Intro To Politics Vocab 15 Cards

Front 1

Public Goods

Back 1

Things we (community, country, society, etc) need but can't make ourselves, so the government provides them for us.

Example: Security; In the United States, the President is the Commander and Chief who can direct the marines, army, navy, and air force if he sees a threat to our country.

Significance to POLS: Public Goods are needed due to scarcity, which is one of the reasons why politics is inevitable. Scarcity also relates to one of the definitions of politics; who, what, where, and how, which stresses the importance of who gets power and resources in a society.

Front 2

Ideology

Back 2

- Beliefs about politics

Example : Libertarianism; minimum government involvement, military kept small, strongly oppose gov regulation even if it's something good for the people, often defying logic and common sense.

Significance to POLS: These are the very ideas and concepts that politicians and citizens believe in which are or will become reality. These things must be thought about and debated on for the better interest of our people.

Front 3

Anarchism

Back 3

A system that opposes in principle the existence of any form of government, often through violence and lawlessness.

Example: overthrowing a government; chaotic and violent uprisings by people of a society in opposition of the government. Those who support anarchism usually revel in violence, chaos, and destruction.

Significance to POLS: Anarchism gives politicians and citizens insight to a miserable society without government; A hell hole deemed undesirable, unnecessary, and or harmful.

Front 4

Nihilism

Back 4

A philosophy that holds that the total destruction of all existing social and political institutions is a desirable end in itself.

Example: suicide; life is meaningless, nothing in the world has a real existence

Significance to POLS: Arguments arise as to what must be done with those who believe in such delusional things. Should these people be monitored? Someone may shoot up a school because of such beliefs. Choices must be made for the good of the people.

Front 5

Capitalism

Back 5

An economic system in which individuals own the means of production and can legally amass unlimited personal wealth.

Example: supply and demand; the higher the amount of something, the less amount of money it's worth on the market, and vice versa. "The business of America is business."

Significance to POLS: Tensions created between liberals and conservatives among the need to find common ground and invoke a consensus that both parties are happy with. Brings up scarcity and the argument of whether or not the rich and wealthy should get less, and the poor should get more.

Front 6

Libertarianism

Back 6

The belief that the state is a necessary evil best kept small and weak relative to society.

Example: A society with a small military and very minimal government involvement. Individual freedom outweighs security and social services. Government regulation is strongly opposed, even when in the best interest of the people, often defying logic and common sense. "The government is best, which governs least."

Significance to POLS: This leads to disagreements over what the government can or can't regulate. Libertarians for example, want absolute minimal government involvement. If Libertarians were unchecked they would be free to do things that would be morally wrong. This surplus of individual freedom would cause many problems.

Front 7

Socialism

Back 7

A public philosophy favoring social welfare and general prosperity over individual self-reliance and private wealth.

Example: cradle to grave; Supports total government control; opposite of capitalism; rejects individualism, private owned property, private profits, etc. Economic system where governmental, societal, or other group should collect all money and distribute it evenly to society; everyone should have equal amounts of public goods as well as equal responsibility.

Significance to POLS: What if someone was ill and needed more than the next guy? If someone is incapable, do they still share equal responsibility? If someone is 300 pounds, do they get the same amount of food as someone who weighs 100 pounds and hardly eats? Does equality as an end really bring harmony?

Front 8

Welfare State

Back 8

A state whose government is concerned with providing for the social welfare of its citizens and does so usually with specific public policies, such as health insurance, minimum wages, and housing subsidies.

Example: Cradle to the Grave; government assumes broad responsibility for it's citizens in regards to health, education, and welfare; subsidized university education and medical care, family allowances, pension plans, etc. This money would come from high taxes being placed on corporations and wealthy individuals.

Significance to POLS: Socialism design in an attempt to alleviate individual poverty and inequality, and narrow the gap between the rich and the poor. What would conservatives say about such a notion? Should they pay a higher tax because they worked hard all their life so that someone who sits on their ass all day can have a similar lifestyle?

Front 9

Liberal

Back 9

A political philosophy that emphasizes individualism, equality, and civil rights above other values.

Example: Government should protect it's people, provide equal opportunity, guarantee minimum incomes, regulate industry, and so forth, opposed to libertarians who want little if any government involvement.

Significance to POLS: Liberals and conservatives are the two most talked about ideologies in politics, and often create more heat than light. Disagreements over scarcity and values; Liberals want to narrow the gap between the rich and the poor, equal rights, equal opportunity, whereas conservatives have a very narrow definition of equality, and prefer individual enterprise.

Front 10

Conservative

Back 10

A political philosophy that emphasizes prosperity, security, and tradition above other values.

Example: Supports individual enterprise over narrowing the gap between the rich and the poor. Definition of equality limited usually to the political realm; equal rights being the right to vote, equal opportunity being the right to basic education, etc.

Significance to POLS: Politics is essentially a war between the conservatives and the liberals. They are in constant disagreement about scarcity and values.

Front 11

Utopia

Back 11

Any visionary system embodying perfect political and social order.

Example: In a book entitled Walden Two, there exists an enclosed "world" within a world, where behavioral engineering is used in an attempt to create a perfect society.

Significance to POLS: Not only arguments, but ideas and philosophies arise out of the desire to create a society where politics is no longer needed.

Front 12

Philosopher-Kings

Back 12

Wise Philosopher who governs Plato's ideal city in the book The Republic.

Example: Individuals that are the only ones fit to govern, and the only ones capable of understanding the true meaning of justice; only philosophers hold the highest offices.

Significance to POLS: The noble lie; myth perpetuated by the philosophers to convince the lower class that they know best. Politicians in the real world tell lies to gain the people's trust. Are these lies really noble?

Front 13

Behavioral Psychology

Back 13

A psychological concept in which human/animal behavior comes from the surrounding environment; this behavior can be structured in a desired way by manipulating the environment.

Example: An individual puts their hand into fire, it is extremely painful and the individual removes their hand immediately. This individual is conditioned to never touch fire again. This more or less supports the notion of behavioral psychology.

Significance to POLS: Can behavioral psychology be used to condition the society into behaving in ways favorable to the government? Values are not only brought up for debate, the people also have a cause for concern.

Front 14

Eugenics

Back 14

The science of controlling the hereditary traits in a species, usually by selective mating, in an attempt to improve the species.

Example: Taking two extremely smart individuals and mating them in order to create extremely smart offspring.

Significance to POLS: Can this principle be utilized to manipulate human nature? Is this wrong? Individuals pursue a means to reengineer the human makeup. We are playing god, is this wrong to do, or should we support Socrates and his philosophy that there is no higher purpose than the fearless pursuit of truth?

Front 15

Dystopia

Back 15

A society whose creators set out to build the perfect political order only to discover that they cannot remain in power except through coercion and by maintaining a ruthless monopoly over the means of communication.

Example: In a book entitled 1984, totalitarian rulers not only manipulate the actions and behaviors of the people, but alsotheir thoughts in order to create a society of slaves.

Significance to POLS: This gives politicians insight into a miserable world without politics, where all powerful rulers do what they please. Thinking about such things enable individuals to discover ways in which to avoid the undesirable.