Politickles

Below are the questions from a midterm exam I prepared for a civics class for homeschooled teenagers. Every American voter should know the answers.

1. Name the three classes of citizens in Plato’s Republic.

2. According to Aristotle, what are the three proper forms of government?

3. What are the perverted forms called?

4. What is the difference between the good and bad forms?

5. What is the essence of Locke’s “social contract”?

6. Why does treason never prosper?

7. Cite one significant difference between the American & French Revolutions.

8. What historical event is commemorated by “World Freedom Day” (November 9^th) ?

9. Why is our government divided into three branches?

10. Name the three branches.

11. Which branch is mentioned first in the Constitution (Article I)?

12. What’s the minimum age for President?

13. How long is a Representative’s term?

14. True or False: The terms of all elected Representatives expire at the same time.

15. How many Representatives does each state have?

16. How long is a Senator’s term?

17. How were Senators originally chosen?

18. Which chamber of Congress has the power to impeach the President?

19. In which chamber do revenue bills originate?

20. Why does the Constitution distinguish between “raising” armies and “maintaining” a navy?

21. What was the fractional value of a slave in the antebellum census?

22. What incentive did this valuation offer?

23. Which presidential candidate won the popular vote in 2000?

24. Who’s more likely to become President, Sean Penn or Arnold Schwarzenegger?

25. How long does a Supreme Court Justice serve?

26. Cite three restrictions on suffrage.

27. Name the four freedoms protected by the First Amendment.

28. What is “double jeopardy”?

29. True or False: The federal government can exercise any power not expressly denied to it by the Constitution.

30. True or False: The Declaration asserts that “all men are equal.”

31: Which of the following men did not sign the Declaration: George Washington, John Adams, John Hancock, Ben Franklin?

32. Cite three infringements on the rights protected by the Bill of Rights.

Need to bone up a bit? Here’s a good place to start.

When NEWSWEEK recently asked 1,000 U.S. citizens to take America’s official citizenship test, 29 percent couldn’t name the vice president. Seventy-three percent couldn’t correctly say why we fought the Cold War. Forty-four percent were unable to define the Bill of Rights. And 6 percent couldn’t even circle Independence Day on a calendar. – Newsweek

Solutions

Voter’s Test

Below are the questions from a midterm exam I prepared for a civics class for homeschooled teenagers. Every American voter should know the answers.

1. Name the three classes of citizens in Plato’s Republic.

2. According to Aristotle, what are the three proper forms of government?

3. What are the perverted forms called?

4. What is the difference between the good and bad forms?

5. What is the essence of Locke’s “social contract”?

6. Why does treason never prosper?

7. Cite one significant difference between the American & French Revolutions.

8. What historical event is commemorated by “World Freedom Day” (November 9^th) ?

9. Why is our government divided into three branches?

10. Name the three branches.

11. Which branch is mentioned first in the Constitution (Article I)?

12. What’s the minimum age for President?

13. How long is a Representative’s term?

14. True or False: The terms of all elected Representatives expire at the same time.

15. How many Representatives does each state have?

16. How long is a Senator’s term?

17. How were Senators originally chosen?

18. Which chamber of Congress has the power to impeach the President?

19. In which chamber do revenue bills originate?

20. Why does the Constitution distinguish between “raising” armies and “maintaining” a navy?

21. What was the fractional value of a slave in the antebellum census?

22. What incentive did this valuation offer?

23. Which presidential candidate won the popular vote in 2000?

24. Who’s more likely to become President, Sean Penn or Arnold Schwarzenegger?

25. How long does a Supreme Court Justice serve?

26. Cite three restrictions on suffrage.

27. Name the four freedoms protected by the First Amendment.

28. What is “double jeopardy”?

29. True or False: The federal government can exercise any power not expressly denied to it by the Constitution.

30. True or False: The Declaration asserts that “all men are equal.”

31: Which of the following men did not sign the Declaration: George Washington, John Adams, John Hancock, Ben Franklin?

32. Cite three infringements on the rights protected by the Bill of Rights.

Need to bone up a bit? Here’s a good place to start.

It’s a sad commentary on the quality of our educational system that so many Americans seem to think that Bastille Day is simply the French version of our own Independence Day. It is nothing of the sort. The American Revolution was a fight for individual liberty and against oppressive government. The French Revolution, 13 years later, produced the mindless Reign of Terror dramatized so well in Charles Dickens’ great novel A Tale of Two Cities and Baroness Orczy’s romantic adventure The Scarlet Pimpernel (both made into excellent motion pictures, starring Ronald Colman and Leslie Howard, respectively). – “Celebrate Bastille Day Without Me,” F.R. Duplantier

“Going from the frying pan into the fire.” It’s a cliché, but a good one — and it applies to most of the revolutions of the last 200+ years, beginning with the overthrow of the French monarchy in 1789. A few examples:

• Louis XVI –> Robespierre
• Nicolas II –> Lenin/Stalin
• Battista –> Castro
• The Shah –> The Ayatollah
• Somoza –> Ortega

Clearly, in each case, things went from bad to worse. So, if you want peace, by all means work for justice, but steer clear of the radicals and the revolutionaries. Tyranny is not repugnant to them; they just want to be in charge of it.