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Flashcards in Quiz II Deck (58)
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1
Q

What is political socialization?

A

Political learning that is highly quantifiable, thus making it popular among political scientists.

2
Q

What are important agents of political socialization?

A

1) The Media
2) Family
3) Formal Education
4) Setting: location, major political events

3
Q

What are two common ideologies?

A

Liberalism and conservatism.

4
Q

What is liberalism?

A

1) belief that federal government can improve the quality of life,
2) more inclined to be distrustful of free-market capitalism because of unfair advantages,
and 3) more likely to emphasize equality than conservatives

5
Q

What is conservatism?

A

1) emphasize liberty over equality,
2) partial to state and local governments (similar to anti-federalists),
and 3) believe economy has self-correcting mechanisms and that government intervention makes things worse

6
Q

What are factions?

A

Organized groups that share similar ideas and beliefs.

7
Q

What do political parties do?

A

Recruit and run campaigns, often with a large and general focus.

8
Q

What are interest groups?

A

They have specific interests.

9
Q

Give an example of a political party and an interest group.

A

The NRA is an interest group for the Republican Party.

10
Q

What did Madison believe about factions?

A

Madison, in Federalist Paper #10, said that there could be tyranny in a majority, and that government should be about the common good.

11
Q

What did George Washington have to say about factions?

A

Parties look out for themselves, rather than for the nation.

12
Q

What were the three major evolutions of the political parties?

A

1) Federalists vs. Democratic-Republicans (1800)
2) Whigs vs. Democrats (1832-1854)
3) Republicans vs. Democrats (1856-today)

13
Q

Describe what happened during the time of the Federalists and Democratic Republicans.

A

John Adams, the second president, passed the Alien and Sedition Act, making it illegal to protest his beliefs. Jefferson and Madison believed this was unconstitutional and challenged KY and VA to nullify this, forming the democratic-republican party. Jefferson won the 1800 Election, and the Federalists began to disappear.

14
Q

Describe what happened during the time of the Whigs vs. Democrats.

A

During the Era of Good Feeling there was only one party (the Democratic-Republicans), but the party grew more polarized. Andrew Jackson’s election in 1828 established the democratic party, and the opposing faction became the Whig party, which only existed for approximately 20 years (they possessed the same Federalist ideas of a strong central government). Lincoln was a Whig.

15
Q

Describe what happened during the time of the Republicans vs. Democrats.

A

Kansas-Nebraska Act and Dred Scott Decision provoked Lincoln, and a new party formed in opposition to slavery, dissolving the Whig party.

16
Q

Name four significant minor parties.

A

1) Populists (1892) had agricultural interests and opposed the railroad monopolies
2) Bull Moose (1912) was Roosevelt’s response to Taft
3) Progressive (1924)
4) American Independent (1968) was a reaction to Civil Rights and foreign policty

17
Q

What are three important features of political parties?

A

1) Critical Election
2) Realignment
3) Dealignment

18
Q

What is a Critical Election?

A

Very rare political earthquake that shakes up all the political parties. (Slavery, the Great Depression) It is usually followed by realignment.

19
Q

What is Realignment?

A

Follows a Critical Election, and is when the subordinate party becomes the dominate one, and vice versa.

20
Q

What is Dealignment?

A

The identification of an independent party. This is very recent, so there aren’t any significant examples of this yet.

21
Q

What are the three Theories of Interest Group Behavior?

A

1) Pluralist
2) Elite
3) Hyperpluralist

22
Q

What is Pluralist Theory?

A

Positive view on interest groups supporting democracy with the belief that they balance each other out and provide healthy competition (for example, the NRA vs. gun regulation supporters).

23
Q

What is Elite Theory?

A

One dominant interest group has disproportionate influence. It is usually Big Business and follows principles of Marxist Theory. Government is dependent on tax revenues.

24
Q

What is Hyperpluralist Theory?

A

Too many interest groups, causing political gridlock. Introduces Iron Triangle: Executive Agency –> Congressional Committees –> Interest Group, etc.

25
Q

What are linkage institutions?

A

The channels through which people’s concerns become political issues on the government’s policy agenda. In the US, linkage institutes include elections, political parties, interest groups, and the media.

26
Q

What is ticket splitting?

A

Voting with one party for one office and with another party for the other offices. It has become the norm of American voting behavior.

27
Q

What are closed primaries?

A

Elections to select party nominees in which only people who have registered in advance with the party can vote for that party’s candidate, thus encouraging greater party loyalty.

28
Q

What are open primaries?

A

Elections to select party nominees in which voters can decide on Election Day whether they want to participate in the Democrat or Republican contests.

29
Q

What is a coalition?

A

A group of individuals with a common interest on which every political party depends.

