Public Policy - AP Government and Politics

A grassroots campaign is a movement initiated by a collection of typical citizens with the intention of garnering enough support and attention for a cause so as to affect government policy. Debate over its effectiveness in the face of special interest groups and corporate donations to campaigns have often been raised, but it remains one of the most accessible means to the common person for trying to implement change in the United States.

The Consumer Price Index (often simply seen as the CPI) measures the fluctuations in the cost of goods in the market purchased by an average American household. It is used to measure and track inflation.

The Taft-Hartley Act of 1947, also called the Labor Management Relations Act, is a Federal law in the United States that was designed to limit the power and ability of the prominent labor unions of the time. Among other things, it makes it more difficult for labor unions to organize, monopolize the supply of labor, and strike. In the years leading up to the Taft-Hartley Act, many prominent American politicians and businessmen were concerned with the rising power, gained through labor unions, of the working classes. The Taft-Hartley Act was one prominent, and perhaps the most effective, way of limiting this growing power.

Non-violent civil disobedience is a movement associated with various political figures throughout history. It holds that violent resistance against the dominant class in society only produces crackdowns and worse conditions for the oppressed. The best way to promote change is therefore to resist without resorting to violence—through strikes, marches, demonstrations, etc. The movement is most closely associated with Martin Luther King Jr. during the Civil Rights movement.

In a closed-shop company, as opposed to an open-shop company, workers must remain union members throughout their employment with the company. Union membership is a required condition of employment. The Taft-Hartley Act (1947) mostly outlawed closed shops, although there are loopholes and exceptions that allow some companies to continue the practice in everything but name.

The iron triangle refers to the three groups of people who have the greatest influence over the process of law making. These groups are lobbyists, Congressmen, and bureaucrats. Although media personalities play a role in swaying public opinion, they are not members of the iron triangle. Likewise, judges are not a part of the iron triangle because they do not have influence over the creation of laws; their role involves the interpretation of the laws.

The Legislative Branch is correct, as it contains the House of Representatives and the Senate. This branch serves to create different legislation and discuss various policy issues.

Jim Crow laws were a series of bills and rulings passed in the South, during the Reconstruction Era, which were designed to enforce racial segregation after the abolition of slavery. They differ from the Black Codes, which were used in the South prior to the Civil War to prevent African-American emancipation. The Supreme Court case, Plessy v. Ferguson (1890), reinforced the legality of Jim Crow laws by ruling that separate but equal was not unconstitutional. This ruling was overturned by the Supreme Court case, Brown v. Board of Education (1954).

The Poll Tax emerged throughout the Reconstruction-Era South as a way for the governments in the South to avoid abiding by the Fifteenth Amendment. The Poll Tax stated that an individual had to pay a certain fee for registering and to vote, and it was used primarily to prevent African Americans from voting in the years after the end of the Civil War.

A progressive income tax involves an increasing tax rate for people as their incomes (and thus ability to pay) increase. It is generally seen as an important way to correct the natural social and economic imbalances of a capitalist society. The United States income tax has always been progressive, namely through the use of income tax brackets. However, it has become substantially less progressive in the past 50 years.

United States antitrust laws are designed to prevent businesses from forming monopolies or cartels and to ensure that competition is allowed to flourish. The most notable pieces of legislation that relate to antitrust laws are the Sherman Act of 1890 and the Clayton Act of 1914.

Medicaid, enacted into United States law in 1965, is designed to provide healthcare to poor Americans who would otherwise be unable to afford health care coverage. Medicare, enacted in the same piece of legislation during the Johnson administration, is designed to provide health benefits to senior citizens. Taken together, these two government programs may be understood as part of the widespread extension of social welfare that took place in the United States during the 1960s.

Protectionism is an economic policy designed to protect the national economy from being overrun by imports. This is primarily achieved through tariffs and other restrictions on imports into the country. Protectionism has been enforced at various times throughout United States history, particularly in the early years of the nation. The policy runs in direct contrast to free trade which is more recently the dominant economic policy of the nation.

Affirmative Action is the name given to the government policy, or any legislation related to the policy, which is designed to give special compensation or advantages to a social, religious, or ethnic group that has previously been disadvantaged. The idea is to try and correct for longstanding social ills against certain groups within society by granting them special dispensation. It first appeared as part of the Wagner Act issued during the 1930s and has been a controversial part of United States’ government policy ever since.

A block grant, as opposed to a categorical grant, is when the Federal government provides a sum of money to state or local governments with very few strings attached. In a block grant the, state and local governments have a lot of leeway with how exactly they can spend the grant money, whereas in a Categorical Grant the money must be spent in a very constrained manner, which is determined at the Federal level. A grant designed to help states improve access to education within their states is a relatively broad purpose. A categorical grant trying to achieve the same thing would likely say something more like "a Federal government program designed to provide money to states to improve access to education by conducting a specific type of research to see how better to meet the needs of students." A categorical grant is more specific and strict than a block grant.

The Hyde Amendment is a legislative provision first passed in 1976, in the aftermath of the Supreme Court case Roe v. Wade (1973), which had legalized abortion. The Hyde Amendment prohibits the use of Federal funds to pay for abortions, except in very specific circumstances (such as rape or when the woman's life is endangered by the pregnancy). Because it only focuses on restricting the availability of Federal funding, the Hyde Amendment disproportionately targets extremely poor women.

Ex post facto laws mean "after the fact." If you were driving 65 mph five days ago, even though the speed limit has been changed to 55 mph, it is not lawful for any law enforcement officer to issue you a ticket. Any illegal actions that were committed before the enforcement of the law cannot be punished.

Police see a car swerving on the freeway late at night. After they pull over the car and see that the driver is drunk, they get a law passed which states that it is illegal for everyone to drive cars past 12 am. This solution is NOT congruent and proportional. The concept of congruency and proportionality states that solutions must be congruent and proportional (suitable, balanced, and correlative) to the problem at hand. Banning all citizens from driving past 12 am is not a congruent and proportional solution. A better, congruent and proportional, solution would be issuing a breathalyzer test to all cars swerving on the highway late at night.

Brief, warrantless pat downs are permitted by stop and frisk. Stop and frisk is when a police officer, when given reasonable suspicion, can stop an individual and conduct a pat down. Reasonable suspicion and good judgment/observation on the officer's behalf allows for these warrantless pat downs.

The most common form of execution in the United States today is lethal injection. The Constitution does not state that any of these methods of execution are inhumane or cruel and unusual. The standards for cruel and unusual punishment have also changed with the times. Although a controversial issue, lethal injections are most widely used as a humane form of execution today.