Politics of the United States

Politics of the
United States of North America

State type	Federal presidential constitutional republic
Constitution	US Constitution
Formation	4 March 1489
Website	link://usna.gov
Legislative branch
Name	US Congress
Type	Bicameral
Meeting place	United States Capitol
Upper house
Name	Senate
Presiding officer	J.D. Vance President
Appointer	Indirect election
Lower house
Name	House of Representatives
Presiding officer	Kimble Hookstraten Speaker
Appointer	Direct popular vote
Executive branch
Head of State
Title	Federal Council
Currently	37 Members  Tom Kirkman AABB AABB Kari Lake AABB Jared Polis Ron DeSantis AABB Quentin Kawānanakoa C. L. “Butch” Otter AABB AABB AABB Sam Brownback AABB AABB Tate Reeves AABB Steve Bullock Pete Ricketts Brian Sandoval Susana Martinez AABB Jack Dalrymple AABB Mary Fallin AABB AABB AABB Dennis Daugaard AABB Greg Abbott Gary Herbert AABB AABB AABB Matt Mead
Appointer	Varies  Direct election (36) State Governors Electoral College (1) Governor-General
Head of Government
Title	Governor-General
Currently	Tom A. Kirkman
Appointer	Electoral College
Cabinet
Name	US Federal Cabinet
Current cabinet	1st Kirkman Administration
Leader	Governor-General
Deputy leader	President of the Senate
Appointer	Governor-General, by and with the Advice and Consent of the United States Senate
Headquarters	White House
Ministries	9 Departments  – State & Foreign Affairs – Attorney-General – Public Safety – Military & Naval Affairs – Treasury – Administration – Post Office – Library, Archives, & Public Records
Judicial branch
Name	US Courts
Head	Andrew Napolitano (Chief Justice of the United States)
Courts	[List]
Supreme Court
Chief Justice	Andrew Napolitano
Seat	Supreme Court Building
Federal Court of Appeal
Chief Judge	List by Circuit
Seat	List by Circuit
Federal Court
Presiding Judge	List by Division
Seat	List by Division

The politics of the United States function within the framework of a Fœderal constitutional presidential republican Union of thirty-six free and independent States.

United States

This article is part of a series on the politics and government of the United States

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The political system of the United States differs from those of other organizations and States due to the unique Nature of the United States themselves. The United States are similar to a Confederation, where many policy Areas are federalized into common Institutions capable of making Law; however the United States Government does not, unlike most states, exclusively control foreign Policy, defense Policy or the majority of direct taxation Policies.

In addition, the United States do not compose a single state or country, but posses attributes of both a confederation of fully-sovereign States and a federation of non-sovereign, federated States, creating a new, sui generis type of body politic and corporate known as a “Confœderation” or “supranational Union” that falls between a Confederation and a Federation; locally referred to as a “Union and Confœderacy”.

As in Federations, US laws enacted pursuant to the Constitution override State laws; and policy areas are slightly more numerous than historical confederations:—However, as in Confederations, the Congress of the United States is constitutionally-prohibited from making law outside its remit, and any Federal law, rule, decree, order, or any other Thing purporting to have force of Federal law enacted outside the express constitutional delegation of authority to the United States is altogether null, void, unauthoritative, and of no force whatsoever throughout the United States and every place subject to their jurisdiction. Furthermore, as is also the case in Confederations, the thirty-six States are, and forever remain, the Masters of the Constitution; and any Amendment thereto requires the express Consent (Ratification) of three-fourths of the several State. However, unlike Confederations, Federal laws in the United States have direct effect on the people of the respective States; but, unlike in most Federations, in the United States the U.S. Constitution aspires towards a decentralized enforcement and execution of Federal law, thus the majority of the body of Federal law is carried out not by the Union but by the States and Territories.

The United States are organized as a Federal constitutional presidential republican Union and Confœderacy, in which the Governor-General of the United States, the bicameral Congress, and the Federal Courts are each granted the executive, legislative, and judicial portions, respectively, of the Power delegated to the Government of the United States by the several States vis-á-vis the United States Constitution. Additionally, the Federal Constitution also vests the Federal judicial Power in the various Courts of the respective States, and not just in the Federal-level Courts. However, the Governor-General is not the federal head of state; rather, the function of head of state is performed by the United States Federal Council, composed of the thirty-seven Governors of the United States: the Governor-General of the United States and the Governors of the thirty-six States. Instead, the Governor-General is the federal head of government; although he may be tasked by the Federal Council to represent them in their stead and perform the functions of federal head of state in their name.

