When the 1996 welfare reform legislation ordered the federal government to promote marriage, why did advocates think this was a good thing? What did critics say? What could the government do to promote marriage?
Answer:
An ideal response will:
1. Identify the arguments for this idea: married adults are happier, healthier, and wealthier and are more likely to give their children a healthier start in life; and more marriages could reduce health costs by reducing depression and crime.
2. Identify the arguments against the idea: domestic violence and child abuse occur almost as frequently in married as in unmarried households; government grants for marriage could promote false marriages designed to get cash; and the best way to improve conditions of welfare recipients is to find them good-paying jobs.
3. Note the ways government could promote marriage: by reducing the penalties imposed on welfare recipients who get married, and through advertising, counseling, or even providing cash grants for getting married.
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Which of the following is true of lobbying?
A. It is more stringent at the state and local level than at the federal level. B. Monetary contributions are considered as the top lobbying technique. C. It is an indirect strategy of exerting influence on state officials. D. It involves providing information on specific proposals. E. The U.S. federal law prohibits gifts to public employees.
Following the completion of the Republican takeover of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals in 1998, that court __________
a. began ruling more frequently in favor of prosecutors b. increased the rate at which it overturned death sentences c. expanded its jurisdiction to include civil cases involving claims of more than $1 million d. ruled that Texas's method of execution in death penalty cases must be changed from the electric chair to lethal injection