Vocab Flashcards
representation
one person acting in the interests of a group of people; to make people present where they are not
trustee model
elect someone to represent you and they will exercise their best judgement
“vote for me because you trust what i’ve done”
delegate model
follows the wishes of the people above all else
politico model
listen to voters on some issues, but on issues where the average voter does not pay attention act freely
surrogate representation
legislator can unofficially represent people who are not in his state
descriptive
how much does congress look like the U.S.?
substantive
how often does the government act in the interests of the people?
redistricting needs
- compactness
- continuousness
- should have constituencies of similar interest
gerrymandering
Began to keep federalists and antifederalists seperate.
- sacrifice one district with all thoughts against yours
- cracking-split up ideas against yours so they cannot win any seats
problems with redistricting
- politicians can choose their own votes
- can create maps where they can never lose
- no such thing as neutral redistricting
ways to get re-elected
- advertising
- credit claiming
- case work
- position taking
- innovation of policy
advertising
getting people to know who you are without policy content; familiarity
credit claiming
when something good happens under your administration claim credit for it regardless if you had anything to do with it or not
case work
anything congress does to help a constituent
position taking
doesn’t mean they’ve done anything with that position; lets people know about the position
innovation of policy
find issue that no one is talking about and make it their own; consumer safety
slate
a list of people that a candidate chooses who will support them if they win their state
presidency like green lantern?
- people think it can do anything
- will power is the only limit to do things
why to pick someone to be the vp?
- party unity
- help with election
- offsetting weaknesses
- best person to take over in an emergency
careerism
politicians act as substitute teachers
departmentalism
serving departmental interests only
going native
become an advocate for the agency
mission creep
scope of agency’s mission keeps growing
revolving door
agencies heads become lobbyists
proposed reforms to electoral college
- direct election
- district plan
- proportional allocation
- automatic plan
- national popular vote
direct election
people elect president directly
district plan
1 vote for every district you win, winner gets 2 for the state
proportional allocation
the winner does not take all, weakens the wasted vote argument
automatic plan
eliminate electors, but still get electoral votes
national popular vote
electors pledge to vote for national popular vote winner instead of the slate
judicial review
court looks to see if laws or acts are unconstitutional
-this was not in the constitution, the court created it
supreme court jurisdictions
- appellate- appealed to the supreme court from lower courts
- original- cases that originate at the supreme court
how judges make decisions
- legal model- judges are instruments of the law
- attitudinal model- facts interact with attitudes which lead them to an outcome
- strategic model- compromise to get as close as possible to preferred outcome
writ of certiorari
asking supreme court to ask lower courts to send all evidence
forma pauperis
when you can’t hire a lawyer to do the certiori