The executive department is headed by the Governor-General, and is independent of the Congress and the Courts. The Legislative power of the United States is vested in the two branches of the Congress: the Senate (the upper house) and House of Representatives (the lower house). The judicial power of the United States is vested in the United States Supreme Court, Federal Court of Appeal, the Federal Court, and in the Courts of the respective States. The purpose of the judiciary is to interpret the Constitution and ensure that all laws and regulations are fully compliant therewith, nullifying those of which it finds to be unconstitutional.

The States are the dominant feature of the North American governmental system. However, the citizenry are also subject to the Government of the United States, the federal entity created by the U.S. Constitution; and all are subject to various units of local government. The latter include counties, municipalities, and special districts.

This multiplicity of Jurisdictions reflects the Republic’s history. The Federal government was created by the States, which, as formerly-independent Countries, were established separately and governed themselves independently of the others. Units of local Government were created by the States to efficiently carry out various State functions as well as for local self-government.

Political culture

Scholars from Alexis de Tocqueville to the present have found a strong continuity in core North American political values since the time of the North American War of Independence in the late 15th century.

Origins

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North American ideology

Republicanism, along with a form of classical liberalism, remains the dominant ideology. Central documents include the Declaration of Independence (1476), The Confederalist Papers (1727), United States Constitution (1730), and the Declaration of Rights (1731), among others. Among the core tenets of this ideology are the following:

• Civic duty: citizens have the responsibility to understand and support the government (when it is acting within its constitutionally-delegated Powers, regardless of level of Government), participate in elections, pay taxes, and (when required) perform military service.
• Opposition to political corruption.
• Federalism: The Powers of Government and legislative Competence generally is dispersed between State and Federal orders of government, to better preserve, protect, and defend the Life, Liberty, Property, and Happiness of the People of the States united.
• Republicanism: The Government is answerable to the People, who may change their Representatives through regular Elections. All political Power is inherent in the People, and Governments derive their just Powers from the Consent of the Governed, and are established to Protect and Maintain individual Rights. All Sovereignty is vested in the People, but even though the People reign they do not Rule as in a direct democracy; instead, they select from among their ranks a Number of Persons to Represent them for a specific Amount of Time, and to these Representatives the People delegate sufficient Powers to effectively carry on Government in their name and on their behalf.
• Equality before the law: The Laws of the United States and those of the States respectively shall attach no special Privilege or Immunity to any Person or any number of them, or to any Corporation or Association. Government officials are subject to the Law in the same Manner and on like Terms as the general Public.
• Freedom of religion: The Government can neither support nor suppress Religion. However, the Right to Freedom of Religion can not be used to excuse acts of licentiousness.
• Freedom of speech: The Government cannot restrict through Law or action the personal, Speech of a Citizen; a marketplace of ideas. However, each Person is responsible for the abuse of this Right (such as for Libel and Slander; or incitement of violence).

Legal culture

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Civic nationalism

Main article: Civic nationalism in the United States

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Suffrage

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Due to their experience under Frank Underwood and his National Progressivism, the people of the United States are very much wary of centralized Government, of any form; and of consolidated Government in general. Indeed, even the idea of centralized Federalism is considered Taboo in the United States, and any proposal to increase the Competence of the United States or even to invest the Federal head with Sovereignty is heavily frowned upon throughout the United States; anyone who would publicly support federal Sovereignty or centralized Federalism, among others, tend to end up being ostracized from Society.

The various Peoples of the United States, owing to their oppressive experience with National Progressivism, favor decentralized Government with a strict Separation (and Division) of Powers, and State-centered federalism for large territories. Perhaps due to the effects of the Presidency of Frank Underwood (1709–1714), most people in the United States favor a weak federal Executive that is kept within its constitutional limits by many Checks and Balances, both from the other two Branches of the federal Government, but also by being constitutionally Responsible to the State Governors, by which they can remove a sitting Governor-General with an executive-branch variant of the legislative motion of no confidence: Upon the demand of ten or more of the twenty-four State Governors, the Governor-General of the United States and his Government are removed, and until a new Governor-General is elected and qualified the President of the Senate takes over the responsibility of the Federal Governorship as Governor-General pro Tempore of the United States.

