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Articles of Confederation |
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A weak constitution that governed America during the Revolutionary War |
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A 1787 rebellion in which ex-Revolutionary War soldiers attempted to prevent foreclosures of farms as a result of high interest rates and taxes |
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Proposal to create a weak national government |
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Proposal to create a strong national government |
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Plan to have a popularly elected House based on state population and a state-elected Senate, with two members for each state |
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A compromise between Southern and Northern states reached during the Philadelphia Convention of 1787 in which three-fifths of the population of slaves would be counted for enumeration purposes regarding both the distribution of taxes and the apportionment of the members of the United States House of Representatives |
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Government authority shared by national and state governments |
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Doctrine holding that the national government is supreme in its sphere, the states are supreme in theirs, and the two spheres should be kept separate |
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Those who favor a stronger national government |
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Those who favor a weaker national government |
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The Federalist Papers are a series of 85 articles advocating the ratification of the United States Constitution. |
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First ten amendments to the Constitution |
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The power of the courts to declare laws unconstitutional |
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A government in which leaders make decisions by winning a competitive struggle for the popular vote |
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The Delegated Powers, also called the Enumerated Powers, are the powers of Congress established in section eight of Article I of the US Constitution. There are nineteen such powers |
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Powers given to the state government alone |
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Powers shared by the national and state governments |
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Full faith and credit clause |
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The Full Faith and Credit Clause of the U.S. Constitution ensures that courts in one state will honor the judgments of courts of another state without having to retry the case. |
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Privileges and immunities clause |
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The Privileges and Immunities Clause of the U.S. Constitution, Article IV, Section 2, Clause 1, protects citizens of one state who travel to another state. This Clause protects their right to travel, access to courts, and equal treatment for nonresidents. This clause reads, "The Citizens of each State shall be entitled to all Privileges and Immunities of Citizens in the several States." |
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The surrender of an accused criminal by one state to the jurisdiction of another |
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The Supremacy Clause states that judges and any other seat of authority in a state are bound to follow the Constitution, the laws of the United States and any treaties made under the authority of the United States, as in the Supreme Court and Continental Congress |
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Federal grants for specific purposes, such as building an airport |
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Money from the national government that states can spend within broad guidelines determined by Washington |
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Constitutional authority is shared by three different branches of government |
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Authority shared by three branches of government |
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A message from the President to Congress stating that he will not sign a bill it has passed. Must be produced within ten days of the bill's passage |
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The process by which each chamber of Congress votes on a bill vetoed by the President. To pass a bill over the President's objections requires a two-thirds vote in each Chamber. Historically, Congress has overridden fewer than ten percent of all presidential vetoes |
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A new provision in the Constitution that has been ratified by the States |
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First amendment ban on laws "respecting an establishment of religion." |
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Court cases that apply Bill of Rights to states |
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The heads of fifteen executive branch departments of the federal government |
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The office of governor is the executive branch of a state government in the United States |
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An executive's ability to block a particular provision in a bill passed by the legislature |
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A lawmaking body made up of two chambers or parts |
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Federal sharing of a fixed percentage of its revenues with the states |
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The saliency of an issue is the degree to which it is important to a particular individual or group. For example, Social Security is an issue with high salience for senior citizens. Among young voters, Social Security has a much lower salience. |
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How strongly do people feel about a particular issue? When the intensity of a group's opinion is high, that group can wield political influence far beyond their numbers. |
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Public opinion on issues changes over time. Some dimensions of public opinion, such as support for democracy and a controlled free-market economy, remain relatively stable. |
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How people think or feel about particular things |
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Method of selecting from a population in which each person has an equal probability of being selected |
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Polls based on interviews conducted on Election Day with randomly selected voters |
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The Gallup Poll is the division of Gallup that regularly conducts public opinion polls in the United States and more than 140 countries around the world. Gallup Polls are often referenced in the mass media as a reliable and objective measure of public opinion |
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Process by which background traits influence one's political views |
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Liberals believe that the government should be used to remedy the social and economic injustices of the marketplace. They tend to support government regulation of the economy. |
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Conservatives stress that individuals should be responsible for their own well-being and should not rely on government assistance. They tend to oppose government interference in the private sector |
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News broadcasts on television and radio, newspapers, news magazines, magazine broadcast programs, news maker interview programs, political talk radio, websites, blogs, and online forums. |
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Is the most important role the media play in setting. By deciding which news stories to cover, and which to ignore, by returning to some stories night after night while allowing others to die after a few reports, the news media play an important part in determining the relative importance of political issues. |
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A group that seeks to elect candidates to public office |
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An electoral system with two dominant parties that compete in national elections |
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An election held to choose candidates for office |
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Bolters are party members who do not support the regular nominee of their party. |
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These parties are formed to promote one principle. For example: The American Independent Party, which sponsored the segregationist candidacy of George C. Wallace in 1968. |
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Independent candidates (which are not third-party candidates) run without party affiliation. |
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A government platform is a political platform of a government. A new government, when entering office, lists their objectives to be accomplished while in office.
