Unit 4 Vocab Flashcards
What is a presidential election?
Elections held in years when the president is on the ballot.
What is the invisible primary?
The informal process where party leaders, donors, and campaign staff pressure potential candidates in or out of running for election.
What is a national party convention?
A national meeting of delegates from state parties who assemble once every four years to nominate candidates for president and vice president, ratify the party platform, elect officers, and adopt rules.
What is a presidential ticket?
The joint listing of the presidential and vice presidential candidates on the same ballot as required by the Twelfth Amendment.
What is the electoral college?
Electoral system used in electing the president and vice president, in which voters vote for electors pledged to cast their ballots for particular party’s candidates.
What is a faithless elector?
Electors who do not vote for the candidate their state committed them to vote for.
What is impeachment?
The procedure by which Congress can remove government officers from the Executive and Judicial branches.
What is the Presidential Succession Act?
A congressional law that establishes who succeeds the presidency in the absence of both President and Vice President.
What are executive orders?
Formal orders issued by the president to direct action by the Federal bureaucracy.
What is executive privilege?
The power to keep executive communications confidential, especially if they relate to national security.
What is a treaty?
A formal, public agreement between the United States and one or more nations that must be approved by two thirds of the Senate.
What is a veto?
A formal decision to reject the bill passed by Congress.
What is the take care clause?
The constitutional requirement (in Article II, Section 3) that presidents take care that the laws are faithfully executed, even if they disagree with the purpose of those laws.
What is the State of the Union Address?
The president’s annual statement to Congress and the nation.
What is impoundment?
A decision by the president not to spend money appropriated by Congress, now prohibited under Federal law.
What is a line item veto?
Presidential power to strike, or remove, specific items from a spending bill without vetoing the entire package; declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court.
What is bureaucracy?
A form of organization that operates through impersonal, uniform rules and procedures.
What is the Cabinet?
Advisory council for the president consisting of the heads of the executive departments, the vice president, and a few other officials selected by the president.
Who is the Chief of Staff?
The head of the White House staff.
What is the Executive Office of the President?
The cluster of presidential staff agencies that help the president carry out his responsibilities. Currently the office includes the Office of Management and Budget, the Council of Economic Advisers, and several other units.
What is a department in government?
Usually the largest organization in government with the largest mission; also the highest rank in Federal hierarchy.
What is an independent regulatory commission?
A government agency or commission with regulatory power whose independence is protected by Congress.
What is the patronage system?
A system of public employment based on rewarding party loyalists and friends.
What is the merit system?
A system of public employment in which selection and promotion depend on demonstrated performance rather than political patronage.
What is implementation?
The process of putting a law into practice through bureaucratic rules or spending.
What is administrative discretion?
Authority given by Congress to the Federal bureaucracy to use reasonable judgment in implementing the laws.
What is the rule-making process?
The formal process for making regulations.
What are regulations?
The formal instructions that government issues for implementing laws.
What is oversight?
Legislative or executive review of a particular government program or organization. Can be in response to a crisis of some kind or part of routine review.
What is an iron triangle?
Relationships among interest groups, congressional committees, and the government agencies that share a common policy concern.
