TT #8 | 13 Differences Between the American and British Political Systems

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Damozel and The Crux would like to thank Contributing Author Nicholas for writing this week's excellent and informative list, and Contributing Author Cockney Robin for assisting with links and suggestions.

13 Differences....

1.  The biggest differences are the most obvious ones: The USA is a republic, while the UK is a constitutional monarchy: in this case, a representative democracy with a monarch at its head. The USA has a written constitution while the constitution of the UK is unwritten.

 2. The UK  government is not split into branches. The House of Commons reigns supreme, and the party with the greatest number of members of the Commons is the governing party. The leader of the governing party becomes Prime Minister, who almost has the power of a king. He or she alone has the power to declare war, to make alliances, to use nuclear weapons, and to appoint the people of his choice to the Cabinet, the various government ministries and offices of state. These appointments are entirely his choice and are not subject to scrutiny or confirmation by any other person of body. The PM also has the power to dismiss (“demand the resignation of”) any serving minister  or secretary of state.

 3. There are no primaries in British elections. Election campaigns usually last about three or four weeks. All parties prefer to keep campaigns as short as possible because the public tends to resent being bombarded with propaganda for longer than that, and a campaign that lasts too long can have the effect of driving people away from the polls.

 4. There are no set dates for general elections. A government by law can last no longer than five years, but the election maybe called at any time inside that period. The date of the general election is entirely the choice of the sitting Prime Minister, who will naturally choose a date when his party is ahead in the opinion polls. This does not always guarantee victory, as opinion polls can be wrong (e.g. 1970 and 1992). At the end of five years there has to be an election, whether the PM wants it or not. PMs who hang on until the very end of their five-year period usually come to grief (e.g. 1979 and 1997). It is not unheard of for a Prime Minister to call an election quite soon after the previous one in order to win, he hopes, an increased majority in the House of Commons (e.g. March 1974 and October 1974). By tradition but not by law, elections always take place on Thursdays.

 5. The President of the USA must have reached his thirty-fifth birthday and he must be American born. The British PM must be at least 21 and a British citizen, though citizens of certain other Commonwealth countries are eligible. Andrew Bonar Law, PM 1922-1923, was Canadian. There are no term limits for Prime Minsters, or indeed any Members of Parliament. There is nothing in law to prevent a Prime Minister from remaining in office, provided he or she is periodically re-elected, until he dies, though in practice this doesn’t happen. The last three PMs (Blair, Major and Thatcher) held office for ten, six and eleven years respectively. There is nothing to prevent a PM who loses one election from returning to office after being victorious at the polls next time round (e.g. Harold Wilson, who was PM 1964-1970 and again 1974-1976). This is something that only one US president, Grover Cleveland, has done, even though there is nothing in the US Constitution to forbid it. The longest serving PM was the very first one, Sir Robert Walpole, who was in office for a little over twenty years (1721-1742). It is very unlikely that his record will ever be broken.

 6. General elections are decided by a simple first-past-the-post system. Voting takes place on election day and counting begins as soon as the polls close at 10:00pm. Votes are still cast by making an X on a ballot paper, in secret, on a sheet of paper next to the name of the candidate of your choice. This allows votes to be counted and re-counted if necessary, and a paper record of the total is always available. Each elector votes for his or her Member of Parliament, and the party which gains a total of at least 50% + 1 of the seats in the House of Commons is the winner. The Prime Minister is the leader of the winning party, but he is also a Member of Parliament and has to represent the interests of his constituents.

 7. Because Britain is a much smaller country than the USA, it is all situated inside one time zone, so the polls all open at the same time (7:00am) and close together (10:00pm), and no results are known while people are still able to cast their votes. Counting begins as soon as the polls close and the results are announced constituency by constituency. The first individual results are usually known shortly after midnight and the result of the election as a whole, unless it is very close, is apparent before dawn. There is no interim or hand-over period, and results take effect immediately. If a sitting Prime Minister’s party loses the election on Thursday night, he is out of office, and out of 10 Downing Street by the back door, before lunch on Friday, so that his or her successor can take over.

 8. The Speaker of the House of Commons (currently Michael Martin, MP for Glasgow) is also a Member of Parliament, but he (or she) must be strictly neutral on all issues, regardless of his previous party allegiance. Like the Monarch, the Speaker can have no political opinions. The Speaker acts as umpire, judge and enforcer, and every speech or question from Members is addressed to the Speaker, which is why Members never address each other directly. Even while the are staring right at each other, they refer to their colleges and opponents in the third person. The Speaker never casts a vote in Parliamentary debates except in the event of a tie, in which case he always votes with the government, not the opposition.

 9. Because of the unitarian nature of the government of the UK, the Prime Minister is perceived, rightly or wrongly, as responsible for everything that happens, and this is largely true, even though there is an extensive layer of local government across the country with its own responsibilities. Every week the Prime Minster must subject himself to Question Time in the House of Commons, where he faces questions from a packed House, half of which fawns over every word he says and the other half of which is out for his blood. The PM can expect to be asked questions on anything from global warming, the fishing industry, law and order, recruitment in the medical profession to the state of secondary roads in northern Yorkshire. Some members are genuinely seeking information, others want the PM to make a statement of policy on some issue or other, while others, on the Opposition benches, want to catch him out, find him wanting or otherwise make him look inadequate. Once a PM loses his grip, it is very hard for him to get it back again. Harold Wilson, PM for a total of eight years, said that it is vital for the strength of Britain’s democracy that the PM should always fear PM’s Question Time.