Government platforms are especially important in coalition governments, where several parties with possibly conflicting political platforms agree on a compromise. |
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A meeting of party delegates held every four years. |
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Funds obtained by political parties that are spent on party activities, such as get-out-the-vote drives, but not on behalf of a specific candidate |
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Voting for candidates of different parties for various offices in the same election. |
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Dealignment is a trend or process whereby a large portion of the electorate abandons its previous partisan affiliation, without developing a new one to replace it. |
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Parties realign politically to meet the changing electorate. |
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One party controls the White House, and another party controls one or both houses of Congress. |
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Critical or realignment period |
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Periods when a major, lasting shift occurs in the popular coalition supporting one or both parties. |
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Usually it means the coming to power of a new coalition, replacing an old dominant coalition of the other party (or replacing a stalemate, as in the U.S. in 1896 or 1932). |
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A brief submitted by a "friend of the court". |
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A case brought by someone to help him or her and all others who are similarly situated |
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The illegal practice of using one's influence in government or connections with persons in authority to obtain favors or preferential treatment for another, usually in return for payment. Also called traffic of influence. |
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Federal Election Campaign Act (1971) |
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Definition
A United States federal law which increased disclosure of contributions for federal campaigns, and amended in 1974 to place legal limits on the campaign contributions. The amendment also created the Federal Election Commission (FEC). |
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Political action committees (PAC's) |
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A committee set up by a corporation, labor union, or interest group that raises and spends campaign money from voluntary donations. |
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The act or an instance of appointing a person to office. |
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An election held to choose which candidate will hold office. |
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A primary election in which voting is limited to already registered party members. |
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A primary election in which voters my choose in which party to vote as they enter the polling place. |
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A primary election in which each voter may vote for candidates from both parties. |
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An electoral system in which the winner is the person who gets the most votes, even if he or she does not receive a majority; used in almost all American elections. |
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To concentrate costs or benefits of (a financial obligation or deal) in an early period. |
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A second primary election held when no candidate wins a majority of the votes in the first primary. |
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Party leaders and elected officials who become delegates to the national convention without having to run in primaries or caucuses. |
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The requirement or condition that a generally minimal amount of money or services-in-kind originate from the beneficiaries of financial amounts, usually for a purpose of charitable or public good. |
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The Tuesday in February or March of a presidential election year when the greatest number of states hold primary elections to select delegates to national conventions at which each party's presidential candidates are officially nominated. More delegates can be won on Super Tuesday than on any other single day of the primary calendar, and, accordingly, candidates seeking the presidency traditionally must do well on this day to secure their party's nomination. |
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Federal election commission |
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The US independent regulatory agency created to administer and enforce the statute that governs the financing of federal elections. |
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When no candidate has received the pledge of a majority of convention delegates, conventions decide who the nominee will be; such conventions are called brokered conventions. |
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The people chosen to cast each state's votes in presidential election. Each state can cast one electoral vote for each senator and representative it has. The District of Columbia has three electoral votes, even though it cannot elect a representative or senator. |
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In this voting system the single winner is the person with the most votes; there is no requirement that the winner gain an absolute majority of votes. |
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Terms set by the national government that states must meet whether or not they accept federal grants. |
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A count taken by the federal government to count the population to determine the number of each state's congressional districts. |
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The process by which seats in the House of Representatives are reassigned among the States to reflect population changes following the decennial census. |
