The Political System

2

Академия МВД Республики Беларусь

следственно-экспертный факультет

Кафедра: «Белорусского и иностранных языков»

Реферат

На тему: «The Political System»

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Казеев Александр Владимирович

Plan

Introduction

1. The Constitution of the USA

2. The Legislative Branch

3. The Administration

4. The System of Courts in the United States

5. The Major Political Parties

Conclusion

Introduction

The United States of America is a federal union of 50 states plus one independent district - the District of Columbia. Forty nine states, including Alaska, form the continental United States. The 50^th state is separated from the continental part. It is the state of Hawaii - a group of islands situated in the mid Pacific Ocean.

The USA is a presidential republic. 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 America government is the separation of three branches: legislative, executive and judicial. Each branch of government hold a certain degree of power over the others, and all take part in the governmental process.

1. The Constitution of the USA

The Constitution of the USA was adopted after the War of Independence on September 17, 1787. It lists the set of rules, laws and regulations which provide practical norms regulating the work of government. The document embodied the political theories of the Founding Fathers, who represented the interests of a privileged class, as the great majority of those who formulated The Constitution, were men of property. The main principle underlying the Constitution was as follows: private property is the backbone of liberty. It was put forward by a reach plantation owner from Virginia, James Madison, who is known to be the “Father of the Constitution” precisely for this reason.

The Constitution consists of the Preamble and seven articles. Twenty-seven amendments have so far been added to its original text. The first 10 amendments, known as the Bill of Rights, were added in group in 1791, as a result of growing popular demands. These amendments establish the individual rights and freedoms to all people of the States, including freedom of speech, freedom of press, freedom of worship, the right to peaceful assembly, etc. Some of the amendments are now relatively unimportant, but the Fifth Amendment retains its significance in the fight of the American people for their civil rights. It provides that “no person shall be deprived of life, liberty or property, without due process of law”, and no person “shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself”.

All the amendments adopted by the Congress become an integral part of the Constitution. Mention should be made of some of them. The Thirteenth amendment abolished slavery. The fourteenth and Fifteenth adopted in 1868 and 1870 defined citizenship and gave the vote to all male citizens, regardless of race, colour or previous condition of servitude. The Nineteenth gave the vote to women, and was adopted in 1920. The Twenty-second amendment, adopted in 1951, makes it impossible for any President to hold office for more than two terms. The 26th amendment was adopted in 1971, it lowered the voting age to 18 years.

Americans feel that of all freedoms proclaimed in the Constitution there is only one freedom -- freedom of enterprise. But freedom of enterprise does not at all expand personal freedoms of all citizens. On the contrary, it limits them. Freedom of enterpise in practice means freedom of the wealthy to profit at the expense of the working man.

2. The Legislative Branch

The nickname for the American government is Uncle Sam. That name belonged to a man who lived in the United States at the end of the 18th and the beginning of the 19th century. In 1815 he marched in a parade in the style of dress that has been copied for the "Uncle Sam", which people can see in newspaper drawings in all countries of the world. His name was Samuel Wilson, and he was born in Arlington, Massachusetts, in 1776. Later he settled in Troy, New York.

During the war of 1812-1814 Wilson was an inspector of provisions for the American Array, he supplied beef stamping his barrels with the letters "U. S." This beef became known to the army as Uncle Sam's and the soldiers thought that the abbreviation meant his name. Later on this familiar name became associated with the US Government.

The whole legislative power in the USA is vested in the Congress, which consists of two chambers or houses -- the Senate (the upper house) and the House of Representatives (the lower house). Each state has its own government, following the Washington pattern -- State Assemblies or Legislatures with two chambers.

According to the Constitution of the USA, all citizens of both sexes over 18 years of age have a right to vote, but in reality it is not so. There are different demands put to the voters -- in some states the voter must be a resident of the state where he votes; he must have paid taxes before voting, etc. Thus in reality the number of voters is much smaller and often even those who can vote do not participate in the election as they do not want to deal with politics.

The main task of Congress is to make laws. The US Constitution also gives Congress the power to impose taxes, to make rules for trade with foreign countries and between states, to coin money, to organize the Armed Forces, to declare war, etc. Another power possessed by Congress is the right to propose amendments to the Constitution whenever two-thirds of both Houses shall consider it necessary.