 10. The leader of the second largest party in the Commons is the official Leader of the Opposition. It is recognised that Opposing the government is an important job and on top of his Member of Parliament’s salary he also receives a further salary from the government for opposing it.  The present Leader  of the Opposition Party is David Cameron, on whom Damozel---one of the two boss ladies of this site---has, as her husband Nicholas happens to know, a secret, shameful crush.
 
11. The President of the USA is the highest paid head of government in the world. The British Prime Minster is the fourth (the 2 between them, in case you were wondering, are the Chancellor of Germany and the Prime Minster of New Zealand). It is notable that compared to corporate bosses, film stars, sports figures and many others, heads of government receive very little by way of remuneration for what is a 24/7 job.

 12. Unlike their American counterparts, British politicians never mention God.

 13. Trivia: After the US became independent, they decided that the head of state, and of government , would hold the title of President, because he would preside over the government and the country, and, after rejecting such possibilities as “Your Mightiness” and “Your Highness” they decided simply to address him as Mr. President. In Britain, the title Prime Minister came into being some time after the office was created. Originally the title was First Lord of the Treasury, and that is what the PM is still officially called today. That is what is engraved on the brass plate on the front door of

10 Downing Street. Like Methodist, Suffragette, Quaker and Tory, Prime Minster was originally a term of abuse which eventually made its way into the mainstream and became acceptable, though it was not officially recognised until 1905. The PM is always addressed simply as “Prime Minister” with no Mr or Madam preceding it.

See, e.g., Time Magazine:  How British Elections Work

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BN-POLITICS thanks everyone who commented on this post!  Check out these other great sites by Thirteeners and others who commented:

1. Ed's Thread
2. Too Many Ideas
3. Kitchen Table Chat
4. Nicole Austin
5. Comedy Plus
6. West of Mars
7. What Works for Mom
8. One Gal's Musings
9. Snarky Pants
10. East Coast Life
11. Some Things Need Said, But Most Don't
12. Journey Woman
13. Writer Cramps
14. Pop Culture Dish
15. Juuust a Bit Outside
16. Endless Words of Mine
17. Joshua Tree
18. A World of Chaos
19. Mummified Times 5
20. Story Weaver's Web
21. Diary of a Catholic Church Worker
22. Alasandra
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34. Starfish & Coffee
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36. A Spot of T
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39. Whisperings From the Wings
40. Moto Mom
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43. Dennie's Thoughts
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45. Here Comes a Storm
46. Family Adventures
47. Ash in Wonderland
48. Fond of Snape
49. Splash's Training Diary
50. Dog's Eye View
51. Denise's Den
52. Daisy the Curly Cat
53. Mary Emken (friend of Nicholas!)
54. J's Thoughts and Musings
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Comments

[Ed]

Very educational list. Thanks for the effort and the education.

Ed

[Mark Caldwell]

A great and well put together list although unwritten constitution is one of those phrases that annoys me because the vast majority of the UK's constitution is written in the form of our laws rather than a neat little document that becomes the topic of endless debate and political wrangling with a very small part of it unwritten. The US constitution on the other hand is a single document but actually fails to enumerate many things that US citizens take for granted (and so in effect has unwritten components).

[Suprina]

I like visiting this blog. My husband is studying to be a history teacher. I think he may even read it.

Very educational T13!
Happy T13!

[Nicole Austin]

Very informative list!

Happy TT!

[Comedy Plus]

What a great TT. I had no idea. This is becoming a good place for my weekly history lesson. Have a great TT. :)

[Susan Helene Gottfried]

Well, I just learned a lot. Thanks!

Now if we could only convince the American politicians that a shorter campaign period is better...

[WhatWorksForMom]

Once again, thanks for the weekly history lesson!

[The Gal Herself]

Imagine! A Speaker who has no political opinions! It boggles my mind. Thanks for sharing.

[The Gal Herself]

Imagine! A Speaker who has no political opinions! It boggles my mind. Thanks for sharing.

[Lisa]

Excellent information! I always learn something when I visit. Thanks for stopping by Snarkypants! :)

Happy Thursday.

[eastcoastlife]

Very informative and educational list. Thanks for sharing. Happy TT!

[Annie]

Great Thursday Thirteen! I was surprised at the differences, and I really wish our politicians would get over themselves, give us a break and only campaign for a few weeks instead of YEARS!

But then, they aren't really interested in what any of us think, are they?

[JJourneywoman]

Great list.

I only wish we did #3

[Gattina]

Very interesting ! Here in Belgium the King has only representative functions the only thing he does is to approve the government once it's elected.

[Malcolm]

I didn't realize that the minimum age of a PM was 21. I also like the rule that calls for them to be out of the office before lunch the next day.

[Chris]

Definitely a lot there that I was unaware of, will have to keep an eye out for more things I may miss.

Happy TT.

[Grace]

Thanks for dropping by. Happy TT :)

[Joshua]

What I great list! I get to learn a lot from it. Happy T13!

[-E]

Oh that campaigns were only mere weeks long!

Informative post, thanks for sharing.

[mummifiedx5]

Thanks for sharing your list :) Oh, and thanks for dropping by my blog!

[Xakara]

Thanks for my weekly lesson. Can't wait until next week :)

#12...I'd forgotten you could be a politician and nnot mention God.

~X

[The Nononsense]

Very very interesting and highly educational.

That's a great TT!

Visit me ------> http://thenononsense.blogspot.com/

[Alasandra]

Thank you for visiting my TT.

I enjoyed your very educational TT.

[Sophie]

Terrific post! Thanks for bringing meaningful content to the world of blogging!

[Maribeth]

I love anything that can provide me with some education and history. Thanks for that
Thank you also for commenting on my blog

Maribeth-www.marnini.wordpress.com