Our government is divided into three different parts or branches. These three branches are the Executive, the Legislative and the Judicial.
The Legislative branch is our bicameral or two part Congress. The two parts are known as the House of Representatives and the Senate. Both parts play an important role in making laws, but there are some differences between the two.
To run for the House you have to be 25 years old and have been a citizen for 7 years. If you get elected your term only lasts for two years.
To run for Senator you have to be 30 years old and must have been a citizen for 9 years. If elected your term only lasts for six years.
Besides different ages and different term limits there is a difference between the amount of people in each part of Congress. The amount of representatives per state depends on the population. Right now there is one representative per five thousand citizens. The Senate is made up of two senators from each state making 100 senators. Another difference is that the House is the only place that a law about taxes and the impeachment of someone can start. The Senate has to try any impeachments.
Both the House and the Senate have a main leader who helps the group. For the Senate it is the Vice President of the United States who is the President of the Senate. As the President of the Senate they can only vote if there is a tie.
For the House it is the Speaker, who gets voted in by the representatives. The Speaker of the House is the highest ranking Representative and is just below the vice president in command of the country.
The Senators for the state of Colorado as of now are Wayne Allard and Ken Salazar. The republican Senator for Colorado is Wayne Allard. The democrat Senator for Colorado is Ken Salazar, The House Representatives for Colorado as of now are John Salazar, Ed Pearlmutter, Diana DeGette, Mark Udall, Thomas Tencredo, Marilyn Musgrave, and Doug Lamborn. Colorado has three republicans in the House who are Thomas Tencredo, Marylin Musgrave and Doug Lamborn. Colorado’s four democratic representatives are Mark Udall, Diana DeGette, John Salazar and Ed Purlmutter. The candidates that are running for Senators in Colorado are Mark Udall, Bob Schaffer, Bob Kinsey, and Douglas “Dayhorse” Campbell.
I think that the power of splitting the Legislative branch is helping to keep the power spread evenly, because they would have so much power if they were all one group. So I have to wonder why does this one branch have so much power? Is this a good thing? What if they combined into one group? I think that this branch has the most power because it has more people in it than the other two branches. I think that if they combined into one group that would destroy our system of government’s checks and balances on each other. This would not be a good thing to happen, but it has a very small chance of happening because five hundred and forty three minds would have to agree on everything and both groups would have to give up some of their power. Another wonder I have is, Are the Senate and House equal? I think that the Senate has more power because unlike the House they are never completely new. In the constitution it states that one-third of the senators are elected every two years. I think this makes the Senate have more advantage, because two-thirds of the senators will have already have had experience in this position.
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5 comments:
Thats is a good question. What would happen if they were alll combined into one group? Would they go into a corrupt mind set and do what ever they please? Although, it would be really hard to make an agreement with 435 people in one room or place and they are all trying to agree on something. How do you think that would work? Would it make our gov. faster or slower? would it have a positive effect or a negitive?
Excelent questions. I think that the legislative branch was split up to make sure that every state has equal representation. Do you think that Congress would actually be more effective if it weren't split up? I can see both pros and cons to that. On one side, it would take less time to pass laws and come to conclusions, but on the other it would remove one of the checks on our government.
If both the HOuse and the Senate combined, it would be hard for them all to agree since their would be 535 minds. I think that it would definatly have a negative effect because they have a lot of power.
Alright. Thanks for this info. I don't think this branch has more power than the other two... but I keep thinking about how to start the war in Iraq, Congress gave their power to Bush. He shouldn't have had the power to declare war. But at least there are more people in Congress so more have to agree in order to take action. Also those are the people we elected, which is better than not having a choice right?
As for the splitting of Congress I think that the house of representatives is more for the people of this country. But I agree with what people before me said that if they were combined it won't work so well.
I think that your blog was very informative. I would like to say that I am glad that there are two parts to congress. I think this is just another way to have checks and balences with the powers.
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