Jahangir's World Times First Comprehensive Magazine for students/teachers of competitive exams and general readers as well.
Like everything else, the U.S. political system has also undergone some changes and certain amendments have been made in the country’s constitution, to suit the changing times and new requirements. But one must salute the political maturity of U.S. politicians and public that despite the passage of 225 years, they have still retained the original text, form, structure and spirit of their constitution given to them by the founding fathers of their country.
Uncle Sam is a nickname and cartoon image used to personify the U.S. government. It is derived from the initials U.S. and was first popularized on supply containers during the War of 1812. The first visual representation or caricature of an Uncle Sam figure, attired in stars and stripes, appeared in political cartoons in 1832. The character came to be seen as a shrewd Yankee, possibly after the character Brother Jonathan in the play The Contrast (1787) by Royall Tyler. In the 20th century, Uncle Sam has usually been depicted with a short beard, high hat, and tailed coat. In 1961, the U.S. Congress adopted the figure as a national symbol.
The land of Uncle Sam is once again bracing itself for another presidential election in a few months time, and both the Republicans and Democrats are girding up their loins for the final phase of the campaign. The incumbent Barack Obama is sure to be the presidential candidate for the Democrats, while through a long and hectic process of preliminary elections known as Primaries, the Republicans are still endeavouring to choose their nominee for taking part in the presidential race. As the campaign gradually gathers momentum, let us have a general look at some of the basic facts related to the unique system of U.S. presidential election, role and powers of the president and his relations with the country’s legislature known as the Congress.
In spite of the fact that the United States projects itself as an ideal democratic state, its president is not elected directly by the people. Instead, he is elected by an Electoral College, consisting of 535 members (known as Delegates) elected directly by the people of all the fifty states of the country and three other Delegates representing Washington City. Thus, it has 538 members who elect the president. The number of delegates from each state is equal to its representatives in the country’s bicameral legislature, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. All states are given representation in the House, in accordance with their population, while each state, whether small or large, has two representatives in the Senate. In all, the Congress has 535 members (435 in the House of Representatives and 100 in the Senate). This mode of representation in the Congress was evolved to preserve the separate identity of the federating units and guarantee the unity of the federation.
All the members of the Electoral College have got two votes each and initially, they could use their votes in any way. In other words, a member could cast both of his votes for the same candidate. In 1800, Thomas Jefferson and another candidate got the same number of votes, resulting in a bitter controversy as to who should be the President and the vice-president. To avoid such disputes in future, the Twelfth constitutional amendment was passed, under which each member of the Electoral College must use one vote for the president and the other for the vice-president. Even then, if two candidates get a similar number of votes, the matter is referred to the House of Representatives, where each state has got one vote to decide this issue. The Twenty-second and Twenty-third amendments were also made to modify the electoral system.
Before the presidential contest, both the parties nominate their candidates after a prolonged preliminary election process known as Primaries in all states. Working in the federal system, each state has its own laws and procedures for the Primaries. In some states, for instance, only the members of a party can vote for its particular candidate, while in some other states, others can also vote for that party’s candidate. Similarly, in some cases, the Primaries are decided by show of hands, while in some other cases, the contest is decided through secret ballot. It is highly appreciable that all the fifty states have their own laws, traditions, practices, rules and regulations, and yet, the federation is united and intact, with no secessionist movement anywhere in the country.
Another interesting feature of U.S. elections is that the percentage of voters is much lower than that of European and even some Asian countries. Only about 50 per cent of American voters cast ballots in presidential elections and less than 40 per cent do so in congressional elections. Some people argue that state registration procedures discourage voting; some believe that holding the election on a weekday when most people are working, discourages it. However, public cynicism and apathy seem to be the principal factors. A lot of people apparently believe that it will make no difference in their lives who wins the election, that their one vote doesn’t matter, and that all politicians are the same.
Complacency tends also to be greater in good times. When the U.S. constitution was originally drafted in 1787, it gave more powers to the Congress than the President. The text of the constitution still remains the same, but the President seems to have become slightly more powerful, especially, in the twentieth century, after the Great Depression, New Deal and the Second World War, during which the Executive headed by the President had to play a much bigger role to tackle the issues on economic, foreign policy and military fronts. Toward the end of World War II, President Harry S. Truman gave the order to drop the atomic bomb on Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The president can issue orders to U.S. armed forces, such as in 1990, George Bush ordered the deployment of American military in the Persian Gulf, to remove Iraqi forces from Kuwait. The Congress is still more powerful on domestic issues. A bill passed by the Congress can only become a law when it is signed by the President. But the President can veto it and send it back to the Congress. However, the Congress can override the presidential veto by again approving the bill by two-third majority.
In the first hundred years of U.S. history until the Civil War in 1860s, the states enjoyed relatively more powers and greater autonomy. But in the past century, the balance of power has slightly shifted towards the Center. Anyhow, the states still enjoy a considerable freedom in formulating their own laws, rules and regulations regarding all important issues such as abortion and gay marriages.
