PS120 Part II
Ball, pgs. 33-46
Tannenbaum, pgs. 39-45, PT6-S18
The United States as Democratic Republic
True or False Questions
1. There were few favorable references to democracy either duringthe American War of Independence or at the time of the drafting of the U.S. Constitution in 1787.True or False
2. It was the supporters of the proposed Constitution, the Federalists, who supported the incorporation of a bill of rights. True or False
3. With the election of Andrew Jackson, voting was extended to almost all white males with state governments removing property qualifications. True or False
4. Like Plato and Aristotle more than 2000 years earlier, Tocqueville warned that the common people are easily swayed by demagogues who flatter and mislead them in order to win power. True or False
5. Utilitarians believed that representative democracy is the worst form of government because it results in laziness and corruption. True or False
6. Switzerland, sometimes called the world’s oldest continuous democracy, granted full voting rights to women before the United States or Britain. True or False
7. Different ideologies do indeed pursue and promote democracy, but they do so in different ways because they disagree about what democracy is. True or False
8. According to the American Founders, the voters be able to decide almost any and every issue by majority vote. True or False
9. The system of an indirect election for selecting the president of the United States through an Electoral College effectively disenfranchises many American voters. True or False
10. The Constitution’s equal protection clause allows for the majority to strip rights held by unpopular minorities. True or False
11. Because of the extensive amount of voter fraud and abuse at polling facilities during American elections, in 2011 Republican-controlled state houses were absolutely right in passing laws requiring voters to show photo IDs at the polls, outlawing early voting and same-day voter registration, and other legislation to restrict the vote. True or False
12. In today’s world, freedom and equality andthe form they take and how these two principles relate to each other, areno longer open to interpretation. True or False
13. In communist ideology, the goal is to prepare for a future classless society where the state will eventually wither away. True or False
14. The demise of the former Soviet Union has compelled the regimes of China, Cuba, North Korea and Vietnam to revise their ideology and accept the supremacy of liberal democracy. True or False
15. The lessons of history have taught that democracy cannot be transplanted easily, if at all, in culturally alien or barren soil. True or False
Multiple Choice Questions
1. The British constitution was a mixture or balance of rule by one, the few, and the many, just as: a) democratic theory prescribed, b) aristocratic theory prescribed, c) republican theory prescribed, d) oligarchic theory prescribed.
2. He said that “Ambition must be made to counteract ambition….If men were angels, no government would be necessary…” a) Thomas Jefferson, b) Benjamin Franklin, c) James Madison, d) Alexander Hamilton.
3. What were the two freedoms that republican writers saw as absolutely essential to the preservation of free government? a) Freedom of press and religion, b) Freedom of speech and assembly, c) The right to own a gun and habeas corpus, d) Trial by jury and no cruel and unusual punishment.
4. Tocqueville refers to the pressure to conform in a democracy as: a) the public check on despotism, b) the emancipation of the human spirit, c) majority counterforce, d) tyranny of the majority.
5. A more old-fashioned kind of tyranny: a) dictatorship, b) despotism, c) totalitarianism, d) one-party rule.
6. According to Tocqueville, which class prevents the rise of despotism and demagogues? a) aristocratic class, b) the oligarchs, c) the middle class, d) the commoners.
7. What were the two institutions of American democracy that particularly impressed Tocqueville? a) the press and civic pride, b) freedom of assembly and the right to bear arms, c) the New England town meetings and jury duty, d) accepting local taxation and public education.
8. According to the Utilitarians, the duty of government is to: a) protect the property of the privileged, b) punish the criminal, c) assure that no one goes hungry at night, d) promote the greatest happiness for the greatest number.
9. In a 1967 Supreme Court struck down anti-miscegenation laws as unconstitutional: a) Bird v. Shaw, b) Loving v. Virginia, c) Gertrude v. Alabama, d) Evans v. Florida.
10. The following ideology argues that society is often in turmoil because most people are incapable of governing themselves: a) democracy, b) socialism, c) fascism, d) unitary.
11. In a liberal democracy, majority rule must: a) be sovereign, b) take priority over individual rights, c) determine public policy outcomes, d) be limited.
12. Where does the social democrat of Europe part ways with the liberal democrat of the U.S.? a) social democrats typically calls for the redistribution of wealth to promote equality, b) social democrats believe that the productive elements of society need to be free to assure greater efficiency in the market, c) social democrats argue that to assure the stability of the society, property rights must be the hallmark of the governing system, d) social democrats are comfortable with great inequalities of wealth in society as long as the economic needs of the people are met.
13. From a communist perspective, democracy will not be achieved until government rulesin the interest of: a) the party, b) the state, c) the common people, d) all the people.
Fill-in Questions
1. The British government is a system of shared powersamong the following institutions:
a) the ______,
b) the House of ______,
c) and the House of ______.
2. What contributed to democracy’s popularity in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries?
a) the growth of ______,
b) the spread of public ______,
c) and improvements in ______and transportation such as the ______and railroad.
3.In the case, Citizens United (2010) the Supreme Court ruled that:
a) ______are a form of freespeech and
b) are therefore protected under the ______, and
c) that ______are persons with full free-speech rights,
d) including the right to donate ______amounts of money to candidates whose campaigns they choose to support.
4. The program of the social democrats calls for:
a) a redistribution of ______to promote ______,
b) public rather than private control of ______, and major ______,
c) workers’ ______of the workplace.
