Principles and Articles of the US Constitution Essay

When one speaks of checks and balances in government you must understand what is really being asked. It is simply a system set up of the three branches of government that can either amend or veto an act of another branch as to prevent any one branch from having too much power over the other. Is this system effective? Over time, the Constitution has been interpreted and amended to adapt to changing circumstances, and the powers exercised by the federal government have changed with it. For instance because the federal government can influence the states it has the right to withhold federal funds from the states that do not want to go along with their plans whatever they maybe. Because the government can only exercise those powers specifically granted by Constitution, it is important to protection the rights and powers of the people. This includes the freedom of speech, press, and religion; the right to be free from unlawful searches and to a trail by jury, all of which are the first 10 amendments. Numerous real life conflicts have put this system to test over the past couple of centuries, but have stood fairly strong for over 200 years. From the resignation of Nixon over the Watergate scandal to Clinton’s impeachment over the affair with Ms. Lewinsky (Checks and Balances within the U. S Government) it proofs that this system can guard the U. S from any tyranny from administration corruption, scandals and cover-ups. So yes this system proves to be effective to me and that all the government branches remain important and no reform is deemed necessary at this time. How does a bill become a law? Getting a bill passed as a law takes time and effort on part of the U. S. House of Representatives. I’ll give a brief summary of the steps from bill to law. First and foremost a bill is just an idea either from the representatives or the people at which time if agreed upon it then becomes a bill. Next, other representatives have to support the bill, if so then it is placed in a box next to the clerks’ desk, assigned a number and then read to the house. The speaker of the house then sends it to the committee for review, research and revisions before sending it back to the house floor. Sometimes additional information is required and then the bill is sent to sub-committees before being an approved. Once approved the bill is then ready for debate by the House of Representatives where they will agree or disagree on the bill. Changes are then made and now the bill is ready for voting. It takes majority of the Representatives to say or select yes on the matter at which time it is then delivered to the U.  S. Senate by the clerk of the house. Just like the U. S. House of Representatives the U. S Senate goes through some of the similar steps. The Senate committee discusses the bill and then report to the Senate floor for yet again another vote. If the vote is â€Å"yea† then off to the President it goes. The President has the option to sign and pass the bill, veto the bill or do thing at which time the house makes the decision based on what is happening in the house. If by chance the bill has passed in both the U. S. House of Representatives and the U. S.  Senate and is approved by the President then the bill becomes a law and will then be enforced by the government. I believe that because the three branches were put in place for the people it has worked to some extent. The people get a chance to vote and elect who they want to run the country in which they must live. We get the option of having a trail that is to be fair and without prejudice. Sometimes though you have to ask yourself when making decisions are all the decisions about the people or are they thinking about themselves and personal agendas. I would have to say sometimes it is both. When the vote is about raising taxes who does this hurts the poor man not the wealthy. When they want to vote on cutting jobs in higher offices then they try and fix the budget. How unfair is that. Decisions should always be made to suit the country as a whole and not when it deems necessary. Some things that I did learn was that when it came to voting that it was something called electoral votes and is made by an electoral college who actually cast the votes for which the candidates really become president. a person running for president can lose the overall popular votes, but still become President because of the votes casted by the electoral college† (Kimberling, 1992). Now my take on this is that in actuality as a people we are not really electing a president that we pick because of this rule from the Electoral College, so why have us vote? The U. S. Constitution had been around for over 200 years and has managed to with stand the test of time with minimum problems so I believe that we should just allow this document to run its course and see it through the end of time.