Friday, June 3, 2011

* 10 MUST KNOW AP GOV TERMS *


1.) Divided Government- a government in which one party controls the White House and another party controls one or both houses of the United States Congress.

2.) Direct Democracy-a form of democracy in which the people as a whole make direct decisions, rather than have those decisions made for them by elected representatives

3.) Line Item Veto-The authority of a chief executive to delete part of a bill passed by the legislature that involves taxing or spending.
 
4.) Bully Pulpit-is a public office or other position of authority of sufficiently high rank that provides the holder with an opportunity to speak out and be listened to on any matter.

5.) Patronage-is the support, encouragement, privilege, or financial aid that an organization or individual bestows to another.

6.) Impeachment-is a formal process in which an official is accused of unlawful activity and the outcome of which, depending on the country, can lead to the removal of that official from office or other punishment.

7.) Issue Networks-  are an alliance of various interest groups and individuals who unite in order to promote a single issue in government policy.

8.) Inherent Powers- powers that are explicitly spelled out in the Constitution or in statutes, and those that a government, or an individual officer of government

9.) Appropriations-is the act of setting apart something for its application to a particular usage, to the exclusion of all other uses.

10.) Approval Ratings- public support for the President of the United States during his term.

Tuesday, May 3, 2011

AP Gov Words you need to know! Review #1

Political Culture- is the traditional orientation of the citizens of a nation toward politics, affecting their perceptions of political legitimacy.

Political Ideology- Sets of political views regarding the fundamental goals of politics.
Equality Of Resultsis the goal, central to some political ideologies, of reducing or eliminating incidental inequalities in material condition between individuals or households in a society.

Civic Duty-is the state of being a citizen of a particular social, political, national, or human resource community.

Progressive Culture-is a political attitude favoring or advocating changes or reform through governmental action.

Political Efficacy- ones own influence or effectiveness on politics

Middle America- Middle class people 

Silent Majority-  is an unspecified large majority of people in a country or group who do not express their opinions publicly.

Social Status- is the honor or prestige attached to one's position in society

Christian Coalition- the organization represents certain viewpoints among numbers of Christians in the United States

Gender Gap- Difference in political views between men and women

Liberal-the belief in the importance of liberty and equal rights

Conservative-  is a political and social philosophy that promotes the maintenance of traditional institutions and supports, at the most, minimal and gradual change in society.

Libertarian- is a political philosophy that upholds individual liberty, especially freedom of expression and action

Populist- a member of the People's party. a supporter or adherent of populism

Political Elite-  all sufficiently large social groups will have some kind of elite group within them that actively participates in the group's political dynamics.

New Class- a term used to describe the privileged ruling class of bureaucrats and Communist Party functionaries which typically arises in a Stalinist Communist state.

New Deal Coalition- a term used to describe the privileged ruling class of bureaucrats and Communist Party functionaries which typically arises in a Stalinist Communist state.

Random Sample- is one chosen by a method involving an unpredictable component.

Sampling Error- is the error caused by observing a sample instead of the whole population.

Weighting-involves emphasizing the contribution of some aspects of a phenomenon (or of a set of data) to a final effect or result

Quota Sample-  a method for selecting survey participants. In quota sampling, a population is first segmented into mutually exclusive sub-groups, just as in stratified sampling.

Focus Groups-a form of qualitative research in which a group of people are asked about their perceptions, opinions, beliefs and attitudes towards a product, service, concept, advertisement, idea, or packaging.

Instant Response Polling-
gathering audience responses in real time, enables pollsters, campaign consultants and other political researchers to determine the exact words and visuals have the greatest effect on listeners and viewers.

Push Polls-is a political campaign technique in which an individual or organization attempts to influence or alter the view of respondents under the guise of conducting a poll

Bandwagon effect- The tendency to follow the actions or beliefs of others can occur because individuals directly prefer to conform, or because individuals derive information from others

Refusal Rate- the proportion of individuals who, though successfully contacted, refuse to give the information sought

Exit Polls-   a poll of voters taken immediately after they have exited the polling stations

Tracking Poll- a survey of public opinion from a particular sample

Skewed Question-is one that is phrased in such a way that a certain answer is more likely to be given

 
Context Effect- describes the influence of environmental factors on one's perception of a stimulus
 
Question Framing- Framing the question is just the way to ask a question.
 
