User:Atcovi/AP Government/Civil Liberties and Public Policy

Bill of Rights was added by popular demand. Tending to support in theory rather than practice. (Guatanamo Bay) There are limitations and is balanced against other views.

First Amendment

 * Applied to federal gov't only
 * States had own bills of rights
 * Barron v. Baltimore (1833)

Fourteenth Amendment

 * Gitlow v. New York (1925)
 * Due process clause
 * Incorporation doctrine
 * Not all rights incorporated.

Education
Government programs
 * Lemon vs. Kurtzan (1971) - Aid to parochial schools, Lemon Test
 * Zelman vs. Simmons-Harris (2002) - Vouchers are constitutional

Equal access for religious groups. School prayer is controversial.
 * 1) Secular legislative purpose
 * 2) Program can neither advance nor inhibit a faith
 * 3) Avoid excessive government entanglement with religion

Religion
sponsorship of religious activities violates the establishment clause compelling Amish students to attend school past the eighth grade violates the free exercise clause
 * Engel v. Vitale (1962), which declared school
 * Wisconsin v. Yoder (1972), which held that

Speech
demonstrated by Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District (1969), in which the court ruled that public school students could wear black armbands in school to protest the Vietnam War.
 * First Amendment,
 * Schenck v. United States (1919) - "A unanimous Supreme Court, in an opinion by Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr., concluded that defendants who distributed flyers to draft-age men urging resistance to induction could be convicted of an attempt to obstruct the draft, a criminal offense." Limits to the 1st Amendment regarding speech.

Press
the Supreme Court bolstered the freedom of the press, establishing a “heavy presumption against prior restraint” even in cases involving national security.
 * In New York Times Co. v. United States (1971),

Individual Rights vs. Public Order and Safety

 * 8th Amendment - Cruel and unusual punishment
 * 2nd Amendment [right to bear arms]/4th Amendment [prohibiting unreasonable searches and seizures] - Issues about baring arms and the affects on society.

Selective Interpretation
imposed limitations on state regulation of civil rights and liberties as represented by McDonald v. Chicago (2010), which ruled the Second Amendment’s right to keep and bear arms for self-defense in one’s home is applicable to the states through the Fourteenth Amendment.
 * The doctrine of selective incorporation has

Due Process and the Rights of the Accused
and application of accused persons’ due process rights as protected by the Fifth [criminal procedure, felonies be tried ONLY UPON INDICTMENT BY A GRAND JURY, defendants can only be tried once in federal courts for the same offense - I plead the fifth.] and Sixth Amendments [more rights for criminal procedures, Gideon v. Wainwright], yet the Court has sanctioned a “public safety” exception that allows unwarned interrogation to stand as direct evidence in court. Fourth Amendment right to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures cannot be used against that suspect in criminal prosecution.
 * The Miranda rule (Miranda v. Arizona, person victim of interrogation must be read their rights beforehand and can only be used against them if they acknowledged that) involves the interpretation
 * Pretrial rights of the accused and the prohibition of unreasonable searches and seizures are intended to ensure that citizen liberties are not eclipse by the need for social order and security, including:
 * 1) The right to legal counsel, speedy and public trial [6th amendment], and an impartial jury
 * 2) Protection against warrantless searches of cell phone data under the Fourth Amendment
 * 3) Limitations placed on bulk collection of telecommunication metadata (Patriot and USA Freedom Acts)
 * The due process clause has been applied to guarantee the right to an attorney and protection from unreasonable searches and seizures, as represented by: Gideon v. Wainwright (1963), which guaranteed the right to an attorney for the poor or indigent.
 * The exclusionary rule, which stipulates evidence illegally seized by law enforcement officers in violation of the suspect’s

Right to Privacy

 * Roe v. Wade (1973), which extended the right of privacy to a woman’s decision to have an abortion while recognizing compelling state interests in potential life and maternal health.

Social Movements
Government responds to these social movements through court cases, such as the
 * Equal Protection Clause - supports rallies for minorities, see also MLK's Letter from Birmingham Jail which advocated for resistance against unjust laws.
 * Brown v. Board of Education (1954), which declared that race-based school segregation violates the Fourteenth Amendment’s equal protection clause.
 * The Civil Rights Act of 1964
 * Title IX of the Education Amendments Act of 1972
 * The Voting Rights Act of 1965

Political Party Ideologies
https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/us-government-and-civics/us-gov-american-political-ideologies-and-beliefs/us-gov-ideology-and-social-policy/a/lesson-summary-ideology-and-social-policy
 * https://blog.politics.ox.ac.uk/review-the-submerged-state-how-invisible-government-policies-are-undermining-american-democracy/ - Summary of THE SUBMERGED STATE, HOW INVISIBLE GOVERNMENT POLICIES ARE UNDERMINING AMERICAN DEMOCRACY.
 * What surrounds an individual (family, schools, religion, peers, media, and social environments, generational and life cycles) impacts their political thought, see The World Is Flat 3.0. It is an essential update on globalization, its opportunities for individual empowerment, its achievements at lifting millions out of poverty, and its drawbacks--environmental, social, and political, powerfully illuminated by the Pulitzer Prize--winning author of The Lexus and the Olive Tree.
 * 4.4: The relative importance of major political events to the development of individual political attitudes is an example of political socialization. For example, the oppression of the religious folks migrating to the US pre-US era contributed to them focusing more on religious freedom than anything else.
 * Public Polling - type of poll (opinion poll or entrance and exit polls), sampling techniques (mass surveying or surveying errors), type and format questions.
 * Scientific polls are actually used as a source of political influences in elections or policy debates since they represent the views of the people. The polls must also be reliable.
 * Libertarians: Favor little-no regulation of the marketplace beyond the "protection of property rights and voluntary trade". Marketplace regulation beliefs are based off of various theoretical support (Keynesian, supply-side positions on monetary and fiscal policies promoted by the president, Congress and the Federal Reserve). Favor no gov't intervention beyond the protection of private property and individual liberty.

