Final Review Flashcards
What is the difference between political ideology and political culture?
The former deals with what government should do, the latter with how the government should operate.
According to Alexis de Tocqueville in his 1835 book, one of the reasons a democratic republic took root in the US was because of what?
Absence of a feudal aristocracy.
Why is speaking of a single political culture within a nation dangerous?
Because most nations do not have a homogenous population.
Can people share a common political culture but disagree on ideology?
Yes.
What is the best statement of economic equality in application to the US?
Most Americans believe that everyone has the right to get ahead (equality of opportunity)
What is the most important source of political values in the US?
The family
What is the average American more likely to do than the average European?
Pray daily
What is the culture war about?
What kind of country we ought to live in.
What is the progressive view in the culture war?
Personal freedom is more important than tradition, and the rules for morality vary with circumstances.
One of the ways in which the culture war differs from other political disputes is that
Compromise is almost impossible.
In recent decades, what has been the relationship between public confidence in political institutions and that in other institutions?
The former has definitely gone down while the latter has remained unchanged or declined.
What is the sense that one has a say in what government does and that politics is understandable?
Political efficacy
What is NOT a reason certain groups survive in the face of political intolerance?
Groups are able to go underground.
What best describes the trend in American’s trust of government?
Americans’ trust in government officials has declined at a fairly steady rate since the ’50s.
What is not true of political tolerance in America?
Americans will support liberties for all groups both in theory and practice?
What is one reason why public policy often differs from public opinion?
Public opinion polling is not always accurate.
What can the validity of public opinion polls be affected by?
The wording of questions on a poll.
According to political scientists Wilson and DiIulio, “the Framers of the Constitution did not try to create a government that would do from day to day ‘what the people want’.” What serves as checks on public opinion?
Federalism, an independent judiciary, and separation of powers.
In a poll conducted in 2007, 60 percent of voters believed that America would suffer another terrorist attack in the year ahead, while 89 percent believed the new year would be good for their families. What best describes the results of this poll?
The poll was not well-designed or well-conducted.
A woman who differs with her mother on party identification is most likely to
Describe herself as an independent.
Liberal preferences on various policy issues are displayed least often by
White protestants
What is one reason that support for liberal candidates and democrats has fallen amongst catholics and jews?
These groups enjoy greater prosperity and less discrimination than in the past.
True or False: When people talk with pollsters they tend to underestimate the amount of their political participation.
False
What is an accurate statement about the gender gap?
Men have deserted Democratic candidates in favor of Republican ones.
When a political opinion exists as a potential, but has not been crystallized and converted into an identifiable belief, it is said to be
Latent
In polling, a random sample is one that
Gives each person an equal chance of being in the sample.
Compared with the 1950s, the number of Southerners identifying themselves as democrats in the 1980s was
Much smaller
Do most Americans describe themselves as either liberal or conservative?
No
During the administrations of F. D. Roosevelt, liberalism became closely associated with
Active government intervention in economic affairs.
The fact that numerous elites exist in the United States means that
Their influence on mass opinion will not be uniform
The level of voting increases with increases in
Education, age, religious conviction, and income.
In US presidential elections, voter turnout is typically
Less than 60%
When one votes based on what a candidate pledges to do about an issue if elected, it is called
Prospective issue voting
The text suggests that one reason religious involvement increases political participation is because
It leads to social connectedness and increases awareness of larger issues.
Mid-term elections elect
About 1/3 of the senate and all of the house
A study of the causes of diversity in America includes an analysis of the implications of
geography, social backgrounds, ethnic backgrounds, and economic/class divisions.
Are paying one’s taxes considered “political participation”?
No
One way that blacks were prevented from voting prior to passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 was by requiring them to
Pass a literacy test
Suffrage was extended by the 26th amendment to
Those aged 18-20
What is the most powerful determinant of political participation, other than education and information?``
Age
What is a valid criticism of the caucus system?
