Chapter 7,8 Government Set A

Recall

The process of removing an elected official from office.

Direct action

Unconventional participation that involves assembling crowds to confront business and local governments to demand a hearing

Identify the major eras in the development of U.S. political parties. Discuss key events in each phase.

1796, first election where candidates ran as members of a political party. 1800, America's first presidential campaign, end of the federalist party. 1820, James Madison elected president. 1824 - Civil War; Andrew Jackson and the democrats were the dominant party, tariffs to protect manufacturing, creation of a national bank, slavery, territorial expansion of the republic. 1854-1856, Republican party emerged to replace the Whig party. Civil War - 1896; Party era 1896-1932; Progressive era

Electoral college

A body of electors chosen by voters to cast ballots for president and vice president.

Party machine

A centralized party organization that dominates local politics by controlling elections.

Caucuses

A closed meeting of the members of a political party to decide questions of policy and the section of candidates for office.

National committee

A committee of a political party composed of party chairpersons and party officials from every state.

National Convention

A gathering of delegates of a single political party from across the country to choose candidates for president and vice president and to adopt a party platform.

Class Action Suit

A legal action brought by a person or group on behalf of a number of people in similar circumstances.

Electoral dealignment

A lessening of the importance of party loyalties in voting decisions

Party conferences

A meeting to select party leaders and decide committee assignments, held at the beginning of a session of Congress by republicans or democrats in each chamber.

Progressiveness

A philosophy or political reform based on the goodness and wisdom of the individual citizen as opposed to special interests and political institutions.

Explain how a political party differs from an interest group.

A political party is an organization the supports candidates for political office under the organization's name.

Direct primary

A preliminary election, run by the state government, in which the voters choose each party's candidates for the general election.

Initiative

A procedure by which voters can propose an issue to be decided by the legislature or by the people in a referendum. It requires a gathering a specified number of signatures and submitting a petition to a designated agency.

Political system

A set of interrelated institutions that links people with government

Responsible party government

A set of principles formalizing the ideal role or parties in a majoritarian democracy.

Political Participation

Actions of private citizens by which they seek influence or support government and politics.

Explain why America has a Two-Party System

America has a two party system so there are both sides of arguments addressed in political decisions. A Two-Party system is when two major political parties that compete to control the government. This makes it so candidates from third party have little chance of winning.

Referendum

An election on a policy issue.

Critical election

An election that produces a sharp change in the existing pattern of party loyalties among groups of voters.

Congressional campaign committees

An organization maintained by a political party to raise funds to support its own candidates in congressional elections

Influencing Behavior

Behavior that seeks to modify or reverse government policy to serve political interest.

Explain what distinguishes conventional participation from unconventional political participation.

Conventional participation is relatively routine political behavior that uses institutional channels and is acceptable to the dominant culture. The unconventional participation is relatively uncommon political behavior that challenges or defies established institutions and dominant norms.

Nomination

Designation as an official candidate of a political party.

-Democratic Party

Selective tax cuts only for those who spend money the way Gore wants you to spend it. Oppose a missile defense system. Praise the phony "victory" in Kosovo. Ratify UN treaties to regulate U.S. behavior, including the UN treaty on "Discrimination Against Women" and the Kyoto Global Warming Treaty. Oppose "private school vouchers." Support an expensive expansion of federal spending and control. Support preschool "for every child." Move our nation closer to universal nationalized health care financed by the taxpayers and managed by the federal government. Support a long list of regulations on gun ownership and the purchase of guns, plus a "photo license I.D." system. Support abortion in all circumstances, including partial-birth abortions. Support tax-funded abortions through Medicaid. "Support the full inclusion of gay and lesbian families" with financial benefits. Punish "hate crimes." Support ERA. Support Affirmative Action. Start many new federal spending programs called "investments" -- a word used 53 times in the Platform. Oppose abolishing any programs.

electoral realignment

The change of voting patterns that occurs after a critical election.

-Republican Party

Tax cuts for all Americans so we can choose how to spend our own money. "America must deploy effective missile defenses." Oppose "social experiments," coed basic training, and homosexuality in the military. Oppose putting U.S. troops under U.N. command. Oppose the International Criminal Court. "The role of the federal government must be progressively limited as we return control to parents, teachers and local school boards." Allow all Americans to own their own health insurance, including Medical Savings Accounts. Support "the constitutional right to keep and bear arms." Oppose gun registration and licensing of gun owners. Support legal protection for "the fundamental individual right to life" of the unborn baby. Oppose tax funding of abortions. Support "marriage as the legal union of one man and one woman." Oppose giving sexual preference any "special legal protection or standing in law." Stand with the Boy Scouts. "Downsize this mess and make government do what it is supposed to do." "Restore the force of the Tenth Amendment."

franchise

The right to vote, also called suffrage.

Explain what is meant by the "standard socioeconomic model" (SES) for explaining political participation.

The standard socioeconomic model is the relationship between socioeconomic status and conventional political involvement: people with higher status and more education are more likely to participate than those with lower status.

Party platform

The statement of policies of a national political party.

Proportional representation

The system by which legislative seats are allowed to a party in proportion to the vote the party wins the election.

majority representation

The system by which one office, contested by two or more candidates, is won by the single candidate who collects the votes.

Identify and discuss the major functions of political parties.

Their major functions are representations, elite formation and recruitment, goal formulating, interest articulation and aggregation, socialization and mobilization, and organization of government.

Describe how voter turnout in the United States compares to other countries.

Voter turnout is the percentage of eligible citizens who actually vote in a given election.