Voting Rights/Protection

 * 15th Amendment - “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.”
 * 17th Amendment - Allows voters to cast direct votes for US Senators
 * 19th Amendment - Gave American women the right to vote
 * 24th Amendment - Prevents any taxes or fees to vote.
 * 26th Amendment - Prevents age from being an opposing factor to voting if they're at least 18.

Voting Behavior

 * Rational choice - Voting based on what is perceived to be in the citizen’s individual interest.
 * Retrospective voting - Voting to decide whether the party or candidate in power should be reelected based on the recent past.
 * Prospective voting - Voting based on predictions of how a party or candidate will perform in the future.
 * Party-line voting - Supporting a party by voting for candidates from one political party for all public offices at the same level of government.

Voter Turnout
Structural barriers, political efficacy, and demographics can predict differences in voter turnout in the U.S., and the following can influence voter turnout among democracies worldwide:
 * National vs. state-controlled elections
 * Voter registration laws and procedures
 * Voting incentives or penalties or fines
 * Election type (midterm or presidential)

Demographic characteristics and political efficacy or engagement are used to predict the likelihood of whether an individual will vote.

Factors influencing voter choice include:
 * Party identification and ideological orientation
 * Candidate characteristics
 * Contemporary political issues
 * Religious beliefs or affiliation, gender, race and ethnicity, and other demographic characteristics

Political Parties

 * Linkage Institutions - Channels that are able to get individuals to talk about their preferences to policy makers (parties, interest groups, elections, media).
 * Impact
 * Mobilization and education of voters
 * Party platforms
 * Candidate recruitment
 * Campaign management, including fundraising and media strategy
 * The committee and party leadership systems in legislatures

How and Why PP change and adapt
Parties have changed their structure to tailor the needs of the candidate as the role of them selecting a candidate has weakened. They change their policies and statements to appeal to different demographics.

The structure of these parties are influenced by:
 * 1) Major elections and redistricting of the land
 * 2) Campaign finance laws
 * 3) Communication changes and data-management technology

Parties use voter data + communication technology to realign their political messages.

Third-Party Political

 * Winner-taking-all-votes districts push third-parties away from the mainstream
 * Major political parties incorporating the ideals of 3rd parties pushes them away from the mainstream

Interest Groups Influencing Policy Making
What can interest groups do?
 * Represent very specific or more general interests
 * Can educate voters and office holders
 * Conduct lobbying
 * Draft legislation
 * Mobilize membership to apply pressure on and work with legislators and government agencies.

How can interest groups collapse? Interest group influence may be impacted by:
 * Iron triangle: When a bureaucratic agency, an interest group, and a congressional committee works together to advance its own agenda and act in its own interests. Ex.: American Association for Retired People (AARP).
 * Inequality of political and economic resources
 * Unequal access to decision makers
 * “Free rider” problem

Groups Influencing Policy
Various groups can affect policy, including protesting movements (protesting the Vietnam War, for example).

Remember objective: Explain how various political actors influence public policy outcomes.

Electing A President
The process and outcomes in U.S. presidential elections are impacted by:
 * Incumbency advantage phenomenon
 * Open and closed primaries - "Open primaries also allow independent and third-party voters to participate in primaries without registering with the party", opened to all voters and can privately vote in either party. "An important feature of the closed primary system is that it forces voters to affiliate with a political party before they can vote in a primary election.", only Republicans can vote in Republican primaries and Democrats can vote in democratic primaries.
 * Caucuses - "Members of a political party or subgroup may meet to coordinate members' actions, choose group policy, or nominate candidates for various offices." en.wiki
 * Party conventions - general meeting of a party group: "the highest decision-making body of the organization, tasked with electing or nominating the party's leaders or leadership bodies, deciding party policy, and setting the party's platform and agendas."
 * General (presidential) elections
 * The Electoral College - "group of presidential electors required by the Constitution to form every four years for the sole purpose of electing the president and vice president". en.wiki

Winner-take-all way of voting in certain states questions whether the Electoral College impedes on democracy. Some of the listed above also effect congressional elections.

Modern Campaigns
Effects on campaigns:
 * Dependence on professional consultants
 * Rising campaign costs and intensive fundraising efforts
 * Duration of election cycles
 * Impact of and reliance on social media for campaign communication and fundraising

Campaign Finance

 * User:Atcovi/AP_Government/3/30/2021

The nature of democratic debate and the level of political knowledge among citizens is impacted by:
 * Increased media choices
 * Ideologically oriented programming
 * Consumer-driven media outlets and emerging technologies that reinforce existing beliefs
 * Uncertainty over the credibility of news sources and information