The first caucus is in Iowa, which is not representative of the population as a whole.
The framers sought to prevent legislative tyranny by
Dividing power among the legislature, the executive, and the judiciary.
One advantage that incumbent members of Congress have over challengers in election campaigns is the use of
The franking privilege
When an agency such as the EPA makes an important decision (for example, that it can regulate carbon-dioxide emissions just as it would industrial emissions of sulfur dioxide), it is quite likely to be sued in federal court. This is an example of what is meant by the term
Adversary culture
A mark-up session is one in which
A committee or subcommittee makes changes in the original version of the bill.
Who has chief responsibility for assembling and analyzing the figures in the presidential budget submitted to Congress each year?
Office of Management and Budget
If by December 30th the President has not signed a bill that was sent to him by Congress on Christmas Eve, he has probably
Used a pocket veto
Senator Pettifogger gets an item inserted into the federal budget which allocates $6,000,000 for building a ski lift at a resort in his home state. This is known as
Pork-barrel legislation
Largely because of two major events of the twentieth century - the Great Depression and World War II - the features of the federal bureaucracy changed. What characterized this change?
People came to expect government to solve social and economic problems.
What did the rulings in Marbury v. Madison and McCulloch v. Maryland NOT establish?
The federal government has the power to regulate commerce among the states - i.e. interstate commerce
Senator Pettifogger has refused to return his blue slip. In doing so, he is relying on senatorial courtesy and is
Rejecting the president’s nominee for a district judgeship.
On the issue of a president’s right to impound funds, the US Constitution says
Nothing
What best defines the term “judicial restraint”?
The tendency of judges to interpret the Constitution in light of the original intent of its framers.
How can a Presidential veto be overridden?
By a 2/3rds vote of both houses of congress.
What is true about Independent Regulatory Commissions?
They exercise quasi-legislative, quasi-judicial, quasi-executive functions.
The highest state court in South Caroline has ruled that the federal Endangered Species Act is illegal because it runs counter to the constitution of South Carolina. The case will likely be brought to the US Supreme Court by means of
A writ of certiorari
The framers assumed that, under the electoral-college system, most presidential elections would be decided by the House of Representatives. Why did this not turn out to be the case?
Because political parties ended up playing a major role in producing nationwide support for a slate of national candidates.
True or false: each state receives electoral votes can be split between candidates.
False
The rule of propinquity states that
Power tends to be wielded by the people who are in the room where the decisions are being made.
Oliver Wendell Holmes, late Supreme Court Justice, once wrote, “I do not think the United States would come to an end if we lost our power to declare an act of Congress void. I do think the union would be imperiled if we could not make that declaration as to the laws of the several states.” Based on that statement, Holmes most likely would have opposed
A decision allowing states to decide whether federal courts could review state actions.
In recent years, the political beliefs of members of Congress have become
More polarized than voters
When the House and Senate pass different versions of a bill, where is the language of the bill resolved?
In a conference committee.
Presidential primaries are
An alternative to the use of accuses to select delegates to national party conventions.
A concurring opinion by a judge means that
The judge agrees with the majority opinion but rejects their reasoning.
When a person is selected by the President to head an agency and to shift its policies in the direction of the president’s, the appointee generally finds that
Subordinates wield considerable power
One way that Congress exercises authority over agencies is through the
Authorization of agency budgets
Veto power and executive privilege give a president both a way of blocking action and a
Means of forcing Congress to bargain
What is generally regarded as a key feature of the “Reagan Revolution”?
Sharp increases in defense spending
What is NOT true about modern congressional staffs?
Only a few members of congress have full time staffers working in their home states and districts.
The “rule of four” refers to
Four justices need to agree to hear a case before a writ of certiorari is granted.
Some conservatives, for example, might make their approval of a Supreme Court nominee contingent in that individual’s personal views about the death penalty. Such concern for a nominee’s ideology is known as
A political litmus test
Did the Pendleton Act enhance the power of patronage in federal appointments?
