Checks and Balances in Government

US Citizenship Test

• The test is administered orally and consists of three components:
  • American government (57%): principles of American democracy, system of government, rights and responsibilities
  • American history (30%): colonial period and independence, 1800s, recent American history and important historical information
  • Integrated civics (13%): geography, symbols, official holidays

Exception to the Citizenship Test

• Individuals over 50 who have lived in the US for 20 years or more can take the civics test in their native language
• Individuals aged 55 and older who have lived in the US for 15 or more years can also take the test in their native language

Definitions of Citizenship

• Legal definitions of citizenship vary across states and time
• Normative definitions of citizenship include:
  • Liberalist (vs. Communitarianism)
  • Universalist (vs. Differentialist)
  • Nationalist (vs. Globalist)
• Dictionary definitions:
  • Oxford: the position or status of being a citizen of a particular country
  • Cambridge: the state of having the rights of a person born in a particular country
  • Citizenship is carrying out the duties and responsibilities of a member of a particular society

Citizenship and Political Philosophy

• Central to political philosophy and tied to questions of citizenship
• Ethics: how do we collectively and individually come to the conclusion that an action is ethical?
• Public ethics: what about in the name of the state? To what or to whom are we obligated when making decisions that affect others?

Privileges for Members of Congress

• Salary: $174,000 per year (some members receive more)
• Medical and dental benefits
• Free office, parking, and trips to home state
• Staff budget
• Tax break on second home

Citizenship in Ancient Sparta

• Strong emphasis on citizen duty, little citizen rights
• Militaristic state: all male adults join the army at age 7, until age 60
• Citizens were not encouraged to speak in public or participate in political decision-making until they got old
• If you do your citizenship duty (serve in the military), you receive a small amount of land
• Spartan women enjoyed more rights than other Greek women:
  • Allowed to own lands
  • Received similar military training as men

Roman Citizenship

• Legal citizenship emphasis
• Citizens and non-citizens were treated differently
• Roman citizens were protected by law
• Paul, a Roman citizen, was born in Tarsus and had never been to Rome
• You could purchase Roman citizenship with a lot of money

Checks and Balances

• Separation of powers: legislative, executive, and judicial
• No one person or group should exercise all three types of power
• Each branch of government should be independent of the other branches
• The members of each branch have as little as possible to do with the selection of the members of the other branches
• Overlapping authority: no one branch decides important policy decisions alone

Military Power

• The president is commander in chief
• Congress has sole authority to declare war, "raise and support armies," and to "provide and maintain a navy"

Diplomatic Power

• The president negotiates treaties
• The Senate must ratify treaties by a two-thirds vote

Appointment Power

• The president makes appointments
• Congress must confirm the appointment

Judicial Power

• Believes that the court should stay out of policymaking and legislating (judicial restraint)
• Tends to be liberal (Warren Court and Burger Court) or conservative (Rehnquist Court and Roberts Court)
• Freedom of speech (First Amendment):
  • The Ohio law violated Brandenburg's right to free speech
  • License plates convey messages (government speech)
  • Curfew laws are unconstitutional
  • Distribution of obscene materials is unconstitutional
  • Defamatory speech (libel and slander) is not protected by the First Amendment

Public Services and Customer Service

• Replacing democratic values with customer service values
• Emphasis on efficiency and cost-effectiveness sometimes contradict procedural justice, equity, and fairness
• Determining who the customers are: people with money and power may receive better services
• Deteriorating the quality of public services in the long run

LA Police Department Strategic Goals

• 1. Reduce crime and victimization
• 2. Build community trust and collaboration
• 3. Improve traffic safety
• 4. Emphasize preparedness and counter-terrorism
• 5. Strengthen the public safety workforce
• 6. Foster employee wellness and satisfaction
• 7. Mitigate risk and reduce harm
• 8. Develop innovative sustainability program
• 9. Drive Accountability and reward creativity
• 10. Leverage technology to improve performance

E-government

• The use of information and communication technologies (ICT) as a tool for delivering better government services to citizens, businesses, and employees

Explore the concept of checks and balances in government, including the separation of powers and the roles of legislative, executive, and judicial branches. Learn why it is important to prevent any one individual or group from controlling all three types of power.