US political system

Federal presidential constitutional republic

March the 4th, 1789

234 years ago

• democrats - more liberal

• Republicans - more conservative

Each part of the US government can check the others’ decisions

• Legislative

• Judicial

• Executive

• makes laws

• Two chambers of congress

  • lower chamber: house - members represent districts within the state

  • Higher chamber: senate - members represent the entire state

Evaluate laws

Supreme Court

Declare executive actions and laws unconstitutional

• Nine Supreme Court justices appointed for life

• Highest court of appeal

• Checks new laws for validity, according to the constitution

• House of Representatives

  • 435 representatives serve for 2 yearS

• Senate

  • 100 Senate serve for 6 years

• Pass/veto/ratify laws and treaties, and approve the appointment of justices

• Override Presinden’s veto with a 2/3 majority vote

• Regulate commerce, taxes, spendig and military expenses and declare war

Carries out laws

Administration

President

• Head of state and government

• Commander in chief of the US Armed Forces

• Signs of vetoes Congress bills

Cabinet

• Vice president and heads of 15 executive department

• propose/approve/veto laws

• Maike treaties with foreign governments

• Nominate Supreme Court judges

• Be impeached by Congress

Each part of the US government can check the others decisions

1. The electoral college

   • gives republican persidentioal candidates a 4-5% advantage over their democratic rivals

   • It was intended to insulate the presidency from democratic popular control, and in particular to expand the power of the slaveholding states, so it was inequitable from the beginning

   • Chosen not by ’ we the people’, but indirectly by, 538 electors appointed by state

   • Hope: National Popular Vote compact

2. Voter suppression

   • barriers to voting - especially for black and minority population

   • Bureaucratic maze, inaccurate purges of citizens from voter rolls, trump’s active undermining of the US postal service, and malicious robocalls in areas with large black populations

   • Combatting voter suppression - stymied in the senate by Mitch McConnell = roadblock

3. The senate

   • Mitch McConnell

4. Judges

   • Trump has placed more than 200 judges conservatives to a fault, on a district and circuit courts, in addition to three rightwingers he nominates to the US Supreme Court

   • Shift the balance of the federal judiciary

House of Representatives Results: 213 d (48%) — 222 r (51%) - narrowly won the control over the house - speaker Kevin McCarty

Senate Results: 51 d — 49 r = Democrats hold 51 seats in the Senate, providing the party with a majority that likely wont have to rely as heavily on vice president’s tie-breaking voice - slightly expanded their majority

National Popular Vote Interstate Compact

• whereby states collectively agree to pledge all their electoral votes to whichever candidate wins most votes nationwide

• But it remains a distant prospect