30
Q

What is a talking head?

A

A shot of a person’s face talking directly to the camera. Because such shots are generally visually unstimulating, the major commercial networks rarely show politicians talking for very long.

31
Q

What is a policy agenda?

A

The issues that attract the serious attention of public officials and other people actively involved in politics.

32
Q

Why is it so important to be a moderate?

A

In the case of Barry Goldwater vs. Lindin Johnson, Goldwater was an extreme conservative and won the party nomination, but he wasn’t moderate enough to beat Johnson. He needed a balance.

33
Q

What are various resources that must be considered during a nominating election?

A

1) Campaign Resources
2) Winning early caucuses and primaries
3) Party conventions

34
Q

What are important campaign resources?

A

1) Having money
2) Organization
3) Name recognition

35
Q

What is Campaign Finance and how did it come about?

A

It is when federal and state laws govern how much money goes into a campaign, and was established in the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1974: Made it necessary for candidates to provide full disclosure on campaign donates to prevent candidates from being “bought out.”

36
Q

Describe Buckly v. Valeo (1976).

A

Are there limits to what a candidate can spend out of pocket? Nope, it’s a first amendment right.

37
Q

Describe caucuses.

A

Are used in 1/4 of the states. They’re like a meeting throughout the state where the people debate a candidate and then a delegate vote is taken (starts when county, then district, then state).

38
Q

What is a direct primary?

A

Used by the other 3/4 of the states. It was introduced in 21st century. Most states require voters to be pre-registered with the party in question (a closed primary). Some states are determined proportionally, others winner-take-all.

39
Q

Which two early caucuses are especially important?

A

Iowa and New Hampshire. If you lose both of them, the odds aren’t in your favor because they catch and generate attention.

40
Q

What function do party conventions serve?

A

They create party unite and support, which is especially important after the fight within the party for the nomination. It heals wounds and unites factions while serving a PR function and writing a party platform.

41
Q

How many states are involved in the Electoral College?

A

51 (because you include the District of Columbia).

42
Q

Why was popular vote not a consideration for presidential elections?

A

The founders did not believe that the greater population was intelligent enough to make the decision. Also, they worried a demagog would arise (someone like Hitler who was especially manipulative).

43
Q

How are electors determined?

A

The number of electors per state is determined by how many representatives and senators a state has (so even the smallest state would have at least three electors).

44
Q

How are the votes in an electoral college determined?

A

Elected by state parties, but this is a controversy because they were originally supposed to be third party, and so they could go against the popular vote if necessary. Now they’re basically in the party pocket.

45
Q

What is a nomination?

A

A party’s official endorsement of a candidate for office.

46
Q

What is a campaign strategy?

A

The way in which candidates attempt to manipulate each of these elements (money, media attention, and momentum) to achieve the nomination.

47
Q

What is the National Party Convention?

A

The supreme power within each of the parties, which formally functions to select presidential and vice presidential candidates and to write the party platform. (Though the states make the official selection today.)

48
Q

What is the McGovern-Fraser Commission?

A

A commission formed at the 1968 Democratic Convention in response to demands for reform by minority groups and others who sought better representation.

49
Q

What are superdelegates?

A

National party leaders who automatically get a delegate sot at the national party convention.

50
Q

What is a caucus?

A

A system for selecting convention delegates used in about a dozen states in which voters must attend an open meeting an express their presidential preference.

51
Q

What are presidential primaries?

A

Elections in which a state’s voters go to the polls to express their preference for a party’s nominee for president. Most delegates to the national party conventions are chosen this way.

52
Q

What is frontloading?

A

The recent tendency of states to hold primaries early in the calendar in order to gain media attention.

53
Q

What is a national primary?

A

A proposed nationwide primary that would replace the current system of caucuses and presidential primaries.

54
Q

What is the Federal Election Campaign Act?

A

A law passed in 1974 for reforming campaign finances. The act created the Federal Election Commission, provided public financing for presidential primaries and general elections, limited presidential campaign spending, required disclosure, and attempted to limit contributions.

55
Q

What is the Presidential Election Campaign Fund?

A

Funded by $3 checkoff on IRS tax forms, this fund provides a source of money for matching funds in the primaries and complete financing of Democratic and Republican presidential nominees in the general election.

56
Q

What are matching funds?

A

Contributions of up to $250 from individuals are matched for qualified presidential candidates in the primaries.Political

57
Q

What is soft money?

A

Political contributions earmarked for party-building expenses at the grass-roots level or for generic party advertising. For a time, such contributions were unlimited, until they were banned by the McCain-Feingold Act.

58
Q

What is selective perception?

A

The phenomenon that people’s beliefs often guide what they pay the most attention to and how they interpret events.