I have tried to somewhat stay away from the political battles going on, but I have been stewing on some "stuff" for a while now. So, here we go...
There seems to be a tremendous outcry of things President Trump has said or done in running the government. (an understatement maybe?) Since neither Civics nor Political Science are taught much at all any more I wanted to remind (or maybe let some know for the first time) some facts about how our government was designed and is set up to be run.
(A note: if you are not into a civics lesson and want to get to the "point" of this - scroll down to the line -------- and start there)
Ultimately, but indirectly, the government is run my us - We the People. We do that through voting every 2, 4, and/or 6 years depending on the elected office. However for all practical purposes the government is run by each of the three branches - the Executive, the Legislative, and the Judicial.
The Judicial at the Federal/National level is the Supreme Court and the 13 Courts of Appeal, along with District, Bankruptcy, and other special courts. The 9 Supremes of the Supreme Court are headed by a Chief Justice that is appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate. The 13 Courts of Appeal are headed by the Justices, with them being divided up between them. Some of the Associate Justices have multiple circuits under them and the Chief Justice has several as well.
The primary job/role of the Supreme Court currently is to rule on the constitutionality of laws and regulations. Just as an aside, this was not a power given to the Supremes by the Constitution or the Founders. They gave it to themselves in a court ruling by themselves - but that is another subject. It is accepted now that the role of the Supremes is to rule on the Constitutionality of anything brought before them. These Justices, and the Federal judges are appointed by the President with consent of the Senate. (this too has been changed from the intent in my opinion and others that are much more knowledgeable about the Constitution, but this too is the accepted role now) However, the major point here is the Executive branch through the President is given the role of appointing judges with some oversight from the Legislative branch through the Senate. Federal judges are appointed for life with the decision to step down at their discretion. They can literally die in their robes on the bench. There are impeachment proceedings that can be brought to bear to remove a Federal judge for violations of the law. However, in their courtrooms on the bench they are almost all powerful with only the appeal to reign them in. Remember, there is no appeal on rulings from the Supremes however.
The Legislative at the Federal/National level is the Congress - the House of Representatives with 435 elected Representatives apportioned by population; and the Senate with 100 elected Senators, 2 from each State. The Senate terms are 6 years with staggered terms so that both senators are not up for reelection during the same cycle. The House terms are 2 years with all up for reelection each cycle. A point here, this 2 year cycle was set up as the House was to be the "People's" chamber. A shorter term was designed to allow common working people to serve and then go back home to "real life" in 2 years with new blood coming in. We now have 144 Representatives that have been in their seat for 10 years or more. But, this to is not the point, but why I think we desperately need term limits.
The primary job of the Legislative branch is to...wait for it...LEGISLATE! They are to write laws to help people in their quest for "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness". Because we have Representatives that see the job as a career, the job has become a lot of drama and theater. They have "hearings" into idiotic things that, at least in my opinion, should not even enter the chamber of the legislative body of the i nation. I remember there were hearings on the state of the family farm years ago. That is fine, knowledge is needed to write proper laws. However one of the main "witnesses" was Jessica Lange, the actress. She was an "expert' as she had starred in a movie about a farm family fighting to keep their family farm. The Congress-creatures fawned over her like groupies. There are many other "hearings" that have no relevance what-so-ever to what the Legislative branch is mandated to do. What is sad, is that a large percentage of the population think they ARE supposed to be doing this. I have heard people saying the "Congress should look into this". FYI, I do think we probably have too many laws. I am actually sometimes glad the Congress is tied up doing "theater" versus writing more laws. But what I really would like is for them to improve things for the average person and quit worrying about reelection!
I am adding this part in italics the day after the original post. I was thinking today that I left out a LARGE part of the job of Congress. That is the budget process. This is somewhat of a simplification of how the process works, but I think it will be found to be factual if a bit simplified.
The Constitution gives fiduciary responsibility to Congress. Congress alone has the power to enact taxes, approve budgets, and disperse money to run the government. The Executive branch and its departments actually spend it, but it comes from the appropriation committees in the House.
