quiz answers!
It's voting day! I am deathly ill right now. My cough got about a million times worse over night and I had to drug myself with a LOT of cough syrup to survive. I made it into work (late, but still) and am heavily medicated. So anyway! Here are your answers. You will just have to remember what you put down and add up your point totals yourselves, because I am too sick.
1. Dan likes to say that Australia is so much better than the US because they were settled by convicts and the US was settled by PURITANS. Now, keep in mind this is only partially true, but it's what Dan says. 88% of you got it right!
2. Which incumbant President is famous for saying, "I do not choose to run for president"? He is also famous for saying "You lose." I know way too much about this president. Ans: CALVIN COOLIDGE. 37.5% of you got it right! Coolidge, in fact, decided not to seek his party's nomination for re-election. I think he was a Republican. He also said, "The business of America is business." Reagan had a painting of him in the oval office.
3. Tecumseh's Curse, in which presidents elected in years ending in zero die/are assasinated ended with Ronald Reagan in 1980, when he failed to die from an assasin's bullet. Which president did it begin with? Ans: William Henry Harrison. He caught pneumonia or something during his inauguration speech and it's said he was cursed by the ghost of the Native Americans he'd slaughtered or something. Well. From 1840-1980, every US president elected during a year ending in zero died while in office, until Reagan, who escaped an assassin's bullet. And of course, our dear W hasn't had the misfortune. 43.8% of you knew this!
4. The US doesn't actually have a 2-party system. Name three other political parties aside from Democratic and Republican, either current or historical. Ans: You all gave fun answers. Extra points to the person who remembered the No-Nothings. Did anyone say Bull Moose? That was a good one, too. If you named 3 parties, give yourself 3 points. 2 parties, 2 points, and so on.
5. Which two former BFFs and presidents both died on Independence Day of the same year as bitter rivals? Ans: Jefferson and Adams. 81.2% of you got this right! Although some of you argued about my wording, because apparently they made up later in life. Although I would still claim they were rivals. Also, never read Henry Adams's autobiography, The Education of Henry Adams because it is written in the third person and also a lot of whining about how he wasn't presidential material. Cry me a river, dude.
6. Which First Lady, aside from Hillary Clinton, was the only one to continue on in politics after her husband's term? Ans: Eleanor Roosevelt. 87.5% of you got it right! I would probably take Abigail Adams as well, but most of her politicking happened before the US was a country, even. Eleanor Roosevelt continued on after her husband's death to work closely with the United Nations to draft the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. She served as the first chairperson on the UN Human Rights Commission. She was, in general, pretty awesome.
7. Which president was called The Great Communicator? Ans: Reagan. Yeah. I guess he was really good at giving speeches or something. My parents thought he was evil. 50% of you got this right.
8. What is the Bush Doctrine?
ANS: (from Wikipedia):
The Bush Doctrine is a phrase used to describe various related foreign policy principles of United States president George W. Bush. The phrase initially described the policy that the United States had the right to aggressively secure itself from countries that harbor or give aid to terrorist groups, which was used to justify the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan.[1]
Later it came to include additional elements, including the controversial policy of preventive war, which held that the United States should depose foreign regimes that represented a potential or perceived threat to the security of the United States, even if that threat was not immediate; a policy of encouraging democracy around the world, especially in the Middle East, as a strategy for combating the spread of terrorism; and a willingness to pursue U.S. military interests in a unilateral way.
So key points: 1) preventive war is okay 2) even if our allies don't agree 3) and screw the UN Security Council and NATO anyway, because we can act unilaterally. Give yourself 2 points if you got "preventive" or "pre-emtive" war.
9. Which president signed the Defense of Marriage Act into law, which states that the Federal government cannot recognize same-sex marriage? ANS: Bill Clinton. Sadly, this is true. There are some weak arguments about how it prevents the federal government from striking down state constitutional changes, however, the harm here far outweighs any benefit, because the federal government never had that power anyway. 62.5% of you got this right.
