Study Guide for Units 4 and 5 in American Government

Unit 4/5 Study Guide POLITICAL CULTURE Essential Question: How does political culture shape citizen beliefs about government? chance at success and that no person should be limited by circumstances outside of their control 8. Rule of Law: the principle that all people and institutions are subject to and accountable to law that is fairly applied and enforced 9. Civic Duty: the belief that in order to support democratic government, a citizen should always vote 10. Political tolerance: no discrimination according to political or religious beliefs Key Principles/Concepts -Political Efficacy ● The citizens’ faith and trust in government and their belief that they can understand and influence political affairs -Trust/Mistrust in Government ● Mistrust increased since the mid 1960’s - Polls showed people believed there were < crooks= in gov; the gov was run for a < few big interests;= tax money was being wasted - Big events like Vietnam war, Watergate, Iraq War etc influenced mistrust POLITICAL IDEOLOGY AND OPINION Essential Questions: How do demographics and dynamic social change shape citizen beliefs about government, and how are those beliefs measured? How do political ideologies shape policy debates and choices in American politics? Key Terms/Clauses: 1. Liberty: personal freedom and a government whose powers are limited by law 2. Equality: - Social equality - Economic equality 3. Affirmative Action: active effort to improve employment, educational, and other opportunities for members of groups that have been subjected to discrimination 4. Internal Political Efficacy 5. External Political Efficacy 6. Individualism: social and political philosophy that promotes individual well-being over the well-being of society as a whole 7. Equality of Opportunity: belief that each person should have an equal Key Concepts/Terms: 1. Conservative: a set of beliefs that includes a limited role for the national government in helping individuals, support for traditional values/lifestyles, and a cautious response to chance 2. Liberal: favors a more active federal government for regulating business, supporting social welfare, and protecting minority rights 3. Political socialization: a process in which people develop their political values, beliefs, attitudes, and ideology 4. Ideology: set of ideas, beliefs, and values that individuals have about how gov should work and the kinds of policies that the gov should put in place 5. Moderate: a person who is moderate in opinion or opposed to extreme views or actions 6. Approval Rating: the percentage of survey respondents who say that they < approve= or < disapprove= of the way the president (or other parts of government) is doing his job 7. Benchmark polls: generally the first poll taken in a campaign; often taken before a candidate announces their bid for office; generally a short and simple survey of likely voters 8. Exit Polls: polls conducted as voters leave selected polling places on election day; help media outlets predict outcomes of elections before results are finalized 9. Stratification: a variation of random sampling; population divided into subgroups (demographic, age, gender) to include all views 10. Random sample: method of selecting from a random population 11. Margin of error: polling error that arises on account of a small sample size; measures the accuracy of a public opinion poll (+/-) 12. Sampling error: measured difference between the outcome of two or more polls 13. Cross cutting cleavages: divisions within society that cut across demographic categories to produce groups that are more different. Group of one cleavage overlaps with another (racial, political, religious,etc) POLITICAL PARTICIPATION Essential Question: How are voting rights protected, and how have voting procedures been altered to respond to challenges? Key Concepts/Key Terms: 1. Voter Apathy: occurs when eligible voters do not vote in public elections; one feels helpless and unable to influence important events 2. Australian Ballot/Secret Ballot: system of voting in which voters mark their choices in privacy on uniform ballots 3. Linkage institutions: structure w/in a society that connects the people to the government (elections, political parties, interest groups, media) 4. 15th Amendment: granted African American men right to vote 5. 17th Amendment: provided direct election of US senators by the voters of the states 6. 19th Amendment: guarantees all women the right to vote 7. Prospective voting: describes voting based on how a citizen thinks a candidate will act and perform if elected to office 8. Retrospective voting: describes voting based on the recent record in office of a candidate or others in their party 9. 23rd Amendment: gave residents of Washington DC the right to vote 10. 24th Amendment: eliminated the poll tax as a voting requirement 11. 