AM 560 WIND Cram for the Exam--Live Blogging Notes

AM 560 WIND
877-560-9463
AP Gov Review:

5/5/2008

"Cram for the Exam"

Brian's Notes:


plurality system—electoral system where the candidate with the most votes wins

majority system—electorate system in which a candidate has to win 50% + 1

proportional representation—seats in part of gov are assigned by % of votes

Heart of Atlanta Motel—CRA 1964, Congress enforcement of segregation: SC says that Congress could use powers of commerce regulation to enforce that law

Brown v. Bd.--equal protection clause

Lower House—House of Representatives—direct representation (filter), where people govern (closed rule usually) *faster

Upper House—before 17th Amendment—aristocracy, does more of the work, treaties, Prez appointments *slower

campaign money—“money is the mother's milk of politics”

hard money—McCain-Feingold-$2300 *limits, perception of fatcats etc bipartisan & supreme court have upheld

soft money—doesn't exist any more, no longer part of the system

527s are the loophole—Iron Triangle-Congress, a Federal department or agency, and a particular industry: especially—protected by 1st Amendment

Interest groups—have lots of information, necessary

527s—not created by McCain Feingold—IRS created, loophole: MoveOn.org, unaffiliated, unintended consequence of McCain Feingold bill

Impeachment Process—check on executive branch—impeach sitting official

impeachment—accusing person of “high crimes & misdemeanors”--House of Reps charges, simple majority --> Senate needs to convict on 2/3 supermajority

Playing By the Numbers: 435—House Representatives
270—electoral votes magic number
60—number of supermajority
4—rule of four

"5 Party System"—aka New Deal Coalition—critical elections, party alignments—FDR 1932 election reaching out to different factions Madison's Federalist #10

Amicus curiae—friend of the court, legal document, attempt by certain elites to lobby the court, IGs use these a lot (Obama just filed one—Indiana photo ID for elections case)

writ of certiorari—appeal is granted

writ of habeas corpus—how long can gov can hold you w/o rights

judicial activism—Warren Court to today
what factors do they take into account
facts, precedent, law, intent of law [people look at this differently] (interpretation and political bias)

judicial restraint—strict constructionists

selective incorporation doctrine—14th Amendment applies Bill of Rights to states
Gilow vs. New York—free speech, first one
14th guarantees fundamental rights
2nd Amendment has not been selectively incorporated

Framers—wanted strong central gov & protecting states' rights (10th Amendment)

NCLB—historically state/local dealt with education

Constitution—gives more power to Federal gov

independent agencies—CIA, NASA—outside of cabinet authority but still are scrutinized by Congress

PACs—legal entity of a special interest group that can raise money & spend it on (electioneering)
due process—rights of accused

anti-federalists/federalists--anti/supporters of Constitution

hold/filibuster—ended by cloture, only in Senate: only used by minorities

(they never talked about the hold procedure, but that's when one member of the Senate stops the debate/process of a bill so that others can research topic or actually show up to the vote; basically it's a pause in voting procedure

New Federalism—Nixon campaign ploy, wanted to get Conservative Southerners back on board by saying that “return to New Federalism” “Devolution”

Word Up Game: of 100 most important terms “GSL—government as a second Language”
“necessary and proper cluase”—Congress can make all laws necessary and proper to enforce their powers (elastic/implied)
coattails—popular prez candidate, helps lower members of that party
suffrage/franchise—voting rights expansion (right to vote)
national convention—party gathers to official nominate party candidate for Prez

Case Review: Roe v. Wade—privacy, Griswold v. Connecticut—abortion rights, Marbury v. Madison—judicial review, McColluch v. Maryland—fed gov has power to regulate commerce, US v Nixon, New York Times v. US, Bush v. Gore—SC makes federalism decision; nat'l and state&local rules; States' Rights

formal/informal powers—founder envisioned limited gov=Constitution
prez—biggest power is persuasion

*Fed gov power has grown, traditions, Constitution has not grown

power of the purse—Congress has the power to raise taxes & spend that money—Prez must go thru Congress to get money appropriations
(prez has “power of the sword”)

prez qualifications—40 years old, 14 year resident, natural born citizen, regular guy-looking/acting is important (think JFK) but consider...200 years ago we wanted Obama “elite's” in office (Washington, Hamilton)

logrolling—trading votes, favors, quid pro quo (pork trading-w/o this=gridlock)

Cabinet—Prez-chief executive, in charge of bureaucracy which enforces laws
cabinet was created by Washington

independent regulatory agencies—non-political, enforce laws

Economics: gov uses power to regulate economy
fiscal-tax/spend
monetary-availability of credit, interest rates (the stuff the Fed does)

*Congress @ work is Congress in committee
committees—study, mark up, amend, defeat bills
House—Ways & Means-deals w/tax law first

Bipartisan Campaign Finance Reform act—no soft money
Buckley v. Valeo—SC says right of money as a 1st Amendment privilege free speech-right now it's a Constitutional privilege

(FYI: they used the School House Rock Bill Song as an intro into a new segment)

Primaries—dual—two simultaneous primaries [Dem/Rep]
(closed primary)--have to register with certain party
caucuses—discussion
weakening of parties--it's been going on a bit with the increasing number of citizens calling themselves independents

direct democracy—referendums; implementing public policy by people themselves

Free Response Questions Prediction:
short responses: answer as outlined


1. Congressional leadership—incumbency, speakers, whip, leaders vs. rank & file (party unity index)
2. Separation of powers
3. federalism
4. role of media—heightening power of prez
5. cases


Ratification—amending Constitution—Congress proposes, States ratify

sovereignty—who has power to rule
people have sovereignty, consent of governed, “we the people” popular sovereignty

Imperial Presidency—ascending power over time
War Powers Act—prez has to share a bit more w/Congress-tell Congress what's going on

realignments vs. dealignments
realignment—high turnout, lots of voters switch, 1932 best example, FDR
dealignment—breaking away from traditional party

free riders—[people who do not register in unions but still get the benefits]


*(the two guys from Stevenson did not know what this was, so they talked about the fact that there are going to be questions we do not know and that the AP board group that grades the Gov tests will probably throw out these types of questions that no one knows)

two party system—expedite legislative process
multiparty—coalition parties, chaos—forced to form broad based
voter turnout—down, 3rd party voters choose not to vote
fringe ideas—usually not adopted by major parties
3rd parties—sting and then die

Bill --> Law—House Rules—schedules rules for debate
Conference committee—iron out differences from two different versions
*process not meant to be pretty or efficient

independent regulatory bureaucracies—enforce vague laws, quasi-legislative because they decide what it means (ex: teachers create policy by spending money)

caller Ben from Boston—advice before test: sleep, breakfast (Barack Obama supporter, "hope inspiring" as described by hosts of show)

Authority of the media—media is 4th estate, transparent gov—free press is necessary for that, education

Last Minute Advice: Fight the Fatigue



then they started signing off with some plugs and more personal stuff:

“citizenship is democracies highest office” one of the hosts said
—it's all worth the studying even if you don't do as well as you'd like

...it's too late, but this was a really good review...

for those of us who didn't listen to the show: I'm pretty sure that we were a lot more in depth that roughly 85% of the callers, so maybe that correlates to about 80% or so of the nation's APGov students/teachers!

some stuff they never talked about that I think is pretty important:
Voting Factors:
Latency—unexpressed political attitudes
Intensity—emphatic feelings for/against something
Salience—personal relevance of issues


Good Luck Everyone!

Brian