Government: United States Constitution and National Government Essay

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Although President Obama’s nominations can be seen as moderate, directly after it was announced that Hagel was to fulfill the spot for the Secretary of Defense and John Brennan as director of the CIA, there was a large amount of controversy. With Obama’s choice of Hagel for the Secretary of Defense we see a Vietnam Veteran. He “… was deputy director of the Veterans Administration during the Reagan administration and later served as president of the United Service Organizations.” (US News) “While Hagel is a Republican, his views on foreign policy alarm some of his GOP colleagues. During his time in the Senate, Hagel was verbose in his opposition to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, he voted against sanctioning Iran on multiple occasions and has suggested Israel should negotiate with Hamas directly. Republicans and Democrats alike worry he’s not a strong enough friend to Israel …”(World Report) With nominating Hagel Obama is sending the worst possible message to Israel with Hagel’s lacking support for them. Obama’s nomination of John Brennan as CIA Director is no less controversial than Hagel’s nomination. John Brennan has been known to use torture, to carry out assassination of unidentified strangers and to spy on many Americans. These nominations tell us “That the Obama administration doesn’t plan on fighting as many conventional wars with men in uniform – soldiers, sailors, pilots and marines – but does plan to crank up assassinations, drone strikes and other covert operations worldwide.”AP American Government Exam (1-8) Fall 2010

1. The U.S. democracy under the Constitution is best described as what- B, representative democracy

2. Which of the following was not one of the weaknesses of the Articles of confederation- A, The President was not accountable to Congress

3. The issue, which led to the Great Compromise was- C, slavery

4. Following the writings of Locke and Montesquieu, Madison recommends this in Federalist No. 51- C, separation of powers

5. The President appoints Supreme Court justices as needed. Who must approve these appointments?- C, Senate

6. The key concept developed by the Chief Justice in Marbury v. Madison was- C, judicial review

7. An example of growth of the President’s power not explicitly mentioned in the Constitution is- B, executive orders

8. The last step in amending the Constitution is- C, ratification by ¾ of the states

9. Madison claims the great problem of democracy historically has been- A, majority faction

10. A principle in the constitution designed to limit political authority is- D, separation of powers

11. Article I section 8 of the Constitution was intended to- B, list the specific powers given to congress

12. Unitary and federal systems differ in what important way- C, Diffused authority is an important goal of federalist systems, whereas unitary systems are much more centralized

13. Which of the following is not an advantage of federalism- D, provides confident laws throughout the country

14. Powers the Constitution specifically grants to one of the branches of the national government are called- E, none of the above

15. Block grants are so named because- A, They are broad grants given to states for given purposes

16. Which type of Federalism favors the national government determining what the states are allowed to do- E, Permissive Federalism

17. John Locke’s most important work for understanding the U.S. government is- C, Two Treaties on Government

18. Which court case was important in limiting the use of the commerce clause by Congress?- D, United States vs. Europe

19. Welfare in the form of AFDC was ended in 1996 and changed to block grants. This is an example of- B, The devolution of responsibility for welfare from the national government to the states

20. Which of the following does the Constitution prohibit the states from doing- C, coining money

21. The process in which an individual develop opinions