1. Teaching Exercise

2. What is a bill? What is a law? How does a bill become a law?

3. What does the president do?

4. How would you evaluate a candidate who claimed that “when I’m elected, I’ll get rid of red tape”?

5. What does stare decisis mean, and why is it important?

6. What is the rule of law? Why is this an important concept for citizens to understand?

7. How does the Electoral College work?

8. In what ways can judges change the Bill of Rights?

9. Why did the colonists fight the British?

10. Does the Constitution guarantee a right to privacy? Why or why not?

11. What is a federal system? Why do we have one?

12. Why do some states have lots of representatives in the House and some states have only one?

13. Would you rather be Nancy Pelosi or Harry Reid? Why?

14. What is a regulation? How do they get written?

15. What are some powers only that the states have?

16. Name all of the 14 states that border the Atlantic Ocean

17. Do bureaucrats make important policy decisions? Explain your answer.

18. Why would the president prefer to have unified government?

19. What does a Congressional committee chair do?

20. Back to political parties…

21. Electoral rules affect party strength The golden age of parties 1828-1912 Declining party strength 1912-1972 Era of weak parties 1972-1994 Stronger parties? 1994-???

22. The golden age of parties 1828-1912 Party conventions Patronage/Spoils system No secret ballot Politics as entertainment Grass roots parties High voter turnout

23. Declining party strength: 1912-1972 Australian (secret) ballot Civil service reforms Primary elections Direct election of senators Nonpartisan local elections New Deal welfare state More candidate-centered campaigns

24. Era of weak parties 1972-1994 TV Campaign finance Deep ideological divisions within parties –(Particularly the Democratic party!) Weak party discipline in Congress Candidate centered elections Rise in number of “independents” Split ticket voting

25. Stronger parties? 1994-??? Southern realignment Ideological polarization Strong party discipline in Congress Highly partisan, competitive presidential elections Increased turnout New restrictions on party-building?

26. Which side are you on? Democrats to the LEFT Republicans to the RIGHT