Fundamental Political Beliefs - AP Government and Politics

Civic responsibility, also called "civic duty," refers to the idea that all eligible American citizens have a duty to vote and engage actively with the democratic political process. Individual rights refers to the idea that all individuals have certain inalienable rights that cannot be violated or impressed upon by the government. America has supposedly equal ability to compete economically, but true economic equality cannot realistically be a feature of a capitalist society.

The term “honeymoon period” is used to refer to the inflation of popularity that a president generally receives shortly after being elected. For the vast majority of presidents, their popularity reaches its peak shortly after coming into office and then declines until they are either voted out of office or their term limits expire.

Thomas Jefferson in particular argued that employees could not freely exercise democratic privileges because their bosses would inevitably force them to vote as the bosses wished. Jefferson believed that democracy must occur in public, every man aware of his neighbors' positions. While many of the other answers sound plausible, it's important to consider the philosophy of a figure as influential and ideological as Thomas Jefferson.

You can immediately eliminate the forms of government that were not advocated by the Founding Fathers: monarchy, aristocracy, and oligarchy. James Madison wrote in Federalist #10 about the dangers of many factions. He believed that these factions would arise as a result of a direct democracy. For him, the representative democracy would be the best form of government because it allowed for the expression of ideas, but for these ideas to be put through the filter of representatives in the government.

Police powers are the powers, given to the legislative branch of government, to legislate for the health, safety, welfare, and morals of the people. Police powers were commonly used by the states to take care of internal affairs. When constructing the Constitution, it was recognized that the states had lots of power through police powers; therefore, the national government needed more.

A person's political beliefs, being multifaceted and complicated, are shaped by a variety of factors, including religious background, education, employment history, and income level. In fact, almost anything, from homeownership to family size, has a direct influence on a person's voting behavior and political involvement.

The issue of gun ownership and gun rights is most likely to create a massive gender gap in the pattern of voting. Women are generally against gun ownership, whereas men are generally in favor of it; of course, this is a broad generalization. Perhaps surprisingly, there is a small, but not massive, gender gap on issues such as women’s rights and gay rights.

Followers of Judaism are by far the most likely religious group in contemporary America to have liberal opinions on issues and to vote for liberal candidates. The religious right, predominantly Southern Protestants, are the most likely group to vote conservatively on issues.

Since the 1980 election, there has been a very clear voting pattern in American general elections, where women are much more likely than men to vote for a candidate from the Democratic Party. The two largest gender discrepancies in American history have occurred during the successful elections of Bill Clinton and Barack Obama. Men are more likely to vote for gun ownership rights, but men are also more likely to vote for a decreased role of government. Women are more likely to support affirmative action to encourage racial and social equality.

The term, Solid South, was historically used, from the end of the Civil War until the middle of the 1960s, to refer to the fact that the South almost always voted for the Democratic Party. This was born, in part, out of the South’s response to the Republican party’s northern associations during the Civil War and its aftermath. These days, the "Solid South" could just as easily be applied to the fact that the South very consistently votes Republican.

There is a growing gender gap in American politics. To oversimplify, women are more likely to vote Democratic and support liberal positions on economic and social issues, while men are more likely to vote Republican and support conservative positions on economic and social issues. The greatest gender gap can be evidenced in the large majority of women who favor major restrictions on gun ownerships, versus far fewer men.

African-American votes have shown a strong tendency in recent years to support Democratic Party candidates who lean heavily to the left. Unlike white Democratic Party voters, who are more likely to support a moderate candidate.

"Gender gap," refers to the consistent differences between the voting patterns of men and women. For example, women are much more likely to vote for increased restrictions on gun ownership. Women are also, particularly in contemporary times, less likely to vote conservative than men. The only statement above that is true is that women are more likely to support an increase in government spending on social welfare.

This question is designed to test reading skills as well as subject knowledge. John Locke wrote extensively about the legitimacy of government as well as ways in which it should operate. All information needed is contained within the question. Locke is clearly stating his views regarding a rulers place within the law.

The writings of Thomas Hobbes explored the relationship between man and government. Hobbes had a non-idealized vision of human nature and advocated for social contract and government intervention in human society. He uses the stability brought about by government to justify an amount of control exerted by governments. Hobbes was an influential thinker throughout the 18th century and influence a number of early American legislators.

Modern fiscal conservatives favor reducing spending, reducing taxation and regulation, lowering national debt, and lowering and balancing budgets.

The pluralist theory believes that, by and large, interest groups (contrary to public opinion) actually do follow all the expected rules when pursuing their goals. According to pluralist belief, interest groups avoid depiction, manipulation, cheating, and/or falsehoods out of simple common sense and self-interest – each group wants a fair chance to achieve their aims and so therefore they all implicitly agree not to act in unfair ways that would otherwise unjustly obstruct each other. This default code of cooperation and ethical conduct underlies all interest group activities, reducing corruption and helping to keep each group’s ambitions in check.

The term political socialization refers to the process through which people develop their political beliefs and affiliations. Agents of political socialization can include (but are not limited to) families, the media, friends, schools, and religious communities.

Rational-choice theory states that when picking a candidate for any branch of government, the voter is most likely to pick a candidate that will best serve his or her interests. For example, a wealthy person is most likely to vote for someone who will protect the interests of the wealthy. This is in contrast to the more ideological notion that a voter should pick a candidate who will serve the greatest good for the country.

Keynesian economic theory is derived from the writings of British economist John Maynard Keynes in the 1930s. The theory primarily contends that the government should wield greater economic influence during times of recession and depression to aid the recovery of the economy. As an economic theory, it was most influential during the Great Depression, but has seen a resurgence during the recent recession of the early twenty-first century.