primary activities undertaken by members of Congree to increase the probability of their reelection. Taking stands on issues and responding to constituents

pocket veto

pocket veto is a legislative maneuver that allows a president or other official with veto power to exercise that power over a bill by taking no action (instead of affirmatively vetoing it).

judicial review

power of courts to rule on constitutionality of laws

4 p's of voter choice

procrastination, persistence, patience, politeness

solidarity benefit

selective benefits of group membership that emphasize friendship, networking, and consciousness-raising

original jurisdiction

supreme court has original jurisdiction in "all cases affecting ambassadors, other public ministers and consuls," and in cases to which a state is a party. In the Judiciary Act of 1789, Congress made the Supreme Court's original jurisdiction exclusive in suits between two or more states, between a state and a foreign government, and in suits against ambassadors and other public ministers

Political Efficacy

the citizens' faith and trust in government and their belief that they can understand and influence political affairs. It is commonly measured by surveys and is used as an indicator for the broader health of civil society.

voter turnout

the number of people that come out to vote per election

Newtown shooting: Obama's strategy

went above congress and straight to the public. Instead of trying to push for his own stricter gun legislation, he used to tragedy at Newtown as a catalyst for public interest and outcry. In this way legislators in congress would be pressured to pass stricter gun laws as to not disagree with the public opinion and loose their offices.

Federalist 78

written by Alexander Hamilton in which he said, the judicial branch is the weakest of the three