Three Branches of Government

Within the national government, power is divided among three branches: the legislative, executive, and judicial branches.

The legislative branch consists of Congress, which has two parts – the House of Representatives and the Senate. Congress’s main function is to make laws. There are 100 senators (two from each state) and 435 representatives (the number from each state depends on the size of the state’s population).

The President is the head of the executive branch and the country. The executive branch administers the laws (decides how the laws should be carried out). In addition to the President, the Vice-President, and their staffs, the executive branch consists of departments and agencies.

There are now 14 departments, including Treasury, State, Defense, and Health and Human Services. The agencies regulate specific areas.

The judicial branch interprets the laws and makes sure that new laws are in keeping with the Constitution. There are several levels of federal courts. The Supreme Court is the most important. It has nine members who are appointed for life.

Two-Party System

The United States has two main political parties – the Democratic and Republican parties. Many other smaller parties play little if any role. Voters elect the president, as well as senators, representatives, governors, etc.

There are not clear differences between the Republican and Democratic parties. The Republicans tend to be more conservative and to have more support among the upper classes, while the Democrats tend to be more liberal and to have more support among the working classes and the poor.

The American People

The United States has the third-largest population in the world (after China and India). In 1990, population of the United States passed the 250,000,000 mark.

The most distinctive characteristic of the United States is its people. As nineteenth-century poet Walt Whitman said, The United States “is not merely a nation but a nation of nations”. People from around the world have come to the United States and influenced its history and culture.

The Situation Today

The United States is a large country and is rich in natural resources. It is a leading producer of fuel – of oil, natural gas, and coal. It is also a leading producer of many other minerals, including copper, gold, aluminium, iron, and lead. The United States grows wheat, corn, and other crops and raises many cows, pigs, and chickens.

However, the USA is also a major consumer of resources. This means, for example, that the United States must import much of the fuel it uses.

Not surprisingly, international trade is important to the United States. Major exports include machinery, high-technology equipment, chemicals, cars, aircrafs, and grains. Major imports include machinery and telecommunications equipment, oil, cars, metals, and chemicals.

Today, the United States faces some major economic challenges. One important challenge is increasing its productivity, or the efficiency of the labour force, in order to increase the rate of economic growth. Another challenge, as the country shifts from manufacturing to services, is to train people to fill new kinds of jobs.

The Family

The American family has changed greatly in the last 20 or 30 years. Many of these changes are similar to changes taking place in other countries.

Marriage and Children

Young people are waiting longer before getting married. Women are also waiting longer to have children. It’s not unusual today for a woman to have her first child in her midthirties. And families are having fewer children. Today most families have one or two children.

Dual-Earning Families

In the traditional family, the wife stayed home with the children while the husband earned money. Now 60 percent of all married women work outside the home. So a majority of couples have two wage-earners. One reason for this change is that women want and expect to have careers. Another reason is economics. With rising prices, many families cannot survive on one person’s salary.

Future of the Family

Is the American family in trouble? People point to the divorce rate, to the fact that working mothers might have less time with their children, and to the “generation gap”, or the problems that parents and children sometimes have understanding each other. Experts say, however, that the family is as strong as ever. Family is still at the center of most people’s lives.

Exercises

Make up sentences

1. challenges, the USA, major, faces, today, some, economic.

2. people, most, of, distinctive, the US, is, characteristic, the, its.

3. capitalist, the USA, is, powerful, advanced, the, most, country, in, world, the, most, and.