Sample Final Exam Answer

The following are the topics that you might have to answer on the final exam tomorrow. You will randomly receive one of these topics, and you could get any one of them.

Economy
Health care
Poverty
Unemployment
Global warming
Morality of citizens

You will be required to take this topic and give one example (with an explanation) of how this issue either affects or is affected by each of the following:

Critical Thinking
Political Culture
Political Ideologies
Campaigns and Elections
Congress
President
The Executive Branch/The Bureaucracy
Judicial Branch
Public Policy
The U.S. Constitution
Civil Rights/Personal Liberty
Political Parties
Mass Media
Interest Groups
How Does the Issue Affect You
How Can You Affect the Issue

In order to get a good grade on this exam, which is 20% of your final grade, you have to write this in the form of an essay and you have to talk about ALL of the various aspects of government and politics listed above.

Below is a sample of a correct answer. The topic of this sample is terrorism. Terrorism will NOT be on your exam. Notice that the different areas don't have to be talked about in order, but also notice that specific examples are better than vague ones.

When thinking critically about the issue of terrorism, there are several things to take into account. In particular one should pay attention to potential actions that could be a sign of terrorist activity, should avoid going to places where one is likely to be a victim of a terrorist attack and should avoid activity that might make one a suspect of terrorist activity. One should also be realistic and recognize the unlikelihood of actually being a target of a terrorist attack.

Terrorism is designed to influence public opinion and successful terrorist attacks create fear amongst the public. They seek to obtain media coverage of their activities and what the media shows people influences their opinions. People's reactions to terrorism are affected by their socialization -- people who trust the government more are likely to be less afraid of terrorist activity. Different ideological groups will argue different solutions to dealing with terrorism, with conservatives generally arguing for a more military-based solution and liberals arguing more for diplomatic and law enforcement-based solutions. Similarly, the different political parties have proposed different approaches to responding to terrorism. Interest groups advocate for or against different policies based on the desires of their membership, such as groups like the ACLU fighting against the president's warrantless wiretapping program.

Election outcomes can be affected by terrorist attacks or the fear of terrorism. President Bush was re-elected in 2004 largely because independent swing voters felt that he had done a good job protecting America against terrorism.

The country's response to terrorism is largely created by Congress through the passage of new public policies, such as the PATRIOT Act. The president also has to agree to the passage of these laws and leads the implementation of these laws and any military actions designed to fight terrorism. The military, law enforcement, and other national security officials are all members of the executive branch and they are responsible for actually carrying out the country's response.

The court system becomes involved in the issue of terrorism in several ways. Accused terrorists often stand trial and the courts have a significant affect on the interpretation of new policies designed to deal with domestic terrorism. The Constitution lays out the ground rules for the passage of any policies and what the government can and cannot do in response to a terrorist attack. The Constitution also limits how the government can intrude upon the personal liberties of citizens in its pursuit of suspected terrorists, such as limiting searches and seizures.

There are several ways which terrorism can affect an individual. One could be the victim of an attack or know a victim or be related to one. One could have their individual rights curtailed in the government's attempts to hunt down suspected terrorists. One could also serve in the military or law enforcement and be on the front lines of the battle against terrorism. This is also a direct way in which someone could affect the issue. Other ways to influence the fight against terrorism would be to vote for candidates whose policies one thinks would better address the issue or donate money to interest groups whose proposals they agree with.