Politics For Dummies

Ann M. DeLaney

• Publisher: For Dummies
• Year: 2019
• Print ISBN: 9781119652953
• eBook ISBN: 9781119653004
• Edition: 3
• Topic: Politics & International Relations
• Subtopic: American Government
• Index: Politics & International Relations

Get up to speed on the U.S. political system

Confused by caucuses, primaries, and pollsters? Puzzled by the various parties and special interest groups? Politics For Dummies has everything you need to understand local, state, and national politics; how to communicate with your elected officials; and what your representatives can do for you.

You'll find out all about lobbying groups, sub-committees, the government branches, and how elections work. Also included is new information on how to use online tools and social media to find out what legislation is on the floor, what issues are before the Supreme Court, and when congress and the Supreme Court are in session.

• Understand the United States political system
• Learn more about the three branches of U.S. government
• Discover the differences in federal, state, and local operations
• Get need-to-know information for involvement

This book cuts through the political jargon and provides clear, up-to-date details about everything from legislation to polls to presidential elections in the United States—and explains how you can become a political player yourself.

Part 1

Politics and You

IN THIS PART …

Seeing how our system of government works

Determining what is government and what is politics

Figuring out what it is you want from your elected officials

Examining the role of money in politics

Chapter 1

It’s Politics, Baby!

IN THIS CHAPTER

Distinguishing between local, state, and federal elected officials

Recognizing the difference between politics and government

Finding out what politics really means for you

Politics is that unique situation in which you choose people to run parts of your life — by choosing the people who run your government. The US government has all kinds of elected politicians, from the nation’s president down to the animal-control officer in your locale. In most cases, you can choose any candidate you think will do the best job.

Elected Politicians — a Quick Look

Elected officials come in three levels: federal, state, and local. You have a role in determining who gets elected to all three. You can think of these officials as tiers of a wedding cake: As you move down the cake, each layer grows larger and larger, and holds more and more politicians. Check out Figure 1-1. The president and the vice president stand atop the cake of politicians, but it’s up to you to decide whether their “marriage” with the voters continues or they get dumped at the next election.

FIGURE 1-1: The levels of the US political system are like the tiers of a wedding cake.

Federal officials

The federal government consists of three branches: judicial, legislative, and executive. Here’s how they break down:

• The judicial branch consists of all federal courts, from trial courts all the way to the US Supreme Court. Federal judges are nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate. You don’t have a direct vote in the selection of federal judges, but you do have a sort of indirect vote because you elect the president who makes the selection, and you elect senators who confirm it. Also, both the president and the senators consider public opinion when making their choices.
  The judicial branch interprets federal laws when lawsuits are filed in federal courts. It also decides whether state and national laws conform to the federal Constitution. Decisions of the trial courts can be appealed to the Circuit Courts of Appeals and, ultimately, to the Supreme Court.
• You elect the members of the legislative branch, called Congress. Congress drafts bills, which, if passed and signed by the president, become laws. Congress is able to enact laws on power given to the federal government by the Constitution and the amendments to the Constitution. All other powers are reserved to the states.
• You also elect the heads of the executive branch: the president and the vice president. The executive branch plays a role in making laws by the use of the president’s veto of legislation. The president may block legislation by vetoing it, or at least force Congress to change proposed legislation by threatening to veto it.
  The executive branch also carries out the laws that Congress enacts and the courts clarify. The president then chooses the other top members of the executive branch of government: the Cabinet. Cabinet secretaries run the various departments of the executive branch, such as Treasury, Justice, State, Labor, and Homeland Security. Cabinet secretaries are appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate. The top few levels of each department are occupied by political appointees and must also be confirmed by the Senate. All the rest of the tens of thousands of federal employees in these departments are civil service employees. The civil service employees can keep their jobs no matter who the president is, but those political appointees can keep their jobs only as long as the president who appointed them is still in office or until the president who appointed them wants them to leave. They serve at the pleasure of the president.

How we elect federal officials — the president, the vice president, senators, and representatives — is shaped by the US Constitution, which has been changed several times to encourage more participation by voters. For example, until the 17th Amendment to the US Constitution in 1913, voters didn’t directly elect their US senators — voters elected their state legislatures, and the state legislatures elected the US senators. The 19th Amendment to the Constitution, adopted in 1920, gave women over the age of 21 the right to vote. The 26th Amendment, adopted in 1971, gave citizens 18 and older the right to vote.

