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Government December Research Paper

Government December Research Paper

Wendy Weber 

Fall Semester Term Project: Compare the U.S. to Others

The U.S. government is a constitutional federal republic. The head of state and the head of government are both the President, who is currently Joe Biden. The American government is also a representative democracy, which means that citizens vote for their officials. These officials represent the citizens' ideas and concerns in government and vote based on their supporters' opinions. Moving on to the documents the government is reliant on, the American Constitution consists of the Constitution of the United States of America. The president's powers and position are clearly stated in this Constitution. The federal government has a set list of powers and everything not included is up to the individual states' decisions. With regards to the constitutional interpretation, courts have a broad federal power and a narrow state power. This division of power is called centralization. Contrastingly, Canada is a constitutional monarchy. The head of state is the Governor General or Queen Elizabeth II. The head of government is currently Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau. The Canadian government is a Parliamentary democracy, or a system of government where people elect representatives to a parliament to make laws. Canada’s constitution is made up of both written elements such as the British and Canadian statutes, as well as court judgments, and unwritten elements like traditions. The Prime Minister's powers and position are not outlined in the constitution, but are based on unwritten elements. The federal government has powers over everything not included under the jurisdiction for the territories or provinces. With regards to the constitutional interpretation, courts have a narrow federal power and a broad provincial power. This division of power is called decentralization. Both governments are federations or a system of government where a written constitution distributes power and responsibility between a national government and state or regional governments.

In the American government, we have a president who is responsible for many duties such as directing the foreign policy of the United States, and is the commander in chief of the nation’s armed forces. They are elected through the electoral college and serve a fixed term of four years, and the term limit is two terms or eight years. However, the maximum years of being president is ten years, in the case that the president acted as president for two years or less in a term where another person was elected, as stated in the Constitution. The president is considered to be part of the executive branch since they are responsible for carrying out laws. All of the president's abilities are clearly stated in the Constitution. Examples of this are that the president can veto and sign bills, represent our nation in talks with foreign countries, and act as Commander-in-Chief during a war. The president and members of the executive branch are not allowed to make or interpret laws, declare war, decide how federal money will be spent, or choose Cabinet members or Supreme Court Justices without Senate approval. In the French government, they currently use presidential terms that consist of five years. This term length was established by a constitutional referendum that was held in 2000. The president, by reelection, can serve a second consecutive term. The French president is elected by direct popular vote of the people. The president of France, is the head of state and head of the executive, thus carrying more power than leaders of most other European countries, where the two functions are separate. The French president can appoint a prime minister, has the right to dissolve the National Assembly, has the right to message the houses of Parliament, and has the right to referral to the Constitutional Council. However, the president can’t declare war, since this power is held by the French Parliament. 

Two policies from the U.K. government I believe show the best points about the nation's government fall under the category of prisons, probation, and courts. The first policy states that the government will toughen sentencing for the worst offenders and end automatic halfway release from prison for serious crimes within the first 100 days. This policy was amended secondary legislation in January 2020 and came into force in April 2020. It ensures that violent or sexual offenders who have received sentences of seven years or longer are also no longer released halfway through their sentences, but instead serve at least two thirds of their sentence in prison. The Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill 2021 contains further provisions to ensure that the same policy now applies to offenders with sentences lasting between four and seven years. The second policy states that the government will introduce legislation within 100 days for tougher sentences to ensure terrorists spend longer in prison. The government passed emergency legislation in February 2020 to end the early release of terrorist prisoners from prison. Two policies from the U.S. government that I believe show the best points about the nation's government are the Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act and the Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated Fishing Enforcement Act. The Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act is under the child welfare category. It improved nutrition available to children by allowing USDA an opportunity to make reforms to the school lunch and breakfast programs by improving the critical nutrition and hunger safety net for millions of children. The Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated Fishing Enforcement Act falls under the Protection of Animals and the Environment. I believe that it is important to reduce IUU fishing and seafood fraud internationally since it harms the economic and environmental sustainability of fisheries. The IUU Fishing Enforcement Act works with the Port State Measures Agreement to ensure consumer confidence in the seafood supply chain and  to protect fishermen from unfair competition.

In conclusion, the U.S. government is mostly good and slightly bad in my opinion. It is good because citizens are guaranteed their freedoms of speech, religion, press, assembly, and the right to petition the government. It has a strong federal government with weaker state power, to emphasize that the United States of America is a collective group of states that work under the same major laws. There is a strong sense of community since we are unified under one power which is the one government. The Constitution is responsible for outlining the president's powers and position. There are many countries even recently that have had to change their governments due to it not functioning properly and efficiently. However, this is not true for the American government since the Constitution was ratified on June 21, 1788. It is an outstanding document, since it has been able to withstand the changes of time and the advancements of humanity. The U.S. government has strong regulations and rules set for those who are president. These restrictions have been around in order to maintain checks and balances on other branches of government. However, it is bad in the sense that there are odd and outdated structures such as the electoral college that are used to vote for the president. I also believe that it is an issue that America, specifically New York City, has been more lenient on crimes and repeated offenders. The crime rate has been increasing, yet there is no immediate response in order to combat these issues. Instead of keeping potentially extremely dangerous individuals under government run facilities, there has been an influx where the system has reached its capacity and many harmful individuals are returned despite being arrested. I hope that these issues are solved in the near future to make a safer city, and a safer nation to live in. 



