Deck 1: The Study of American Government

Question 1

The federal budget initially opposed for 2012 called for almost ____ trillion dollars in spending.

A) 1
B) 2
C) 4
D) 5
E) 7

Answer 1

C

Question 2

The financial position of the state and national governments under the Articles of Confederation could be best described as

A) sound, strong, and based on a large surplus of revenue.
B) sound, strong, but uncertain around the edges.
C) uniformly stable at the state level, but the national government struggled with debt.
D) stable at the national level with little cause for concern in any of the states.
E) growing debt at the national level and several states with financial crises.

Answer 2

E

Question 3

Today, the U.S. federal income tax takes an average of what percent of taxpayers' income?

A) 10
B) 15
C) 21
D) 43
E) 45

Answer 3

C

Question 4

Which delegate to the Constitutional Convention was worried that the new government that he helped to create might be too democratic?

A) John Adams
B) George Mason
C) Alexander Hamilton
D) Thomas Jefferson
E) Patrick Henry

Question 5

By authority, the authors mean

A) the right to use power.
B) the manner in which power is spread.
C) the use of power for good causes.
D) the desire to have power.
E) the desire to give power to others.

Question 6

Most people holding national political office are

A) middle class.
B) middle age.
C) males.
D) Protestant.
E) All of the above.

Question 7

The text suggests that, during the 1950s, the federal government would have taken very little interest in

A) a factory closing its doors.
B) a profession not accrediting a member.
C) a university refusing an applicant.
D) A, B, and C.
E) Both A and C.

Question 8

The text argues that political power is inextricably bound with

A) mass media power.
B) economic theories.
C) an elitist attitude.
D) religious and moral values.
E) political purposes.

Question 9

Formal authority refers to a right to exercise power that is derived from a(n)

A) official ceremony.
B) majority vote.
C) consensus.
D) popular consensus.
E) governmental office.

Question 10

The text notes a tendency for issues that once were ________ to become ________.

A) simple; complicated
B) public; secret
C) social; political
D) private; public
E) economic; social

Question 11

Individuals have power when they are able to

A) get elected to office.
B) be present at behind-the-scenes political meetings.
C) serve their fellow human beings.
D) get others to do what they want them to do.
E) vote without being influenced by outside forces.

Question 12

The text suggests that in the United States, no government at any level would be considered legitimate if it were not in some sense

A) democratic.
B) altruistic.
C) humanitarian.
D) elitist.
E) aristocratic.

Question 13

Which of the following expressed sincere concern that ratification of the Constitution would result in "an immense increase in taxes"?

A) James Madison
B) Alexander Hamilton
C) George Washington
D) Patrick Henry
E) John Jay

Question 14

Today, a primary source of legitimate political authority in the United States is the

A) Bill of Rights.
B) will of the people.
C) U.S. Constitution.
D) concept of civil liberty.
E) notion of civil rights.

Question 15

Compared with the 1950s, government's involvement in the everyday lives of Americans in the 1990s is

A) about the same.
B) slightly less.
C) considerably less.
D) slightly greater.
E) considerably greater.

Question 16

The fact that the rich are taxed more heavily than the poor and that amendments that gave voting rights to minorities were passed by large majorities suggests that

A) few people pay close attention to political processes.
B) government does not always adopt policies that are to the narrow advantage of those who hold political offices.
C) power is distributed in such a manner that very few people can exercise it in a meaningful fashion.
D) "Who governs?" and "To what ends?" are really the same question.
E) Knowing who governs is usually a good predictor of what policies will be adopted.

Question 17

The term participatory democracy applies most accurately to which of the following societies?

A) Greece in the fourth century B.C.
B) Modern China
C) The United States since 1787
D) The Soviet Union between 1917 and 1990
E) The southeastern United States before the Civil War

Question 18

Debates over government finances have often, at bottom, been debates about

A) the size of government.
B) the competency of government.
C) the legitimacy of the federal government.
D) how to divide responsibility between state and federal governments.
E) All of the above.

Question 19

At the time of the Constitutional Convention, the view that a democratic government was desirable was

A) already waning.
B) close to unanimous.
C) beyond debate.
D) held by the elite only.
E) far from unanimous.

Question 20

The author cites the early presidential administrations, the Civil War, and the New Deal as examples of struggles over

A) what constitutes legitimate authority.
B) who shall govern.
C) who gets what, when, and how.
D) when progress is possible.
E) how power is accumulated.

Question 21

Representative democracy is sometimes disapprovingly referred to as the ____ theory of democracy.

A) limited
B) aristocratic
C) economic
D) authoritarian
E) elite

Question 22

Democracy was defined as the competitive struggle for people's votes by

A) Joseph Stalin.
B) Joseph Schumpeter.
C) Max Weber.
D) Karl Marx.
E) Søren Kierkegaard.

Question 23

All of the following are requirements for representative democracy except that

A) there must be opportunity for genuine leadership competition.
B) individuals and parties must be able to run for office.
C) voters must perceive that a meaningful choice exists.
D) political resources must be distributed in a roughly equal manner.
E) communication must be free.

