What is economic development?
Population growth and the income and educational levels of a state's population
How has the ethnic composition of
... [Show More] the United States changed in the last twenty years?
Hispanics became the largest minority in the US. The Asian population is growing faster than any other minority. African Americans comprise about 13% of the total population of the US. Native Americans are about 1% of the population today.
State and local governments are responsible for which policies?
Disagreement and conflicts
Taxes and spending
Infrastructure
Education
Crime
Poverty
Federal Government is responsible for which policies?
Civil Rights
Equal Employment Opportunities
Care for the Poor and the Aged
Adequate Medial Care
Elimination of Urban Poverty and Blight
Immigration policy
What is the national government responsible for?
- Foreign policy
- Coin money
- Declare war
What is policy conservatism?
Referring to a state's tendency to limit welfare benefits, deregulate business, keep taxes low, and generally place less reliance on government and more reliance or individuals and the marketplace to achieve social goals.
What is policy liberalism?
Referring to a state's tendency to expand welfare benefits, regulate business, adopt progressive state income taxes and general use the resources of government to achieve social change.
From where do state and local governments derive their revenue?
Property taxes make up the largest category of state and local government revenue at 35%, with sales and gross receipts close behind at 34%, according to a new analysis by the Tax Foundation. The corporate income tax brings in the smallest amount of any major tax, providing only about 3% of the money taken in by state and local tax collectors. Charters also help derive revenue.
Federalism
A constitutional arrangement whereby power is divided between national and subnational governments, each of which enforces its own laws directly on its citizens and neither of which can alter the arrangement without the consent of the other.
Unitary
A constitutional arrangement whereby authority rests with the national government; subnational governments have only those powers given to them by the national government.
Confederation
A constitutional arrangement whereby the national government is created by and relies on the subnational governments for its authority.
Why are states called "laboratories of democracy?"
This is generally attributed to the great progressive jurist, Supreme Court Justice Louis D. Brandeis, who used it in defense of state experimentation with new solutions to social and economic problems. Decentralized government also creates this by encouraging policy innovation. It is also a benefit of a decentralized government.
What is nullification?
An early doctrine of "nullification" was set forth by Thomas Jefferson in the Virginia and Kentucky Resolution of 1798, asserting states' right to nul-lify unconstitutional laws of Congress. Although the original use of this doctrine was to counter congressional attacks on a free press in the Alien and Sedition Acts, the doctrine was later revived to defend slavery.
What are enumerated powers?
Powers specifically mentioned in the Constitution as belonging to the national government.
What are implied powers?
Pars nor mentioned specifically in the Constitution as belonging to Congress but inferred as necessary and proper for carrying out the enumerated powers.
Know the 10th Amendment
People and states get all power not delegated the the US Government.
Marbury v. Madison (1803)
Judicial Review
McCulloch v. Maryland (1819)
Established the principle that the Necessary and Proper Clause fives Congress the right to choose its means for carrying out the enumerated powers of the government. Today, Congress can devise programs, create agencies, and establish national laws on the basis of long chains of reasoning from the most meager phrases of the constitutional text because of the broad interpretation of the Necessary and Proper Clause.
Why are federal grants-in-aid important?
They have been the principal instrument in the expansion of national power. More than one-third of all state and local government expenditures are currently from monies derived from federal grants.
What are mandates?
In federal-state relations, the federal government's orders to sate (or local) governments to provide particular services or perform specific services.
What is preemption?
In federal-state relations, the federal government's assumption of regulatory powers in a particular field to the partial or full exclusion of state powers.
Know what is usually contained in state constitutions
•Bill of Rights
•Separation of Powers
•Weak Governors
•Legislative Powers
•Local Governments
•Interest Group Regulation
•Taxation and Finance
•Debt Limitation
What is constitutionalism?
A government of laws, not people, operating on the principal that governmental power must be limited, that government officials should be restrained in their exercise of power over individuals.
Why are state constitutions long?
State constitutions not only specify organizations and processes of decision making, but also undertake to determine many substantive policy questions. Unlike the US Constitution, state constitutions contain many policy mandates on topics as diverse as tax rates, utility regulation, labor-management relations, insurance regulation, debt limits, educational funding, gambling, and a host of other policy matters. Also, they are easily and constantly amended.
From where do local governments derive their power?
The state.
How do most states amend their constitution?
Legislative proposal: Amendments are passed by the state legislature and then submitted to the voters for approval in a referendum.
Other ways include:
Popular initiative: A specific number of voters petition to get a constitutional amendment on the ballot for approval by the voters in a referendum.
Constitutional convention: Legislatures submit to the voters a proposal for called a constitutional convention, and if voters approve, a convention convenes, draws up constitutional revisions, and submits them again for approval of voters in a referendum.
Constitutional commission: Constitutional commissions may be created by legislatures to study the constitution and recommend changes to the state legislature, or in the case of Florida, to submit its recommendations directly to the voters in a referendum.
What do counties do?
Rural: responsible for law enforcement, courts, roads, elections, and the recording of legal documents. They also maintain local roads; administer elections and certify election results to state; provide law enforcement through a sheriff; maintain criminal court; maintain a local jail; and administer state welfare programs.
Urban: performs all of the services of traditional rural counties together with many contemporary urban services such as providing more facilities, and planning new subdivisions; mental health; public health maintenance and public hospitals.
What do special districts do?
Provide specific services that are not being supplied by existing general-purpose governments
At-large District Election
Elections in which candidates are chosen by all of the voters in a community; the number of seats up for election are won by the highest vote-getters.
Single Member District Election
Elections in which candi [Show Less]