Political Science. Texas vs. Federal Government Essay

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Introduction

The total structure of a federal government may differ from other kinds of federal government body depending on the institution. A federal government is a type of government which has different institutions inside the government concerning various areas and possesses its own authority through their territory. The government of the United States is using the federal government as the centralized body governing the US and backed up by the constitution. And it is considered as the first contemporary federation.

After the freedom of United States from Britain, it established its very first constitution in 1781, the Articles of Confederation. That was the start of attaining the form of government they have right now which is federalism. The governing body has three branches which are the legislature, judiciary and executive. Each of the branches performs different kinds of powers and exercises it through a legitimate action.

The three have various tasks and positions in the government; somehow they regulate and have authority on other branches. The laws or policies which are implemented by the federal government have a lot to do with the domestic and foreign affairs of the United States. The constitution limits the power and authority of the federal government though (Watts, 1999).

On the other hand, the Government of Texas is also exercising federalism. Texas government is comparable to US government which has three branches, executive, legislative and judiciary. It patterns the positions of officials that are lead by the Governor as well, just like what is in US government. The Constitution of Texas was adopted in 1876 that states and declares the powers and authority of the head and directly attaches the bill of rights in Article I. The bill of rights in this constitution is longer than the federal Bill of Rights which has provisions exclusive to Texas (Mapsoftheworld.com, 2008).

Texas and US Government have the same form of government and branches under it. Thus, this paper will focus on the executive body of Texas and US, comparing the two territories’ functions, operations and structure and be able to differentiate different areas concerned in this topic.

Discussion

Initially, the executive branch of a Government is the body responsible for managing the State everyday. It contains the head of the government and the head is not thought to make the laws for it is the duty of the Legislature or perhaps study and interpret them because it falls under the judiciary. Hence, the executive branch should be the one to enforce or execute the laws.

The executive power of a federal government attributes to the President of the United States though the power is not solely exercised by His Excellency because it has to comprise the Cabinet members and other officials. The leaders, President and Vice- President respectively, are voted and elected by the people. Likewise in the Government of Texas, the head of the state is also elected by the people and the number of votes matters.

Governor of Texas is the head of the executive body of Texas Government unlike in the US Government. However, they have the same process of election which is by voting and terms in the position that is four years of being the President (for US Government) and Governor (for Texas Government) (Office of Citizen Services and Communications, 2008).

As what the Constitution stated, the term for Presidency is limited to a four- year term. This is to control the power of the leader and exercise authority in just a definite span of time because the longer term might cause an abuse for the power and position of being the President of the State. The executive branch of the US Government serves as the body that governs the implementation of laws of the territory. The leaders involve in this body includes; the President who Leads the country and will be the Commander- in- Chief of the military, Vice- President who will be the one to take over the place of the President if the President can not attend to the duties and responsibilities of the position and be the President of the Senate as well.

Also, the executive body composes of different Departments where in the heads of each Department advises the President about the policies and helps implement those. Another composition of the executive body is the Independent Agencies that carry out policies and give special services for the country. So basically, the President of the US Government is the executor of the laws created by the Lawmakers with the help of the Vice- President and the Cabinet members.

Conversely, the executive body of the Texas government composes of the following; Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Comptroller of Public Accounts, Land Commissioner, Attorney General, Agriculture Commissioner, the three-member Texas Railroad Commission, the State Board of Education, and the Secretary of State. Primarily, the Governor leads the State and the military system (Blanton, 2005). Thus, the president of the US Government has the same function as the Governor of Texas. Both can reject and accept the bills that are passed by the legislature and request for a special meeting or session for the Legislative body.

The Governor and president can appoint the members of different executive branches or Departments directly and fill up the vacant positions for the judicial body as well (LAITS, 2005). The comptroller is the one who decides about the expected income of the state to be able to know if it is enough to wrap up a budget for a particular project. However, the power of Governor is quite limited to a certain degree because of many elected officials and sometimes the governor is viewed as a head of the State only because the Lieutenant governor has more duties and responsibilities than the Governor.

Comparing the Texas government and US in structural, operations and functions sense of having executive branch is quite vague because there is only a minimal distinction between the two. Firstly, both have the head of the state which serves as the leader and got the most power among the positions. Both are the leaders of the military forces of the state too.

The Structure of the executive branch officials have different names but technically they somehow appeared to be similar and correspond to each other just like the President for Governor, Vice- President for Lieutenant Governor, Cabinets or Delegates for the Different agencies that the Texas Government have (Watts, 1999). If the Texas Government has a finance or budget administrator, the US Government also has the Department of Finance that takes care of the budget for the State.

Conclusion

Generally, the power over the State of Texas and US government are much likely alike though US is viewed to be a broader sense of Political affair because it comprises a bigger responsibility for the whole country. The policies are observed to be affected when it comes to the execution and enforcement of the laws. As what the head of the States are responsible for, a bill should be passed first and signed by the President or Governor before making it a law.

Informal and formal power appears on both States in terms of the execution of their personal decisions for a particular issue. An informal power can be seen on appointing officials for the vacant positions in the judiciary which is just solely decided by the president or the Governor. It may sometimes appear biased because they heads will appoint the officials of their own liking and will not consult the preferences of the people in the Territory (Watts, 1999). However, the functions of each and the leaders operate according to the provisions of the Constitution and guided by the law.

The benefits of having such structure and functions are that, the States can divide the duties and responsibilities accurately according to the expertise of each department or area. Excessive power for the head of the State can not be abused because it is separated and segmented for the following positions that will help decide fro the welfare of the State.

Perhaps, a disadvantage will be into the possibilities of being irresponsible and dependency by some of the officials and may lead to an unethical outcome of their integrity. Possessing such power is a dominant sense for the State but sometimes the positions under the head are the ones who greatly affect and manipulate the making and completion of the whole role of the governing body.

References

Blanton, C. K. “The Campus and the Capitol: John B. Connally and the Struggle over Texas Higher Education Policy, 1950-1970” Southwestern Historical Quarterly 2005 108(4): 468-497.

Mapsoftheworld.com. (2008). Texas Government and Politics. Web.

Office of Citizen Services and Communications. (2008). U.S Federal Government. Web.

Liberal Arts Instructional Technology Services. (2005). Texas Politics: Governor. Web.

Watts, R., “Comparing Federal Systems” (2nd ed.) SPC Queen’s U (1999) pp. 20-26.

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