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US Government > Unit 2 > Flashcards

Unit 2 Flashcards

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1
Q

Cities

A

Provide services for citizens such as fire department services, police, and ambulance services

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2
Q

Counties

A

Provides things such as police departments, libraries, fire departments, etc in places outside of cities

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3
Q

Special Districts

A

Only responsible for one area of policy

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4
Q

What makes American democracy work?

A

Federalism, diversity (economically, religiously, and ethnically), we share a dominant political culture

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5
Q

American Creed

A

Equality under the law, equality under opportunity, equality outcome

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6
Q

Why did people move to the US?

A

Economic and religious opportunity

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7
Q

How are you eligible to become a citizen in the US?

A

After living in it for 5 years, taking the history and government tests, and understanding English

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8
Q

Why is it the American creed is still dominant even though immigrants are coming in from different countries?

A

Self-selection bias - people have chosen to move to the US
We don’t leave it to chance - if people were to pass the citizenship test they are required to know more about the US Government

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9
Q

What are the two main ideologies in the American political system?

A

Liberalism and conservatism

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10
Q

What is the liberalist assumption?

A

Favoring government spending (but not in all cases)

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11
Q

What is the conservatist assumption?

A

People know better what they need than assuming what they need. Money is corruption

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12
Q

What are the 4 characteristics of public opinion?

A
  • Public opinion in the US is very uninformed about politics
  • American public opinion is not consistent across issues
    At the individual level, public opinion in the United States is not consistent across time
    Public opinion, at the, aggravate level, is consistent across time
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13
Q

Where do opinions come from?

A

Early socialization has the strongest impact on public opinion. In other words, it comes from your parents. We start as a blank slate, so we can’t evaluate the first opinion that comes to us.
Experience/Self-interest - can cause you to change your experience. For example, college students want college tuition to go down whereas college professors want it to go up bc of their paycheck
Ideology

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14
Q

Why would it take 2 years for the government to change a policy?

A

The process takes time because we usually need a new election to shift that policy

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15
Q

What is the best way to measure public opinion?

A

Polling

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16
Q

How do you get a good sample?

A

You select a random group of people to get a sample, to avoid biases
You need to have enough people in your sample, around 800-1000 people. This number can constitute a general population.

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17
Q

What are the concerns with polling?

A

The wording of a poll can be confusing. People might get confused about what you’re asking.
We could have options that don’t give the public much to think
Order to questions can also cause bias.
Non-responses

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18
Q

Why are interest groups so common in the US?

A
  1. They have a constitutionally protected right to form an interest group
  2. Because we have a federal system, there are a lot more people that we can meet with. Gives us more access to people
  3. We have weak political parties.
  4. Narrow ideological spectrum
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19
Q

What is the largest interest group in the US?

A

The American Association of retired people

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20
Q

Groups that offer psychological benefits have

A

homogeneous members (they care about the visions and the cause of the group)

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21
Q

Groups that offer tangible benefits have

A

heterogeneous members

22
Q

How do interest groups help democracy?

A
  1. Interest groups help people to get involved
  2. They educate the public about issues
  3. Interest groups serve as a liaison between the public and elected officials. Liaison means “middle man”.
  4. They help to educate the elected officials about issues
  5. Interest groups push government to re-evaluate its policies
23
Q

How do interest groups recruit people?

A

Advertising, holding public events

24
Q

How do interest groups persuade government?

A

Direct lobbying and indirect lobbying, and testifying at committee hearings

25
Q

How do interest groups force government?

A

They sue

26
Q

How do interest groups shape government?

A

You get elected officials to agree with you
You campaign to voters
The other way is to make donations
These money gives access

27
Q

Why do elected officials listen to interest groups?

A

They might have a large membership, money to donate, or because they have information

28
Q

Iron triangle theory

A

Interest groups, congress, bureaucracy
Interest groups provide money and information to Congress
They also provide information to the bureaucracy
Congress gives out laws and budgets to the bureaucracy

29
Q

Issue Networks Theory

A

Pointed out flaws in the triangle theory
Interest groups are in competition with one another

30
Q

What makes a political party different from an interest group?

A

They run candidates for office

31
Q

What are the 3 different parts of a political party?

A

Pig, pie, and po

32
Q

Pig

A

Party in government

33
Q

Pie

A

Party in electorate

34
Q

Po

A

Party organization (people who work for the party itself)

35
Q

What do political parties do?

A

They organize and operate the government. They help pass laws.
Parties help to focus responsibility
They recruit candidates to run for office
They help to educate the public about issues

36
Q

What do the pig and the po do?

A

They synthesize interests, they put smaller interests together into one bigger group to gain a majority vote, and they simplify elections

37
Q

What 3 things do party machines rely on?

A

Spoil system, ballot, and voters

38
Q

How did the party machine get power over elected officials?

A

They controlled access to the ballot. So, if you made the party leaders unable, you couldn’t run for reelection because they wouldn’t put your name on the ballot

39
Q

What caused the rebirth?

A

People started working in the party because campaigning was expensive and because parties needed to become more professional

40
Q

What are the 2 reasons why third parties have a difficult time in elections in the US?

A

It’s because of the Single member single plurality system and because of the narrow ideological spectrum.

41
Q

What do medias do?

A

Medias provide people with information on what’s happening in the world.
Media provide an outlet that makes it easier for the government to reach the public and vice versa.
They serve as a watchdog on the government.

42
Q

What is the main goal of the media?

A

The main goal of the media is to make money because if they don’t they’ll get shut down.

43
Q

How does the media profit?

A

It depends on their viewership

44
Q

How does media get coverage?

A

Their story has to be fast and accurate
They emphasize scandals and conflicts
Bad news for them gets more coverage
They emphasize stories that have a powerful image to go along with them

45
Q

Who are more likely to vote?

A

People with more money, parents, educated people, old people, and people who have strong attachments to political parties

46
Q

Why is the US turnout so low?

A

We don’t get fined for not voting, it’s costly, and because voting is more frequent

47
Q

Why does Broadcast media face particular restrictions?

A

Because they need sole rights to airwaves. In exchange, they need the follow government’s rules

48
Q

Effects of the media

A

Causes people to think about an issue in a certain way
They target certain people
They have an agenda setting affect
They narrow down potential political candidates (for presidency)

49
Q

How do you lose the right to vote?

A

By being convicted of felony/ being declared mentally incompetent

50
Q

Why did turnout decline?

A

There’s a lot more competition for your attention, we went from labor-intensive elections to capital-intensive elections, political parties became weaker, and mobility became higher.

US Government (3 decks)

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