About 1 1/2 years from a budget year (which runs from Oct 1st through Sept 30th) each of the Executive branch departments draw up a request for funds and a budget outline. This is collected by the President's staff and turned into a budget request. That is why a lot of people think that the government spending is a province of the President. This is only a request however. The House finance committees can accept it "as is" (never), with slight adjustments (almost never), with major changes (sometimes), or just throw it out and start over (with the bi-partisan bent to politics/government today, this one happens more often than not). Then the budget is approved in the House and is sent to the Senate. Concurrently with the House deliberations the Senate is drawing up recommendations of their own. This is compared to the House budget and changes are made to make them "match". Then both chambers approve the budget and send it to the President to sign. Now, without line item veto power all the President can do is sign it or veto it and sent it back to Congress. Then they can vote and override the veto, in which case the budget becomes law, or rework the budget and sent it back to the President to sign.
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Now for the "meat" of this - the Executive branch of our government. The primary job of the Executive branch is essentially management. It enforces the laws written by the Legislative branch and appoints members of the Judicial branch as discussed above. The Executive branch also appoints the departments of the government and (CRITICAL FACT HERE) they report to and are subordinate to the Executive branch and the head of the Executive - the President. That is correct, the State Department reports to and is subordinate to the President. So is the Department of Justice. So is the EPA, the DOE, and all the other departments. The leaders and management of those departments are appointed by, work for, and serve at the pleasure of the President. So...
When an Ambassador says the President directed her on foreign policy - that is actually what he is required to do by the Constitution. When the President fires the director of the FBI, CIA, or DOE, that is well within his Constitutional mandate and his job. All the directors and cabinet members work for the President...period. Within any legal employment requirements he can hire and fire them at will. He is also their "boss" and manager. He is supposed to direct the DOJ. In fact, by law he is the top law enforcement officer in the country. (that is why the President has the power to pardon people convicted of Federal crimes.) He is supposed to direct the State Department and foreign policy. That also is his job and Constitutionally mandated.
There are many other comments I could make about the political climate of today and the partisanship of the government today. But, I will keep it at a civics lesson. Civil comments are welcomed as always.
There seems to be a tremendous outcry of things President Trump has said or done in running the government. (an understatement maybe?) Since neither Civics nor Political Science are taught much at all any more I wanted to remind (or maybe let some know for the first time) some facts about how our government was designed and is set up to be run.
(A note: if you are not into a civics lesson and want to get to the "point" of this - scroll down to the line -------- and start there)
Ultimately, but indirectly, the government is run my us - We the People. We do that through voting every 2, 4, and/or 6 years depending on the elected office. However for all practical purposes the government is run by each of the three branches - the Executive, the Legislative, and the Judicial.
The Judicial at the Federal/National level is the Supreme Court and the 13 Courts of Appeal, along with District, Bankruptcy, and other special courts. The 9 Supremes of the Supreme Court are headed by a Chief Justice that is appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate. The 13 Courts of Appeal are headed by the Justices, with them being divided up between them. Some of the Associate Justices have multiple circuits under them and the Chief Justice has several as well.
The primary job/role of the Supreme Court currently is to rule on the constitutionality of laws and regulations. Just as an aside, this was not a power given to the Supremes by the Constitution or the Founders. They gave it to themselves in a court ruling by themselves - but that is another subject. It is accepted now that the role of the Supremes is to rule on the Constitutionality of anything brought before them. These Justices, and the Federal judges are appointed by the President with consent of the Senate. (this too has been changed from the intent in my opinion and others that are much more knowledgeable about the Constitution, but this too is the accepted role now) However, the major point here is the Executive branch through the President is given the role of appointing judges with some oversight from the Legislative branch through the Senate. Federal judges are appointed for life with the decision to step down at their discretion. They can literally die in their robes on the bench. There are impeachment proceedings that can be brought to bear to remove a Federal judge for violations of the law. However, in their courtrooms on the bench they are almost all powerful with only the appeal to reign them in. Remember, there is no appeal on rulings from the Supremes however.
