Final Flashcards
The Articles of Confederation
- Replicated Home Rule
- No executive or judiciary
- 9/13 states had to agree to pass a law
- 13/13 had to agree to pass amendments
- Conformity Costs vs. Transaction costs
Problems of the Articles of Confederation
- Congress could issue bonds but couldn’t levy taxes
- Could not enforce states to contribute
- Coordination problem with states
Virginia Plan
- Bicameral Legislature
- Based on Population
- Legislature can make any law, summon military forces against any state who does not comply with federal law
- Executive & Judiciary appointed by the legislature
- Council of Revision
New Jersey Plan
- Unicameral Legislature
- Equal State Representation
- Legislature has the same powers as Articles, but can levy taxes, regulate commerce, limited authority over states
- Plural Executive
- Judiciary (Supreme)
Take Care Clause
President can “Take Care” of America’s shit through this constitutional clause
What new powers did the Constitution give the government to overcome collective action problems???????
- Command
- Veto
- Agenda Control
- Voting Control
- Delegation
How can you read the constitution? !?
- Original Intent: Just like our founding fathers wanted
- Strict Construction: Only apply the rules clearly stated within the constitution pls
- Living Document: The constitution is constantly evolving with society
Federalist Paper #10
- Madison identities factions as a threat to the country
- There are two ways to eliminate factions: Authoritarianism and Conformism
- To mitigate these effect: Size Principle / diversity / pluralism
Federalist Paper #51
- Madison discusses how tyranny is prevented by the constitutional provisions
- More on the mechanics
- Checks and Balances prevent the distortion of power
- Ambition is made to counteract ambition
Federalist Paper #69
- Hamilton discusses the executive
- President will not become a king because he can become impeached, tried, convicted of crimes, removed from office; while a king is above the law
- His powers are restricted by the other two branches
Anti-Federalist papers
- They feared the tyranny of the majority
- True democracy is a local democracy
- The nation is too large and diverse to be under one set of laws
- Helped the implimatation of the bill of rights
Bill of Rights
- Name given to the first 10 amendments
- Proposed during the first session of Congress
Negative Rights
- Freedom From Something
- Things people shouldn’t do to one another
- Right to life, liberty, property
Positive Rights
- Freedom to do Something
- Things people should do to one another
- Rights to free school, healthcare, minimum wage
Supremacy Clause
-The federal government has control
Elastic Clause
- Necessary and Proper Clause
- Congress can intervene in national emergencies
Commerce Clause
-Meant to avoid problems from Articles
10th Amendment
- Rights granted by the constitution are reserved to the states
- 14th amendment applies the bill of rights to all states (incorporation)
- Court often gives authority to federal government
Federalism Cake: Past vs. Today
- Past: Federalism was a layered cake, programs and authority are clearly divided like layers in a cake
- Today: Federalism is a marbled cake, programs and authority are mixed among national, state, and local governments
How did the Federalism Cake become so goddamn marbled?
- Nationalization shifted authority away from the states after the 1930’s (lol FDR goddamn)
- State and Federal government coordinated their actions to solve national problems, blending the layers
How did Nationalization happen?
- To solve collective action problems
- Country became industrialized, need more authority
- States asked for help with coordination, shirking, and competition
- Opportunism to increase political power and advance an agenda
The House
- 2 year terms
- Popular elections
The Senate
- 6 year terms
- now popular elections, not before
What power does congress have?
- Impose taxes
- Regulate interstate and foreign commerce
- Declare war
- Raise armies
- Suspend Habeas Corpus
- Elastic clause gives them growing power
- Senate ratifies treaties and confirms Senate appointments
What problems does Congress have to overcome?
- Acquiring information
- Congress are not experts on the majority of legislation they review
- Coordinate Action
- With so many members and so much work it is hard to tackle all the problems
- Resolve conflicts
- Congress members have divergent and conflicting interest and beliefs
- Collective Action Problems
- Congress members have individual goals and beliefs
What transaction costs does Congress face?
- The Constitution made making laws difficult
- Laws need to pass through majority of each chamber
- Transactions take time
What structural problems does Congress face?
