+
Related Flashcards
Related Topics
Cards In This Set
| Front | Back |
 Bicameral Legislature A system of legislature in which the legislators are divided into two groups, such as Congress and the Senate. |
 Partisanship Adherence or membership in a distinct organization with the purpose of promoting their agenda in government. If George Washington heard that political parties were going to exist in the future, he would have had a brain anyeurism. |
 Constituency The citizens of any given area or voting bloc that elects a representative, such as the residents of a state or congressional district. |
 Majority and Minority Party The majority party holds more seats than the minority, rendering the minority unable to do much save for act as a nuisance to their opposition. |
 Congressional Leadership Roles The "Whip" leads the minority party, whereas the speaker of the house is the leader of the majority party. The Speaker of the House is designated as third in line to become president should the president and vice president be simultaneously assassinated, and the speaker also gets perks such as going to the hair salon when it is closed during a lockdown that they imposed. |
 Committees Sub-groups of representatives within the house that focus on specific issues. Duties are often relegated to a committee as handling it through the traditional process is laborious and time-consuming. |
 Filibuster Known as "Talking a bill to death", it is a tactic used by minority parties to delay a bill being passed by extending debate on it. |
 Reapportionment The rearranging of congressional districts to fairly represent the state in question. As shown in this image urban areas tend to be given many more districts than rural ones, to the point that you can't even see them all on the map. |
 Incumbant A person occupying an office, typically used to refer to a congressman or president. |
 Enumerated Powers Powers allotted to congress by the constitution itself. Consists of the ability to declare war, introduce bills and borrow excessive amounts of money from foreign governments. |
 Elastic Clause Effectively nullifies the purpose of the enumerated powers, by giving congress access to powers not explicitly outlined in the constitution, that are deemed "Necessary and Proper" at the time. |
 Pork Barrelling A common practice among representatives, especially representatives of the ruling party, which involves procuring federal money, claiming it to be for public projects, but solely channeling it into ones own district or into the areas where one's own voting bloc lives. |
 Cabinet A number of employees that work directly for the president, including the secretaries of state, defense, and treasury, as well as the attorney general and other positions. |
 Executive Office of the President A body of smaller organizations and events directly presided over by the president. Pictured is the 2017 national security council, one of the various councils making up the executive office. |
 White House Office A very pretty room, also a sub-group of the executive office of the president that manages the affairs of the white house itself. |
 Vice President Set to take over if the president should ever be assassinated. Officially they have very little power, but they often informally act as a right-hand man to the president and are put in charge of various things. In some cases they are even the secret brains behind the operation. |
 Electoral College In place to prevent one state from ever getting too much power, it splits the vote into electoral votes for each state. This largely prevents heavily populated urban states from deciding elections single-handedly. Without it, california would win every election just on its own. |
 Term Limits A limit on the number of terms a president can serve. It prevents something like this guy from ever happening here. |
 Succession Described in the constitution as how, should the president die, resign or otherwise be unable to continue his term, the vice president will take over, and how if both of them should undergo such a process, that the presidency moves down the chain of command. |
 Executive Order I ALREADY WROTE ABOUT THIS IN THE LAST UNIT FLASHCARDS REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE Executive orders are an "implied power" given to the president that enables him to pass what are sort of laws, but not really. |
 John Marshall A chief justice of the supreme court notable for having sat on the supreme court for the longest time in history, and for having been by far one of the most influential justices in american history. At least, that's what wikipedia says. |
 Judicial Review The review of legislative actions by a body of judges. These judges may overturn or disregard legislation they deem unconstitutional. They rarely do. |
 Judicial Activism Technically forbidden by the constitution, judicial activism consists of judges basing various decisions on their own political agenda, usually along party lines. Though this is forbidden in practice it is incredibly common, to the point that the supreme court is effectively just another political battleground. |
 Levels of Federal Court The various courts that a case must pass through via appeals until it eventually arrives at the supreme court. |
 Bureaucrat Also known as the Career Politician, the bureaucrat in its natural habitat finds itself in office, acting on behalf of lobbyists. The Bureaucrat is a social species, with bureaucrats networking extensively among themselves in a heirarchy arranged purely on the act of scratching backs. |
 Concurring, Dissenting and Majority Opinions Variations on court decisions, and how the various judges have their opinions. Judges in a minority opinion are classified as dissenting, while the majority holds majority opinion. A unanimous decision is a concurring opinion. |
 Landmark Cases Supreme court cases that resulted in large-scale legal restructuring nationwide, with results like the overturning of segregation. |
 Independent Executive Agencies Agencies that, while part of the executive branch, are not under the president's direct authority. Examples include the CIA, FEMA, and the EPA. They are subject to very little in the way of regulation by any branch, and thus have a lot of legal "Freedoms". |
 Government Corporations Business enterprises that receive federal funding. The postal service and public broadcasting service are major examples of this. |
 Merit System The practice of hiring government employees based on their previous successes and qualifications for the job. In practice this almost never happens. |
