Основы политической системы США (стр. 12 )

7.  If a representative is strongly convinced that he/she ought to vote against the wishes of constituents, what can he/she do?

8.  What is the function of a majority leader?

AMERICA AND AMERICANS

Government of the people

(excerpt)

by J. Steinbeck

Our means of governing ourselves, while it doubtless derives from European and Asiatic sources, nevertheless is not only unique and a mystery to non-American but a matter of wonder to Americans themselves. That it works at all is astonishing, and that it works well is a matter for complete amusement. Americans’ attitude towards their government is a mixture perhaps best expressed by the phrase “the American way of life” followed by “Go fight City Hall”.

It is our national conviction that politics is a dirty, tricky and dishonest pursuit and that all politicians are crooks. The reason for this attitude is fairly obvious - we have had cynical and dishonest officials on all levels of our government. When their practices have been exposed, it has been with pyrotechnical publicity which has dazzled to blindness towards the great number of faithful, honest and official political men who make our system workable. When Adlai Stevenson was asked why he had gone into politics he replied that he wanted to raise the threshold and perhaps give politics a better name, so that it could be a decent and honorable profession, thereby leading our best citizens to participate. But we have had over the years every reason to be suspicious of ch is the ruggedness of the path to election - the violence, the charges, the japes and hurtful trick - that it takes a special kind of man to run for public office, a man with armored skin and practical knowledge of gutter fighting. And it is true on every level, from village school board to the Presidency of the nation. It is little wonder that shy and sensitive men, no matter what their qualifications, are ch men will accept appointment when they shrink from election.

In the short history of our nation - 200 years - we have managed to accumulate customs inviolable, deep-seated and below the inspection level. One such fiesta is the nominating convention at which the political parties decide on the candidates for President and Vice-President. The ritual of these conventions is binding, the prayers endless, the committees appointed to conduct the so-and-so to the rostrum large and complacent. The nominating speeches are like the litanies in their faithful orthodoxy. Then, after each contestant’s name is put in nomination, the roof comes off; there are parades, marches, costumes, banners, posters, noisemakers. A pandemonium of enthusiasm rips the air and destroys eardrums and vocal cords. It is a veritable volcano of enthusiasm, and it is in no way lessened or abated by the generally known fact that the spontaneous eruption is rehearsed, bought, and paid for, and the same celebrants will in half an hour change their hats and posters and explode in favor of another contestant; and the odd thing is that, although the technique is out and dried, the enthusiasm is genuine.

The business of these conventions could be concluded in a very short time, but it continues for four or five days, with parties, celebrations at night and every excess known to the American away from home. The reason for the duration is obvious but no longer valid: when the first convention met, most of the delegates had to ride on horse-back for days and even weeks to get to the convention city, and those hard-riding delegates were not content to cast their votes and mount their horses and go home; they wanted some fun too; and they still do, even though they arrive by airplane.

Once the nominations are completed, the campaigns for election begin - hurtful, libelous, nasty, murderous affairs wherein motives are muddied, families tarred and tawdried, friends and associates mocked, charged and clobbered. This, of course, for the opposition. At the same time, one’s own candidate becomes saintly in character, solonic in statesmanship, heroic in war, humble towards the poor and weak, implacable toward wrongdoers, a sweet and obedient son to his mother, grateful to his first-grade teachers who taught him everything he knows. The ideal candidate leaps towards the bright and beckoning future, while his feet are firmly planted in the golden past. He worships children, venerates his parents, and creates an image of his wife that is part friend, part goddess - but never bedmate.

The relationship of Americans to their President is a matter of amazement to a foreigner. Of course we respect the office and admire the man who can fill it? But at the same time we inherently fear and suspect power. We are proud of our President, and we blame him for things he did not do. We are related to the President to be cautious in speech, guarded in action, immaculate in his public and private life; in spite of these imposed pressures we are avidly curious about the man hidden behind the formal public image we have created. We have made a tough but unwritten code of conduct for him, and the slightest deviation brings forth a torrent of accusation and abuse.

