271_2 - Sheet1 (1) Flashcards
1972 McGovern campaign
George McGovern was senator from South Dakota, running antiwar campaign against incumbent Richard Nixon who won over 60% of the vote. His original running mate was Senator Eagleton who resigned days after being nominated as VP due to a past history of depression. After the election, Nixon would resign due to the Watergate scandal. McGovern’s campaign was the first to highlight the emerging democratic majority, drawing women and minorities.
adversarial legalism
Robert Kagan’s thesis, noted in Ewing’s Prods and Pleas, that the US increasingly has policy reform done through the courts in an adversarial (rather than bureaucratic) manner. This trend has high transaction costs and perhaps reflects Congress’s status as the “broken branch” of American government.
Adversarial legalism
term coined by Robert Kagan, liberal columnist and historian, to define the American system of policy implementation and dispute resolution that relies more heavily on legal threats and lawsuits. Kagan argues that America’s legal system involves more detailed regulation and punitive powers in comparison to other developed countries, mainly in contrast to the EU.
Affordable Care Act
The law (along with the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010) is the principal health care reform legislation of the 111th United States Congress. PPACA requires individuals not covered by employer- or government-sponsored insurance plans to maintain minimal essential health insurance coverage or pay a penalty unless exempted for religious beliefs or financial hardship, a provision commonly referred to as the “individual mandate”. The Act also reforms certain aspects of the private health insurance industry and public health insurance programs, increases insurance coverage of pre-existing conditions, expands access to insurance to 30 million American and increases projected national medical spending while lowering projected Medicare spending.
AFSCME
American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. One of the largest labor unions in the U.S., and quite powerful. Part of the AFL-CIO, another major labor union conglomerate. AFSCME organizes for social and economic rights of their protectorates in the workplace and through political action and legislative advocacy.
It is divided into more than 3,500 local unions. AFSCME was founded in 1932 but grew rapidly in the 1960s under president Jerry Wurf. Wurf and the union were a key part of the Memphis sanitation strike of 1968, in which workers petitioned for better working conditions and the right to join the union. Wurf and MLK worked together on the strike.
AFSCME- American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees -
Founded in 1932 as the Wisconsin State Administrative, Clerical, Fiscal and Technical Employees Association , it is one of the largest labour unions in the United States.
American Electric Power Company v. Connecticut:
2011 Supreme Court Case. Ruled that the EPA and equivalent agencies at state and local level are responsible for overseeing and enforcing greenhouse gas emissions, and that it was not the role of the court to decide climate change regulations because they are not under federal common law. EPA regulations are designed to implement Congressionally-decided legislation, and that legislation displaces any federal common law right for states to seek reduction of carbon dioxide emissions. Ultimately, it is the EPA that has the power to issue regulations.
american electric power versus Connecticut
This is a US Supreme Court case about whether states can seek to curtail GHG emissions from utilities across state borders using federal common law theories of nuisance. The ultimate issue though is whether climate change regulations and related issues can be decided through the court system while the EPA is finalizing regulations that the Court previously held the EPA must issue.
Arne Duncan
The Secretary of Education under Obama. A former superintendent of Chicago schools, Duncan is known as a “reformer,” supporting policies like teacher evaluations and charter schools.He is a principal figure behind Race to the Top.
Arne Duncan-
former CEO of Chicago Public Schools, Secretary of Education, proponent of Race to the Top, supported by DFER
Assembly Bill 32- Global Warming Solution Act of 2006
limit emissions to about 70% of 1990 levels by 2020 in California.
Assembly Bill No. 1493
2002 bill of California General Assembly that created first set of Pavley Standards. Requires CARB to promulgate GHG emission standards for motor vehicles.
astroturf
Astroturfing is when an organization or movement appears to be “grassroots” but is actually organized from the top-down or backed by major commercial financiers. An example would be some elements of the Tea Party who ended up being backed by the Koch brothers. They may attempt to manipulate public opinion by trying to appear as the “common people”, but they often represent interests of a select few.
