Deck 1: American Government: Democracy in Action

Question 1

Which of the following countries is classified as "not free" by the Freedom House rankings?

A) Canada
B) India
C) Mexico
D) Kenya
E) Saudi Arabia

Answer 1

Saudi Arabia

Question 2

Comparing the average voter turnout shows that

A) Greece has a higher turnout than the United States.
B) Ireland has a higher turnout than the United States.
C) Canada and the U.K. have an almost identical percentage of turnout.
D) the United States has a higher turnout than Spain.
E) the United States has a lower turnout than Switzerland.

Answer 2

Greece has a higher turnout than the United States.

Question 3

The average American is most likely to participate in which pathway?

A) The elections pathway.
B) The court-centered pathway.
C) The lobbying pathway.
D) The cultural change pathway.
E) The grassroots pathway.

Answer 3

The elections pathway.

Question 4

Which of the following is part of the lobbying pathway?

A) Volunteering for a reelection campaign
B) Writing a letter to a member of Congress
C) Voting
D) Starting a grassroots campaign
E) Filing a lawsuit

Question 5

Powershift '09 was

A) the influence of the Hispanic vote on the 2008 Presidential election.
B) the largest youth-centered global warming conference ever held.
C) a non-governmental organization campaigning for the abolition of the death penalty.
D) an African American civil rights lobbying group.
E) the code name for Barack Obama's presidential election strategy.

Question 6

The power of the judiciary in the United States is

A) much weaker and more narrow than in other democracies.
B) much stronger and broader than in other democracies.
C) very similar to other democracies.
D) strictly limited by congressional statute.
E) subject to intense lobbying.

Question 7

Which of the following allowed illegal aliens living in the United States continuously as of a certain date to apply for legal status?

A) 1965 Immigration Act
B) 1977 Immigration and Nationality Act
C) 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act
D) 1990 Immigration Act
E) 1996 Immigration Act

Question 8

A 1998 decision by the Michigan Supreme Court ruled that a law prohibiting the shouting of profanity was an unconstitutional violation of freedom of speech rights because

A) any attempt to limit free speech is necessarily unconstitutional.
B) the court had been taken over by liberal activist judges.
C) the law did not provide guidance on what constituted profanity.
D) the law was unevenly enforced.
E) the law applied only in certain public areas.

Question 9

Which of the following campaigns have NOT generally relied on the grassroots mobilization pathway?

A) The civil liberties campaign.
B) The civil rights campaign.
C) The immigration campaign.
D) The anti-war campaign.
E) None of these have relied on grassroots mobilization.

Question 10

Which of the following is NOT an example of "grassroots mobilization"?

A) A boycott of a company or organization
B) Circulation of a petition to be sent to government officials
C) A lawsuit intended to force government action
D) A voter registration drive
E) An anti-war march

Question 11

Women were granted the right to vote in the United States by

A) congressional legislation.
B) presidential decree.
C) constitutional amendment.
D) individual state action.
E) Supreme Court decision.

Question 12

The struggle for civil rights in the United States was initiated in the

A) grassroots mobilization pathway.
B) elections pathway.
C) cultural change pathway.
D) lobbying pathway.
E) court-centered pathway.

Question 13

Which of the following methods has been used to promote diversity?

A) The 1964 Civil Rights Act.
B) The 1965 Voting Rights Act.
C) Court-ordered busing.
D) Affirmative action programs.
E) All of these answers are correct.

Question 14

Which of the following lawsuits provides an example of political action?

A) Roe v. Wade
B) Brown v. Board of Education
C) Dred Scott v. Sanford
D) Roe, Brown, and Dred Scott are all examples of political action.
E) Only Roe and Brown are examples of political action.

Question 15

In South Dakota, pro-choice forces used a _________ to overturn a statue that would virtually abolish abortion in that state.

A) ballot initiative
B) previous Supreme Court decision
C) lobbying effort directed at U.S. Senators
D) court pathway
E) boycotting activities

Question 16

The framers of the Constitution saw it as

A) a collection of compromises and ambiguities subject to revision and interpretation.
B) a blueprint for the perfect society.
C) an immutable and unchangeable system for political authority.
D) a document to be revered by future generations.
E) a temporary fix until the Articles of Confederation were created.

Question 17

_____ is the economic system based on free enterprise in which individuals compete with each other for jobs, operate privately-owned businesses that may succeed or fail, and focus their efforts on accumulating wealth for themselves and their families.