- Committees delegate problems to get out of collection action problems
- Parties resolve conflict and help members work for common goals
- Seniority encourages specialization and cooperation
What is logrolling?
- The exchanging of favors between committees to achieve one’s action
- Logrolling helps overcome collective action problems
How does Congress solve its problem?
- Committees and Seniority can acquire information more effectively
- Parties and Committees facilitate collective action
- Parties and rules can help resolve conflicts
- Committees and Parties encourage members to work for a common goal, not just personal
- Helps things go faster
What is Delegate Representation?
- Highly responsive to constituents, may ignore national needs or trends to respond to constituents interests
- Can lead to porkbarrel politics and logrolling
What is Trustee Representation?
- Less responsive to constituents, focuses on national trends or needs
- Works for collective action goals, i.e. party politics
Bias for the status quo
- The transaction costs of a bill are high
- It is easier to kill and bill then to pass one
Why is there one executive?
- Accountability
- Collective Action
- Energy
How does president have power to command?
-Executive actions (Numbered)
-Presidential memoranda (not numbered)
-They have the force of law
-But congress doesn’t have to fund them and
subsequent presidents can replace them
The President Needs Help
- Brownlow Report
- As the presidency has expanded, so has its powers
- The president is like a CEO of a company
- Congress creates parties in the Executive branch, and transferred power to the president
The President has the power to persuade
- Presidents are expected to do more than they have the power to
- They persuade and bargain
- When a president resorts to command, he is showing weakness
- The presidents power comes from
- His position (statutory power)
- His reputation (if he follows through on promises)
- His public prestige (His ability to go public)
What does it mean to “go public”?
- Going public can show the failure of persuading
- Theodore Roosevelts “bully pulpit”
- Use the media in your favor
- intensive public relations to advance the presidents agenda
- Signing statement
- President will not enforce some provisions of a law that they are signing in
Veto Bargaining
- Derives from three scenarios
1. Congress & President have very different policy agendas
2. Congress wants a radically different policy then the President
3. President wants a radically different policy then Congress
What is the Bureaucracy?
- Hierarchical structure: command flows down, information flows up
- Division of Labor
- Consistent set of abstract rules regarding whats to be done and whose to do it
- Impersonality
- A merit based career system with job security
- Specified goals which collective action is aimed
Federalist bureaucracy
- Civil servants rarely dismissed and passed their position to their sons
- Chose the ‘right people’ to serve
- Honest administration
Jacksonian bureaucracy
- Established short and fixed terms for office
- Offices should be democratized through changes in office
- Created the spoils system
- Little job security and advancement was not based on merit
- Officials rotated based on who they knew, not what
- Created dysfunction and potential corruption
Merit-Based bureaucracy
- Career bureaucrats developed their own interests
- They weren’t responsible to citizens or elected officials
- Caused shirking of responsibility, and lack of punishment for wrongdoing
- Magnified problems of hidden action and hidden information
Iron Triangles
- The bureaucracy, interest group, and congress work together to create policy in their areas of specialization
- Consolidates their power base
Red Tape
- People hate it but it is necessary
- Helps principles control and monitor the bureaucracy
- Removing red tape may help increase efficiency and customer satisfaction, but allows bureaucrats to go astray
What was the effects of Marbury V. Madison?
-Aligned the Judiciary with the Constitution. The court became Supreme and derives its power from the Constitution and enforces it on laws
What are the limits on Judicial Review?
- Court rulings are not permanent
- Judicial review does not foreclose effective responses
- Constitution limits their response
- The Court is weak and slow
- Political branches can redirect judicial doctrine
How does the Judiciary hear cases?
- Congress created hundred of ‘Constitutional courts’ that hear the constitutionality of criminal or civil cases
- There are 50,000 cases a year, they discuss >100
- Litigates file a writ of certiorari
- Parties can file Amicus briefs
- Four justices must hear cases
What is the writ of certiorari?
-The supreme court is saying the will hear the case
What is an Amicus briefs
- Friend of the court
- Independent interest who has something to add to the issue
What were the Eras of the Court?
- Nation vs. State authority (1790-1860)
- Gov. regulation of the economy (1865-1930s)
- Civil Rights and liberties (1940s-?)
