The two-party system has worked in the United States, but not in Europe, because
a. Americans are more aggressive and less deferential.
b. fewer Americans want to participate in party activities.
c. Americans agree on enough issues to form broad coalitions.
d. Americans are more economically conservative than Europeans.
e. Europeans are less ideological than Americans.
The text suggests that elections are decided by __________ voters.
a. “clothespin”
b. ideological
c. prospective
d. retrospective
e. sociotropic
All of the following statements concerning the filibuster are correct except
a. it became a common feature of Senate life by the end of the nineteenth century.
b. it became an unpopular feature of Senate life by the end of the nineteenth century.
c. it was used by liberals and conservatives alike.
d. there have been attempts to restrict its use.
e. today, it takes seventy-five senators to end debate.
The Endangered Species Act of 1973 is primarily implemented by
a. the Environmental Protection Agency and Fish and Wildlife Services.
b. the Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration.
c. the Office of Endangered Animals and the Environmental Protection Agency.
d. the Department of Agriculture and the Environmental Protection Agency.
e. None of the above is true.
The most common form of political participation is
a. voting.
b. contributing money.
c. writing letters to newspapers.
d. attending political rallies.
e. joining political organizations.
Usually, the Supreme Court has reacted to wartime curtailments of civil liberties by
a. upholding them.
b. rejecting them.
c. upholding them at first, limiting them later.
d. rejecting them at first, reinstating them later.
e. avoiding rulings on constitutionality and consigning such issues to the lower federal
courts.
Which of the following nations was the first to create a nationwide social security
program?
a. The United States
b. Great Britain
c. Sweden
d. Norway
e. Germany
The power of the House Appropriations Committee over agency budgets has recently
diminished, in part because of
a. an increase in marking-up practices by other House committees.
b. congressional concern with meeting spending limits.
c. the 1983 Supreme Court ruling on the legislative veto.
d. a decline in the use of trust funds by Congress.
e. an increase in legislative inducements to restrict spending on entitlement programs.
The cabinet officers are the heads of
a. the major executive departments.
b. the major governmental agencies and commissions.
c. the major governmental agencies.
d. independent agencies and commissions.
e. the minor governmental agencies.
Milton Friedman believed that inflation occurs
a. when the government does not stimulate the economy.
b. when the private sector spends too little.
c. when too much money chases too few goods.
d. when spending is higher than revenue from taxes.
e. when Republicans control the White House.
In recent years, the Supreme Court has ruled that two Kentucky counties could no
longer display the Ten Commandments in
a. courthouses.
b. schools.
c. firehouses.
d. city halls.
e. train stations.
Studies that have shown that genes affect our political opinions also suggest that
a. genes do not have much of an effect on our party affiliation.
b. one can use genetic information to perfectly predict how another may vote.
c. people are predisposed to one political party.
d. genes have no effect on part affiliation.
e. None of the above is true.
Until ratification of the Seventeenth Amendment to the Constitution, members of the
Senate were selected by __________.
a. direct elections
b. the president
c. state legislatures
d. primary runoffs
e. regional coalitions
TheFederalist papers were
a. written at the Constitutional Convention as a way to explain the work that was done
there.
b. composed by Hamilton and Washington just before the meeting at Annapolis.
c. articles written by Hamilton, Madison, and Jay to gain support for the Constitution.
d. adopted by the Constitutional Convention as a substitute for the Bill of Rights.
e. rejected by the Federalists as Antifederalist propaganda.
The Constitution requires that the president be at least __________ years old.
a. 18
b. 21
c. 25
d. 30
e. 35
Who introduced a set of twelve proposals to the First Congress from which the eventual
Bill of Rights would be ratified?
a. Hamilton
b. Jefferson
c. Washington
d. Adams
e. Madison
Al Qaeda means
a. the fight.
b. the base.
c. the mission.
d. the war.
e. the martyr.
