Final Online Exam

Political Science One              Suggested Online Final          Due end 6th week

Please complete all three sections of this online midterm by first defining five terms from the given list, writing 4 short essays and 2 long essays from the options given. Complete this online midterm and submit it by the end of the 6th week. {worth 10 points}

Terms to Choose from and define FIVE glossary terms, use an example, and explain the significance of the term to the study of the elected and non-branches of government as they struggle over public policy agendas and outcomes.

standing committees

executive offices

markup

cabinet department

National Security Council

conference committees

trustee vs delegate representation theory

Speaker

Majority Leader

Vice President

Commander-In-Chief

Civil servants

safety nets

superpower

fiscal policy

Chief Justice

Friday conference

rule of four

original intent

oral argument

Brown v Board 1954

stare decisis

right of privacy?

US Patriot Act

strict scrutiny test

writ of certiorari

Section Two: Please answer 4 of the following essay options by completing answering the question asked, using an example to explain your argument, and making clear and coherent conclusions. 

1. How does a president successfully complete his agenda with a divided congress?

2. Is affirmative action legal today? Why or why not??

3. What roles do the Majority leaders and whips play in the floor action of the House and Senate? Do they differ based upon the size of the chamber?

4. What role does the Chief Justice play in setting the highest court's social agendas?

5. Who are the workhorses of the congress? Which level of lawmaking does the most work?

6. How does the president control the executive bureaucracy?

7. How does the Senate check and balance the remainder of the national government?

8. Compare stare decisis with the upholding of precedent in the federal judicial decision making process. Exactly how do these concepts relate to one another? Use an example to explain.  

9. What are the roles of the Chief of Staff, National Security Adviser, and Secretaries of State and Defense during a national security crisis? 

10. How does the budget crisis impact or affect the implementation of health care reform? Does it??

11. Does the president have formal power or informal power to persuada according to Richard Neustadt? Explain.

12. Which branch of government is considered the most democratic and why?

Section Three: Please answer any 2 of the following five options in a complete five paragraph essay. Use examples from our text and discussions to thoroughly explain your position.

1. Evaluate the Structural argument of the Greenberg-Page textbook found on page 18-19 by applying the connection between the founding document and a foreign policy issue and successful passage and implementation.

2. Evaluate the New Deal and welfare state today by reviewing the debates between liberals and conservatives. Should congress privatize the social commitment towards the elderly and poor?

3. Is the Affordable Care Act too expensive to enact and implement at this time or is president Obama correct in the support for universal health care?

4. Should the United States remain involved in global affairs? Fully explain the past 70 years of american foreign policy from post World War Two until post communism and the rise of the terror networks.

5. Is the US Constitution dead as Justice Scalia suggests or a living document as Justice Breyer argues?

6. Under what social and legal conditions ought freedom of assembly, expression and speech be curtailed or restricted?