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The Bundestag is the German federal parliament. It is the only federal representative body that is directly elected by the German people, comparable to the House of Commons of the United Kingdom. The Bundestag was established by Title III of the Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany in 1949 as one of the legislative bodies of Germany and thus it is the historical successor to the earlier Reichstag.
Each of the 50 U.S. states, the District of Columbia, and territories of the United States holds either primary elections or caucuses to help nominate individual candidates for president of the United States. This process is designed to choose the candidates that will represent their political parties in the general election.
The federal government of the United States is the national government of the United States, a federal republic located primarily in North America, composed of 50 states, five major self-governing territories, several island possessions, and the federal district and national capital of Washington, D.C., where most of the federal government is based.
YMCA Youth and Government (YaG), also known as Youth In Government, or Model Legislature and Court, is a program of the YMCA of the USA that allows high school students to serve in model governments at the local, state, national, and international levels.
Boys Nation is an annual forum concerning civic training, government, leadership, and Americanism that is run by the American Legion. One hundred Boys Nation Senators are chosen from a pool of over 20,000 Boys State participants, making it one of the most selective educational programs in the United States.
Elections in Cuba are held at municipal, provincial, and national levels. Cuba is a one-party state, with the Communist Party of Cuba being described as the "superior driving force of the society and the state" in the Constitution of Cuba, and the communist party is the only official political party. Elections in Cuba are not considered democratic because the government does not allow free and fair voting.
The American Legion Boys State and American Legion Auxiliary Girls State are summer leadership and citizenship programs for high school juniors, which focus on exploring the mechanics of American government and politics. The programs are sponsored by the American Legion (AL) and the American Legion Auxiliary (ALA) respectively. Boys and girls are usually nominated by their high school during their junior year. Boys and Girls State programs both began in 1937 and are held in each of the U.S. states, usually at a college within that state. There is also a coed Boys/Girls State session held in Washington, D.C. In general, male and female programs are held separately, but at least nine states—Georgia, Nebraska, Oregon, California, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Missouri—host Boys and Girls State on the same campus on the same week.
A United States Senate page is a high-school age teen serving the United States Senate in Washington, D.C. Pages are nominated by senators, usually from their home state, and perform a variety of tasks, such as delivering messages and legislative documents on the Senate floor and the various Capitol Hill offices. Pages are provided housing and attend a special page school at the Daniel Webster Senate Page Residence. Senate pages were first appointed in 1829. Originally limited to boys only, the Senate page program was expanded in 1971 to include girls. There are a maximum of 30 pages assigned to each Senate session, with 16 appointed by the majority party and 14 by the minority. Pages serve senators of the sponsoring senator's party.
The Ontario Youth Parliament (OYP), formerly the Ontario Older Boys' Parliament, is one of a number of provincial youth model parliaments across Canada. Each year, the organization holds a four-day debate conference on Family Day weekend for youth ages 14 to 21 from Ontario, Canada. The organization has roots within the United Church of Canada dating back to 1907. The first session of the Older Boys' Parliament met in the Ontario Legislative Building at Queen's Park in Toronto in January 1925. As a result, the OYP, as successor to the Older Boys' Parliament, is one of the oldest youth parliaments in Canada. Gordon Lapp of Brighton served as the first Premier.
Model Congress gives students a chance to engage in a role-playing simulation of the United States Congress. Such events are hosted by the Congress itself, Rutgers University, American International College, University of Maryland, Columbia University, Princeton University, the University of Pennsylvania, Yale University, The College of William and Mary, Harvard, Maggie L. Walker Governor's School, Hamburg Area High School, and Northgate High school.
Voting rights of United States citizens who live in Puerto Rico, like the voting rights of residents of other United States territories, differ from those of United States citizens in each of the fifty states and the District of Columbia. Residents of Puerto Rico and other U.S. territories do not have voting representation in the United States Congress, and are not entitled to electoral votes for president. The United States Constitution grants congressional voting representation to U.S. states, which Puerto Rico and other U.S. territories are not, specifying that members of Congress shall be elected by direct popular vote and that the president and the vice president shall be elected by electors chosen by the states.
The District of Columbia holds general elections every two years to fill various D.C. government offices, including mayor, attorney general, members of the D.C. Council, members of the D.C. State Board of Education, and members of its Advisory Neighborhood Commissions. Special elections may be held to fill vacancies at other points in time. Additionally, citywide ballot measures may be proposed and voted on.
Elections in Florida are held on the first Tuesday after the first Monday of November in even-numbered years, as provided for in Article 6 of the Florida Constitution. For state elections, the Governor of Florida, Lieutenant Governor, and the members of the Florida Cabinet, and members of the Florida Senate are elected every four years; members of the Florida House of Representatives are elected every two years. In national elections, Florida plays an important role as the largest bellwether state, occasionally determining the outcome of elections for U.S. President — as it did in 1876 and in 2000.
The 2008 Texas Democratic presidential primary and caucuses were a series of events to determine the delegates that the Texas Democratic Party sent to the 2008 Democratic National Convention. Delegates were selected using results from two sources: the Texas Presidential Primary held on March 4 by the Secretary of State of Texas's office, and a series of caucus events held between March 4 and June 7 by the Texas Democratic Party. The indecisive results of Super Tuesday, and the fact that Texas had the largest number of delegates among the states remaining on the Democratic primary calendar, resulted in the Texas primary receiving significant attention from both the Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama campaigns.
In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sovereignty with the federal government. Due to this shared sovereignty, Americans are citizens both of the federal republic and of the state in which they reside. State citizenship and residency are flexible, and no government approval is required to move between states, except for persons restricted by certain types of court orders.
The United States House of Representatives is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together, they comprise the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The House is charged with the passage of federal legislation, known as bills; those that are also passed by the Senate are sent to the president for signature or veto. The House's exclusive powers include, initiating all revenue bills, the impeachment of federal officers, and electing the president if no candidate receives a majority of votes in the Electoral College.
Liquid democracy is a form of delegative democracy, whereby an electorate engages in collective decision-making through direct participation and dynamic representation. This democratic system utilizes elements of both direct and representative democracy. Voters in a liquid democracy have the right to vote directly on all policy issues à la direct democracy; voters also have the option to delegate their votes to someone who will vote on their behalf à la representative democracy. Any individual may be delegated votes and these proxies may in turn delegate their vote as well as any votes they have been delegated by others resulting in "metadelegation".
The University of Virginia Center for Politics (CfP) is a nonpartisan institute at the University of Virginia. Based in Charlottesville, Virginia, the institute promotes the value of politics and the importance of civic engagement. It operates on the principle that 'government works better when politics works better, and politics works better when citizens are informed and involved participants'.
Missouri Boys State is an 8-day youth program held each June to teach Missouri high school students leadership and the workings of government. Missouri is one of forty-nine states with such a program for boys and a separate program for girls sponsored by The American Legion Auxiliary. The Missouri Boys State program hosts approximately 960 students, or citizens, and more than 130 volunteer staff members for 8 days on the Lindenwood University campus. During the week, the citizens of MBS create a fully functioning mock government modeled after the State of Missouri. Citizens are divided into 16 cities, with two cities per county, and into two political parties.
References
- ↑ American Legion Auxiliary. "What We Do". American Legion Auxiliary website. Archived from the original on 29 July 2012. Retrieved 17 August 2012.