Mid-Term Governments #2

What does the department of Veteran's Affairs do?

"takes care" of our countries soldiers but it has forever wait times and disgusting conditions

What are 3 controversial bureaucracies?

-Department of Veteran's Affairs -Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) -Department of Homeland Security

What is Racism?

-Excluding someone based on their assumed race -Institutionalized power inequalities in society based on the perception of racial difference

What does Congress do?

-Financial: taxing and borrowing; pay debts; provide for common defense; regulate trade -Legal: enact laws subject to presidential approval (US citizenship laws; bankrupcy laws) -Institutional: organize judicial and executive branches (establish postal system; admit new states; control US territories) -National Defense: declare war & raise and run US Army, Navy, and other defense forces (the last time we declared war was WWII)

Max Weber

-Studied bureaucracy Concluded that there must be a >hierarchy (chain of command) >Specialization >Explicit Rules >Merit (to prevent nepotism)

What can be done to reform the controversial bureaucracies?

-Transparency: Freedom of Info Act (FOIA) -Privatization: Competitive Contracting

Why do we have bureaucracies?

-War -Economics -Geography -Taxing

Why is the census important?

-determines the population -allows politicians to redraw the lines of districts

What is the honeymoon period?

-the first 100 days of any presidency -often enact their policies that set the tone for their tenure -the public is more willing to hear new policies

How many campaign promises did Barack Obama accomplish?

1 (healthcare)

Campaign Promises: Barack Obama

1. Close Guantanamo Bay 2. Healthcare Reform 3. Path to Citizenship 4. End wars in the Middle East

Campaign Promises: Donald Trump

1. US/Mexico Border Wall 2. Cut Taxes 3. Remove all undocumented immigrants 4. Renegotiate NAFTA

Senate

100 members; 2 from each state; 6 year terms; holds the trial for impeachment (decides on removal); approves treaties negotiated by president (2/3 majority); reviews presidential appointments; supreme court nominees go before Senate Judiciary Committee and then confirmed by full senate; can filibuster which can only end with a cloture vote (3/5 of senate)

What Congress session are we currently in?

117th

The Case of Trayvon Martin

2012; 17 year old kid in Florida gets stopped by George Zimmerman who was the Neighborhood watch; George shot Trayvon and was acquitted by Florida law; this sparked the #blacklivesmatter movement and widespread protests

The Case of Michael Brown

2014; A man matching Michael Brown's description is wanted for theft; After an encounter with the police (details are fuzzy) he gets shot; FBI takes the case and clears the officer; this exploded the issue of race in America; this is especially notable because there was already a class war (economically) going on and the media changed the narrative of the country from class to race

There are ________ types of representation

3

How many campaign promises did Donald Trump accomplish?

3 (cut taxes, NAFTA, 1/2 US/Mexico Border Wall, 1/2 Undocumented Immigrants)

US National Departments and agencies employ___________

4 million civilians (the government is the largest employer of Americans)

House of Representatives

435 members; based on population size; 2 year terms; a district represents about 700,000 people; can impeach public officials including the president

President __________ is well known for his association with the spoils system

Andrew Jackson

How are executive powers limited?

Appoints cabinet, federal judges, military officers (limited by Senate approval)

2016 Election

BLM crashed a Bernie Sanders campaign and a Hilary Clinton campaign rally

What does the Department of Homeland Security do?

Combines and synthesizes info from the FBI, CIA, NSA, etc. (formed after 9/11) *do we need someone to combine and synthesize the information?*

A primary justification for choosing committee chairs by seniority is that ______

Congress should follow the example set by the british parliament

Native Americans' problems in American society are exacerbated by ___________

Congress' abrohation of various treaty provisions

University of Missouri (Click Incident)

Dr. Melissa Click (PhD) is a communications professor who got fired because she attempted to take away the press' freedom of speech; (her publications are inspired by mostly teenage media)

The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) is part of the _________

Executive Office of the President

Which statement regarding executive agreements and treaties is correct?

