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92 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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power of ideas
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ideas are incredibly powerful.
• Takes a while to catch on – change world when they do |
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Thomas Hobbes
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life without government was short nasty and brutish
• Only legitmate way government can rule is if people conscent to being ruled. • People hold power to choose rulers |
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Articles of Confederation
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came up with after US won war. Friendship league, did not work politically, economically, or militarily
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The Great Compromise
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house would be divied up by equal number of people for each represenative (more reps for larger population). Senate would get just 2 each.
• Electoral vote system set up |
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Necessary improper clause
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Founders wanted to limit power of congress - but still funciton
the congress has power to make all laws that shall be necessary and proper to carry out responsibilities. • Senate must consent cabinet appointments |
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Bill of Rights
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Constitution at first didnt have any individual rights and didnt deal with things like slavery
10 amendments voted into the constitution to give people rights. Immediately enacted • Speech, press, assembly, religion, right to bear arms, no unauthorized search and seizure, legal due to process, cant testify against self, property gov takes must be compensated. |
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Federalists
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in favor of constitution and new U.S.
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Anti-Federalists
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wanted to remain under the articles of confederation or something else.
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To change the constitution
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complicated two step process
1.) 2/3 of the representatives of both house and senate vote to put a constitutional amendment before the states. In order for that to become part of constitution ¾ of the states must agree (38 states must agree). Been used 17 times. 2.) 2/3 of the states call a constitutional convention and proposes amendments. Only those amendments approved by ¾ of the states get into the constitution. Never been used. |
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Interpreting the Constitution today (living constitution argument)-
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Founding fathers never could have imagined all the changes that have occurred over hundred of years.
• Argument = congress and courts need to be free to interpret the constitution in light of the new political, social, and economic reality of modern times. • Needs to be interpreted in a flexible way • Some political ideas are so embedded that they will serve country for ever and the same way – speech, state power |
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Original Intent argument
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you do not change or interpret constituion differently
• both arguments are correct and wrong. Neither can work in the extreme. Good logic to both positions. Compromise is necessary. |
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Power
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One can make somebody else do something that they otherwise don’t want to do
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Individual level power
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like theachers and students, parents and kids
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National level power
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government, laws taxes.
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Divine Right to Rule
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the king or queen has the power to rule the coutry from the will of god
• Only god can judge the right or wrong about a king and a king does not act according to the will of the people. |
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Consent of the governed
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all people possess certain natural rights like life liberty and property. The primary goal of the government is to protect these rights.
Government is established by the people thru a social contract — an agreement among the people to form a government and abide by its rules. American government was established based on the consent of the governed. |
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Madisonian Model
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• A structure of government proposed by James Madison
• Powers of the government are separated in 3 branches – legislative executive and judicial |
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Seperation of Powers
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• The government is structured to prevent tyranny
• No single branch of government ahs enough power to dominate the others. Congress is for passing the laws the president is for enforcing and administering laws and the court is for interpreting laws and statutes • Branches are independent but they usually work in cooperation. |
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Checks and Balances
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each branch of government can check the actions of the others
• Powrs need to be shared and the founding fathers have purposely made government inefficient inactive to change |
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The Great Compromise
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• A bicameral legislature – the house seats are divided according to each state’s population and each state has 2 senators.
Therefore this compromise resolved the fear of possible tyranny by the majority Also, founding fathers did not trust direct election of the president by the people • They developed the electoral college – 435 house members + 100 senators. |
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Slavery Compromise
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• At that time slavery was still legal in the north but it was concentrated in the south. The south wants slaves to be counted as free persons while the north objected
• COMPROMISE – a slave = 3/5 free person. This is a compromise by the northerners who did not want the slaves counted at all and southerners who wanted slaves to be counted the same as free persons. |
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consensus
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belief or attidue about some issue where most of the people think the same way
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voting issue
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an issue that is so important to a significant amount of people that it will directly and substantionaly influence how they vote. There are not many voting issues
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voting
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most important form of public opinion
One is able to influence the position of others because of their opinion and personality are opinion leaders Women vote 8-10 percent more democractic than men -gender cap – created by reaction to Reagan Roll of government decides the government |
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key issue that seperates dems and reps
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Attitudes toward apporpraite size and role of gov.
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Political Socialization
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process by which people aquire political beliefs and attitudes.
• First and for most they come from parents. • Moral beliefs come from parents as well • Second is education system • Friends also influence • Generation a person belongs too • Media • Race and ethnic group |
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Public Opinion
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- the aggregate of indivdual attitudes or beliefs shared by some portion of the adult population.
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Divided Opinion
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public opinion that the public hold widely differing views toward an issue. Ex pro choice vs pro life and the war Iraq
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Measuring Public Opinions
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by asking unbiased questions
• Randomly slected representaives sameple of people • The results of such opinion polls are generalized into zev is gay certain public opinion about an issue |
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2 big sources of public polling
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• Telephone numbers
• Registered voter list • 3 basic methods of polling, telephone poll, internet poll and exit poll |
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Exit Poll
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• a poll of voters taken immediately after they have exited the polling stations
• an exit poll asks whom the voter actually voted for • an early indictation of election results • |
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Opinion Leaders
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people who are able to influence the opinions of others because of position expertise or personality. Ex politicains business leaders and religious leaders
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gender gap
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• The difference between the percentage of women who vote for a particular candidate and the percentage of men who vote for the candidate. Generally womena re more liberal then men.
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how attitudes and beliefs about the size and roles of government affect partisanship.
