Town and village government

Thousands of municipal jurisdictions are too small to qualify as city governments. These are chartered as towns and villages and deal with such strictly local needs as paving and lighting the streets; ensuring a water supply; providing police and fire protection; waste management; and, in cooperation with the state and county, directly administering the local school system. Note that in many states the term "town" does not have any specific meaning--it is simply an informal term applied to populated places (both incorporated and unincorporated municipalities). And in some states, the term town is equivalent to how civil townships are used in other states.

The government is usually entrusted to an elected board or council, which may be known by a variety of names: town or village council, board of selectmen, board of supervisors, board of commissioners. The board may have a chairperson or president who functions as chief executive officer, or there may be an elected mayor. Governmental employees may include a clerk, treasurer, police and fire officers, and health and welfare officers.

One unique aspect of local government, found mostly in the New England region of the United States, is the town meeting. Once a year — sometimes more often if needed — the registered voters of the town meet in open session to elect officers, debate local issues, and pass laws for operating the government. As a body, they decide on road construction and repair, construction of public buildings and facilities, tax rates, and the town budget. The town meeting, which has existed for more than three centuries in some places, is often cited as the purest form of direct democracy, in which the governmental power is not delegated, but is exercised directly and regularly by all the people.

Suffrage

Main article: Voting rights in the United States

Suffrage is nearly universal for citizens 18 years of age and older. All 50 states, as well as the District of Columbia, contribute to the electoral vote for President. However, the District, and other U.S. holdings like Puerto Rico and Guam, lack the states' representation in Congress. These constituencies do not have the right to choose any political figure outside their respective areas. Each commonwealth, territory, or district can only elect a non-voting delegate to serve in the House of Representatives.

Voting rights are sometimes restricted as a result of felony conviction, but such laws vary widely by state. Election of the president is an indirect suffrage: Voters vote for electors to vote for President.

Campaign finance

Main article: Campaign finance in the United States

Successful participation, especially in federal elections, requires large amounts of money, especially for television advertising^{[citation needed]}. This money is very difficult to raise by appeals to a mass base^{[citation needed]}, although the Republican Party has had some success^{[citation needed]}, as hadHoward Dean with his Internet appeals. Both parties generally depend on wealthy donors and organizations - traditionally the Democrats depended on donations from organized labor while the Republicans relied on business donations^{[citation needed]}. Since 1984, however, the Democrats' business donations have surpassed those from labor organizations^{[citation needed]}. This dependency on donors is controversial, and has led to laws limiting spending on political campaigns being enacted (see campaign finance reform). Opponents of campaign finance laws cite the First Amendment's guarantee of free speech, and challenge campaign finance laws on the grounds that they attempt to circumvent the people's constitutionally-guaranteed rights. Even when laws are upheld, the complication of compliance with the First Amendment requires careful and cautious drafting of legislation, leading to laws that are still fairly limited in scope, especially in comparison to those of other countries such as the United Kingdom, France or Canada. Some allege that funding practices commonplace in the United States would likely be considered political corruption elsewhere^{[citation needed]}.

Political culture

Most schools in the United States teach the Declaration of Independence, Constitution, Bill of Rights, and the writings of the Founding Fathers as the definition of the country's governing ideology. Among the core tenets of this ideology are the following:

The government is answerable to citizens, who may change it through elections.

The government's power in matters of freedom of religion and freedom of expression should be limited to prevent abuse of power.

The laws should attach no special privilege to any citizen (that is, citizens should be equal before the law).

Individuals and political parties debate how this ideology applies to particular circumstances, and may disagree openly with any of it.

At the time of the United States' founding, the economy was predominantly one of agriculture and small private businesses, and state governments left welfare issues to private or local initiative. The United States government has largely accepted the system of private enterprise and opposed broad grants of support to citizens, although the experience of the Great Depression challenged both positions. As a result the U.S. tends to be ideologically oriented toward democratic capitalism in contrast with the social democratic cultures in western Europe and Canada.

Prior to World War II the United States pursued a policy of isolationism in foreign affairs by not taking sides in conflicts between foreign powers. The country abandoned this policy when it became asuperpower, but the country remains skeptical of internationalism. The ideology of the incumbent President and the President's advisers largely determines the government's attitude in foreign affairs.

Political parties and elections

Registered Democrats, Republicans and Independents in millions as of 2004.^[2]

Political parties

Main article: Political parties in the United States

The complete list of political parties in the United States is vast. However, there are mainly five parties in presidential contention:

Republican Party

Democratic Party

Libertarian Party

Constitution Party

Green Party

Each of these five parties shares a degree of national attention by attaining the mathematical possibility of its nominee becoming President of the United States -- i.e., having ballot status for its presidential candidate in states whose collective total is at least half of the Electoral-College votes -- in either the most recent presidential election, in 2004, or the next one, in 2008:

Elections

For other political parties see List of political parties in the United States. An overview on elections and election results is included in Elections in the United States.

Main article: United States presidential election, 2004

Main article: United States Senate elections, 2006

Main article: United States House of Representatives elections, 2006

Date: 2015-12-24; view: 875