Government December Research Paper

Wendy Weber 

Fall Semester Term Project: Compare the U.S. to Others

The U.S. government is a constitutional federal republic. The head of state and the head of government are both the President, who is currently Joe Biden. The American government is also a representative democracy, which means that citizens vote for their officials. These officials represent the citizens' ideas and concerns in government and vote based on their supporters' opinions. Moving on to the documents the government is reliant on, the American Constitution consists of the Constitution of the United States of America. The president's powers and position are clearly stated in this Constitution. The federal government has a set list of powers and everything not included is up to the individual states' decisions. With regards to the constitutional interpretation, courts have a broad federal power and a narrow state power. This division of power is called centralization. Contrastingly, Canada is a constitutional monarchy. The head of state is the Governor General or Queen Elizabeth II. The head of government is currently Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau. The Canadian government is a Parliamentary democracy, or a system of government where people elect representatives to a parliament to make laws. Canada’s constitution is made up of both written elements such as the British and Canadian statutes, as well as court judgments, and unwritten elements like traditions. The Prime Minister's powers and position are not outlined in the constitution, but are based on unwritten elements. The federal government has powers over everything not included under the jurisdiction for the territories or provinces. With regards to the constitutional interpretation, courts have a narrow federal power and a broad provincial power. This division of power is called decentralization. Both governments are federations or a system of government where a written constitution distributes power and responsibility between a national government and state or regional governments.

In the American government, we have a president who is responsible for many duties such as directing the foreign policy of the United States, and is the commander in chief of the nation’s armed forces. They are elected through the electoral college and serve a fixed term of four years, and the term limit is two terms or eight years. However, the maximum years of being president is ten years, in the case that the president acted as president for two years or less in a term where another person was elected, as stated in the Constitution. The president is considered to be part of the executive branch since they are responsible for carrying out laws. All of the president's abilities are clearly stated in the Constitution. Examples of this are that the president can veto and sign bills, represent our nation in talks with foreign countries, and act as Commander-in-Chief during a war. The president and members of the executive branch are not allowed to make or interpret laws, declare war, decide how federal money will be spent, or choose Cabinet members or Supreme Court Justices without Senate approval. In the French government, they currently use presidential terms that consist of five years. This term length was established by a constitutional referendum that was held in 2000. The president, by reelection, can serve a second consecutive term. The French president is elected by direct popular vote of the people. The president of France, is the head of state and head of the executive, thus carrying more power than leaders of most other European countries, where the two functions are separate. The French president can appoint a prime minister, has the right to dissolve the National Assembly, has the right to message the houses of Parliament, and has the right to referral to the Constitutional Council. However, the president can’t declare war, since this power is held by the French Parliament. 

Two policies from the U.K. government I believe show the best points about the nation's government fall under the category of prisons, probation, and courts. The first policy states that the government will toughen sentencing for the worst offenders and end automatic halfway release from prison for serious crimes within the first 100 days. This policy was amended secondary legislation in January 2020 and came into force in April 2020. It ensures that violent or sexual offenders who have received sentences of seven years or longer are also no longer released halfway through their sentences, but instead serve at least two thirds of their sentence in prison. The Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill 2021 contains further provisions to ensure that the same policy now applies to offenders with sentences lasting between four and seven years. The second policy states that the government will introduce legislation within 100 days for tougher sentences to ensure terrorists spend longer in prison. The government passed emergency legislation in February 2020 to end the early release of terrorist prisoners from prison. Two policies from the U.S. government that I believe show the best points about the nation's government are the Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act and the Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated Fishing Enforcement Act. The Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act is under the child welfare category. It improved nutrition available to children by allowing USDA an opportunity to make reforms to the school lunch and breakfast programs by improving the critical nutrition and hunger safety net for millions of children. The Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated Fishing Enforcement Act falls under the Protection of Animals and the Environment. I believe that it is important to reduce IUU fishing and seafood fraud internationally since it harms the economic and environmental sustainability of fisheries. The IUU Fishing Enforcement Act works with the Port State Measures Agreement to ensure consumer confidence in the seafood supply chain and  to protect fishermen from unfair competition.

In conclusion, the U.S. government is mostly good and slightly bad in my opinion. It is good because citizens are guaranteed their freedoms of speech, religion, press, assembly, and the right to petition the government. It has a strong federal government with weaker state power, to emphasize that the United States of America is a collective group of states that work under the same major laws. There is a strong sense of community since we are unified under one power which is the one government. The Constitution is responsible for outlining the president's powers and position. There are many countries even recently that have had to change their governments due to it not functioning properly and efficiently. However, this is not true for the American government since the Constitution was ratified on June 21, 1788. It is an outstanding document, since it has been able to withstand the changes of time and the advancements of humanity. The U.S. government has strong regulations and rules set for those who are president. These restrictions have been around in order to maintain checks and balances on other branches of government. However, it is bad in the sense that there are odd and outdated structures such as the electoral college that are used to vote for the president. I also believe that it is an issue that America, specifically New York City, has been more lenient on crimes and repeated offenders. The crime rate has been increasing, yet there is no immediate response in order to combat these issues. Instead of keeping potentially extremely dangerous individuals under government run facilities, there has been an influx where the system has reached its capacity and many harmful individuals are returned despite being arrested. I hope that these issues are solved in the near future to make a safer city, and a safer nation to live in.