Under the Constitution, the US Senate has some special powers, not given to the House of Representatives. The Senate approves or disapproves major Presidential appointments of such high officials as ambassadors, Cabinet members, and federal judges. The Senate must also ratify, by a two-thirds vote, treaties between the USA and foreign countries.

The House of Representatives has a special power of its own. Only a member of the House can introduce a bill to raise money, but it must also be passed by the Senate before it can become a law.

The Senate is composed of 100 members, two from each of the 50 States, who are elected for a term of six years. Although Congressional elections take place every two years, only one-third of the Senate is re-elected, thereby ensuring continuity.

The Constitution says that a Senator must be at least 30 years old, a citizen of the US for nine years and a resident of the state from which he is elected. The individual seats in the Senate are numbered. Democrats sit in the western part of the chamber -- on Vice-President's right. Republicans sit on his left. Vice-President presides over the Senate and he conducts debates. The Senate is stable and more conservative than the House of Representatives, as many Senators are re-elected several times and often they are more experienced politicians.

The House of Representatives, at the present time, has 435 members. The number of Representatives which each state sends to the House depends on its population. California, which had the largest population at the 1986 census, has the greatest number of representatives. The Constitution says that each state, no matter how small in population, must have at least one Representative.

A Representative must be at least 25 years of age, a US citizen for seven years and live in the state from which he is elected. Congressmen of the House of Representatives do not have individual seats, by tradition Democrats sit on the Speaker's right, Republicans -- on his left. The Speaker presides over the House, he conducts debates. The Speaker, like Vice-President in the Senate, may vote, but usually he does not do it, except in case of a tie-vote. When the House meets, the Speaker calls the members to order and the Sergeant-at-Arms places the mace (the symbol of authority) on the pedestal near the Speaker's platform. Then the Chaplain reads prayers. When any member wants to speak he is to stand up and to address himself to the Speaker.

Votes are taken in American Congress in four different ways. Usually the Speaker or Vice-President says, "As many as are in favor say 'Aye'!" and then, "As many as are opposed say 'No'!"; in most cases it is enough. But if there is doubt those in favor are asked to stand up and they are counted. The Speaker or Vice-President does the counting in his chamber and announces the result. If there is still doubt, two tellers are appointed. They take their place at the head of the central aisle. All Congressmen in favor of the proposition walk between them and are counted, then those opposed do the same. The fourth way is the roll-call, where the names of all Congressmen are called out and they answer "Aye" or "No".

Almost all the Congressmen are members of the two big bourgeois parties. Among Representatives more than 40% are lawyers (Senators -- 62%). More than 30% are businessmen and bankers, with a small number of journalists, scientists, landowners, a few trade union representatives. There are no workers, as congressional elections need lots of money and only rich people can afford it. At least one-third of the Senators in the 80s were millionaires. Under the pressure of the progressive circles the number of representatives of racial minorities has grown, but still the elections have a discriminatory character. In neither chamber there is a representative of American youth, because of the age census for Congressmen.

A new Congress session begins on the 3rd of January each odd-numbered year and continues for two years. Many people think that nearly all the 435 Representatives are in the House chamber and the 100 Senators are in the Senate chamber most of the day. They imagine that heated arguments about bills are constantly going on.

But a visitor who watches the House and the Senate in session loses these ideas quickly. Unless the Congressmen are called in to vote for or against a bill, most of them seldom appear on the floor. The visitor usually sees only a few Congressmen there -- usually chatting, reading their mail, paying little attention to anyone making a speech.

Congressmen do work long and hard. But most of their work is done in committee meetings. Here bills are studied, experts are consulted, and recommendations are made to the whole House or Senate. During a two-year term of Congress, as many as 20,000 bills may be introduced. Some may be important, some not, but no Congressman could possibly know enough about 20,000 bills to vote intelligently on them. Here's where the committees come in. There are 16 "standing", or permanent, committees in the Senate and 22 in the House. Each Committee sits and sorts the bills it is responsible for. Because the Congressmen on a committee are experts in that field, they accept and improve some bills, but reject most of them.

