America’s Two Assemblies Essay

Introduction The U.S. government is composed of a bicameral Congress. The first one is the Senate, which is represented equally by the states. The second one is the House of Representatives, which is represented by population. This setup is proposed by the Connecticut Compromise, which combines the proposal of New Jersey and Virginia regarding the issues surrounding the creation of a new Congress. New Jersey, one of the smaller states, insisted that each state should have equal representation in the Congress. But the Virginia Plan argued that a legislature based on population is more fitting. So as a result, the two proposals were combined satisfactorily forming the two houses of the Congress (Lader 2002, 55). The U.S. Senate, or the upper house, is bestowed with different powers, one of which is the power to approve the laws and treaties created by the presidential or the executive branch of the government, as well as the ones coming from the lower house. It approves the laws and treaties by the virtue of two-thirds of votes of the whole Senate population. If that number is not reached, the law can be outwardly rejected, shelved, or is requested to be amended (Powers and Procedures 2006, 1). The lower house, or the House of Representatives, on the other hand, is bestowed the power to create bill which, in turn will turn into a law that the whole nation will follow, and eventually, benefit from. The House of Representatives meets to create bills and resolutions, discusses them, and passes them on to the Senate for further review and ratification (The Legislative Process 2006, 1). These are the basic functions of both the Houses. The functions of creating laws will be further discussed in this paper to show that these two assemblies are essential in any system of government to ensure checks and balances on government power. II. Making a Law A bill starts from an idea of a person. It won’t matter if he is a part of the Congress, a social group or organization, or just a regular citizen. The idea then is brought to the House of Representatives so that they can hear out the pros and cons about it. A group especially designed to cater to the needs and the interest of that idea hears it. For example, if the idea is about education, the House Committee on Education and the Workforce handles it. The law starts from a single thought that is processed and formed into a bill (Donovan 2004, 6-11). All American law starts out this way – as a bill. A bill is a document that proposes an entirely new law or an amendment to an existing one. The bill can be passed by any member of the Congress, even though the idea of making a law comes from government departments or from political parties, as announced in the party platforms during election campaigns. A bill passed by a member of the House of Representative as projected by the government is called the â€Å"Government Bill.† If an individual member of the Congress passes a bill, it is called a â€Å"Private Member’s Bill† (Brody 2001, 1-3). A bill is not a law yet; it has to be approved first by both the Houses of the Congress, and should be affirmed by the incumbent President. The two Houses of Congress will be assessing the bill and has the power to add proposals to make the necessary changes in it. These proposals are usually debated on; speeches are crafted to pronounce a member’s stand towards the bill. The Congress will be voting towards the approval or the shelving of the bill. Usually, the bill has to be read thrice and has to go through all the necessary changes before it is successfully passed on each House of Congress (Holder 1997, 1-4). Here, we see the interaction of the two Houses of the Congress. A law can impact the nation’s economy, and so that the lawmakers themselves, either from the upper or lower house won’t make a law that would benefit them individually or wholly. Intense deliberation and scrutiny is performed on the every bill that was conceptualized and is passed in the hope that it will be implemented only to benefit the many (Brady & McCubbins 2002, 17). III. The Showcase of Balance The innate need of one House of the Congress for the other shows that there is balance in the legislative branch of the government itself. One cannot exist without the other. A bill will not become a law in the absence of either the houses. There would be no law implemented and conceptualized by just one House alone. A single law has to go through the process as required by both the Houses of the Congress (Sajo 1999, 69). These laws, on the other hand, will not become valid without being finalized and approved by the executive branch of government, which is composed of the President and his Cabinet. The final say still belongs to the Head of State. But he cannot influence the Congress as to what laws they should make or ratify. The executive branch can propose and lobby for a bill, but it cannot fully instruct the Congress to just pass it in its favor. Even if the bill is proposed from the above, it still has to go through the same processes. No special treatment is given (Sajo 1999, 89). At this point, the balance between the two branches of the government, namely executive and legislative becomes evident. The President of the United States in his supreme power and capacity, cannot, in any way, influence the Congress to absolutely work for him. He cannot mandate what laws he wanted to be created and passed over to him for finalization. In essence, his office is equal to the legislative office. They work in parallel of each other, so that one cannot take advantage of one another (Sajo 1999, 99). Without the Congress doing its job, the President will have the freedom of making laws himself for whatever reasons he finds urgent. And laws have a big impact to a nation. One wrong law could mean economic distress. One selfish law could suppress freedom. One inappropriate law could wreak havoc. Without the Congress, the President will have his absolute power. The U.S. democratic form of government is gone and a totalitarian form of government will take its place. When that happens, the power shifts heavily to the executive branch of the government (Borrelli 2002, 18). Another branch of the government is the judicial branch. Although the branch does not actively participate in the law-making process, it is directly involved in the implementation of such laws. Even if the legislative body makes the laws and the executive finalizes it, they do not participate in the process of making sure that the laws are fully observed and strictly followed by all members of the society. This is the job of the judiciary. The law applies to all, and that includes the lawmakers who created them and the President of the United States himself. Without the judicial branch of government doing its assigned task of maintaining harmony and peace within the nation’s constituents, the laws would become worthless (Berger et al 2001, 606). IV. The Law and the Society A harmonious society simply cannot exist unless the people who belong in it respect all the governing law implemented to a considerable degree. Laws have the power to settle certain issues in the society and the government. If all people respect the law enough, they would choose to reconcile their individual differences to the context of what is right and valid, as provided by the law’s provisions. All laws should be respectable and sound enough to be appreciated by everyone. Law and morality should also come hand in hand; otherwise, the people will have to choose either to lose their morality or their respect of the law. Laws are created so as to maintain justice in the society; therefore law and justice should be one and the same in the minds of the people (Bastiat 2004, 22). Lawmakers should take it upon themselves to make and amend laws according to the interests of the general public and not for their own personal gains. Laws should help accelerate the resolution of current social conflicts and national dilemma. Every law in the land should represent their citizens accordingly. The law is so powerful it can make a society; and that power is also enormous enough to destroy it in a rather big and convincing way (Lempert & Sanders 1986, 15-20). And this is the main responsibility bestowed upon the shoulders of the legislative branch of government. A balanced government cannot exist in the absence of the Congress. The power will swing indefinitely to either the judicial or the executive branch. And the result of that can prove to be perilous to the society (Lempert & Sanders 1986, 26-27). V. Conclusion The American law is intensely compiled, created, and enacted to serve a greater purpose in the society. The burden of enhancing the laws does not depend solely on the solons and lawmakers. We, as individual members of the society, have an immense duty to promote and participate in the creation of these laws as well. We have to be active members of the society and have to make a mark for our own good. We should all help the legislative branch to preserve the balance of power in the government and the society. Works Cited Bastiat, Frederick. (2004). The Law. Montana: Kessinger Publishing. Berger, Marsall J., Schatz Gerald S., Laufer Deborah S. (2001). Federal Administrative Dispute Resolution Deskbook. 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