Balance in Government For over the last two centuries, the United States has spent their time attempting to balance the powers between different levels of government. Today, there are many overlapped responsibilities and so many rules and regulations, that sometimes the lines of authority are quite blurred. Some state and local authorities can share the same jurisdiction, and then must further share that with national or federal authorities. Finding who is really supposed to be in charge of what is one of the biggest challenges of American government. The U.S. Constitution does lay out some of these guidelines. It gives certain rights to the national government, such as coining money and waging war. The Bill of Rights defines the state levels
The government of the United States of America is a federal constitutional republic. In layman 's terms, this means that the country 's national, central government and the smaller, unitary governments of the fifty states are co-equal in their power, and that the citizens of America have a say in public policies by electing representatives who voice their respective opinions. More importantly, both the central government and the state governments are subject to the supreme law of the Constitution. Under this document, the central government is set up into three branches (the legislative, executive, and judicial) that are meant to check each other and balance out power. Their cooperation insures that the national government 's control is appropriate, and does not infringe upon the rights of the average American citizen.
The United States government operates under a federalist system meaning that there are two or more governments who share the same power over one geographic region. In this case it would be the state and federal governments. The 10th amendment of the U.S. Constitution summarizes the idea of federalism, stating that “The powers not delegated to the US by the Constitution, nor prohibited by the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people” (U.S. Constitution). This means that the federal government, whose jurisdiction is very limited, has jurisdiction over some thing while the state government has jurisdiction over
State, county, and local administration responsibilities are to serve specific demographic areas. These governments are municipal. Unlike the federal government, they don’t organize international concerns, they are focusing internally. Both the state and federal governments work hard to keep our homeland running safely and smoothly. The responsibilities that federal, state, and local governments have in common are structure and what is in the best interest of those who live in the United States (Shafritz, Russell, Borick, & Hyde, 2017, 104).
The Federalists and Anti-Federalists had many differences when it came to what they believed was right and wrong. One of the biggest issues was the debate about the constitution. The Federalists fully supported the ideas that were in the constitution and they worked very hard to get the states to agree with them. The Federalists felt like America did not have a strong central government and they believed that the Constitution would allow Congress to have more control over the states. They also agreed with the idea that there was a need for checks and balances in the government because it would help prevent tyranny and it would benefit the majority of the people.
The Local and state officials? The inability to enforce laws from the federal level uniformly throughout counties
The concept of power is a divisive matter in the American political system, as the actors holding it are sometimes unable to impose it as a result of their limited authority to do so. The legislative, executive, and judicial branches in the national government depend on each-others point of view. Part of the Constitution was designed with the purpose of making it impossible for either of these three to become more powerful than the others. Each of them has the ability to check and balance the way that the other two function. In spite of the fact that this system was created with the intention of preventing power from being shared unequally in the country, it sometimes serves as a tool for political gridlock, considering that the judicial branches can debate in regard to a particular topic for unlimited amounts of time before actually reaching a conclusion regarding the respective issue.
Like nature, the United States government has evolved to meet the demands of an ever growing population, the increasing terrorist threat, and a new state of mind in terms of what government should look like. Each branch of the federal system plays a key role in controlling the populace. The Executive branch handles day-to-day maintenance of the federal government, makes sure laws are enforced and carried out, as well as represents the U.S. to foreign interests. The Legislative branch passes laws and allocates funds for use in running the federal government and providing assistance to the states. The Judicial branch hears cases that involve disputes between interpretations of the laws or those that challenge them. A delicate balance
Over 200 years ago the United States’ Founding Fathers created a unique system of government that allowed a balance to exist between both the federal government and the separate state governments. Through the three branches of government, specifically the executive and legislative branches, the United States has been able to act as a unified body with several varying individual parts. With the executive branch and the legislative branch each having outlined powers of their own the Founders were able to equally balance the power of the national government and the state governments. Although this system has managed to stay in tact for two centuries and has allowed the United States of America to become a dominate player in international affairs, there has consistently been a battle of power between the president in the executive branch and the two houses of congress in the legislative branch. As the United States continues to evolve and face multiple obstacles, so does the relationship between these two branches.
The first and most fundamental division of our government is “federalism or the constitutional allocation of governmental powers between the federal and state governments” (24). Throughout the years federalism has changed from what it was first described in the constitution. Contemporary federalism is what is used in our modern government, and with the dilemmas that we have now a more centralized government has been used, which was not planned when our government was created. The second division is separation of powers. This division has a major impact on public policies. The constitution “distributes the powers of the federal government among three branches, each capable of applying checks and balances to the other two” (29). These three divisions can either work together, which makes policymaking smooth and able to get things done, or they can veto each other which makes policymaking harder and nothing gets done. The third division is subgovernments, or can also be described as iron triangles. This division has three actors involved the first is interest groups, the second is congressional committees or subcommittees, and the third is the administrative agency (31-33). These actors work off each other to help get policies implemented. These three division help compose our public policies in the United States.
When Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster told the first Superman stories in the Golden Age of comics (in the comic line, Action Comics) Superman wasn’t a god-like being who walked the surface of the sun after being sent to planet earth with the purpose of teaching humanity a better way of coexistence after his home planet died. When Superman was first created and introduced to the ether of pulp culture, he was a personification of what it means to be good in essence, whether a male or female it did not matter; any one individual, no matter the colour of their skin or their gender, could be Superman in essence, meaning that anyone could be good. That is why his Superman’s dawned slogan has been, “Truth, justice, and the American way” for as long as
Lastly we move to federal government this is one in which the powers of government is divided between a central government and several local governments. There is a authority superior to both the central and local governments which makes this division of powers on a geographic basis; That division cannot be changed by either the local or national level acting alone. Both levels of government act directly on the people through their own sets of laws, the officials, and agencies. In the United States, for example the National Government has certain powers and the 50 states have others. This division of powers is set out in the Constitution of the United States.
STATE VS FEDERAL CONSTITUTIONS: It should first be noted that state constitutions contain the supreme laws of each state, mostly by detailing the limitations of authority and specific protections for maintaining individual liberty. The US constitution does this too for the federal government and provides the fundamental Bill of Rights that identifies national liberty protections. Many states model their protections on these rights but some add other levels of security. In general, states put a greater emphasis on their legislative branches (where the elected representatives have input) than on the executive branch, though clearly some governors are as visible as is the President of the United States who conducts the daily administrative activities of the federal government.
responsibility to solve problems often exceed the capacity of state and local authorities to respond effectively. On the other hand, policies developed at the national level may not sufficiently reflect the great diversity of interests across the U.S. to be effective at the local level. Moreover, the
American politics is often defined by a continuing power conflict between the executive and the legislative branches of the government. This struggle for political power between the two stronger branches of the three is inherent in the Constitution, itself. The concepts of separation of powers and checks and balances ensure that the branches of government will remain in conflict and provide a balance that keeps the entire government under control. As it was first established, the executive branch was much smaller and weaker than as we know it today. Consequently, the legislative branch was unquestionably dominant. Over the course of history, the executive branch grew in both size and power to the point where it occasionally overtook the
I wish to write faster essays and paragraphs, like my classmates. Most of the time when writing anything I find it difficult to finish in a limited amount of time. My writing is poorly done and it is edited not even half way. This is very effective in the long run since teachers may give me half a period to write an essay. I wish to write faster so I am able to get a perfect score on my exam. Writing itself is a major weakness with me, I cluelessly get my work done not knowing how it is written. I hope one day I will be able to write essays or paragraph faster than I can