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Political Science

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Oct 30, 2023

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Political Science Midterm Wilson Chapter 1 Power: the ability of one person to get another person to act in accordance with the first person’s intentions. Authority: the right to use power Formal Authority: the right to exercise power is placed in a governmental office. Direct Democracy: A form of democracy in which most, or all, of the citizenry participate directly. Representive Democracy: A government in which leaders make decisions by winning a competitive struggle for the popular vote Elite Theory: an identifiable group of people who possess a disproportionate share of some valued resources. - Money is a good example of a valued resource Marxism: Those who own the means of production, controlling the economic system, will control the government. Elitism: A few top leaders, drawn from the major sectors of the United States polity, will make all important decisions Bureaucratic: Appointed civil servants control the government, without consulting the public. Pluralist: Competition among affected interests shapes public policy decision-making California Government Chapter 1 A majoritarian government - is one that is highly influenced by the public at large, through public-opinion polls and measures such as the initiative, the referendum, and the recall that enable voters to decide government policies directly. A republican government is one in which we elect representatives to make our decisions for us, based on the Madisonian model for the federal government. Racially and ethnically diverse -Latinos make up about 39% of the state's population Redistricting

- Proposition 11 moved the redistricting from politicians to a citizen's commission “Top Two” primary system - The top two candidates, regardless of party, are selected to run against each other in the general election. Captial Gains Tax The California taxation system is highly dependent on its capital gains tax—income taxes paid on capital gains (funds received from selling stock). Wilson Chapter 2 Weaknesses Articles of Confederation: - Could not levy taxes or regulate commerce Sovereignty, independence retained by states - One vote in Congress for each state - Nine of thirteen votes in Congress are required for any measure to pass - Delegates to Congress picked, paid for by state legislatures - Little money coined by Congress - Army small and dependent on independent state militias - Territorial disputes between states led to open hostilities - No National judicial system - All thirteen states required for any amendment Federalism: - Political authority would be divided between a national government and the various state governments Separations of Powers: - Power would be shared by three separate branches of government - Both are ways to protect our liberties, and both reflect what the founders thought about human nature The Virigina Plan - National legislature with supreme powers - One house elected directly by the people The New Jersey Plan - One vote per state - Protect small states’ interests The Great Compromise

- House of Representatives based on population - Two senators per state, elected by state legislatures Three Categories of Power - Enumerated powers: given to national government exclusively; include power to print money, declare war, make treaties, conduct foreign affairs - Reserved Powers: given to states exclusively; include power to issue licenses and to regulate commerce wholly within a state - Concurrent Powers: Shared by both national and state government; include collecting taxes, building roads, borrowing money, and having courts. The Anti-Federalist View - Liberty could be secure only in small republics - Nation needed, at best, a loose confederation of states with most of the power wielded by the state legislatures - If there was a strong national government, there should be many more restrictions on it California Chapter 2 The 1849 Constitution - Begins with lengthy bill of rights - Two House legislatures: Assembly and Senate - Judiciary reflecting experience with Mexican Rule - “Plural Executive” weakens governor (Shares power with 7 other positions) The 1847 Constitution - Economic recession and railroad’s employment of imported Chinese workers - Working Man’s Party present at 2 nd convention. 1. Supported restrictions on corporations and railroads 2. Opposed Chinese workers on the railroads 3. Railroad Commission established 4. Real changes would not take place until the third stage From 1900 to 1917: The Progressive Movement - Three goals: 1. Limit corporate influence in politics 2. End Political corruption 3. Make political process more democratic - Major accomplishments included o Introduction of many “nonpartisan” elections at state and local level

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 About 19,000 compared to less than 300 partisan elections o Primary elections o Office block ballot vs party block ballot o Direct democracy: initiative, referendum, recall o Civil service system replaces the “spoils system” From 1960 to Present: Late Revisions - Efforts made in 1960s to revise state constitution - In 2010 the primary system was changed to a “top two’ primary election system o All candidates of all parties are on the same ballot o Candidates do not have to list their party identification o The top two winners are not the official representatives of their party going to the general election - These changes may not be well suited to a state that is 25 times larger than it was in 1900. o Legislators cannot offer individualized attention to constituents Non-Partisan elections: A local or judicial election in which candidates are not selected or endorsed by political parties and party affiliation is not listed Direct Primary : The selection of party candidates through ballots of qualified voters rather than party nomination conventions In California Progressives focused on the Southern Pacific Railroad and its control of state politics - The Big Four o Leland Stanford o Collis Huntington o Mark Hopkins o Charles Crocker Controlled 85% of the railroad tracks in California. Could easily vary the “freight rates” it charged customers. Picked the candidates for both major parties at each party’s convention A Progressive, Hiram Johnson, gets elected governor - His main target: Southern Pacific Railroad - Many reforms targeted the practices of the railroad company

