Election Season Refresher

Just a quick refresher during an election season when we hear a lot of terms thrown around amid all the poliical jibber-jabber and election noise......(something I picked up/copied/put together some time ago and had on file)

The Philadelphia Convention of 1787 produced what has become the longest-lived national Constitution in world history. Crafted as a set of principles detailing how the infant American nation would be governed, the U.S. Constitution was designed to protect individual freedoms while at the same time establishing a strong national government. Fearing both the autocratic rule of a monarch and the potential tyranny of a popular majority, the document prescribed a republican form of government. To safeguard against the abuse of power, it called for a system of checks and balances wherein each of three separate, coequal branches of government - the executive, the legislative, and the judicial - was granted its own particular set of powers and responsibilities.

The power of the executive branch is vested in the President, who is elected to a four-year term and is eligible for reelection only once. The President serves as Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces, appoints the Cabinet, oversees the various agencies and departments of the federal government, negotiates treaties, acts as head of state, and approves and carries out laws passed by the legislative branch. The executive branch also consists of the Vice President and members of the Cabinet. The Cabinet is composed of the heads of the fifteen major departments whose purpose is to advise the President on subjects relating to the duties of their respective offices. The Cabinet includes the Attorney General and the Secretaries of Agriculture, Commerce, Defense, Education, Energy, Health and Human Services, Homeland Security, Housing and Urban Development, Interior, Labor, State, Transportation, Treasury, and Veterans Affairs.

The duty of the legislative branch, which consists of the Congress, is to make laws. The Congress is divided into two chambers - the Senate and the House of Representatives. Each Congressional member is elected by the voters of his or her state. The House of Representatives, whose membership is based on state populations, currently has 435 seats. The Senate, with two representatives from each state, has 100 seats. Members of the House of Representatives are elected to two-year terms, and Senators are elected to six-year terms. The U.S. Vice President is officially the head of the Senate but does not vote on any legislation except in cases where a vote is needed to break a tie among the Senators. The Senate approves or rejects the President's nominees for the Cabinet, the Supreme Court, federal courts, and other posts. The Senate must ratify all treaties by a two-thirds vote. Each party in the Senate and the House of Representatives elects its own leader. The leader of the party that controls the House is called the majority leader. The other party leader is called the minority leader.

The judicial branch consists of the Supreme Court and the lower federal courts, hearing cases that challenge or require interpretation of the legislation passed by Congress and signed by the President. The head of the judicial branch, the Supreme Court, is entrusted with the duty of deciding whether a policy or law is constitutional or unconstitutional. Its decisions are final, and no other court can overrule it. The number of Supreme Court Justices is determined by Congress rather than the Constitution, and since 1869 the Court has been composed of one Chief Justice and eight Associate Justices. These Justices are nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate. Appointees to the federal bench serve for life or until they voluntarily resign or retire.

We've all heard the terms ''soft money''; ''527'', and ''Shadow Party''.

''Soft Money'' and the so-called ''527'' Political Action Committees. These are private nonprofit, activist groups registered under Section 527 of the U.S. tax code. These are less regulated and require less disclosure than other types of nonprofit groups engaged in electioneering. They need not register with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) as ''political organizations.'' Consequently, are not compelled to observe the FEC?s strict limits on political contributions. The ''527'' committees may collect as much money as they like, with no limits on how much they may receive from individuals or corporations. This is commonly referred to as ''soft money.''

The Shadow Party refers specifically to individuals affiliated with certain ''527'' political committees organized by billionaire George Soros and others to mobilize resources - money, get-out-the-vote drives, campaign advertising, and policy initiatives - to elect Democratic candidates.