Government Policies Hand-out 1. Parliament: The role of parliament is a necessary part of UK politics. Parliament has to scrutinise the work of government, they do this by questioning the government ministers and having debates to view the proposed laws and amendments to legislation. Decisions are often made via a vote. Smaller groups will look at specific policy issues and legislation in detail.
This contradicts a democratic society and is seen as a dictatorship because elections are the cornerstone of a democracy. So if two out of three powers that are running the UK are not elected, this itself questions whether or not we are living in a democracy. Furthermore, having a monarchy is very important yet traditional but not in the same aspects of Parliament, as they have more authority over
The presidency comes with vast arrays of roles and responsibilities: approving/vetoing every bill passed, making sure laws made by congress are carried out, and simply presiding over meetings of the association. But the presidents many responsibilities are constrained due to the Separation of powers, the Constitution, and Federalism. Without these constraints, the President would have all the power he wanted, essentially having a monarchy not a democracy. For instance, separation of powers creates three separate branches of government, each with their own special powers. The Constitution creates reliability, making the president co-operate with the other branches of government.
The United States Political Parties: The Past, Present, and Future Often a socially unwelcome topic of conversation, politics can lead to heated discussions resulting from the sense of loyalty one feels towards their party of choice. The Democrats and the Republicans are the dominate parties that makeup the two party political system in the United States. Political parties have three main contributions to the nation, they help in assisting the electoral process, organizing day-to-day scheduling in government, and responsible for nominating candidates to represent their party in elections (Holt, 405). With these duties, the parties are helping citizens with the voting process, watching over policies made by elected officials, and supporting certain candidates to help in reducing election size to not overwhelm voters. Before one decides on their party stance, you must first understand the history of political parties, the importance of third parties, and where each party stands on major issues.
Assemblies which are also known as parliaments or legislatures provide a key role in government. They act as national debating chambers and public forums in which government polices and major issues can be discussed and analysed. In most cases they are invested with formal law-making power giving them some capacity to shape and influence public policy. However, assemblies have been criticised by Heywood (2002, p. 311) as being no more than “talking shops” that do little more than rubber stamp decisions that have effectively been made elsewhere. This essay will firstly discuss how parliamentary and presidential systems differ, the different types of legislature and their main functions.
Below are the powers of each branch. Our Legislative Branch does many things. Including the following; the main job of our Legislative Branch is to make the laws. It is made up of the senate and the House of Representatives. They also lay and collect taxes, declare war, coin money, provide for the army and navy, and decide on tax laws.
When looked at in comparison to an entrenched constitution it seems better as in an entrenched system, parliament would be unable to pass such reforms so easily as entrenching something makes it incredibly hard to change. On the other side of the argument, many would say that due to the UK having a constitution whereby the head of Parliament is also the Head of the executive and also with the government mostly having a majority in the House of Commons, it means that the Prime Minister can pass through any legislation that they really want to pass. This could be seen undemocratic of the UK. Moreover, due to the Parliamentary Act of 1949, the House of Lords are only able to delay legislation for one year before it becomes automatically passed. This means that the House of Lords are unable to act as the judiciary in rejecting and checking unwanted bills.
As James Madison stated, “whose wisdom may best discern the true interest of their country and whose patriotism and love of justice will be least likely to sacrifice it to temporary or partial consideration.”[viii] They understood that the unruly masses responsible for the Boston Tea Party could spark a revolution[ix], however the frenzied approach would not serve well as a functional government. They understood that “democratic governing is not the same as democratic discourse”[x]. Boucher was correct, absolute democracy is not practical. This is why a representative democracy, where all voices are heard, but where decisions are made rationally, reflecting the views of the general public, is a logical solution for a functional government representing the will of the people. A representative democracy is a form of democracy whose foundation is built on common sense.
The single most important point of our government structure is that we have a system of checks and balances across all three bodies. Power cannot manifest in any body without the consent of the others. I believe that this is first and foremost in protection against a tyrannical sense of government. The main reason that I feel that checks and balances are so important and crucial in today's society is because we live in a world where someone else is going to always be to blame. If something goes wrong, blame it on the president.
Every political organization, club or other group has a constitution. A constitution is simply a set of rules by which the power in a state is distributed amongst its members. These rules have come to be accepted over time and they may be either be formally written down or informally understood by the members of the political organization. The Constitution of the United States is an example of a constitution that has been formally written down, and it lists the basic ways in which the government is to deal with its affairs. Although the U.S. Constitution lays out the basic structure for politics, there is more to the “constitution with a small c” of the United States.