Astroturf
refers to “phony” political/ social movements that appear to arise from grassroots. Example: Occupy Wall Street was an idea launched by Canadian magazine called Adbusters. Both Occupy and the Tea Party movements have been criticized as “astroturf.”
BACT
California attempted to regulate GHG emissions from stationary sources by the prevention of significant deterioration (PSD) permitting program. Under PSD, regulated NRS pollutants must be limited according to the “best available control technology.” (BACT) The Sierra Club sued to have this include CO2, while the “Johnson Memorandum” from the EPA asserted that CO2 did not count.
BACT
Best Available Control Technologies. Pollution control standard mandated by U.S. Clean Air Act. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) determines what air pollution control technology will be used to control specific pollutants to specified set levels. BACT is the current EPA standard for all pollution.
Behavioral failures
Loss aversion, myopia (failure to look forwart), inertia, procrastination (ex, retirement planning), regret
Brown v Board of Education
Landmark 1954 Supreme Court Case that declared state laws establishing public school segregation unconstitutional. Overturned the 1896 Plessy v. Ferguson case that allowed state-sponsored segregation. Public school segregation was declared in violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. This monumental case further fueled the brewing civil rights movement.
Brown versus Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas
This landmark 1954 Supreme Court decision found that segregation of schools was unconstitutional (revoking Plessy vs. Fergusen’s separate but equal). The Warren Court’s unanimous decision said that separate education facilities are inherently unequal. The ruling paved the way for integration and civil rights. Implementation was not always easy: in 1957, the Arkansas National Guard blocked black students’ (Little Rock Nine) entry to Little Rock Central High School, forcing President Dwight Eisenhower to call for federal troops. In terms of American Public Policy, while this judicial decision led to significant civil rights, there still are many problems plaguing the Black community, even in terms of education.
Buckley v Valeo
Buckley v. Valeo is a 1976 Supreme Court decision about the constitutionality of the federal campaign finance law, the 1971 Federal Election Campaign Act. It upheld certain parts of the law, such as its limits on individual contributions to campaigns, but struck down others, such as its limits on expenditures by independent groups and by from candidates’ personal funds.
Buckley v. Valeo
(1976), Case in the supreme court where the federal law which limits campaign contributions was upheld. However, it was also ruled that spending money to influence elections is a form of constitutionally protected free speech, and portions of the law were struck down. The court also ruled candidates can give unlimited amounts of money to their own campaigns.
CAA- Clean Air Act (1963)
Requires the EPA to develop and enforce regulations that protect the public from exposure to airborne contaminants.
CAFE standards
This stands for “Corporate Average Fuel Economy” standards. In “Who Killed the Electric Car,” filmmakers say that while these standards were enormously influential in pushing greener American auto manufacturing in the past, in recent years they have stagnated. (They were enacted in 1975 and consistently rose until 1985, at which point they remained until 2010.) In 2009, Obama proposed new, stricter standards to come into effect in 2011.
CAFE standards
Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards - regulations intended to improve the fuel economy of cars and light vehicles in the US in the aftermath of the 1973 Arab oil embargo.
California Air Resources Board (CARB)
The California Air Resources Board, also known as CARB or ARB, is the “clean air agency” in the government of California. Established in 1967 when then-governor Ronald Reagan signed the Mulford-Carrell Act, combining the Bureau of Air Sanitation and the Motor Vehicle Pollution Control Board, CARB is a department within the cabinet-level California Environmental Protection Agency. California is the only state that is permitted to have such a regulatory agency, since it is the only state that had one before the passage of the federal Clean Air Act. Other states are permitted to follow CARB standards, or use the federal ones, but not set their own.