Executive agreements are more common than treaties because the former do not require Senate ratification

Presidential Expectations vs Reality

Expecations: voting public believes... -campaign promises -leaders of change -economic stability Reality: -constitutional limitations >founding fathers wanted a limited and balanced government

Descriptive Representation

Extent to which they look like the people they represent in terms of race, ethnicity, gender, age, national origin, etc.

Barbour and Wright contend that bureaucratic and democratic decision-making genderally have the same goals and methods

False

Dwight Eisenhower is generally considered to be the first "modern" president.

False

Most whistleblowers are supported in their efforts by their coworkers and supervisors

False

The federal government found it much easier to enforce the Fifteenth Amendment than it did the Nineteenth Amendment.

False

The last few months of a president's term in office are called the honeymoon period, a time when the president's popularity ratings are higher than normal.

False

All new bureaucratic regulations are published in the _______ for public view.

Federal Register

University of Missouri Protests (football)

Football team boycotts college football because there was a poop swastika in the locker room (no footage)

The Executive Office of the President (EOP) was instituted by President ___________

Franklin Roosevelt

BLM

Inspired by Civil Rights and Black Power movements; group centered model; no leader and no motto; they have a hard time agreeing on goals and properly tracking and distributing funding

Previously, scholars described the relationship between the bureaucracy and Congress as _________, but the concept of _________ is more accurate and popular today.

Iron triangles; issue networks

The Supreme Court provided a relatively early victory for gay rights advocates as part of their decision in the case entitled ___________

Lawrence v Texas (2003)

What were Trump's major policy shifts after the honeymoon period?

Left the Paris Climate Agreement; Increased Military Budget 10%; Diverted EPA Funding; Signed a $1.5 trillion tax break; Lowered taxes for the masses; recognized Jerusalem as the "official" capital of Isreal; Moved the US embassy to Jerusalem

George Floyd Case

May 2020; All four officers were charged; George Floyd was accused of handling a counterfeit $20 bill; the Police showed up and attempted to arrest him; one officer kneeled on his neck and killed him; after this case, BLM zeroed in on a message: "Defund the police"

What makes someone racist?

Mostly it comes from intent

Is the president the most powerful person in the world?

No

How are legislative powers limited?

Presidentual veto; Executive orders

Given his hands-off management style and sunny disposition, it is not surprising that many presidential scholars classify _________ as a passive-positive president.

Ronald Reagan

The House _______ Committee determines how and when debate on proposed legislation takes place in the lower chamber of the federal legislature

Rules

How is judicial power limited?

SCOTUS (Supreme Court Of The United States); Appointments; Limited by Senate Approval

Substantive Representation

Shares views about political issues

A member of the House of Representatives who wanted to maximize his or her power within the institution would be well-advised to seek a seat on _________

The Rules Committee

An example of the head of state function would be when the president greets ambassadors from other countries at the White House.

True

Barbour and Wright believe that the rolling election created by almost continuous polling of presidential popular support gives all actors in American politics a good idea of exactly how much political capital presidents have to spend on particular issues at any one time.

True

Bureaucratic adjudications have the full force of law.

True

Citizens have frequently used interest groups to acquire and protect their rights

True

Grandfather clause requirements were often combined with literacy test requirements in ways that prevented Black voters from casting ballots while still allowing illiterate Whites to vote.

True

Iron triangles are composed of members of congressional committees, bureacrats, and clientele groups who all share the same policy interests.

True

It is much easier to stop legislation from passing through Congress that it is to successfully get a bill onto the president's desk.

True

Senate rules currently require a two-thirds supermajority vote to invoke cloture.

True

Senate terms are staggered so that they do not all come up for reelection in the same year.

True

The Department of the Interior is in charge of the federal government's relations with Native American tribal governments.

True

The National Security Council was deeply involved in the Iran-Contra affair

True

The Privacy Act of 1974 permits American citizens to access most files that the federal government is keeping on them.

True

The Supreme Court concluded in 1976 that age is a nonsuspect classification.

True

The coattail effect has become less important in recent presidential election years.

True

The idea of allocative representation is very closely related to pork barrel spending.

