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The United States is among the few countries that does not tax their exports because
a. it does not need the money.
b. exportation is a natural right.
c. the South obtained a promise that export taxes would not be imposed.
d. the World Trade Organization prohibits it from doing so.
e. the president of the United States of America vetoed the bill.
Which of the following best describes judicial activism?
a. The Supreme Court should review as many cases as they can.
b. The federal judiciary should actively check the activities of governmental bodies
when they exceed their authority.
c. The Supreme Court exercises judicial review.
d. The courts should not play politics.
e. that the members of the Supreme Court should "go public" as much as possible.
The American Bar Association and the American Medical Association are examples of
a. interest groups that do not engage in lobbying.
b. interest groups with small memberships (less than 1,000 members).
c. interest groups with relatively little influence.
d. interest groups of professionals.
e. public-interest groups.
Which President introduced the concept of "preemptive war."
a. Ronald Reagan
b. George Bush
c. George W. Bush
d. Lyndon B. Johnson
e. Bill Clinton
A major development in the run-up to the 2010 elections was the growth of the ______
movement.
a. Tea Party
b. Socialist
c. Atheist
d. Neo-Whig
e. Labor
Polls consistently report that the majority of Americans support
a. "big government."
b. "less government."
c. removing protections for endangered species.
d. defunding Medicare.
e. eliminating most social programs.
The concept of political socialization refers to
a. the process by which political beliefs and values are transmitted to individuals.
b. direct payments to individuals from the government through Social Security.
c. individuals who are opposed to the development of a socialistic government.
d. the gradual development of social programs within our national government.
e. the government taking over the economic sector of the country.
Libel is
a. the amount of insurance one must have on a motor vehicle.
b. defamation in writing.
c. printed material that cannot be proved true.
d. untrue rumors spread by word-of-mouth.
e. another word for slander.
After the Speaker of the House, the next person in the line of succession to the
presidency is the
a. Senate president pro tempore.
b. Secretary of State.
c. Chief of Staff.
d. Attorney General.
e. Secretary of Homeland Security.
The units of organization inside a bureaucracy are divided
a. by Congressional committee jurisdiction.
b. by Congressional mandate.
c. according to the desires of the President.
d. according to the specialization and expertise of the employees.
e. along the pay grade of the employees.
Regulatory agencies and commissions perform
a. only executive functions.
b. only legislative functions.
c. only judicial functions.
d. some functions of all branches of governmentlegislative, executive, and judicial.
e. private corporate functions.
All of the following are true of the Supreme Court EXCEPT
a. the Supreme Court's term begins on the first Monday in October.
b. of all the cases decided each year in U.S. courts, the number of cases reviewed by the
Supreme Court represent less than one in four thousand.
c. decisions of the Supreme Court profoundly affect our lives.
d. the Supreme Court has never heard a case involving the issue of capital punishment.
e. the Supreme Court has decided cases involving freedom of speech, the right to bear
arms, campaign finance, and abortion.
Perhaps the closest the United States and the Soviet Union came to a nuclear
confrontation was the
a. Cuban missile crisis.
b. Battle of the Bulge.
c. Tet Offensive.
d. Khmer Rouge massacre.
e. Warsaw standoff.
The two major parties prefer a(n) ______ ballot because it encourages straight-ticket
voting.
a. absentee
b. oral
c. open
d. party-column
e. office-block ballot
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.
______ occurs when an employee is subjected to sexual conduct or comments that
interfere with the employee's job performance.
a. Gender discrimination
b. Wage discrimination
c. Hostile-environment harassment
d. Suffrage
e. Criminal sexual assault
Which of the following best describes bias?
a. An inclination or preference that interferes with impartial judgment
b. Information that is the personal property of someone
c. The news media injecting opinions into reporting to reflect the political attitudes of
its consumers
d. Networks such as the Corporation for Public Broadcasting
e. None of the above
______ controlled the Iraqi government under Saddam Hussein.
a. Kurds
b. Sunnis
c. Shiites
d. Sunnis and Shiites
e. al Qaeda
An independent is a
a. contrarian voter.
b. voter or a candidate who does not identify with a political party.
c. voter or a candidate who votes Democratic.
d. voter or a candidate who votes Republican.
e. voter or a candidate who votes Libertarian.
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.
Which of the following agencies is the initial central personnel agency of the national
government?
a. The Civil Service Commission
b. The Office of Personnel Management
c. The Department of Social Services
d. The Plum Agency
e. Department of Human Resources
Which of the following statements about the Medicare system is false?
a. It pays for hospital and physician bills for U.S. residents aged 65 years or over.
b. It pays part of elderly people's prescription drug benefits.
c. Some health-care providers have become reluctant to accept Medicare patients,
because the Federal Government has cut back on reimbursement rates.
d. Reimbursement rates and caps are set according to international standards.
e. It is funded by taxes on wages and salaries.
Independent expenditures by special interests are
a. coordinated by law with a candidate's campaign.
b. unregulated political expenditures by PACs, organizations, and individuals that are
not coordinated with candidate campaigns or political parties.
c. only allowed by labor and agricultural interests, not business interests.
d. less important in the 2004 elections than in previous election years.
e. no longer visible during modern political campaigns.