26th Amendment: gave 18 year olds the right to vote 12. White primary: one of the means used to discourage African Amer. voting that permitted political parties in the South to exclude them from primary elections. Declared unconstitutional by Supreme Court 13. Voting Rights Act 1965: suspended literacy tests, empowered federal officials to register voters, ensure that citizens could vote, count ballots etc 14. Voter registration: process by which people sign up to vote 15. Motor Voter Law: requires states to permit people to register to vote by mail, at the same same they apply for their drivers license, and at state offices - Makes it easier to register 16. Same-day Registration: people may register and vote on the same day as an election; used by 10 states POLITICAL PARTIES Essential Question: What are the functions and impacts of political parties, and how have they adapted to change? Key Concepts/Terms: 1. Third Parties: US party other than Republican or Democrat; rarely win elections but frequently influence national politics by drawing attention to issues previously neglected by the major parties 2. Party realignments: occurs when a party undergoes a major shift in its electoral base and political agenda; rare and signaled by a critical election/horrible defeat - Ex Federalists to Whigs in 1800s or Democrats to Republicans in 1860 3. Party dealignment: the gradual disengagement of people and politicians from the parties w/o finding a new one to replace it 4. Single-member districts: an electoral district in which voters chose one representative or official 5. Critical election: Causes party realignment and major shift of views 6. Winner-take-all: where whoever gets the most votes wins everything 7. Two party system: a system where two major political parties dominate voting in nearly all elections 8. Candidate-centered elections: election campaigns and other political processes in which candidates, not political parties, have most of the initiative and influence 9. Party Machines: a party organization, headed by a single boss or group, that commands enough votes to maintain political control of a city, county, or state 10. Linkage Institutions: structure w/in a society that connects the people to the government - Include elections, political parties, interest groups, and the media CAMPAIGNS AND ELECTIONS Essential Question: How do electoral processes and campaign finance laws affect political participation? Required Supreme Court Cases: -Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission (FEC) (2010): ● BCRA made it illegal for corporations or non-profits to engage in electioneering communications for 60 days before an election or 30 days before a primary ● Citizens United planned to release a movie based on Hillary Clinton, but it was going to be released too close to an election ● Citizens United argued that BCRA’s prohibition against electioneering communication by corporations was a violation of the first amendment’s protection of the freedom of speech ● Supreme court decided 5-4 in favor of Citizens United ● Argued that the limitations put upon corporations to run political advertisements and communications were not materially different from government censorship of speech towards individuals ● Importance: since money equals speech in the political area, the Supreme Court said it was fair for those with the most money to have the loudest voices - It can lead to corruption, but corruption can’t be assumed in every case, so it is allowed Key Concepts/Terms: 1. Buckley v. Valeo (1976): case where Supreme Court upheld federal limits on campaign contributions and ruled that spending money to influence elections is a form of constitutionally protected free speech; - Candidates can give unlimited amounts of money to their own campaigns 2. Primary Election: voters can indicate their preference for their party’s candidate in an upcoming general election 3. General Election: election in which voters decide which candidates will actually fill elective public offices 4. Blanket Primary: voters can vote for the Democratic candidates, Republican candidates, or some from each party 5. Closed Primary: voters must first declare to which party they belong before voting; closed to party voters 6. Open Primary: voters can vote for the candidates of either the Democratic or the Republican party 7. Initiative: allows citizens to propose legislation and submit it to the state electorate for popular vote 8. Referendum: when citizens vote directly on a specific policy or issue 9. Recall: procedure by which voters can remove an elected official from office through a referendum before that official’s term of office expires 10. 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 11. Midterm elections: elections two years into a president’s term; vote for House members and ⅓ of senate 12. Soft money: can be given to the parties in limitless amounts so long as it is not used to back candidates by name 13. Hard money: political contributions given to a party, candidate, or interest group that are limited in amount and fully disclosed 14. PAC’s: a group legally able to solicit campaign contributions from individuals w/in an organization and, under certain circumstances, to funnel these to candidates for office 15. Super PAC: committees that may receive unlimited contributions from individuals, corporations, labor unions, and other PACs for the purpose of financing independent expenditures and other independent political activity 16. BCRA, 2002: banned soft money, put limits on issue advertising, and increased the amount people can donate to candidates 17. Super delegates: unpledged delegate to the Democratic National Convention who is seated automatically and chooses for themselves for whom they vote