It is through laws that policies of government are laid down for implementation. It does however have many constitutional roles to fulfil such as the power of the purse, oversight, foreign policy and legislation. It can be argues that Congress does fulfil its constitutional roles as it may deliver effective over sighting, legislation, money bills, representation and foreign policy that may provide good checks and balances. However, most would argue that Congress may not carry its roles effectively thus leading to poor scrutiny (sometimes over scrutinising) which leads to ineffective fulfilment of constitutional roles. The principle organ of the US state is to legislate, represent and scrutinise the other, safely separated, branches of the government.
Socioligy Case Chapter 13 Questions and Answers Question: What's the difference between politics and government? Correct answer: b) Politics involves the exercise of power in regard to the actions of government, whereas government is concerned with the enactment of policies, decisions, and matters of state. Question: What's the difference between power and authority? Correct answer: b) Power is the ability of individuals or groups to make their interests count, even in the face of opposition from others, whereas authority is the use of power by government where the exercise of that power is seen as legitimate by those who are subject to it. Question: What is pluralism?
Some supporters say that a state should have more power than the federal government and then there are others who say the Federal government should be the ruling body alone. You have a central government that functions to keep the country working as a unit, but also works to keep the states from encroaching on individuals and becoming too intrusive. The same works for states. The states have a lot of control over what their citizens should be subject to. For example, criminal laws, property laws, contract laws...etc are decided by the state, not the federal government and they aren’t allowed to govern those areas.
This form of democracy ensures that each person of the country is conscious and acknowledges the government’s decisions, as well as being part of the decision-making. The quote strongly opposes the ideology of democratic liberalism, but identifies with classical conservatism as well as elitism. Therefore, the concept of elitism contrasts the ideology of democratic liberalism. The second source addresses a neutral comparison of democratic liberalism and classical conservatism. The author of the quote, Louis Brandeis, states that by both ideologies cannot coexist in the same society.
Although different in nature, congress and the President of the United States both hold positions of upmost power and unequivocally important decision-making for the American people. However, the argument always stands: who has more power? The power problem as it stands “...is the need to grant government enough power to effectively address the problems that people expect government to solve, while also limiting power so that it can be held accountable” (Katznelson, Kesselman, Draper, p.42). Far from perfect, the political system in place attempts to grant both Congress and The President exclusive and shared responsibilities to provide an equal spread of power. Upon founding of the United States government, not all three branches were to share the same amount of power.
The role of the executive ‘..includes initiating and implementing legislation, maintaining order and security, promoting social and economic welfare, administering public services and conducting the external relations of the state. The judiciary is made up mainly of professional judges, and their main function is ‘to determine disputed questions of fact and law in accordance with the law laid down by Parliament and expounded by the courts and ..is exercised mainly in the civil and criminal courts.' The question which now arises is whether or not there should be a strict separation of each of the above functions. Locke stated: ..it may be too great a temptation to human frailty..for the same persons who have the power of making laws, to have also their hands the power to execute them, whereby
‘Politicians in robes’. How far do you agree that the US Supreme Court has too much power for an unelected body? The US Supreme Court is an institution that was set up by the US Constitution and is the 3rd branch of Government. Their job is to uphold the rights of individuals and to keep a check on the other two branches. It has been argued that the Supreme Court has too much power because they are unelected and have extended not only the rights of individuals and groups but of the Government and their jurisdiction.
The additional guard against tyranny was Separation of Powers which means the government was separated into different branches. The Constitution states that the Separation of powers was legislative, executive and judicial branches. Separation of power can defend against tyranny simply because there are 3 powers, not one; which does not make America have an absolute power. The third guard against tyranny was Checks and Balances, which were the balances in the 3 branches of power. In the constitution, there is a diagram stating which branch has power for each other.
Is Congress a watchdog or lapdog? Personally, I believe that Congress is a watchdog, whether it is a united or a divided government. However, many people may disagree with this because they may believe that whether or not the Congress is a watchdog or lapdog depends on the government being divided or united. The reason for this is: if it is a united government, Congress will not want to embarrass the President by constantly putting him into account. However, this is not true because the Congress is both an independent and co-equal branch of Government.
A codified constitution is a constitution in which key constitutional provisions are collected within a single document, it is commonly known as a written constitution. Codified constitutions have three key features. In a codified constitution the document itself is authoritative in the sense that it constitutes higher law. The provisions of a constitution are also said to be entrenched. This means that they are difficult to amend or abolish.