Faction - According to James Madison, a group of people who seek to influence public policy in ways contrary to the public good.

Political party - A group that seeks to elect candidates to public office by supplying them with a label, a "party identification" by which they are known to the electorate.

Functions of political parties - They organize competition by nominating candidates at party conventions, caucuses and/or direct primaries.

National convention - A meeting of party delegates elected in state primaries, caucuses, or conventions that is held every four years. Its primary purpose is to nominate presidential and vice presidential candidates and to ratify a campaign platform.

National committee - A committee of delegates from each state and territory that runs party affairs between national conventions.

Congressional campaign committee - A party committee in Congress that provides funds to members who are running for reelection or to would-be members running for an open seat or challenging a candidate from the opposition party.

National chairman - A paid, full time manager of a party's day-t-day work who is elected by the national committee.

Federal money - Money raised to support the campaign of a candidate for federal office. Amounts regulated by federal law.

Soft money - Money raised by political parties for activities other than directly supporting a federal candidate.

Political machine - A party organization that recruits its members by dispensing patronage; tangible incentives such as money, political jobs, an opportunity to get favors from government and that is characterized by a high degree of leadership control over member activity.

Political action committee (PAC) - A committee set up by and representing a corporation, labor union, or special interest group that raises and spends campaign contributions on behalf of one or more candidates or causes.

Lobbying - A person, usually acting as an agent for an organized group, who seeks to bring about the passage or defeat of legislative bills or to influence their content.

Grass-roots lobbying - Stating a position on a specific legislative proposal to the public, then asking the public to urge their legislator to support that stated position. Nonprofits are limited in the amount they can spend on grassroots lobbying.

Two-party system - A form of party system where two major political parties dominate voting in nearly all elections, at every level. As a result, all, or nearly all, elected offices end up being held by candidates endorsed by one of the two major parties.

Single-member district - Legislative districts from which one representative is chosen.

Plurality election - A single winner voting system often used to elect executive offices or to elect members of a legislative assembly which is based on single member constituencies.

Majority election - The party winning more than 50% of the vote in a constituency is awarded the contested seat.

Runoff election - The two-rounded system used to elect a single winner. Under runoff voting, the voter cast a single vote for their chosen candidate.

Proportional representation - A voting system in which representatives in a legislature are chosen by the proportion of all votes each candidate (or party) gets.

Third party - A political party other than one of the two major parties. It also includes independents and write in candidates.

Platform - A document stating the aims and principles of a political party.

Interest group - Advocacy groups that use various forms of advocacy to influence public opinion and/or policy; they have played and continued to play an important role in the development of political and social systems.

Political efficacy - A citizen's sense that he or she can understand and influence politics.

Public-interest lobby - A political organization, that stated goals of which will principally benefit nonmembers.

Pluralist theory - A theory that competition among all affected interests shapes public policy.

Activist - An individual, usually outside government, who actively promotes a political party, philosophy, or issue he or she cares about.

Australian ballot - A government printed ballot of uniform size and shape to be cast in secret that was adopted by many states around 1890 in order to reduce the voting fraud associated with party printed ballots cast in public.

Motor-voter bill - A bill passed by Congress in 1993 to make it easier for Americans to vote. The law, which went into effect in 1995, requires states to allow voter registration by mail, when one applies for a driver's license, and at state offices that service the disabled or poor.

Poll tax - Money that must be paid in order to vote. There used to be poll taxes in some places in the USA; this tax kept many poor people from voting since they could not afford to pay the tax. The twenty fourth Amendment to the Constitution (ratified in 1964) made poll taxes illegal.

Media consultant - A term used to describe a marketing agent or public relations executive, hired by businesses or political candidates to obtain positive press coverage.

Primary election - An election prior to the general election in which voters select the candidates who will run on each party's ticket.

Caucus (primary) - A private meeting of party members designed to seek agreement on delegates for a state or national nominating convention based on which candidate they wish to support.