Generally Congress goes along with the decisions of its committees. For a bill to become a law it must be passed by both the House and the Senate and signed by President. If President disapproves, he vetoes the bill by refusing to sign it and sends it back to Congress. President's objections are read and debated, then the bill is put to vote. To overcome President's veto the bill must get a two-thirds majority in each chamber.

A Committee chairman is the member of the majority party who has served longest on the committee. His job makes him a real power in Congress. Among the standing committees are a Committee of Finance, of Foreign Relations, of Agriculture, of Aeronautical Space Science, of Armed Services, etc. President Woodrow Wilson summed up the importance of the committees when he said, "Congress in its committee rooms is Congress at work."

In the previous centuries people who wanted to hand in petition or to discuss some project went to Washington, to the Capitol and there met the Congressmen from their states. The tradition is still alive, only today it is big corporations, social organizations, foreign diplomats, etc. who try to influence law-making in their favor. This is done with the help of lobbyists who arrange meetings with Congressmen, and through bribery and persuasion make them vote for measures favorable to the group they represent. Practically lobbyism (backstage influencing of legislation) has become legal, it means, that the passing of a bill can be prevented if it does not suit the interests of a definite group of Big Business.

The delicate art of influencing legislation has moved a great distance from the days when votes were bought with black satchels full of money. Today" s successful lobbyists are more likely to be smooth professionals. But if lobbying techniques have grown complicated, the name of the game is still the same: special interest. Lobbyists may call themselves legislative counsels or Washington representatives, but they are still hired to sell their clients' special interests.

The lobbyists" role in government, to hear them tell it, is greatly misunderstood. They only exercise their Constitutional right of petition. The First Amendment guarantees "the rights of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances". Apparently the Founding Fathers did not foresee that this amendment would be so distorted.

Although a 1946 law requires all lobbyists to register with the clerks of both chambers of Congress, and to give annual reports of the money used for this or that bill, the most effective lobbyists seldom do. They try to remain, if possible, invisible. They do not even like to call themselves lobbyists. But more and more people realize that legislation is shaped as much by the hidden influences as by the public debates.

3. The Administration

The presidency of the United States is the highest governmental office. President of the USA is the head of the State and the Government, he is also the Commander-in-Chief of the US Armed Forces. "Administration" is a popular term to identify the executive branch of the federal government, responsible for administering and executing the laws.

President is assisted by Vice-President and the Cabinet. The President and Vice-President are elected for a term of four years and can be re-elected for another term, but not longer than that, since the Twenty-Second Amendment to the Constitution (1951) limited the President's term in office.

President must be a natural-born citizen of the USA, at least 35 years old, and for at least 14 years a resident of the USA. The term of office of the President begins at noon on January 20.

Presidential elections are held in two stages. The first stage is in November when Americans vote for electors, and the second stage is on the first Monday after the second Wednesday in December, when electors elect President and Vice-President. After the ballots are opened at a joint session of Congress, the President-Elect becomes the US President.

Inauguration always takes place at noon on January 20. It is an official act of installing the President of the United States in office. It is also the occasion for extensive ceremonies.

Inauguration is connected with some traditions. Thus, the incumbent President is expected to give a dinner on the eve in honor of the President-Elect and in the morning of the same day to conduct him through the White House. By 12 o'clock on January 20, the participants of the ceremony and guests take their places on a rostrum especially erected in front of the Capitol. The central point of the ceremony is the taking of an oath by the President and the delivery of his inaugural speech. The wording of the President's oath is laid down in the Constitution and runs as follows: "I do solemnly swear that 1 will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States". The President's Inauguration speech is regarded as a declaration of principles proclaimed by the new Administration.

The ceremony ends in a military parade. The scope of the ceremony depends greatly on the tastes and wishes of the new President. It is known that John Kennedy invited large groups of intellectuals and prominent actors and singers. At the time of Nixon's Inauguration balls, concerts and receptions continued for several days. If this was a great extravagance, it was also a tradition.

Presidential elections in the USA have a distinct class character, as only very rich people can put forward their candidatures for President's and Vice-President's posts. Before the elections the candidates for Presidency tour the country meeting people and delivering speeches. Everything is done to ensure the support of the voters at the elections. Candidates promise to improve living conditions, to stop the growth of unemployment, to support disarmament, etc., but they seldom keep their pre-election promises after they are elected.

