Governments govern the people of a country and provide benefits such as security, healthcare, education, and infrastructure. They also set the direction of a nation, stabilize and improve the economy, and protect public welfare and the environment through policy-making and regulations. Governments at the local, state, and national levels also allocate money to the things that they believe will best serve the interests of their citizens. For example, at the state level, the government may allocate funds to higher education, maintenance of highways and bridges, or wildlife management. These funding decisions are often based on priorities established by voters in their respective districts. Government agencies are responsible for putting the policies into practice. They are led by ministers, who are accountable to Parliament for their department’s actions and successes or failures. Most countries have some form of multiparty system in which multiple political parties compete to win the support of voters and thus gain control of the government.
Government at the federal level provides jobs, stability and security. A strong central government can weather economic crises, and its employees have the benefit of job security that no other employer can offer.
In addition, the federal government offers a unique opportunity to make the world a better place through public goods like reducing poverty with unemployment benefits, helping the needy with food stamps, providing medical care to all, and keeping citizens safe with military protection. However, this potential for good is stifled by an outdated bureaucratic form of government characterized by layers of oversight, rigid procedures, and resistance to change.
Most modern governments use a democratic form of government, in which the authority to rule is vested in the people as a whole (a democracy), in a small group of people (an oligarchy), or in a specific leader (an autocracy). These forms of government are classified according to how they distribute power and decide matters of common concern amongst their members.
The foundation of democratic government is the separation of powers between different branches of government. As James Madison wrote in The Federalist Paper No. 51, “it is impossible to make all politicians angels who will never desire more power than they should have.” Therefore, the structure of a government must include ways to check and balance politicians’ ambitions against each other. This is why the legislative, executive, and judicial branches are separated from each other.
The legislative branch, which makes laws, is typically bicameral in the United States, with a smaller upper chamber called the Senate and a larger lower chamber known as the House of Representatives. Each of these chambers has two sets of members elected for staggered terms, and the bills that they pass must be approved by the other chamber before becoming law. The President can veto acts passed by Congress, and the Supreme Court can overturn laws that are deemed unconstitutional. The executive branch appoints supreme court justices and judges of lower courts, and Congress can approve or reject the President’s nominations for these positions.