General election - An election used to fill an elective office.

open primary/ blanket primary - A primary election that permits voters to choose on election day the party primary in which they wish to vote. They may vote for candidates of only one party.

runoff primary - A second primary election held in some states when no candidate receives a majority of the votes in the first primary, the runoff is between the two candidates with the most votes. Runoff primaries are common in the South.

presidential primary - A special kind of primary used to pick delegates to the presidential nominating conventions of the major parties.

closed primary - A primary election limited to registered party members. Prevents members of other parties from crossing over to influence the nomination of an opposing party's candidate.

party convention - In politics, a political convention is a meeting of a political party, typically to select party candidates.

Spots (campaign) - Short television advertisements used to promote a candidate for government office.

Visual (campaign) - A campaign activity that appears on a television news broadcast.

Split ticket voting - Voting for candidates of different parties for various offices in the same election, for example, voting for a Republican for senator and a Democrat for president.

Party-column ballot - A ballot listing all candidates of a given party together under the same name of that party; also called an "Indiana" ballot.

Office-bloc ballot - A ballot listing all candidates for a given office under the name of that office; also called a "Massachusetts" ballot.

Straight-ticket voting - Voting for candidates who are all of the same party. For example, voting for Republican candidates for senator, representative, and president.

Parliament - A national legislature composed of elected representatives who choose the chief executive (typically, the prime minister).

Bicameralism - The practice of having two legislative or parliamentary chambers. This, a bicameral parliament or bicameral legislature is a legislature which consists of two chambers of houses.

Gerrymandering - The practice of redrawing electoral districts to gain an electoral advantage for a political party.

Speaker of the House - The presiding officer of the House of Representatives and the leader of his party in the House.

Majority leader - The legislative leader elected by party members holding the majority of seats in the House of Representatives or the Senate.

Minority leader - The legislative leader elected by party members holding a minority of seats in the House of Representatives or the Senate.

Franking privilege - The ability of members of Congress to mail letters to their constituents free of charge by substituting their facsimile signature (frank) for postage.

Whip - A senator or representative who helps the party leader stay informed about what party members are thinking, rounds up members when important votes are to be taken, and attempts to keep a nose count on how the voting on controversial issues is likely to go.

President - The person who holds the office of head of stare of the United States government.

pro tempore - The designated officer of the senate or house acting in the absence of the regular presiding officer.

Filibuster - An attempt to defeat a bill in the Senate by taking indefinitely, thus preventing the the Senate from taking action on it. From the Spanish filibustero, which means a "freebooter," a military adventurer.

Cloture - A rule used by the Senate to end or limit debate. Designed to prevent "talking bill to death" by filibuster. To pass in the Senate, three-fifths on the entire Senate membership (or sixty senator) must vote for it.

Senatorial courtesy - A tradition that it impossible to to confirm a presidential nominee for office if a senator files a personal objection.

Delegate - A person appointed or elected to represent others.

Trustee - A person to whom legal title or property entrusted use for another's benefit.

Pocket veto - One of two ways for a president to disprove a bill sent to him by Congress. In the president does not sign the bill within ten days of his receiving it and Congress has adjourned within that time, the bill does not sign the bill within that time, the bill does not become law.

Override - The legislature may pass a measure over the president's objection by voting to override a veto by a two-thirds majority of members present in both houses.

Standing committee - Permanently established legislative committees that consider and are responsible for legislation within certain subject areas. Examples are the House Ways and Means Committee and the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Select committee - Congressional committees appointed for a limited time and purpose.

Joint committee - Committees on which both representatives and senators serve. An especially important kind of joint committee is the conference committee made up of representatives and senators appointed resolve differences in the Senate and House versions of the same piece of legislation before final passage.

Line item veto - The power of an executive to veto some provisions in an appropriations bill while approving others. The president does not have the right to exercise a line-item veto and must approve or reject an entire appropriations bill.

Caucus (congressional) - An association of members of Congress created to advocate a political ideology or a regional, ethnic, or economic interest.

Simple resolution - An expression of opinion opinion either in the House of Representatives of the Senate to settle house-keeping or procedural matters in either body. Such expressions are not signed by the president and do not have the force of law.

Concurrent resolution - An expression of congressional opinion without the force of law that requires the approval of both the House and Senate but not of the president. Used to settle housekeeping and procedural matters that affect both houses.