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A form of redistribution in which electoral district or constituency boundaries are deliberately modified for electoral advantage. Gerrymandering may be used to help or hinder particular constituents, such as members of a political, racial, linguistic, religious or class group. |
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An electoral constituency that elects a single member of a congress. A congressional district is based on population, which is taken using a census every ten years. |
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Congressional Oversight refers to the review, monitoring, and supervision of federal agencies, programs, activities, and policy implementation. Congress exercises this power largely through its standing committee system. |
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A committee of the United States House of Representatives. Rather than being responsible for a specific area of policy, as most other committees are, it is in charge of determining under what rule other bills will come to the floor. As such, it is one of the most powerful committees, and often described as "an arm of the leadership" and as the "traffic cop" of Congress. |
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An attempt to defeat a bill in the Senate by talking indefinitely, thus preventing the Senate from taking action to the bill. |
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A rule used by the Senate to end or limit debate. |
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Legislation that gives tangible benefits to constituents in several districts or states in the hope of winning their votes in return. |
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A joint committee appointed to resolve differences in the Senate and House versions of the same bill. |
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Permanently established legislative committees that consider and are responsible for legislation within a certain subject area. |
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Committees on which both senators and representatives serve. |
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Congressional committees appointed for a limited time and purpose. |
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A bill fails to become law because the president did not sign it within ten days before Congress adjourns. |
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An executive's ability to block a particular provision in a bill passed by the legislature. |
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A device by which any member of the House, after a committee has had the bill for thirty days, may petition to have it brought to the floor. |
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The leader of the House of Representatives, who is chosen by the majority party in a special election. The speaker can direct floor debate and has influence over committee assignments and over the Rules Committee. The Speaker can also control which bills go to which committees. |
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Definition
the second-highest-ranking official of the United States Senate and the highest-ranking senator.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/President_pro_tempore_of_the_United_States_Senate |
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The legislative leader elected by party members holding the majority of seats in the House or the Senate. |
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The legislative leader elected by party members holding a minority of seats in the House or the Senate. |
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A law that declares a person, without trial, to be guilty of a crime. |
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A law that makes an act criminal although the act was legal when it was committed. |
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Presidential agreements made with foreign nations. Executive agreements have the same legal force as treaties but do not require the approval of the senate |
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The president's role as leader of all United States military forces. This is one of the executive powers authorized in the Constitution. |
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Gulf of Tonkin Resolution |
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Definition
The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution (officially, the Southeast Asia Resolution, Public Law 88-408) was addressed by President Lyndon B. Johnson as a joint resolution of the U.S. Congress passed on August 10, 1964 in direct response to a reported minor naval engagement known as the Gulf of Tonkin Incident. It is of historical significance because it gave U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson authorization, without a formal declaration of war by Congress, for the use of military force in Southeast Asia. The Johnson administration subsequently cited the resolution as legal authority for its rapid escalation of U.S. military involvement in the Vietnam conflict. |
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Law requiring the president to seek periodic approval from Congress for any substantial troop commitment. Passed in 1973 in response to national dissatisfaction over the Vietnam War. |
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The White House Chief of Staff is the highest ranking member of the Executive Office of the President of the United States and a senior aide to the President. |
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Office of Budget and Management |
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Definition
Executive branch office responsible for drawing up the president's proposals for the federal budget. |
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The tradition of the Cabinet dates back to the beginnings of the Presidency itself. Established in Article II, Section 2, of the Constitution, the Cabinet's role is to advise the President on any subject he may require relating to the duties of each member's respective office.
