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Separation Of Powers, Balances, And Federalist System

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The separation of powers, checks and balances, and Federalist system established by the Constitution makes the United States government effective but very inefficient. The main purpose of the separation of powers was to protect the United States from tyranny. By dividing the government into the three branches, the Executive, Legislative, and Judicial, the Founding Fathers ensured that no one branch would be able to gain full control of the nation (Magleby 2015). In The Federalist, No. 47 James Madison said, “The accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive, and judiciary, in the same hands, whether of one, a few, or many, and whether hereditary, self-appointed, or elective, may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny.” This quote means that if an entity were to take control of all three branches, then tyranny would rule. Separation of powers is effective in its role of preventing tyranny as well as ensuring that each branch is able to perform …show more content…

This procedure is part of the checks and balances process, however, the president's effectiveness can be challenged when this is done. This is called filibustering and recently is becoming an issue in American government. During the Obama Administration, republicans have used the filibuster to block nominations sought by Obama, as well as certain acts of legislation. Obama's appointments were not able to pass through the Senate due to his party being in the minority, leading to gridlock because legislation cannot be passed. This hinders the effectiveness of government. President Obama had to then appeal to the Republican party in order to get then to stop Filibustering his judicial nominees. To accomplish this, Majority Leader Harry Reid threatened to change the nomination procedure if Judicial appointments didn’t start passing through the Senate (To what extent…

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