Joint resolution - A formal expression of congressional opinion that must be approved by both houses of Congress and by the president. Joint resolutions proposing a constitutional amendment are not signed by the president.

Discharge petition - A device by which any member of the House after a committee has had a bill for thirty days, may petition to have it brought to the floor. If a majority of the members agree, the bill is discharged from the committee. The discharge petition was designed to prevent a committee from killing a bill by holding it for too long.

Restrictive rule - An order from the House Rules Committee in the House of Representatives that permits certain kinds of amendments but not others to be made to a bill on the legislative floor.

Closed rule - An order from the House Rules Committee in the House of Representatives that sets a time limit on debate and forbids a particular bill from being amended on the legislative floor.

Open rule - An order from the House Rules Committee in the House of Representatives that permits a bill to bill to be amended on the legislative floor.

Rider - Amendments on matters unrelated to a bill that are added to an important bill so that they will "ride: to passage through the Congress. When a bill has lots of riders, it is called a Christmas-tree bill.

Double tracking - Setting aside a bill against which one or more senators are filibustering so that other legislation can be voted on.

Voice vote - A congressional voting procedure in which members shout "aye" in approval or "no" in dissaproval: allows members to vote quickly or anonymously on bills.

Division vote - A congressional voting procedure in which members stand and are counted.

Teller vote - A congressional voting procedure n which members pass between two tellers, the "yeas" first and then the "nays." Since 1971 the identities of members in a teller vote can be "recorded."

Roll call - A congressional voting procedure that consists of members answering "yea" or "nay" to their names. When roll calls were handled orally, it was a time consuming process in the House. Since 1973 an electronic voting system learn the total automatically.

Divided government - In the United States, divided government describes a situation is which one party controls the White House and another party controls one or both houses of United States Congress.

Veto - Literally, "I forbid" it refers to the power of a president to disprove a bill; it may be override by a two-thirds vote of each house of Congress.

War powers act - A 1973 U.S. Congress joint resolution providing that the President can send U.S. armed forces into action abroad only by authorization of Congress or if the U.S. is already under attack or serious threat.

Impoundment - The refusal of a President to spend money that has been appropriated y the U.S. Congress. The precedent for presidential impoundment was first set by Thomas Jefferson in 1801.

Commander in Chief - The commander of a nation's military forces or significant element of those forces. In the latter case, the force element may be defined as those forces within a particular region or those forces which are associated by function.

Pardon - Legal forgiveness for a crime. Governors can issue pardons for state crimes and the President for federal crimes.

Electoral College - A set of electors who are selected to elect a candidate to a particular office. Often these represent different organizations or entities, with each organization or entity represented by a particular number of electors or with votes weighted in a particular way. This group formally elects the U.S. president and vice president.

Cabinet - By custom, the cabinet includes the heads of the fifteen major executive departments.

Executive privilege - A presidential claim that he may withhold certain information from Congress.

Trial balloon - Information provided to the media by an anonymous public official as a way of testing the public reaction to a possible policy or appointment.

Impeachment - An accusation against a high federal official charging him or her with treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors. An impeachment requires a majority vote in the House of Representatives. To be removed from office, the impeached official must be tried before the Senate and convicted by a vote of two-thirds of the members.

Budget resolution - A proposal submitted by the House and Senate budget committees to their respective chambers recommending a total budget ceiling and a ceiling for each of several spending areas (such as health or defense) for the current fiscal year. These budget resolutions are intended to guide the work if each legislative committee as it decides what to spend in its area.

Continuing resolution - A congressional enactment that provides funds to continue government operations in the absence of an agreed-upon budget.

Budget deficit - A situation in which the government spends more money than it takes in form taxes and fees.

Budget surplus - A situation in which the government takes in more money than it spends.

Judicial review - The power of the courts to declare acts of the legislature and of the executive to be unconstitutional and, hence, null and void.

Adversary system - The system of law that relies on the contest between each advocate representing his or her party's positions and involves an impartial person or group of people, usually a jury or judge, trying to determine the truth of the case.

Stare decisis - A Latin term meaning "let the decision stand." The practice of basing judicial decisions on precedents established n similar cases decided in the past.

Precedent - A judicial rule that permits the court ruling settling an old case to settle a similar new one.