The President must be greater than anyone else, but not better than anyone else. We subject him and his family to close and constant scrutiny and denounce them for things that we ourselves do every day. A President slip of the tongue, a slight error in his judgment - social, political, ethical - can raise a storm of protest. We give the President more work that a man can do, more responsibility than a man should take, more pressure than a man can bear. We abuse him often and rarely praise him. We wear him out, use him up, eat him up. And with all this, Americans have a love for the President that goes beyond loyalty or party nationality; he is ours, and we exercise the right to destroy him.

To all the other rewards of this greatest office is the gift of the people we add that of assassination. Attempts have been made on the lives of many of our Presidents; four have been murdered. It would be comparatively easy to protect the lives of our Presidents against attacks by foreigners; it is next to impossible to shield them from the Americans. And then the sadness - the terrible sense of family loss. It is said that when Lincoln died African drums carried the news to the centre of the Dark Continent that a savior had been murdered. In our lifetime two events on being mentioned will bring out the vivid memory of what everyone present was doing when he or she heard the news; those two events are Pearl Harbor and the death of John F. Kennedy. I do not know anyone who does not feel a little guilty that out of our soil the warped thing grew that killed him.

NOTES:

Aldai Stevenson - (Democrat) ran for presidency in 1952 and 1956, both times lost to Dwight Eisenhower. In 1960 lost nomination to John F. Kennedy. The same year was appointed the US envoy to the United Nations.

TOPICS FOR DISCUSSION

1.  Americans’ attitude towards their government, politics and presidents.

2.  The ritual of the nominating conventions.

3.  The campaign for election.

THE FULL TEXT OF PRESIDENT

CLINTON’S TV ADDRESS

following the Senate’s acquittal of Bill Clinton

on the impeachment charges

“Good evening. This afternoon in this room, from this chair, I testified before the Office of Independent Counsel and the grand jury. I answered their questions truthfully, including questions about my private life, questions no American citizen would ever want to answer. Still, I must take complete responsibility for all my actions, both public and private. And that is why I am speaking to you tonight. As you know, in a deposition in January I was asked questions about my relationship with Monica Lewinsky. While my answers were legally accurate, I did not volunteer information.

Clinton was often accused of sexual misbehavior. He usually denied all wrong-doing. In 1994, a former Arkansas state employee, Paula Corbin Jones, alleged that while Clinton was governor of Arkansas, he had made a vulgar sexual proposition to her. She claimed it amounted to sexual harassment. Meanwhile, a special prosecutor, Kenneth Starr, had been investigating a land deal that Bill Clinton and his wife, Hillary, had entered in the 1980s. Starr, a right-wing Republican, extended his investigations to a number of other matters, but could not prove the Clintons guilty of any crime. Paula Jones was supported and financed by people Hillary Clinton described as “a vast right-wing conspiracy against my husband”. They persuaded the Supreme Court that a sitting president could be sued in a civil case, and Clinton was obliged to give a deposition, in January 1998, under oath. He denied Paula Jones’s story. He was then asked about various other allegations of sexual misconduct - especially about Monica Lewinsky.

Indeed, I did have a relationship with Miss Lewinsky that was not appropriate. In fact, it was wrong. It constituted a critical lapse in judgment and a personal failure on my part for which I am solely and completely responsible. But I told the grand jury today and I say to you now that at no time did I ask anyone to lie, to hide or destroy evidence or to take any other unlawful action. I know that my public comments and my silence about this matter gave a false impression. I misled people, including even my wife. I deeply regret that.

I can only tell you I was motivated by many factors. First, by a desire to protect myself from the embarrassment of my own conduct. I was also very concerned about protecting my family. The fact that these questions were being asked in a politically inspired lawsuit, which has since been dismissed, was a consideration too.

In addition, I had real and serious concerns about an independent counsel investigation that began with private business dealing 20 years ago - dealings, I might add, about which an independent federal agency found no evidence of any wrongdoing by me or my wife over two years ago. The independent counsel investigation moved on to my staff and friends, then into my private life. And now the investigation itself is under investigation. This has gone on too long, cost too much and hurt too many innocent people. Now, this matter is between me, the two people I love most - my wife and our daughter - and our God. I must put it right, and I am prepared to do whatever it takes to do so.