The watchdog role is a term given to the media’s accepted duty to protect the general public from the corrupt and incompetent practices of political leaders. In this capacity, it is the duty of the media to report any instances of government malpractice, deceit, or general incompetence to the public.

In a closed-shop company, as opposed to an open-shop company, workers must remain union members throughout their employment with the company. Union membership is a required condition of employment. The Taft-Hartley Act (1947) mostly outlawed closed shops, although there are loopholes and exceptions that allow some companies to continue the practice in everything but name.

A grassroots campaign is a movement initiated by a collection of typical citizens with the intention of garnering enough support and attention for a cause so as to affect government policy. Debate over its effectiveness in the face of special interest groups and corporate donations to campaigns have often been raised, but it remains one of the most accessible means to the common person for trying to implement change in the United States.

Non-violent civil disobedience is a movement associated with various political figures throughout history. It holds that violent resistance against the dominant class in society only produces crackdowns and worse conditions for the oppressed. The best way to promote change is therefore to resist without resorting to violence—through strikes, marches, demonstrations, etc. The movement is most closely associated with Martin Luther King Jr. during the Civil Rights movement.

The Taft-Hartley Act of 1947, also called the Labor Management Relations Act, is a Federal law in the United States that was designed to limit the power and ability of the prominent labor unions of the time. Among other things, it makes it more difficult for labor unions to organize, monopolize the supply of labor, and strike. In the years leading up to the Taft-Hartley Act, many prominent American politicians and businessmen were concerned with the rising power, gained through labor unions, of the working classes. The Taft-Hartley Act was one prominent, and perhaps the most effective, way of limiting this growing power.

The Consumer Price Index (often simply seen as the CPI) measures the fluctuations in the cost of goods in the market purchased by an average American household. It is used to measure and track inflation.

The iron triangle refers to the three groups of people who have the greatest influence over the process of law making. These groups are lobbyists, Congressmen, and bureaucrats. Although media personalities play a role in swaying public opinion, they are not members of the iron triangle. Likewise, judges are not a part of the iron triangle because they do not have influence over the creation of laws; their role involves the interpretation of the laws.

The Legislative Branch is correct, as it contains the House of Representatives and the Senate. This branch serves to create different legislation and discuss various policy issues.

The Poll Tax emerged throughout the Reconstruction-Era South as a way for the governments in the South to avoid abiding by the Fifteenth Amendment. The Poll Tax stated that an individual had to pay a certain fee for registering and to vote, and it was used primarily to prevent African Americans from voting in the years after the end of the Civil War.

Jim Crow laws were a series of bills and rulings passed in the South, during the Reconstruction Era, which were designed to enforce racial segregation after the abolition of slavery. They differ from the Black Codes, which were used in the South prior to the Civil War to prevent African-American emancipation. The Supreme Court case, Plessy v. Ferguson (1890), reinforced the legality of Jim Crow laws by ruling that separate but equal was not unconstitutional. This ruling was overturned by the Supreme Court case, Brown v. Board of Education (1954).