Political question - An issue that the Supreme Court refuses to consider because it believes the Constitution has left it entirely to another branch to decide. Its view of such issues may change over time, however. Fore example, until the 1960s the Court refused to hear cases about the size of congressional districts, no matter how unequal their populations. In 1962, however, it decided that it was authorized to review the constitutional implications of this issue.

Remedy - A judicial order preventing or redressing a wrong or enforcing a right.

Original jurisdiction - The right to hear a case for the first time as opposed to appellate jurisdiction when a court has the right to review a lower court's decision. In the U.S. these courts are known as trial courts.

Appellate jurisdiction - Appellate jurisdiction is the power of a court to review decisions and change outcomes of decisions of lower courts. Most appellate jurisdiction is legislatively created, and may consist of appeals by leave of the appellate court or by right

Habeas corpus - A Latin term meaning "you shall have the body." A court order directing a police officer, sheriff, or warden who has a person in custody to bring the prisoner before a judge and show sufficient cause for his or her detention. The writ of habeas corpus was designed to prevent illegal arrests and imprisonment.

Senatorial courtesy - A tradition that makes it impossible to confirm a presidential nominee for office if a senator files a personal objection.

Judicial activism - Judicial rulings that are suspected to be based upon personal and political considerations other than existing law. Judicial restraint is sometimes used as an antonym of judicial activism.

Strict construction - A close or literal interpretation of an issue. Commonly applied to that view of the U.S. Constitution that limits federal powers to those specifically described in that document. As opposed to loose construction.

McCulloch v. Maryland - Trial involving the state of Maryland & their right to tax the federal bank---sets precedent for the "loose clause"---increased Fed's power.

Marbury v. Madison - Supreme Court case decided in 1803 that established the concept of judicial review---the of the Supreme Court to review acts of the president and Congress and determine if they are constitutional.

Constitutional court - A high court that deals primarily with constitutional law. Its main authority is to rule on whether or not laws that are challenged are in fact unconstitutional.

District court - The lowest federal courts where federal cases begin. They are the only federal courts where trails are held. There are a total of ninety-four district courts in the U.S. and its territories.

Courts of appeals - The federal courts with authority to review decisions by federal district courts, regulatory commissions and certain other federal courts. Such courts have no original jurisdiction: they can hear only appeals. There are twelve in the U.S.

Legislative court - A court that is created by Congress for some specialized purpose and staffed with judges who do not enjoy the protection of Article III of the Constitution. Legislative courts include the Court of Military Appeals and the territorial courts.

Federal-question case - Cases concerning the Constitution, federal law, or treaties over which the federal courts have jurisdiction as described in the constitution.

Diversity case - Cases involving citizens of different states over which federal courts have jurisdiction because at least 75,000 is at stake.

In forma pauperis - A procedure whereby a poor person can file and be heard in court as a pauper, free of charge.

Fee shifting - A law or rule that allows the plaintiff (party that initiates the lawsuit) to collect its legal costs from the defendant if the defendant loses.

Standing - A legal concept establishing who is entitled to bring a lawsuit to court. Ab individual must show personal harm in order to be heard in court.

Writ of certiorari - A Latin term meaning "made more certain." An order issued by a higher court to a lower court to send up the record of a case for review. Most cases reach the Supreme Court through the writ of certiorari, issued when at least four of the nine justices feel the case should be reviewed.

Amicus curiae - A Latin term meaning "a friend of the court." Refers to interested groups or individuals, not directly involved in a suit, who may file legal briefs or make oral arguments in suppose of one side.

Opinion of the Court - A supreme court opinion written by one or more justices in the majority to explain the decision in a case.

Friend of the Court brief - Information on a point of law or some other aspect of the case to assist the court in deciding.

Dissenting opinion - A Supreme Court opinion by one or more justices in the minority to explain the minority's disagreement with the Court's ruling.

Concurring opinion - A supreme court opinion by one or more justices who agree with the majority's conclusion but for different reasons.

Sovereign immunity - A doctrine that a citizen cannot sue the government without its consent. By statute Congress has given its consent for the government to be sued in many cases involving a dispute over a contract or damage done as a result of negligence.