Cap and Trade
A cap and trade system is a method for managing pollution, with the end goal of reducing overall pollution level. Under this system, the government sets a cap on the total level of pollution allowed. Companies are issued ‘credits’ or licenses to pollute, based on a number of various factors. If a company comes in below their limit, they can trade extra credits. The government may choose to auction off or give away a number of credits as well. Through this system, companies that cannot get their pollution under control are being directly penalized, whereas those that reduce their pollution profit through trades.
Carbon Capture & Storage (CCS)
Process through which carbon is removed from the air and deposited into a reservoir or pumped underground. Technology to do so cheaply still in development.
carbon offsets
A carbon offset is a reduction in emissions of carbon dioxide or greenhouse gases made in order to compensate for or to offset an emission made elsewhere. They aren’t a particularly useful way to reduce emissions, as no comprehensive environmental plan regulates their use. Carbon offsetting has gained some appeal and momentum mainly among consumers in western countries who have become aware and concerned about the potentially negative environmental effects of energy-intensive lifestyles and economies. The Kyoto Protocol has sanctioned offsets as a way for governments and private companies to earn carbon credits which can be traded on a marketplace.
carbon offsets
Carbon offsets are reductions in carbon emissions or greenhouse gases made to compensate for emissions elsewhere. For instance, in a cap-and-trade system, a company shown to be engaging in a project that qualifies as an offset (i.e. purchasing products from manufacturers who are also “green”) receives extra allowances. Ultimate goal is that direct transactions that can’t be regulated directly still receive compensation.
Carbon sequestration
The practice of reducing carbon emissions by storing emissions geologically. This is a conceptual proposal for reducing emissions, and curbing the greenhouse effect. Environment.
CCR diploma
career and college ready diploma, will be implemented in Hawaii to conform to Race to Top protocol calling for higher graduation standards
CFPB (Consumer Financial Protection Bureau)
Agency established by 2010 Dodd-Frank bill. Meant to provide consumers with greater financial protection relating to large companies and corporate contracts. Meant to promote fairness for mortgages, credit cards, and other consumer transactions. Jurisdiction over lenders, foreclosure services, debt collectors, financial companies, etc. Bureau has become source of much fighting between Obama and Republicans.
Clause 4 in labor parties constitution
Clause IV of the British Labour Party constitution established in 1918 the goals and values of the British Labour Party. Tony Blair, as leader of the British Labour Party, adapted Clause IV in 1995 to read “The Labour Party is a democratic socialist party.” Previously Clause IV established the party’s desire to “secure the most equitable distribution,” but Blair officially declared the Labour Party to be a socialist party.
Clause 4 labour party
Clause IV of the British Labour Party constitution established in 1918 the goals and values of the British Labour Party. Tony Blair, as leader of the British Labour Party, adapted Clause IV in 1995 to read “The Labour Party is a democratic socialist party.” Previously Clause IV established the party’s desire to “secure the most equitable distribution,” but Blair officially declared the Labour Party to be a socialist party.
Coercion and state power
At the heart of government is the monopoly on the legitimate use of force- governments can force people to do things as in the healthcare mandate.
Command and control
Regulation from the government that sets a strict standard and uses coercive measures to make the private sector meet that standard. The opposite of market regulation. Cons- subject to lobbying, lawsuits, no incentive to go above and beyond that regulation.
Consequences of the submerged state
Visible programs are popular, but people have little faith in government and largely think that tax dollars are wasted. General lack of understanding and appreciation of policy, and limited traceability of submerged programs means it’s hard to hold politicians accountable for their role in creating aspects of the submerged state.
Consequentialist alibi
In the context of the readings on climate change, the consequentialist alibi means companies polluting the environment arguing that requested relief by the plaintiffs is unlikely to redress their injuries because other companies not before the court are likely to keep polluting.
Culture of Poverty Thesis
The Culture of Poverty thesis is the idea that poor people stay poor because they have behavioral traits and attitudes that differ from those of mainstream Americans. The Urban Poverty and Family Life Study (UPFLS) found that the poor had values just like those of the rest of Americans, undercutting this theory. Wilson argues that the disappearance of work from inner cities, a history of residential segregation and discrimination supported by government policies (ie FHA redlining), not a set of intrinsic cultural traits only found in poor people.
