- Acculturate
- The process by which immigrants learn their new culture's language, customs, and traditions.
- Amend
- To change a document such as a bill.
- Assimilation
- The process by which a new group learns the rules of the more established group and adapts its customs.
- At-large
- In contrast to district elections, a method of electing members of a city council or other legislative body by voters in the entire governmental unit.
- Ballot initiative
- See Initiative.
- Ballot status
- Appearing on the ballot, such as a political party.
- Baseline budget
- A budget based on the previous year's budget rather than a “zero-based” budget which requires all programs to justify their existence.
- Blanket primary
- A primary in which all candidates from every party are listed together.
- Bond issues
- Interest-bearing government securities, authorized at the state or local level by voter approval of a ballot proposition, by which money is borrowed for prison construction or some other purpose.
- Bracero
- Legal temporary immigrant worker, usually brought from Mexico to work in agriculture.
- Challenger
- In politics, a person who runs against an incumbent.
- Civil liberties
- Protected types of behavior such as freedom of speech or religion, which governments are prohibited from taking away.
- Civil rights
- Legally imposed obligations, such as the right to equal protection of the laws or reasonable bail, that governments owe to individuals.
- Civil service system
- A set of procedures for hiring government employees on the basis of merit, usually demonstrated by examination, and protecting them against unjust firing.
- Class gap
- An increasing gap in resources between the wealthiest and the poorest people.
- Closed primary
- The kind of primary used in California and most other states, in which only voters registered as members of a political party can vote for the nomination (selection) of that party's candidates.
- Conference committee
- A temporary committee appointed to resolve differences between the Senate and Assembly versions of a bill.
- Conservative
- A political philosophy which favors smaller government, lower taxes, fewer public services, and a “laissez-faire” (let them do as they please) approach to business.
- Constitutional offices
- The executive officials that the state constitution requires must be elected by the voters.
- Council-manager
- A form of city government in which the elected city council, with legislative authority, appoints, and can fire, a city manager to whom the various executive departments are responsible.
- County committee
- Also known as “county central committee”; a group of elected party activists within each county.
- Decline to state
- A voter's registration status when he or she does not wish to affiliate with any political party.
- Defendant
- In criminal cases, the person accused of a crime, or, in a civil matter, an individual business or government entity being sued.
- Deindustrialization
- Loss of industries and thus jobs, often seen as the result of automation, computerization, and the ability of capital to move anywhere where labor is cheaper and profits are higher.
- Demilititarization
- A reduction in military and defense-related industries, with resulting losses in jobs.
- Demographic shift
- Noticeable changes in population data, including numbers of people, sizes of ethnic groups, etc.
- Deregulation
- When government permits private enterprise to operate with reduced government oversight. Sometimes linked to “free market” economic theories.
- Devolution
- When the federal government gives or returns powers to the states or local governments.
- Direct Democracy
- The reforms of the Progressive movement which enable voters to make laws directly, amend the state constitution, recall officials, or repeal laws passed by elected representatives.
- District elections
- When a city, school district, or other governmental unit is divided into geographic districts, each of which has a representative elected by the voters in that district.
- Electoral votes
- The number of votes a state may cast in electing the President and Vice President of the United States, computed by adding the number of its U.S. Senators (two) to the number of Representatives (52 for California as of 1990).
- Electorate
- Those who vote.
- Ethnocentrism
- A belief that one ethnic or cultural group is superior to others.
- Executive clemency
- The governor's power to lighten criminal sentences imposed by the courts by pardons, which cancel them; commutations, which reduce them; or reprieves, which postpone them. Amnesties are pardons for an entire group.
- Ex-officio
- A nonvoting member of a governmental body.
- Federalism
- A political system in which the national and state systems have some powers independent of each other.
- Felonies
- The most serious crimes, including murder, rape, arson, etc.
- Franchise
- In politics, the right to vote.
- Gerrymandered
- A district whose boundaries have been drawn by a legislature to favor the election of a particular group, individual, or candidate of the dominant political party.
