AMERICAN POLITICAL SYSTEM Short introduction The United States of America is the most powerful nation on earth, politically, economically and militarily, but its political system is in many important respects unlike any other in the world. Americans are proud of their democratic electoral system. Yet, truth be told, few Americans and even fewer observers from other nations understand the American electoral process. The foundation of the American political system were laid like 200 years ago, in time with the constitution of North-American state, being the biggest form of political organization with stability in time and also, a model for other states. Therefore, on the one side, the state …show more content…
A federal republic is that the nation is made up of distinct geographic subunits that have residual powers. The President has the power to make treaties (with the 'advice and consent ' of the Senate) and the power to nominate and receive ambassadors. The President may not dissolve Congress or call special elections, but does have the power to pardon criminals convicted of offences against the federal government, enact executive orders, and (with the consent of the Senate) appoint Supreme Court justices and federal judges. The President is elected for a fixed term of four years and may serve a maximum of two terms. Originally there was no constitutional limit on the number of terms that a President could serve in office and the first President George Washington set the precedent of serving simply two terms. Following the election of Franklin D Roosevelt to a record four terms, it was decided to limit terms to two and the relevant constitutional amendment was enacted in 1951. Elections are always held on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November to coincide with Congressional elections. The President is not elected directly by the voters but by
Despite the Electoral College system being founded by the founding fathers in America and being there as long as the Constitution exists, many people still do not have sufficient knowledge on how it works. The Electoral College does not provide honest presidential elections rather it has the potential to undo the will of people at any point from the selection of electors to the vote tallying in Congress (Shaw, 3). Electoral College in the United States has played a major role in depressing the voter's turnout. Every State is given an equal number of electoral votes despite the population and in turn, the system has put in place no measure to encourage the voters to take part in the elections. Besides, the system distorts
Since the fight for liberty from Europe, the political system of the United States had change for good. The United States had made improvement in their government structure to make the country a better place. The country has being affected in many different ways since the departure from the mother country. Due to the liberty the American people wanted, they had to make a government that could lead them to a better country than the mother country. The American people had being making many improvements to the government to make a strong self-governed country. The country had had some advantages and disadvantages that lead the country to the government what is today. The political history of Unites States from constitutional convention to
The article, “Electoral College: An Overview,” written by Ballaro, Beverly, Bourassa, and Cheryl, explains how the electoral college is used and why people do not support it. This article targets anyone who is able to vote in the 2016 election. The purpose of this article is to inform voters that their vote does not always choose the president and explains how the president is chosen and the system behind it. The thesis of this article explains that many people abroad are still unaware that the president is not elected directly by the people. The president is chosen by the electoral college. The electoral college is a body of electors chosen to elect the president and vice president of the united states. This setup allows the chance for an
In this country, we hold elections every four years to select the president. The founding fathers of our country established the electoral college to give the original thirteen states a fair voice in the election process. This country electoral called the electoral college into question on more the one occasion. In the most recent election, President-elect Donald Trump won the electoral vote over Hillary Clinton. Hillary Clinton won the popular vote. This election has sent the country into an uproar and citizens of the United States are now challenging the legitimacy of the electoral college process. This paper will examine whether this process is reliable and valid when choosing the leadership of this country.
The voting process in America appears straightforward, but it is a very complex, complicated system. The Electoral College is America’s current voting system. The Electoral College still serves its intended purpose, but with increasing political activity among Americans it has caused a need to reform this process. Research suggests that the Electoral College system should be amended because it poorly illustrates democracy, is outdated and the majority of Americans are in favor of abolishing the system.
Every time there is an election in the United States, the debate of Electoral College always heats up, and suddenly everybody seems to know about or at least they are interested in learning about it. The Electoral College is firmly established under the United States Constitution to elect the president and the vice president of the United States indirectly. A slate of “electors” are chosen from each state, and they are the ones responsible for voting for president in the general elections depending on which party the candidate is vying with. From this statement, what it means is that one does not choose his or her preferred leader directly and this has made many suggestions that the Electoral College is not a true representation of democracy. This paper will look at the strongest arguments for and against the Electoral College, analyze whether the current Electoral College should be re-engineered or scrapped in favor of direct vote and finally determine if the Electoral College is consistent or contrary to democratic principle.
