Exam 4 Review - Government and Policy - PDF

**Bureaucracy:** Bureaucrats have discretion in how they implement policy due to lack of guidelines from Congress. Most bureaucrats have more expertise in a policy area than the average member of Congress. Early Americans feared the Federal Bureaucracy because of the Revolutionary War. Civil ser...

**Bureaucracy:** Bureaucrats have discretion in how they implement policy due to lack of guidelines from Congress. Most bureaucrats have more expertise in a policy area than the average member of Congress. Early Americans feared the Federal Bureaucracy because of the Revolutionary War. Civil servants are rarely fired from their jobs Hatch Act: limits some political activity by federal workers, but they still can vote President selects people to head the bureaucratic departments so he can control what they do. Fire alarm oversight vs. police patrol oversight; Congress monitors vs. simply responds. Bureaucratic drift is still around today. Americans regularly encounter the bureaucracy in their daily lives. A government worker that is selected by an elected official is a political appointee. Civil servants are hired based on their qualifications. Bureaucracy is a group of employees who are responsible for implementing government policy. Government rules that influence the behavior of individuals and groups are called regulations. Regulations are developed based on the notice and comment procedure. Unnecessary complex set of procedures is called red tape. Congress holds hearings to gather information about the bureaucracy is considered oversight. **Courts:** Plea bargaining; most cases settled without a trail. Plaintiff: the person that brings the action in a court proceeding Defendant: the person or party against whom a case is brought. Precedent: previously decided cases and sets of decisions that serve as a guide for future cases on the same topic. Cases that have a lot of interest group activity are more likely to be heard by the Supreme Court. Living Constitution: the legal system should adapt to changes in technology, values, and society not anticipated by the founders. Supreme court decisions mostly affected by ideology of the justices; Attitudinalist. Supreme court does not have any enforcement power. Marbury v Madison; gave the court the ability to rule on whether laws violated the constitution. Called Judicial Review. Missouri Plan of selecting judges: governor nominates from a list approved by a nonpartisan committee. FDR's court packing plan attempted to force the court to rule in favor of his New Deal legislation. President wants to choose a supreme court nominee with similar political views to advance his legacy. Senatorial courtesy: president consults with senator from a federal judge nominee's state. **Economic and Social Policy:** Funding for policy is done by Congress; they have the power of the purse. Mandatory spending is spending that is required by law. Regressive tax: payroll tax or sales tax. Progressive tax: income tax. New Deal policies are still in effect today. Social Security is one of the most popular programs in the U.S. Baby Boomers will put a strain on the social security system when they retire. Republicans have sought to reform social security through privatization so that it does not go bankrupt. Medicaid and Medicare are entitlement programs which provide benefits to people who qualify. U.S. Treasury Department produces currency and coins. State governments are responsible for education and welfare policy. The federal debt is the total accumulation of money borrowed by the government. Fiscal policies: are government decisions regarding taxing and spending. Americans born between 1946 and 1964 are called the baby boomers. **Foreign Policy**: What is foreign policy: government actions involving countries, groups, and corporations that are outside of the United States. Foreign policy includes: military, economic, human rights, environmental, and foreign assistance. Foreign policy actions taken by a country on their own is called a unilateral action. Foreign policy actions taken by a country with others nations is called multilateral action. The five permanent members of the UN security council are the U.S., Russia, China, Great Britain, and France. Foreign trade is a large part of the American economy today. Isolationism is the idea that the U.S. should refrain from getting involved with other countries. The League of Nations led to the United Nations. Military force by itself is not all powerful.