Основы политической системы США (стр. 10 )

A New Nation

In 1776, the thirteen weak British colonies in America came together, stood up, and told what was then the world’s greatest power that from now on they would be free and independent states. The British were neither impressed nor amused and a bitter six-year war followed, the Revolutionary War (1776-1783). It’s hard to appreciate today, over two centuries later, what a revolutionary act this was. A new republic was founded, turning into reality the dreams and ideals of a few political philosophers. Americans broke with an age-old tradition, and so sent shock waves back across the ocean: they decided that it was their right to choose their own form of government. At that time, the statement that governments should receive their powers only “from the consent of the governed” was radical indeed. Something new was under the sun: a system of government, in Lincoln’s words, “of the people, by the people, for the people”.

The Constitution and the Bill of Rights

The former colonies, now “the United States of America”, first operated under an agreement called the Articles of Confederation (1781). It was soon clear that this loose agreement among the states was not working well. The central, federal government was too weak, with too few powers for defence, trade, and taxation. In 1787, therefore, delegates from the states met in Philadelphia. They wanted to revise the Articles, but they did much more than that. They wrote a completely new document, the Constitution, with after much argument, debate, and compromise was finished in the same year and officially adopted by the thirteen states by 1790.

The Constitution, the oldest still in force in the world, sets the basic form of government: three separate branches, each one having powers (“checks and balances”) over the others. It specifies the powers and duties of each federal branch of government, with all other powers and duties belonging to the states. The Constitution has been repeatedly amended to meet the changing needs of the nation, but it is still the “supreme law of the land”. All governments and governmental groups, federal, state, and local, must operate within its guidelines. The ultimate power under the Constitution is not given to the President (the executive branch), or to the Supreme Court (the Judicial branch). Nor does it rest, as in many other countries, with a political group or party. It belongs to the nation.

In this way, Americans first took for themselves the liberties and rights that elsewhere were the privileges of an elite few. Americans would manage their own laws. And, of course, they would make their own mistakes.

The rights stated in the first ten Constitutional Amendments, known together as the Bill of Rights, are considered to be the fundamental rights of any American. Among these rights are the freedom of religion, speech, and the press, the right of peaceful assembly, and the right to petition the government to correct wrongs. Other rights guarded the citizens against unreasonable searches, arrests, and seizures of property, and established a system of justice guaranteeing orderly legal procedures. This included the right of trial by jury, that is, being judged by one’s fellow citizens.

The federal and state governments formed under the Constitution, were designed to serve the people and to carry out their majority wishes (and not the other way around). One thing they did not want their government to do is to rule them. Americans expect their government to serve them and tend to think of politicians and governmental officials as their servants. This attitude remains very strong among Americans today.

Over the past two centuries, the Constitution has also had considerable influence outside the United States. Several other nations have based their own forms of government on it. It is interesting to note that Lafayette, a hero of the American Revolution, drafted the French declaration of rights when he returned to France. And the United Nations Charter also has clear echoes of what once was considered a revolutionary document.

NOTE: The first 10 amendments to the Constitution, called The Bill of Rights, were approved in 1791. A further 17 amendments have been added since then.

Assignment: Read the text and comment on the Constitutional environments in your country and the United States.

THE BRETHREN

by J. Grisham

(an extract)

Aaron Lake’s presidential campaign is secretly backed up by military circles and foreign financial tycoons, who expect him to promote their political an economic interests. An influential pressure group is brought in to pour money into his campaign chest.

Defensepac, or D-PAC as it would quickly and widely become known, made a roaring entry into the loose and murky field of political finance. No political-action committee in recent history had appeared with as much muscle behind it.

Its seed money came from a Chicago financier named Mitzger, an American with dual Israeli citizenship.

Mitzger was a liberal when it came to politics, but no issue was as dear as the security of Israel. Aaron Lake was much too moderate on social matters, but he was also dead serious about a new military. Middle East stability depended on a strong America, at least in Mitzger’s opinion.

