POLS 207 1st Edition Exam 1 Study Guide Lectures 1 5 Lecture 1 50 States and 90 000 Local Governments What is the population like in the US How does this affect public policy What is Texas State Government like Population Population increases are steady on the whole but vary by ethnic group The white population of the US is decreasing especially in Texas Predicted that Hispanics will be a larger share of the population than whites in the next few years in Texas This could change Texas from a Republican to a Democratic state The population has changed because Texas immigration laws have become less restrictive Also the Family Reunification Act has led to a strong increase in Mexican immigrants Public Policy Different ethnic groups are interested in different policies Hispanics are the fastest growing group and therefore will soon have a greater impact on policy They tend to be more family oriented and less able to gain a good level of education They will often have to look after their families Texas State Government Texas taxes are low so they spend little on services They also must have a balanced budget due to their Constitution so cut spending on public services Texas spends the most on developing healthcare but the least on those who are uninsured Texas is ranked 50th for the percentage of residents with healthcare Meaning that it is the worst state for low insurance rates 1 in 4 Texans don t have insurance Lecture 2 50 States and 90 000 Local Governments What is Texas State Government like cont The working of the federal government and the federal system National vs State vs Local laws Texas State Government State government revenue is gained from taxes such as fuel tax income tax and sales tax among others Texas doesn t fair well in state ranking tables It has a high poverty rate 5 th high crime rate 6th and is ranked 2nd for it s incarcerated population Government Federalism Federal System was a unique system designed by the Founding Fathers 50 state 1 federal and 90 000 local governments Most laws that affect us are actually local laws but people tend to pay less attention to these Texas has 254 counties 1 196 cities 1090 school districts and 2 245 special districts A special district is something that provides a service for the public such as a district that has an airport or runs the sewage system Citizens pay for this via property tax National vs State vs Local laws Some local laws are far stricter than other localities For examples Bryan College Station is fairly strict since they do not allow smoking in bars States and Local governments can decide their own laws but there is still the Supremacy Clause which declares that all federal laws are supreme This means that if there is ever a conflict between a state and federal law the federal law wins out Texas is very pro state rights and therefore does not like the federal government interfering in this way Supreme Court has the power of judicial review and therefore they can overturn any law that is passed each state has their own court which has the same powers An example of their use of judicial review is when Congress attempted to pass gun control laws and the Supreme Court overturned it They decided that it was the states right to choose their own laws in this respect Federal System Congress and the President They create the laws President signs bill into law or vetoes it State legislatures and executives They create the laws for the states if they are in contradiction with federal laws they will not be passed U S Supreme Court Many see judicial activism as a major problem since Justices are not elected and therefore are not accountable to the public Lecture 3 50 States and 90 000 Local Governments What does the government spend money on Who pays for this state and local or federal How does population affect this spending 2007 Expenditures Total Spending 4 4 trillion by all forms government 57 of this was federal 43 state and local however 9 of this comes from federal funding therefore the state and local governments only spend 34 14 251 per capita Myths about Government spending A large amount is spent on foreign aid FALSE Most foreign aid goes to Israel this is all federally funded and constituted only a small amount of spending Healthcare is costly to the states FALSE It is the number one expenditure but is completely federally funded Defense is the second highest expenditure US spends more on the military than the other top 10 countries combined Top in the world for military expenditure Completely federally funded Social Security With more people in retirement there is an unbalanced ratio between those contributing to social security and those gaining the benefits Police and Corrections is mainly state funded but the federal government provides some funding Houston receives a lot of federal funding because it is a high profile terrorist target Welfare is actually low on the expenditure ranking only 7th Factors that affect expenditure Physical and Demographic Size and Population Percentage Metropolitan Wealth Social Problems Murder Unemployment Educating children Coping with social problems Death penalty Costs of public education Texas is a lucky state because it gains wealth from its natural resources such as oil Lecture 4 State Differences and Relationships How do states fare in comparison to each other How can we determine these relationships Poor States Mississippi and Louisiana Southern states on the whole are not very generous they tend to be conservative and therefore tax less and spend less They also tend to have low rates of high school completion Texas has a better college completion than high school completion 25 9 of Texas students complete their degree Southern states have a high level of property crime States such as Louisiana and Florida have high violent crime rates Texas has the most executions by far 474 since 1976 Are there patterns of state differences Is there a pattern to Texas politics and policies Correlations A technique for expressing relationships in quantitative terms The degrees of inherent association between two variables Empirical Relationships in Scatterplots and Correlations Minimum strength threshold 0 3 0 3 to indicate a relationship Direction of relationship o Positive when one indicator increases so does the other o Negative when one indicator increases the other decreases Possible interpretations This determines the cause and effect beyond whether or not there is a