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Structure of the government in Texas
Structure of the government in Texas
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A plural Executive is a system of government where a few, or all, of the administrative branch officers are chosen in their own particular right. This out comes in a considerably weaker CEO. This framework is principally found in American states, especially Texas. Texans choose six of the seven individuals who make up the plural official: the senator, the lieutenant governor, the attorney general, the land chief, the commissioner of agriculture, the officer, and the official of the General Land Office. The representative names the seventh individual, the secretary of state. Two noteworthy administrative offices, the Railroad Commission and the State Board of Education, are controlled by authorities who are likewise freely chosen. Decisions are fanatic, and every individual from the plural official may work freely of the …show more content…
As stated in the book Texas Politics: Ideal and Reality, the state of Texas lacks a cabinet system and an integrated executive branch. Yes, the Texas governor needs a cabinet governor to make the policymaking more efficient, because citizens are affected on a daily basis because of what these boards do. An example I found in the book is, each professor decides on the balance between lecture and discussion, textbooks, or whether to mix power point lessons with quizzes, or maybe even essays. Just like If using a cabinet, it can help out by interpreting laws faster, making rules, and making judgements, administrators make public policy. A cabinet is important, because it would allow the governor to have stronger super vision control, and it would allow the governor to exercise greater influence over major policy decisions. “Thirty-nine other states have an executive branch that is organized like that of U.S. government-that is, a chief executive who heads a cabinet made up of directors or secretaries.” The book states and I
day federalism. In section 1 of the Fundamental Orders, an executive office as well as a judicial branch is elected. The person with the most votes becomes the governor, and the next six runners up would hold positions as magistrates in the general court. The representative branch is established in section two where it is stated that the next runners up to the magistrates shall be the public officers to the people of their town. These three branches of government are exactly the same in present day, but how they are elected and appointed to their position is the only difference.
There are positive and negative effects to the plural executive model. Historically, state governors were known for abusing their power when appointing friends to political positions or handing them out as favors they would call upon later. This is why Texas in the 1850 amendment established a plural executive where by the governor must share power with other popularly elected executives, in this case the lieutenant governor, state treasurer, comptroller, general land commissioner, and executive officer. The president of the United States still has a cabinet of appointed officials, but Texas like most states have changed to elected officials. A major drawback to this form is that it lacks cohesion, leading to political officials chasing after many different goals. The governor has much less power to lead the group in any unified direction. Also, while voting prevents governor bias, voters do not always elect the most qualified officials.
Our Legislative Branch has two chambers or as some will call it bicameral. The chambers consist of the Senate and the House of Representatives just like the National Legislative Branch. In our Senate we currently have a total of 31 members and there are 150 members in the House of Representatives. Senators hold their seat for 4 years and their election years are spread out while the House of Representatives are elected for two-year terms. In our Texas Legislature we have a few authority figures. “The Texas Constitution provides that the lieutenant governor shall serve as president of the senate, the presiding officer of that body. The lieutenant governor is elected statewide by voters of Texas and is the second-highest ranking officer of the executive branch of government”. (Texas Medical Associaton) In the House of Representatives we have a Speaker of the House who is chosen in each time a new legislature starts by its own members. “The speaker maintains order during floor debate, recognizing legislators who wish to speak and ruling on procedural matters.” (Joe Straus Speaker) There are also many committees who act as important gatekeepers and shape the proposed legislation. (University of Texas at Austin). The main pu...
In Robert Dahl’s Who Governs?, he relates the political structure of the United States to that of New Haven, CT. This form of government is pluralistic. The author reports that the shift to pluralism was not random. Oligarchies that involved people who were very powerful and had all the resources they needed transitioned to pluralistic societies where power was not concentrated. While power is allocated across a larger range, all people do not have the same opportunities.
Pluralism, in short, means that power lies not in the hands of one dominant person or group, but rather is disbursed among many. This is because each group has a different set of expertise and resources. We can refer to this system as a polyarchy, a term coined by renowned political scientist Robert Dahl in his 1956 book A Preface to Democratic Theory. This is in contrast to a hierarchal system, which is structured like a pyramid where all groups are ranked above or below others. However, even in a polyarchy, we should not conclude that there an elite is completely non-existent. Sociologist Susan Keller believed that there is pyramid structure, yes, but a myriad of pyramids rather than just one.