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• Republicans – limited and small government free trade and lower taxes
• Democrats – expansive government and more regulation of economy and social welfare. |
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Peer groups
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• a group consisting of memebers sharing common social characterisists
• peer groups play and important part in the political socialization process shaping peoples beliefs and attitudes. Besides our political opinions are also related to our own lifestyle, gneration race social class media and religious beliefs. |
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Majority Rule
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how the us political system operates. The majority of people should rule
- represenative government -elect rep by majority -miniorities still have rights - cant be taken away. |
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Limited Government
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government is limited by constitution
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liberty
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freedom of individuals to do what they want, but constrained by the right of others to also be free
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Political culture
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Collection of beliefs and attidues towards governmenta nd the political process held by a community or nation
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equality of opportunity, not outcome
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no guarentee that everyone will get same amount of qulaity of life - just the same opportunity
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Ideology
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is a comprehensive and logicall constnructed set of beliefs about the nature of people and about the institutions and role of government
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Liberalism
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includes advocacy of active government intervention to improve lives of people
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Conservatism
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individuals are better able than gov. to improve lives and support traditional values, traditions and no institutions
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Gap between liberalism and conservatism
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How involved in lives should federal goernment be?
- how much government in economy and in social issues? |
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Libretariansim
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Based on skeptism and opposition to almost all control of human behavior by government
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Socialism
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based on strong support of economy and social equality. often involves extensive gov control of the economy. very few true ones in the world
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Marxism
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Same as socialism but focuses on totalitarian dictatorship. government controlls all markets. Soviet Union is example
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Facism
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often totaliatarism. rejects individualism. rejects free market and glorifies a single strong leader. Ex. hitler and mussolini.
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Capitalism
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economic ideology and system. Characterized by private ownership of wealth creating assets. free market and rule of law through contracts
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Rule of Law
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Everyone in society must obey laws
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Role of government
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1. first purpose and most important role - to provide security for body and property.
best gov is ruled by law, not people king or dictator = rule by people, constitution = law every advanced country is ruled by law, not people |
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Wave elections
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an elecetion in which there's a larger national issues, rather than local issues.
1 in 3 elections are wave elections. 2010 = wave election usually character of canidates is what determines win in non wave elections where local issues are bigger |
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4 big predictors for election
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1. presidential approval rating
2. generic vote - voting dem or republican 3. Any unpopular wars going on? 4. Unemployment - bad if over 6% |
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Why the US is loved and hated
(this is a very imprtant card so know this shit) |
loved because of cultural and economic influence. controls 20 percent of world economy. Diplomatic reliations all around the world.
hated because other countires are jelous of power. US is worlds only super power. -has best scientific and technological fields - largest economy |
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US economy (ties in with ^ card)
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largest economy of world.
-14 and a half trillion dollars in gross economic product - 3 times bigger than any other country -50% spent on millitary |
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US hated and loved number 2
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us is oldest democracy in world
- most copied constitution and sytem in the world - us has highest standard of living in world - us has most influential empire in history |
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China and India
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china is an emerging super power. already contesting with US
- indian is also emerging. just not as big as china -very poor right now -growing population - 25-50 years = potentially worlds 3rd superpower. |
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Democratic Republic
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Republic = represented democracy
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Society
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all the people in something
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Why you need government
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no government would create anarchy. no rules would create rampant chaos.
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Why government is formed
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to provide security against other humans. security of property and self.
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authoratative allocation of values
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government can force you to do things by using authority.
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authority
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right and power to enforce decisions
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power
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making someone do something they dont want to
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government is legitimate when...
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people agree that it is
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Oligarchy or Aristocracy
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government run by a few or very small number of people, like China.
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Direct Democracy
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everyone who can vote votes on all issues. No one has a pure direct democracy
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Represenative democracy
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like U.S. many represented by elected officials.
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Referendum (example of direct democracy in the US)
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vote put before all voters by a legislative body. only state legislatures can do, not national
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Initative Petition (example of direct democracy in the US)
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People collect signatures to put an issue on the ballad. Just state and local levels.
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Recalls (example of direct democracy in the US)
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in some states you can recall politicians. cant in ohio. cant do it nationally
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Theocracy
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Gov based on religious principles.
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sufferage
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right to vote
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consent of the people
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directly or indirectly people must recognize gov to make it legitimate.
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elite theory
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holds that society is ruled by a small number of people who excercise power to further their own self interests
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majority
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more than 50 percent
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majoritariansim
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a political theory holding that in a democracy the government ought to do what the majorty of the people want
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pluralism
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a theory that views politics as a conflict among interest groups. political devision making is characterized by bargagning and compromise
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represenative assembly
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a legislature composed of individuals who represent the population
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social contract
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a voluntary agreement among indivuals to secure their rights and welfare by creating a government and aviding by its rules
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unicameral legislature
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a legislature with only one legislative chamber as opposed to a bicameral legislature like us congress.
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confederation
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a political system in which states or regional governments retain ultimate authority except for those powers they expressly delegate to a central government
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supremacy doctrine
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asserts the priority of national law over state laws
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ratification
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formal approval
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executive agreement
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an international agreement between chiefs of state that does not require legislative approbal
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judical review
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power of the supreme court or any court to declare unconstitutional federal or state laws and other acts of government
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unitary system
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a centralized governmental system in which ultimate governmental auhtoirty rests in hands of national government
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confedeal system
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federation of independent state with sorveign power
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enumerated powers
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powers granted to national government given by constitution
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Police power
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authority to legislate protetion of the health morals safety and welfare
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concurrent powers
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powers held both by national and state governments
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supremecy laws
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federal laws are superior to local laws
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