More than ______ nuclear warheads are known to be stockpiled worldwide.
a. 80
b. 900
c. 6,000
d. 22,000
e. 500,000
Today, in national elections, most campaign tasks are handled by
a. former successful politicians.
b. professionals who donate their time for free.
c. amateur politicians.
d. paid professionals.
e. volunteers.
President Obama was among a number of world leaders calling for
a. a lifting of sanctions against Iran.
b. the dissolution of the European Union.
c. trade sanctions against China.
d. an attack on Taiwan.
e. a German change of course in EU monetary policy.
Measured by percentage of GDP devoted to health care, the United States spends
a. less than it did in 1965.
b. about as much as Japan.
c. about as much as Britain.
d. almost twice as much as Britain or Japan.
e. more than all other countries combined.
Heads of regulatory agencies and members of agency boards or commissions are
a. hired through a merit-based open hiring system.
b. appointed by the House of Representatives.
c. appointed by the Senate.
d. appointed by the president.
e. legally required to be all from the same political party.
The set of policies that direct the nature and activities of the U.S. armed forces is called
a. intelligence policy.
b. defense policy.
c. military-industrial policy.
d. foreign assistance policy.
e. diplomacy.
Keynesian economics advocates
a. government control of markets.
b. elimination of all national debt.
c. the use of government spending and taxing to help stabilize the economy.
d. acceptance of the theories of Adam Smith.
e. laissez-faire economics.
Which clause of the Constitution allows Congress to carry out whatever law it needs to
in order to carry out the Constitution’s provisions?
a. Necessary and proper clause
b. Supremacy clause
c. Concurrent clause
d. Reserved powers clause
e. Due process clause
Bureaucracy is the name given to
a. a large organization, structured hierarchically, that carries out specific functions.
b. any organization that has major problems when attempting to accomplish its goals.
c. a group of people who work to enforce policies in a way that prevents quick results.
d. any large branch of a government that has power to interpret laws.
e. government organizations, but not to corporate or university organizations.
Of all the petroleum the United States consumes, how much is imported?
a. One-half
b. Three-fourths
c. Three-fifths
d. Nine-tenths
e. One-fifth
Which of the following statements is true regarding government corporations?
a. Profits from government corporations are distributed as dividends.
b. Government corporations must pay taxes on profits.
c. Government corporations do not employee many people.
d. You can buy shares of stock in both a private corporation and a government
corporation.
e. Government corporations do not have any stockholders.
Which of the following best describes why interest groups try to generate public
pressure?
a. To convince policymakers that public opinion supports the group’s position
b. To get the public to support only environmental initiatives
c. To avoid the legislative process
d. To make bureaucrats testify before Congress
e. To directly lobby lawmakers
Which of the following best describes a national political realignment?
a. When voters abandon a political party in droves
b. When there is a major sea change
c. A large-scale, lasting change in the types of voters who support each of the major
political parties
d. A major exodus from a political party to the point that it disappears
e. A change in the dominant school of thought of the time
A whistleblower is
a. a worker who does not accomplish his or her tasks by the end of a day.
b. someone who brings public attention to gross governmental inefficiency or illegal
action.
c. a worker hired in excess of the labor requirements of an agency.
d. an ombudsman.
e. someone who leaks the contents of a presidential speech to the press before it is
given.
Which of the following statements about the line-item veto is true?
a. It was used only in treaty ratification.
b. It was found to be unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1998.
c. It was given to the president of the United States, but prohibited to state governors.
d. It was denied to the president by an act of Congress.
e. It was frequently used on specific spending provisions by President George W. Bush.
In ___________, the Supreme Court held that if a person accused of a felony cannot
afford an attorney, one must be made available to the accused at the government’s
expense.
a. United States v. Jones
b. Lemon v. Kurtzman
c. Washington, D.C. v. Heller
d. Miranda v. Arizona
e. Gideon v. Wainwright
Probably the most fundamental weakness of the Articles of Confederation, and the most
basic cause of their eventual replacement by the Constitution, was the
a. absence of an executive committee.
b. lack of provision for a president of the United States.
c. one-vote-per-state system.
d. lack of ability to conduct foreign policy.
e. lack of power to raise funds for the militia.
A majority of the bills that Congress acts on originate
a. in congressional committees.
b. with constituents from the district or state.
c. in the executive branch.
d. with individual members of Congress.
e. with focus groups.
State funding to private or parochial schools has raised issues involving the _______ of
the Constitution.
a. First Amendment.
b. Second Amendment.
c. Third Amendment.
d. Fourth Amendment.
e. Fifth Amendment.
