A few questions about American politics?

@Ceili,

Representatives serve two years, the President and Vice President serve for four years, and Senators serve for six years. The terms of office of the first Senators were staggered so that one third of Senators would be up for election every two years.

No, Senators are members of the legislative branch. Executive branch officers are like ministers who hold portfolios in a government in Canada. The Congress has a certain amount of control over the executive branch. The House and the Senate, working together, create the executive branch offices. The President then nominates the officers, and it is up to the Senate to confirm or reject those nominees. As well as the executive branch officers, members of the Supreme Court and the inferior courts of the Federal judiciary are nominated by the President and then the Senate confirms or rejects his appointments.

1 Reply

@Ceili,

Ceili wrote:

Setanta wrote:

(The constitution provided for one third of the members of the first Senate to serve two years, on third to serve four years and one third to serve six years, which staggered the elections for Senator.)
K, now I'm confused.. Representative serves 2 years, Senators six, who serves four? Am I missing something? Presidents serve for four years. I don't know of any other federal positions.
There's usually an election every year in every state (i've never known any exceptions).
Crickey, and Canucks bitch about voting every couple of years...

***********************************************************

This is one major difference between the Westminster system and the American system. The legislative and executive branches are sompletely separate. No member of the executive branch ever sits in the Congress (although they have done so before being in the executive branch, or after leaving it). (One minor exception to this. The Vice President is President of the Senate. His only function that I am aware of is the ability to vote when the Senate is tied) The constitution provides for executive branch offices to be created by the Congress (one area where president and Congress usually do consult), and then for the president to nominate officers. The Senate must approve the nominations.
So Senators are executive and congress is legislative? What is an executive branch office? NO. Senators and Representatives are both legislative. Representatives are members of the House of Representatives, which is the lower body. Senators are members of the Senate, of course. I wonder if you're not thinking of Cabinet Secretaries. They are a part of the Executive, as are all or nearly all of the various regulatory agencies like Interstate Commerce Commission, Environmental Protection Agency, etc.**********************************************************

If a Democrat began voting with the Republicans in the Senate, Mr. Obama cannot kick him out of the Democratic Party. At the next election, though, he could no longer run as a Democrat, unless he enters the primary and beats all comers. In that case, he would still be a Democrat, despite the wailing and gnashing of teeth.
Once a democrat, always a democrat..
Until the wind shifts.

You know, I once read an Australian trying to describe parliment. A week later, one of them tried to explain cricket. One was exactly as clear and reasonable as the other.

1 Reply

@roger,

Roger is correct, the Vice President is the President of the Senate. That's largely a ceremonial position, though, and as Roger points out, he only votes if it's necessary to break a tie.

1 Reply

@Ceili,

I've only been an Independent the once, so cannot generalize. After I signed up as independent, I found I couldn't vote in the Dem primary, which I suppose is obvious, but new to me. I quickly switched back, since I want to be able to vote in a Dem primary.

I don't know that my experience as a short time Independent is a general US one.

1 Reply

@ossobuco,

I once thought about registering Democrat just so I could vote against someone twice. My aunt told me to "Just go ahead and do what you want, but don't ever let the family find out".

2 Replies

@Ceili,

That seems right, by Roger's and my memories.

Yes, mayors were, back in Los Angeles. I can't visualize the ballots though.

1 Reply

@Setanta,

I noticed, particularly in southern texas the long spindly boundaries. I didn't pay much attention to politics in the US for many years and even after I started it seemed the red and blue states have always been contrary and pretty much the same. I'm surprised at the flip though. In a thirty year span, from one party to another.

I swear I studied this in school. I get it now. Senators actually do something in the US, or at least have the authority to do something.

1 Reply

@roger,

Can you register for both parties? Or does one automatically cancel out the other?

0 Replies

@Ceili,

Oh yeah. Originally, they were appointed just as they are in Canada. That was changed with the 17th amendment, ratified in 1913. Even before that, many states had begun to provide for the popular election of Senators. They've always had a real part in the government.

0 Replies

@Setanta,

Huh, I presumed he would either vote on everything, or just be a backup in case of emergency.

0 Replies

@ossobuco,

Can an independent win on a municipal level?

0 Replies

Is the Vice President constricted by a term as well? Is there a limit on how long you can be a representative/ in congress?

1 Reply

Twenty-eight states allow party affiliation to be recorded when a voter registers (i couldn't find out how many require it). Twenty-two states ignore party affiliation. In the states in which one registers without party affiliation, you can vote in any primary--but only the primary of one party. Voters often cross party lines to screw the pooch for candidates they don't like. If Roger were in the primary for Representative, and he was unpopular, a lot of Democrats might vote in the Republican primary in the hope of screwing up Roger's chances.

A damned good thing, too!

0 Replies

@roger,

Snort..

My mother would be very disappointed with me (Taft). Father happy, and warning me on more stuff.

My closest cousins - the husband used to be a bircher. Least close cousins, mostly libs.

Politics is

n't everything. How we view others is.

Computer going into tharn, but I wanted to post this. Sorry for big space.

0 Replies

@Ceili,

Representatives and Senators can only be term-limited if their state adopts a term limitation. That would political suicide for a state, though, because power in the House and the Senate comes from what committees one sits on, and especially with the chair of the committee. If a states limits the terms of their Representatives and Senators, then it's likely that they get seats on committees which are largely powerless, such as the Paperclip Management Committee or the Astrology and Alchemy Committee. To be powerful, you want to be on the Ways and Means Committee, or the Budget Committee or the Defense Appropriations committee. Term limits mean you can forget that ****.

A president can only be elected twice and can not serve longer than ten years. So, if you were Vice President, and the President cacked with three years remaining on his term, you could run for reelection once, but not twice, since that would mean more than ten years in office. If the Prez kicked the bucket with only 18 months left to go, you could stand for reelection as President twice, because it wouldn't add up to ten years. A Vice President can serve until he dies in the traces, so long as he has never served as president. In that case, the issue is unclear, because it's never been tested. But, basically, if Hillary Clinton runs for President, Slick Willy can't run as her Vice President because he's already served two terms as President. That's the theory. The twenty-second amendment isn't clear on the issue, and it's never been tested.

0 Replies

@Ceili,

I'm not sure exactly when they decide "we need more reps". Every million people? I dunno, and that seems wrong.

They do move the #s around, though, and states can (and do) lose seats due to populations shifting. NY used to be the second-biggest in terms of #s, now it's third (Texas is #2 these days).

And yeah, candidates don't go everywhere, and they likely never have. It's expensive and it's time-consuming, plus these people are on 24/7 and are trying to preserve their health (amid a boatload of jet lag, among other issues) during a very long haul.

The NY Times noted that that was one of Romney's issues. He was behind on $$ (yes, even with that huge war chest; he lost a lot during the GOP primary fight) and so he was going to fundraisers when he really needed to be out there pressing the flesh.

Plus, also in the "bang for your buck" end of things, I gotta figure candidates mainly spend time in cities or at least somewhere near an airport (that used to be train stations, of course). So for a state like NY, it's likely that time would be spent in NYC, Buffalo, etc., assuming the state was in play (it wasn't, and it hasn't been for some time, but let's just posit that as a condition). But it's unlikely that a candidate would haul ass all the way out to Montauk Point on Long Island. It's nice there, but it's remote from everything, there's no airport and there ain't a lotta people. Epic fail if you're short on time, funds and need to get outta Dodge quickly.

0 Replies

A few questions about American politics?

Related Topics

Quick Links

My Account

able2know