What was the Swedish sociologist Gunnar Myrdal referring to when he spoke of
“America’s dilemma”?
a. Affluence
b. Race relations
c. Corporate dominance
d. Political ignorance
e. Economic disparities
This author wrote Democracy in America based on his observations of America from
his two years of traveling across the country to research its prison systems.
a. de Tocqueville
b. Rosseau
c. John Locke
d. Montesquieu
e. Madison
In this decision, the Supreme Court ruled that states should comply with EPA decisions,
even if not explicitly authorized by statute, provided they are reasonable efforts to attain
the goal of law.
a. Union Electric Co. v. Environmental Protection Agency
b. Chevron v. National Resources Defense Council
c. Whitman v. American Truck Association
d. Massachusetts v. Environmental Protection Agency
e. Gibbons v. Ogden
According to this economic theory, cutting taxes will increase people’s incentive to
work, save, andinvest.
a. Keynesian economics
b. Monetarist economics
c. Economic planning
d. Supply-side economics
e. Credit-based economics
The principal work of Congress is __________.
a. debate
b. deliberation
c. representation
d. action
e. Both C and D are true.
Almost every president since Hoover has tried to
a. increase the size of the federal government.
b. decrease the size of the military.
c. decrease the size of the federal government.
d. reorganize the executive branch.
e. increase the size of the press corps.
When Time and Newsweek ran stories about nuclear power, reporters tended to avoid
quoting scientists and engineers in that field because such persons
a. were in favor of nuclear power plants.
b. were against nuclear power plants.
c. rarely talked to media.
d. were required by law to give general, uninformative answers.
e. were outspoken in their criticism of media.
The rapid increase in the number and variety of interest groups and their enlarged role
in governmentare
a. an unintended consequence of federalism.
b. a rational response to the fact that elected officials can tend to only a few things.
c. the inevitable result of a two-party system.
d. the primary cause of increased voter turnout.
e. the primary cause of divided government.
Relative to the notion of democratic government, the Supreme Court’s power of judicial
review
a. places limits on majority rule.
b. is limited to state issues.
c. generally favors the executive.
d. is sometimes democratic, sometimes not.
e. is applied frequently.
The text suggests that the term campaigning has become a synonym for
a. calculating.
b. mobilizing.
c. communicating.
d. reflecting.
e. fundraising.
A policy in which almost everybody benefits and almost everybody pays
a. interest group politics.
b. majoritarian politics.
c. client politics.
d. entrepreneurial politics.
e. logrolling politics.
James Madison felt that direct popular participation in the decisions of government was
a. a recipe for disaster.
b. an eventual goal of the new republic.
c. to be achieved by amending the Constitution.
d. the problem with the British form of government.
e. the desire of his political enemies.
In most cases presented to the Supreme Court, the bulk of the argumentation presented
by either side will be found in the __________.
a. brief
b. certiorari petition
c. oral argument
d. per curiam decision
e. complaint
If California and Arizona sue each other over water usage from the Colorado River, the
case can be heard only
a. by the federal waters rights court.
b. by the Supreme Court.
c. by the high courts in both states.
d. by the U.S. Justice Department.
e. by a high court of a state not involved in the case.
V. O. Key’s classic research in the 1950s found that differences in public opinion were
closely associated with
a. ethnicity.
b. race.
c. gender.
d. occupation.
e. religion.
The Carter-Reagan debate in 1980 was sponsored by the League of Women Voters
(LWV) because
a. the LWV had an exclusive license for that purpose.
b. the LWV threatened to sue the networks.
c. both candidates wanted an impartial forum.
d. the fairness doctrine did not apply.
e. that arrangement allowed circumvention of the equal access rule.
In most parliamentary systems, voters can choose a member of parliament but not the
chief executive.
Research has shown that the net gains from redistricting for one party over the other are
very small.
Many of the powers of the federal government are exercised through the states.
The presidential press secretary is a relatively new White House position, dating from
the Hooveradministration.
It is illegal for an employee to experience a work environment that has been made
hostile or intimidating by a steady pattern of offensive sexual teasing, jokes, or
obscenity.
Compare the voting registration procedures of the United States with the procedures in
other democracies.
America has been slower than other nations to embrace the welfare state.
Describe three types of feminist organizations.
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 passed without a single
Republican vote.
Unlike the excepted service, the competitive service is administered by the Office of
Personnel Management (OPM).
What are four important factors to consider when thinking about the social welfare
policy in the United States?
Discuss James Madison’s worries, expressed in Federalist 10, about the formation of
“factions.”
Describe the 11 years that elapsed between the Declaration of Independence and the
signing of the Constitution in 1787.
A person’s age tends to not have much effect on that individual’s political opinions.
Party is the principal cue in congressional voting.
In most Western European nations, the government owns and operates large parts of the
economy.
The Internet has made it more difficult to raise money from small donors.