Government and Politics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Government and Politics - Essay Example But to foreigners it can also be one of the most bizarre. The election race in some countries including United Kingdom takes just a few weeks, but US presidential runners undertake a political epic, negotiating 'primaries', 'party conventions' and an 'Electoral College' system down the way (Bennett 2005, pg 270). In the UK, the party chooses a candidate, but in the US, however, supporters who declare vote for one party or another get to pick from the list of candidates (Bennett 2005, pg. 270). The candidates, campaigning in opposition to other candidates of the same party, must win enough 'state primaries' to give them the most delegates at the party convention in the summer (pg. 271). Some states, such as Iowa, use a 'caucus system' rather than primaries to select. Whereas in primaries people only indicate at the vote box which candidate they support, caucuses (the word derives from an Indian word for a gathering) are more intricate and work by selecting delegates through several stages. That intricacy was borne out of the American's supposed"forerunners'" panic of autocracy and the longing to defend the authority of individual States. There are, in general, two sorts of primaries - open and closed. ... 272). As The 'political convention' is exceptionally an American belief, one that is cracked down on the political parties that have organized Americans' preferences in ruling for almost 175 years. The interesting thing is that political conventions are not stated in its Constitution. Certainly, the forerunners of America viewed political parties with suspect or outright opposition. Yet now, they can barely imagine a government without political parties, and the parties' conventions are huge, broadcasted media events (Bennett 2005, pg. 273). Each State reaches the hall with its own delegates and placards declaring which presidential applicant it supports. Regardless of the 'lack of enthusiasm' from the founding fathers of the U.S. to accept political parties, two had rebounded in some decades of the country's beginning. These first parties were defined with a loose knot, and it's tricky to find exactly when they started. By the late nineties, however, these parties were becoming more planned and playing a larger role in American political affairs. Nowadays, presidential primaries have made the conventions pointless for practical reasons. They exist mainly as a 'selling tool' and a political 'pep rally', where each party pretends a well-choreographed show. The rival candidates square up for the presidential movement proper. Policies are polished, often to consider the supporters of the applicants who have been purged. This phase of the campaign is shorter than the plod through the State primaries. There are heavy expenses spent on TV hypes on a national scale, and there are routinely debates on TV between the applicants for Presidential elections. In the closing weeks, the candidates in general