Levels of Government Essay

The legislative branch, Congress, has the power to make laws valid for the whole country. Powers like the regulation of taxes, regulation of commerce between the states and with foreign countries, the power to declare war, and the power to impeach the President are some of the issues the legislative branch has to deal with. Congress has two chambers (or "houses"): the Senate and the House of Representatives ("the house").

A way that lobbyists use their power is by taking legislators out for drinks or nice

Dating back many decades, it appears that lobbying and politics have always gone hand and hand on any political stage. Lobbying has always had a strong presence in the legislation system. Lobbying is the process of offering campaign contributions, bribes, or information to policymakers for the purpose of achieving favorable policy outcomes. Conventional wisdom suggests that lobbying is the preferred mean for exerting political influence in rich countries and corruption in poor countries. The legislation is meant to benefit society and ensure that citizens are having their voices heard, instead of hindering them in favour of the multi-national corporations. Lobbying has a negative influence on legislations in both developed and developing

The legislative branch is the most powerful branch in government. The legislative branch is in charge of making and passing laws. They have the power to override a president’s decision, stop laws from being passed, and basically control all decisions the governments makes. The legislative branch, also called the congress, consists of the House of Representatives and the senate. The reason for two houses of congress is to balance out the concerns of smaller but more populated states against states that are larger but with less population (www.Usgovinfo.com).

However, with all of the duties the legislative branch renders it has to be checked by the executive and judicial branches before imperative decisions are completed. The interaction that the legislative branch has with the judicial branch is to interpret acts of Congress that are disputed in legal cases to also declare laws of Congress void if they are not in accordance with the Constitution (Patterson, 2011, p. 42). The interaction the legislative branch has with the executive branch is when the creation of new laws or the changes of existing laws are made the executive branch is to issue regulation executing the full force of law. This gives the legislative branch power and authority within its own branch, to also subsist checked by the other two branches.

The controversy surrounding political lobbying does not question the act of influencing public officials, but rather the ethics relating to how these public officials are influenced. It is important to distinguish the fine line between bribery and lobbying. It is illegal to bribe a public official in the United States. This would mean that an individual could not provide compensation to a public official for them to behave, or vote, in a specific manner. Lobbyists may donate money to a specific candidate’s political campaign, but they may only do so when there is no expectation that the public official will behave in a favorable way toward the lobbyist or their clients (Mackinder). Lobbyists may bring public officials, their immediate families, and staff on trips or out to dinner. While it is illegal for a lobbyist representing a corporate client from directly bringing, it is not illegal for foreign governments to sponsor for these said trips (Goldmacher). What has begun to happen is lobbyists representing corporate clients may bring public officials on these trips, if the trip is sponsored by a foreign government. The Senate Office of Public Records reported that $3.23 billion was spent on lobbying in 2013, with 12,300 registered lobbyists. Professor James Thurber, who teaches at American University, has studied congressional lobbying for over 30 years, and does not believe these figures are accurate. He believes

The constitution makes use of separation of powers in order to prevent tyranny. In conjunction with his view of tyranny, Madison also said “(L)iberty requires that the three great departments of power be separate and distinct” (James Madison, Federalist Paper #47, Document B). This quote alludes quite clearly to separation of powers. Using this philosophy the founders gave each branch a few set jobs to perform. The legislative branch

Each branch is staffed separately, with their equality and independence protected by the Constitution (O’Connor &Sabato, 2018, p. 28). As a result of this division of power, each branch has a different primary function. The legislative branch creates laws, the executive branch enforces laws, and the judicial branch interprets laws. Although this system is in place, each branch of government has a role in the other, a sort of interdependency. The checks and balances system was created so that each of the three branches of government could have some control and say over the other branches’ actions. In addition, the Framers created this system in order to eliminate the possibility of any one branch infringing on the rights of the people. For example, the legislative branch has the power to impeach the president and can propose constitutional amendments to override judicial decisions. The executive branch can veto a legislation and has the power to appoint federal judges. Finally, the judicial branch can rule federal and state laws unconstitutional, and can declare executive branch actions

Both sides of the topic have gripping reasons why they feel the way they do. The supporters believe that lobbying is acceptable and contributes to a healthy democracy. In this light, lobbyists are simply seeking power within governmental and public affairs. In the United States our political system is based on power, authority, and legitimacy. One of our nation’s values is the fact that people can and should try to influence our political system; individuals have the power to bring attention to important issues, matters of public concern, and current problems. Supports argue that lobbying cannot contribute to the demise of American democracy. All these factors contribute to what is our political system and lobbyists are arguably doing their best to advocate for the people, even if huge sums of money are involved.

