POLS 207 1st Edition Lecture 9 Outline of Last Lecture I The Origins of Concern with Government Outline of Current Lecture II Forms of Government III Responsibilities a Federal b Shared c State IV Constitutions V Government Revenues and Expenditures Current Lecture Forms of Government Unitary Unitary government controls the states and other parties o Makes sure they have no money Confederacy This type governed Texas during the Civil War Found out that it didn t work State did not have enough money to quell a rebellion by farmers Federal powers were weak under the Confederacy so the Federalists won Federalism System of shared powers o Federal government that is responsible to the people and the people are responsible to the state government which is in turn responsible to the federal government o This has remained due to its viability as a democracy Federal Responsibilities Federal government has sole powers over National defense o Ensure superpower status o Protect the nation Space program o Linked to national defense o Technologies developed out of this are used by the military Postal service o Inefficient service that is making billions of dollars of losses o They are cutting out their Saturday delivery service Businesses are very unhappy about this Shared Responsibilities Welfare o Multiple types of programs for welfare Can include food stamps etc o Reducing the number of people living in poverty Employment services o Federal government is giving grants to states to help people get back to work o Professionals that help you with your resume interview skills how to dress etc Unemployment compensation o Not available to those who have been fired o If you lose your job due to company cutting back on costs recession and other problems then you can apply for unemployment compensation State Responsibilities Education o Divided by state and local o State governments historically paid more but it has now switched to mainly local government funding Highways and transportation o Road maintenance o Public transport Such as trains and buses Cuts down on traffic congestion in big cities Texas is poor at providing public transportation This is due to special interest groups such as Oil companies Health Sanitation o Garbage disposal clean water etc o Landfills always cause controversy because no one wants to live near one o US does not recycle a lot because it is viewed as inefficient and we don t believe in global warming Fire o Funded by city government o Fire stations cannot be too extravagant because they are paid for by local taxes Therefore more spending on this more taxes for you Police o Major spending for Texas o Judges in some states faced corruption charges due to them accepting bribes for placing people in prison This was due to the privatization of the prisons Also led to judges increasing jail terms to provide more money Purposes of Constitutions Texas has had 7 constitutions due to its differing government controls places such as Spain the Confederacy Present Constitution was decided in 1876 Legitimacy o Provides rules to follow o Trustworthy Organizing Government o Different branches of government o Separation of powers Providing Power o Distributes power among branches o Gives power to the executive o Legislative to amend the constitution propose bills etc Limiting Governmental Power o Stops government changing the rules o They can only do what is written in the Constitution o Very American thing to have a Constitution Constitution is sacred to many Americans State Constitutions Bill of Rights o In Texas this is article 1 So it all about your rights in Texas o Education is a basic right o Supreme Court ruled against putting to death a mentally disabled person State s duty to protect them Redundant with federal guarantees on the most part freedom of speech press religion assembly constitutions are more than rules they are also fundamental statements of philosophy and principles Separation of Powers o 3 branches and the checks and balances o State s emphasize legislative power over executive power However executive power has increased in the states Local Governments o State s create the local governments o They have their own elections but turnout is extremely low o Don t have many dealings with local officials The Present Texas Constitution General Features The Texas Constitution contains a preamble and sixteen articles Because the Constitution contains many details of policy and governmental organization to avoid abuse of governmental powers and to protect various private interests it is a long and poorly organized document The Constitution reflects the time of its writing an era of strong conservative agrarian interests and reaction to carpetbag rule o Carpetbaggers are Northerners who came down to take advantage of the opportunities of the South It contains many unenforceable provisions known as deadwood that conflict with the national Constitution o Example State constitution is that officials should believe in a supreme being but the National Constitution states a freedom of religion So there is a conflict The Constitution s 432 amendments by the end of 2003 have been necessary due to the restrictive character of the document but they have produced a Constitution that is poorly organized difficult to read and interpret and the second longest constitution in the nation o Now it is nearly 500 amendments o The longest constitution is Alabama s Specific feature The Texas Constitution is similar in many ways to the U S Constitution o Each government has executive legislative and judicial branches o Both are separation of power systems o Both include provisions against unequal or arbitrary government action The two Constitutions differ with regard to providing power to government o The national Constitution is much more flexible in allowing government to act than is the state Constitution Number of amendments is positively related to State constitution length The longer the constitution the more amendments GOVERNMENT REVENUES AND EXPENDITURES USA has a low tax rate compared to GDP in relation to similar performing democracies Asians that are immigrating to America are moving from paying no taxes to America where you had to People do not move because of taxes Revenues and Expenditures 2007 taxes paid to all governments were 30 of personal income 12 650 2007 government spent 15 200 per person o This means there is a deficit DEBT Redistributing Income o User or Client pay user