Final Exam

Part 1. Vocab handout – Define and apply the words (30 min.).

  • original intent
  • gerrymandering
  • marginal
  • entrepreneurial politics
  • elites
  • plea bargain
  • patronage
  • recidivism
  • equality of outcome
  • rule of law
  • zoning
  • winner take all
  • at large
  • cloture
  • hegemony
  • conscription
  • marginal
  • petition
  • safety net
  • quorum
  • standing
  • Lemon Test
  • determinism

Part 2. Short Answers:  select five for a quick answer and five for a more detailed answer (in your blue book or by email to mlb@school4schools.com). (30 min.) :

  1. Clarify the meaning of the word “state.”
  2. Explain the difference between the executive and political authority of the president.
  3. Explain the “political economy” and what are the extents and limits of the government’s ability to manage the economy. Your answer may include such concepts as federalism, constitutional powers, the courts, the Constitution itself, and private contract.
  4. What is the difference between a Constitutional right and a Constitutional protection?
  5. Explain the origins and intent of the “Necessary and Proper” clause in the Constitution and discuss its extents and limits.
  6. Explain the relationship between the public safety and individual rights in our form of government and its practices, including how the laws are exercised.
  7. How is power distributed in the USA?  How has it changed over time?
  8. How does the American concept of “individualism” fit into a pluralistic society?
  9. Is the U.S. Government legitimate?
  10. Which of the readings do you find the most meaningful? Explain.

Part 3: Blog post “Hofstadter” (25 min):

Evaluate Hoftsadter’s  ideas about the “ambivalence” of the Founders as per the “The American Political Tradition” excerpt in your handout, p. 41-46. Include your views on how Madison’s Federalist No. 10 either fits or not into Hofstadter’s thesis.

Part 4. Blog discussion “Pluralistic Society” (25 min):

Who rules and/or who should rule in a pluralistic society?  Your answers should demonstrate your understanding of the concepts, vocabulary, and analytical tools you have developed in this course. You should make original posts and reply thoughtfully to others.  20 min.

Part 5. Blog posting (or email to Bromley) (10 min):

What do you question about what you previously knew about government and politics before this course, what do you question about what you have learned, what do you question about what you know, and what do you question about what you don’t know?

7 Comments

  1. In a pluralistic society, the leading individual of the majority has the power. While all of these factions are competing for power, the fact of the matter is that there can be only one real winner. As much as we like to pretend that we can share power through a system, this is not the case. There is always someone in charge, and their opinions are what ultimately guide the final decision. With power, realistically, an individual only needs to please their essential supporters and to some extent their influential supporters. However, the interchangeable body – the average voter – does not necessarily need to be pleased. The society believes that the word of the people matters, when in fact the views of the people simply happen to align with the views of the essentials and interchangeables. Granted, this dynamic is a little bit harder to maintain in a democracy, but the foundation still stands. In a pluralistic society, the winner always rules. Whether we like it or not, internal efficacy is largely driven by this group of essentials and influentials. The bureaucrats, politicians and lobbyists all have a greater say than the “average” people because having power is the ultimate goal of any society, and keeping that power is crucial. The majority should run things simply because they have the backing to gain momentum and support from their essentials. Power only changes hands within a pluralistic society because the parties or groups are evenly matched by way of support from their constituencies. Third parties do not gain ground because our system does not allow for it; they do not have the proper amount of support. And the idea that the people should govern a pluralistic society is also not realistic; the people don’t have the proper influence to have control. Most of the population is in the apolitical strata; they are not informed enough, nor do they care enough to take charge. The political strata are largely filled with those essential members, who thus take charge of their stratum and dictate the policies and decisions that are made. So a pluralistic society is run by the leader of the majority because they have the most power, and power equals ruler in most government systems.

    • Kali, I really like your evaluation on who has power, but I think you get a bit carried away in that only one person can have power. At least in the American Democratic system there are 4 groups, The Legislative, Executive, Judicial Branches, as well as the people ( the argument could be made that people are loosing power) so I think its a bit of a stretch in saying that only one can have power. Im right with you in the sense that lobbyists and corporations are gaining unfair shares of power, check out my post. All else looks a okay.

  2. In a pluralistic society, the government rules through the majority. The pluralism is mostly within the people who are overlooked by the government. A pluralistic society holds various factions. The majority rules because the minority’s voice is excluded. The larger faction with the popular opinion dominates and the minority is disregarded.
    According to Madison, factions are harmful to society and can only be abolished by removing the causes or controlling the effects. You could remove the causes by destroying liberties but that would be unacceptable or you could homogenize and standardize everyone’s thoughts to be the same but that would be nearly impossible. If government were to control the effects, that would essentially be a tyranny so the only solution to pluralism and factions would be a republican government. However, Madison recognizes the advantages of pluralism. With a diverse group of people, this widens the talent pool and there are more benefits with many different people. There is more competition of ideologies and deviance to norms.

  3. Part 4: A pluralistic society is one that has many parts, and they all function cooperatively in order to promote a common good in society. It should represent a diversity of views and in competition. In todays economy, large conglomerates such as Monsanto, Utopia, Coca Cola, Pepsico, and Nestle are all taking control of other smaller companies and in doing so are causing a loss in diversity, and representation in our democracy. They are unjustly taking control of the pluralistic society and are closing the gap between those who rule, and the ruled. This harms representation and competition because our government chooses to give attention and represent the opinions of the large companies over the smaller ones.

    Like federalism, the national government still remains in control. However, in the market place, the acquisition by big companies I mentioned earlier; this would be like some of the states ( CA, ID, NY) taking to much control over the smaller ones and this harms the pluralistic system is unjust.

    • Why shouldn’t large companies be allowed to have a large influence? They have a higher stake in the government and should have the right to have more of a say. And was the pluralistic society ever just in the first place?

  4. PART 2
    1. Sovereign leadership; the government ownership, state poverty which are invested in the states but not in individuals or communities. State ownership, also known as public ownership.
    2. Executive authority is the presidential job, him doing his job well. Political authority is the Presidents act which is included in many cases of government, Militias, Court, etc.
    3. The political economy’s limits are such as in the Constitutional itself. The constitution has the limit to give people rights, and limits to make laws that drives the people out of their heads: They then hate the Constitution.
    4. Constitutional right is the right of the people to make petitions, freedom to do whatsoever they ought,etc. And the constitutional protection protects such business, public safety, governmental powers.
    7. Power in the U.S was given through Guns, government. The founding fathers fought for liberty thus has given U.S the title of having powers. And now its starting to fate away because guns are to be banned from society.
    8. Individualism that may be of a pluralistic society, is one that thinks only about himself and his gains.
    10. Madison’s reading was the most favored reading of mine because it describes how the government should work and what are the cause and affects of factions, what norms causes such thing..

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