Class-action suit - A case brought into court by a person on behalf of not himself or herself but all other persons in the country under similar circumstances. Example Brown v. Board of Education affects/includes all other similar cases.

Recall - The act of removing an official by petition.

Initiative - A means by which a petition is signed by a certain number of registered voters can force a public vote on a proposed statute, constitutional amendment, charter amendments or ordinance.

Referendum - A legislative act is referred for final approval to a popular vote by the electorate.

Lt. Governor - A high officer of state, whose precise role and rank vary by jurisdiction, but often the deputy or lieutenant to or ranking under a governor, "second in command."

Secretary of State - Oversees elections and signs it. Keeps official records of legislation and distributes copies to each county. Handles charters for cities and counties. Also handles business licenses and charters for corporations.

CA Supreme Court - Consists of seven justices all appointed by the governor and approved by judicial commission. They're confirmed by a state-wide election.

Superior court - County by county courts of primary jurisdiction. The judges are appointed by the governor and confirmed by election every 6 years.

Term limits - A legal restriction that limits the number of terms a person may serve in a particular elected office.

State Assembly - State equal of the House. Consists of 80 members that are elected in State Assembly districts and can serve up to two four year terms.

State Senate - Consists of forty senators that are elected in state senate districts. Can serve up to two 4 year terms.

Redistricting - A constitutionally mandated redrawing of local, state, and federal political boundaries every ten years following the U.S. census. The lines of Assembly, Senate, and Congressional Districts are redrawn to reflect changing demographics and population shifts.

Special Districts - Special purpose districts that are independent government unites separate from and exist with substantial administrative and fiscal independence from general purpose local governments, such as county, municipal, and township governments.

CA Public Records Act - A 1968 law mandating disclosure of governmental records to the public upon request, unless there is a specific reason not to do so.

Judicial commission - ?????

County board of supervisors - The body governing counties in California; the equivalent body is a police jury.

City council - The legislative body that governs a city, municipality, or local government area. They pass ordinances and appropriate funds.

School board (trustees) - School committees in charge of local public schools. They elect trustees to oversee management of a school district and represent the interests of residents.

Mayor - The head of a city government whose main responsibility is organizing how the town is run.

City Manager - An official appointed as the administrative manager of a city whose main duties include: to advise, inform, and recommend actions to the mayor and city council.

Social movement - A group of people with a common ideology who try together to achieve certain general goals.

Grievance - A wrong or hardship suffered, which is the grounds of a complaint.

Resources - The "tools of power." For example money, groups, connections, etc.

Framing - Presenting the issue to the public in one's perspective; defining the issue.

Alliances - Formal agreements that establish associations between other groups to achieve a particular aim.

Call to action - Words that entice recipients to do something.

Freedom of Information Act - Rules that guarantee access to data held by the state.

IN WHAT WAYS IS THE CALIFORNIA REPUBLIC MORE democratic THAN THE UNITED STATES FEDERAL GOVERNMENT?

1. Suppose the school board announced that it intends to close the small, neighborhood grade schools currently dotting your community and replace them with one large school in the center of town. You believe this move would be a disaster (for whatever reasons). What can you do? Outline a strategy to gain influence over this decision, remembering both the concepts we learned in our discussion of social movements and the structure of federal, state, and local government we studied.

2. Would the Founding Fathers recognize the American Government they created through the Constitution? In what ways is it the same and in what ways is it different?

3. "The major theme in America's political evolution is the continuing expansion of popular participation." Respond to this statement. Be sure you use specific examples of how the US has evolved or remained constant over our 200+ year history as a nation.

4. Thomas Jefferson feared that the Constitution was fatally flawed because the Judiciary had insufficient checks to reign in its potential tyranny. With 200+ years of history to use to evaluate his critique, was Jefferson correct? Illustrate your answer with relevant cases in history.

5. California’s political system is an exact replica of the US Political system, but in miniature. Respond to this statement, rejecting it, confirming it, or modifying it. Use specific examples to illustrate your point.

The one difference will be that I am picking one mandatory short answer question as noted above; the other two will still be based on your choice of two from among 4 possibilities. There will be about 40 multiple choice questions.