The Constitution of the United States requires that a congressional election be held every two years. At that time, voters elect all the members of the House of Representatives for a two-year term and about one-third of the Senate members for a six-year term. The Constitution also requires the election of a President and a Vice President every four years. Federal law states that national elections are to be held on the first Tuesday after the first Monday of November.
State laws regulate all elections, including national and local ones. Such laws establish the eligibility requirements for state officials and the date on which state and local elections are to be held. They also establish the qualifications for voters. However, the Constitution gives Congress the right to change state voter requirements if they violate constitutional guarantees.
At one time, political parties nominated nearly all candidates at national, state, and local conventions or in closed meetings of party members called caucuses. Today, candidates for most state and local offices are nominated in direct primary elections. A direct primary is a contest in which voters choose the candidates
who will represent each political party in the upcoming general election. Other candidates may run in the general election, where voters make their final choice. However, only the candidates who win the primaries become official party nominees. A runoff election may be held if no candidate in the original primary receives more than half the vote. The two candidates with the most votes run against each other, and the winner becomes the party nominee.
Voting and Elections
Voting is the primary symbol of citizenship in a democratic society; indeed, ‘one person, one vote’ is one of the core principles of democracy. A voting system allows voters to choose between options. Voting can be also used to award prizes, to select between different plans of action.
A voting system contains rules for valid voting. The study of formally defined voting system is called voting theory. Voting theory began formally in the 18th century and many proposals for voting systems have been made. Voting systems are either majority rule, proportional representation or plurality voting. Different voting systems may give very different results, particularly in cases where there is no clear majority preference.
All Western countries hold regular elections. Elections are the major way by which those who rule are made answerable to the mass of people.
Some countries hold many types of election, others few. In the United Kingdom, electors can vote in local and European elections, as well as in a general one every four or five years. In the United States, Americans elect people for offices which in most states would be filled by appointment. It has been estimated that there are a million elected offices in the USA. Americans clearly have a great enthusiasm for the ballot box. They have always feared a concentration of power in too few hands. Even when they elect officials, they do not in most cases allow them to serve for too long.
In several countries, elections are used by those in power to give the illusion of popular participation. However, the object of elections is the same, to confer legitimacy on the government. A democratic general election is distinguished by several characteristics. These include such features as:
a universal franchise;
a secret ballot;
a time limit on office;
the freedom to form parties;
contests in every constituency;
campaigns regulated by strict and fair rules.
Whatever the system it is likely that some voters will not be registered. Of those who are registered, others will be unable to cast their vote because of illness, absence or other circumstances.
Some people are just unwilling to make the effort. Hence the remedy introduced in several countries: compulsory voting. Australia, Austria, Belgium and some Latin American states are among those which have resorted to this method, but in most cases its effectiveness is limited by the low level of fines and the
difficulties in collecting those fines.
Political Parties
A political party is an organized group of people who control or seek to control a government. In democratic countries, political parties compete against one another in elections to keep or gain
control of a government. In the United States and Canada, political parties are active on the national, state or provincial, and local levels.
Political parties are absolutely necessary to democratic government. Most modern democracies are representative democracies. That is, the people elect representatives to act as their agents in making and enforcing laws. In a representative democracy, some means is needed for nominating candidates for
public office and for selecting issues for public debate. Political parties perform these functions. At election time, the people vote into office the candidates of their choice. Political parties are voluntary organizations and want as many members as possible. Some of these parties have rules and membership dues. Others have practically no rules and require no dues. Most dictatorships allow only one political party – the party that controls the government. That party also tightly controls who may run for election.
In democratic countries, political parties perform several important tasks. (1) They select candidates to run for public office. (2) They help organize the government. (3) They provide opposition to the party in power. (4) They raise funds to conduct election campaigns. Other functions of parties in democratic
countries include informing voters about public affairs and about problems that need government action. In one-party nations, the chief functions of political parties are to select candidates for office and organize the government.
In one-party nations, the candidates the party selects to run for office automatically win election because they have no opposition. In China, for example, the Communist Party – the only party allowed – chooses the candidates for office.
In nations that have two or more parties, each party selects candidates for the various public offices. The voters then decide which candidates among the parties win office. Party leaders try to select candidates who have voter appeal and experience for the office.
During the early history of the United States, party leaders selected candidates for office in meetings called caucuses. But the caucus system became unpopular because it gave other party members little voice in the selection of candidates. In addition, one person or a small group of persons sometimes gained control of a caucus and used it for private gain.
By about 1840, the convention system for nominating candidates was in general use. Under this system, party members chose delegates to represent them at nominating conventions. But party bosses and political machines (organizations within a party) gained control of many conventions. Many delegates voted the way they were told or paid to vote. Today, conventions are held in only a few states to make some nominations for state and local offices and to discuss party affairs. The two major U.S. political
parties – the Democratic and Republican parties--still hold a national convention every four years to officially nominate candidates for President and Vice President.
During the early 1900's, many states began to replace the convention system with primary elections to select candidates for office. The aim was to reduce party control in the selection of candidates. Today, all states hold either open or closed primary elections for state offices. In an open primary, each voter receives the ballots of all parties holding primaries. In the voting booth, the voter selects which ballot to use. In a closed primary, voters receive only the ballot of the party to which they belong. In recent
years, the Republican and Democratic parties have relied on primary elections--and, in some states, caucuses--to select their presidential candidates. The parties then formally nominate the candidates at their national conventions.
Organizing the government is a major function of political parties. But how the parties do this depends on the government's established structure and on how the powers of government are divided.
Welfare State
Welfare state is the concept of government in which the state plays a key role in the protection and promotion of the economic and social well-being of its citizens. It is based on the principles of
equity of opportunities, equitable distribution of wealth, and public responsibility for those unable to avail themselves of the minimal provisions for a good life. The general term may cover a variety of forms of economic and social organization.
A fundamental feature of the welfare state is social insurance, a provision common to most advanced industrialized countries (e.g., National Insurance in the UK, Disability and Health Insurance in the US). Such insurance is usually financed by compulsory contributions and is intended to provide benefits to
persons and families during periods of greatest needs.
The welfare state also usually includes public provision of basic education, health services, and housing (in some cases at low cost or without charge). In these respects the welfare state is considerably more expensive in western European countries than in the US.
Antipoverty programs and the system of personal taxation mea also be regarded as aspects of the welfare state. Personal taxation falls into this category because its progressivity is used to achieve greater justice in income distribution and also because it is used to finance social insurance payments and other benefits not completely financed by compulsory contributions. In socialist countries the welfare state also covers employment and administration of consumer prices.
The modern use of the term is associated with the comprehensive measures of social insurance adopted in1948 by Great Britain on the basis of the report on Social Insurance and Allied Services. In the 20th century laissez-faire state was gradually abandoned, almost all states sought to provide at least some of the measures of social insurance associated with the welfare state. The welfare state provides state aid for the individual in almost all phases of his life-“from the cradle to the grave”-as exemplified in the Netherlands and the Social Democratic governments of the Scandinavian countries. Many less
developed countries have the establishment of some form of welfare state as their goal.
The principal problems in the administration of a welfare state are: determining the desirable level provision of services by the state; ensuring that the system of personal benefits and contributions meets needs of individuals and families while at the same time offering sufficient incentives for productive work; the equitable provision of resources to finance the services over and above the contributions of direct beneficiaries.