Unit 4 Politics and Economy

Political parties in the United States are mostly dominated1 by a two-party system, though the Constitution has always been silent on the issue of political parties since it was signed in 1787. The Constitution was adopted on June 21, 1788, which is the oldest written constitution still in use. The two major parties of the United States are the Democratic2 Party and the Republican Party. The United States has a capitalist mixed economy, which is fueled by rich natural resources, a well-developed infrastructure, and high productivity. It lays emphasis on private ownership and private businesses to produce most goods and services. A lot of top enterprises emerge in the United States, such as IBM, Apple, Ford, Boeing, McDonald’s,Coca Cola and CNN, etc.

Political System

The outline of the government of the United States is laid out in the Constitution. The government was formed in 1789, making the United States one of the world’s first modern national constitutional republic. The United States is the world’s oldest surviving federation. The government is regulated by a system of checks and balances defined by the Constitution, which is a constitutional republic and representative democracy. The Constitution of the United States is a basic law from which the government gets all its power. It is the law that protects those who live in the United States from unreasonable actions by the national government or any state government.

The Constitution defines three branches of government. They are the legislative branch,which enacts laws; the executive branch, which enforces those laws; the judicial branch, which interprets laws.

Legislative branch is called Congress, made up of two groups of legislators — the Senate and the House of Representatives. It makes federal laws, declares wars, approves treaties, as well as has the power of the purse and impeachment, by which it can remove sitting members of the government. A member of the Senate is addressed as the Senator. Members of the House of Representatives are called congressmen or congresswomen. The Senate is often referred to as the upper house, which has 100 members, two senators from each state. Both senators represent the entire state. Senators are elected for 6-year term. Every two years, one third of all senators face reelection.

The lower house, which is called the House of Representatives, has 435 voting members and all of whom are elected every two years. The number of the representatives from each state is determined by that state’s population. For seven states have the minimum of one representative,while California, the most populous state, has 53 representatives. For the purpose of electing representatives, each state is divided into congressional districts. The districts within a state are equal in population. One representative is elected from each district. One of a representative’s major duties is to protect the interests of the people in that district.

The President is the nation’s chief executive. The President is the commander-in-chief of the military, who can veto legislative bills before they become laws, and appoints the members of the Cabinet and other officers, who administers and enforces federal laws and policies. The President also spends much of his time making decisions about foreign policy. A very large staff of advisers and other employees assist the President.

The judicial branch consists of the Supreme Court and lower federal courts, whose judges are appointed by the President with the Senate’s approval, interprets laws and overturns those they find unconstitutional.Federal laws cannot violate the terms of the Constitution. As a matter of fact,federal laws are in some way, controlled or affected by all three branches of the government—the Congress makes them; the President approves and enforces3 them; the courts determine what they mean and whether they are constitutional.

Political Parties

The modern political party system in the United States is a two-party system dominated by the two major political parties—the Democratic Party and the Republican Party. These two parties have won every presidential election since 1852 and have controlled the Congress since 1856. Several other parties from time to time achieve relatively minor representation at the national and state levels.

At the time the Constitution was signed in 1787, there were no parties in the nation. Indeed,no nation in the world at that time had voter-based political parties. The need to win popular support in a republic led to the American invention of political parties in the 1790s. Americans were especially devising new techniques that linked public opinions with public policy through the party.

The Democratic Party is the oldest political party in the United States and among the oldest in the world. The Democratic Party, since the division of the Republican Party in the election of 1912, has consistently positioned itself to the left of the Republican Party in economic as well as social matters. In 2004, it was the largest political party, with 72 million voters claiming affiliation. The president of the United States, Obama, is the 15th Democrat to hold the office.

The Republican Party is often referred to as the Grand Old Party (GOP). Founded in 1854 by anti-slavery expansion activists and modernizers, the Republican Party rose to prominence with the election of Abraham Lincoln, the first Republican President. It is currently the second largest party with 55 million registered members. Former President George W. Bush is the 19th Republican to hold the office.

Within American political culture, the Republican Party is considered center-right or conservative while the Democratic Party is considered center-left or liberal4. The states of the Northeast and West Coast and some of the Great Lakes states,known as "blue states", are relatively liberal. The "red states" of the South and parts of the Great Plains and Rocky Mountains are relatively conservative.

In the early years of the United States, voting was considered a matter for state governments, and was commonly restricted to white men who owned land. Direct elections were mostly held only for the United States House of Representatives and state legislatures. Today, American citizens have almost universal suffrage from the age of 18,regardless of race, gender, or wealth, and both Houses of Congress are directly elected.