- Maybe fourth era starting in the 1970’s
Whats the difference between civil rights and civil liberties?
- Civil Rights: Protections by government power; an obligation by the government to take positive action to protect certain rights and privileges
- Civil Liberties: Protection from government power; they prevent government action (negative rights)
Incorporation
- The federal government has incorporated the bill of rights to apply to states
- Some rights have not been incorporated: 3rd, 7th, 8th
First Amendment rights
- Freedom of Press
- Freedom of Assembly and Petition
- Freedom of Religion
- Free exercise clause
Freedom of Press
- Essential for a functioning democracy
- Government can stop publication in some cases
- i.e. prior restraints (giving away military secrets)
Freedom of Religion
- Freedom to exercise
- Establishment clause
- do students need to pledge to the flag/pray in school?
Right to Privacy
-Implicit in the constitution
Is the media the fourth branch of government?
- Protected by the 1st amendment as the bulwark against tyranny
- Strengthened by our government and constitutional interpretation
What are the limits on our freedom of the press?
- The troopship exception: you cannot give away military secrets in your publication
- There are not many protections against persecution of whistleblowers
Problems with the fourth branch?
- The news is fundamentally separated from the gov. but is essentially intertwined
- Political news is not objective, but a particular representation of facts and events
Beat Reporters are…?
- They cover a specific topic
- encourage daily reporting
- encourages pack journalism (why we have similarity on a topic with journalism)
Sensationalism and media
- Penny Press
- Yellow Journalism
- The news is motivated by profit
- Today sensational things get attention
What power does the media have over framing and agenda setting?
-The media can input its bias by framing a certain topic in a certain way
-Media can control what people are talking about
-Has influence over what politicians and people talk
about
How can politicians control the media?
- Spin: framing a message certain way
- Trial Balloon: floating a policy or idea with a reporter as long as the source remains anonymous
- Leak: strategically giving information
Why don’t people vote?
- time, money, energy
- no concentrated benefit
Who votes?
- Older more than young
- More highly educated than less
- White people more than minorities
- Wealthy more than poor
- Strongly partisan more than moderates
- People who have roots in communities
How can we increase voter turnout?
- Early voting
- Mail-in ballots or easier absentee voting
- Compulsory voting laws
- Make election day a national holiday
How is public opinion formed?
- Underlying attitudes
- Derived from political socialization
- Beliefs and values pay off in some way
- i.e. individualism, moral traditionalism, etc.
How is public opinion used?
- inform ideology
- liberal and conservative
- correlates to political party
- develops partisanship
How do you measure public opinion?
- polling
- public relations
- surveys can be inaccurate
How do you frame public opinion?
-Messages sent out by the media and politicians can change peoples opinions depending on how it is framed
What are the cognitive misers with public opinion?
- People don’t form opinions on things they do not care about
- opinions are usually uninformed and unstable
- However, as an aggregate, opinions become informed and stable
- people often free ride of opinion leaders - cue taking
What are the incentives to forming a political party?
- to build stable legislature and electoral alliances
- mobilization
- Get people to vote for candidates
- Development of new electoral techniques
- overcomes free rider problem and get supporters to the polls
- Enforce collective responsibility
- Shorthand for voters
- Collective punishment of a party
What are the roles of parties?
- Party in gov.: an alliance of current officeholders cooperating to shape public policy
- Party in electorate: composed of voters who identify with the party and regularly vote for its nominees
- Party in organization: dedicated to electing the party’s candidates
What two problems does privately financed elections cause?
- Democracy demands political equality, but money is distributed unequally
- There is a suspicion that elected officials will act on behalf of their donators more than their constituents
What are interest groups?
- Solution to collective action
- Represent an interest i.e. labor union
- people aid them through moral incentive and specific benefit, (stopping a highway, services, coffee mugs)
Lobbying
- Tells gov. what the people care about
- political and technical information
- interest groups high lobbyist to due their persuading
Interesting groups and democracy
- Do not represent a majority but muster substantial resources for selfish gain
- Factions
- Threat to popular governance
- protected by the 1st amendment
How do interest groups help fund campaigns?