True

Trump vs Biden

Trump: signed travel ban; approved the completion of the Keystone XL pipeline Biden: Overturned Trumps travel ban; Ended the Keystone XL Pipeline

What is polarization?

When left is extreme and right is extreme and no one is reaching across the aisle. We have seen increased polarization (more democratic democrats and more republican republicans)

What are executive orders?

While powerful, they are not laws. They are a way to interpret the laws.

When a bill passes the House and Senate in different forms __________

a conference committee is formed to resolve the bill's differences

Bicameral Legislature

a lawmaking body of government that consists of two seperate houses or chambers (House of Representatives and Senate make up Congress)

When Congress sends a bill to the president within 10 days of the end if its session and the president does not sign it into law, what results is _________

a pocket veto

The use of bureaucracy in a democratic society is reasonable on the basis of ___________

accountablility and fairness

Bureaucrats processing the paperwork for applications for Social Security benefits would be an example of the bureaucracy acting as ___________

adminstrator

Why are iron triangles problematic yet pervasive?

all parties involved benefit from their existence

The most important ongoing role of the vice president is to __________

be there to take over if the president becomes incapacitated

One problem that Barbour and Wright point out concerning regulatory bureaucrats is that they tend to _______

become captives of the interests they are supposed to police

Barbour and Wright argue that commitment to a particular set of policy goals is a common element of the culture inside____________

bureaucratic agencies

One controversial method of addressing the educational effects created by de facto discrimination in the North was___________

busing

A feature of the racial gerrymandeering is that it __________

can be employed to both harm and help the representation of ethnic minorities in Congress

Which office controls the president's daily schedule?

cheif of staff

Which of the following presidential roles actually became less important in the era of the modern presidency?

chief administrator

Over the past several decades, reforms in the House of Representatives have tended to weaken the implications of the seniority system in favor of _________

concentrating power in favor of the speaker of the house

Barbour and Wright contend that the word independent when it refers to independent agencies means that they are free from ____________

control by cabinet departments

Discrimination that exists in reality, even if it is not legally prescribed, is called __________ discrimination.

de facto

Government corporations are created by the federal government to _________

deliver goods and services that for-profit firms cannot supply

The modern president's cabinet is predominantly composed of __________

department heads

What is de facto discrimination?

discrimination not by law but by culture/tradition/habit (police butality) (stop and frisk laws)

What is de jure discrimination?

discrimination that arises from the law ("seperate but equal") (Jim Crow laws) (segregation)

What is a boycott?

economic punishment

In the aftermath of a change in legal interpretation during the 1980s concerning gambling, many Native American tribes have _________

experienced improved economic prosperity and political power

The Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Voting Rights Act of 1965 were________

extremely helpful in advancing the cause of equal rights for all Americans

The Reconstruction Amendments that were passed to protect the rights of Blacks were not effective because ___________

federal and southern state governments were reluctant to enforce them

Thurgood Marshall and other lawyers for the NAACP challenged the "seperate but equal" precedent created by the Plessy decision by ___________

focusing first on cases with limited public importance, like segregated law schools

Most bills introduced in Congress do not pass; in fact, they usually ___________

get pocket vetoed

It is in the best interest of minority group members to obtain suspect status for their groups because it...

gives them greater legal protections against discrimination

When presidents conduct local rallies and town hall meetings to gather support for one of their initiatives, one might conclude that they are _________

going public with an important issue

Pork barrel spending generally refers to _________

grants for specific districts funded by general revenues

The primary reason why congress has so many paid employees is that its members need a __________

great deal of help sorting through and processing the information necessary to write legislation

From the time of Washington's presidency to the present, the size and scope of the cabinet has___________

grown considerably

Select committees are designed to ________

handle issues that do not necessarily fit the remit of any particular committee easily

The ________ role of the president has become considerably more important since the New Deal era.

head of government

In order for a bill to be considered for passage, it must first be ________

introduced by a sitting member of Congress

Divided government makes it less likely that_________

items on the president's legislative agenda become law

Which statement most accurately descibes northern public schools in the 1960s?

