Elementary question re structure of US government

The idea

Graduate Poster
T
Joined
Jul 31, 2003
Messages
1,540
There are municipal taxes, state taxes, and federal taxes.

Why aren't there executive branch taxes, legislative branch taxes, and judicial branch taxes?

There are municipal police, state police, and federal police.

Why aren't there executive branch police, legislative branch police, and judicial branch police?
 
The idea said:
Why aren't there executive branch police, legislative branch police, and judicial branch police?
Click to expand...

The legislative branch legislates. or enacts, laws. They have no executive power.

The judicial branch judges, or interprets, laws created by Congress. They have no executive powers.

All law enforcement powers fall to the executive branch, which executes all federal laws.
 
Cylinder said:
All law enforcement powers fall to the executive branch, which executes all federal laws.
Click to expand...
If one branch controls the police and the revenue supply, then what ensures that that one branch will not at some future time take effective control of all branches of government?
 
The idea said:
There are municipal taxes, state taxes, and federal taxes.

Why aren't there executive branch taxes, legislative branch taxes, and judicial branch taxes?

There are municipal police, state police, and federal police.

Why aren't there executive branch police, legislative branch police, and judicial branch police?
Click to expand...

You can't really compare branches of a government, which are completely dependent on each other, to different LEVELS of government (state vs. federal) which can act somewhat autonomously from each other.

At the federal level, only Congress can levy taxes (separation of powers thing: quite useful). If you WERE to split up taxes, that would in effect just be a matter of labeling. Congress would still have to levy said taxes, and still gets to approve the budgets, so there would be no real shift in control towards the other branches. It would just be increased paperwork.

Unless you're proposing to do away with this separation of powers, and give the ability to tax to the executive and judicial branches, which are less representative than the legislative branch. Not a good idea, in my opinion.
 
A serious suggestion:

Read the famous essay by John Locke, the 18th century (or was it 17th) philosopher who was so influential to those who wrote the United States Constitution, in which he describes why there ought to be executive, legislative, and judicial branches.

So much of what is written today just assumes that this is a natural way to organize a government, without questioning why that is the way it is. When he was writing, it was a radical idea, so he explained it.

Every American should be forced to read it in High School. I wasn't, but I stumbled on it later.
 
The idea said:
.....There are municipal police, state police, and federal police.

Why aren't there executive branch police, legislative branch police, and judicial branch police?
Click to expand...

Who said there weren't?
 
Meadmaker said:
Read the famous essay by John Locke, the 18th century (or was it 17th) philosopher who was so influential to those who wrote the United States Constitution, in which he describes why there ought to be executive, legislative, and judicial branches.

So much of what is written today just assumes that this is a natural way to organize a government, without questioning why that is the way it is. When he was writing, it was a radical idea, so he explained it.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the advice. I am not familiar with that essay.

A quick search turned up:
Locke, John, 1632-1704: Two Treatises of Government (PDF at McMaster)

If that's what you have in mind, then would you specifically recommend the following?

Essay Two, Chapter XI: Of the Extent of the Legislative Power
Essay Two, Chapter XII: The Legislative, Executive, and Federative Power of the Commonwealth
Essay Two, Chapter XVIII: Of Tyranny

Because of the style of writing, I don't want to read all of Essay Two. It's not all relevant to this thread anyway, is it?
 
crimresearch said:
Who said there weren't?
Click to expand...
Maybe I should have made it more clear, but I thought that the words "elementary question" in the title would indicate that I am NOT asking the questions from a position of knowledge. Perhaps you could suggest a clearer way to indicate that one has no intention of asserting or insinuating anything?

Now, I suppose that, ideally, one would formulate questions so that one assumes nothing except what one has confirmed. However, that practice also has hazards. You can PM me for details if you are interested.
 
I'm mildy interested in why you keep posting leading questions based on fiction, and get huffy when people ask for clarification.

But only mildly interested.
 
The idea said:
Thanks for the advice. I am not familiar with that essay.

A quick search turned up:
Locke, John, 1632-1704: Two Treatises of Government (PDF at McMaster)

If that's what you have in mind, then would you specifically recommend the following?

Essay Two, Chapter XI: Of the Extent of the Legislative Power
Essay Two, Chapter XII: The Legislative, Executive, and Federative Power of the Commonwealth
Essay Two, Chapter XVIII: Of Tyranny

Because of the style of writing, I don't want to read all of Essay Two. It's not all relevant to this thread anyway, is it?
Click to expand...

I have a confession to make. I haven't read the whole thing. I read an excerpt in a book called "The Democracy Reader", a very good book. Lots of short essays on Democracy.

I'll see if I can find the relevant parts, and post them..
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top Bottom