Turpin AP Gov 2
Terms
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- press secretary
- key White House staff position; this person meets with the white house press corps
- regressive tax
- a tax that is imposed on individuals regardless of how much they earn, such as a sales tax
- politics
- who gets what, when, how, and why
- popular sovereignty
- political doctrine that believes that the government is created by and subject to the will of the people
- plurality
- winning number of votes recieved in a race containing more than 2 candidates but which is not more than half of the total votes cast
- public opinion polls
- scientific surveys aimed at gauging public preference of candidates and frorm
- political participation
- the different ways an average citizen gets involved in the political process ranging from conventional means of influencing government to more radical unconventional tools that have influenced our elected officials
- representative democracy
- form of government that relies on the consent of the people and is often calles a republican government
- Privileges and immunities
- the guarentees that the rights of a citizen in one state will be respected by other states. Also a clause in the Fourteenth Amendment that protects citizens from abuses by a state
- sampling error
- refers to a statistical error, usually within three percentage points, inherent in the polling process
- police power
- power reserved to the states by the Tenth Amendment
- seperate but equal
- the judicial precedent established by in the Plessy v Ferguson decision that enabled states to interpret the equal protection provision of the fourteenth amendment as a means of establishing segregation
- recess apointment
- a presedential appointment made when congress is not in session that usually lacks enough votes in the Senate for confirmation. This position must be confirmed by the Senate by the end of the next session of congress, or the position becomes vacant
- safe seat
- an elected official, who, as an incumbent, has an easy reelection as a result of his incumbency or the political makeup of the district
- senatorial courtesy
- policy that gives senators the right to be notified by the president of pending judicial nominations. Once informed, the approval of the senators of the state from which the judge comes is obtained and the process moved on. this does not apply to supreme court nominations
- reapportionment
- the process in which a state legislature redraws congressional districts based on population increases or declines
- pork barrel legislation
- the practice of legislators obtaining funds through legislation that favors their home district
- reapportionment act of 1929
- act that provides for a permanent size of the house and for the number of seats, based on the census, each state should have
- seniority
- this system guarentees that those who have held office the longest get preferential treatment. In Congress, those who have served the longest get seniority on committee assignments
- redistricting
- process that takes place every ten years, as a result of the federal census, mandating state legislatures to redraw their congressional districts based on population gains or losses
- quasi-judicial
- a characteristic of independent regulatory agencies that gives them judicial power to interpret regulations they create
- seperation of powers
- originally developed by Montesquieu in The Spirit of Natural Laws written during the Enlightenment and used by Madinson in Federalist No. 48. it resulted in the establishment of three seperate branches of government - the legislative, the excutive, and the judicial
- second treatise of civil government
- written by John Locke, it contains the blueprint principles found in the Declaration of Independence
- poll tax
- made illegal by the 24th amendment, it was a tax instituted by mainly southern states as a condition to vote and had the effect of preventing African Americans from voting
- reverse discrimination
- discrimination against whites or males, usually with regard to employment or education. Those who oppose affirmative action prigrams often claim reverse discimination as a result of such programs (i.e. Alan Bakke)
- pocket veto
- rejection of legislation that occurs if the president does not sign a bill within 10 days and congress also adjourns within the same time period
- political consultant
- person who specializes in running a political campaign. James Carville and Karl Rove are examples of political consultants
- renewable resources
- those natural resources such as solar energy that can be used over again
- prior restraint
- the actions of a governmental body which result in the censorship of written material. In the "Pentagon papers" case, president Nixon asked for an injunction to halt the publication of the confidential Defense Department documents but the New York Times
- riders
- amendments to bills, often in the form of appropriations, that sometimes have nothing to do with the intent of the bill itself and many times are considered to be pork barrel legislation
- party regulars
- enrolled party members who are usually active in the organization of a political party and support party positions and nominated candidates
- Select committees
- specially created congressional committees that conduct special investigations. The Watergate committee adn Iran-Contra investigators were select Senate committees
- preamble
- the introduction to the Constitution, outlining the goals of the document
- rule of four
- judicial concept employed by the Supreme Court requiring the approval of at least four justices before a case can be heard on appeal
- saftey net
- a minimum government guarentee that ensures that individuals living in poverty will recieve support in the form of social welfare programs
- religious right
- an evengelical conglomeration of ultraconservative political activists, many of whom support the Republican party
- precedent
- legal concept, also known as start decisis, where earlier court decisions serve as models in justifying decisions in subsequent cases
- rules committee
- one of the most important committes of the House; its function is to create specific rules for every bill to be debated in the house
- photo ops
- photo opportunities
- red tape
- used to describe the difficulty it takes to get answers from a bureaucratic agency
- regularory policy
- policy that results in government control over individuals and business. Examples of this include protection of the environment and consumer protection
- public policy
- the final action taken by government in promotional, distributive, or regulatory form
- senate confirmation
- outlined in article 2 of the constitution, this process gives the senate authority to approve appointments made by the president
- president pro tempore
- temporary presiding officer of the senate
- plessy v ferguson
- (1896) case that ruled that states had the right to impose "seperate but equal" facilities on its citizens as well as create other laws that segregated the races
- political party
- a group of people joined together by common philosiphies and common approaches with the aim of getting candidates elected in order to develop and implement public policy. It is characterized by an organiztion that is responsible to teh electorate and has a role in the government
- political socialization
- the factors that determine voting behavior such as family, religion, and ethnic background
- quasi-legislative
- a characteristic of independent regulatory agencies that gives them legislative powers to issue regulations
- plank
- any of the principles contained in a political party's platform
- Regan Democrats
- traditional Democratic middle-class voters turning to Ronald Regan during the 1980s
- Rehnquist court
- first nominated by Nixon in 1971, Rehnquist was confirmed as the 16th Chief justice of the supreme court after Warren Burger retired in 1986. He was known as a conservative jurist and his stewardship over the court reflected a court of judicial restraint and conservative tendencies
- price supports
- the government's price guarentees for certain farm goods. The government subsedizes farmers to not grow certain crops and also buy foods directly and stores it, rather than let the oversupply in the market bring prices down
- procedural and process
- a series of steps that are established by the fifth, sixth, and seventh amendments that protect the rights of the accused at every step of the investigation
- referendum
- practice of submitting to popular vote a measure proposed by a legislative body; also called a propostion
- republican party
- political party that evolved from the Whig Party, coming to power after Lincoln's election. It is one of the two current major political parties
- seperation of church and state
- also known as the "establishment clause" it is part of the first amendment to the constitution prohibiting the federal government from creating a state-supported religion
- pluralism
- a group theory that involves diferent groups all vying for control of the policy agenda. No single group emerges, forcing the groups to compromise
- poverty line
- references to the point at which an individual is considered living in what has been called a "culture of poverty"
- presidential primart
- elections held in individual states to determine the preference of voters and to allovate the number of delegates to the party's convention
- policy agenda
- agenda that results from the interaction of linkage institutions
- Reserved power clause
- found in the 10th amendment, it gives states powers not delegated to the national government
- progressive tax
- a tax based upon the amount of money an individual earned, such as an income tax. Became legal as a result of the ratification of the sixteenth amendment
- police action committees
- known as PACs, they raise money from teh special interest constituents and make contributions to political campaigns on behalf of the special interest groups