It shouldn't surprise you that a democratic government to serve more than 320 million pople (and growing) can seem rather complex. Let me try to break it down.
THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT
The federal government is headquartered in Washington DC (District of Columbia, a city state which is not part of any of the 50 US states. The first US government was formed in Philadelphia where the Declarationof Independence was signed in 1776, but the founders wanted to build a capital with grand monuments and buildings. So in 1790 they decided to build a capital city which was named after the first US president, Geoeg Washington.
Although there are federal buildings throughout the country, Washington houses the three branches of the federal government:
The Executive Branch is the elected president, his Cabinet and the staffs which perform the duties of the executive. The center of the Executive Branch is the White House where the President and his family live and where the Cabinet. The President is elected very four years through a system called the Electoral College. The people vote for an elector in their district who is committed to a certain candidate and who goes to a meeting where these votes are cast.
The Legislative branch which includes the US Senate and US House of Representatives. The members of the house are elected by the people from the districts they represent. Districts are apportioned according to population and the number has risen as the population has risen. Currently there are 435 seats in the House of Representatives, each representing a similar number of constituents.
The US Senate, however, has 100 seats. The population of each state elects two Senators. This was done by the founders to insure that the special needs of small states would not be overrun by largers states which have more members in the house. To demonstrate this, the most populous state, California, has 53 members in the House while the least populous state, Rhode Island, has two. But both have equal representation in the Senate -- two members.
The third branch of the federal government is the Judicial. At the top of the judicial is the Supreme Court with nine members. Vacancies are filled through nomination by the President, but the nominees must be approved by both houses of the Congress. Appointment is for life or until a sitting Supreme Court member resigns. Cases which cannot be resolved by lower courts to the satisfaction of all interested parties can be heard by the Supreme Court. But the Court is not required to hear every case brought to its attention. In fact it sends many cases back to lower courts.
These three branches of the Federal Government are intended to complement and provide checks and balances over each other. In short the Legislature is supposed to make the laws. The President is supposed to implement those laws and insure the safety and security of the people and the judicial is supposed to interpret the laws and resolve conflicts when one law conflicts with another.
STATE GOVERNMENT
Each state has its own state government and while there are some variations, they are amazingly similar to the federal government. The head of a state's government is the Governor, who is elected directly by the people of that state. Most states have a state senate and a state house of representatives as well as a state supreme court.
10th Amendment to the US Constitution
It was an important belief of the writers of the Constitution that states should have responsibility for everything that does not need to be coordinated at the federal level. So states get to decide whether certain crimonals can be executed for their crimes, whether and under which conditions a woman is permitted to have an abortion, who may own a gun, how fast you can drive on the highways of that state and how the public education system is organized. States issue driver's licenses. The federal government, on the other hand, is to maintain a military, print money and operate a postal system, to name a few examples. At no time was this as severely challenged as during the Civil War when the southern states rejected the law which abolished slavery throughout the US.
GOVENMENTS BELOW STATE LEVEL
Most states are divided into counties and within these counties are municipalities (cities and towns). The chief operating officer for a county is the County Commissioner while municipalities have Mayors. The legislative body of a city is made up of elected Aldermen, now often referred to as Alderpersons. One important job of County Commissioners is to maintain the lists of those in the county who are eligible to vote in the elections in which are eleted officials get their jobs.
One interesting aspect of all of this is that there are municipal, county and state police. But there are no federal police except for the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).
PS. After a two-week hiatus, this blog will return in the new year.