No
The job of the whip is to
Serve as a liaison between the house leadership and rank-and-file
What does not explain why the Speaker of the House is the most powerful legislator in Washington?
The speaker selects chairpersons of standing committees?
What happens when a bill is not passed during the life of one congress?
It dies
What does Article I in the Constitution not confer on Congress to?
The power to interpret laws
What powers belong to the Vice President?
To succeed a president who dies, resigns, or is impeached by the House and convicted by the Senate; to help decide whether or not the president is disabled; to cast tie-breaking votes in the Senate.
One explanation for why congressional seats have become less marginal is that
Incumbents can use their power to get programs passed that benefit their districts and thereby themselves.
What happens if a vote by the Supreme Court ends in a tie?
The lower court’s decision is left standing
A bill to raise taxes would most likely first be referred to the
House Ways and Means Committee
Presidents Carter and Reagan used different organizational structures within their White House Offices. Mr. Carter did not have a chief of staff for over half of his presidency; Mr. Reagan had a few very powerful Chiefs of staff. The more recent of the two presidents favored which model of organization?
Pyramidal
Since 1789 - when George Washington was inaugurated as president - about what percent of the 2500+ presidential vetoes have been overridden?
4%
What is the determining factor of the cloture rule?
It requires 3/5ths of the entire Senate membership to pass.
The main reason the cabinet is a weak entity is that
The secretaries defend, explain, and enlarge their own agencies.
James Madison believed the latent causes of faction were rooted in
The nature of man
What is NOT a reason for the proliferation of interest groups in the US?
Limited government
An organization that seeks to influence public policy is most accurately referred to as an
Interest group
The main reason why most people who are sympathetic to the goals of a mass-membership interest group do not join it is that they
Realize that they are unlikely to make a difference in its success.
A public interest organization can be defined as one that, if it’s goals were achieved, would primarily benefit
Those who are not members of the organization.
Organizations that attract members by appealing to a coherent set of usually controversial principles are called
Ideological interest groups.
According to the text, one of the important activities of public-interest law firms is to
File amicus curiae briefs
Lobbyists are most restrained from misrepresenting facts or misleading legislators by
The fear of losing legislators’ trust and confidence.
The Americans who are most likely to join interest groups are
Those with better-than-average incomes
Probably the most effective commodity at the command of interest groups is
Information
Could a member of congress start a political action committee?
Yes, and many have
A government official might leaver her position and join a corporation to which she previously awarded government contracts. This is a clear example of
The revolving door
The type of interest group that increase its numbers most rapidly in the early 1980s was the
Ideological PAC
What is true about political parties in the US?
Parties today are relatively weak, but they are not weak in all areas of the country.
The Founders saw political parties as
Factions motivated by ambition and self-interest.
The federalist system explains why US parties are ____________ than in European countries.
More decentralized
The elections of Ronald Reagan could not have represented a realignment because
They left control of congress in the hands of the Democratic Party
The most obvious result of ticket-splitting is
Divided government
The Republican Party has been more successful than the Democratic Party at raising money. The Democrats have managed to make up the difference by
The money raised by individual candidates.
The term SUPERDELEGATE refers to
Elected officials and party leaders who are not required to pledge themselves in advance to a presidential candidate.
What did not help bring about an end to political machines?
Party caucuses
Today, a candidate wanting to win an election will most often seek the support of
A personal following
To win in a plurality system such as that in the United States, a candidate must
Gather more votes than anyone else
The elections that produce the largest voter turnout are the
Presidential elections
Why should elections based on the plurality system discourage new parties from forming?
Because under this winner-takes-all system no incentive is given for finishing 2nd or 3rd.
The number of convention delegates from each state, along with the rules under which they are chosen, is determined by
The party’s national committee.
What is correct about a minor party?
They are discouraged by the election laws of many states.