Question 24

The Framers' concerns about direct democracy are well illustrated by the fact that the Constitution

A) uses the word democracy only once, in the Preamble.
B) uses the word democracy only in reference to Congress.
C) does not feature the word democracy at all.
D) uses only the word democratic.
E) frequently uses the word democracy, but never in reference to the enumeration of a formal power.

Question 25

Under what circumstances would majoritarian politics normally not be effective?

A) When a political leader feels sharply constrained by what most people want
B) When an issue is sufficiently important to command the attention of most citizens
C) When an issue is too complicated or technical for most citizens to understand
D) When an issue is sufficiently feasible so that what citizens want done can in fact be done
E) All of the above.

Question 26

In a referendum, citizens express their opinions about issues by means of

A) letters.
B) the ballot.
C) town meetings.
D) petitions.
E) both A and D.

Question 27

Hobbes believed the answer to the "all-out war" that existed in the state of nature was

A) an all-powerful government.
B) a sense of political justice.
C) an equal division of property and wealth.
D) democratic institutions with limited power.
E) a system of organized, state-sponsored religion.

Question 28

Which of the following thought of democracy as the "rule of the many"?

A) Aristotle
B) Plato
C) Socrates
D) Augustine
E) Plutarch

Question 29

Locke argued that the desire for ___________ will lead people to want a government.

A) wealth
B) self-preservation
C) property
D) justice
E) equality

Question 30

Variants of direct democracy include programs of citizen participation and

A) interest group cooperation.
B) guerrilla warfare.
C) competitive elections.
D) political party centralism.
E) community control.

Question 31

Representative democracy allows individuals to gain political power through

A) media campaigns.
B) quadrennial elections.
C) nonpartisan elections.
D) reciprocal elections.
E) competitive elections.

Question 32

The text suggests that the writings of ______________ were a "decisive influence" on the Founders.

A) Thomas More
B) Sir Edward Frothingham
C) Richard Wilmington
D) Thomas Hobbes
E) John Locke

Question 33

One distinctive feature of many European democracies is that very few offices are

A) independent.
B) effective.
C) elective.
D) active.
E) efficient.

Question 34

When the Framers of the Constitution wrote "republican form of government," they were referring to

A) direct democracy.
B) democratic centralism.
C) mob rule.
D) town meetings.
E) representative democracy.

Question 35

Which statement best reflects the views of the Framers of the Constitution?

A) Elected officials should register majority sentiments.
B) The government should mediate, not mirror, popular views.
C) The views of the people are trustworthy because most are informed and can make reasonable choices.
D) A government should be able to do a great deal of good as quickly and as efficiently as possible.
E) Majority opinion should be irrelevant to the policymaking process.

Question 36

An oligarchy would feature rule by

A) the poor.
B) the military.
C) the wise.
D) the rich.
E) the elderly.

Question 37

The Greek city-state, or polis, extended the right to vote to everyone except

A) slaves.
B) women.
C) minors.
D) those without property.
E) All of the above.

Question 38

In recent times, Aristotle's ideal of democracy has been most closely approximated by

A) the AFL-CIO.
B) the U.S. House of Representatives.
C) the New England town meeting.
D) the Constitutional Convention.
E) the southeastern United States before the Civil War.

Question 39

Democracy in the United States is distinguished from many European democracies by the fact that in the United States,

A) many more offices are elective.
B) more campaign money comes from public sources.
C) more people participate in the electoral process.
D) the government plays a more active role in elections.
E) the government frequently changes hands.

Question 40

The Founders assumed that representative democracy would

A) prevent sweeping changes in policy.
B) allow persons with higher levels of education to exercise more power.
C) result in decisions that were generally efficient and timely.
D) often proceed slowly.
E) Both A and D.

Question 41

Elite theory is NOT based on the following premise.

A) Majoritarian politics is not always controlling.
B) When majoritarian politics is not controlling, policy is likely to be shaped by those who go to the trouble to be active participants in politics.
C) In general, the number of active participants in politics will be small (relative to the total number of potential participants).
D) Despite their small numbers, those who are active participants in politics generally reflect the types of people in the general population and the viewpoints of most citizens.
E) The actual distribution of power, even in a democracy, will depend importantly on the composition of the political elites.

Question 42

Marx would use the label ________ to identify those who dominated government.

A) "proletariat"
B) "bourgeoisie"
C) "power elite"
D) "working class"
E) "laborites"

Question 43

Which of the following statements about political power, or "who governs?" is most accurate?

A) The key to understanding power is to understand the monetary costs of different political decisions.
B) Political power can usually be inferred by knowing what laws are on the books.
C) Political power can usually be inferred by knowing what administrative actions have been taken.
D) Power cannot be realized without institutional arrangements.
E) Most power derives from psychological and social factors such as friendship, loyalty, and prestige.

Question 44

The text insists that if we wish to understand power, we must also understand

A) powerlessness.
B) preferences.
C) economics.
D) ambiguities.
E) weakness.

Question 45

A city council representative faces an important vote on how much, if any, money to spend on a new school. The representative relies on a poll of her constituents to make a decision. This is in keeping with the form of politics known as

A) participatory politics.
B) majoritarian politics.
C) pluralist politics.
D) elitist politics.
E) reciprocal politics.

