In the Beginning
The philosophy that the people are the highest level of power in a government
popular sovereignty
The separation of powers into 3 branches, as Montesquieu theorized, exists to provide this mechanism, where each branch has power of another in some way...
"checks and balances"
The is the most cited clause and amendment in civil rights cases
14th Amendment, "equal protection"
Because you might see a political cartoon, you need to know the "party animals" for Democrats and Republicans...they are...
donkey and elephant
If you want to be involved in choosing which candidate from your political party will get to run in a general election, you vote in one of these...
primary elections
As described in the Dec. of Ind, the philosophy that people should consent to those that govern them, and give up power to that government, but if govt fails us...revolution!
social contract theory
In Article 1, Section 8, this Clause gave Congress a lot of implied power, it would bother Brutus
"necessary and proper" clause or Elastic Clause
the idea that the Bill of Rights also applied to state government happened slowly, in a process known as
selective incorporation
A problem in our culture, and seemingly gettting worse, this is what its called when our political ideas move away from the center, toward ideological extremes
polarization
special interest groups do this, informing and influencing law makers and other agencies
lobbying
The idea that only the best educated and most qualified members of society should govern
Elite democracy/elitism
This type of "marble cake" federalism states that state and federal government should share power and responsibility
cooperative federalism
when government has to provide specific procedures before they deprive a personal of life, liberty or process, this is known as
procedural due process
The third most common American political party affiliation, they tend to be liberal on social issues, but conservative on economic issues.
Libertarian Party
Much of the unlimited "soft money" in politics, is funneled through these legal entities, who growth really increased after the Citizens United ruling
SuperPACs (or PACs)
Of the many compromises our founding fathers had to make to write the US Constitution...these are 2 of them...
the Great Compromise
3/5th Compromise
Slave and Trade Compromise
Electoral College Compromise
Policy making in Congress is done mostly through the committee process. If there are differences in a bill, these will get sorted out in this committee, making the bills identical before heading to the executive
conference committee
This implied right, usually related to issues of substantive due process, was first seen in the birth control case ruling in Griswold v. Connecticut
"right to privacy"
Two problems with polling are...
uninformed participants
bad sampling techniques
bandwagon effect
push polling
poor or biased wording
When nonmembers of unions or SIGs choose not to bear the time and cost of joining these groups, but continue to benefit all the same from those groups' efforts...
free rider problem
Shay's Rebellion ultimately revealed some weakness in the Articles of Confederation, two of these weaknesses were...
no federal judicial or executive branches
no federal power to tax
no federal power to raise a military
too much power to states
too big a majority to pass laws
Of the theories of how representatives should vote, the model that says that representative should vote "the will of the constituents" regardless of what they personally believes is..
delegate model
The Voting Rights Act of 1965 is still in effect, except for this one provision, which was overturned by the court case in Shelby County in 2013
"pre-clearance" of state voting restrictions
of the many factors that influence someone's political ideology...two are...
media consumption
peers
religious or social institutions
globalization
age (generational effects)
family
income
education
Well, of course you'll get asked about "iron triangles" on the test...so you should know the 3 "sides", which are...
congressional committees (Congress), interest groups, bureaucratic agencies