Term
| Characteristics of Congressional Campaign |
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Definition
| No press attention, no loyal supporters, few campaign rallies, long hours, little excitement, borrow a lot of $$$, "owe" people for their help |
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Term
| Events of Congressional Campaign |
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Definition
| Attending fairs/NASCAR/large public events for publicity, private parties among sponsors to fund raise |
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Term
| Characteristics of Congressional Candidates |
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Definition
| Smart and successful (attorneys, small business people), risk-takers, outsiders to the establishment, ambitious |
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Term
| Obstacles of Congressional Re-Election |
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Definition
| Party surges or realignment, redistricting, shrinking number of voters |
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Term
| Benefits of Congressional Re-Election |
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Definition
| Name recognition, favorable image among voters, fund raising abilities, reliable for donors, good challengers discouraged from running against incumbents |
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Term
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Definition
| System that moves slowly and has limited influence |
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Term
| Intentions of American Founders for Congress |
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Definition
| Senators would do bidding of their states, House would compromise with Senate to pass legislation, thought policy battles would be between states, not parties, assumed congressmen would pursue careers outside of House/Senate |
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Term
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Definition
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Term
| Professionalization Politics |
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Definition
| Making a career of political office |
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Term
| Benefits of Professionalization Politics |
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Definition
| Motivated individuals run for office, long-term expertise in policy/procedures, running for a career increases talent, re-election encourages voter participation, |
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Term
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Definition
| Careers are built through chairing (gain influence) a specific policy committee over time |
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Term
| Folkways (Norms) in Congress |
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Definition
| Seniority promotion, indirect debate, institutional patriotism, and specialization |
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Term
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Definition
| Helps to avoid decisive conflicts, merit system |
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Term
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Definition
| Remarks always addressed to chair, formal titles used when addressing others, restrained partisanship (no yelling on floor), helps to avoid conflict |
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Term
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Definition
| Congress members realize they are public servants |
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Term
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Definition
| Allows individual member's ambition to be channeled toward a specific set of issues, gives member back some of the prestige he/she had during the campaign |
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Term
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Definition
| Made up of congressional specialists (former members of staff), agency bureaucrats, and interest group representatives (lobbyists) |
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Term
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Definition
| People discuss issues fairly and constantly, largely in consensus about the right courses of action |
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Term
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Definition
| Issue groups are closes to public opinion and focus on expertise, congressional specialists do contribute some knowledge of what is going on in the country politically only |
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Term
| Purpose of Policy Subsystems |
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Definition
| Members of subsystem offer suggestions on how other members should vote |
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Term
| Complexity, Specificity, and Technical Expertise |
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Definition
| Three goals of subsystems, illustrate no quick fixes to problems, concern with incremental change instead of new programs, and importance of making intelligent decisions with in-depth knowledge of minute subjects |
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Term
| Ways for Congress to Gain Knowledge Before Voting |
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Definition
| Information from subsystems, reading bills (rarely happens), committee reports (rarely happens), legislative staff (useful for doing research), and listening to debate (sparsely attended) |
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Term
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Definition
| Following the signals of other members send about how to vote on a particular issue |
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Term
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Definition
| Letters from other members, party "doorkeepers" (stand on floor and tell the members of a party, informal discussion, social groups |
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Term
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Definition
| Idea that in return for you telling me how to make a wise decision on a particular issue, I will later do the same for you on a topic I am familiar with |
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Term
| Consequences of Cue-Taking |
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Definition
| Reliance on cues produces expert and special interest dominated decisions, which can result in biasing certain entrenched interests over time, land mines |
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Term
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Definition
| When members are responsive to and anticipate change in public opinion |
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Term
| How do you measure Dynamic Representation? |
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Definition
| Policy mood and election outcomes |
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Term
| Dynamic Representation in Public Office |
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Definition
| President changes direction based on public mood AND election outcomes, senate changes direction based on previous election, House anticipates change in public mood and changes agenda based on election outcome, supreme court is aware of public opinion and what it will tolerate when making decisions |
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Term
| Public Opinion Polls on Presidential Nomination |
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Definition
| Polls gt more accurate the closer they are to Election Day |
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Term
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Definition
