POSC 100 midterm FINAL VERSION

1."The fine tuned liberal democracy hypothesis: as a tribal primates, human beings are unsuited for life in large, diverse secular democracies, unless you get certain settings finely adjusted to make possible the development of stable political life. This seems to be what the founding fathers believed. Jefferson, Madison and the rest of those eighteenth-century deists clearly did think that designing a constitution was like designing a giant clock, a clock that might run forever if they chose the right springs and gears."

The idea that we enjoy liberal democracy is based on things that were once constant are now variable. If we accept this, then of course there will be instability

"This is important because...";

1.An economic system where the government owns the means of production
2.No private ownership of any means of production. Land, tools, raw materials, laborers, all working for/owned by the government.
3.A goal of socialism is to evenly distribute everything. The government will manage the distribution.
4.The issues:
a.Incentives to work and innovate are removed
b.Economic decisions subordinated to political considerations
i.Loyalty over merit for the citizenry
ii.Central planning decisions
c.Elimination of the most productive elements of society
d.Inequality not unique to capitalism;

You are essentially talking about capitalism, but of a different flavor. That flavor: Very high tax over the wealth of the means of production and the benefits of that production.

An economic system where the means of production is owned by private companies(you need a robust government(that enforces law) for capitalism)
Capitalism requires government intervention;

An expansion of medicaid, most of employers must provide health insurance, have insurance or face surtax, prevents rejection based on pre-existing condition. Also referred to as "Obamacare", signed into law in 2010.;

the institutions and procedures through which a people and their territory are ruled.(power);

A free rider is someone who wants others to pay for a public good but plans to use the good themselves; if many people act as free riders, the public good may never be provided.
Markets often have a difficult time producing public goods because free riders attempt to use the public good without paying for it.
The free rider problem can be overcome through measures that ensure the users of a public good pay for it. Such measures include government actions, social pressures, and collecting payments—in specific situations where markets have discovered a way to do so.

Goods that are collectively produced and freely available for anyone's consumption.;

benefits that are available only to group members as an inducement to get them to join;

The principal–agent problem refers to the conflict in interests and priorities that arises when one person or entity (the "agent") take actions on behalf of another person or entity (the "principal").[1] The problem worsens in situations when there is a greater discrepancy of interests and information asymmetry between the principal and agent, as well as when the principal lacks the means to punish the agent.[2] The deviation from the principal's interest by the agent is called "agency costs".[3];

People voting on legislation that they do not fully understand the pretext, context, and outcome. People not understanding how the system works;

a small group of people having control of a country, organization, or institution.;

a system of government by the whole population or all the eligible members of a state, typically through elected representatives.;

a system of government by one person with absolute power.;

a government in which a constitution has authority to place clearly recognized limits on the powers of those who govern;

Authoritarianism is marked by submission to authority. It is the opposite of individualism and democracy. In authoritarian government systems, the political power is condensed into one authority figure or figures. Generally, they assume power and are not elected by the people. Their power is unrestrained, and they answer to no one.;

A totalitarian government system is where the one in power, or the ones in power, see no limitation to their authority and seek to control every aspect of the public and private life in any way possible.;

representative democracy characterized by popular sovereignty, liberty, and political equality;

A belief that ultimate power resides in the people.;

the principle that all citizens are the same in the eyes of the law;

giving people an equal chance to succeed;

In a democracy, majority rule is the idea that the group with the most members has the most political power in a country and can make binding decisions, while minority rights are protected rights that are enjoyed by everyone, even those not considered part of the majority;

James Madison, Thomas Jefferson and other leaders who laid the groundwork for the United States;

Signed in 1776 by US revolutionaries; it declared the United States as a free state. Separated the Revolutionists from the rule of the British Monarchy;

The Articles created a loose confederation of sovereign states and a weak central government, leaving most of the power with the state governments. The need for a stronger Federal government soon became apparent and eventually led to the Constitutional Convention in 1787;

a league or alliance; specif., independent nations or states joined in a league or confederacy whose central authority is usually confined to common defense and limited political cooperation

a lawmaking body made up of two chambers or parts (House of Reps = Congress and senate)

Introduced to the Constitutional Convention in 1787, James Madison's Virginia Plan outlined a strong national government with three branches: legislative, executive, and judicial. The plan called for a legislature divided into two bodies (the Senate and the House of Representatives) with proportional representation.;

