However, the filibuster can block the legislation process if it is not used properly. For example, the Senate Republicans have used the filibuster to slow down the Senate for its intent to aid the electoral fortunes of the Republican Party,
This means that it is very important to choose a nominee who would be reflecting president’s political philosophy in the Court. However, if Senate decides that candidate is far too ‘extreme’ in their views or has been working with the president in the past, they might decide to strike the nominee down. For example Robert Bork’s critics regarded him as being both too conservative and too closely associated
The founding father’s were able to give the people a democratic way of electing leaders, while still having the a few of the people making important decisions in the peoples best interest. During the time of the revolution people were sick of the British parliament and felt as though the were not getting a fair and equal share in the decisions pertaining to them. Hence the phrase taxation without representation was coined. When America won the revolution many concerns and issues cropped up with the declaration of independence, it held very small amounts of power. Paying off debuts of the revolution became a choice that most states opted out on because their was no force behind the request.
Also they have the sole right to undermine the president in the situation that they disagree with a bill or law he is trying to pass, in other words, declare it unconstitutional. The budget, now more than ever, is another very important responsibility of congress; I say that because the economy is in near crisis and congress must do its job and decide how much to spend on what in order to fix the current mortgage slum. Though they are not confined to deciding economic budget disputes, they must also decide how much can be spent on war expenses. Foreign policy is equally if not more important than the two previous roles of congress, for congress alone has the last say in a declaration of war and whether or not it goes through. While the president is in command of the military, he cannot legally go to war with another country without permission in the form of a vote from congress.
With the rise in the professional politician many prefer to remain loyal in order to gain power and move up in the hierarchy as opposed to become a rebel who remains in the back benchers. This can be seen after the vote on tuition fees and the liberal democrats. Despite the fact that they had campaigned for this cause endlessly only 26 (including a few Conservatives) chose to vote against the bill. Whips play an important part in removing efficiency from Parliament. By having whips who ensure that MPs behave in accordance to the decisions of the executive both Parliaments ability to scrutinise and hold the executive to account is diminished, but also their role as representatives of their individual constituency is also compromised.
The measure will curb unions’ outsized political influence everywhere, too often resulting in laws that benefit union members over the interest of all Californians. Proposition 32 levels out the playing field in the state capitol and in the states city halls. It will stop limitless amounts of money from being thrown around by unions in Sacramento to kill legislation, elect candidates, stop pension reform, and support or oppose ballot measures. What we have is bad government, corrupt votes and ceaselessly greedy special interest (Rifkin, The Davis Enterprise). Proposition 32 won’t fix everything in Sacramento.
Both houses have to pass a bill before it becomes a law. An other advantage is allows for representation on a reasonably equitable footing for both large and small states. Only the House can impeach a President or executive officer in government. Then the Senate plays judge and jury in all impeachments bought on by the House. The disadvantages are the recurrent gridlock seen in Congress, even if the a House passes a bill it still has to go to the Senate.
Jerrod Coulter Ap Gov Pd.8 PAC’S are groups of people or companies who are likeminded forming political committees to fund certain political purposes. These PAC’s are perfectly legal however they are undermining our government by swaying political leaders to lean towards protecting their interest in return for more money. In this way the roles that these groups fill is no more than to slow down and distort our political process for their own agenda. I argue that PAC’s are the biggest threat to our Republic’s democratic process currently. Big oil and coal is major political influence in America and it’s very evident, very recently at a meeting of the United States house committee of science, space, and technology.
After all, if the people don’t like it, they can always vote them out of office! This dilemma has often been debated about a representative government: are the elected officials expected to vote the way the majority of his or her constituents would desire, as amplified by the famous observer of American democracy Alexis de Tocqueville? Or, are elected officials expected to
According to Dan Merica in an article on CNN.com, “During the 1995-1996 shutdowns, the House speaker and the president, despite their political differences, were more willing to negotiate on policy issues...That is not the case with President Barack Obama and Speaker John Boehner, whose relationship has been sullied by a number of difficult negotiations and failed deals on the budget and spending.” There has always and will always be disagreements in the government about the budget and spending among other things, but in this Obama era, the disagreements are more severe in regards to decision making. I can only speculate as to why these disagreements are as strong and as frequent as they are when it comes to President Obama. The government shutdown was getting to the point where the repercussions of not agreeing was becoming more and more real in the eyes of federal workers. According to Michelle Singletary in an article in The Washington Post, “The shutdown has affected more than 800,000 federal government employees. Employees designated as essential are not eligible for unemployment benefits.” The shutdown affected the government, citizens receiving government assistance and much more.