1、A Survey of USA: - Political Parties and Elections,Political Parties and Elections,1. How did the two major parties come into being? 2. What images of one another do the two major parties hold? 3. What are the functions of the major parties when the general election comes? 4. How is the conduct of e
2、lections regulated in the U. S.? 5. What is the “winner-take-all“ system? 6. How is the president elected if no candidate receives a majority of the electoral votes?,Political Parties and Elections,The United States has a two-party system. Only the two major parties, the Democratic Party and the Rep
3、ublican Party, have held the presidency or won control of Congress.,Political Parties and Elections,In 1874, the American famous political cartoonist Thomas Nest drew a political picture with a donkey representing the Democratic Party and an elephant representing the Republican Party.From then on, t
4、he donkey and the elephant became the symbols of the two parties.,Political Parties and Elections,It was the leading party before the Civil War and Thomas Jefferson was usually thought the first Democratic President. The old Democrats tended to support more state autonomy and object to a too powerfu
5、l central government. Many Americans believe that Jefferson contributed much to making American Government more democratic.,Political Parties and Elections,The Republican Party came into being in 1854. It was a party of the northern capitalists who opposed slavery from their own political and econom
6、ic interests. Abraham Lincoln was usually considered as the first Republican President. After the Civil War the Republican Party demanded a harsh policy in dealing with the defeated South,Political Parties and Elections,Each party takes its extremist supporters more or less for granted and seeks out
7、 the voters in the middle. This is one reason that college students on the far Left or far Right are impatient with the leadership of the major parties.Both parties seem to such students to operate in the center and in face they do.,Political Parties and Elections,The major parties are more complex
8、today than they were in the last century. Like the government itself, they have national, state, and local organizations, and each level has executive, legislative, and other elements.,2.1 The Federal Government,1. The Executive Branch,14 department and white house President is chief of the executiv
9、e First citizen First lady,Function of the President,1. to command the armed forces and grant pardons 2. to make appointments to certain office,Qualification of the President Natural-born American citizen of and over 35 years old Being resident within the Us For at least 14 years Serve one or two su
10、ccessive terms of four years Exception: Franklin D. Roosevelt -the only president who served more than two successive terms. After world war II, Congress adopted an amendment limiting a president to 2 successive terms only.,The watergate scandal,The watergate scandle occurred in 1972. it remains one
11、 of the top presidential scandals of modern time. To defeat his adversary, Nixon hired five burglars to set up wiretaps to get confidential information in the Democratic National Committee offices, it was exposed and became the biggest political scandal in the history of America. Because of pressure
12、 of public, nixon was resigned in 1974.,The Legislative Branch,1) The senate 100 voting members , two from each state. They may be reelected for an unlimited number of six-year terms, chosen by a direct election. Qualification for being a senate Over 30 years old A US citizen for at least 9 years Re
13、sident in the state from which he is elected.,2) The house of representatives 众议院 435 voting members Qualifications for being a representative At least 25 years old A US citizen for no less than 7 years Serve for a term of 2 years The function of congress is passing laws for the Union,Political Part
14、ies and Elections,There are many kinds of elections in the United States. When an American votes in November in the presidential election each leap year, he is at the same time voting in several other elections as well. He is also voting for a Representative or a Senator. At regular intervals he vot
15、es to choose the governor of his state, the mayor of his town or city and the holders of several local public offices.,Political Parties and Elections,The election process in the United States is rather complex. The Presidential election (four stages): The first stage: the major parties hold convent
16、ions to choose candidates for President and Vice-President and to determine the partys platform.,Political Parties and Elections,The second stage is the campaigning stage. By early fall the presidential race is on. From that time until the election day, voters are bombarded from all sides - by radio
17、, television, newspapers, and personal communications with political material. There are whistle stop tours by train, by plane, and by car. The candidate delivers countless speeches and shakes countless hands. This is a very important stage in the general election.,Political Parties and Elections,Th
18、e third stage is the time for voters to choose the list of presidential electors for the state. The number of electors of each state is equal to that of its senators and representatives in Congress. There are altogether 538 presidential electors, 535 from the states and 3 from the District of Columb
19、ia (without seats in Congress).,Political Parties and Elections,The voters of a state can choose presidential electors only between the Democratic list and the Republican list, because of the American Two-party system.,Political Parties and Elections,If the candidates of a party for electors in a gi
20、ven state receive a majority of the total vote, then the party is entitled to have all the electoral votes for that state, even though a presidential candidate receives only slightly more than electoral votes of that state. This system is known as the winner-take-all principle. Under the two-party s
21、ystem, if the states controlled by one party have more electoral votes than the states controlled by the other party, then the first party wins the election.,Political Parties and Elections,Therefore when the presidential electors are chosen out in November in the presidential election year, people have already known who is going to be the U. S. president in the next four years.,
