How the U.S. Government Works

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After operating this system for a couple of centuries, we now seem to be able to make it work without shooting at each other. This page may be out of date. Save your draft before refreshing this page. Submit any pending changes before refreshing this page. Ask New Question Sign In. How does the American political system work? How does the electoral process work, what is the structure of the American Congress like? What is the student government? How does the United States government work?

Structure of the U.S. Government

What are its branches and how do they interact with each other? Federal Government has three branches: Congress they write U. Supreme Court is the highest court All of this is spelled out in the U. Thank you for your feedback! How do the American political and electoral systems work in simple words? Are Americans satisfied with their political system? How does the American judiciary system works? Is God at work in the current American political scene?

How does the United States political system work? You seem to be referring to the national system, which makes sense. It's complex, but, in basics: There are three branches of government: The Executive Branch consists of the President and everyone who works for him. The Legislative Branch consists of Congress. The Judicial Branch consists of the Supreme Court.

Our American intern, Emily, breaks down the workings of the US government

Congress consists of two branches: The House of Representatives and the Senate. The House has Representatives from each state based on the State population California gets 53 Representatives, Wyoming gets 1. Each state gets 2 Senators, though, regardless of population. This odd arrangement is a result of compromises early in our history.


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The key thing to realize here is that only Congress has the power to make laws. No laws can be initiated anywhere else and that includes an annual budget for the running of the country. Any Representative can introduce a bill, but there are complicated procedural rules for how it gets introduced for a vote. Since the same bill has to be passed by the House and the Senate, this entails a lot of compromise and negotiation between the two bodies of Congress. You'll notice in the above paragraph that the President has to sign the bills into law.

How American Government Works

That's really the primary power the President has over the laws of the country. He can refuse to sign a law, which is called a 'veto', which means the law doesn't pass, It's a fascinating thing, the President is seen as the leader of the nation, but his only official power in passing laws is the power to say "no" when all is said and done.

In reality, though, the President is much more involved. He tends to work closely with Congress to figure out bills that he'd be willing to sign and get them passed, but he has no official power until the bill has been introduced, negotiated and passed by Congress. Now, the structure of the House and Senate are complex. With Representatives, each with their own politics, ideas and agendas, it can become hard to get things done.

There are two primary political parties in the US: Each party selects their own leadership to set agendas and build consensus. So, in both the House and the Senate, each party will elect a Leader and a Whip. The job of the Whip is to deal with all the members of the party, work out what they're going to try to accomplish in a given year, and deal with all the people, personalities and agendas to get things done as well as getting their members re-elected. You talk about what happens when the President and House leadership are from different parties.

This is, in fact, a very common situation. Currently, the House has a Republican majority and the Senate has a Democratic majority, while the President is a Democrat. In theory, this creates a situation that requires compromise. The only way any law can get passed is if the chambers of Congress can agree on laws which the President is willing to sign. This should drive them to seek a middle ground, and pass laws they can all live with.

In reality, it often creates a situation where political battles bring things to a halt. The Republican Congress has spent the last couple of years passing a variety of laws that they knew very well that the Senate wouldn't pass and the President wouldn't sign. Such is a pointless waste of time, but it looks good to their constituents. At the same time, the President has an agenda that he wants to advance, but Republicans in congress generally won't even negotiate with him, fearing that if he accomplishes something good, it will make him and his party look good.

As a result, political infighting has largely ground the work of government to a halt. It's frankly appalling, but that's where we are now. Incidentally, you asked about governors. That spawns a whole additional level of discussion. What you have to understand about America is that we have national laws, but each of the 50 states has their own government, and a significant degree of self-rule. Federal laws are intended only to deal with large, national issues.

It's left up to the states to pass and enforce their own laws beyond that. The government of each state is designed like a miniature version of the national government. Each state has it's own House and Senate, but instead of the President, each state has a Governor. The Governor has no power on the national level, but a significant degree of power within the state.

How does the US government work?

This becomes important because there are a lot of important issues where state laws have the real control: These are largely out of the hands of the US government, and are controlled by each of the states individually. Concerning political parties, there are technically more than two but only two get the attention and the money to win elections from time to time. Congress deemed them necessary and established them using power granted from the Constitution. Government Works bizdata warwick. Legislative — Makes Laws Congress is composed of two parts: Judicial — Evaluates Laws The judicial branch of government is made up of the court system.

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