A) Capitalism
B) Socialism
C) Feudalism
D) Communism
E) Anarchism

Question 18

Student activists Nick Anderson and Ana Slavin used MySpace and Facebook to raise more than $300,000 and draw significant public attention to the crisis in

A) Burma.
B) Chiapas.
C) Venezuela.
D) Zimbabwe.
E) Darfur.

Question 19

______________ was the first to urge that the Constitution be "the political religion of the nation."

A) A framers
B) Abraham Lincoln
C) George W. Bush
D) Thomas Jefferson
E) Andrew Jackson

Question 20

Alexis de Tocqueville, the French scholar who traveled the United States, is the author of

A) Common Sense.
B) Democracy in America.
C) Letter from a Birmingham Jail.
D) The Declaration of Independence.
E) Politics and Society in the United States.

Question 21

According to the Freedom House Map of Freedom, the majority of countries in the world are classified as "free."

Question 22

The United States has the lowest level of average voter turnout of any Western democracy.

Question 23

Although the Hispanic population has grown in the United States, it has failed to become a power in the political process.

Question 24

The U.S. Congress, the president, the U.S. Supreme Court, and individual state governments have all been involved in defining and changing abortion laws and policies in the United States.

Question 25

Support for capitalism in the United States has remained strong even when the system falls short of its ideals of equal economic opportunity for all Americans.

Question 26

Barack Obama garnered ________ percent of the vote from those under 30 in the 2008 election.

A) 10
B) 38
C) 50
D) 68
E) 87

Question 27

The rules of society and the priorities for government resources and action are referred to collectively as

A) democracy.
B) public policy.
C) social order.
D) governance.
E) litigation.

Question 28

A distinguishing feature of _____ is the ability of individual citizens to influence the actions of government.

A) nationalism
B) democracy
C) republicanism
D) constitutionalism
E) oligarchy

Question 29

Among the following countries, which country has the highest average rate of voter turnout?

A) Norway
B) Italy
C) Canada
D) Ireland
E) Switzerland

Question 30

Which of the following countries has the lowest average voter turnout?

A) United States
B) Italy
C) United Kingdom
D) Switzerland
E) France

Question 31

Pathways of action are the activities, institutions, and decision points that

A) always result in radical change.
B) are controlled by government decision makers.
C) are set out in the U.S. Constitution.
D) elected officials choose among.
E) shape law and public policy.

Question 32

A political actor or group chooses a particular pathway of action based on which of the following factors?

A) The nature and scope of the issue at hand.
B) The nature and scope of the opposition.
C) The pathway of action employed by the opposition.
D) The monetary resources available to the individual or group.
E) All of these are factors in choosing a pathway of action.

Question 33

The group MADD is most well known for its campaign around

A) nuclear disarmament.
B) reducing taxes.
C) introducing term limits.
D) encouraging voter registration.
E) drinking and driving.

Question 34

Which of the following factors might account for the political use of violence in a democratic political system?

A) The issue is so controversial and the competing stands are so opposed and fixed that compromise is not possible.
B) A group has fundamental objections to the nature and existence of a democratic system of governance.
C) Frustration over a perceived lack of access to and influence over the political system.
D) Periodic episodes of public disorder sometimes triggered by external situations that cause longstanding tensions to break out.
E) All of the above may account for the outbreak of violence in a political system.

Question 35

The system under which voters elect leaders and then hold those leaders accountable for the decisions they make is generally known as

A) direct democracy.
B) representative democracy.
C) social democracy.
D) authoritarian democracy.
E) anarchism.

Question 36

Which of the following is NOT an example of an activity in the elections pathway?

A) Lobbying an elected official
B) A voter registration drive
C) Fundraising for a political party
D) Campaigning for a political candidate
E) Voting

Question 37

The pathway of action that tries to directly influence those who craft policies is the

A) elections pathway.
B) court-centered pathway.
C) lobbying pathway.
D) cultural change pathway.
E) social pathway.

Question 38

The bombing of a federal office building in Oklahoma City in 1995 demonstrated

A) the importance of economic equity.
B) the influence of foreign interests within the United States.
C) how ethnic discrimination within society can lead to violence.
D) that some U.S. citizens see violence as the most effective way to achieve their political aims.
E) the failure of the federal government to deal effectively with the threat of international terrorism.

Question 39

In May of 2007, thousands of protestors in Venezuela took to the streets to demonstrate against the decision of President Hugo Chavez to

A) declare a state of emergency.
B) privatize water services in Venezuela.
C) establish a national income tax.
D) eliminate food and agricultural subsidies.
E) close a local television station.