The Cabinet includes the Vice President and the heads of 15 executive departments — the Secretaries of Agriculture, Commerce, Defense, Education, Energy, Health and Human Services, Homeland Security, Housing and Urban Development, Interior, Labor, State, Transportation, Treasury, and Veterans Affairs, as well as the Attorney General. |
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Process by which a president, judge, or other government official can be tried for high crimes and misdemeanors. Andrew Johnson was impeached but found not guilty and was not removed from office. |
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The National Security Council |
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Definition
Is headed by the National Security Adviser, who has direct access to the president in matters relating to military and foreign policy. The NSC has been involved since the late 1940's in the decision-making process during national emergencies. President Kennedy used the NSC during the Cuban missile crisis, President Reagan during the Iran-Contra affair, and President Bush Sr. during the Gulf War. Unlike the State Department, the NSC is largely free from congressional oversight. For this reason, it has become one of the most favored institutions for many presidents. |
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The Domestic Policy Council |
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Definition
Assists the President in formulating policies relating to energy, education, agriculture, natural resources, economic affairs, health and human resources, welfare reform, drug abuse, and crime. |
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The Council of Economic Advisers |
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Definition
Is responsible for helping the president make national economic policy. The council is usually made up of economists and advises the president on policies that are designed to increase prosperity. |
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The U.S. Trade Representative |
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Definition
Is responsible for negotiating complex trade and tariff agreements for the president. Trade agreements such as GATT and NAFTA are negotiated by the Trade Representative on behalf of the president, with the guidance of the White House. |
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Term used to describe the court's power to initially try a case. Courts in which cases are first heard are those with original jurisdiction in the case. By contrast, appellate courts hear challenges to earlier court decisions. |
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Term used to describe courts whose role is to hear appeals from lower courts. |
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A check placed on the president by which candidates for the federal bureaucracy must first be approved by a vote within the Senate. |
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Term referring to the actions of a court that demonstrates an unwillingness to break with precedent or to overturn legislative and executive acts. |
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Term referring to the actions of a court that frequently strikes down or alters the acts of the executive and/or legislative branches. |
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The power of the Supreme Court to declare laws and executive actions unconstitutional |
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Marbury v. Madison (1803) |
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Definition
Supreme Court decision that established the principle of judicial review |
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A legal document issued by the Supreme Court to request the court transcripts of a case. A write of certiorari indicates that the Court will review a lower court's decision |
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Justiciability concerns the limits upon legal issues over which a court can exercise its judicial authority. It is not to be confused with standing, which is used to determine if the party bringing the suit is a party appropriate to establishing whether an actual adversarial issue exists; standing is thus an element of justiciability. Essentially, justiciability seeks to address whether a court possesses the ability to provide adequate resolution of the dispute; where a court feels it cannot offer such a final determination, the matter is not justiciable. |
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Standing or locus standi is the term for ability of a party to demonstrate to the court sufficient connection to and harm from the law or action challenged to support that party's participation in the case. In the United States, the current doctrine is that a person cannot bring a suit challenging the constitutionality of a law unless the plaintiff can demonstrate that the plaintiff is (or will imminently be) harmed by the law. Otherwise, the court will rule that the plaintiff "lacks standing" to bring the suit, and will dismiss the case without considering the merits of the claim of unconstitutionality. |
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The first case in which the Court overturned a state law on constitutional grounds. Fletcher established the Court's right to apply judicial review to state laws. Previously, judicial review had only been applied to federal law. |
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McCullock v. Maryland (1819) |
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Definition
The Court ruled that the states did not have the power to tax the national bank (and, by extension, the federal government). This decision reinforced the supremacy clause of the Constitution, which states that the Constitution "and the laws of the United States which shall be made in pursuance thereof...shall be the supreme law of the land; and the judges in every state shall be bound thereby, anything in the Constitution or laws of any State to the contrary notwithstanding." |
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The Court ruled that the state of New York could not grant a steamship company a monopoly to operate on an interstate waterway, even though that waterway ran through New York. The ruling increased federal power over interstate commerce by implying that anything concerning interstate trade could potentially be regulated by the federal government. |
