Chapter 7: Political Participation: Activating The Popular Will Flashcards
What is political participation?
The involvement in activities intended to influence public policy and leadership; voting, joining political groups, writing to elected officials, demonstrating for political causes, goving money to political candidates
Who did the original form of the constitution give control over suffrage to?
The States - granted power to decide, time, place, and manner of election holding for federal office
What is suffrage?
The right to vote
How long did it take before all the states eliminated the property restriction that only property-owning white male could vote, which Benjamin Franklin ridiculed?
At least 50 years before all states eliminated it.
What trick was used to stop African Americans from voting after they gained suffrage after the Civil war with the 15th amendment, which stated that the states couldn’t abridge the right to vote “on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude”?
How were the literacy tests dangerous if taken?
Literacy tests - precondition for eligibility to vote, selective to exclude black voters
They would publish the names of those who took the test so that employees, local police, and the KKK would know who they were
The state of ______________ was the extreme case in its disenfranchisement of Black Americans.
Mississippi
Not until the _____ did ________ and the ______ sweep away the last legal barriers to equal ________ for African Americans.
1960s; Congress; courts; suffrage
What year did Women secure the right to vote? With the ratification of what amendment?
1920 - the ratification of the 19th amendment
When was the 26th amendment ratified, and what did it lower?
During the Vietnam War - when military draft was in full swing and mininum voting age in nearly every state was 21 years - and lowered the voting age to 18 years
True or False?
Millions choose not to vote in national elections, a tendency that sets Americans apart from citizens of most other Western democracies, with the US ranked near the bottom among the world’s democracies for voter turnout
True
What is registration?
The act of placing citizens’ names on an official list of voters before they are eligible to exercise their right to vote, meant to prevent voters from casting more than one ballot on Election day, beginning around 1900.
True or False?
Voter Turnout in U.S. elections rose after registration began.
False - it declined
Registration is largely controlled by the _____ ________________.
State governments
What did the 1993 Motor Voter Act require state agencies to allow people?
Allow people to register when they apply for a driver’s license or public assistance
What were two laws that have been obstacles to higher voter turnout?
Registration laws and Voter ID laws
What do some voter’s need for ID in order to vote?
Driver’s license and or passport
When was the first Voter ID law passed?
2005 - Indiana’s republican-controlled legislature, claiming it needed to prevent voter fraud
What demographics is least likely to have driver’s licenses or passports?
Young adults
Minorities
Low-income individuals
Was Indiana’s voter law passed in 2005 upheld?
Yes : with a 6 - 3 supreme court vote, validating Indiana’s interest in preventing fraud, but also acknowledged that the Republican legislators were seeking a partisan advantage in enacting the law.
About __ states, including _____, _____, and _________, allow people to register at their _______ ______ on Election day.
What is their voter turnout?
10; Idaho, Maine, Minnesota; polling places
10% points above national average
What states have voter turnout rates below the national average by requiring a government-issued ID to register and making it difficult to cast an absentee ballot?
Indiana, Mississippi, and Alabama
America’s registration system and election schedule places the burden on ________.
Voters
The frequency of elections : Read
Chapter 7
What demographics have above-average voting rates in the US?
College-educated and upper-income americans
Why do income and education make a greater difference in the US than in Europe?
Europeans are prompted to participate by class-based organizatios - labor unions are stronger in Europe, and most european democracies have major socialist or labor party that seeks to represent lower-income voters, unlike the US
Europeans don’t have imposing voter registration requirements that some US states place on their residents.
Why are young adults less likely to vote than middle age or older adults?
They change residencies more often - requires registration again to vote
What is apathy?
A lack of concern/interest, feeling of personal disinterest
What is alienation?
Feeling of powerlessness rooted in the belief that government ignores their interests.
What is civic duty?
A belief that they ought to participate in public affairs, responsibility of citizenship.
______ ____ and ______ are attitudes that are usually acquired from one’s parents.
Civic duty and apathy
What is political interest?
Level of interest that a citizen has in politics; political interest is a prime determinant of whether a citizen will pay attention to politics and participate through voting; largely stems from partisanship
What is the most widespread form of political participation?
Is it limited in any way?
Voting
Yes - only at specific times and only for the choices listed on the ballot
Why are americans more likely than europeans to take part in election activity even though they are less likely to vote?
Europe - shorter election periods: weeks
America - longer election peiods: months
Europe - unitary system: don’t elect state officials
America - federal system: each state elects legislative and executive officials
Europe - less likely to be involved in groups that seek to influence public policy
America - more likely, takes monetary contribution forms most of the time, or active forms like contacting lawmakers and attending public rallies.
How does the internet affect voter participation?
Increases it, peaks during presidential campaigns and easily outstrips conventional participation, can raise money for candidates through online donations, lobbying groups rely on it as well
What is social capital?
Face-to-face interactions between people; sum of face-to-face interactions among citizens in a society
What is the main obstacle in civic participation?
motivation
Why is participation in local organizations twice as high in US than Europe?
Religious practices
US has greater control over local policies, and schools
During the pre-democratic era, people resorted to ________ as a way of expressing displeasure with government.
protests - typically tax and food riots
Who does elections by the people grant legitimacy to?
To those in power - they can use it to justify policies of their choosing
What are political movements (social movements)?
Ways for citizens not unsatisfied with government to openly express their opposition; active and sustained efforts to achieve social and political change by groups of people who feel that government hasn’t been properly responsive to their concerns.
How do political movements normally take place?
Largely outside established institutions in the form of protest rallies, marches, and the like; differes from participation through a political party - takes place through scheduled elections
What modern protest has had the largest or more lasting impactful movement?
When decade did it begin, and did it spur constitutional acts?
The black civil rights movement - 1950s - 1964 civil rights act and 195 voting rights act were direct result of the black civil rights movement
What was the tea party movement on April 15, 2009 aimed at?
It was the day federal income taxes were due - opposition to taxes, called for reductions in federal spending
What was the Occupy Wall Street (OWS) movement in 2011 about and what was the anger towards?
Anger towards the government’s bailout of the financial industry and its failure to hold bankers accountable for their role in the financial crisis of 2008
Their target was the widening income gap between the wealthiest 1 percent of americans and the rest of society.
“We are the 99%”
What has the black lives matter movement sought to change?
Local law enforcement, local governments generally and the inferior services provided by them to black neighborhoods.
George Floyd
What did the #Metoo movement show and try to raise awareness of?
The extent to which women are subjected to sexual assault and harassment, raise awareness of the level of sexual misconduct, the effect on the victims, and pressure firms and organizations to take steps to stop it.
When did the movement against gun violence gain more traction?
What did it seek to do?
2018 - mass killing at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.
Sought to pressure lawmakers at the national, state, and local levels to place tougher gun control measures, like rigorous background checks on gun buyers and ban on military-style assault rifles used in several shooting including Parkland.
True or False?
Most political movements fail to achieve their goals. Typically, a lengthy period of intense and sustained action is required for a movement to succeed.
True
What recent political movement had the most success?
The tea party movement in 2009: became permanent force in the Republican party, providing it with an institutional base to pursue cuts in taxes and voernment spending.
Is protest activity less common today in the US than in other western democracies?
yes
Why are most americans not highly active in politics?
American cultural Emphasis on individualism
