US Government
The framers of the Constitution had a vision
for a new nation, and a new
government to regulate it. They saw the
conditions in which England existed
under the monarchy, and decided to
construct a different kind of government in
which no one faction could hold
too much power. Thus, they developed a system of
checks and balances to
prevent any one of the three separate branches of the
government from
becoming dominant. Today, the three branches still remain
intact, and no
single branch has enough power to completely nullify the
decisions and
rulings of the other two. However, even though the Executive,
Judicial,
and Legislative branches are fundamentally comparable in their command
of the
nation, today the Legislative branch exercises the greatest extent of
power.
Each of the three branches serves a different function. The
Legislative
branch, which consists of Congress, makes laws for the nation to
follow.
Congress also creates federal programs and agencies, and
appropriates funds to
carry them out. The Executive branch, composed of the
President and Vice
President, most accurately carries out the laws of the
nation. This branch is
responsible for appointing Supreme Court Justices and
other federal judges. The
Judicial Branch is made up of the Supreme Court
and other federal courts, and is
responsible for interpreting the laws passed
by Congress. This branch is endowed
with the power to declare laws and other
executive actions unconstitutional. The
Legislative branch has the
upper-hand from the beginning of the process, due to
the fact that Congress
develops and passes laws initially. Congress does not
have free reign to pass
any laws it pleases, however, because the President has
the power to veto a
Congressional bill before it becomes a law. Many presidents
have used their
veto power to prevent the passage of bills which they did not
like, whether
for moral reasons or for personal convictions. One example of a
president
using this power was during the presidency of Andrew Jackson. Jackson
vetoed
a record twelve acts of Congress during his presidency, at the same
time
setting an example which other presidents would follow. The veto is
where a
large part of the President's power lies. However, even if the
President vetoes
a bill initially, that does not mean the bill cannot become
a law. This is
because Congress has the power to override a veto with a two-
thirds majority
vote. A good example of this occurred in 1973, when Congress
passed the War
Powers Act over a presidential veto. This act placed
limitations on the
President's ability to use military force. Another
important power of the
Legislative branch is Congress's ability to
impeach the president, and possibly
have him removed from office. A famous
example of this power was the resignation
of President Richard Nixon in 1973.
Nixon resigned to avoid almost certain
impeachment by Congress, concerning
his involvement in the Watergate scandal. A
more recent example was the 1998
impeachment of President William Jefferson
Clinton. President Clinton
endured the impeachment proceedings and Congress
voted not to remove him from
office. The Judicial branch's power lies within its
ability to declare laws
and executive decisions unconstitutional. This power
allows the federal court
system to nullify certain decisions made by the other
two branches. However,
it is clear that the Judicial branch does not exercise
the greatest extent of
power due to the fact that it is not directly involved in
the creation and
passing of laws. It can only deal with them if a situation
arises after they
have already been set in motion by the Executive and
Legislative
branches. Individual judges within the Judicial branch may appear to
be above
the law in many ways, in that they are appointed for life and are
above
executive control. However, this is not the case. Congress has the
ability to
impeach federal judges just as it can impeach a President. In
fact, fifteen
federal judges have been impeached by Congress up to date.
Also, the very
structure of the federal court system makes it extremely
difficult for the
Judicial branch to enforce its decisions in many cases.
It has no armed forces
or police at its disposal, so Judicial decisions are
sometimes simply ignored.
For example, school systems throughout the
country remained segregated long
after the courts had ruled segregation to be
unconstitutional. In closing, it
can clearly be seen that while the three
branches of the United States
government are essential equal in power, the
Legislative branch has the ability
to use the powers it has most effectively.
Congress gives birth to new ideas and
laws constantly, and while the
Executive checks protect against the passing of
outrageous laws, they still
cannot prevent the passage of laws in every case.
Yet, even though the
Legislative branch does exercise the greatest extent of
power, it is far from
in control of the government system. The checks and
balances included in the
Constitution ensure that the government will never
become too centralized.
Thus, it is obvious that the very foundation upon which
our nation was
constructed, the Constitution, blocks any of the three branches
from
dominating the other two. And while it is true that government has
become
more centralized than the framers of the Constitution had probably
planned, it
is still far from the monarchy of England. For in truth, Congress
relies heavily
on the general populous for its decisions. Public opinion will
always have a
major impact on the way our government runs. So long as the
government is
working for the people, as it is now, it is in line with the
original vision of
our nation which was developed by the founding
fathers.