GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS IN THE UNITED STATES

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THUONGMAI UNIVERSITY ENGLISH FACULTY -o0o -

DISCUSSION AMERICAN CULTURE

Topic GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS IN THE UNITED STATES

Teacher : Phan Tu Lan Group : 02

Class : 2053ENTI0411

HANOI – 2020

TABLE OF CONTENTS

I Introduction 1

II.Government and politics in US 1

1 A Suspicion of Strong Government 1

2 The Organization of the American Government 2

2.1 Organization of American Government 2

2.2 Elections in the US 3

2.3 The relationship between the President and Congress 3

3 The Ideal of the Free Individual 3

4 The Development of Big Government: The Welfare State 4

4.1 The definition of welfare state: 4

4.2 The welfare state of the United States: 5

5 The Role of Special Interest Groups 6

5.1 Definition of Special Interest Groups 6

5.2 The formation of Special Interest Groups 6

5.3 Types of Special Interest Groups and examples 7

5.4 The Special Interest Groups over years 9

5.5 Roles of special interest groups 10

6 The New Individualism versus the Old Individualism 11

6.1 Definition of Individualism 11

6.2 The New Individualism and the Old Individualism in the United States 11

6.3 The attitudes of two main parties in the United States with the Old and the New Individualism 12

7 Comparison between American and Vietnam 13

III Conclusion 18

K53N4

II.7, III

I Introduction

Currently, with the context of extensive international integration, tobecome a global citizen, we must learn more foreign languages and cultures,especially the United States - one of the countries with economies world leader.Understanding the American' culture can avoid misunderstandings, culturalshock, etc In work or communication with foreigners, to avoid conflictingpolitical views, the study of American politics and government is needed,because that system is very complex and sensitive, especially for people ofsocialist countries It is not like the political system of Vietnam or other socialistcountries For example, Vietnamese politics follows the socialist state model andfollows the official ideology of the Communist Party of Vietnam Therefore,without understanding the political system of the United States, it will be easyfor people to have misleading views and conflicting views with others

It is important to learn American culture, especially the American’sgovernment and political system Even its complexity, if we take the time to findout, it will be very interesting and have many things to learn With a regard oftopic “Government and politics in the United States”, we will show you a closeand detail view about it

II Government and politics in US

1 A Suspicion of Strong Government

The ideal of the free individual has had a profound effect on the wayAmericans view their government In the US, there has been a deep suspicionthat government is the natural enemy of freedom, even if it is elected by thepeople The bigger and stronger the government becomes, the more dangerousmany Americans believe it is to their individual freedom

This suspicion of strong government goes back to the men who led theAmerican Revolution in 1776 These men believed the government of GreatBritain wanted to discourage the freedom and economic opportunities of the

American colonists by excessive taxes and other measures which wouldultimately benefit the British aristocracy and monarchy Thomas Paine, thefamous revolutionary writer, expressed the view of other American

revolutionists when he said, “Government even in its best state is but a

necessary evil; in its worst state, an intolerable one.”

2 The Organization of the American Government

II.1 Organization of American Government

The government of the US is divided into three separate branches, based onthe belief that if any one part or branch of government has all, or even most ofthe power, it will become a threat to the freedom of individual citizens

Congress: The legislative or lawmaking branch of the government It has

two houses - the Senate, with two senators from each state regardless of the size

of its population, and the House of Representatives, consisting of a total of 435

representatives divided among the fifty states by population In the House, stateswith large populations have more representatives than that with smallpopulations, while in the Senate, each stare has equal representation.)

The president, or chief executive, heads the executive branch, which has

responsibility to carry out the laws

The Supreme Court and lower national courts make up the judicial branch.

The judicial branch settles disputes about the exact meaning of the law throughcourt cases

If any one of the three branches starts to abuse its power, the other two mayjoin together to stop it, through a system of checks and balances And theConstitution have to balance the powers of the legislative and executivebranches of the government to prevent the other from action on its own.Although many observers said that the American system of divided governmentpower is inefficient and disorganized, most Americans still strongly believe in itfor two reasons: (1) It has been able to meet the challenges of the past, and (2) itgives strong protection to individual freedoms

II.2 Elections in the US

In the US, The president and the Congress have almost complete politicalindependence from each other because they are all chosen in seperate elections.The election of the Congress does not determine who will be electedpresident, and the presidential election does not determine who will be elected toeither house of Congress In the American system, the President can belongs toone political party while most of the seats in Congress belongs to the other one.Example: during the 1970s and 1980s, four of the five presidents wereRepublicans, while the Democrats typically controlled one or both of the houses

of Congress In the Congressional elections of 1994, however, the reversesituation occurred While Bill Clinton, a Democrat, was president, theRepublicans won control of both the House of Representatives and the Senate Besides, the elections of the members of the two houses of Congress arealso separate from each other Thus, each parties may control one house Both ofthe House of Representatives and the Senate must agree on all legislation,however, before it becomes laws

II.3 The relationship between the President and Congress

Congress and the president are the most powerful of the three branches Inthe US, The national government may seem to speak with two conflictingvoices, that of the president and that of Congress

The president signs bills passed by Congress in order for them to becomelaw If the president vetoes a legislative bill passed by Congress – that is, if herefuses to sign it – the bill dies unless 2/3 of both the House and Senate vote tooverride the veto This rarely happens

On the other hand, a treaty with a foreign government signed by thepresident dies if the Senate refuses to ratify it – that is, votes to accept it

3 The Ideal of the Free Individual

The "Free Individual" is for those choosing to live their lives as free individuals in this world in their lifetime If it is truly freedom you want, the

"Free Individual" is the place to start.