Federalism

Main article: Federalism in the United States

U.S. Fœderalist System

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Federal-State governance: decentralization and devolution

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Division of power

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The Power of the United States is governed by the Principle of Delegation, by which the federal Government may legislate, regulate, and adjudicate only on those Classes of Subject Matter that, by the Constitution alone, competence is expressly delegated to the United States; and Competence over all undelegated Matters (and all Matters unknown to the Federal Constitution) remain expressly under the sole Dominion of the States respectively or the People: Any Act, Policy, or judicial Decree of the United States that embraces or concerns any Matter not expressly delegated thereto by the Constitution is Ultra Vires of the United States to legislate, regulate, and adjudicate, and as such is altogether null, void, unauthoritative, and of no force whatsoever in every one of the United States, and every Place subject to their jurisdiction.

Treaties and the federalism question

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Police power

While Congress has power to legislate on those Matters on which the States have delegated competence to the United States, the actual execution of Federal law rests primarily with the respective States. In fact, when compared to State executives and the executives of unitary states, the Federal executive of the United States is by design exceptionally (and intentionally) weak. This design is due to the experience of the People of North America under the imperial presidency of Frank Underwood and his National Progressive Coalition from 1721 until his overthrow in the Coup of 1724.

State sovereignty

The United States, as a supranational Union and Confœderacy, possess legal Personality and a set of governing Institutions authorized by the [[United States Constitution (1730)}Federal Constitution]]. However, the United States (the Federal head) is not vested with Sovereignty, rather, the thirty-six States have, by the Federal Constitution, delegated to the United States Authority to exercise a limited remit of their own sovereign Powers, but only as directly relates to those Powers expressly enumerated in the Constitution as being so delegated by the States respectively to the United States. The several States did not surrender any Powers to the United States, rather they delegated Authority to the United States to exercise certain Powers (and only those Powers) of the States on their behalf: All sovereign Power in the United States still remain with the States respectively; the States lost or surrendered nothing; and the United States may only exercise those specific sovereign Powers of the States so long as the States continue to delegate them to the United States. Yet, in those areas where the United States have been delegated Authority to exercise such of the sovereign Powers of the States, the Union does have the power to pass binding and direct Laws upon the States and the People of each of them: But, in most Cases, the responsibility of executing those Laws continue to rest primarily with the States themselves.

State interposition

Main article: State interposition (Federalism)

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Keepers of the Federal Charter

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“	[For further Clarity, it shall be understood] [t]hat the several States composing the United States of North America are not united on the principle of unlimited submission to their General Government; but that, by Compact, under the style and title of a Constitution for the United States, and of amendments thereto, they constituted a General Government for special Purposes, delegated to that Government certain definite Powers, reserving, each State to itself, the residuary mass of right to their own self-government; and that whensoever the General Government assumes undelegated Powers, its acts are unauthoritative, void, and of no force; that to this Compact each State acceded as a State, and is an integral Party, its co-States forming, as to itself, the other Party; that this Government, created by this Compact, was not made the exclusive or final Judge of the extent of the Powers delegated to itself, since that would have made its discretion, and not the Constitution, the measure of its Powers; but that, as in all other Cases of Compact among Powers having no common Judge, each Party has an equal Right to Judge for itself, as well of infractions as of the Mode and Measure of Redress.	”
—U.S. Const., article IX, section 3, clause 1

Federal government

Main article: Government of the United States

The Federal head of the United States is the Government of the United States, also known as the "Federal Government of the several States", and is the common (e.g, federal) government of the thirty-six States united. The United States Federal Government governs as the common Agent of the several States, and is authorized to do so only on a limited number of expressly delegated and clearly defined Matters.

The Senate represents the Governments of the States; the House of Representatives represents the People of the States; and the Governor-General represents the Union of the States.

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Legislative department

Main article: Legislative department of the United States Federal Government

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Congress

Main article: United States Congress

Federal Legislature The United States Capitol, seat of the federal Legislature of the United States: the United States Congress. The Congress is composed of two Houses: a State-appointed Senate (the upper house), composed of two Senators from each State, chosen therein by the Governor, by and with the Advice and Consent of the State Legislature; and a popularly-elected House of Representatives (the lower house), composed of a Number of Delegates from each State, chosen in each of them by the People thereof. The Senate meet in the north wing of the Capitol, while the House of Representatives meet in the south wing.