The Legislative at the Federal/National level is the Congress - the House of Representatives with 435 elected Representatives apportioned by population; and the Senate with 100 elected Senators, 2 from each State. The Senate terms are 6 years with staggered terms so that both senators are not up for reelection during the same cycle. The House terms are 2 years with all up for reelection each cycle. A point here, this 2 year cycle was set up as the House was to be the "People's" chamber. A shorter term was designed to allow common working people to serve and then go back home to "real life" in 2 years with new blood coming in. We now have 144 Representatives that have been in their seat for 10 years or more. But, this to is not the point, but why I think we desperately need term limits.
The primary job of the Legislative branch is to...wait for it...LEGISLATE! They are to write laws to help people in their quest for "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness". Because we have Representatives that see the job as a career, the job has become a lot of drama and theater. They have "hearings" into idiotic things that, at least in my opinion, should not even enter the chamber of the legislative body of the i nation. I remember there were hearings on the state of the family farm years ago. That is fine, knowledge is needed to write proper laws. However one of the main "witnesses" was Jessica Lange, the actress. She was an "expert' as she had starred in a movie about a farm family fighting to keep their family farm. The Congress-creatures fawned over her like groupies. There are many other "hearings" that have no relevance what-so-ever to what the Legislative branch is mandated to do. What is sad, is that a large percentage of the population think they ARE supposed to be doing this. I have heard people saying the "Congress should look into this". FYI, I do think we probably have too many laws. I am actually sometimes glad the Congress is tied up doing "theater" versus writing more laws. But what I really would like is for them to improve things for the average person and quit worrying about reelection!
I am adding this part in italics the day after the original post. I was thinking today that I left out a LARGE part of the job of Congress. That is the budget process. This is somewhat of a simplification of how the process works, but I think it will be found to be factual if a bit simplified.
The Constitution gives fiduciary responsibility to Congress. Congress alone has the power to enact taxes, approve budgets, and disperse money to run the government. The Executive branch and its departments actually spend it, but it comes from the appropriation committees in the House.
About 1 1/2 years from a budget year (which runs from Oct 1st through Sept 30th) each of the Executive branch departments draw up a request for funds and a budget outline. This is collected by the President's staff and turned into a budget request. That is why a lot of people think that the government spending is a province of the President. This is only a request however. The House finance committees can accept it "as is" (never), with slight adjustments (almost never), with major changes (sometimes), or just throw it out and start over (with the bi-partisan bent to politics/government today, this one happens more often than not). Then the budget is approved in the House and is sent to the Senate. Concurrently with the House deliberations the Senate is drawing up recommendations of their own. This is compared to the House budget and changes are made to make them "match". Then both chambers approve the budget and send it to the President to sign. Now, without line item veto power all the President can do is sign it or veto it and sent it back to Congress. Then they can vote and override the veto, in which case the budget becomes law, or rework the budget and sent it back to the President to sign.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Now for the "meat" of this - the Executive branch of our government. The primary job of the Executive branch is essentially management. It enforces the laws written by the Legislative branch and appoints members of the Judicial branch as discussed above. The Executive branch also appoints the departments of the government and (CRITICAL FACT HERE) they report to and are subordinate to the Executive branch and the head of the Executive - the President. That is correct, the State Department reports to and is subordinate to the President. So is the Department of Justice. So is the EPA, the DOE, and all the other departments. The leaders and management of those departments are appointed by, work for, and serve at the pleasure of the President. So...
When an Ambassador says the President directed her on foreign policy - that is actually what he is required to do by the Constitution. When the President fires the director of the FBI, CIA, or DOE, that is well within his Constitutional mandate and his job. All the directors and cabinet members work for the President...period. Within any legal employment requirements he can hire and fire them at will. He is also their "boss" and manager. He is supposed to direct the DOJ. In fact, by law he is the top law enforcement officer in the country. (that is why the President has the power to pardon people convicted of Federal crimes.) He is supposed to direct the State Department and foreign policy. That also is his job and Constitutionally mandated.
There are many other comments I could make about the political climate of today and the partisanship of the government today. But, I will keep it at a civics lesson. Civil comments are welcomed as always.
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