Political Culture and Diversity, Federalism, and the Texas Constitution Flashcards
The powers clearly granted to the national government in the United States Constitution. Enumerated, Implied, or inherent.
delegated powers
A strategy for drawing political districts intended to establish an unfair political advantage for a particular racial or political group.
gerrymandering
The name given to the series of programs passed during the presidency of Franklin D. Roosevelt which expanded national power into areas previously restricted to the states. They provided support for farmers, the unemployed, youth and the elderly, and led to the rise of cooperative federalism.
The New Deal
Population characteristics, such as age, gender, ethnicity, employment, and income, that social scientists use to describe groups in society.
demographics
A mode of government that divides power and authority into different levels. In the United States these are the national, state, and local levels.
federal system
powers directly stated in the constitution
expressed powers (enumerated powers)
Powers inferred from the express powers that allow Congress to carry out its functions. The powers in the United States Constitution that are based on loose reading of the elastic clause or “necessary and proper clause”
implied powers
Powers the Constitution is presumed to have delegated to the National Government because it is the government of a sovereign state within the world community
inherent powers
The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people. The powers clarified in the Tenth Amendment to the United States Constitution as belonging to the states. These are open-ended and are focused on the health, welfare, safety, and morals of the community.
reserved powers
Powers held jointly by the national and state governments.
concurrent powers
A clause in Article 4 of the U.S. Constitution which states that the Constitution, federal laws made pursuant to it, and treaties made under its authority, constitute the “supreme Law of the Land”, and thus take priority over any conflicting state laws
Supremacy Clause
One of the powers delegated to Congress in the United States Constitution. It has been used to imply that the national government has broad powers related to trade, including laws related to labor, wages, and criminal activity.
Commerce Clause
It allows Congress to pass laws needed to effectively implement the delegated powers. Examples include laws related to the draft, which may be necessary in order to raise armies.
Necessary and Proper Clause
A system of government in which both the states and the national government remain supreme within their own spheres, each responsible for some policies.
Dual Federalism (Layer Cake)
a relationship between the federal and state governments, begun in the 1930s, in which both cooperate on certain defined issues and programs.
Cooperative Federalism (Marble Cake)
A sum of money made available to state and local governments to help fund narrowly defined programs or projects, with restrictions placed on how they are to be spent.
categorical grants
A sum of money made available to state and local governments to help fund broadly defined programs or projects, with few strings attached.
block grants
Transferring responsibility for policies from the federal government to state and local governments.
devolution
A relationship between the national and state governments in which the former pressures the states to comply with national policies by using regulations, mandates, and threats to withdraw federal funding.
coercive federalism
a law that requires a state or local government to perform certain duties, but provides no funding for their fulfillment.
unfunded mandates
An expansion of Medicaid, most of employers must provide health insurance, have insurance or face surtax, prevents rejection based on pre-existing condition. Also referred to as “Obamacare”, signed into law in 2010. Features federal mandates and block grants.
Affordable Care Act of 2010
Each branch of government has the power to check, or limit, the actions of the other two
checks and balances
the division of power among the legislative (makes laws), executive (enforces laws), and judicial branches (interprets laws) of government.
Separation of Powers
In Texas, regular legislative sessions are scheduled by the constitution. They are held once every two years (every other year) and, hence, are referred to as biennial regular sessions.
biennial regular sessions
an executive branch with power divided among several independent officers and a weak chief executive (the governor)
plural executive
The power to recommend to the legislature how much it should appropriate for various executive agencies.
budgetary power
General elections where the candidates are nominated by the political parties and their respective party labels appear on the ballot.
partisan election
A special election to remove an official before the end of his or her term, initiated by citizen petition (permitted in some Texas cities but not in state government).
popular recall
a process that empowers citizens to place a proposal on the ballot for voter approval (permitted in some Texas cities, but not at the state level).
initiative
an election that permits voters to determine if an ordinance or statute will go into effect (permitted in some Texas cities, but not at the state level).
referendum
In Texas, the proposal of a constitutional amendment must be supported by two-thirds of the total membership of each house of the legislature—at least 21 senators and 100 representatives.
proposal of constitutional amendments
To actually put a constitutional amendment into effect requires approval by a majority of those persons voting on the amendment in either a regular or a special election.
ratification of constitutional amendments
A union of independent sovereign states that wish to cooperate to achieve mutually beneficial goals.
confederal
A period prior to the Civil War when South Carolina claimed - unsuccessfully - the right to declare national laws it disagreed with null and void.
Nullification Crisis
The principle that the authority of a government is based on the people, and are created and sustained by the consent of its people, through their elected representatives.
popular sovereignty
Representative democracy, also known as indirect democracy or representative government, is a type of democracy founded on the principle of elected persons representing a group of people, as opposed to direct democracy
republican government
the Supreme Court upheld the power of the national government and denied the right of a state to tax the federal bank using the Constitution’s supremacy clause. The Court’s broad interpretation of the necessary and proper clause paved the way for later rulings upholding expansive federal powers
McCulloch v. Maryland (1819)
a pragmatic approach to federalism that views relations between national and state governments as both coercive and cooperative
progressive federalism
Supreme Court declared Gun Free School Zones Act exceeded Congress’s Interstate Commerce Clause power and was therefore unconstitutional. First federal law declared to exceed commerce clause since the 1930s (Devolution Revolution?)
U.S. v. Lopez (1995)
