CLASS 3

So I’m back! In this class we learned about the American Government and the Political Parties. This was a class with a lot of numbers and facts. But I understood that: the government was formed in 1789 and it laid out in the Constitution and that the United States was the world’s first modern national constitutional republic, oh and that is based on the principle of federalism.

Ok it comprises in 3 branches: legislative, executive and judiciary. Each has its own distinct responsibilities, but they can also partially limit the authority of the others through a complex system of checks and balances. The legislative branch is composed by the Congress which is bicameral, comprising the House of Representatives (The number of representatives each state has in the House is based on each state's population) and the Senate (the number of senators from each state is two, regardless of population). They have the power to levy and collect taxes, declare war, raise and support armies, etc. The executive branch is represented by the President and vice-president, some of the powers they have are: in the case of the president, he can firm treats with foreign nations and the vice president is the President of Senate. The judicial branch is represented by the Supreme Court as the highest court in the federal court system, something curious about this branch is that the Justices are appointed for life by the President and confirmed by the Senate, and various lower or inferior courts and that the first congress subdivided the nation jurisdictionally into judicial districts and created federal courts for each district!

In the case of the political parties, America has two principal parties, the Democratic Party and the Republican Party. The Republican Party was found in 1854 and this it supports an American conservative platform. Some Republican presidents were Abraham Lincoln and George W. Bush. The Democratic Party is the oldest political party in the United States and among the oldest in the world, it currently positions itself left-of-center in American politics, supporting an American liberalism. Barack Obama is a democratic president.

So this is what I learned in today’s class. We have a two weeks break and a lot of hw! See you need class…