American politics


Federal Government

The federal government of the United States of America was established by the United States Constitution which was completed on September 17, 1787 and took effect in 1789. This Consitution was later confirmed by special conventions in each state and it created a federal union of sovereign states and a federal government to manage that union.

The federal entity created by the Constitution is the dominant feature of the American governmental system. It is seperated into three governing bodies: the federal government, a state and a county (county government has been abolished in some places). The federal government consists of the executive (president), the legislative (congress) and the judicial (supreme court). The federal government is responsable fo defence, printing money, control of trade, protection of human rights, foreign affairs and the relations between the states.


Democratic and Republican Party

American politics is dominated by two major parties, the Democratic Party and the Republican Party. There are several other groups or parties of minor political significance.

Currently, the Democratic Party is the minority party in the United States Senate and the House of Representatives. Democrats control 20 state legislatures, as do the Republicans. The emblem of the Democratic Party is the donkey and their voters are for example poor people, people that belong to the working class, immigrants, minorities, blacks, jews, catholics, intellectuals, labour unions and small farmers. The regions from which they get the most support are big cities and the major part of the South. This party wants to cut federal spending for defence and they warn against interference in international politics. Democratics are more likely to raise taxes for the well-to-do, they are in favour of federal intervention and they want to spend more money for environmental protection. Besides they support a stricter gun control and social welfare programmes, they want death penalty only for most violent and planned crimes and they regard the topic of abortion in a more liberal way.

On the other side, there`s the Republican Party which provides the current president, George W. Bush. Since 2002, the Republican Party has held a majority in both the Senate and the House of Representatives and it also holds a majority of governorships. Their emblem is the elephant and their voters are wealthy people, rich farmers, White-Anglo-Saxon-Protestants, big business people and people from the middle class. They get their main support by suburban regions and rural areas of the Northeast and Midwest. This party is in favour of a large military budget and they advocate sending troops abroad. Republicans support big business, free enterprises and tax breaks and they are in favour of a free-market economy. They want to cut back spending for environmental protection and they aren’t really strict with pollution standarts. Concerning crime and social issues, the Republican Party is against gun control regulations and abortion, they support death penalty and want to cut back on social welfare programmes.


Foreign policy: Americas global role

At some times the USA kept distance from world affairs. Instead of that, they concentrated on building a community which should serve as a model for the rest of the world. At other times they behaved as if they had the duty to set other other nations in the right path. The American foreign policy alternates from isolationism to internationalism.

Isolationism

 Internationalism/Interventionism
- no interference in European affairs
- no support of European colonialism
- principle of neutrality
- guardianship and protection of the South American state
1900-1916, 20s/30s, 1945-?		 - USA as the example of peace and liberty to the rest of the world
- order through military power
- T. Roosevelt: “make the world safe for democracy” WW 1, WW 2, 1945-?


Comment


What are the advantages and disadvantages of the two-party system in the USA?

The USA has a two-party system and since 1852 all presidents were republicans or democrats. Unlike in some countries, these political parties are very loosely organized. They have no formal organization at the national level that controls membership, activities or policy positions. Thus, for an American to say that he or she is a member of the Democratic or Republican Party, is quite different from a German’s stating that he or she is a member of a party. But what are the advantages and disadvantages of this two-party system?

On the one hand you can say, that this system is unfavorable because you don’t have a large selection of parties. Besides, it’s hard for little or new parties to establish because of the majority voting system. It’s not worth spending time and money for the election campaign because of the “winner-takes-it-all”-principle. Another disadvantage is that maybe the people aren’t motivated to vote because neither the Democratic nor the Republican Party reflects their political beliefs.
On the other hand a two-party system has the advantage that radical parties don’t have the chance to achieve political power or influence because the majority of the people doesn’t share their beliefs. Another advantageous reason is that the political party system is very clear and easy to understand. Because the aim of the parties is to get votes and because they are loosely organized and accept many compromises there aren’t that much differences in their political programmes. The parties conform with the beliefs of the majority of the people.

In my opinion the disadvantages preponderate. I would prefer a political system which gives a chance to small parties and a broad choice for the voters. But I also think that the fact that radical parties don’t have a chance is very important.



Sources:

- http://www.firstgov.gov/
- http://www.spiegel.de/politik/
- “Britain and America – Images and Perspectives”
- work sheets