Citazione:
Elections
USA is a presidential republic. The president is the leader of the state and head of executive, so he is president and prime minister. He’s elected every four years and he can be re-elected only once. He is a very powerful man because he has many powers. He can veto the laws passed by the congress. He decides the American foreign policy. He is commander in chief of the armed forces and he has extraordinary powers in emergency.
The election takes place every four years and election campaign lasts about one year. The first party is the party nomination. The candidates of the same party compete in the primaries, that are held between March and June. The candidates who receive most votes meet in the summer convention to choose the official candidate for the White House.
Checks And Balances
The American Constitution, written in 1787 after the War of Independence, is the oldest still in force. It divides the government powers into three branches: Executive (president), Legislative (congress) and Judicial (supreme court). Each branch controls the others: the president can veto laws passed by the congress and nominate the judges of supreme court; the congress can override the president veto with 2/3 majority and must confirm the nominations of the judges; the supreme court can declare unconstitutional the decision taken by the president and the laws passed by the congress.
The congress is divided into two houses: House of Representative and the Senate, and it can also impeach the president.
In the congress there are some pressure groups (called lobbies).
The two main parties are republican (that believe in less centralized power and less social welfare and lower taxes) and democratic (that consider the government should help socially underprivileged).
The Industrialization
After the civil war the Americans colonized the western part of USA forcing the Indians to move to reserves.
It transformed the territory into a big market where raw materials were carried by the railways to the manufacturing centers, and the finished products went to the markets.
The principal type of industries that arose in that period were textile factories in the south, the oil company of the Rockefeller, iron mines, steel mills.
The industrial workers lived in poverty and most of them came from other states (for example from Europe). They moved to USA to find better life conditions, but they were wrong.
They usually went to the big industrial cities in the north-east of USA where working conditions were awful. For these reason they began to fight for better wages and shorter working hours.
- Le elezioni "si tengono" = "are held"