American Political System: Difference between revisions

** LBJ is the closest thing to this in recent history, as it was well-known that he wanted the top job himself. Along with the ticket-balancing issue and his Washington connections (which were a bit more extensive than Kennedy's), he was the perfect VP candidate. [[Be Careful What You Wish For|His actual presidency]] makes this situation either [[Hilarious in Hindsight|hilarious]] or [[Harsher in Hindsight|more gut-wrenching]].

** Bush Sr. may have been this as well, as he competed with Reagan in the Republican primaries of 1980. His victory over Reagan in the Iowa primary actually forced Reagan to replace his campaign manager and reorganize his staff.

** There is some speculation that Mitt Romney may do this with [[Ron Paul]] to prevent a third-party or independent run from Paul.

 

[[John Adams]], the very first vice president, described his office as "the most insignificant office that ever the invention of man contrived or his imagination conceived." John Nance Garner, Franklin D Roosevelt's first Vice President, was [[Brutal Honesty|more direct]], describing the vice presidency as "not worth a bucket of warm piss". (Ironically, FDR is one of the few presidents to have died in office, although Roosevelt had ditched Garner long before.)

 

 

A presidential term lasts four years, and an individual President is limited to two terms in office, originally as a tradition and later codified in the Constitution through the 22nd Amendment in 1951, after [[Franklin D Roosevelt]] was elected to four consecutive terms, only leaving office because [[Critical Existence Failure|he died]]. Presidential elections are held every four years, on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November.

The Supreme Court consists of a number of judges, called justices, who are appointed by the president subject to Senate confirmation, and who serve "during good behavior", which, barring conviction or impeachment, means a lifetime tenure. The number of Supreme Court justices is not set by the Constitution, but a tradition has developed in the last 60 some-odd years that nine is a good number. The President appoints the Supreme Court justices, albeit with the advice and consent of the Senate. Interestingly, Franklin D. Roosevelt wanted to pack the Supreme Court with judges that would be inclined to rule his way and was talked out of it. The court stuck at nine members at that point in time and has stayed there ever since.

 

 

Interestingly, the one thing that most people assume the Supreme Court is supposed to do - "interpret" the Constitution - is a power that is NOT given in the Constitution. Life rarely being that simple, the S.C. gradually got in the habit of doing exactly that, and by the time most people noticed, it was a ''fait accompli''.

The Founding Fathers wrote the Constitution with the intent of creating a state free from the influence of Factions (political parties). In this they failed, as parties began forming while the ink was still wet on the parchment, arguing over whether the federal government or individual states should have the greater power. Though parties have less ''official'' influence than they do in most countries, they still hold an immense amount of sway in the government, largely due to the funding they can collect for candidates who agree with their policies.

 

 

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Currently, there are three third-party federal office holders, all of them senators. The first is Bernie Sanders, a senator from Vermont who identifies himself as a socialist, campaigns as an independent but for all intents and purposes caucuses ("hangs out") with the Democrats. The second is Joseph Lieberman, a senator from Connecticut who was not renominated by the Democratic Party in the 2006 election, but ran as an "Independent Democrat" without party funding, won reelection anyway, and continues to caucus as a Democrat. The third is Lisa Murkowski of [[Alaska]]; initially appointed as a Republican to the seat vacated by her father when he was elected governor, she lost to a Tea Party-backed candidate in the 2010 Republican primary, ran as a write-in candidate, and won; she continues to caucus with the Republicans. The latter two senators tend to break from their party line more, mostly out of bitterness due to being out-primaried (and in Lieberman's case, his long-standing and well-noted differences with the main line of the Democrats on foreign policy, which prompted his break in the first place).

 

 

America uses a first-past-the-post voting system -- in any election, one vote is cast and the candidate/option with the most votes is the winner, even if a majority did not vote for it. Quick example: In an election between A, B, and C, A gets 35%, B gets 45%, and C gets 20%. B wins, even though 55% of the electorate voted against it. If it seems to you that the A and C supporters should have teamed up and pooled their votes rather than splitting them, congratulations -- you've just discovered why America has only two major political parties. Using political science, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duverger%27s_law it can be shown] that plurality elections tend to lead to two-party systems, which is exactly what happened in America. This has led to calls for the implementation of alternative voting systems, such as the single transferable vote or instant-runoff voting, in order to break the monopoly of the two major parties, as well as the abolition of the Electoral College system.

[[Category:Useful Notes]]

[[Category:Useful Notes/The United States]]