How the US political system works

Things work differently than we thought, and that’s the case of the US political system. Let’s see it.

Introduction

Today, I want to speak to you about the US political system. I’m going to discuss it by developing a two levels analysis. First, I’m going to set out the main features of this political system in formal terms. I refer to its laws, the three branches of government, and so on. Later, I’ll dive into the second level of analysis. I’ll address how the political system works behind the scenes in the US nowadays. It will provide a broader picture of the real political situation in America. In this way, we will see how different is this political system compared with the beginning of the republic.

The main features of the US political system

It’s important to stress that the US political system was mainly the result of the colonial experience. Since the seventeenth century, colonists developed their political institutions. What were they like? There were two different kinds of institutions during this period.

First, there was a kind of representative government in those areas populated by members of the high society, such as merchants, bankers, liberal professionals, planters, and so on, either in urban or some countryside areas. In these cases, the English political tradition played a critical role. The idea of a government based on the consent of the people was fundamental. These colonies had their legislatures, courts, and executive officials, all formed by the community’s elected members.

On the other hand, there were other settlements, mainly in the western areas of the countryside, where a form of direct democracy predominated. In these cases, the whole community made decisions in their local assembly, without intermediaries. They elected officials who were under the imperative mandate, so they enacted policies following locals mandates. People’s assemblies could recall them when necessary. Hence, power was distributed equally in the community. Clear evidence of this is the New Haven colony, in Connecticut, with its “Fundamental Agreement.”

As a result of the independence war, the representative government of wealthy communities of merchants and planters gained ground. The new republic based its constitutional system in this form of government. I don’t want to go into this in-depth because the political and historical circumstances that led to the formation of the US are well known. Thus, I’m going to focus on the main features of the political system that came to live with the second constitution.

Since the very beginning of the conflict with the metropolis, it was clear the importance of the idea of consent for Americans. They fought the parliament’s impositions and asserted consent as the bedrock of the new government framers built after the independence. That links with the need to separate powers to prevent the emergence of a tyrannical government.

That explains why, in the US, the separation of powers is more explicit and even more real than any other country with a constitutional system. This idea reflects on the existence of three different branches of government. In this regard, the US constitution sets those provisions that hinder the formation of unbalanced power and establish a limited government. What are these branches? They are the legislative, the judiciary, and the executive. They are represented by the Congress, the Presidency and the Supreme Court. Now, let’s take a quick look at them.

The Congress

The legislative branch is constituted by the US Congress, namely, the Senate and the House of Representatives. Their primary function is the approval of bills at the federal level and the overseeing of the executive branch. The House of Representatives is the lower House. It is composed of representatives who sit in congressional districts that are allocated to each of the 50 States by population, with each district entitled to one representative. Besides, this House represents the American people and has exclusive prerogatives in different matters, such as the approval of taxes.

The Senate, on the contrary, is the upper House. It gathers senators who represent their respective States. Regardless of its population size, each State is equally represented by two senators who serve staggered terms of six years. In addition to this, the Senate has several powers of advice and consent unique to it. They are related to foreign affairs and the confirmation of federal officials’ appointments.

In any case, every single bill needs the approval of both Houses to become law. If both Houses approve different versions of the same bill, they have to reach an agreement. The most usual way to solve this situation is by sending amendments back and forth or by a conference committee, which includes members of both bodies.

The Presidency

The president is in charge of directing the federal government’s executive branch and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces. The US Presidency concentrates on different executive powers, mainly related to the enforcement of federal law, the direction of foreign affairs, and the appointment of federal officers. Furthermore, the Presidency has the power to sign or veto federal legislation.

Due to the president’s position on the top of the executive branch, his administrative powers are remarkable. In this regard, the scope of the presidential responsibilities is broad. It includes the capacity to issue different types of directives.

The Supreme Court

The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the US. Among its prerogatives, the court holds the power of judicial review, the ability to invalidate a statute for violating a provision of the US Constitution, and strike down presidential directives for violating either the Constitution or statutory law. Nevertheless, it may act only within the context of a case in an area of law over which it has jurisdiction. In sum, its primary functions are to oversee the compliance with the Constitution and judicial review.

The US political system today

What is the American political system like today? To address this question, I have to make some introductory remarks to show how things work behind the scenes.

I’ve discussed the formal dimension of the constitutional order in the US. It is useful to have a general idea about how the political system works; however, it is not enough because it doesn’t show the whole picture. In this regard, I want to pose an essential question that will lead us to analyze what happens out of the public eye. That question is, how do the three branches of government interact?

In formal terms, the US constitution doesn’t have explicit provisions for the government branches’ interactions in certain situations, especially when there is a disagreement between them. Despite this, none of these branches can work without restrictions. They all depend on the others for their working, or even for some appointments.

Nevertheless, the historical development of the federal government in the last 150 years has been crucial to shift the traditional checks and balances of the political order. In any case, the end of WWII was a tipping point in the evolution of the republic. Due to the involvement of the US in this war, the federal government increased its powers massively. The executive branch developed many different agencies intended to match the war effort, but they remained after the conflict finished. It was the same thing with the Pentagon, which had the largest and most powerful standing army in the world in 1945. So, this global war transformed the political scenario drastically in the US and led to the formation of a vast national security complex. The new international position of the US on the world stage as a superpower drove this dynamic of expanding the federal government for security reasons.

At the end of the war, Americans witnessed the emergence of many different federal agencies, and more specifically, intelligence agencies. Besides, the military increased its budget and kept most of its manpower. That represented a shift in the federal government with a more powerful executive and in the balance between the government and society too.

Regarding the new distribution of power in the federal government, the legislative branch lost its capacity to lead the country. In the meantime, the executive encroached on the rest branches of the government. The resultant situation was completely new in the American political tradition if we consider the framers’ concerns over the concentration of power. This change involved the transformation of the policymaking process because the center of gravity moved to the executive branch. From then on, the Pentagon, the intelligence community, and the diplomatic corps have monopolized big decisions at the federal level. In this way, as professor Michael Glennon pointed out, Madisonian institutions, such as the US Congress, or the Supreme Court, exist to legitimize this situation. So, the federal government itself, through the executive branch, has subverted the US political system and altered the constitutional order drastically.

The question here is, how does the political system work behind the scenes? In the end, those who are meant to be subordinates of the president or accountable to representative institutions participate in the policymaking process, not only by advising, but also posing choices and shaping decisions. They belong to a power elite embedded in these power structures and don’t hesitate to advance their interests. Politicians and other elected officials come back and forth, but these structures formed by many different institutions remain.

Question of the day

Question of the day! What do you think about the US political system? Post your opinion in the comments section below, and I’ll check it out.

Bibliography used:

Locke, John, Two Treatises of Government

Morgan, Edmund, The Birth of the Republic

Sabine, George, A History of Political Theory

Glennon, Michael, National Security and Double Government

Carroll, James, House of War: The Pentagon and the Disastrous Rise of American Power

Mills, Charles W., The Power Elite

Nelson, Dana D., Commons Democracy: Reading the Politics of Participation in the Early United States

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