Question 40

Efforts by some groups to rethink the social norms surrounding the idea of Social Security, moving from an income guarantee program to a private retirement benefit, is an example of the _____ pathway.

A) cultural change
B) lobbying
C) grassroots mobilization
D) elections
E) court

Question 41

According to members of Congress, letters and phone calls from constituents are

A) an unwelcomed intrusion on their ability to make decisions.
B) rarely helpful in developing solutions to real problems.
C) almost always motivated by interest groups.
D) a source of ideas for new laws and policies.
E) less influential than professional lobbyists.

Question 42

Which pathway focuses on judicial decisions?

A) The elections pathway.
B) The court pathway.
C) The lobbying pathway.
D) The cultural change pathway.
E) The grassroots pathway.

Question 43

The court-centered pathway has been most effective in addressing

A) limiting campaign contributions.
B) establishing term limits for Congress.
C) delimiting the power of the federal government.
D) establishing voter rights.
E) securing school desegregation.

Question 44

The Supreme Court's 1954 decision in the case of _____ prohibited segregation in public schools.

A) Roe v. Wade
B) Marbury v. Madison
C) Brown v. Board of Education
D) Tinker v. Des Moines
E) Texas v. Johnson

Question 45

Which issue was most influenced by a court decision?

A) The composition of the Supreme Court.
B) The current makeup of Congress.
C) Segregated schools.
D) Voting rights.
E) None of these were affected by court decision.

Question 46

The judiciary in the United States is unique because judges

A) can hear specific cases only with congressional approval.
B) have shorter terms of office in the United States than in other countries.
C) have broader authority to order the government to take specific actions.
D) have far less power than in other countries.
E) are more subject to lobbying and political pressure than in other countries.

Question 47

The Supreme Court's decision in the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education case

A) furnished the initial ruling on the Fifth Amendment takings clause.
B) was the second in a series of cases challenging the right to an attorney in criminal cases.
C) reversed the long-standing practice of permitting jury trials in civil cases.
D) incorporated Second Amendment rights to the states.
E) prohibited states and localities from engaging in racial discrimination in public schools.

Question 48

The court pathway is

A) inexpensive.
B) expensive.
C) easily accessible.
D) completely transparent.
E) primarily for individuals.

Question 49

In the 1950s, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., led a boycott of public transit to protest racial segregation of buses in which American city?

A) Montgomery, Alabama
B) Macon, Georgia
C) Philadelphia, Mississippi
D) New York, New York
E) Phoenix, Arizona

Question 50

The pathway of action that generally requires the longest time to affect change is the _____ pathway.

A) cultural change
B) elections
C) lobbying
D) grassroots mobilization
E) court-centered

Question 51

The least direct pathway of action is the

A) elections pathway.
B) court-centered pathway.
C) lobbying pathway.
D) cultural change pathway.
E) grassroots mobilization pathway.

Question 52

Successful grassroots mobilization campaigns require all of the following EXCEPT

A) publicity.
B) organizational skill.
C) committed activists.
D) extensive financial resources.
E) careful planning.

Question 53

Which of the following issue campaigns has generally NOT relied on the cultural change pathway?

A) abortion
B) the death penalty
C) anti-war protest
D) environmental protection
E) privatizing Social Security

Question 54

According to the table below, which of the following ethnic groups would be the least likely to influence the political process in 2040, specifically, in the elections pathway?

A) Hispanic
B) Black
C) Asian
D) White
E) American Indians

Question 55

According to the data compiled by the U.S. Census Bureau in the following table, in the past ten years, which American population group is increasing most quickly in size?

A) Asian.
B) African American
C) Hispanic
D) American Indians
E) White

Question 56

Which of the following has NOT been involved in defining and changing abortion laws in the United States?

A) The Congress
B) The president
C) The U.S. Supreme Court
D) Individual state governments
E) Violence against abortion doctors.

Question 57

Abortion was legalized in the United States by

A) the Supreme Court.
B) a referendum.
C) the actions of individual state legislatures.
D) an act of Congress.
E) executive order.

Question 58

The right to abortion was decided by the U.S. Supreme Court in a 7-2 decision in the 1972 case of

A) Roe v. Wade.
B) Texas v. Johnson.
C) Tinker v. Des Moines.
D) Griswold v. Connecticut.
E) Heller v. District of Columbia.

Question 59

When pro-choice advocates pressure members of Congress to block the appointment of Supreme Court justices opposed to abortion rights, they are engaged in the _____ pathway.