One disadvantage of the relatively new primary system that has developed in the United States is that it
Increases the chances that the party will nominate a candidate who is unappealing to the average voter.
A major difference between presidential and congressional campaigns is that
Presidential races are generally more competitive
Since 1962, over ____ percent of House incumbents who sought reelection won it
90%
Which state did NOT gain seats in the House after the 2010 census?
Illinois
True or false: A senator has to be 35 years of age?
False. 30.
How are most presidential elections decided?
Retrospective voting.
Legislators who think of themselves as delegates are most likely to
Follow their constituents’ wishes closely
Legislators who think of themselves as trustees are most likely to
Do what they perceive as best
Iowa holds the distinctive position in presidential races as having the first
Test of candidates’ appeal
One effect of candidates’ fear of a slip during campaigning is that, increasingly, candidates are
Selling an image rather that their ideas
In the 1980 presidential election, many voters voted for Ronald Reagan over Jimmy Carter as a vote against Carter, not out of loyalty to Reagan. Such a vote can be referred to as a
Clothespin vote
Assume you are running for office on the Greenbelt ticket and need to reach all of the environmentalists in your area. Your best bet is to rely on a
Direct mailing
One advantage that incumbents always have over challengers is
Their use of the franking privilege
Many scholars argue that the foremost factor in determining how people vote is
Party identification
Which party tends to do better in competing for the vote of self-described independents?
Republicans do a much better job than democrats
Changes in US politics have occurred at the same time as changes in organization and technology of the media. This seems to suggest that
Politics will respond to changes in how communication is carried on.
The mass media are not a true mirror of reality because
A process of selection, editing, and emphasis exists in news reporting.
Electronic journalism probably contributed to the decline in party loyalties because
Politicians developed followings independent of party structure.
In recent years, the relationship between the media and government officials has become
More adversarial
A member of congress who wishes to maximize her news media attention is well advised to
Attack the president
The new era of electronic journalism is best characterized by
A diminishing importance of the big three networks and rise in the popularity of cable entertainment-type programs.
The text argues that, although politicians use the media, the media also uses politicians for
Entertainment and information
Suppose ABC news declares one presidential candidate the winner in a televised debate. In this role, ABC news is acting as a
Scorekeeper
Newsweek runs a feature article on education in the US and calls for sweeping changes in government policy on education. In this role, Newsweek is acting as
Gatekeeper
The text states that the media typically report presidential elections as horse races. This means that they
Focus more on the contest itself than the issues of the campaign.
A process that limits the short term effect of radio and television on voters is one that psychologists call
Selective attention
The content of radio and television broadcasts is regulated in ways that newspapers and magazines are not. For example, broadcasters are required by law to
Allow a candidate to reply to a station’s endorsement of the opposing candidate
According to the text, why is a candidate for the senate more likely to advertise on television than a candidate for the House?
Because a Senator’s constituency is more widely spread geographically
Mass media probably have the least effect on
How people vote in elections
Among the weapons that the government uses to constrain journalists is the
Need for journalists to stay on good terms with their inside sources of information
Which of the following is a source of concern about the influence of lobbyists on the government?
Many lobbyists are former officials who gave up their positions in government to work for interest groups.
Which of the following stories would most likely receive significant media coverage
A story about a missing woman and her romantic relationship with a member of congress.
Personality plays a more important role in explaining the presidency than it does in explaining Congress because a president is
More likely to be judged by his character in addition to his accomplishments
Though still important, why are iron triangles less common than they once were?
Because most agencies today are now subject to control by many congressional subcommittees
Congress and the President both complain that they are too weak to control political events. Another way of looking at this issue is to note that
The federal government as a whole has become more constrained.
Which statement is NOT true of American attitudes toward bureaucracy?
Americans feel ill-treated by the bureaucrats with whom they deal
Every president since Truman has commented that the power of the presidency
Looks greater from the outside than the inside
How has the composition of Congress changed since the election of JFK and now?
