AP Government Monster Vocabulary Flashcards

9631041917	Discharge Petition	A way of getting a bill out of a congressional committee and on to the floor of the House of Senate, often without the approval of the committee chair	0
9631051866	Grassroots Lobbying	Ordinary citizens raising awareness for a cause and pushing the gov't to adopt a particular policy	1
9631058691	Party Caucus	Face-to-face meetings of party members at the local or state level to determine their party's candidate for office	2
9631064553	Oversight	Congressional committee hearings held to determine how well an agency is doing its job	3
9631070247	Dealignment	When voters no longer identify with one of the two major parties and become independent voters	4
9631073901	Fiscal Policy	Impacting the economy through taxing and spending in the budget	5
9631078010	General Election	An election to select the person who will hold office	6
9631081616	Closed Primary	A vote by party members to determine their party's candidate for office, which is restricted to those who are registered to the party	7
9631091343	Motion for Cloture	A vote by 60 senators to end a filibuster	8
9631093647	Super PAC	An organization, which need not disclose its members, that can spend a vast and unlimited amount of money on a political campaign	9
9631098536	Federalism	A system of gov't where power is shared between the national gov't and the states in which the states have some protected powers	10
9631109918	Political Socialization	The process by which an individual develops his or her political beliefs	11
9631114996	Enumerated Powers	Powers that are given to an institution of gov't directly in the Constitution, such as Congress's power to tax	12
9631131723	Lame Duck Period	The time during which a president who has lost an election or has ended a second term is still in office before the new president serves	13
9631140926	Midterm Election	An election in which voters select members of Congress but not the president	14
9631145260	Lobbying	Efforts by an interest group or individual to contact a member of Congress and advocate for a particular policy	15
9631150138	Party Polarization	When political parties move farther away from each other ideologically and also move away from the center	16
9631155317	Amicus Curiae	An argument filed with a court by an individual or group who is not a party to a lawsuit	17
9631163547	Judicial Activism	A philosophy that the Supreme Court should make bold new policy	18
9631167222	Horse Race Journalism	The tendency of the media to focus on which candidate is ahead in the polls rather than focusing on the issues	19
9631178592	Issue Network (Iron Triangle)	A relationship between interest groups, agencies, and congressional committees in a certain policy area	20
9631184348	Political Party	A group of individuals who organize to run candidates for office	21
9631189456	Gerrymandering	Drawing congressional district boundaries to benefit a group, usually a political party	22
9631193748	White House Staff	The president's personal assistants and advisors	23
9631198532	Filibuster	A procedure used in the Senate to talk a bill to death	24
9631201955	Executive Order	A presidential directive	25
9631205861	Pork Barrel Spending	A provision in a bill that benefits a specific congressional constituency	26
9631215471	Entitlements	Promises made by the gov't to an identifiable group of people who are guaranteed benefits	27
9631222351	Original Intent	Making judicial decisions by considering what the founding fathers meant in the Constitution	28
9631225457	Logrolling	When members of Congress trade votes for favors in order to get the bills they support passed	29
9631230522	Monetary Policy	Influencing the economy through federal interest rates, reserve rates, and the amount of money in circulation	30
9631237634	Selective Incorporation	The process by which the Bill of Rights has been applied to the states on a case-by-case basis through the Fourteenth Amendment	31
9631246712	Suffrage	The right to vote	32
9631251092	Writ of Certiorari	A document issued by the Supreme Court if it has agreed to hear a case	33
9631253567	Litigation	A lawsuit	34
9631256030	Uncontrollable Spending	Expenditures that the federal gov't cannot realistically reduce because they are required by law	35
9631263205	Political Efficacy	An individual's belief that his or her political participation can make a difference	36
9631266126	Gender Gap	The tendency of men to support candidates from the Republican party at greater rates than women	37
9631270924	Single-Member District	The electoral system used to select members of the House of Representatives	38
9631277006	Pocket Veto	When a president does not sign a bill within 10 days when the Congress is not in session	39
9631281726	Redistricting	Changing congressional district boundaries based on a new census	40
9631285209	Independent Expenditures	Money spent on ads that are not sponsored by a candidate or party	41
9631293097	Policy Agenda	Problems that have the attention of the gov't and the public	42
9631297181	Cooperative Federalism	A system where the federal gov't and the states work together in funding and administering programs	43
9631306482	Stare Decisis	When a court follows precedent by letting a previous decision stand	44
9631309716	Demographics	The statistical characteristics of a population	45
9631312113	Political Culture	The shared political values of a society	46
9631316571	Divided Gov't	When the president is from one political party and one or both houses of Congress are controlled by the opposing political party	47
9631328484	Open Primary	An election to determine a party's candidate for office in which that party's members and unaffiliated voters may vote	48
9631339195	PAC	An organization that is registered with the Federal Election Committee and donates money to a candidate or campaign	49
9631345692	Judicial Review	The power of the Supreme Court to overturn a law or executive action as unconstitutional	50
9631350604	Interest Group	An organization that advocates for policies through lobbying, electioneering, grassroots mobilization and protesting	51
9631369015	Pluralist Democracy	A theory of gov't in which many groups compete for policy	52
9631373071	Implied Powers	Powers that are necessary to carry out an expressed power in the Constitution, like the power of Congress to establish a bank	53
9631379142	Incumbent	An officeholder who is running for reelection	54
9631382412	Realignment	The process through which voters leave one of the major party coalition and join the other major party's coalition	55
9631390109	Direct Democracy	A system of gov't in which citizens decide on policy, rather than electing representatives	56
9631393930	Republicanism	A system of gov't in which citizens elect representatives to make policy	57
9631399890	Bipartisan	Having the support of both major parties	58
9631403145	Exclusive Powers	Authority granted solely to the federal gov't	59
9631406042	Supply-Side Economics	An economic theory that lowering taxes and decreasing regulations will stimulate economic growth	60
9631416066	Equal Protection	The Fourteenth Amendment protection of the civil rights of groups	61
9631420296	Linkage Institutions	The media, political parties, interest groups and elections	62
9631424429	Civil Service System	Staffing the bureaucracy based on merit	63
9631432605	Political Ideology	An individual's belief system about the role of gov't	64
9631437663	Rule of Law	A system where no one is above the rules	65
9631440699	Concurrent Powers	Powers shared by the national and state gov'ts	66
9631443939	Proportional Representation	Voting for parties who will be represented in the legislature according to the percentage of votes received	67
9631450761	Keynesian Economics	An economic theory that gov't spending stimulates economic growth	68
9631456577	Signing Statement	When the president authorizes a law but indicates that he will not carry out some of its provisions	69
9631462874	Reapportionment	Changing the number of representatives each state is awarded based on the census	70
9631468591	Due Process	The Fourteenth Amendment protection of civil liberties of individuals	71
9631473064	Patronage System	Exchanging governmental rewards for political favors	72