Culture of poverty thesis
believes a cycle of poverty changes culture in ways that makes the poor’s value system different. poor not only poor because of lack of resources/ability but because of culture.
Decreased intergenerational mobility
Concept that as compared to previous generations, today’s current youth generation has a lesser chance of moving upwards out of their income bracket. Someone in the lowest fifth of the income bracket has only a 17% chance of moving into upper two-fifths. It is easier to move up in Europe than it is in America. Problematic because “American Dream” is based on concept that children will do better than their parents, and so forth, but if that is at risk then the basic foundations of the middle class are at risk.
Decreasing Middle Class
In terms of wealth, standards of living, etc, middle class in America is under threat of being crushed. One of the hallmarks of third-world countries is the vast gap between income brackets, and although US will never (not in the near future) get to that level, we are on track towards irreconcilable gaps that will ultimately hurt the economy. Largest share of middle class wealth is homeownership (the upper class is in stocks and bonds) and that has plummeted in recent years. Home ownership values collectively for the middle class has been wiped out by 30% in the last 5 years. The rich, on the other hand, recovered almost immediately from the crisis. Can be used to argue the concept of “two working economies,” and tied into articles like Freedman’s “A New Global Elite.”
Demosclerosis
Jonathan Rauch’s idea that the government has lost its ability to adapt while everything else (economy, technology, etc.) has changed. Interest groups form after every new act, so it cannot be eliminated.
Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act
created CFBP and instituted Volker Rule. greatest increase in financial regulation since Great Depression Era
Dream Act
The DREAM act (Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors) was a piece of federal legislation proposed in 2001 by Dick Durbin and Orrin Hatch. The bill would’ve provided conditional permanent residency to certain illegal aliens of good moral character who graduated from U.S. high schools, arrived in the United States as minors, and lived in the country continuously for at least five years prior to the bill’s enactment. If they were to complete two years in the military or two years at a four-year institution of higher learning, they would obtain temporary residency for a six-year period. DREAM failed on the national level, after being debated in 2010 and 2011. California has recently enacted a state version of DREAM.
DREAM Act (Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors Act)
a bill first introduced in the Senate in 2001, intended to provide conditional permanent residency to illegal aliens who arrived in the U.S. as minors and graduate from a U.S. high school. The bill has failed to pass on numerous occasions due to senate filibusters and a largely Republican opposition. Democrats reintroduced the bill in both the Senate and the House in 2011 and it still awaits Congressional action.
Drift/regulatory slippage
Drift is the deliberate failure to adapt public policies to the shifting realities of a dynamic economy. Large economic and social transformations outflank or erode existing policies, diminishing their role in American life. Then, political leaders fail to update policies, even when there are viable options, because they face pressure from powerful interests exploiting opportunities for political obstruction.
Emerging democratic majority
Starting with the McGovern campaign of 1972, the emerging democratic majority consists of groups other than the traditional white working class which have increasingly been voting for democrats ever since. These include professionals, working women and minorities.
EV1
General Motors EV1 was an electric car that was made available (to lease) in response to the California Air Resources Board passing the zero - emissions vehicle mandate in 1990. This mandate required the seven major automobile suppliers in the US to offer electric vehicles. Eventually, the mandate was reversed after incremental pressure and law suits from automobile manufacturers, oil industry moguls, and finally, the Bush administration. The documentary showed the oil companies were afraid of losing their monopoly on gas, and auto companies were worried about losing profits since the EV1s require little maintenance and no tuneups. GM finally claimed there was no consumer interest in the EV1, recalled every car they had ‘leased out’ and destroyed them.
