Test is October 11, 2001.

You should mark the best response, not one that could conceivably be true if the question were looked at from some strange point of view. In other words, use your knowledge of the material and commonsense to pick the best answer.

I have marked what I consider to be the best response for some of the questions with an asterisk ("*").

• A major purpose of the state in a capitalist system is
• provision of health care.
• protection of the environment.
• Support and sustain capitalism by providing supports, aid, and other inputs and by maintaining social peace and harmony.*
• Redistribution of wealth so that no one person or group obtains too much potential power.

Discussed in class.

• Which of these is characteristic of "classical" liberals?
• They favor government regulation of the economy.
• They generally support increased spending on welfare programs such as food stamps and public housing.
• They distrust limited government.
• They distrust large government*.

This term has been discussed several times in class. Remember when I talked about the need for government I mentioned different view points that ran from anarchy to night watchman (minimal government) to "limited" government (classical liberalism") and on up through Marxism.

• If everyone purses his or her self-interest and acts rationally, the result is likely to be
• the common good will be destroyed.*
• no individual or group will become too powerful.
• capitalism will be self-stabilizing.
• total chaos.

Discussed in class and the essay "An Argument for Government."

• The lecturer argued in class that which of these is true of the American constitutional system?
• It gives everyone equal power.
• It creates a unitary system.
• It tends to favor those with the most political resources.
• Despite what is commonly believed it gives most real power to the president.

Discussed in class.

• A trunk decision or policy has which of these characteristics?
• It determines a large part of a nation's agenda; that is, what the country will be able to do and not do.
• It greatly affects the allocation of national resources.
• Both a and b.*
• Have no idea because I missed class that day.

In my view it is important to distinguish between decisions that change the course of public affairs like national security and those that implement previous decisions or are symbolic. What could me more fundamental than containment? You need to look up containment in the notes if you answered "d."

• What is the source of a democracy's legitimacy?
• The people
• God
• Tradition
• Brute power

The reading on the web site, "Popular Sovereignty," discusses this idea as we did in class.

• Middle level politicians tend to have influence mainly over
• branch, twig and symbolic policies.
• trunk decisions.
• basic national security policy.
• monetary policy.

What's the answer? Should be obvious if you have been looking at the notes. I myself do think that most of what passes a politics and government involves middle-level or branch and twig decisions and the course of history so to speak is made partly behind the scenes. Occasionally, however, citizens and the middle levels seem take some pretty important steps. Congress, for example, debated for years a "balanced the budget amendment" without ever approving it. That decision and the opposite position (that is, passing such an amendment) were extremely big deals. But for the most part Congress and the states work with a limited agenda of "small" policies choices.

• According to the lecturer, which of these is absolutely essential for democracy, especially the representative kind, to work?
• Average citizens must be able to run for office no matter how poorly qualified.
• Average citizens must be able to hold decision makers accountable.*
• Average citizens must be able to hold other citizens accountable.
• Making sure that prejudiced and authoritarian individuals do not become overly powerful.

A no-brainer: The essence of democracy in my view is that citizens have meaningful control of their leaders. And they can only control them if they have some way of assigning responsibility for acts of government. Remember always: being able to assign responsibility leads to power to hold someone accountable.

• Alan Wolfe, author of "The Power Elite Now," believes which of these about the "warlords"?
• They are more powerful now than when Mills wrote about them in the 1950s, especially because of the growth of international terrorism.
• Now it would be more accurate and correct to say that America's economic elite finds more in common with economic elites in other countries than it does with the American military elite.*
• Mills was wrong from the start because the military has never been influential in American government.
• The warlords are so internally divided by the scramble for budgetary resources that they have lost virtually all of their influence.

If you read this excellent article, you'll know immediately that he believes the military has lost power and influence in America and that economic leaders seek alliances in other nations. He agrees with Mills that the military once played an important role in national politics-its budget used to consume about 10 percent of the gross product-but he also believes it [the military] is not the driving force it used to be. This eliminates the first and third choices. He never discusses the fourth alternative so it's not likely to be the "best"

• The definition of rationality used by political science and economists means that people will try to
• obtain as much of what they want at least cost.*
• obtain as much of what they want at least cost so long as no one else gets hurt.
• do as much public good as possible so long as they don't hurt themselves in the process.
• None of the above.

For the answer read the article about the necessity of government. Also look at Hardin's article in the Cyber Reserve Room. But this should be easy because the idea has been stressed so many times in class. It's one reason why I don't think leaving activities such as providing health care to all children or the poor to the "private" sector will work. Every one may benefit, but few will be willing to pay the cost.

• What do pluralists think about political power?
• Money is almost the only available resource for getting power.
• It's obvious that the rich have more power than the poor.
• Power is based on resource mobilization.*
• Power in a democratic system doesn't matter because people govern through majority rule.

To choose anything other than "c" would be to miss the point of the pluralists' argument. They say potential power based on resource mobilization can be found every where in society and is not concentrated in the hands of the rich.

• The fourth amendment provides for which of these:
• the right to an attorney in a criminal procedure
• the right to bear arms
• freedom from unreasonable seizures and searches
• none of the above

The fourth amendment was discussed in class and the film on search and seizure. Look it up if you are not sure.

• The doctrine of judicial review means
• that federal courts have the right to review decisions of the president or his cabinet.
• that federal courts have the right to review the acts of local police officials.
• that the Supreme Court can declare acts of Congress or state governments unconstitutional.
• The Supreme Court can review legislative proposals before Congress passes them.

Discussed in class. Remember Roe v. Wade? What did that decision do to state laws outlawing abortion? All of this was discussed..

• A member of the "Hamilton school" would be most likely to say which of these?
• The federal government should be as small as possible.
• Most citizens are just naturally not interested in politics.
• The president should not overly interfere with the work of the Congress.
• Giving the Supreme Court the power of judicial review was a mistake.

Discussed in the class on the media. The Hamilton school refers to an attitude toward citizens, power, and democracy.

• A believer of the "power elite" theory would say that the top or upper circles has what sort of influence on decision making?
• It frequently plays a major role in establishing trunk policies.
• It controls mainly twig and branch decisions.
• Its influence is mainly symbolic or expressive.
• Because of the unpredictability of world events it cannot determine the nations agenda.

The last choice is wrong (in my opinion) because although events do suddenly occur out of the blue ("______ happens), those in charge of the command posts of society (the elite) do influence how the nation responds to them. (Has the response to "international terrorism" been driven by the public or the White House?) Moreover, many policies like containment are hardly expressive or symbolic or twig matters. So which response is left? Look at a similar question above.

• One of the required readings says "the U.S. government has been in the business of providing special benefits to individual industries and companies through tax breaks, trade policies, and spending programs." According to the authors and the lecturer, this policy is best described as
• Classical liberalism
• Night watchman state
• Corporate welfare
• Socialism

Read "Ending Corporate Welfare as We Know It" by Stephen Moore and Dean Stansel in the course Cyber Reading Room.

• "The Department of Agriculture Market Promotion Program spends $110 million per year underwriting the cost of advertising American products abroad." This policy is an example of
• Classical liberalism
• Socialism
• Libertarianism
• None of the above.*

The reading cited above makes the answer clear. But you should be able to figure this out just by knowing what the terms mean.



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