The political system of America is very different from other developed and developing democracies. Most notable is the increased power bestowed on the upper house of the parliament, the extensive power held by the Supreme Court and the dominance demonstrated by only two major parties. In the United States, third parties have the least influence on the world’s most developed democracy’s political structure. In this democracy, people are under the US Constitution of the governmental system as well as state government and other units of local government. Local government entails counties, districts and municipalities. The evolution of the American political party system has come a long way; with Hamilton and Jefferson being regarded as the founder fathers of the modern party system. These were heads of the Federalist and Anti-Federalist groups in the 18th century of American politics. Ever since, the country has maintained a party system that has two main parties that are relatively stable. These are Democrats and Republicans and have remained in contest for election every time since the 1860 presidential elections. Initially, the Republican Party was the dominant party but the Democrats later gained dominance. However, the two parties became closely competitive and neither of them has been notably dominant since the 1970s (O'Connor & Sabato, n.d).
Our Founding Fathers’ idea of an Electoral College is not the same as our current Electoral College as amendments have changed their structure and function. Despite the changes and adaptations to our country’s changes, the Electoral College is still the method that selects presidents and vice presidents. Exploration of the structure and function of the Electoral College will provide an opportunity to understand its formation and operation while the debate between the Electoral College and popular vote usage and its effects on election results will provide an understanding of issues and misalignment with the popular vote while the understanding of how an individual’s vote is valued by the Electoral College will provide a clear demonstration that the vote informs the Electoral College for their duties.
The Electoral College has a significant role in the government in the United States. However, many people don’t actually know what the Electoral College is, some think it’s an undemocratic way of electing our President while some think it to be an actual college. To understand the Electoral College and the possible reform, we need to look at the historical context such as why our Founding Fathers put this system in place and how this system has affected our growing nation.
The United States is established by democracy and the will of the general population, yet in the 2000 and 2016 elections, the majority of citizens in the United States voted in favor of the losing candidate. These outcomes are on the grounds that the decision of the President in the United States hangs solely on the Electoral College. The Electoral College is obsolete and should be abrogated for different reasons. The original purposes behind embracing the Electoral College were tailored to the time of its creation and never again apply in a modern democracy. Additionally, the Electoral College prompts political imbalance as the instances of federalism, unexpected elections, and the winner-take-all broad ticket framework demonstrates. One must
The American Electoral College is the most confusing part of the American government. In addition, Kenneth Davis, author of Don’t Know Much About History, noted, “Grown men turn weak and stammer when asked who makes up the Electoral College.” However, there will be an effort to clear this enigma up for those who “turn weak and stammer” (2011, p. 653). America’s election system is important because their citizens need to know what they are doing on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November. The Electoral College has an interesting structure, procedure, and history, while also serving America well.
The United States is considered to have the world's greatest democracy, however, every four years when Americans go to the voting polls to select a presidential candidate, the controversy of our voting system arises. The United States voting system consists of many components and is referred to as Electoral College. The Electoral College has remained in place for the past two centuries after our founding fathers created it. Fundamentally, the Electoral College consists of 538 electors. This specific number is made up of 435 Representatives, 100 Senators, and 3 electors from the District of Columbia, who are responsible to vote for a specific presidential candidate. According to the 23rd Amendment, the District of Columbia is referred to as
It is difficult to completely understand and in a way appreciate what the Electoral College is if you don’t understand it. Therefore, this paper will go in depth as to how the voting process works in the United States, with a main focus on the Electoral College. I will start by talking about the background, what challenges and problems it was trying to solve, how it came to be and who came up with such idea. Secondly, I would talk about the advantages the Electoral College possesses, such as it keeps small states as viable participants, it maintains division of power and how it’s beneficial to the candidates and their campaign. But as with everything, there are also some disadvantages that come with such, example, ignoring the will of the
This lead to the separate election by the electorate or an electoral college of the president, who is elected to office for a fixed term of office, and can only be remove in extreme cases for gross misdemeanor by impeachment and dismissal. In addition he or she does not need to choose cabinet members from or commanding the support of a legislative majority.
The election process in the United States is a valuable process to the election of the proper officials to satisfy the people. The people run the country which is why we live in freedom because we control what happens with major decisions by choosing whom we want to decide these decisions. The whole country goes to vote on a certain day and by the end of that day we will vote to select who will run the country, state, county, or city political positions. The most complex decision and one with the biggest impact are selecting who the President of the United States shall be. We examine what their views are and who would do a better job. Then vote in our respected states with a certain number of electoral votes