- Get out the Vote (GOTV)
- Campaign strategy including phone calls, rides to the polls, free donuts, etc.
- Grassroots
- Pertaining to actions, movements, or organizations of a political nature that rely chiefly on the mass involvement of ordinary citizens.
- Gubernatorial
- Pertaining to the office of governor.
- Homophobia
- Fear and/or hatred of homosexuals.
- Image making
- Creating a positive impression about a candidate through the use of public relations methods and mass media.
- Immigrant bashing
- The blaming of immigrants, whether legal or undocumented, for social problems.
- Incumbent
- Person currently in office.
- Indictment
- Formal accusation of criminal behavior by a grand jury, sometimes used to bring defendants to trial.
- Inflation(ary)
- A situation in which prices increase rapidly.
- Infractions
- Minor criminal offenses, such as jaywalking.
- Infrastructure
- The tangible components which allow society to function: bridges, roads, water systems, sewage systems, etc.
- Initiative
- The process by which citizens can propose a state or local law or amendment to the state constitution by signing a formal petition asking that it be submitted as a ballot proposition for voter approval.
- Issue-oriented organizations
- Groups concerned primarily with political issues, such as abortion, civil rights, medical care, etc., as opposed to groups interested in electing specific candidates.
- Item veto
- Sometimes called the line-item veto, the authority of the governor to reduce or eliminate money appropriated by the legislature for a specific purpose while signing the remaining provisions of the bill into law.
- Left-wing
- A political approach which tends to value social equality and government intervention to achieve it rather than “laissez-faire” (let them do as they please).
- Liberal
- A political philosophy which supports active government involvement in creating a more just society and which supports individual freedoms in personal matters.
- Lobbying
- The attempt to influence government policy, usually on behalf of an interest group.
- Majority
- More than 50 percent.
- Mandates
- Requirements; i.e., a federal mandate may require states to take a particular action.
- Manifest destiny
- The justification of U.S. territorial expansion based on the mystical assumption that it was the clear fate of the nation to acquire at least all land between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.
- Marginal
- Uncertain, on the edge; a district, in contrast to the more numerous “safe” ones, in which the election outcome is uncertain because neither party has an overwhelming advantage in registered voters.
- Mayor-council
- The traditional form of city government based on a separation of powers between a mayor with executive authority and a council with legislative authority, both elected by the voters.
- Mestizo
- Of mixed race, particularly Spanish European and pre-Columbian Indian heritage.
- Minimalist
- That which is limited to its simplest or most essential elements; politically, the usually conservative belief that government should do very little.
- Misdemeanors
- An intermediate level of crime, less damaging to persons or property than a felony.
- Monocultural electorate
- A term which describes the trend toward a largely white electorate, in contrast to a largely nonwhite population at large.
- Naturalization
- The process of becoming a U.S. citizen.
- Nonpartisan
- Elections, such as those of judges, school board members, and city and county officials in California, in which the party affiliation of the candidates does not appear on the ballot.
- Office-block ballot
- To discourage straight-ticket party voting, the arrangement of candidates' names according to the office for which they are running rather than their party affiliations.
- Ordinance
- A law passed by a city or county.
- Out of the closet
- A gay male or lesbian who is open about his or her sexual orientation.
- Override
- When the legislative body votes again on a bill vetoed by the executive, and overcomes the veto by a two-thirds majority so that the bill becomes law without the executive's approval.
- Partisan
- Elections, such as those of national and most state officials, in which the party affiliation of the candidates appears on the ballot; any action or attitude reflecting strong loyalty to a party or political faction.
- Party affiliation
- An individual's choice of a party when registering to vote; may or may not include any activity in that party.
- Plaintiff
- The person bringing suit in a civil case.
- Plea bargain
- Negotiations in a criminal case designed to get the defendant to plead guilty if the prosecution reduces the seriousness of the charge or reduces the sentence.
- Plurality
- The most votes.