Saliency- when political parties compete through public statements they do so mainly by emphasizing particular policies or concerns
 
Help America Vote Act 2002- upgrade many aspects of their election procedures, including their voting machines, registration processes and poll worker training.
 
Motor-Voter Law-The legislation required state governments to allow for registration when a qualifying voter applied for or renewed their driver's license or applied for social services.
 
Fifteenth Amendment-prohibits each government in the United States from denying a citizen the right to vote based on that citizen's "race, color, or previous condition of servitude"
 
Literacy Test-  government practice of testing the literacy of potential citizens at the federal level, and potential voters at the state level
 
Poll Tax- pre-condition of the exercise of the ability to vote.
 
Grandfather Clause- created new literacy and property restrictions on voting, but exempted those whose ancestors (grandfathers) had the right to vote before the Civil War
 
White Primary-elections in the Southern States of the United States of America in which any non-White voter was prohibited from participating
 
Voting Rights Act- outlawed discriminatory voting practices that had been responsible for the widespread disenfranchisement of African Americans in the U.S.
 
Nineteenth Amendment- prohibits any United States citizen to be denied the right to vote based on sex
 
Twenty sixth Amendment-the minimum voting age to no more than 18.
 
Twenty third Amendment-permits citizens in the District of Columbia to vote for Electors for President and Vice President.
 
Disfranchisement-  the revocation of the right of suffrage
 
Australian ballot- the system of voting in which voters mark their choices in privacy .
 
Activist-persuade people to change their behavior directly, rather than persuade governments to change laws
 
Demographics-the characteristics of a human population


Sunday, April 3, 2011

House kills Obama's mortgage plan

The House passes a bill to kill Obama's mortgage plan. Obama's mortgage plan was intented to help homeowners stay in their homes, but according to the House was ineffective. In fact, 252 out of
House votes to kill Obama mortgage plan
422 House of Representatives voted to kill the program. The program also modified mortgages for the struggling borrowers who are behind on their payments. The House has previously passed three smaller programs designed to help families with foreclosure. So what makes Obama's mortgage plan different? The only difference is the criticism from both the Republicans and the Democrats saying that it is useless. As a result, on Tuesday,Treasury Secretary, Tim Geither writes a letter stating Obama's plan needs to change to meets its full potential. In response, Rep. Barney Frank, says that plan has problems but the smaller the amount of programs the more it hurts the homeowners.



In class, we discussed the House's powers in government. For instance, House can veto a bill the president approves with two thirds House vote as shown in the blog.

Do you agree with Barney Frank? Why or why not?
Do we need more programs to help foreclosures?

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2011/03/29/house-votes-to-kill-obama-mortgage-plan/

http://money.cnn.com/2011/03/29/news/economy/republicans_kill_hamp/index.htm

"Another Three Weeks"

John Bohner - House Speaker
On Tuesday, a three week extension of government funding has been passed. It has been causing a lot of conflict between Congress. According to President Obama, he believes "with the wide range of issues facing our nation, we cannot keep funding the government in two or three week increments". Even though the 271-158 House vote was very easily determined, this vote has dissappointed many conservative Republicans who want deep cuts in non-military spending. Earlier in the month a two week funding passed and only six Republicans opposed. On Tuesday, 54 opposed the three week extension. All this proves is that the government needs to work opposition on a spending plan for the rest of 2011 budget. As a result of future battles over more spending cuts, The House Speaker, John Bohner believes that Republicans won't allow negotiation over this year's spending bill in the future.

Recently, in class we have been talking about Congress. Congress is made up of the Senate and House. There are less Senator than House of Representatives because there are two senators for every state. In contrast, House of Representatives are determined by the population of every state. In this blog, the majority of the House votes for the three week extension, thus the title another three weeks.

Do you believe the three week extension is good or bad thing?
Do you agree with Obama's statement?





http://www.portfolio.com/views/blogs/capital/2011/03/17/congress-approves-three-week-spending-extension/

http://www.cnn.com/2011/POLITICS/03/15/congress.spending/index.html

Monday, February 28, 2011

Barack's Intiative

At the State of the Union speech Barack says "We will move forward together or not at all". I believe he says this because he is trying to emphazise the importance of working to together. 
The challenges that the United States face are bigger than the gridlock of the government. For instance, job employment is a big problem that needs to be fixed. Obama, in the state of the speech, also talks about education and how it is hard to get a job with a high school diploma. That is why he urges to pass a bill that will make going to college, very affordable. Eventually, colleges and universities will get serious about cutting their tuition because that can help solve this problem.