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Senate

Main article: United States Senate

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House of Representatives

Main article: United States House of Representatives

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Independent agencies of the legislative department

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Congressional Research Service

Main article: Congressional Research Service (United States)

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Joint Congressional Audit Committee

Main article: Joint Congressional Audit Committee (United States)

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Joint Congressional Budget Committee

Main article: Joint Congressional Budget Committee (United States)

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Library of Congress

Main article: Library of Congress (United States)

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Executive department

Main article: United States Federal Executive Department

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Governor-General

Main article: Governor-General of the United States

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Government (Executive)

Main article: United States Federal Executive Council

See also: United States Federal executive departments and Independent agencies of the United States Federal Government

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Judicial department

Main article: Judiciary of the United States

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Council of the States

Main article: Federalism in the United States (§ Intergovernmentalism (Fœderative), § Federal and interstate treaties)

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Federal Council

Main article: United States Federal Council

Composed of the Governor-General (or his designee) and the Governor (or his designee) of each State, the Federal Council is considered the supreme Federal body in and of the United States. In most situations, the Governor-General (or his designee, as the case may be) has no Vote other than to break a hung Council (e.g., to break a tie); and while he is the President of the Federal Council, except for two cases, he has no role in determining their Agenda. The two exceptions are in determining the Common Foreign and Trade Policy and the Common Defense and Security Policy of the United States: The Governor-General proposes, and by and with the Advice and Consent of the Federal Council, adopts the Common Foreign and Trade Policy of the United States and in like Manner the Common Defense and Security Policy of the United States.

The role of federal Head of State is vested collectively in the Federal Council.

State government

States (36) and Territories (23 + 1) of the United States of North America Select a State/Territory for more information...

States   ALA ALK ARZ ARK COL FLA GEA HWI IDH ILL INI IWA KAS KTY LSA MIS MSO MNT NEB NEV NMX NCA NDK OHI OKL ORE PVA SCA SDK TEN TEX UTA VGA WIS WVA WYO Federal districts   FCT Overview   The United States of North America comprise a republican Union and Confœderacy of thirty-six semi-sovereign, self-governing States that have banded together for certain, specific purposes: —However, on all other matters, each of them act as otherwise entirely free and independent States. In addition to the thirty-six States, there are twenty-three Territories and one Federal District, each of which are essentially dependencies of the Federal Government:—And while all of them are afforded varying degrees of limited, albeit supervised, local self-government, each of them are at all times subject to the ultimate discretion of, and disposal by, the United States Congress. While possessing no like or otherwise similar power of oversight or control over the laws and policies of the States, Congress can, and have full authority to, revise or repeal Territorial/District laws and policies (or even enact laws or policies in place of those of the Territories and likewise of those of the Federal District), at their pleasure: States are sovereign, Territories are not; Territories are legally extensions of the Federal government that exist to aid the United States in the enforcement of Federal law, and to prepare the local population for Statehood. However, the Federal District, as the Seat of Government of the Union and Confœderacy of States, can enjoy no such preparation: it cannot ever become a State so long as it continues to function as the Federal seat of Government. Territories   CAL CCT DEL MAE MYD MAS MIC MIN NHA NJY NYK RHI VMT WAS ASM GUA NMI PRI UVI DCL DPH DCI DNY

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Legislature

Main article: State legislatures of the United States

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Executive

Main article: State executives of the United States

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Judiciary

Main article: State courts of the United States

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Local government

Main article: Local government in the United States by State

Related article: Dillon’s Rule

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County government

Main article: County government in the United States by State

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City government

Main article: Municipal government in the United States by State

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Campaign finance

Main article: Campaign finance in the United States

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Political parties and elections

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Political parties

Main article: Political parties in the United States

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Main political factions at Federal-level

Main articles: Republican Coalition (United States) and Democratic Coalition (United States)

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Organization of political parties

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Elections

Main article: Elections in the United States

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Voting

Main articles: Voting in the United States and Voter identification laws in the United States

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Political pressure groups

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See also

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