How Two Aspects Of Government Work Together

How Two Aspects Of Government Work Together An Assignment Submitted by Name of Student Name of Establishment Class XXXX, Section XXXX, Fall 2011 The vital connection that exists between the three branches of government, often reflected in a system of checks and balances, is a virtual relationship codified in law and practice that ensures that each branch does not exceed its powers. This essay demonstrates that this relationship between the three arms of government that ensures each plays its role and none exceeds its mandate is the pivot on which our democracy rotates and our nationhood survives. Before illustrating why, some background information will suffice. The founders of the republic created the system of checks and balances to ensure that each arm of government does not indulge in excess of its power. They therefore created the legislature, the judiciary and the executive to handle the different requirements of government, modeling them on the Greek and Roman systems of government and giving them a modern twist to fit into the current context. This concept draws roots from ancient and more philosophers such as Polybius, who named such a system as the mixed form of government that would accommodate everyone, including the sovereigns as the judiciary, the aristocrats as the legislature and the people as the executive. The Baron de Montesquieu authored ‘The Spirit of Laws” in which he argued in favor of the separation of powers as a means of ensuring a balanced public administration regime in place to serve the citizens with each branch of government subject to the law. “Again, there is no liberty if the judiciary power be not separated from the legislative and executive. Were it joined with the legislative, the life and liberty of the subject would be exposed to arbitrary control; for the judge would be then the legislator. Were it joined to the executive power, the judge might behave with violence and oppression” he said. (Miller et al, 1989, 157) The framers of the constitution thus borrowed these ideas and many others from different thinkers and examples and combined them to create what we have in the supreme law today: the legislature, the executive and the judiciary. On top of this separation of powers, they created a structure of checks and balances to protect each from the other and to ensure each could intervene to save the people if one of the others was overreaching. James Madison best described the thinking behind this process: “In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty is this: You must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place, oblige it to control itself.” (Vile, 2005, 914) To illustrate checks and balances in action, this essay describes how each branch of government works then shows how the checks operate. First, the executive branch is in charge of public administration and governs the state according to the laws prepared out of the legislature. Often it consists of a president, a cabinet of dedicated ministers, law enforcement arms, intelligence and the entire bureaucracy that makes up public service. Second, the legislature is in charge of law making and passing legislation, according to the limits that the...