Political Forms of the Polis
Tannenbaum, p. 39-45
True or False Questions
1. Plato favors a form of government dominated by permanent rulers who govern without law.
True or False
2. According to Aristotle, it is the rulers who are best fit to judge government policy that determines the public interest. True or False
3. Each citizen brings some bit of personal wisdom, as well as a bit of virtue and experience, to the collective task of governing, argues Aristotle. True or False
4. For Aristotle, being an elitist philosopher, compels him to argue that laws are meant to bind the subjects of a ruler to the latter’s authority and not to be applied to the ruler himself. True or False
5. Although Aristotle has his own preferences among the six forms of government he describes, he is willing to allow some virtue in each of the six. True or False
6. Aristotle is comfortable with a rising disparity of wealth even if it becomes extreme, because those at the top not only deserve their privileged position but ultimately are the class that best harmonizes a society. True or False
7. To prevent the decay of the governing system and ensure a stable polis, Aristotle argues that both the letter and the spirit of the law must receive the greatest respect. True or False
8. Aristotle argues that government officials must personally profit from holding office to minimize corruption in the polis. A wealthy government official is freer to serve the public interest as opposed to a poor one. True or False
9. A virtuous and educated population with good laws are more effective teachers than the threat of police power; they are the best defense of a good polis against decline, argues Aristotle. True or False
10. Aristotle insists that the telos of any object must be found in the object itself, not, as Plato would have it, outside it. True or False
Multiple Choice Questions
1. What is the problem with the rule of one or few, according to Aristotle? a) there is a lack of accountability, b) there is a lack of clarity and continuity, c) it becomes too difficult to monitor the activities of the citizenry, d) there is the susceptibility to corruption.
2. For Aristotle, the best form of government is: a) aristocracy, b) mixed government, c) oligarchy, d) absolutism.
3. Why does Aristotle support political equality existing side by side with economic inequality? a) It assures that the rich can better control the multitude, b) It is the objective of the wealthy few to maintain a sizeable population of poor to sustain their privileged position, c) It minimizes instability by meshing the talents of all classes, d) Economic inequality ultimately leads to political inequality which is the ideal form of government.
4. Why is the supremacy of the law made by all better than potentially arbitrary supremacy of the rulers, according to Aristotle? a) the law is always perfectly suited to a given regime and not a person or persons, b) it is not certain that those who rule will always be virtuous and give priority to the public interest, c) laws have always been about adapting to the will of the gods whereas rulers are terminal, d) laws, whether the result of corruption or honesty, give clarity to a governing system; thus, result in greater stability.
5. Aristotle considers the following the worst form of government but thinks it is the only form possible for the large states of his time: a) monarchy, b) tyranny, c) democracy, d) aristocracy.
6. As described by Aristotle, a system of government where there are only a few rulers who are wealthy that promote the interest of their own class above all others: a) aristocracy, b) polity, c) monarchy, d) oligarchy.
7. Why does Aristotle consider democracy the least bad of the three perverted forms of government? a) it creates the conditions for its own demise that results in the ideal mixed form, b) it assures that the law is still sovereign in spite of itself, c) it approximates more closely the interest of the whole people, d) it enhances the possibility that the best ruler will percolate upwards.
8. Aristotle’s term for the best possible form of true constitution: a) democracy, b) aristocracy, c) monarchy, d) polity.
9. What is the ultimate test of stability in a governing system, according to Aristotle? a) the majority supports the constitution totally, b) the privileged few have enough power to control those factions that instigate trouble, c) that no important faction or class favors violent change, d) the ruling class has enough wealth to buy-off the less fortunate, more disgruntled elements.
10. Why would Aristotle give advice to a tyrant on how to maintain his power, according to the Greek philosopher? a) He hoped that the ruling elites of his day would reward him with wealth and other privileges, b) This would allow them to initiate practices that alleviate the burdens of the citizenry over the long-term, c) He believed that everything is already pre-ordained and accepting such conditions is the will of the gods, d) Aristotle did not care what kind of governing system existed.
11. How is Aristotle conservative? a) He feels that the middle-class and the poor must remain ignorant to better control them, b) He feels that the wealthy deserve their privileged because of their intellectual superiority, c) He feels that everything is pre-ordained and cannot be changed, d) He wants to preserve the stability of the polis.
Fill-in Questions
1. According to Aristotle, the term constitution specifically refers to:
a) an ______of offices in the state,
b) by which the method of their distribution is ______,
c) the ______authority is determined,
d) and the nature of the end to be pursued by the association and all its members is ______.
2. Why is polity the best form of government, according toAristotle?
a) it reflects reason and ______, being structured to counteract the potentially destabilizing effects of ______antagonism in any society
b) it mixes ______and ______and merit and wealth with numbers,
c) giving the balance to the _____ but effective control to a virtuous middle class that exercises sovereign authority in the public interest under ____.
3. What advice does Aristotle provide to a tyrant for maintaining his power?
a) He urges them to divide and conquer their people, create a strong ____ system alert to opposition, and ______those who threaten their power.
b) Tyrants should also encourage ______hatred, even warfare, between rich and poor.
c) Subjects must be kept ______to one another at all costs. Any association that promotes friendship or community of interests must be suppressed.
d) He should appear formally ______by openly worshiping the _____ and observing conventional rites and practices.
Answers
True or False Questions, Ball, pgs. 33-46
1. True
3. True
5. False
7. True
9. True
11. False
13. True
15. True
Multiple Choice Questions
1. c
3. b
5. b
7. c
9. b
11. d
13. c
Fill-in Questions
1. a) Crown, b) Lords, c) Commons
3. a) campaign contributions, b) First Amendment, c) corporation, d) unlimited
True or False Questions, Tannenbaum, pgs. 39-45
1. True
3. True
5. True
7. True
9. True
Multiple Choice Questions
1. d
3. c
5. b
7. c
9. c
11. d
Fill-in Questions
1. a) organization, b) fixed, c) sovereign, d) prescribed
3. a) spy, neutralize, b) class, c) strangers, d) religious, gods
6-1