The Troops 
 Obama believes that by July 2011, we can start bringing back troops. Troops from Iraq to Afghanistan must have the full support.  And just as they must have the resources such food and clothes, they need in war, we all have a responsibility to support them when they come home, also. As a result, Barack has made the largest increase in investments for veterans in years like the building of a 21st century VA.





http://www.whitehouse.gov/state-of-the-union-2011 


http://hypervocal.com/news/2010/like-assange-obamas-pullout-method-in-afghanistan-right-on-schedule/

$$Barack Budget$$



In this year's budget Obama plans on doing a lot of cuts. Especially on unnecessary spending, I felt this is the cause of the depression we're in now. Barack believes that education spending needs to be pushed to the forefront of our their budget. He thinks that the future needs to be ready to compete with the competition. We should not only compete, but beat the competiton. The only way to accomplish this goal is with a better education system. Nevertheless, we still need to get ourselves out of debt and create a better economy. 




Milit
Barack Obama understands that in order to defeat our competition we must improve the following:
Innovation, eduation, and clean energy.
Innovation results from a smarter people. It can also help answer some of the problems in of economuy. Education helps to create that smarter future with great ideas. If Obama invests some of the budget on education, then, like Obama said "every American is equipped to compete with any worker anywhere in the world". Lastly, Clean energy is put us ahead of the competition and keep the air clean and safe to breathe. Discovering efficient ways to create clean energy like wind and wave energy.

Connection to the class: In class we talked about gridlock and how divided government can be a good and a bad thing. First of all, Gridlock is the inability of the government to act because rival parties control different parts of the government. Our recent government is an gridlock because the republicans control the house but, the democrats control the senate. This means that Obama's budget can be modified by the house because of disagreement between our democratic president and our republican house of reps.


Monday, January 31, 2011

U.S role in Egypt

For about a week now, there has been alot of protesting in the streets of Egypt. The people of Egypt are getting tired of their government and they want change. As a start, they would like a democracy as their government giving them more power and more freedom. Like Obama said in his speech made to the Muslim world in June 2009,  governments should not be able to conquer the rights of the people. The people of Egypt feel that Hosni Mubarek, president of Egypt, is not meeting their expectation. Now the Egyptians believe that Obama should be helping to resolve this conflict. But instead the U.S. is no where to be found. Others believe that abandoning a key ally in desperate need would hurt the America's interests in the region.


This relates to class because in this situation Obama playing the role of the Chief Diplomat. As Cheif Diplomat, the president decides what American diplomats and ambassadors shall say to foreign governments. 




Why isn't Obama backing up the Epygtians after preaching for democracy?


Is the U.S. word really their bond?

Obama giving his speech back in June 2009
Protestors hold an anti Hosni Mubarek sign in Tahrir Square during afternoon anti-government protests today in Cairo.
Egyptian protestors


http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/jan/31/obama-treads-lightly-on-egypt/

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/30/world/middleeast/30diplo.html


?? Health Care Reform Law Ruled Unconstitutional ??

A federal judge in Florida rules the health reform law unconstitutional even though Barack Obama thinks different. It is believed that this case will be a contentious Supreme Court challenge over the legislation in the coming months. Florida along with 25 other states filed a lawsuit last spring against "Obamacare".  Judge Roger Vinson, in a 78-page ruling, dismissed the key provision of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act which requires most Americans to purchase health care by 2014 or face penalties. Another federal judge in Virginia also believes that the health care law is unconstitutional, even though two other judges disagree. Such disagreements almost guarantee the Supreme Court will take up this issue. Under the law, the federal government is supposed to pay states for most of the cost of the Medicaid expansion which is believed to be an estimated 95 percent over the first five years. 


This health care reform law relates to the power of the president. The president can present a law and it can still be denied. 


Do you believe the health reform law is unconstitutional?


Does this issue need to be taken to the Supreme Court why or why not?





http://www.obamacaretruth.org/

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2011/01/31/breaking-florida-judge-strikes-down-parts-of-health-care-reform/?iref=allsearch