What Are The Three Branches Of Government

The American system of government is one that shares many characteristics of other democracies around the world. In fact, many modern countries have used the American system of government as a blueprint for their own. The three branches that make up the government, the legislative branch, the judicial branch, and the executive branch are features that can be found in one form or another in many different countries. The powers of each branch and the checks and balances that connect them are what gives the American form of democracy its character. One issue arises with the democratic concept of “by the people for the people”. Only one of these branches is directly elected by the people. The Supreme Court is appointed by the President, and the
The highest court in the country is the Supreme Court. It is made up of 9 justices that are appointed for life. The main power of the Supreme Court is the power of “judicial review” (Glen Krutz). This is the power to decide whether a law is Constitutional. If the Supreme Court finds that it is not Constitutional then the law is struck down and no longer a law. This is a power that the Court has used many times and has had a large role in shaping the history of the United States. The second branch of government is the Legislative branch. The Legislative branch or Congress, is made up of the House of Representatives and the Senate. The members of Congress and selected in an election by the people for 2 and six year terms for the House of Representatives and Senate respectively. Arguably the most significant and well known power of Congress is to pass laws. These laws are passed by a majority vote of both the Senate and the House of Representatives. Congress also has many other powers including the power to declare war, the power to confirm presidential appointments, and the power to impeach the President and
The Electoral College is responsible for selecting the President of the United States. The candidate receives electoral votes based on the popular votes in each state. Some states have laws that force Electoral College members to vote with the popular vote some do not. Some states give the candidate that receives the most votes all the electoral votes while others divide the number between the candidates based on the percentage of votes they receive. This has worked out for most elections. In the large majority of past elections, the Presidential candidate with the most votes across all states has won the Electoral College as well. In the most recent election however, and in a few other past elections this was not the case. In the last election, Hillary Clinton won the popular vote by a large majority but because of how the Electoral College functions Donald Trump was selected president by the Electoral College. The problems with the Electoral College go far beyond the winner of the popular vote losing the election. In the states that are strongly leaning democratic or republican the voters who are not with the majority have no impact on the election outcome at all. This is true in some of the largest states in the country such as Texas and California. A democrat in Texas or a Republican in California cannot affect the Electoral College. This is also true in many