One of the two formal methods of proposing an amendment to the Constitution is by
a. popular vote.
b. a two-thirds vote in each chamber of Congress.
c. approval of the legislatures in a majority of the states.
d. a majority vote in both chambers of Congress, provided the amendment is not vetoed
by the president.
e. a judicial submission.
When President ______ appointed Sandra Day O”Connor to the United States Supreme
Court, the appointment was an historic first.
a. Richard Nixon
b. Jimmy Carter
c. Ronald Reagan
d. Bill Clinton
e. Barack Obama
As one aspect of overall foreign policy, ______ concerns itself with the defense of the
United States against actual or potential future enemies.
a. diplomacy
b. preemptive policy
c. anticipatory policy
d. national security policy
e. domestic policy
A major power that Congress has over the federal bureaucracy is the
a. authority to select high-level bureaucrats.
b. power to refuse to appropriate funds for a particular agency.
c. authority to fire bureaucrats for not executing policy passed by Congress.
d. power to find agency actions unconstitutional.
e. power to appoint agency heads.
In the early years, most of the disputes over the boundaries of national versus state
power involved
a. different interpretations of the inherent powers of the national government.
b. the role of the national government in mediating disputes between the states.
c. the ability of the states to enter into international treaties.
d. the enforcement of the Bill of Rights.
e. the necessary and proper clause and the powers of the national government to
regulate interstate commerce.
A month after invading Iraq in 2003, U.S. and British forces
a. still had not had any effect on Saddam Hussein’s regime.
b. had ended Saddam Hussein’s decades-old dictatorship.
c. were finally able to convince the UN Security Council that military force was
necessary in Iraq.
d. were able to withdraw.
e. formally recognized that the war had been a mistake.
During his first two years in office, President ______ attempted to steer a national
health-insurance proposal through Congress, but his plan failed.
a. Jimmy Carter
b. Franklin D. Roosevelt
c. Ronald Reagan
d. Barack Obama
e. Bill Clinton
The type of government the United States has is
a. a direct democracy.
b. a representative democracy.
c. a confederation.
d. a constitutional monarchy.
e. an anarchy.
In contrast to government bureaucracies, private corporations
a. are subject to the dictates of Congress for their funding.
b. have a single set of leaders.
c. require a division of labor to handle complex problems, while governments do not.
d. are supposed to perform their functions efficiently to conserve taxpayer dollars.
e. cannot be considered bureaucratic organizations.
Rights held to be inherent in natural law, not dependent on governments, are called
a. constitutional rights.
b. social benefits.
c. implied rights.
d. natural rights.
e. enumerated rights.
Which of the following best describes the internationally recognized solution to the
Israeli-Palestinian dispute?
a. The Palestinians should be resettled in Israel with full compensation.
b. Israel yields the West Bank and Gaza Strip to the Palestinians in return for security
guarantees and Palestinian abandonment of any right of return to Israel proper.
c. Israelis and Palestinians should both be part of a single state in which both enjoy
equal rights.
d. Israel should cease to exist, because its creation happened illegally.
e. Israel should yield up all territory not granted to it by the UN in 1948, including all of
Jerusalem.
When only declared party members can vote in a primary election, it is called
a. a closed primary.
b. an open primary.
c. a run-off primary.
d. a blanket primary.
e. a caucus.
Which of the following best describes a focus group?
a. A poll carried out on a regular basis to analyze long-term trends
b. When professional consultants organize a discussion about candidates or certain
political issues among small groups of ordinary citizens
c. Phone calls that are made to certain likely voters
d. A group that measures the national mood
e. A census taken of a group
Elite theory suggests that
a. elites rely on the input from interest groups within society.
b. governments can control economic policy, but not social institutions.
c. a single ruler from the elite class controls all aspects of the government.
d. people who are not part of the elite class can never enter it.
e. society is ruled by a small number of people who exercise power to further their
self-interest.
Lobbyists are best defined as
a. any association of individuals.
b. representatives of one of the two major political parties.
c. organizations or individuals that attempt to influence legislation and the government’s
administrative decisions.
d. members of Congress who challenge the majority position.
e. members of the congressional leadership who are in a position to shape the legislative
agenda in a way that benefits powerful interest groups.
A constitutional amendment can be ratified by
a. a majority of the popular vote.
b. a positive vote in three-fourths of the legislatures of the various states.
c. a two-thirds vote in both houses of Congress.
d. approval of the legislatures in two-thirds of the states.
e. presidential approval.