The president and the vice president

The United States elects a president and a vice president every four years. They’re elected together to prevent having the president from one party and the vice president from another — a rather awkward arrangement that actually did happen early in our country’s history, when it was standard practice for the candidate who received the most votes to become president, with the candidate who came in second, from the other party, becoming vice president. It didn’t damage the republic, but it created enough fuss to suggest that it was not a good idea.

The president signs or vetoes legislation which passes both houses of congress. If the president vetoes legislation, a two thirds vote in the House and the Senate is required to override the veto and enable the legislation to become law.

You don’t elect the president and vice president directly, but your votes do determine who holds both offices. See Chapter 23 for more information about this process.

Representatives

Each state elects members of Congress, called representatives, who serve in the House. The number of House seats is limited to 435, so the average member now represents almost three-quarters of a million people. The census, taken every ten years, determines how many of those 435 representatives each state receives. States with growing populations gain congressional seats after the census. States that have fallen behind in population usually lose seats, although the Constitution guarantees them at least one.

After the census results are tallied, each state draws its own congressional districts (although federal courts sometimes force changes afterward). Usually, state legislatures take responsibility for this task, but sometimes states set up other means for determining their election maps, such as independent commissions. The exact boundaries of congressional districts can be the subject of much political fighting, turf warfare, and teeth gnashing, as powerful politicians try to sweet-talk the mapmakers into drawing districts that will promote their own personal and political ambitions.

Members of Congress are elected every two years, in even-numbered, general election years (2018, 2020, 2022, and so forth).

Senators

Each state, regardless of its population, also elects two senators to serve 6-year terms. Every two years, one-third of the US Senate is elected, so your state may or may not have a Senate contest in a given general election, or even-numbered, year. Because they are responsible to entire states, senators usually represent a much larger number of people than members of the House do, but the number of people each Senator represents can vary widely. For example, the senators from Alaska represent about three-quarters of a million people, whereas the senators from California represent almost 40 million people.

Some state and local elections can occur in odd numbered years!

State officials

Just like the federal government, each state government is divided into three branches: judicial, legislative, and executive. The functions of these three branches are largely the same as they are within the three branches of the federal government:

• Judicial: Judges in state courts interpret state laws. Some states elect their trial court and appellate court judges; some don’t. Some states permit citizens to vote to retain or remove judges but don’t permit partisan elections for judicial positions. Whether you can play a role in the selection of judges depends on your state law.
• Legislative: State legislatures enact laws that apply to their state. In each state, voters are grouped into legislative districts for the state legislature or general assembly. Most state legislatures include two chambers: an upper house (usually called the Senate) and a lower house (usually called the House of Representatives). Terms of service vary from two to four years.
  The ever-efficient and tidy state of Nebraska has only one house in its legislature, consisting of 49 members with no party affiliations. The 49 are called senators and are elected for 4-year terms. (For more information about parties and affiliations, see Chapters 6 and 7.)
• Executive: The role of the executive branch of a state is to administer the laws. Just like the president, governors also have the power to veto a bill or piece of legislation. However, not all governors’ vetoes must have a two-thirds vote of the state legislatures to override. Some governors can have their vetoes overridden by a simple majority of votes in the legislature. Because it took a majority of votes to pass the bill in the first place, it’s not that difficult to pass the legislation again. Governors in states with majority override of vetoes don’t have as strong a weapon in dealing with their state legislatures as the president does in dealing with Congress.
  The voters of each state elect their state governor. Both the date that the election takes place and the length of the governor’s term depend on state law. Most states have 4-year terms for their governors and elect them in general-election years. Vermont and New Hampshire have 2-year terms. A few states, like New Jersey, elect their governors in odd-numbered years. Virginia has no term limit on its governorship, but a governor may not serve consecutive terms.
  Most states elect a governor and a lieutenant governor on the same ticket, and many states limit the number of terms a governor ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Table of Contents
• Introduction
• Part 1: Politics and You
• Part 2: Making Your Voice Heard
• Part 3: Politics is a Team Sport
• Part 4: It’s All Marketing
• Part 5: Let the Campaigns Begin
• Part 6: Presidential Politics
• Part 7: The Part of Tens
• Appendix: State ID Voting Requirements
• Index
• About the Author
• Connect with Dummies
• End User License Agreement