Deck 30: A Nation Transformed, the Twenty-First Century

Question 1

How did the Bush administration go about fighting a war on terror?

Answer 1

Through both internal measures such as the Patriot Act and international unilateral force, such as that used in Afghanistan.

Question 2

Give an example of the "dark side" practices used by the Bush administration

Answer 2

The use indefinite detention at Guantanamo Bay or the use of torture.

Question 3

How did Operation Iraqi Freedom develop?

Answer 3

It moved very quickly and easily swept through Iraq, toppling the Hussein regime.

Question 4

What were at least two of the effects when the housing bubble burst?

Question 5

How did the Obama administration try to deal with the financial crisis?

Question 6

Explain at least two of the measures mandated by the Affordable Care Act

Question 7

Explain at least one of the reasons that Mitt Romney struggled to connect with voters during the 2012 election.

Question 8

Why did George W. Bush decline to support the Kyoto Protocol?

Question 9

How did the job market affect the geographic dispersal of the Hispanic population of America in the early 21^st century?

Question 10

How did technology affect the Black Lives Matter movement?

Question 11

Which two crises bookended the presidency of George W. Bush?

A) 9/11 and the 2008 financial crisis
B) 9/11 and the Iraq War.
C) Hurricane Katrina and the Boston Marathon bombing.
D) Hurricane Katrina and the Russian invasion of the Ukraine.

Question 12

How did George W. Bush compare to his father politically?

A) He was more liberal.
B) He was more conservative.
C) He only won one term compared to his father's two.
D) He had significantly more political experience.

Question 13

Who did George W. Bush defeat in the 2004 election?

A) Al Gore.
B) Hillary Clinton.
C) John Kerry.
D) Howard Dean.

Question 14

Which of the following did George W. Bush successfully pass through congress?

A) Greater banking regulations.
B) A total ban on partial birth abortions.
C) Tax cuts.
D) Social security reform.

Question 15

What did the USA Patriot Act do?

A) Increased government transparency.
B) Eased citizenship requirements.
C) Established a fund to pay those who reported terrorist threats.
D) Made it easier for the government to spy on Americans.

Question 16

Neoconservatism is the idea that

A) The United States should raise taxes.
B) The United States should unilaterally promote democracy abroad.
C) All federal power should be returned to the states.
D) The United States should ensure its international allies agree with all plans.

Question 17

President Bush joyfully declared the "Mission Accomplished" in which nation in 2003?

A) Afghanistan.
B) Iraq.
C) Pakistan.
D) Vietnam.

Question 18

After 2003, Afghanistan and Iraq

A) Continued to be in turmoil.
B) Experienced quick peace.
C) Were quickly abandoned by American troops.
D) All of the above.

Question 19

Which of the following factors in part caused the early 2000s housing bubble?

A) Banks making extensive use of subprime mortgages with high interest rates.
B) Fewer houses being built.
C) Limited available credit.
D) All of the above.

Question 20

Which war did Barack Obama promise to end?

A) The was on Christmas.
B) The war in Afghanistan.
C) The war in Iraq.
D) The war on terror.

Question 21

The Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 helped which industry?

A) Automobiles.
B) Banking.
C) Student loans.
D) Construction

Question 22

Which of the following occurred when the housing bubble burst?

A) Foreclosures increased.
B) The home construction industry suffered.
C) Some banks failed.
D) All of the above.

Question 23

Who was John McCain's running mate in the 2008 election?

A) Mitt Romney.
B) Sarah Palin.
C) Mike Huckabee.
D) Herman Cain.

Question 24

In the 2008 election

A) The election hinged on a recount of the vote in Florida.
B) Obama lost the popular vote but won the Electoral College.
C) Obama narrowly defeated John McCain.
D) Obama won the highest percentage of the popular vote in two decades.

Question 25

Which of the following areas did the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 provide funding for?

A) Housing.
B) Health Care.
C) Infrastructure.
D) All of the above.

Question 26

For a brief time in 2009, the US Treasury temporarily became the owner of which company?

A) Tesla.
B) Walmart.
C) GM.
D) Amazon.

Question 27

After passage of a major bill in 2010, Americans were required to purchase what?

A) Health insurance.
B) Car insurance.
C) House insurance.
D) Life insurance.

Question 28

Which of the following measures did the Affordable Health Care Act of 2010 put into effect?

A) Paying for all healthcare costs for Americans.
B) Preventing insurance companies from denying coverage because of preexisting conditions.
C) Limited the number of people eligible for Medicaid.
D) Disallowed parents from covering their children on their health plans after age 18.

Question 29

The Obama administration killed Osama Bin Laden during a raid in which country?

A) Iraq.
B) Afghanistan.
C) Pakistan.
D) Saudi Arabia.

Question 30

Which of the following is not an idea championed by progressives?

A) President Obama should have punished Wall Street.
B) President Obama should have taxed the rich more heavily.
C) President Obama should have kept US troops in Iraq.
D) President Obama should have implemented a more comprehensive health care plan.

Question 31

The "Tea Party" voiced which of the following ideologies?

A) Demands for greater social services.
B) Anger at federal activism.
C) Demands for more moderate Republican candidates.
D) A belief in the monarchy.

Question 32

Occupy Wall Street demonstrated on behalf of which group?

A) Bankers.
B) The "99 percent."
C) "The undervalued."
D) "The overlooked."

Question 33

Mitt Romney is the former governor of which state?