Executive Order S-3-05
Executive order passed by California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2005 to curb green house gases, calling for a 80% reduction from 1990 levels by 2050. The order is significant in that it calls for various California agencies to collaborate to meet these goals. The order is significant to our class as it is an example of state legislation leading as an example for future federal regulation.
Executive order S-3-05 (California) Schwarzenegger
Order in 2005. First limiting greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020
Externalities
When the private benefit or cost doesn’t equal the public benefit or cost. Ex, the socialization of risk in the financial sector or the public cost of pollution from private business
FHA
The Federal Housing Administration (FHA) underwrote mortgages in the 1940s – but redlined black and poor neighborhoods. They did not stop the discriminatory practice until the 1960s.
FHA - Federal Housing Administration
created as part of 1934 Federal Housing Act. Insures loans made by banks and other private lenders for home building/buying. FHA discriminated against minorities and minority neighborhoods (redlining), Fair Housing Act of 1968 helped change this. Following the subprime mortgage crisis, FHA became the source of much of the US mortgage financing. The share of home purchases financed with FHA mortgages went from 2 percent to over one-third of mortgages in the country – b/c conventional mortgage lending dried up in the credit crisis. Without the subprime market, many of the riskiest borrowers ended up borrowing from the FHA.
Followed the EGTRRA
Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001. increased tax reductions on investment income from dividends and capital gains.
Global Weirding
Global weirding is a term used to describe climate change that isn’t all “warming.” Recent scientific trends relating to the environment have been erratic–from heat waves to hurricanes to record low temperatures. This variability is part of the climate change concern. In terms of American public policy, one could argue that Kerry-Graham-Lieberman bill and Waxman-Markey have been legislative attempts to stop it.
Global weirding
climate change, not just global warming. new global weather patterns
Great Backlash
(from What’s Wrong With Kansas) - Thomas Frank argues that Democrats are coming up short in elections because too many low-to-middle income people are turned off by what they see as an excessive supply of elitism and condescension among liberals.To pull the working-class base away from the Democrats, Frank contends that Republicans have successfully portrayed themselves as fighters for the little guy, successfully representing themselves as the kind of values-oriented, hard-working patriots who won’t buckle when it comes to fighting al Qaeda or fighting to keep Christ in Christmas.Rather than having the economic issues of taxation or income inequality on the front burner, Frank argues that Republicans have effectively used a strategy of fueling what he calls “The Great Backlash,” a tactic that defines politics as culture and focuses on bringing out the votes. Frank sees this as a reactionary movement against the social changes of the 1960s and 1970s. In the old days in Kansas, Frank writes, “when business screwed the farmers and workers,” the little guys fought back with a left-wing populism. In contrast today, with politics more tied to hot-button cultural issues, Frank describes a political landscape that gives short shrift to economics: “Strip today’s Kansans of their job security, and they head out to become registered Republicans. Push them off their land, and the next thing you know they’re protesting in front of abortion clinics. Ask them about the remedies their ancestors proposed (unions, antitrust, public ownership), and you might as well be referring to the days when knighthood was in flower.” The “central mythology,” according to Frank, is that “conservatives are always hard-working patriots who love their country and are persecuted for it, while liberals, who are either high-born weaklings or eggheads hypnotized by some fancy idea, are always ready to sell their nation out at a moment’s notice.”
Health gradient
The idea that health follows a social gradient. The higher your social class, the healthier you are. This does not only affect the poor, even the ‘non-poor’ have a health gradient. Wherever you are on the social ladder, you have better health that those below you and worse health than those above you. Autonomy (degree of control you have over your life) and social participation are distributed unequally, and as a result health is distributed unequally. This gradient tells us there are parts of the population that are not achieving their potential in health or longevity.
Health Gradient
notion that health outcomes are intimately tied to socioeconomic status. Credited to Michael Marmot in his book “The Status Syndrome.” Linked to the idea of the book “The Spirit Level,” which suggests that societies with the greatest wealth inequalities have overall poor health outcomes in comparison to more equal societies.