- It can come from individuals
- The amount one person can give is capped
- But they can give to PACs unlimitedly
Buckley V. Valeo
-Upheld reporting requirements and contribution limits, but rejecting spending limits on the ground that they interfere with political speech
Citizens United V. FEC
-The court ruled that the freedom of speech prohibits the government from restricting independent expenditures
Hard money
-Money sent directly to campaigns
Soft money
-Money spent PACs, and often Parties
Dark Money
501(c)s
Role of parties with presidential elections
- Parties are gate-keepers in the primaries and caucuses
- party nominating conventions
- Provide massive organizational support during the general election
- provide voters with cues
Voter behavior in Presidential elections
-Incumbent parties generally do not get a third term
-Retrospective voting
-Party line voting
-
Retrospective voting behavior
-People will only look at how their lives are going at the moment instead of over the last how many odd years
Surge and Decline Theory
- Presidential coattail: congressmen will ride on the success of the president
- Midterms offer a referendum on the president
What are the two midterm election years went against the Surge and Decline theory
- 1998
- 2002
Incumbency advantage
- Incumbents are likely to be reelected
- Ease of:
- casework
- franking
- position taking and credit claiming
- Stronger in the house
- Senate is more prestigious and 6 year campaigns allow opposition to mount a campaign
- House constituents are generally smaller and districts less competitive
Incumbency disadvantage
- If your name is linked to an unpopular law
- If your party has fallen out of favor
What happens in party primaries?
- Primaries pull parties to the extremes
- Median voter theory explains why
What is the dilemma of public policy?
- The system favors the status quo
- people do not trust politicians (winners of politics) to make decisions that are fair to all
What the fuck is public policy again?
- result of elected efforts, debate, compromise, past experience, etc.
- has to do with a large segment of society
- outcome of a government action
- usually shaped and implemented by the bureaucracy
Private goods
- excludable and finite
- land use policy, property law
Toll goods
- Goods that are (kind of) excludable and infinite
- Cable TV, cellphone service
Common goods
- non-excludable and finite
- fresh water
Public goods
- non-excludable and infinite
- the airways, national security policy
Distributive policy
- Concentrated benefits
- Diffused costs
- i.e. Pells grants
Regulatory Policy
- diffused benefits
- concentrated costs
- i.e. the Pure Food and Drug Act, emissions regulation
Redistributive Policy
- concentrated benefits
- concentrated costs
- i.e. Medicaid
What are some problems with making policy?
- Constrained by collective action problems
- Policy problems have many solutions but politicians pick the most politically viable one
- Policy requires many people
- Society as a whole may want different than an individual desire
How does policy making occur according to Kingdom?
Kingdom says when three streams align
- Problem Stream
- problem needs to be identified
- Policy Stream
- practicable solutions need to be at hand
- Political Stream
- there must be political will to take action
How is policy said to occur according to unknown person?
- Agenda setting
- Policy enactment
- Policy implementation
- Evaluation
What are the goals of foreign policy?
- The protection of the U.S. and it’s citizens, home and abroad
- The maintenance to key resources and markets
- The preservation of a balance of power in the world
- The protection of human rights and democracy in the world
What is hard power?
military poewr
What is soft power?
economic sanctions, public diplomacy, etc.
What is the free riding policy in healthcare?
- Americans could get insurance from their employers or buy it privately
- However, many people remained uninsured, and because the hospital had to take them, they just waited until they got really sick
- Healthy people free ride
- Also, insurance companies only make money when people are healthy, but they had to take people who were sick (death spiral). We need healthy people on insurance
How do you get healthy people to stop fucking free riding?
- Carrot: offer tax payer-subsidized premiums to companies who don’t offer health insurance
- individual insurance market
- Stick: financially punish people who don’t have insurance
- individual mandate
What is the prisoners dilemma with entitlement reform?
- Social Security is getting more difficult to pay as people are living for longer and the population ages
- You need to cut the program or raise taxes
- There will be short term costs but long term benefits
- It’s a prisoners dilemma cause no one wants to pull the trigger
Keynesian/pump priming economics
- progressive tax system
- stimulates demand
- goes along with large welfare programs
Supply side economics
- regressive tax system
- stimulates supply
- goes along with trickle down economics