Although representation does not mirror the population as a whole, there are more minorities and women.
Amicus curiae briefs amount to a form of
Judicial lobbying
Suppose that a postal clerk asks a customer if her package contains anything flammable, and the customer replies that she is mailing a bottle of nail polish to her elderly aunt, who lives across town. The postal clerk decides to let the customer mail the package. The employee’s decision is an example of
Discretionary authority
Low voter turnout in congressional races is most likely to pose a significant problem for
The accepted notion of democracy.
Power is best defined as the capacity to
Get others to act in accordance with your wishes
The relationship between the two central questions addressed by the text “who governs? and to what ends?” can best be described in what way?
They are two distinct questions, but each must be considered with the other in mind
Suppose the president’s wife got him to change his position on abortion. Would this be an example of political power, according to the text’s definition?
Yes, because she’s got the president to act according to her intentions.
The text notes that, over time, more and more issues in this country have tended to become _______ ones
Public
What is the best example of participatory democracy?
A New England town meeting
A city councilwoman faces an important vote on how much, if any, money to spend on a new school. She relies on a poll of her constituents to make a decision. This is in keeping with a form of politics known as
Majoritarian politics
What statement about the Declaration of Independence is correct?
It was a “lawyer’s brief justifying a revolution”
C. Wright Mills suggested the most important policies are set by
Corporate leaders, top military officials, and a handful of key political leaders.
Those who emphasize the role in politics of shifting coalitions of groups are referred to as
Pluralists
Colonists fought to protect liberties which they believed were
All of the above
Which term describes right that are based on nature and Providence?
Unalienable rights
What was not true of the government under the Articles of Confederation?
Larger states had more votes in the national legislature
In an early test of the power of the Articles of Confederation, the Continental Congress failed to deal with an uprising in western Massachusetts known as
Shays’s Rebellion
The importance of the Great Compromise adopted by the Constitutional Congress was that it
Ensured support for a strong central government from small as well as large states
Federalism in the US Constitution meant
Dividing power between state and national governments
Madison’s confidence in the usefulness of the separation of powers rested on the assumption that
Ambitions would counteract each other
Three-fifths of the slaves were counted for purposes of
Allotting seats in the House of Representatives
The Antifederalists voiced several concerns with a strong national government, including the fear that Congress would tax heavily. In general, over time, their fears have
Largely been realized
In which Federalist Paper does James Madison warn against the danger of factions - but then surmise that those dangers can be overcome in a large republic?
Federalist 10
Compared to Federalists, Antifederalists tended to favor a
Weak decentralized government as a protection of liberty
The triumph of the centralist (nationalist) approach, as opposed to the decentralist approach to government in the US is evident in all of the following except
The 10th amendment
The Bill of Rights to the Constitution was initially intended to limit the power of
The federal government
A major argument in favor of reducing the separation of powers called for in the Constitution is that it would
Allow prompt, decisive leadership in times of crisis
For the Founders, federalism was a device to
Protect liberty
Today’s federalist system in the United States, in which the power of the central government is in many ways stronger than ever before, would be the most likely to please which of the founders?
Patrick Henry
In what would the three groups most likely agree with one another?
Centralists, states’ rights advocates, anti-federalists
The Framers of the Constitution did not include an explicit statement of state powers but added it later in the
Fourteenth amendment
Block grants were designed to remedy a common criticism of categorical grants, namely
The lack of conditions under which such grants were made
The McCulloch v. Maryland decision established
National government supremacy over the states
A federal grant designed for a specific purpose defined by federal law is called
A land grant
Federal judges have ordered Massachusetts to change the way it hires and promotes firefighters, even though the state does not receive aid from the federal government for firefighting. Such an order is referred to as a
Mandate
For states to qualify for certain federal highway funds, they must allow drivers to make a legal right-hand turn after stopping at a red light. This requirement is known as a
Per Curiam order
The effort to pass on to the states many federal functions, that began with Nixon’s New Federalism (and accelerated under Reagan and the 104th Congress), has been called
Enhancement
The first important function that the new Republican-controlled Congress (in 1995, after the 1994 election) sought to shift back to the states from federal control was
Law enforcement
Which of the following was not a reason driving devolution efforts in the mid-1990s?