In the late 1700s, most Americans expected the new national governmentcreatedby the Constitution to leave them alone to pursue their individual goals.They believed the central purpose of government was to create the conditionsmost favorable to the development of the free individual.

Before the Civil War of the 1860s, the American ideal of the free

individual was the frontier settler and the small farmer President ThomasJefferson glorified farmers for being free individuals who relied on no one butthemselves for their daily needs He believed they were the most honest ofcitizens Throughout his life Jefferson favored a small, weak form ofgovernment, which he believed would encourage the development of a nation offree, self-reliant farmer citizens

From the end of the Civil War until the Great Depression of the 1930s, thesuccessful businessperson became the ideal expression of the free individual.The prevailing view of Americans was that government should not interfere inbusiness If so, it would threaten the development of free individuals whosecompetitive spirit, self-reliance, and hard work were developing the UnitedStates into a land of greater and greater material prosperity

Government, therefore, remained small and inactive in relation to the greatsize of the nation and the amount of power held by business corporations Fromthe 1870s until the 1930s, business organizations and ideas dominated Americangovernment and politics The Republican party, one of the nation’s two majorpolitical parties, strongly supported government policies favorable to business.The Republicans were more successful than their rivals, the Democrats, inelecting presidents and congressmen during this period

4 The Development of Big Government: The Welfare State

4.1 The definition of welfare state:

The welfare state is a form of government in which the state protects andpromotes the economic and social well-being of the citizens, based upon theprinciples of equal opportunity, equitable distribution of wealth, and public

responsibility for citizens unable to avail themselves of the minimal provisionsfor a good life.

4.2 The welfare state of the United States:

Traditionally, Republicans let the free enterprise system regulate itself inthe marketplace On the other hand, Democrats have traditionally favored usinggovernment to regulate businesses, protect consumers and workers, and also tosolve social problems Through the great Depression of the 1930s the idea thatgovernment should be small and inactive was largely abandoned

The widespread unemployment and other economic hardships of theDepression gave rise to the new assumption that individuals could not beexpected to rely solely on themselves in providing for their economic security.This new assumption led to a large and active role for the national government

in helping individuals, meet their daily needs The Democratic Party, led byPresident Franklin Roosevelt, brought about a number of changes in the 1930s,which he referred to as a "New Deal" for Americans

Even with the return of prosperity after the Depression and World War II(1941-1945), the growth of government's role in helping to provide economicsecurity for individuals did not end Roosevelt's New Deal grew into what somesaw as a permanent "welfare state" that provided payments for retired persons,government checks for the unemployed, support for families with dependentchildren and no father to provide income, health care for the poor and theelderly, and other benefits for needy persons

However, the welfare state has bad impacts on some individual freedom’sissues Although it has continued to grow, it has never been fully accepted bymany Americans They fear that economic security provided by the governmentwill weaken self-reliance, an ideal that is closely associated in the minds ofAmericans with individual freedom Many Americans believe that it presents adanger to individual freedom by making an increasing number of Americansdependent on the government instead of on themselves Because welfare

programs go against the basic value of self-reliance, many Americans believethat having to “go on welfare” to meet daily needs is a personal embarrassmentand a mark of failure It’s necessary to reform the welfare system In 1996, awelfare reform bill was passed It placed limits on the number of years peoplecan receive welfare payments and gave states much more responsibility fordeciding who is eligible for support.

Besides, the welfare system in the US has also been troubled by racialproblems that began with black slavery Although American blacks have madesignificant gains in the last thirty years, many are still unable to escape frompoverty and unemployment Sadly, some of the old racial prejudices againstblack Americans have been transferred to welfare programs In reality, there are

4 or 5 times as many white people on welfare as there are African – Americans

or members of other minorities

5 The Role of Special Interest Groups

5.1 Definition of Special Interest Groups

A special interest group, also called interest group or pressure group, anyassociation of individuals or organizations, usually formally organized, that, onthe basis of one or more shared concerns, attempts to influence public policy inits favor All interest groups share a desire to affect government policy to benefitthemselves or their causes Their goal could be a policy that exclusively benefitsgroup members or one segment of society (e.g., government subsidies for farmers)

or a policy that advances a broader public purpose (e.g., improving air quality).They attempt to achieve their goals by lobbying—that is, by attempting to bringpressure to bear on policy makers to gain policy outcomes in their favour

Interest groups have a certain influence on the government A number ofgovernment decisions were made thanks to the impact of these interest groups

5.2 The formation of Special Interest Groups

Since the 1930s, the great expansion of government programs is only partlydue to the growth of welfare programs that help the poor and the needy

Practically, all social and economic classes of Americans have seen the need totake advantage of, or to protect themselves from the actions of government,especially the national government To accomplish this, Americans with similarinterests have formed special groups called lobbying groups or pressure groups

to more effectively influence the actions of government These groups haveexisted throughout the nation’s history and they have grown significantly in bothnumbers and power in recent year

5.3 Types of Special Interest Groups and examples

The types of groups reflect the diversity of people and concerns in thecountry and around the world The major types of interest groups are:

Economic groups focus on representing the economic interests of members.

They can be further divided into:

 Business

National Association of Manufacturers (NAM): helping manufacturerscompete in the global economy

U.S Women's Chamber of Commerce: representing the interests of women

in business and working to help them succeed

 Labor

American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations(AFL-CIO): Promoting safety, job growth, job security, and wages and benefitsfor workers in many industries

National Education Association (NEA): Representing teachers and manyother public school employees