Can someone (anyone) explain to me how the American Government works?

[Arseface]

Can someone (anyone) explain to me how the American Government works?

Well, I know a little about governments from my Legal Studies class, and I've heard tell from various sources (like American dramas and certain news parodies), about various facets of the American parliamentary system. I just don't understand it.

Ok, so Australia is a bicameral democracy, much like the USA. The party with the majority in the lower house is the one that forms government, passes bills in the lower house, etc.

Is it the same in America? How does the president come into all this? What do his party do if they don't control any house?

BTW, I'm assuming that Congress is the lower house, and the Senate is the Upper house. I don't know if that's anywhere near the mark.

Thanks.

 

[Arseface]

Re: Can someone (anyone) explain to me how the American Government works?

I'm interested in how the executive side of the government works. In Australia, the party with the majority forms government, members get portfolios and become ministers, which is mixing the legislative and executive bodies.

Is the party with the majority in Congress the one that forms government, and therefore gets it's members to do the executive business? Or does the president get to choose who gets to do all the executive business?

Also, as a side note, it seems like it would be a massive bitch to have your workplace in your house.

 

[Arseface]

Re: Can someone (anyone) explain to me how the American Government works?

It's a big house, he could keep work and home separated if he so chose. It's his decision to have his name mentioned on television every thirty seconds (not joking).

To answer the question:
Only the President/Vice-President are supposed to do executive tasks.
In reality, the President can appoint anyone he wants to do executive tasks.

The legislative branch plays no role in the executive end of things, except as a "check" with the power to impeach the President.

So, there are two houses, and the president. A bill has to be approved by all three to be made law. The president assigns portfolios to whoever he likes, and they take care of the executive stuff. The houses' roles are to vote on legislation, and various other things, judges, impeachment, etc.

....?

 

[Arseface]

Re: Can someone (anyone) explain to me how the American Government works?

The President appoints the Justices for the Supreme Court.

Ideally, they legislators write the bill, read the bill, vote on it, it goes to the President who either signs it (approves) and it then becomes law, or vetoes it (rejects) and it goes back to the legislators who can overrule the President with a two-thirds vote to pass it anyway. The Supreme Justices can decide that a proposed policy is against the U.S. Constitution, keeping legislators from passing it.

A good topic to research for this is separation of powers in the U.S. That should cover duties of each branch and powers of each branch over the others.

I see...

So it's both similar to Australia, and different..

Thank you so much for answering my questions! It's not even important. Just to satisfy my own curiosity.

And with that, I'm going to bed.

 

[Psychosis]

Re: Can someone (anyone) explain to me how the American Government works?

The American Government does not work. Simple.

 

[Walker]

Re: Can someone (anyone) explain to me how the American Government works?

Yea its pretty much the same. The original idea was supposed to go something like:

1. Congress/Senate - legislative. They write the crap.
2. Supreme Court - judicial. They interpret the crap.
3. President - executive. He enforces the crap.

Somewhere along the way they all got cluster-fudged and now everyone pretty much does whatever they want. That's only slightly exaggerating. Without going much into that, it is fair to say that the roles of these branches as they are and as they were supposed to be are two completely different things. It's been that way for a long while, especially recently.

Also - you're assumption on Congress/Senate is correct. 435 Congressmen (one for each district), 100 Senators (two for each state). Now there's also the handful of delegates from U.S. territories and Washington D.C., but I wouldn't count them as no one else does (political joke - they don't get a vote in the house). The idea was for the Senate to be composed of higher intellectuals, which is pretty much a joke now.

I will say that DC is constantly trying to get more political power-- currently they have one Delegate to Congress, Eleanor Holmes Norton, who can do everything but have her vote counted. Poor DC.

I will also say that the original idea for the Supreme Court wasn't so broad. We can thank John Marshall for giving them the official power to review laws for Constitutionality. He was a Supereme Court Chief Justice.

And yes, they do run together a bit. F'rinstance, the President will write some legislation can get someone to introduce it for him, even though he's not supposed to legislate.

I'm interested in how the executive side of the government works. In Australia, the party with the majority forms government, members get portfolios and become ministers, which is mixing the legislative and executive bodies.