A) Massachusetts.
B) Utah.
C) Vermont.
D) California.

Question 34

After the 2012 election

A) The government was still divided.
B) Democrats had unified control of government.
C) Republicans had unified control of government.
D) The Republicans controlled the Presidency, but Democrats controlled Congress.

Question 35

How did President Obama deal with an increasingly dysfunctional Congress during his second term?

A) He did very little.
B) He achieved major compromises.
C) He increasingly relied on the executive power of the presidency.
D) He demanded that Congress "shut down."

Question 36

President Obama's Clean Power Plan

A) Paid for all costs of installing solar panels.
B) Strictly regulated coal-burning power plants.
C) Promoted nuclear power.
D) All of the above.

Question 37

The Paris Agreement

A) Set mandatory targets for reducing greenhouse gases.
B) Set voluntary targets for reducing greenhouse gases.
C) Was not signed by the United States.
D) None of the above.

Question 38

Vladimir Putin tried to restore which nation's power and influence?

A) Germany.
B) Poland.
C) The Ukraine.
D) Russia.

Question 39

Which of the following nations experienced uprisings during the "Arab Spring"?

A) Syria.
B) Egypt.
C) Libya.
D) All of the above.

Question 40

The Trans-Pacific Partnership was partly intended to counter the growing influence of which country?

A) China.
B) Japan.
C) Russia.
D) Vietnam.

Question 41

During President Obama's second term

A) He regained public approval.
B) Public approval dropped.
C) Unemployment rose.
D) The stock market cratered once more.

Question 42

The Black Lives Matter movement emerged in response to what?

A) Colin Kaepernick's kneeling during the National Anthem.
B) The murder of Trayvon Martin.
C) The police killing of Michael Brown.
D) The Rodney King beating.

Question 43

"Dreamers" is a term for whom?

A) A white supremacist group.
B) The rise in the Hispanic population.
C) Undocumented immigrants who wanted to go to graduate school.
D) Undocumented immigrants brought illegally as children to the United States.

Question 44

2003's Supreme Court case Lawrence v. Texas effectively legalized what?

A) Affirmative action.
B) Gay marriage.
C) Burning the American flag.
D) Gay sexual behavior.

Question 45

2015's Supreme Court case Obergefell v. Hodges effectively legalized what?

A) The Affordable Care Act.
B) Same-sex marriages.
C) "Don't ask, Don't Tell."
D) Social security for undocumented immigrants.

Question 46

"Bathroom bills" are aimed at which population?

A) Transgender people.
B) African-Americans.
C) The gay population.
D) Undocumented immigrants.

Question 47

Americans born after the 1980s

A) Are sheltered "millennials."
B) Are more likely to pray daily.
C) Are less likely to attend religious services.
D) Generally refuse to say "Merry Christmas."

Question 48

By 2018, about what percentage of Americans worked in factories?

A) 25 percent.
B) 10 percent.
C) 50 percent.
D) 1 percent.

Question 49

The head of one restaurant company explained that which worker population was "always polite" and "never shows up late"?

A) Robots.
B) Mexican-Americans.
C) Women.
D) Men.

Question 50

In the early 21^st century, the United States

A) Had the biggest gap between rich and poor in the world.
B) Had hundreds of billionaires.
C) Had a shrinking middle class
D) All of the above.

Question 51

Why does the unemployment rate "hide" Americans' economic challenges to a degree?

A) It counts people who had given up looking for work.
B) It is produced by a partisan office.
C) It is a voluntary survey.
D) It only counts people working or looking for jobs.

Question 52

The Me Too and Time's Up movements addressed

A) The problems young people faced.
B) African-American civil rights.
C) The sexual harassment and assault of women.
D) All of the above.

Question 53

Which of the following issues do Millennials face?

A) High tax bills as a result of huge wage increases.
B) Large student loan bills.
C) Too many job opportunities.
D) All of the above.

Question 54

2002's McCain-Feingold Act

A) Regulated the financial industry.
B) Strictly limited the expenditures certain groups could make to influence elections.
C) Strictly limited carbon emissions.
D) None of the above.

Question 55

Which of the following ideologies might be expressed by a "left of center populist" in the Democratic Party?

A) A demand for single-payer health care.
B) Lower taxes.
C) Deregulation.
D) An interventionist foreign policy.

Question 56

Which politician represented leftwing populism during the 2016 election?

A) Hillary Clinton.
B) Donald Trump.
C) Joe Biden.
D) Bernie Sanders.

Question 57

In the 2016 election

A) Donald Trump won the popular vote but lost the electoral college.
B) Donald Trump won the electoral college but lost the popular vote.
C) Hillary Clinton won the majority of white voters.
D) Donald Trump won the majority of African-American voters.

Question 58

Which bill did Republicans fail to repeal in the first two years of the Trump administration?

A) The Paris Agreement.
B) The Affordable Care Act.
C) Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA).
D) The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).

Question 59

In 2017, during an FBI investigation of the Trump campaign's potential collusion with Russia during the election, President Trump fired whom?

A) Robert Mueller.
B) Jeff Sessions.
C) James Comey.
D) Mike Pence.

Question 60

Compare the foreign policies of the Bush and Obama administrations.

Question 61

How did the American economy change during the early 21^st century, and how did it affect Americans?

Question 62

Did the United States become more accepting of diversity during the 20^th century?

Question 63

Explain how new political views have divided both traditional American political parties.