The President serves a four-year term and may be elected to the office no more than twice.The President is not elected by direct votes, but by an indirect electoral college system in which the determining votes are apportioned to the states and the District of Columbia.

The President and the Vice President are elected together in a presidential election. The election is indirect, with the winner being determined by votes cast by electors of the Electoral College. In modern times, voters in each state select a slate of electors from a list of several slates,and the electors typically promise in advance to vote for the candidates5 of their party.Presidential elections occur on the Election Day, Tuesday between November 2 and 8, coinciding with the general elections of various other federal, states and local races. The winner of the 2008 presidential election, Democrat Obama, was the 44th President of the United States. The 2016 presidential campaign of Donald Trump was formally launched on June 16, 2015, at Trump Tower in New York City. Trump was the Republican nominee for President of the United States in the 2016 election, having won the most state primaries, caucuses, and delegates at the 2016 Republican National Convention.

Economy

The United States has the world’s largest national economy since at least the 1890s,compared with the European Union which has a larger collective economy, but it is not a single nation. The economy of the United States is a mixed economy and has maintained a stable overall GDP growth rate, a moderate unemployment rate, and high levels of research and capital investment. It is estimated that the United States GDP is the highest in the world, thus making it one of the world’s wealthiest nations. What’s more, the United States is the largest trading nation in the world. Its three largest trading partners are Canada, China and Mexico. Most of the economy is classified as services and the United States economy also maintains a very high level of output.

Agriculture is a major industry in the United States, which is a net exporter of food.Although agricultural activity occurs in all states, it is particularly concentrated in the Great Plains, a vast expanse of flat, arable land in the center of the United States and in the region around the Great Lakes known as the Corn Belt. Corn, turkeys, tomatoes, potatoes,peanuts, and sunflower seeds constitute some of the major holdovers from the agricultural endowment of the Americas.

The Untied States remains the world’s largest manufacturer, representing a fifth of the global manufacturing output. Of the world’s 500 largest companies, 133 are headquartered in the United States. This is twice the total of any other country. The labor market has attracted immigrants from all over the world and its net migration rate is among the highest in the world. It is the largest importer of goods and the third largest exporter. Oil was the largest import commodity,while transportation equipment was the country’s largest export. China is the largest foreign holder of American public debt. About 60% of the global currency reserves have been invested in the American dollar, while 24% have been invested in the euro. The United States is one of the world’s largest and most influential financial markets.

The United States has a capitalist mixed economy, which is fueled by abundant6 natural resources, a well-developed infrastructure, and high productivity. It lays emphasis on private ownership and private businesses to produce most goods and services. Two thirds of the output goes to individuals, while one third is bought by government and business.

Top Enterprises

IBM, which is short for International Business Machines Corporation, is an American multinational technology company headquartered7 in Armonk, New York, the United States. IBM operates in more than 170 countries with mobility centers in smaller market areas and major campuses in the larger ones. In New York City, IBM has several offices besides CHQ, including the IBM Watson headquarters at Astor Place in Manhattan. IBM has a large and diverse portfolio of products and services. These offerings fall into the categories of cloud computing, cognitive computing, commerce, data and analytics, Internet of Things, IT infrastructure, mobile, and security. IBM has one of the largest workforces in the world, and employees at Big Blue are referred to as "IBMers". The company was among the first corporations to provide group life insurance, survivor benefits, training for women, paid vacations, and training for disabled people.

McDonald’s is an American fast food company, founded in 1940 as a restaurant operated by Richard and Maurice McDonald, in San Bernardino, California, the United States. They rechristened their business as a hamburger stand. The first time a McDonald’s franchise used the Golden Arches logo was in 1953 at a location in Phoenix, Arizona. In 1955, Ray Kroc, a businessman, joined the company as a franchise agent and proceeded to purchase the chain from the McDonald brothers. McDonald’s had its original headquarters in Oak Brook, Illinois, but moved its global headquarters to Chicago in early 2018.

McDonald’s is the world’s largest restaurant chain by revenue, serving over 69 million customers daily in over 100 countries across approximately 36,900 outlets. Although McDonald’s is known for its hamburgers, they also sell cheeseburgers, chicken products, French fries,breakfast items, soft drinks, milkshakes, wraps, and desserts. In response to changing consumer tastes and a negative backlash because of the unhealthiness of their food, the company has added a lot to its menu, such as salads, fish, smoothies, and fruit. McDonald’s restaurants offer both counter service and drive-through service, with indoor and sometimes outdoor seating.

