One of the reasons I started my
American Politics Guide is
that, during
my last run for Congress, I found myself
explaining the American system of government over and over again. So here's a quick primer on how it works:
The United States Constitution established three branches of
government, the Executive, Legislative, and Judicial (the Judicial branch includes the
Supreme Court). The Executive branch is headed by the
President, who, along with the Vice President, is elected every year divisible by four (i.e., the last Presidential election was in
2008, and the next will be in 2012). The Vice President's only
official role outlined in the Constitution, other than to rest a
heartbeat away from the Presidency, is to preside over the Senate and cast tie-breaking votes.
The Legislative branch consists of the Senate
and the House of Representatives. The Senate, in turn, consists of
two Senators for each
of the 50 States, for a total of 100 Senators. Senators are elected to six-year terms staggered into
three classes so that one third
of Senate seats are up for election every even-numbered year (Class II
Senators were last elected in 2008). (Legend has it that the
first Senators drew straws to determine who would stand for re-election first.)
In contrast, each of the 435 members of the House of Representatives
is elected every even-numbered year (all US Representatives
were last elected in November 2008, along with the President and Class II
Senators). Representatives in the House are apportioned by
population, the number of Representatives was capped at 435 in 1911, and it has been Federal law since 1967 that a US Representative
must be elected by and thus represent the voters of a specific Congressional District.
While the two houses of the United States Congress are more or
less equal in power, their specific powers differ quite a bit. The
Senate has the sole power to declare war, approve international treaties, and approve public officals or try in trial the same (versus
impeach). The House has the sole power to initiate spending bills, impeach federal officials (versus actually try in trial), and break
ties in the Electoral College in the event of a deadlocked Presidential election. Whatever the division of powers, all legislative
bills must be approved by both houses of Congress before being signed into law or vetoed by the President, with legislative
differences between houses reconciled by special ad hoc committees.
That's the US political system in a nutshell!