just as segregated as those in the South due to de facto discrimination

An example of de jure discrimination is a(n) _____________

law that mandates where Asian Americans live

The schedule of issues that members of congress want to address during the coming term is the _________

legislative agenda

Geographic Representation

lives in the same state or district as their constituents

Even though presidents have some influence over the bureaucracy through their power of offering a yearly budget proposal for it, much of the time bureaucrats can get the funding they want by _________

lobbying sympathetic members of Congress

In the modern day, State of the Union addresses are _________

major statements fof the president's political agenda

The Americans with Disabilities Act was controversial because it ____

mandated expensive renovations to many public accomodations

Within Weber's model of bureaucracy, resources are distributed based upon ____________

merit

Which statement accurately describes the nature of presidential popularity?

newsworthy events might help or hurt a president's standing with the public

Presidents can have their greatest long-term impact on the judiciary by ___________

nominating idealogically like-minded judges to the federal bench

Hyperpartisanship in recent years has __________

not affected the two parties equally

Women were unique in their battle for equal rights because they were________

not outside the system in the way various racial and ethnic groups were

The White House staff and cabinet members are often at odds because __________

of the different backgrounds and perspectives of the two groups

What is presidential approval?

polling the people of their approval of the president

Barbour Wright imply that despite the increased powers of the modern executive branch, the most important limit on the president that remains is the __________

president's inability to ensure that his or her proposals will make it through Congress

The phrase "birds of passage" refers to __________

presidential appointees to the the bureaucracy who come and go quickly

Calvin Coolidge's infamous reticence to speak to the press would be part of what Barbour and Wright would refer to as his_________________

presidential style

Southern states enacted poll taxes, grandfather clauses, and literacy tests after Reconstruction to _____________

prevent Blacks from voting

The Whistleblower Protection Act of 1989 _______________

prevents whistleblowers from being punished for exposing official wrongdoing

An example of the black codes in action would be a southern state's post-Civil War law____________

prohibiting freed slaves from owning land

The Hatch Act prohibits federal employees from engaging in many partisan political activities because it was designed to ___________

protect bureaucrats from undue political pressures

The overall purpose of regulations is to ________

protect the public from some economic problem

Districts

redrawn to "fit" the population of a state every TEN years

The ethos of bureaucracy and democracy are in conflict because bureaucracy _____________

relies on expertise but democracy is based on popular sovereignty

Many scholars of the national legislature have argued for a long time that members of Congress face an everyday conflict between________

representing the interests of their consituents and serving the national interest

The main purpose of a conference committee is to______

resolve differences between similar bills passed by the House and Senate

George W. Bush's frequent use of signing statements was part of the attempt by him to __________

ressurect the imperial presidency

The president's head of state role refers to the _______

service as a symbol for the whole country

According to the Constitution, Congress can check the judiciary by ________

setting the jurisdiction of particular courts

Just as with members of congressional committees, bureaucrats gain power by _____________

specializing in particular policy areas

Joint committees are often formed in order to _______

speed up consideration of complex legislation

Permanent committees that are responsible for legislation related to a particular set of issues are called ______ committees

standing

What does the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) do?

stop the smuggling of drugs and humans but they have been accused of deporting innocent people and seperating families

A heightened standard of review used by the Supreme Court to assess the constitutionality of laws that affect people belonging to a suspect classification is called_________

strict scrutiny

Which statement most accurately summarizes the outcome of Reconstruction?

temporarily afforded most Blacks protections of their political rights

Affirmative action programs are extremely controversial in American politics and culture because of ____________

the American commitment to procedural over substantive values

Barbour and Wright use the example of Lincoln's promulgation of the Emancipation Proclamation to support their contention that_____

the Civil War was not just a moral cursuade against slavery

Barbour and Wright imply that in disputes between political bureaucratic appointees and career civil servants, _________

the civil servants have time on their side, although the appointees have the advantage of their position

When it comes to economic equality between Black and White Americans____________

the lingering effects of de facto discrimination have finally worked their way out of the system

Bureaucratic offices try to offer unique services to their clientele groups because they _________

want to survive by having a monopoly on those particular services

The drafting and redrafting of legislation is done primarily _______

within congressional committee