| Matters in outcome of polls because of free advertising for the candidates, ability to develop a name/image, and consolidate base of support |
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Term
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Definition
| Those who watch only remember failures and successes, rarely the in-between, can move voters a point or two |
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Term
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Definition
| Each state gets votes based on the number of House seats plus 2 more, candidate must get plurality (270) to win election, elector reproduces vote of his district |
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Term
| Founding Father's Idea of Electoral College |
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Definition
| No parties, no primaries, no formal candidacies, delegates would not be pledged to vote one way or another, President would be selected by wisdom not by popularity |
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Term
| Consequences of Electoral College |
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Definition
| EC rarely changed outcomes, winner of popular vote usually wins election, voters in big states receive a lot of attention |
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Term
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Definition
| Receive TV ads, campaign events, policy concessions made on behalf of interests of their state |
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Term
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Definition
| Almost always vote for a particular party (Texas, New York) and are often taken for granted/receive little attention |
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Term
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Definition
| Done through political parties, state party organizations select their own candidate and schedule primaries/caucuses |
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Term
| Effects of Presidential Nomination Process |
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Definition
| Incumbest Presidents usually nominated for re-election with no serious challenger, opposing party must satisfy extreme elements in candidate, false promises, old party can become special interests |
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Term
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Definition
| Scheduling primaries/caucuses as early as possible |
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Term
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Definition
| Process by which we determine national priorities |
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Term
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Definition
| What money can be spent by what agencies, passed by Congress and signed by president |
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Term
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Definition
| The decision of whether to spend on a certain policy or program, voted on by Congress |
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Term
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Definition
| Not spending money appropriate for a certain purpose, occurs due to loopholes or circumstance (disaster relief) |
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Term
| Supplemental Appropriations |
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Definition
| Large amounts of money spent on projects that don't fall within the scope of the usual federal budget (Iraq War) |
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Term
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Definition
| Spending on programs that define a class of benefits to which people are "entitled" like Social Security and Medicare |
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Term
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Definition
| Spending budgeted for items/projects that are non-mandatory, being used to pay for entitlements |
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Term
| Trend of Inequality in America |
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Definition
| Until the Great Depression, long-term trend was toward lower inequality in America, after the Great Depression, steady increase in inequality (especially since 1970s) |
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Term
| How is income affected by the government? |
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Definition
| Most income inequality is determined by the private economy (free market produces economic inequality) which is then regulated by the government |
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Term
| Has the government become more or less involved in the market since the Great Depression? |
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Definition
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Term
| What has happened to the income of the American workforce in the last few decades? |
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Definition
| 80% of the workforces' income has decreased/stagnated, the top 20% has increased |
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Term
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Definition
| Giving the job to people already known within a company, reduces market competition and creates a class of managers who are distinct from shareholders |
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Term
| What has happened to manufacturing jobs? |
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Definition
| Manufacturing has shifted overseas, service economy result, greater pool of competition created |
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Term
| Minimum Wage vs. Standard of Living |
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Definition
| The minimum wage has not kept up with the standard of living while organized labor has declined in its influence over the economy (esp. trade) |
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Term
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Definition
| U.S has no tariffs/trade barriers, more multinational coporations are operating within its borders and global shareholder alliances are being made, U.S companies increasingly emulate these corporations to stay competitive (race to the bottom) |
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Term
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Definition
| Proportional, paying higher tax rate based on higher income |
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Term
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Definition
| Paying lower tax proportion the higher the income (ex: sales tax) |
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Term
| Does income inequality increase or decrease under Republic offices? |
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Definition
| Increase, in favor of cutting taxes, taxes stay stagnant under Democrats |
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Term
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Definition
| Illegal voters, voters paid to vote a certain way, etc. |
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Term
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Definition
| Very rare for enough fraudulent voting to occur to sway an election |
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Term
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Definition
| Ballots sent to those unable to report to their district's precinct to vote, unable to check ID, etc. |
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Term
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Definition
| Most voting irregularities are caused by human error, not with the intention of fraudulent voting |
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