– You are required to do this work on your own, without outside assistance. You may use course materials but no other outside or online information.
– Use this exam as an opportunity to display your knowledge of course material including material from power point lectures, the textbook, online readings, and the readings in the reader. This is an exam, NOT an essay on your personal opinions.
– In general, the more specific and cited references to course material, the better. Saying the Framers were skeptical about popular control is fine, showing this with specific references to excerpts from the Constitution or the Federalist Papers is much, much better.
– You have learned a lot over the course of this semester and, consequently, you are required to complete this exam with joy in your heart.
– Try to keep the entire exam within four pages, double-spaced.

ESSAY Question (60 points):
Question: How democratic is the United States? You should expand upon three clearly numbered course topics in some detail for full credit.

You can choose any topics you like from the course. The following are some suggestions to get you started. These are only suggestions; you are encouraged to come up with your own examples from the course.
– Must we give up some of our own freedom in order to achieve collective actions or provide positive freedoms for others? What if you don’t agree with what the collective wants?
– How democratic is the Constitution and what were the intentions of the Framers regarding democracy? Why? Were they right?
– What about Civil Rights? What role do they play in making our system more or less democratic? What about the democratic rights of the majority?
– What about people exercising their democratic rights even though they may be ignorant or swayed by demagogues or other groups seeking to advance their own self-interest?
– What about the power of interest groups relative to the rights of citizens? How can they work contrary to our democratic interests and/or advance our democratic interests?
– Who benefits from the reality constructed by the media? Do we have the information necessary to carry out our democratic responsibilities? If not, why?
– Do our elected officials respond to the democratic will of their electorate? Why or why not?
– Is our foreign policy primarily driven by democratic concerns? Do we always send our young soldiers to wars that are in the best interest of the democratic majority?
– What about the economy? Does macroeconomic policy benefit the rich at the expense of the poor?

Short Answer Questions. Please answer TWO of the following four questions (20 points each).
1. Identify the main theme of either Federalist Paper #10 or Federalist Paper #51
2. What are civil liberties? Name one. Are we obligated to respect the civil liberties of members of the American Nazi Party or the KKK? Why or why not?
3. What is an iron or “cozy” triangle and what does it have to do with the “military-industrial complex?
4. Shortly after the Supreme Court has made a controversial and widely unpopular decision on the rights of criminal suspects, a justice agrees to a television interview. The justice sets out to justify to the public the Court’s enormous and undemocratic power. Write a script for the justice. How will the justice explain the Court’s countermajoritarian role and lack of direct accountability?

Extra Credit: Which parties control which branches of U.S. government. Is this situation problematic or beneficial for our democracy?