The Legislative, Executive, and Judicial Branches

  The United States Government is composed of three branches, the Legislative, Executive, and Judicial.  These branches each have specific duties within government that, when carried out properly, run the country efficiently.
  The Legislative branch of the government is composed of two major congressional bodies, the House of Representatives and the Senate.  The House of Representatives has four hundred and thirty-five seats, which are filled with representatives from each state.  States with a larger population can fill more seats in the House than a state with a small population.  The Senate on the other hand, has only one hundred seats, containing two senators from every state.  These two houses are in charge of creating laws, passing bills to become laws, and discussing matters that affect the whole nation.  Unfortunately, there is no time limit on how long a matter may be discussed.  A bill can be talked about untill it is basically "dead" and new business gets moved in for discussion.
  The Executive branch of government is mainly the office of the president.  The president is the over all commander-in-chief of the government, overseeing new laws, determining what is right for the country, and being a spokesman between the pubic and congress.  His role is largely affected by the public's perceptions.  The public has very high expectations for the leader of their country, so the president must be a popular among the people.  If the people don't like the way a president is running the country, he can be removed, or step down from office.
  The Judicial branch contains the Supreme Court, created by the Constitution, and all minor courts, that are created by Congress.  Judges in the Supreme Court are appointed for life by the president, confirmed by the Senate, and granted the title of "justice."  Minor court judges are hired for certain terms and can be "fired" by the government.  The Supreme Court checks the power of the other branches of government, by interpreting the laws expressed in the Constitution.
  The three branches of government serve to keep the nation's welfare a priority by making laws, authorizing those laws, and ensuring that the laws are beneficial to the people.  Each branch keeps the other in check by carrying out it's specific tasks, not allowing one branch to have too much power and dictate too many decisions.

Lesson 34-35

-Composition of the House

-Committees and the Iron Triangle

Elections

  Election is the way that different men or women come to power in the U.S. Government.  Senators, representatives, vice-presidents and presidents are all elcted by the people of the United States.  The government in the U.S. is set up so that the people hold much of the power to elect the leaders that they see fit to hold office.
  Although the poeple do hold some power in the American government, they don't hold all of it.
The U.S. Senate and house of representatives have a lot of influence on elections.  The early founders of the government believed that it would be too hard to get all the information about the next candidate for presidency to all of America, but they did not want Congress to elect the president.  Thomas Jefferson stated that "The people are not qualified to exercise themselves the Executive department; but they are qualified to name the person who shall exercise it."
  The Electoral system "Electoral College" has a group of elected representatives from every state in America meet together to decide who will be president.  There are 538 electoral votes, so a presidential candidate must win at least 270 votes.  If neither candidate gains 270 votes, the House of Representatives declares the winner.

Lesson 29-30-31-32-33

29-Incumbency

• An incumbent is someone who has served in the senate and seeks to be re-elected to hold their position.

30-House and Senate Elections

31-The Electoral College

32-Primaries, Caucasus, and the Conventions

33-General Elections

Lesson 27-28

 Cost of Elections

 Campaign Finance Reform

Lesson 26: Intensity

  Voter intensity in politics monitors whether or not a person will vote.  Someone with high voter intensity will likely participate in voting frequently, while someone with low intensity will choose not to vote for some reason or another.
  When people feel more connected to the government they are more likely to participate in voting.
Some people don't believe they will make a difference and will refrain from voting.  Its up to the government and those who are running for elections to educate the people on how much of a difference they can make.

Lesson 25: Demographics

  Demography is the study of what human characteristics will influence the voting process.
Demographic studies also answers the question of why some people vote for different parties instead of others.
  Political scientists usually study these demographics of people:

• Age, 
• Gender, 
• Race, 
• Education, 
• and Socio-economic status.

  These demographics have a heavy influence on how the people being studied will vote.