10. What is the role of the Vice President? ANS: 1) Breaks ties in the Senate 2) Takes over as president if the president is incapacitated 3) helps president get elected. And that's about it. Try to keep that in mind, Sarah Palin. Give yourself 2 points if you hit both important aspects.
1. Dan likes to say that Australia is so much better than the US because they were settled by convicts and the US was settled by PURITANS. Now, keep in mind this is only partially true, but it's what Dan says. 88% of you got it right!
2. Which incumbant President is famous for saying, "I do not choose to run for president"? He is also famous for saying "You lose." I know way too much about this president. Ans: CALVIN COOLIDGE. 37.5% of you got it right! Coolidge, in fact, decided not to seek his party's nomination for re-election. I think he was a Republican. He also said, "The business of America is business." Reagan had a painting of him in the oval office.
3. Tecumseh's Curse, in which presidents elected in years ending in zero die/are assasinated ended with Ronald Reagan in 1980, when he failed to die from an assasin's bullet. Which president did it begin with? Ans: William Henry Harrison. He caught pneumonia or something during his inauguration speech and it's said he was cursed by the ghost of the Native Americans he'd slaughtered or something. Well. From 1840-1980, every US president elected during a year ending in zero died while in office, until Reagan, who escaped an assassin's bullet. And of course, our dear W hasn't had the misfortune. 43.8% of you knew this!
4. The US doesn't actually have a 2-party system. Name three other political parties aside from Democratic and Republican, either current or historical. Ans: You all gave fun answers. Extra points to the person who remembered the No-Nothings. Did anyone say Bull Moose? That was a good one, too. If you named 3 parties, give yourself 3 points. 2 parties, 2 points, and so on.
5. Which two former BFFs and presidents both died on Independence Day of the same year as bitter rivals? Ans: Jefferson and Adams. 81.2% of you got this right! Although some of you argued about my wording, because apparently they made up later in life. Although I would still claim they were rivals. Also, never read Henry Adams's autobiography, The Education of Henry Adams because it is written in the third person and also a lot of whining about how he wasn't presidential material. Cry me a river, dude.
6. Which First Lady, aside from Hillary Clinton, was the only one to continue on in politics after her husband's term? Ans: Eleanor Roosevelt. 87.5% of you got it right! I would probably take Abigail Adams as well, but most of her politicking happened before the US was a country, even. Eleanor Roosevelt continued on after her husband's death to work closely with the United Nations to draft the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. She served as the first chairperson on the UN Human Rights Commission. She was, in general, pretty awesome.
7. Which president was called The Great Communicator? Ans: Reagan. Yeah. I guess he was really good at giving speeches or something. My parents thought he was evil. 50% of you got this right.
8. What is the Bush Doctrine?
ANS: (from Wikipedia):
The Bush Doctrine is a phrase used to describe various related foreign policy principles of United States president George W. Bush. The phrase initially described the policy that the United States had the right to aggressively secure itself from countries that harbor or give aid to terrorist groups, which was used to justify the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan.[1]
Later it came to include additional elements, including the controversial policy of preventive war, which held that the United States should depose foreign regimes that represented a potential or perceived threat to the security of the United States, even if that threat was not immediate; a policy of encouraging democracy around the world, especially in the Middle East, as a strategy for combating the spread of terrorism; and a willingness to pursue U.S. military interests in a unilateral way.
So key points: 1) preventive war is okay 2) even if our allies don't agree 3) and screw the UN Security Council and NATO anyway, because we can act unilaterally. Give yourself 2 points if you got "preventive" or "pre-emtive" war.
9. Which president signed the Defense of Marriage Act into law, which states that the Federal government cannot recognize same-sex marriage? ANS: Bill Clinton. Sadly, this is true. There are some weak arguments about how it prevents the federal government from striking down state constitutional changes, however, the harm here far outweighs any benefit, because the federal government never had that power anyway. 62.5% of you got this right.
10. What is the role of the Vice President? ANS: 1) Breaks ties in the Senate 2) Takes over as president if the president is incapacitated 3) helps president get elected. And that's about it. Try to keep that in mind, Sarah Palin. Give yourself 2 points if you hit both important aspects.