A) elections
B) lobbying
C) grassroots mobilization
D) cultural change
E) court

Question 60

Grassroots mobilization campaigns

A) are rarely effective.
B) work very quickly.
C) require time to be effective.
D) cannot affect dramatic political change.
E) are more expensive than other pathways of action.

Question 61

Efforts to change the broader framework within which debates over abortion take place, such as the use of phrases like "reproductive freedom" and "partial-birth abortion" are examples of the successful use of the _____ pathway.

A) elections
B) lobbying
C) grassroots mobilization
D) cultural change
E) court

Question 62

In 1857 which decision by the U.S. Supreme Court help to spread slavery to the western territories?

A) Plessy v. Ferguson
B) Sweatt v. Painter
C) Smith v. United States
D) Marbury v. Madison
E) Dred Scott v. Sanford

Question 63

Checks and balances refers to the

A) budgeting process in the U.S. Congress.
B) increasing size of the federal deficit.
C) balance of powers between branches of government.
D) power of the people to oversee the government.
E) declining level of popular participation in public life.

Question 64

Which of the following is NOT an example of the checks and balances system?

A) The president vetoing a bill.
B) Congress overriding the president's veto.
C) The Supreme Court deciding that a bill is unconstitutional.
D) The Internal Revenue Service auditing a senator.
E) Congress declining to fund a war action as requested by the president.

Question 65

The American Civil War was sparked when the pathways of action available in the United States failed to adequately address the issue of

A) slavery.
B) the authority of state governments.
C) the scope of international trade.
D) both A and B.
E) both B and C.

Question 66

The American political culture is characterized by

A) relative stability, capitalism, multiple choices for political change.
B) fluctuation, democratic socialism, complicated court system.
C) relative stability, socialism, multiple choices for political change.
D) capitalism, corporatism, state-focused government.
E) stability, social democracy, limited political change.

Question 67

Which of the following symbols from the dollar bill does NOT reflect the political culture and symbolism of the United States?

A) The portrait of George Washington
B) The Great Seal of the United States
C) The 13 steps on the pyramid.
D) The incomplete top symbolizing a "work in progress."
E) The coloring of the paper.

Question 68

Which of the following is NOT a source of a nation's political culture?

A) future goals
B) religion
C) origins of the nation
D) a nation's distinct subcultures
E) political myths

Question 69

The French scholar Alexis de Tocqueville, in the nineteenth century, thought that the shared values of American citizens

A) made U.S. democracy a bland continuation of the British system of politics.
B) made the new democracy indistinctive.
C) limited independent thinking and varied discussion.
D) led to great debate and creative thinking among the population.
E) gave way to debate about the philosophy of their system and away from specifics.

Question 70

The system of fundamental values and dominant beliefs that are shared throughout society and that shape political behavior and government policies is known as the

A) national value system.
B) belief structure.
C) political culture.
D) social structure.
E) social culture.

Question 71

On what legal basis was the right to abortion confirmed by the U.S. Supreme Court?

A) The principle of liberty.
B) The right to privacy.
C) The right of freedom of association.
D) The right of freedom of speech.
E) The principle of social equity.

Question 72

Efforts to persuade the public on the importance of "reproductive rights" provide an example of the use of the _____ pathway.

A) legislative
B) electoral
C) cultural change
D) judicial
E) lobbying

Question 73

Which of the following is NOT an element of stability in a political system?

A) Powerful political culture.
B) Frequent changes in elected leadership.
C) Broadly accepted political and economic framework.
D) The existence of a variety of ways for citizens to seek and achieve policy implementation and change.
E) All of the above are elements of stability in a political system.

Question 74

The story of Nick Anderson and Ana Slavin and their actions for Dafur illustrates which of the pathways of action?

A) Grassroots mobilization
B) Cultural change
C) Elections
D) Court
E) This is not a good example of any pathway, as they acted as individuals.

Question 75

The American political culture tends to be

A) more stable than other political cultures.
B) less stable than other political cultures.
C) more conservative than other political cultures.
D) more liberal than other political cultures.
E) more reflexive than other political cultures.

Question 76

Government plays an active role in nearly every aspect of our daily lives.

Question 77

Filing a lawsuit, under certain circumstances, can be considered a form of political participation.

Question 78

The rules of society and the priorities for government resources and action are collectively referred to as public policy.

Question 79

The right to trial and the specific rights afforded criminal defendants in the United States can be found in nearly all democracies around the world.

Question 80

Freedom House classifies the United States as partly free.