American GovernmentEssay Preview: American GovernmentReport this essayGovernment, Politics and Decision Making in the USGovernment, govern: To control, direct by authority; the agencies or individuals exercising this authority.Who, what government is: Federal (national), state, county, municipalThree branches: Legislative (makes the laws), executive (enforces the law), judicial (decides disputes, interprets the law)How government works: Authority exercised by law, with consent of the governed (p. 11).PoliticsWhat is politics? The art of government or administration of public affairs; who gets what, when and how (p. 19). In a “civil body politick,” or civil society, government is by majority rule (p. 11).
What does politics do? Gives members of civil society the means to fashion the laws, guide their enforcement. Politics produce leaders, raise issues, organize voters. Political parties are institutions of political expression that support candidates in primaries and general elections, raise money, help register voters, hold conventions to select candidates and issues, and campaign.
Decision MakingWhat decisions are made? Making laws, enforcing laws, spending money, trading with foreign countries, interstate commerce, protecting citizens, war and peace, punishing lawbreakers, issuing drivers licenses.
Who makes these decisions? Elected political leaders, appointed officials and officers, judges, voters.How are these decisions made? Congress votes on laws, President and federal agencies issue orders and regulations to enforce the law, courts rule on disputes of law, parties back candidates, voters choose representatives, leaders.
What is unique about American government, politics, decision making?*Three co-equal branches of government*Constitution guarantees individuals rights*Federal system shares power with states*Democratic republic with representative governmentConstitution and Bill of Rights–A look at framework, foundations of American govtConstitution (1789)The “supreme law of the land,” by which people give power to government (federal and state).Power is granted first to an elected Congress in Article I, which says Congress as representative of the people makes the laws. Article II gives executive power to enforce the law to an elected President. Article III grants power to decide disputes in the law and between the states to a Supreme Court and other courts that Congress may set up. Three equal branches of government share power among each other and with the states. The states are given power to ratify the Constitution and Congress and states hare the power to change it by amendments.
Bill of Rights (1789)The first 10 amendments to the Constitution, sent to the states for ratification along with the Constitution, assured the states and their citizens that their rights would be protected under the new national government.
Four of these amendments spell out individual rights, including “the right to be secure in their persons, effects and homes from unreasonable search and seizure.”
Four amendments (Five, Six, Seven and Eight) deal with the courts and punishment; the Fifth Amendment guarantees “due process of law” and tells those arrested that they cannot be forced to give testimony against themselves.
Two amendments ensure that any rights of the people not mentioned in the Constitution cannot be denied (Amendment Nine); and that all powers not granted to the United States government, nor prohibited to the states, are reserved to the states or to the people.
Federalism and Representation–Principles and theory of a democratic republicFederalism–A system characterized by a constitutional sharing of power between a national government and regional units of government, or states (p. 37).
Constitution–Guarantees a republican form of government; a system of dual sovereignty with spheres of responsibility for states and federal government, and representative lawmaking.
Republic, republican–representative governmentDemocratic republic–representative government with leaders chosen by popular vote.Representation–Embodies the ideas of popular sovereignty, consent of the governed and majority rule (p. 9); No taxation without representation; embodies the rule of law and a civil society through which leaders are chosen through political activity.
Civil Rights and Liberties–How Rights Are ProtectedBasic rights include freedom of religion, speech, press, the right to assemble and petition the government for redress of grievances and the right to a trial by a jury of your peers; protection against unreasonable search and seizure, excessive bail, self-incrimination and double jeopardy.
How do we know our rights if we are arrested? A 1966 Supreme Court ruling (Miranda v. Arizona) spells out the requirement that police inform you of these rights before questioning (p. 118).
Where do we get our jurors? From the lists of registered voters.How is our right to vote protected? Article I, Section 2 of the Constitution and the 15th, 17th, 19th, 24th and 26th amendments.Rights have been defended in court and on the battlefield, and by people who exercised their freedom to peaceably assemble and petition the government for redress of grievances. In 1857 and 1896, the Supreme Court held that black slaves were not “persons” protected by the Constitution (Dred Scott), and that “separate but equal” accommodations were enough to meet the test of “equal protection” under the law (Plessy v. Ferguson). The Dred Scott decision was reversed after the Civil War by constitutional amendment (the 13th, 14th and 15th amendments), and Plessy v. Ferguson was reversed by the Supreme Court in a series of cases in the 1950s. In the 1960s, Congress passed and the president signed the Civil Rights Act (1964) and the
Cases in Civil Rights – Civil Rights of States, U.S.C.A., Preamble
– of S. 18(D.C.) (1956). It has become a part of the constitution and the law and has been passed at a state level without prior notice or notice to Congress. In 1968, the Obama administration passed a bill that included some of the protections afforded to African Americans in the South. In 2010, it passed a federal bill for racial and disability inclusion in federal law. In addition to the Civil Rights Act, each of these three amendments also extends the right to free speech and expression under civil rights law to civil action brought under federal and state civil laws. In many respects, these three changes are similar, except in one important aspect. The first, that the Voting Rights Act (VRA) is a federal law, protects people of color within the United States.
The second, that black slaves in their day were not in the Constitution or, as of the 1960s, were protected by the U.S. Constitution.
The third, that Congress would not regulate racial discrimination under the law, except by the federal government, had that federal government acted in good faith.
Congress voted not to regulate racial discrimination under the Civil Rights Act but to regulate civil rights under the federal law. Congress did, following the Kennedy/Santorum decision and the decisions of the Court of Appeals for the sixth U.S. Circuit, and the subsequent decisions of the 5th Circuit of Texas.
The Supreme Court, within a few weeks of the Supreme Court’s decision, passed a decision that reaffirmed and reaffirmed the right to free speech and expression to be exercised under the law.
The fifth, that Congress may not regulate the race of its officers and their aides (including employees in such positions as the Attorney General’s office or Chief Justice of the United States Court of Appeals, all or any combination thereof) within the United States and that this prohibition may not be used by any government agency for any purpose that infringes on equal protection rights under the Constitution shall not be applied to this Government (or any other government agency).
The Sixth, that the Constitution does not prohibit the president from using force against a government to maintain or advance public security or personal safety in the United States unless the United States Government has provided that for each such use.
The seventh, that Congress may not require, directly or indirectly, any government agency with a federal-subsidizing program to disclose that it uses or pays for any illegal, unsolicited, unfair, harassing, or deceptive means by which U.S. citizens acquire U.S. citizen status. There is no prohibition in the Constitution governing the use of force but Congress can compel some government agencies that use or pay for information to comply with it.
THE SOURCES
This post applies to all U.S. District Courts of the District of Columbia, the District of Columbia Circuit System and the District of Columbia United States District Court for the Northern District of California, the District of Idaho, the Northern Territories and the District of Utah.
U.S.C.A. § 102(a)(2)(I), as it appears in “The Constitution and Laws of the United States,” (Acts 1790), “shall be known and understood to be adopted to the federal constitution,” (Acts 1777), and “as amended by the new Constitution and Laws of the United States and by the terms and conditions of its adoption