These three branches of government include the Legislative Branch, the Executive Branch, and the Judicial Branch which all have separate powers. While the Legislative Branch has the power to make laws, the Executive Branch has the power to put the laws into action. The Judicial Branch meanwhile is made up of courts which interpret the laws and apply them in cases brought before them. Although these branches have their own powers, they are also able to prevent the other branches from having excessive power through what is known as checks and balances. As Madison writes in “Federalist Paper #51” (Document C), “The constant aim is to divide and arrange the several offices in such a manner as that they may be a check on the other… the three branches should not be so far separated as to have no constitutional control over each other.” Each branch has a different method of keeping the other branches in check. While the Executive Branch can manage the laws made by the Legislative Branch by vetoing Congressional legislation, the Legislative Branch can override a President’s veto and additionally impeach the president. The Legislative Branch can also impeach judges and remove them from office in the Judicial Branch, which can in turn declare laws made by the Legislative Branch as unconstitutional. The Executive Branch can control the Judicial Branch by nominating

The Legislative Branch is one out of the three branches of the government. All the branches of the federal government play a super important part in Government. However, the Legislative Branch is the strongest branch. All of the Legislative Branches privileges and powers are well-defined in the U.S Constitution. All of the Legislative Branches rights and powers are defined in the U.S Constitution. The U.S Constitution wanted to divide powers within the three branches of the federal government. The Legislative Branch is the strongest branch because they make laws, declare war, and override presidential veto, and

The constitution of the United States divides the federal government into three branches to make sure no individual or group will have too much power. They are the Executive (President and about 5,000,000 workers), Legislative (Senate and House of Representatives), and Judicial (Supreme Court and lower courts). These ensure the government is effective and citizens’ rights are protected, each branch has their own power and responsibilities, including working with the other branches. The executive power enforces the law while the legislative power makes new laws and amends existing laws. Judicial power has the authority to review the constitutionality of laws.

Wayne, Lasser, Miller and others tend to agree that lobbyists and PACs have a great amount of influence over congress members because they may have direct connections and give campaign contributions. Recently, the airlines industry convinced congress to pass a $15 billion aid package it needs in order to survive. “The airlines had plenty of resources to draw on: 27 in-houses lobbyists, augmented by lobbyists from 42 Washington firms, including former White House aides and transportation secretaries, as well as the airlines own chief executives and corporate board members, whom all are well known in the halls of congress”(Wayne, NYT, 10/01/01. Lasser, American Politics, 1999. Miller, The American Prospect, 10/23/00. Geiger, Washington Post, 11/4-10/91.)

There are three branches of the federal government, the executive, the judicial, and the legislative. The executive branch consists of such people as the president, the cabinet, and the executive offices of the president. The executive branch is known for enforcing laws created by the legislative branch. The judicial branch entails the United States Supreme Court and the Federal Judiciary. The judicial branch must review the laws the executive branch is to enforce. There is also the legislative branch. This branch contains the United States House of Representatives, the United States Senate, and the Library of Congress. Laws are created through the legislative branch.

Sometimes a lobbyist can only get a couple minutes of their time, so the lobbyist must be prepared to make what they are going to say to persuade them fast. Lobbyist usually provide arguments, confirmation, and research to maintain their group situations. Many government officials don’t have time to research the issues themselves, so they depend on the information that interest groups and lobbyists provide to keep them informed and up to speed. Even though persuasion is a very important part of lobbying, interest groups also provide some material incentives to government officials. Also, what wealthy interest groups usually do is contribute to campaigns, and run advertisements to reach their goal. Another useful method interest groups use to accomplish what they want is boycotting, or declining to purchase an organizations