- Efforts made to make politics more democratic: expand citizen participation in politics o Women earned the right to vote in 1911 - Direct primary Law adopted - Strict voter registration requirements - Protect the Environment Wilson Chapter 3 Federalism : a political system in which these are local units of government, as well as a national government, that can make final decisions on some governmental activities, and whose existence is specially protected. Unitary System : a political system in which local units of government can be altered or abolished by the national government and which have no say over any significant governmental activities Elastic Clause v 10 th amendment Elastic Clause: congress shall have the power to “make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into execution the foregoing powers.” 10 th Amendment: “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people.” Two Views of Federalism Hamiltonian: The national government should be a leading force in political affairs and its powers should be broadly defined. Jeffersonian: The people are the ultimate rulers, such that the national government’s powers should be narrowly defined and strictly limited McCulloch v. Maryland (1819) - Could Congress charter a national bank? Yes, even though this power is not explicitly in the Constitution (Necessary and Proper clause) - Could states tax the national bank? No, because “the power to tax is the power to destroy” Grants-in-aid - Dramatically increased in scope in 20 th century

- Attractive to states for both economic and political reasons - Federal activists work with intergovernmental lobbying groups to determine how and when grants are awarded Categorical grants: for specific purposes defined by federal law; often require local matching funds Block Grants: devoted to general purposes with few restrictions- states preferred block to categorical grants Revenue Sharing: requires no matching funds and can be spent on almost any governmental purpose Wilson Chapter 4 Political Culture : A distinctive and patterned way of thinking about ow political and economic life ought to be carried out Civic duty : a belief that one has an obligation to participate in civic and political affairs Civic competence : a belief that one can affect government policies Class Consciousness : Thinking of oneself as a worker whose interests are in opposition to those of management, or vice versa. –Note: American political culture does not produce a class consciousness among Americans, not like what one finds in Europe The Culture War The cultural clash in America is a battle over values The culture war differs from political disputes The culture conflict is animated by deep differences in people’s beliefs about morality Orthodox: morality is as, or more, important than self-expression; morality derives from fixed rules from God Progressive: personal freedom is as, or more, important than tradition; rules change based on circumstances of modern life and individual preferences Political Efficacy Political efficacy: citizen’s capacity to understand and influence political events Internal efficacy: confidence in one’s ability to understand and influence events External efficacy: belief that system will respond to citizens

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Wilson Chapter 5 Civil liberties: protections the Constitution provides against the abuse of government power The Sedition Act of 1918 curtailed the free speech rights of U.S. citizens during time of war. The Espionage Act of 1917: prohibited obtaining information, recording pictures, or copying descriptions of any information relating to the national defense with intent or reason to believe that the information may be used for the injury of the United States or to the advantage of any foreign nation. Internal Security Act. 1950 - Required Communists to register and prohibited them from working for the government. Truman described it as a long step toward totalitarianism. Was a response to the onset of the Korean war. Communist Control Act of 1954 that outlaws the Communist Party of the United States and criminalizes membership in or support for the party or "Communist-action" organizations and defines evidence to be considered by a jury in determining participation in the activities, planning, actions, objectives, or purposes of such organizations. Schenck v. United States (1919), was a landmark decision of the US Supreme Court concerning enforcement of the Espionage Act of 1917 during World War I. A unanimous Supreme Court, in an opinion by Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr., concluded that defendants who distributed flyers to draft-age men urging resistance to induction could be convicted of an attempt to obstruct the draft, a criminal offense. Gitlow v. New York, legal case in which the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on June 8, 1925, that the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment protection of free speech, which states that the federal “Congress shall make no law…abridging the freedom of speech,” applies also to state governments. The decision was the first in which the Supreme Court held that the Fourteenth Amendment’s due process clause requires state and federal governments to be held to the same standards in regulating speech. The Fourteenth Amendment Due Process Clause: “no state shall deprive any person of life, liberty or property without due process of law” Equal Protection Clause: “no state shall deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws” Exclusionary rule

evidence gathered in violation of the Constitution cannot be used in a trial Stems from the Fourth Amendment (freedom from unreasonable searches and seizures) and the Fifth Amendment (protection against self-incrimination) Wilson Chapter 6 Plessy v. Ferguson, was a landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in which the Court ruled that racial segregation laws did not violate the U.S. Constitution if the facilities for each race were equal in quality, a doctrine that came to be known as "separate but equal". Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, was a landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in which the Court ruled that U.S. state laws establishing racial segregation in public schools are unconstitutional, even if the segregated schools are otherwise equal in quality. De Jure: Segregation Supported by Law Common in the southern states De Facto: Segregation Supported by Residential Living Patterns, Or Drawing School Boundary Lines Common in the north or rest of the country The Civil Rights Act of 1964 is a landmark civil rights and labor law in the United States that outlaws' discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, national origin, and later sexual orientation and gender identity.