President conducts foreign affairs, signs treaties in the name of the USA, appoints diplomats, Cabinet members, federal judges with the consent and advice of the Senate. President ordinarily outlines the course of his administration through his frequent messages to Congress. The major presidential messages sent to Congress are the annual State of the Union message, the annual budget message and the economic report.

Vice-President presides over the Senate, his other duties are indefinite. The White House may use Vice-President as a contact man among the senators, or he may sit at Cabinet meetings and become a sort of understudy to the President. He takes the President's office if the President is unable to finish his term. Vice-President rather tends to be the forgotten man of American politics, because of his lack of power.

US President is assisted in Administration by a Cabinet of 12 members. Cabinet secretaries correspond to European ministers. They are heads of different departments and directly and fully responsible to President who appoints them for an indefinite time. Cabinet officials usually serve during his term. When the President's service ends, it is customary for the Cabinet to resign, so the new President can appoint new chiefs of executive departments. Among the most important departments one should mention the Department of State responsible for American foreign policy, the Department of Defense or the Pentagon, the Department of Justice, the Department of Commerce, etc. The State Department ranks ahead of other Departments in prestige and seniority. The political power of the Secretary of State is second only to that of the President. The Secretary of State has the duty of trying to maintain peace and to negotiate economic and political treaties.

In addition to Secretaries, President has an inner Cabinet, the so-called "White House Office". It is the name given to the President's immediate assistants and various advisers on different aspects of home and foreign policy. The President's Press Secretary is called upon to explain what the President meant to say, or intended to say. Frequently the Press Secretary is a close personal friend of the President.

Under US Constitution, the House of Representatives may bring charges against the President in impeachment proceedings. "Impeachment" is a formal accusation against a public official by a legislative body. A two-thirds vote in the Senate is necessary for conviction. It is a method provided for getting rid of officials who cannot be dismissed: presidents, vice-presidents and "all civil officers of the United States. They may be removed from office for treason, bribery or other high crimes".

4. The System of Courts in the United States

In the United States, the judiciary (which is a collective term for courts and judges) is divided into the national (federal) and state judiciary. Each is independent of the other with the exception that the US Supreme Court may, under special circumstances involving federal questions, review a state court decisions.

The State courts are set up in a system that looks like the system of Federal courts, with the Supreme Court at the top, which meets in the Supreme Court Building in Washington, D. C. It is a beautiful building of white marble. The figures over the entrance represent the national ideas of law and liberty. Above the main entrance appear the words "Equal Justice Under Law".

The US Supreme Court is the highest tribunal in the United States. It includes a Chief Justice and eight Associate Justices. They are all appointed by the President and approved by the Senate.

The Supreme Court is in session from October to June. One of the most important duties of the justices is to decide whether laws passed by the Congress agree with the Constitution. The justices do this by interpreting the laws of Congress and the provisions of the Constitution. If the Supreme Court decides that the Constitution does not give Congress the power to pass a certain law, the court declares the law to be unconstitutional. Such a law can no longer be enforced by the President and his executive officers.

Besides the US Supreme Court there are various district courts and courts of appeals. They have somewhat less political importance, since their principal duty is to settle cases where no constitutional question is at stake. These courts handle both civil and criminal cases. Each state has at least one district court; a few have as many as four. Each court has from one to 24 federal judges, depending on the volume of business. All judges are appointed for life by the President, or until they choose to resign.

In the history of US courts is one interesting thing - it is the Ku-Klux-Klan.

The Klan, a violently racist organization, was founded twice. The first Klan which was marked by a deep hatred of Blacks and unrestrained terror against them was founded in Tennessee in 1865. At the end of the American Civil War, a group of defeated Confederate soldiers formed their secret society with its weird rituals, its white sheets and hoods, which in two years time had grown into the "Invisible Empire of the South". The Klan's bloodstained record constitutes one of the ugliest chapters in the annals of American history. With the appearance of this organization the terror against Blacks assumed a particularly large scope. Tortures and lynching burnings were quite common methods of dealing with the newly emancipated Negroes of the South, who had fought for their freedom.

