Hi. I'm British, but I just want to know how the US Government works i.e. what is their Commons, Lords, how they're elected in, 'soveriegn figure', how laws are passed....
Please dont give me too much jargon - just in a nutshell as I do know a bit about politics (certainly UK politics), but words like "senate"... don't really mean too much to me!
Thanks
xx
2007-09-10 06:36:20 · 16 answers · asked by ღ♥ღ latoya 4 in Politics & Government ➔ Politics
OK, here's a quick comparison.
Congress = Parliament
House of Representatives = House of Commons
Senate = House of Lords
Representatives are elected for two year terms. The Senate is the upper house, and Senators are elected for six year terms. In each case, they can run for reelection an unlimited number of times.
Each state has a number of Representatives proportional to its population. A state with a small population, like Wyoming, will have one Representative. A large state, like California, will have many Representatives, and those states are divided into districts, and the people living in the district elect their representative.
Each state has exactly two Senators, regardless of size.
Laws must be passed by both the House and the Senate, and then approved by the President. If the president vetoes the law, Congress can override the veto and make it law anyway.
The president is elected by the electoral college, which is a fancy way of saying the states vote for President. Each state has a number of electoral votes equal to the number of senators and representatives they have in Congress. The popular vote in each state determines how the state will vote for President. Sometimes, this means that the overall popular vote for President will not match the electoral vote. This happened in 2000.
The Cabinet is the president's top officials. They are usually called Secretaries, and are comparable to Ministers. For example, the equivalent of the Foreign Minister would be the Secretary of State. Cabinet officials are named by the president, but must be ratified by the Senate.
OK, that's the Cliff's Notes version of US government.
2007-09-10 06:49:52 · answer #1 · answered by Teekno 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
There is waaaay too much information to sum up for you, I would reccommend getting a book or doing some online research for your answers. But here's a try -
Basically there are three branches of governement - executive (the president), legislative (senate, which is 2 senators per state, and the congress, representatives determined by how many people live in your state), and judicial (courts). All of these branches are maintained through a "checks and balances" process so that one doesn't have more power than the other. The rules are all laid out in the U.S. Constitution.
The Constitution is acutally the longest standing constitution of any other democratic country - it's very interesting to read.
Good Luck!
2007-09-10 06:44:17 · answer #2 · answered by Jenster 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Briefly, there are three main branches of government—1) the Executive Branch (the President, Vice President, etc.), 2) the Congress, which is the legislative branch, consisting of the House of Representatives and the Senate and 3) the Judiciary, the highest court of which is the US Supreme Court.
The president and vice president are elected every four years.
The representatives in the House of Representatives are elected every 2 years and their numbers are based on proportional representation of the population.
Senators in the Senate are elected every 6 years and there are two senators for each of the 50 states.
The Supreme Court judges are appointed for life by the sitting president and are confirmed by the Senate.
2007-09-10 07:00:04 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
The US government is a republic, which is an elected representative. We have 3 branches: Judicial, congressional, and executive.
Congress is divided into 2 house, Representatives and Senate. Either house can propose or sponsor a bill, which gets voted on and then moves on to the other house (if it passes).
Executive branch is the office of the President. After a bill passes through congress, it is presented to the President; he can either sign it into law, or veto it and send it back to Congress.
The Judicial branch checks the other 2 branches, to make sure their actions do not go against our constitution. This branch cannot make laws, can only interpret the laws.
2007-09-10 06:51:29 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
The US government is divided in to three co-equal branches: Executive, Legislative and Judicial. Executive is the administration, headed by an elected President. The legislative is the United States Congress, made up of two houses: Senate and House of Representatives. All legislators are voted in.
The Judicial are the US Supreme Court and all lower federal courts. Judges are appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate.
2007-09-10 06:44:18 · answer #5 · answered by regerugged 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Legislative Branch:
Commons = House of Representatives
Lords = Senate
The House and the Senate are collectively, Congress.
Reps and senators are elected by popular vote.
Laws are passed by popular vote within congress.
Executive Branch: President
Judicial Branch: Courts
This is, of course, super simplified.
2007-09-10 06:44:58 · answer #6 · answered by I'm back...and this still sucks. 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
An acid eating away at our constitutional democracy. The people need to elect new leaders who will change the system back to open, and limited government.
2007-09-10 06:43:19 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋
Elected Dictatorship.
Corrupt.
2007-09-10 06:48:26 · answer #8 · answered by ? 1 · 3⤊ 3⤋
Bunch of useless uncaring murdering twats. Nuff said
2007-09-12 04:27:16 · answer #9 · answered by manforallseasons 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
A Fascist state steer clear!!
2007-09-10 09:41:03 · answer #10 · answered by ellementre 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