The political system of the USA

The United States of America is a federal union of 50 states. Its basic law is the Constitution, adopted in 1787, which prescribes the structure of national government and lists its rights and fields of authority. Besides, each state has its government. Thus, all government in America has the dual character of both Federal and State Government. The basic principle of all American government is the separation of the three branches: legislative, executive and judicial. Each branch of government holds a certain degree of power over the others, and all take part in the governmental process.

In looking at the United States, it's hard to deny that it is a country which has grown rapidly and asserted itself as a world power at the relatively young age of 200 years old.

There are two main ideas which frame the structure of American government: that the leaders have been given power by the majority (implying that this power can also be taken away if the majority is dissatisfied) and that there is a limit to the amount of power these leaders have been given. Ideally, politicians are servants to the people of the nation, and laws are designed to protect the common good.

There are three levels of government in the USA: federal, state, and local government. The Federal government is the main government, for the whole US. State and local governments control education, highways, police, parks, health regulations and state programs and they also work with the federal government.

Within the federal government there are 3 branches: legislative, executive, and judicial.

Thelegislative branch or the Congress of the United States consists of a 100 member House of Senate with 2 senators from each state and a House of Representatives with 435 elected members, one for approximately every 500,000 people. Senators serve 6 year terms and Representatives serve 2 year terms. The legislative branch makes new laws and amends old ones.

Proposals for laws are called bills. A bill may originate in either the House of Representatives or in the Senate. For a bill to become a law it must be voted on and passed by both the House and the Senate. If both the House and the Senate pass a law, it goes to the President who will either sign it or veto it.

In Washington there are many lobby groups and special interest groups who try to win favor with Senators and Representatives. Often lobbyists and politicians want to work together because they have a lot of power over each other. A good example is the timber lobbyists. Timber is important for a states’ economy, however, current legislation about environmental control could damage the timber industry. Lobbyists want to protect the interests of their organization. There are lobbyists for cigarette companies, environmental protection agencies, and organizations to protect the rights of gun owners.

The executive branch is composed of the president and vice president and 15 departments: State, Treasury, Defense, Justice, Interior, Agriculture, Commerce, Labor, Health and Human Services, Housing and Urban development, Transportation, Energy, Education, and Veterans Affairs. Each department has a head secretary who works also as a member of the president’s advisory board. The executive branch also handles the military and foreign policy decisions.

In the judicial branch, the national highest judicial organ (body) is the Supreme Court with a chief justice and eight other members. The president appoints the judges with the approval of the Senate and advice and consent of 94 district and special courts, at least one in each state. The Supreme Court rules on federal cases or certain civil cases involving persons in different states.

The notion of checks and balances is an old principle extolled by political philosophers from Polybius to John Locke, Montesquieu and John Adams. The idea was that the three branches of government were all accountable to each other for their actions. Each branch was to be held in balance by the other two branches so that no branch would become too powerful or fall prey to tyrants. Most recently the Ethics Committee is responsible for investigating professional practices within the legislative branch. And major decisions from the president must be passed through Congress with a few exceptions. These functions serve as checks and balances to the power structures within the government.

In order to keep one of the three branches from becoming too powerful, a separation of powers was instituted. Congress which was thought to be the most powerful branch was divided within itself.

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