Question 46

During the early 1930s, very few American families paid income tax.

Question 47

Under the Articles of Confederation, the state governments paid very little of the monies requisitioned by the federal government.

Question 48

The bureaucratic view of political elites is associated with

A) Marx.
B) Mills.
C) Weber.
D) Truman.
E) Dahl.

Question 49

The text presents the historical involvement of the United States in foreign affairs as

A) alternating between outward and inward movements.
B) consistently drifting toward imperialism.
C) devoid of any pattern whatsoever.
D) being buffeted about by external forces.
E) fluid in times of economic prosperity.

Question 50

The trouble with trying to infer the distribution of political power from examining the laws on the books is that

A) laws may be enacted in a great variety of circumstances.
B) laws are made to be broken.
C) legislative codes may be so obscure as to defy anyone's comprehension.
D) many congressional enactments never get recorded at all.
E) the judicial branch is rarely independent from the legislative branch.

Question 51

The interest on the national debt is well over $300 billion a year.

Question 52

Karl Marx is associated with the view that elites reflect

A) a dominant social class.
B) a group of business, military, labor-union, and elected officials.
C) an array of appointed bureaucrats.
D) a large number of organized interests.
E) a flexible alliance of religious and cultural leaders.

Question 53

The text argues that we can know who governs without knowing to what end.

Question 54

The authors suggest that ________ is arguably one of the best barometers of changes in who governs.

A) PAC spending
B) interest group activity
C) the House of Representatives
D) the Supreme Court
E) the policy process

Question 55

Which of the following statements is incorrect?

A) During the 1920s, it was widely assumed that the federal government would play a small role in our lives.
B) From the 1930s to the 1970s, it was generally believed that the federal government should try to solve social and economic problems.
C) Reagan sought to reverse the trend of expanding governmental power.
D) No simple theory of politics is likely to explain both the growth and cutback of federal power.
E) None of the above

Question 56

Regarding the role of self-interest in the positions that people take on important issues, it is safest to say that

A) the self-interest of individuals is usually a complete guide to their actions.
B) economic self-interest may be important but is usually not the only guide to people's actions.
C) organizational self-interest rather than economic self-interest is usually the best guide to people's actions.
D) political preferences can be predicted invariably by knowing an individual's economic or organizational position.
E) self-interest is rarely an important factor in understanding political attitudes and behavior.

Question 57

The pluralist view of power focuses on

A) a dominant social class.
B) a group of business, military, labor-union, and elected officials.
C) an array of appointed bureaucrats.
D) a large number of governmental interests and organized interests.
E) a flexible alliance of religious and cultural leaders.

Question 58

In political analysis, the "cause" is also known as the _______ variable.

A) dependent
B) independent
C) recursive
D) confounding
E) exogenous

Question 59

During the 1920s, the federal government was expected to play a small role in our lives. The fact that there was a dramatic change in expectations from the 1930s to the 1970s suggests that

A) the Marxist view of power is probably the most accurate.
B) no simple theory of politics is likely to explain both sets of expectations.
C) Weber's speculations concerning bureaucracy were largely correct.
D) the assumptions of both Marx and C. Wright Mills concerning power were wildly incorrect.
E) elite theories do not adequately take into account the self-interested nature of politics.

Question 60

According to Tocqueville, Americans are fond of explaining their actions in terms of

A) self-interest.
B) moral precepts.
C) religious commitments.
D) disinterested and spontaneous impulses.
E) philosophical skepticism.

Question 61

The U.S. Constitution was modeled on Aristotelian notions of democracy.

Question 62

One can have political power even if one does not possess formal authority.

Question 63

Power is to be found in all human relationships.

Question 64

None of the Founders was particularly concerned about the government being too democratic.

Question 65

Most people holding national political offices are middle-class, middle-aged, white Protestant males.

Question 66

Many of the Framers of the Constitution thought direct democracy would probably lead to bad decisions.

Question 67

Increasingly, matters once thought to be private are becoming objects of governmental action.

Question 68

The terms participatory democracy and rule of the many are synonymous.

Question 69

A modern example of the Aristotelian ideal of the rule of the many is a New England town meeting.

Question 70

The word democracy does not appear in the U.S. Constitution.

Question 71

The text suggests that presidential speechwriters have the opportunity to exercise power.

Question 72

What makes power rightful varies from time to time and from country to country.

Question 73

During the 1950s, the federal government would have taken little interest in a factory closing down.

Question 74

In the Greek city-state, only property holders were allowed to be citizens.

Question 75

During the 1950s, the federal government would have taken little interest in a university refusing to accept an applicant.

Question 76

The term democracy, as used in the text, means an arrangement for arriving at political decisions in which leaders acquire power by means of a competitive struggle for people's votes.

Question 77

Representative democracy is sometimes referred to as the "elitist theory of democracy."

Question 78

Today, the average income tax rate for a family is above 20 percent.

Question 79

Government policies do not always favor the people who are in the government.

Question 80

Political power is the ability to influence who rules and how rulers behave.