The Executive Branch

3 big things to recall

  1. Executive branch enforces laws

  2. Federalism means we have two levels:

 Federal level: President, Vice president, cabinet, Departments

 State level: governor, Lieutenant governor, attorney general, comptroller, cabinet departments

3. It employs the most people in the US: 2 million civilians and 4. 1 total people

a. Walmart employs 2.3 million ppl in the US

Federal Executive Branch

The President

I. Qualifications

  1. 35

  2. Resident of the US(14 years technically)

  3. Natural born citizen

II. Roles 

  1. Seen as head of US government

  2. Serves a 4 year term(max of 2 full terms and 2 years of another president’s term

  3. “Enforces" Or ''Carries out” lows

  4. Prepares federal budget

  5. Approves or vetoes legislation sent by congress

  6. Develops US foreign policy (how we interact with other countries)

  7. Grants pardons or reprieves for federal crimes

  8. Proposes federal laws

  9. Administers federal programs and

Services (biggest job)

  1. Appoints officials to offices(ex. Federal judges, ambassadors, cabinet members, etc.)

Vice president

  1. Replaces/substitutes for president if necessary(death, resignment, surgery, etc.)

  2. Elected with the president as a “slate”

  3. Presided over the US senate

  4. Performs “other duties assigned by president

The cabinet members 

  1. Currently 15 members

  2. Each heads a department (Defense, Homeland Security, Justice, etc.)

  3. Appointed by President, confirmed by the senate

  4. Administers Programs and services for

the President- i.e. the Secretary of Defense heads the Department of Defense 

  1. Advises president - seen as the “expert” in their field to rely on for good advice

Executive Departments

  1. Each department gathers information

  2. Administers programs and services within their respective departments

State of Maryland Executive Branch - enforces Maryland laws 

The governor:

I. Qualifications  

  1. 30 years old

  2. Resident of Maryland

  3. Registered voter 

II. Roles

  1. Seen as head of the Maryland government 

  2. Serves a 4 year term(elected in off-year elections)

  3. “Enforces” or “Carries out” laws

  4. Controls Maryland Stars police and Maryland National guard(aka militia) unless president wants them

  5. Prepares Maryland budget

  6. Approves or vetoes legislation sent by General Assembly

  7. Develops Maryland policy(interactions with other states and federal government)

  8. Grants pardons or reprieves for state crimes

  9. Proposes Maryland laws

  10. Administers Maryland programs and service

  11. Appoints officials to offices(state judges and commissioners)

The Lieutenant Governor

  1. Replaces / Substitutes current governor 

  2. Elected w/ governor as a "slate"

  3. Performs "other" duties assigned by governor

The Attorney General

  1. Represents MD in court

  2.  Advises state officials of legal matters 

  3. Elected independently

The comptroller

  1. Enforces collection of state revenues(aka. taxes)

  2. Plans for the management of state reserves

  1. Elected independently

The executive departments

  1. Same thing as federal level but on a state level

Selecting a president 

  1. Candidates declare wish to become President

  • Incumbents rarely challenged in own party

  • Party that is "out-of-office" usually has a slew of candidates declare candidacy

  1. Presidential Primary process

  • Candidates try to win state primaries(actually receive delegates based on proportion of votes received)

  • Media coverage/investigation plays a large rote in the public's perception of each candidate (e.g. Gary Hard 84’)

  • Candidates slowly drop at of race as their lack of support becomes more obvious - but throw their support (and therefore delegates already obtained) to remaining candidates

  1. Convention Process

a. Basic purposes

  • Delegates vote to choose candidate (and running mate) that will represent pardy in general election

  • Develop Party Platform (Party's official "take" on a wide range of topics) based on plantal party’s approach to anyone issue

4. General Election Process

a. Popular vote

  • Parties chose which contain a Presidential and Vice Presidential candidate

  • All registered voters choose from all available Presidential candidates

  • Only 50% of eligible Americans traditionally register to vote and only 25% of eligible Americans actually
    vote in the election

  • Voters actually select electors to represent the slate of their choice and not the actual slate

b. Electoral system

- In general most states have "Winner take all" System in which each party Declares a proportional amount of electors to the vote they receive 

- Each state has a number of electors equal to their representation in congress (e.g. MD has 10 votes)

- These Electors then send their official Electoral Ballots to the President of the US Senate who is responsible for counting and reading the results aloud