The New Jersey Plan was one option as to how the United States would be governed. The Plan called for each state to have one vote in Congress instead of the number of votes being based on population. This was to protect the equality of the states regardless of population size;

Compromise made by Constitutional Convention in which states would have equal representation in senate and representation based on population in congress;

Constitutional division of powers among the legislative, executive, and judicial branches, with the legislative branch making law, the executive applying and enforcing the law, and the judiciary interpreting the law;

A system that allows each branch of government to limit the powers of the other branches in order to prevent abuse of power;

Allows the supreme court to determine the constitutionality of laws;

agreement providing that enslaved persons would count as three-fifths of other persons in determining representation in Congress. created for the purpose of taxing slave owners since slaves were treated as property.;

The powers explicitly given to Congress in the Constitution.;

Constitutional clause that gives congress the power to make all laws "necessary and proper" for executing its powers;

Constitutional clause that gives Congress the right to regulate interstate commerce. This clause has been broadly interpreted to give Congress a number of implied powers.;

supporters of the Constitution, DO NOT WANT A STRONG CENTRAL GOV

people who opposed the Constitution;

collection of writings about why states should ratify the Constitution;

An essay written by Madison. The main point of Federalist Paper 10 is that a strong federal government can protect liberty because it guards against the dangers of control by a narrow interest. Madison also called it "faction.";

Federalist No. 51 tries to explain how the new constitution will prevent departments of the government from intruding into each others' domains, besides giving citizens the power to prevent their elected representatives from abusing their powers. It believes in the system of 'checks and balances', in which the government is divided into different departments which have conflicting powers that balance out each other.

(Checks and balances);

a form of government that combines elements of democracy, aristocracy and monarchy;

a body of people representing the states of the US, who formally cast votes for the election of the president and vice president.;

an agreement among a group of U.S. states and the District of Columbia to award all their respective electoral votes to whichever presidential candidate wins the overall popular vote in the 50 states and the District of Columbia.;

members of the Electoral College who do not vote for whom they are pledged to;

proposals to change a constitution, typically enacted by a supermajority of the legislature or through a statewide referendum;

review by the US Supreme Court of the constitutional validity of a legislative act.;

Equal, rights-bearing citizens (regardless of ethnicity, or race, color, religion, gender, language). United in patriotic attachment. Shared set of political practices and values.;

Nationhood is defined by race, ethnicity, language, religion, customs, and traditions;

Opposed to a strong central government
A system in which power is divided between the federal and state governments;

Main Overview:
Each state gets certain number of votes (538 total need 270 to win election. -> popular vote != winner. -> each state can decide how to distribute votes through electors (Get a certain number of votes per state, you can give the votes to one candidate or come up with something else);

Consequences:
Faithless electors -> small states have more influence -> no 3rd parties;

Alternates:
Direct vote: Changing / removing the electoral college == changing the constitution. Will not happen! -> Vote by congressional district (Instead of overall votes, delegate votes by candidate, by district) -> National Popular Vote Interstate Compact (States will do a popular vote and give all electoral votes to that candidate [legal]);

As time goes on, the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. half a billion projected to live in extreme poverty in 2030. incomes are stagnant while cost of living rises.;

Mao Zedong. From 1958 to 1962, his Great Leap Forward policy led to the deaths of up to 45 million people – easily making it the biggest episode of mass murder ever recorded. The Great Leap Forward was a five-year economic plan executed by Mao Zedong and the Chinese Communist Party, begun in 1958 and abandoned in 1961. The goal was to modernize the country's agricultural sector using communist economic ideologies.;

For the previous 150 years, Marxists had been saying that there is such a thing as a progressive history and where it's leading us to is communism. And I simply made the observation that if we're going to evolve to anything, we were going to evolve to a liberal democracy tied to a market economy.;

lots of very ambiguous wording. Makes you ask, “What does this mean?” ambiguity is functional when you have a disagreement. The devil is in the details. ;

The Electoral Count Act (ECA) governs the process of casting and counting Electoral College votes for president and vice president. The statute sets the timeline for states to appoint presidential electors in November and for electors to cast their votes in December, and describes the process that Congress should follow when it counts the states’ electoral votes in January.