American equivalent of oasis.gov.ie?

Dave!

Anyone know a site that's the equivalent of oasis.gov.ie, only for American politics?

I'm tryin to learn a bit more about the American political system, so a site similar to this one would be handy: http://www.oasis.gov.ie/government_in_ireland/government_and_politics_at_national_level/

The links in the 'Useful Links' sticky aren't really what I'm looking for, and Google isn't showing up much except for some Wikipedia pages.

If you find one, link it here. Myself and a few friends had a very drunken debate about this exact issue on Saturday night. I mean, we all had opinions on Dubya and Barak and Hilary and co., but we were completely lost when it came to analysing the various institutions within the US political system.

Dave!

Well in the absense of an equivalent site, I'm having a geez at this wikipedia page:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Politics_of_the_United_States

It's not bad

probe

While it is not quite to up the standards of some European countries (eg http://www.sweden.gov.se), the US has a sort of a portal at http://www.firstgov.gov

.probe

Manic Moran

What sort of questions do you have?

NTM

Gandhi

The government system in the US distributes a lot of power to state and local governments. Most of the stuff that you would find on Oasis would be found on the websites of the individual states or municipalities in the US. Regulations and procedures regarding e.g. buying a car, getting a phone line, could be completely different in different states or counties.

Dave!

Manic Moran wrote:

What sort of questions do you have?

NTM

Well my curiosity with the American system stems from the fact that the Military Commissions Act was passed recently, and I'd like to know how or why!

I would think that the houses of Congress would like to keep as much power out of the President's hands as possible, and I would think that the American people would like to see power distributed as equally as possible.

So why would they vote to pass that bill? Is it a case of the congressmen not wanting to appear to be pro-terrorism or somethin? Or is it that there's a Republican majority in both houses, so they're gonna show solidarity?
Or do they actually see merit in passing it...?

Are the Democrats powerless to stop any bill put forward? If that's the case then what's the point in them being there?

I'd also like to know if there are American equivalents of the different state departments in Ireland... Not all of them, but like I only ever hear about the secretary of state and defence really. I gather that's because of the whole war malarkey, but is there an American deparment of finance, for instance? Or does it work differently to that?

Lots of questions, thanks if you can answer any!

And that firstgov.gov is a great site, thanks for posting it.

Manic Moran

DaveMcG wrote:

I would think that the houses of Congress would like to keep as much power out of the President's hands as possible, and I would think that the American people would like to see power distributed as equally as possible.

OK. The Federal Government at its root level exists for two purposes. One is to control the interactions between the states, and the other is to co-ordinate the US's foreign relations. (In practise, the government has kindof oozed over those lines, but that's the basic premise). Dealing with foreign threats such as terrorism falls under the purview of foreign relations, hence the central government is the group of people which is responsible for it. The President is the head of the executive arm, for practical reasons, a lot of powers are basically delegated from Congress to the President.

So why would they vote to pass that bill? Is it a case of the congressmen not wanting to appear to be pro-terrorism or something?

Partly.

Or is it that there's a Republican majority in both houses, so they're gonna show solidarity?
Or do they actually see merit in passing it...?

I don't think anyone is incredibly happy about it, it turned out to be something of a compromise legislation which didn't really fit the desires of any side of the equation.

Are the Democrats powerless to stop any bill put forward? If that's the case then what's the point in them being there?

In theory, yes. That's why there was the whole issue of the Nuclear Option over the Supreme Court appointments. The problem is once one side starts throwing its weight around, they know that in a few years when they're in a minority, the other side will start throwing its weight around. It's a sort of 'gentleman's agreement for good conduct.' You could make the 'What's the point of a minority opposition being there' at any level, be it 'What's the point of Republicans in the California State Legislature' (Where they're seriously outnumbered), or the point of Sinn Feinn in the Dail. In no case do they have any control on their own.

The other problem is that issues are rarely done exclusively along party lines. Just because you're a Democrat doesn't mean you'll vote for gun control, and just because you're a Republican doesn't mean you'll vote for abortion rights, and so on. Very few issues are going to be passed on their merits without cross-party support.

I'd also like to know if there are American equivalents of the different state departments in Ireland... Not all of them, but like I only ever hear about the secretary of state and defence really. I gather that's because of the whole war malarkey, but is there an American deparment of finance, for instance? Or does it work differently to that?

Yes. Dept of the Treasury. There are Depts of Agriculture, Education, Justice, and so on and so forth.

NTM

metrovelvet

Well you could start with this basic structure. The US govt is composed of three main branches: the executive, the legislative, and the judicial.

We have a federal goverment and the states and municipalities have their own governements also.

Good luck!

As for Congress passing bills into law. It can happen for many reasons: lobbyist pressure groups, sometimes congressmen "trade" votes [I'll vote yes on this if you vote yes on something I want to pass later on], whatever their own views they may feel they have to represent their constituency.

I also think you need a 2/3 majority to get a bill passed?

Schoolhouse rocks explains it well:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mEJL2Uuv-oQ

http://docs.lib.duke.edu/federal/guides/LandL1st.html