- Polarization
- A sharp division between groups, e.g., the increasing differences in views between conservative Republicans and liberal Democrats.
- Political Action Committee (PAC)
- An organization, usually formed by an interest group or corporation, designed to solicit money from individuals to be used for campaign contributions to candidates endorsed by the group.
- President Pro Tem
- The leader of the state Senate, elected by the membership.
- Pressure groups
- Also known as interest groups; organizations which lobby politicians to achieve their political and economic aims.
- Private sector
- Refers to all business and other activities that are not sponsored directly by government; however, much of the American private sector is subsidized through government funds.
- Privatization
- Any effort to cut back government and substitute private sector activity, e.g., firing public janitors and “contracting out” to a private profit-seeking janitorial service.
- Progressive movement
- The growing demand in the early part of the century for such democratic reforms as the initiative and referendum.
- Propositions
- Items on the ballot which require a “yes” or “no” vote, including initiatives, referenda, recalls, bond issues, etc.
- Public sector
- Those activities and agencies sponsored by government and paid for from tax revenues.
- Recall
- A Progressive-era reform that permits the voters, by petition, to call a special election to remove an offical from office before the next regularly scheduled election.
- Recession
- A period during which the economy slows down, including fewer jobs, higher unemployment, lower consumption, and reduced tax revenues.
- Redbaiting
- During the Cold War, the effort to discredit a person by implying that he or she was a Communist (“red”).
- Redistricting
- Redrawing the boundaries of election districts; required after each Census to keep district populations as nearly equal as possible.
- Referendum
- The type of ballot proposition which allows voters to repeal or revoke laws passed by the legislature.
- Regressive
- In reference to taxation, indicates that, in proportion to their incomes, the poor are taxed more than the rich.
- Runoff election
- An election held when no candidate in a nonpartisan primary receives a majority; the two top candidates enter a “runoff” so that the final winner is elected by a majority vote.
- Safe districts
- Election districts in which one party, through gerrymandering, is nearly guaranteed victory at the polls.
- Scapegoating
- The process of blaming a social/ethnic group for society's problems.
- Speaker of the Assembly
- The presiding officer and most powerful member of the Assembly, elected by the membership.
- Special district
- Local units of government which perform a service that no city or county provides, and which may encompass an area larger than any one city or county, and which have
their own governing body, either appointed or elected.
- Standing committee
- Permanent committees of the California Senate and Assembly organized around policy subjects, to which every bill is referred and in which most of the work of legislation occurs.
- States' rights
- The concept that the fifty states must have greater autonomy in relation to the federal government.
- Statutes
- Laws that are in government code books and are not part of an actual constitution or charter.
- Swing vote(r)s
- Describes those whose votes are not predictable and who can be swayed to support candidates or issues.
- Target audience
- A select group of voters who receive political mailings with messages aimed at winning their support.
- Tax assessment
- In reference to property taxes, the amount which must be paid; it is based on the property's assessed value.
- Term limits
- A rule which permits a politician only a limited number of opportunities to run for the same office. Term limits exist at the state level and in some cities in California.
- Two-tier society
- A society in which there is a small affluent upper class, and a large class of impoverished people, including the working poor and the underclass, and a small middle class.
- Underclass
- Those long-term impoverished persons who survive through government assistance, charity, or criminal activity. They should not be confused with the “working poor,” although income levels may be similar.
- Unincorporated areas
- That territory outside the boundaries of incorporated cities whose residents receive nearly all municipal services from county government.
- Unitary
- In contrast to a federal system, one in which the county and other regional or local governments have only the powers the state gives to them.
- Upset
- An election in which the outcome is a surprise to political observers.
- User fees
- Fees for recreational facilities and other public services by which those who use the services pay at least part of the costs of providing the services.
- Veto
- The return of a bill by the chief executive to the legislative body which passed it, unsigned, thereby killing it unless the legislature overrides the veto.
- White flight
- The process by which whites move away from areas as ethnic minorities begin to move in.
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