By 1871 the wave of lynching's alarmed the nation. US Congress passed anti-Klan legislation, many were arrested and the Klan activity died down. In 1915 it was re-established under the leadership of a Colonel Simmons as a "high-class mystic, social and patriotic society devoted to the protection of White womanhood and the supremacy of White Protestants". Simply speaking, that meant that Jews and Catholics were now the target, as well as Negroes and the rapidly growing Labor movement. Ku-Klux-Klan became one of the most powerful organizations in the USA, and began to fight all liberal influences and movements of the left.

In the 1920s the Klan grew to immense size, even organizing mass, hooded parades through Washington, but then declined again in the 1930s to revive in postwar years, when the Klan became active again. Murder, arson, kidnapping, bombing attempts were re-established as the standard methods of this extremist organization. One of the most notorious examples of its activities was the murder of three young civil rights fighters in Philadelphia in 1964. Its membership is estimated at about 50,000 to 100,000 and the influence of the "United Klan's of America" stretches over the States of Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, Florida, North and South Carolina, Louisiana, Tennessee, Arkansas and Virginia.

5. The Major Political Parties

The popularity of George Washington, who wanted the country to stay a one-party political system, and the good effects of the Constitution on trade prevented the organization of opposing parties until the end of Washington's second term. Then the question of who should be the new President began to divide the people into political organizations backing opposing candidates. Thus the one-party Revolutionary government of the United States split up into a two-party system.

The present-day Democratic Party was founded in 1828, representing Southern planters -- slave owners and part of Northern bourgeoisie, as well as groups of petty bourgeoisie and farmers. The Republican Party was founded in 1854. It united industrial and trade bourgeoisie from North-East, farmers, workers, craftsmen who were interested in destroying the political power of the South. During Lincoln's Administration, Republicans supported the agricultural reforms and the abolishment of slavery. Yet after the Civil War of 1861-1865 the party lost its progressive character and the differences between the two parties disappeared.

The parties chose their own names, Republican and Democratic, but not their party emblems. The cartoonist Thomas Nast invented the Republican elephant and the Democratic donkey in the early 1870s and they soon became fixed types. The parties are not divided by any doctrinal gulf. It is hard to say what the "Republican Party view" or the "Democratic Party view" of any political issue is. Outsiders often complain that they find it difficult to distinguish between the two major political parties of the US, which appear to support such similar policies.

The main task of the parties is to win elections. Every four years the American parties come together as national bodies in the Presidential nominating conventions and make up the party programs. But once a President is chosen, the parties again become amorphous bodies. This traditional two-party system is favored by big business, for it creates an illusion that voters are free to choose between candidates from two parties whereas both of them faithfully serve big business interest.

What distinguishes the two parties is not so much opinion as position. In 1887 James Russell Lowell said, "No thoughtful man has been able to see any other difference between the two great parties ... than that the one was in and wished to stay there and the other was out and didn't wish to stay there." It is also true today.

One of the reasons of the stability of the two-party system is family tradition. Each new generation of Americans inherits its politics and party loyalty from their fathers. National origin plays a role, too. Descendants of northern Europeans tend to the Republican party while those of southern and eastern Europeans prefer the Democratic party.

Conclusion

According to the US Constitution the government of the nation is entrusted to three separate authorities: the Executive, the Legislative and the Judicial.

The function of the executive branch of power is to carry out the laws of the nation. It consists of the President, Vice-President and President's Cabinet. Most of the members of the President's Cabinet are called Secretaries. They are appointed by the President but their nomination must be confirmed by the Senate. The Cabinet members are: the Secretary of State, the Secretary of the Treasury, the Secretary of Defense, the Attorney General, the Postmaster General, the Secretary of the Interior, etc. As chief executive officer, the President can at his discretion remove any Secretary.

The whole Legislative power in the USA is vested in the Congress. There are two chambers in the US Congress: Senate and the House of Representatives.

The judicial branch is headed by the Supreme Court. It consists of the Chief Justice and 8 Associate Justices who are appointed for life. The Supreme Court decides whether a law of the Congress or an executive order of the President is constitutional or not.

There are two main political parties in the USA: the Democratic Party (symbolized by a “donkey”) and the Republican Party (symbolized by an “elephant”).