The Pendleton Act established
a. federal civil service protections to the states.
b. the judicial appointment system.
c. the maximum number of government employees selected by the spoils system.
d. the principle of employment on the basis of open, competitive examinations.
e. a merit system during the Civil War.
The division of a legislature into two separate assemblies is called
a. representative democracy.
b. checks and balances.
c. a two-party system.
d. bicameralism.
e. dual executives.
For a political party, the national committee
a. is not authorized to play any role in financing the party's activities.
b. is the strongest and most powerful part of the party.
c. is dissolved after presidential elections.
d. chooses the party's nominee for president.
e. directs and coordinates party activities between national party conventions.
During the Cold War, there was
a. a continuous diplomatic exchange between U.S. and Soviet military advisors.
b. never any direct military conflict between the United States and the Soviet Union.
c. an occasional exchange of artillery fire across the East German/West German border.
d. direct fighting between U.S. and Soviet ground troops during the Korean War.
e. occasional dogfights between U.S. and Soviet fighter planes over Europe.
Legitimacy in government is
a. the condition of having no government.
b. only applicable to democratic governments.
c. popular acceptance of the right and power of a government or other entity to exercise
authority.
d. only needed in times of emergency.
e. useful to control immigration.
The merit system refers to
a. job appointment based on competitive examinations.
b. a system of checks on Congress intended to prevent discrimination.
c. a process of selecting policies based on their value.
d. a system that was used for hiring bureaucrats under Andrew Jackson.
e. using work experience in lieu of educational qualifications when applying for federal
positions.
Which of the following statements about executive agreements is true?
a. They are unconstitutional.
b. They are only used when the World Court rejected a treaty.
c. They accounted for almost 95 percent of the understandings reached between the
United States and other nations.
d. The House and the Senate overwhelmingly ratifies them.
e. They are obsolete.
The organization established by President Franklin D. Roosevelt to assist the president
in carrying out major duties is called
a. the kitchen cabinet.
b. the cabinet.
c. the Executive Office of the President.
d. the Council of Presidential Advisors.
e. the system of checks on executive power.
Which of the following best describes indirect techniques employed by an interest
group?
a. Testifying before a Congressional committee
b. Lobbying for legislation that the members of a group might not approve of
c. Using the general public or individual constituents to influence government officials
d. Approaching officials personally to try to influence them
e. Suggesting nominations for federal appointments
Which of the following statements about political officeholders is true?
a. Officeholders represent the general public.
b. Officeholders are fairly evenly divided between men and women.
c. Officeholders are mostly white and male.
d. Officeholders are diverse, racially and ethnically speaking.
e. Officeholders are Roman Catholics.
Public opinion can serve as a check on the judiciary because
a. people have the ability to vote federal judges out of office if they do not approve of
the rulings of the courts.
b. a court may lose stature if it decides a case in a way that markedly diverges from
public opinion.
c. the Supreme Court typically polls the public as a basis for their decisions.
d. the president will veto a Supreme Court decision if it is politically unpopular.
e. Congress will override a decision of the Supreme Court with a majority vote in both
houses.
How did the Supreme Court's decision in Brown v. Board of Education impact
education? Did it create any new problems? If so, what were they, and why?
Answer:Students' answers may vary.
THINK: Choose an important issue such as child care, health care, abortion,
immigration, or welfare, and discuss a government policy a liberal and a conservative
might design to help solve this issue.
Answer:Students' answers may vary.
Could the Obama Administration be said to have carried out true Keynesian economic
policy? Why or why not?
Answer:Students' answers may vary.
Describe the controversy surrounding the slavery issue. How was this resolved at the
Constitutional Convention?
Answer:Students' answers may vary.
Explain the roles played by the members of the House and Senate leadership.
Answer:Students' answers may vary.
Explain why liberals have traditionally endorsed national authority.
Answer:Students' answers may vary.
Why is there a concern in some states with the full faith and credit provision of the
Constitution if some states allow gay marriages?
Answer:Students' answers may vary.
Compared to past campaigns, how different is campaigning in the twenty-first century?
Use specific examples in your answer.
Answer:Students' answers may vary.
Explain the emergence of terrorism as the strategy of choice for groups in the
late-twentieth and early-twenty-first centuries and how governments have attempted to
battle terrorists.
Answer:Students' answers may vary.
How does the filibuster affect the workings of Congress, positively and negatively?
Answer:Students' answers may vary.
Examine the president's role as chief diplomat.
Answer:Students' answers may vary.
Describe how partisan politics affects the federal courts.
Answer:Students' answers may vary.
Explain three ways in which the courts can be checked.
Answer:Students' answers may vary.
Explain the basis of affirmative action and the manner in which it has been addressed
by the Supreme Court.
Answer:Students' answers may vary.
Under which circumstances is the government able to interfere with freedom of speech?
Answer:Students' answers may vary.
Explain the constitutional clash of powers between the president and Congress in the
area of foreign policymaking.
Answer:Students' answers may vary.
What are the constitutional requirements to run for the presidency? Should more be
added? Explain.
Answer:Students' answers may vary.