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Executive agency responsible for enforcing laws pertaining to a certain industry. The agency writes guidelines for the industry, such as safety codes, and enforces them through methods such as inspection. |
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A bureaucrat is a member of a bureaucracy and can comprise the administration of any organization of any size, though the term usually connotes someone within an institution of a government. |
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Executive agency that is largely responsible for the formulation and implementation of monetary policy. By controlling the monetary supply, the Fed helps maintain a stable economy. |
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Also called "subgovernment". Iron triangles are formed by the close working relationship among various interest groups, congressional committees, and executive agencies that enforce federal regulations. Working together, these groups can collectively exert a powerful influence over legislation and law enforcement. |
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Definition
ssue networks are an alliance of various interest groups and individuals who unite in order to promote a single issue in government policy. Issue networks can be either domestic or international in scope, and many are active solely within the domain of the internet. Usually, issue networks push for a change in policy within the government bureaucracy. An example includes the wide ranging network of environmental groups and individuals who push for more environmental regulation in government policy. Other issue networks revolve around such controversial issues as abortion, gun ownership rights, and drug laws. In the United States, the various parties within an issue network include “political executives, career bureaucrats, management and policy consultants, academic researchers, journalists, foundation officers, and White House aides.” |
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Method of hiring federal employees based on merit rather than on political beliefs or allegiances. This system replaced the spoils system in the US. |
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The Federal Trade Commission |
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Definition
is responsible for preventing fraud in the marketplace by preventing price fixing and deceptive advertising. |
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Term
The Securities and Exchange Commission |
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Definition
protects investors by regulating stock markets and policing corporations to prevent false and misleading claims of profits in an effort to increase stock prices. |
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The Nuclear Regulatory System |
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Definition
controls how electric power companies design, build, and operate nuclear reactors. |
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Term
The Federal Communications Commission |
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Definition
is responsible for assigning broadcast frequencies, for licensing radio and television stations, and for regulating the use of wireless communication devices. |
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The Food and Drug Administration |
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Definition
is responsible for ensuring the health of the American people by inspecting the food supply for contaminants and spoilage. The agency is also responsible for regulating the sale of over-the-counter drugs and patent medicines. |
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Term
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission |
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Definition
is responsible for preventing price fixing and price manipulation in electric utilities, interstate oil and gas pipelines, and natural gas suppliers. |
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Term
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration |
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Definition
is responsible for ensuring workers are employed in a safe work environment. For example, the OSHA can regulate the type of ventilation in a factory, as well as the type of clothing worn and tools used. |
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Social Policy is the study of social welfare, and its relationship to politics and society. It focuses on the social services and the welfare state. |
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Term
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Definition
Incrementalism is a method of working by adding to a project using many small (often unplanned) changes instead of a few (extensively planned) large jumps. |
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Definition
Many pieces of legislation deal with parts of policy problems but never deal with the entire problem. |
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Definition
The process by which executive departments and agencies put legislation into practice. Agencies are often allowed a degree of freedom to interpret legislation as they write guidelines to enact and enforce the law. |
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Definition
Identifies the social and economic problems, redefines them into political issues, and ranks them in order of importance. |
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Definition
Public policy issues have a way of waxing and waning. Issues often become of interest to citizens when there is a real or perceived crisis. |
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Term
Gross domestic product (GDP) |
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Definition
One of the measures of national income and output for a given country's economy. It is the total value of all final goods and services produced in a particular economy; the dollar value of all goods and services produced within a country’s borders in a given year. |