Cable News Network (CNN) is an American basic cable and satellite television news channel owned by the Turner Broadcasting System, a division of Time Warner. CNN was founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner as a 24-hour cable news channel.Upon its launch, CNN was the first television channel to provide 24-hour news coverage, and was the first all-news television channel in the United States.

While the news channel has numerous affiliates8, CNN primarily broadcasts from the Time Warner Center in New York City, and studios in Washington, D.C. and Los Angeles. Its headquarters at the CNN Center in Atlanta is only used for weekend programming. CNN is sometimes referred to as CNN to distinguish the American channel from its international sister network, CNN International.

CNN is available in over 100 million American households. Broadcast coverage of the United States channel extends to over 890,000 American hotel rooms, as well as carriage on cable and satellite providers throughout Canada. As of July 2015, CNN is available to about 96,374,000 cable, satellite, and 82.8% of households with at least one television set in the United States.Globally, CNN programming airs through CNN International, which can be seen by viewers in over 212 countries and territories.

Vocabulary:

1. dominate　['dɒmɪneɪt]　v.　占主要地位

2. democratic　[ˌdeməˈkrætɪk]　adj.　民主的

3. enforce　[ɪnˈfɔ:s]　v.　实施

4. liberal　[ˈlɪbərəl]　adj.　自由主义的

5. candidate　[ˈkændɪdət]　n.　候选人

6. abundant　[əˈbʌndənt]　adj.　丰富的

7. headquarter　['hed'kwɔ:tə]　n.　总部

8. affiliate　[əˈfɪlieɪt]　n.　子公司

Exercises

I. Try to answer the following questions according to your understanding of the text.

1. What is the Constitution of the United States?

2. What are three branches of the Constitution?

3. What are the two major political parties in the United States?

4. Is Donald Trump republican or democratic?

5. How many top enterprises do you know in the United States?

II. Read the following passage carefully, and make a comment on it at the end of the passage in no more than 100 words.

When presidents of the United States leave office, they draw a pension for life. But they also take on volunteer work, rallying Americans to respond after humanitarian disasters such as the hurricanes that recently struck the United States.

The five living former presidents are leading the One America Appeal to galvanize support for those flooded out of homes by Hurricane Harvey in Houston and along the Gulf Coast and those suffering from the destruction wrought by Hurricane Irma across Florida.

The five presidents recorded public service ads urging Americans to donate to recovery efforts. Although the presidents delivered their messages from different places, they seamlessly finish each other’s sentences.

"Our country has witnessed catastrophic devastation. Hurricanes and flooding have upended lives and livelihoods," Obama, who left the Oval Office eight months ago, begins the appeal.

"Across this great country, Americans have answered the call…." says Carter, who won a Nobel Peace Prize for his peacemaking and humanitarian efforts since his term ended in 1981.

"… A special calling that compels us, when others are down, to step up and do whatever it takes," adds George W. Bush, Obama’s predecessor.

It makes no difference that the Bushes are Republicans and that Carter, Clinton and Obama are Democrats.

"America’s at her best when against all odds, we come together and lift each other up," says Clinton. He and George H.W. Bush,whom Clinton defeated in 1992, formed a self-described "political odd couple" and mounted joint appeals for help in 2005 after a devastating tsunami in Southeast Asia and Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in the United States.

In 2010, a year removed from the White House, the younger Bush teamed up with Clinton to raise $54 million after the earthquake that killed a quarter million people or more in Haiti.

Harvey hit close to home for the Bushes. The elder has lived in Houston for decades,although he was at his summer home in Kennebunkport, Maine, when Harvey struck.

Comments:

Some believe that charity organizations should help those who are in great need; some think that charity organizations should concentrate on those who live in their own country.

What is your point of view?

Reference:

Argument:

1. Belonging to the human’s responsibility and obligation

2. Promoting economic development and enhance social harmony

3. Causing regional imbalance or conflicts

Anti-argument:

1. Helping local people more effectively

2. Making the contribution to one’s own country

3. Reconstructing the economy of one’s own country

Keys to Exercises

I. Try to answer the following questions according to your understanding of the text.

1. The Constitution of the United States is a basic law from which the government gets all its power. It is the law that protects those who live in the United States from unreasonable actions by the national government or any state government.

2. They are the legislative branch, which enacts laws; the executive branch, which enforces those laws; and the judicial branch, which interprets laws.

3. The two major political parties in the United States are the Democratic Party and the Republican Party.

4. Donald Trump is republican and he is the 45th President to hold the office.

5. There are a lot of top enterprises in the United States, such as Apple, Intel, IBM, KFC,McDonald’s, Google, Amazon, etc.

II. Read the following passage carefully, and make a comment on it at the end of the passage in no more than 100 words.

Open-ended.