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What is government?

-the institution through which a society makes and enforces its public policies.

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Who is government?

Government is made up of the people who exercise its powers, all those who have authority and control over people.

Civics is the study of what it means to be a U.S. citizen – a legally recognized member of the country.

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3 Basic Powers

Legislative power – the power to make law and to frame public policies.

Executive power – the power to execute, enforce, and administer law.

Judicial power – the power to interpret laws, to determine their meaning, and to settle disputes that arise within the society.

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Constitution

The body of fundamental laws setting out the principles, structures, and processes of a government.

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Dictatorship vs. Democracy

Dictatorship - full exercise of power held by one person.

Democracy – full exercise of power held with a majority of the people.

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Politics vs. Government

Politics is a process.

Government is an institution.

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The State

The state can be defined as a body of people, living in a defined territory, organized politically (with a government), and with the power to make and enforce law without the consent of any higher authority.

Every state has a population, territory, is sovereign (it has supreme and absolute power within its own territory and can decide its own foreign and domestic policies), and every state has a government.

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Four theories on how states were born

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The Force Theory

States were born of force.

One person or a small group claimed control over an area and forced all within it to submit to that person’s or group’s rule.

Once the rule was established, population, territory, sovereignty, and government existed.

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The Evolutionary Theory

The state developed out of the family structure.

There was a head of the household and this one person was the government, the first stage of political development.

Over countless years the original family became a network of related families, a clan and then a tribe.

Once the tribe quit moving around and focused on agriculture, the state was born.

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The Divine Right Theory

God created the state and had given those born to royalty the “divine right” to rule.

People had to obey these people because they were chosen by God.

If you opposed you were opposing God, this was treason and mortal sin.

Much of the government today came out of people challenging the divine right theory.

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The Social Contract Theory

Early humans lived in a state of nature, no government existed. No authority existed to protect one person from the aggressive acts of another. Individuals were only as safe as their own physical stature could make them.

Humans overcame this by agreeing to a social contract. Agreeing to create a state and give up to the state as much power as was needed to promote the well-being of all.

The state serves the will of the people.

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The Purpose of the Government

“We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty and ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”

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To Form a More Perfect Union

The Constitution is meant to link the states and the American people more closely together.

The Constitution built in the belief that in union there is strength.

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To Establish Justice

The law, in both its content and its administration, must be reasonable, fair, and impartial. Those standards of justice have not always been met in this country.

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To Insure Domestic Tranquility

Keeping the peace at home.

Without government you would live in a state of anarchy with no law and order.

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To Provide for the Common Defense

Defending the nation again foreign enemies.

Keeping the security of the United States.

Defense is mentioned far more often in the Constitution than any of the other functions of the government it created.

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To Promote the General Welfare

Public schools are a leading illustration of government’s work to promote the general welfare.

Other examples include protecting the quality of air you breathe, the water you drink and the food you eat.

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To Secure the Blessings of Liberty

Both the Federal Constitution and the State constitutions set out many guarantees of right and liberties for the individual in this country.

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Democracy

“government of the people, by the people, for the people.”

Direct democracy – will of the people is translated into public policy directly by the people themselves. These do not exist on a national level.

Indirect democracy (aka representative democracy) – a small group of persons, chosen by the people to act as their representatives, expresses the popular will.

Republic – sovereign power is held by those who can vote, political power is exercised by representatives chosen by and held responsible to those citizens.

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Dictatorship

Autocracy – is a government in which a single person holds unlimited political power.

Oligarchy – is a government in which the power to rule is held by a small, usually self-appointed elite.

All dictatorships are authoritarian – those in power hold absolute control over the people.

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Geographic Distribution of Power

Unitary government – all powers belong to a centralized agency. Great Britain is an example.

Federal government – powers of the government are split between a central government and several local governments. The United States is an example.

Confederate Government – is an alliance of independent states. The European Union is an example.

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Legislative and Executive Branch Relations

Presidential government – features a separation of powers between the executive and the legislative branches of government. The legislature and executive are independent and coequal.

Parliamentary government – the executive is made up of the prime minister or premier, and that official’s cabinet. The prime minister and cabinet themselves are members of the legislative branch, the parliament.

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Basic Concepts of Democracy

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5 Basic notions

A respect for the equality of all persons

A faith in majority rule and insistence upon minority rights

An acceptance of the necessity of compromise

A recognition of the fundamental worth and dignity of every person

An insistence upon the widest possible degree of individual freedom

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Compromise?

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Compromise is an essential part of the democratic

concept. Democrats and Republicans disagree over compromise

Washington (CNN) - As a battle looms between Democrats and Republicans in the lameduck Congress over extending Bush-era tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans, a new survey suggests that two parties don't see eye to eye over the art of compromise. According to a new Gallup poll, 59 percent of Democrats say it is generally more important for political leaders to compromise to get things, with 18 percent saying it is more important to stick to your beliefs. But 41 percent of Republicans questioned in the survey say it is more important for lawmakers to stick to their beliefs even if little gets done, with 32 percent saying compromise is more important. The poll indicates that by a 49 to 24 percent margin, independent voters say it is more important for politicians to compromise to get things done rather than sticking to their core beliefs. Those numbers are close the 47 to 27 percent margin in favor of compromise for all Americans questioned in the survey. The GOP made major gains in Congress in last week's midterm elections, mainly by opposing over the past two years the agenda of President Barack Obama and Democratic congressional leaders. "Because this was the first time Gallup has asked the question about compromise versus holding firm in one's beliefs, it is not clear whether the partisan differences in the poll are typical or whether they reflect Republicans' and Democrats' responses to the current political situation," says Jeffrey Jones of Gallup. The poll indicates that the public is much more likely to say that Obama will make a sincere effort to work with Republicans on Capitol Hill (64 percent) than they are to believe that congressional Republicans will make an effort to work with the White House and the Democrats in Congress (43 percent). Gallup points out that the difference could stem from the tendency by Americans to rate the president more positively than Congress. The Gallup poll was conducted November 4-7, with 1,021 adult in American questioned by telephone. The survey sampling error is plus or minus four percentage points.

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Free Enterprise System

It is an economic system characterized by the private ownership of capital goods, investments made by private decision, not by government directive, and success or failure determined by competition in the marketplace.

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Law of Supply and Demand

The law states that when supplies of goods and services become plentiful, prices tend to drop. When supplies become scarcer, prices tend to rise.

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Mixed Economy

An economy in which private enterprise exists in combination with a considerable amount of government regulation and promotion is called a mixed economy.