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A term used to describe a policy of allowing events to take their own course. The term is a French phrase literally meaning "let do". It is a doctrine that states that government generally should not intervene in the marketplace. |
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Term
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Definition
A macroeconomic theory based on the ideas of 20th-century British economist John Maynard Keynes. Keynesian economics argues that private sector decisions sometimes lead to inefficient macroeconomic outcomes and therefore advocates active policy responses by the public sector, including monetary policy actions by the central bank and fiscal policy actions by the government to stabilize output over the business cycle. |
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Definition
In economics, fiscal policy is the use of government spending and revenue collection to influence the economy. |
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Term
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Definition
The process by which the government, central bank, or monetary authority of a country controls (i) the supply of money, (ii) availability of money, and (iii) cost of money or rate of interest, in order to attain a set of objectives oriented towards the growth and stability of the economy. |
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A trade deficit, which is also referred to as net exports, is an economic condition that occurs when a country is importing more goods than it is exporting. The deficit equals the value of goods being imported minus the value of goods being exported, and it is given in the currency of the country in question. |
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Definition
Deficit spending is the amount by which a government, private company, or individual's spending exceeds income over a particular period of time, also called simply "deficit," or "budget deficit," the opposite of budget surplus. |
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Term
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Definition
The Federal Reserve System (also the Federal Reserve; informally The Fed) is the central banking system of the United States. Created in 1913 by the enactment of the Federal Reserve Act (signed by Woodrow Wilson), it is a quasi-public (government entity with private components) banking system that comprises (1) the presidentially appointed Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System in Washington, D.C.; (2) the Federal Open Market Committee; (3) twelve regional privately-owned Federal Reserve Banks located in major cities throughout the nation acting as fiscal agents for the U.S. Treasury, each with its own nine-member board of directors; (4) numerous other private U.S. member banks, which subscribe to required amounts of non-transferable stock in their regional Federal Reserve Banks; and (5) various advisory councils. |
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Supply-side economics is a school of macroeconomic thought that argues that economic growth can be most effectively created using incentives for people to produce (supply) goods and services, such as adjusting income tax and capital gains tax rates, and by allowing greater flexibility by reducing regulation. Consumers will then benefit from a greater supply of goods and services at lower prices. |
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Office of Management and Budget |
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Definition
Executive branch office responsible for drawing up the president's proposals for the federal budget. |
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Congressional Budget Office |
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Congressional agency of budget experts who assess the feasibility of the president's plan and who help create Congress's version of the federal budget. |
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In economics, mandatory spending is spending on certain programs that is mandated, or required, by existing law. |
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Discretionary spending is a spending category about which government planners can make choices. |
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A social welfare provision refers to any program which seeks to provide a minimum level of income, service or other support for many marginalized groups such as the poor, elderly, and disabled people. Social welfare programs are undertaken by governments as well as non-governmental organizations (NGOs). Social welfare payments and services are typically provided at the expense of taxpayers generally, funded by benefactors, or by compulsory enrollment of the poor themselves. Welfare payments can take the form of in-kind transfers (e.g., health care services) or cash (e.g., earned income tax credit). |
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Entitlement is a guarantee of access to benefits because of rights, or by agreement through law. It also refers, in a more casual sense to someone's belief that one is deserving of some particular reward or benefit.[ |
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Medicare is a social insurance program administered by the United States government, providing health insurance coverage to people who are aged 65 and over, or who meet other special criteria. |
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U.S. Social Security is a social insurance program funded through dedicated payroll taxes called Federal Insurance Contributions Act (FICA). Tax deposits are formally entrusted to Federal Old-Age and Survivors Insurance Trust Fund, or Federal Disability Insurance Trust Fund, Federal Hospital Insurance Trust Fund or the Federal Supplementary Medical Insurance Trust Fund. The main part of the program is sometimes abbreviated OASDI (Old Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance) or RSDI (Retirement, Survivors, and Disability Insurance). |
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Periodic pay adjustment to compensate workers for changes in the cost of living. COLA is usually geared to changes in the Consumer Price Index (CPI). |
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Food stamps are government issued coupons that recipients exchange for food and can be mailed for food. |
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