Lack of confidence in state and local governments’ capacity
Why do members of Congress, who represent the interests of localities to the federal government, pass laws that create so many problems for the mayors and governors of those localities?
Because most members of Congress regard their role as that of representing the national government to localities.
Under the system of checks and balances
The judiciary creates lower federal courts
Which of the following is a reserved power under the US Constitution?
Making all laws that are “necessary and proper”
The right of free expression, although not absolute, enjoys a higher status than other rights granted by the US Constitution. This is known as the doctrine of
Preferred position
What constitutes benefits and costs is a matter of opinion. Which of the following is most likely to be true because of this?
Benefits and costs tend to be defined in strictly monetary terms.
In the Escobedo and Miranda cases the Supreme Court changed its mind on whether
Involuntary confessions may be used in state court trials
Burning a flag is protected by the First Amendment, whereas burning a draft card is not. The difference between these two acts is that:
Government has the right to run a military draft and so can protect the draft cards
The notion of a “wall of separation” between church and state is agreed on by:
Supreme Court interpretations but not by scholars
The purpose of the exclusionary rule, according to the Supreme Court, is to:
Control the behavior of police
One reason the NAACP’s strategy of using the courts to further black civil rights worked was:
That it did not require a broad legislative alliance
One factor helping to break the deadlock that developed in the civil rights movement during the early 1960s was the:
Media coverage of the violence by the white segregationists
An example of a good-fate exception to the exclusionary rule would be if the police conduct a search:
Without a warrant but with concern for public safety
In their struggle for equal treatment, women, unlike blacks, had to deal with a legal tradition that:
Claimed to be protecting them
The First Amendment protects expressions of sexual or erotic interest. However, some restrictions on pornography have been upheld. In what ways can pornography be regulated?
Child pornography can be banned and zoning laws can prohibit “adult” businesses in certain places
Unlike the Civil Rights Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) considers:
Excessive costs and hardships
The Supreme Court generally issues a writ of certiorari:
According to the Rule of Four
When the Court rules that the Amish cannot be forced to send their children to school beyond 8th grade, it:
protects freedom of religion at the risk of establishing it
Which of the following statements best describes SCOTUS’s position on affirmative action:
quotas are viewed withs trick scrutiny, but preferences are acceptable for purposes of achieving diversity
Per Equal Protection Clause, struck down anti-miscegenation statues
Loving v. Virginia
“One man, one vote,” SCOTUS ordered state legislative districts to be nearly equal as possible in population
Baker v. Carr
Consensual sex part of liberty protected by 14th Amendment’s substantive due process
Lawrence v. Texas
Courts can play an important role in policy making because
Courts make decisions that force action by other branches of government.
When considering the costs and benefits of a policy, it is important to remember that it is usually the ______ that most affects politics
Perception of cost and benefits
Sugar from Brazil and the Philippines is cheaper than sugar from Louisiana, yet quotas are set on imported sugar, and US consumers are forced to buy the higher-priced domestic product. In all likelihood, why don’t they complain:
Because they are unaware of the non-regulated price of sugar
Fiscal policy attempts to affect the economy through
Taxes and expenditures
The idea that prices, income, and economic stability are primarily a function of growth in the money supply is called
Monetarism
Monetary policy is made by the
Federal Reserve Board
A major reason given by the critics of strict controls on air, water, and noise pollution is that regulations
Damage the economy and cause unemployment
To a considerable extent, the move toward deregulation reflects changes in the
Ideas of political elites
The Federal Reserve Board implements its economic policy objectives by
All of the above