Is the party with the majority in Congress the one that forms government, and therefore gets it's members to do the executive business? Or does the president get to choose who gets to do all the executive business?

To answer the question:
Only the President/Vice-President are supposed to do executive tasks.
In reality, the President can appoint anyone he wants to do executive tasks.

The legislative branch plays no role in the executive end of things, except as a "check" with the power to impeach the President.

Yeah, the president and the VP are the "executive" but they can and do appoint more people to assist. Because, well, it's a big job. He appoints a cabinet of... I forget how many, to head different departments, who have to be confirmed by the Senate-- that's where they get to check his power, among others.

So, there are two houses, and the president. A bill has to be approved by all three to be made law. The president assigns portfolios to whoever he likes, and they take care of the executive stuff. The houses' roles are to vote on legislation, and various other things, judges, impeachment, etc.

....?

And yeah, that's basically it. I didn't add much, but I wanted to stick my oar in. We also don't call 'em "portfolios," but I'm assuming our cabinet posts-- Secretary of State, Secretary of the Treasury, Secretary of Defense, Secretary of Homeland Security, etc-- are the same thing. But they can be rejected by the Senate, even though they rarely are in practice.

EDIT: Psychosis, "does not work" would have more force if we hadn't managed to survive the last, call it 220, years since the Constitution was ratified and established our current form of government with only one civil war and still entirely intact.

 

[PhilistineEars]

Re: Can someone (anyone) explain to me how the American Government works?

And now this thread has been added to the government watch-list of suspicious activity... Citizens: 1 Big Brother: 5,000

 

[Sean]

Re: Can someone (anyone) explain to me how the American Government works?

They pick the dumbest way to solve something and do it, and the people are too retarded and blind to see what they're doing so they say "Haha ! OKAY!".

 

[Walker]

Re: Can someone (anyone) explain to me how the American Government works?

Heh, I don't mean cabinet members. They're in the executive branch but they still have to go through official channels, just like the President. If they decide to declare war, they need to get approval from Congress (unless the exit strategy calls for complete withdraw in 30 days). I'm talking about those not confirmed by Congress, who don't have to go through the Congress to do anything. Yes, I'm talking about the czars. The people who for the last eight years have been writing disturbingly large portions of some of the country's largest legislative pieces, especially lately. The people who can act on the direct behalf of the President. This is where legislative and executive branches collide, circumventing the system of checks and balances. It's a bastardization of our government. True, it's par for the course, but that doesn't make it right.

Deep breaths. In... out... in... out... woosa, woosa.

And D.C. has never had a vote. Well, at least they have a delegate, they used to not even have that.
(I know you know this, just needed to be said once more for laughs.)

False. DC has a vote since they got a delegate. She can vote until her face turns blue, her head swells up, and she floats into the air like a giant politician-balloon. They just won't count it.

And "czars." BAH. Look, I'm not going to argue. But I will argue this: why "czar?" Personally, I've always preferred spelling it "tsar," but that's just me.

 

[Arseface]

Re: Can someone (anyone) explain to me how the American Government works?

The American Government does not work. Simple.

See, that's what I wasn't after. Some bull****, anti-establishment one liner, with no basis in fact whatsoever.

And yeah, that's basically it. I didn't add much, but I wanted to stick my oar in. We also don't call 'em "portfolios," but I'm assuming our cabinet posts-- Secretary of State, Secretary of the Treasury, Secretary of Defense, Secretary of Homeland Security, etc-- are the same thing. But they can be rejected by the Senate, even though they rarely are in practice.

Yeah, that's what I was getting at.

They pick the dumbest way to solve something and do it, and the people are too retarded and blind to see what they're doing so they say "Haha ! OKAY!".

It wouldn't be any different under any other government.

 

[Noctus]

Re: Can someone (anyone) explain to me how the American Government works?

The American Government does not work. Simple.

Yeah and they just got to be the most powerful country in the world by eating Big Macs. Sure.

I'm not American but saying it doesn't work is rubbish, they wouldn't be the most powerful country on Earth if their government didn't work.