He rented a suite at the Willard in D. C. one day, and by noon the next he had leased an entire floor of an office building near Dulles. His staff from Chicago worked around the clock plowing through the myriad details required to instantly outfit forty thousand square feet with the latest technology. He had a 6 a. m. breakfast with Elaine Tyner, a lawyer/lobbyist from a gigantic Washington firm, one she’d built with her own iron will and lots of oil clients. Tyner was sixty years old and currently regarded as the most powerful lobbyist in town. Over bagels and juice she agreed to represent D-PAC for an initial retainer of $500,000. Her firm would immediately dispatch twenty associates and that many clerks to the new D-PAC offices where one of her partners would take charge. One section would do nothing but raise money. One would analyze Congressional support for Lake and begin, gently at first, the delicate process of lining up endorsements from senators and representatives and even governors. It would not be easy; most were already committed to other candidates. Yet another section would no nothing but research – military hardware, its costs, new gadgets, futuristic weapons, Russian and Chinese innovations – anything that candidate Lake might need to know.

Tyner herself would work on raising money from foreign governments, one of her specialties. She was very close to the South Koreans, having been their presence in Washington for the past decade. She knew the diplomats, the businessmen, the big shots. Few countries would sleep easier with a beefed-up United States military than South Korea.

“I feel sure they’ll be good for at least five million,” she said confidently. “Initially, anyway.”

From memory, she made a list of twenty French and British companies that derived at least a fourth of their annual sales from the Pentagon. She’d start working on them immediately.

Tyner was very much the Washington lawyer these days. She hadn’t seen a courtroom in fifteen years, and every meaningful world event originated within the Beltway and somehow affected her.

The challenge at hand was unprecedented – electing an unknown, last-minute candidate who, at the moment, enjoyed 30 percent name recognition and 12 percent positives. What their candidate had, though, unlike the other flakes who dropped in and out of the presidential derby, was seemingly unlimited cash. Tyner had been well paid to elect and defeat scores of politicians, and she held the unwavering belief that money would always win. Give her the money, and she could elect or beat anybody.

During the first week of its existence, D-PAC buzzed with unbridled energy. The offices were open twenty-four hours a day as Tyner’s people set up shop and charged forward. Those raising money produced an exhaustive computerized list of 310,000 hourly workers in defense and related industries, then hit them hard with a slick mail-out pleading for money. Another list had the names of twenty-eight thousand white-collar defense workers who earned in excess of $50,000 a year. They were mailed a different type of solicitation.

The D-PAC consultants looking for endorsements found the fifty members of Congress with the most defense jobs in their districts. Thirty-seven were up for reelection, which would make the arm-twisting that much easier. D-PAC would go to the grassroots, to the defense workers and their bosses, and orchestrate a massive phone campaign in support of Aaron Lake and more military spending. Six senators from defense-heavy states had tough opponents in November, and Elaine Tyner planned a lunch with each of them.

Unlimited cash cannot go unnoticed for long in Washington. A rookie congressman from Kentucky, one of the lowest of the 435, desperately needed money to fight what appeared to be a losing campaign back home. No one had heard of the poor boy. He hadn’t said a word during his first two years, and now his rivals back home had found an attractive opponent. No one would give him money. He heard rumors, tracked down Elaine Tyner, and their conversation went something like this:

“How much money do you need?” she asked.

“A hundred thousand dollars.” He flinched, she did not.

“Can you endorse Aaron Lake for President?”

“I’ll endorse anybody if the price is right.”

“Good. We’ll give you two hundred thousand and run your campaign.”

“It’s all yours.”

Most were not that easy, but D-PAC managed to buy eight endorsements in the first ten days of its existence. All were insignificant congressmen who’d served with Lake and liked him well enough. The strategy was to line them up before the cameras a week or two before big Super Tuesday, March 7. The more the merrier.

Most, however, had already committed to other candidates.

Tyner hurriedly made the rounds, sometimes eating three power meals a day, all happily covered by D-PAC. Her goal was to let the town know that her brand-new client had arrived, had plenty of money, and was backing a dark horse soon to break from the pack. In a city where talk was an industry in itself, she had no trouble spreading her message.