The cabinet are responsible for being the Governments directors in policy making. Policy and legislative proposals are decided by this position.
Our government here in Texas has three major parts that play a significant part in our decision making process. These levels have been deigned to decentralize power and make it more affective for the public's needs. The primary level is the Texas legislature. It is almost a given to say that everyone has at least heard of the legislature. Some variables that the legislature contains are the Lt. Governor, the Speaker of the house of Representatives and Committee Chairs. The Speaker acts as the presiding officer over the house and has two levels of power. These two levels are institutional powers which allow the officer to preside over the Legislative Audit Committee and Sunset Advisory Committee.
The executive branch of Florida’s state government includes the governor and his/her cabinet. In Florida, there are only three cabinet members whose positions include the Chief Financial Officer, the Attorney General, and the Commissioner of Agriculture. The positions are held by Jeff Atwater, Pam Bondi, and Adam Putnam, respectively. The position of governor is held by Rick Scott. The duties of the cabinet are to assist the governor in making decisions. The cabinet, along with the governor, can create independent school districts and special districts (“Statutes & constitution: View statutes: Chapter 189”, 1995).
The Governer of Texas is the commander in chief of the state military force and the head of the executive branch of the Texas government. The governer has the power to either approve or veto bills passed by the Texas legislature, and to convene the legislature. The governor also have the power to grant pardon in cases but only when recommended by the board of pardons and paroles or in the case of treason, with permission by the legislature. Similarly, the post of Lieutenant Governor can be considered as a second powerful post in Texas government. The Lieutenant Governor of Texas is the second highest executive office in the government of Texas. The Lieutenant governor have the power to control the work of Texas Senate and it also controls the
The plural executive is a system that divides the power among the lieutenant governor, state treasurer, general land commissioner, and attorney general. It was established in 1876 because state governors normally abused of their power many regarded it as oppressive and corrupt. The governor is limited to the people appointed to office and which appointees to office could be removed. However, the governor can still be successful if he works closely with the legislature and shares common visions. The governor can only appoint the Secretary of State other officials do not work together.
Governors are expected to be the leading cheerleaders for their states. They are expected to set the political tone, to manage state affairs. They serve as the primary face and voice of government during natural disasters or other crises. With this much power, of course, comes a great deal of expectation. If a state is not doing well – if it is losing more jobs than its neighbors during a recession for example, or
Pluralism is essentially a theory in favour of distributing power equally amongst individuals rather than having power remain within the hands of one individual (Heywood, 2003; Schwarzmantel, 1994; Dunleavy and O’Leary, 1987; Crowder, 1994). This theory is predominantly associated with Robert Dahl, who had researched how the state behaves and amongst whom power is exercised in New Haven (Heywood, 2007; Dahl, 1961). However, it has been argued that this theory is too idealistic, and that it is impossible for there to be an equal distribution of power because realistically power is likely to only be exercised by a minority, as in accordance with the elitist view (Heywood, 2007; Schwarzmantel, 1994).
As important as informal powers are, I believe formal powers are more important because informal powers enhance the reach or the formal power. Someone can be very well spoken and charismatic but if they are unwilling to exercise formal powers or can't make sound policy decisions, they would not make a good governor and would have a hard time convincing the public that they were. However there are [successful] policy makers who are not known for their public speaking skills; for example Thomas Jefferson was such a bad public speaker that he declined to deliver a State of the Union address to Congress ("Standard," n.d.), or former governor/congressman Bobby jindal who “said what he wanted to say rather than what the audience wanted, or needed, to hear” (Baldoni, 2014). Of all the formal powers I think that The power of appointment is the most important because it allows the governor to surround themselves with people that they trust and who think similarly to them - more importantly it allows the governor to surround themselves with people that will agree with them and do what they
Offices are ranked in a hierarchal order and their operation are characterized by impersonal rule.
Pluralism is present through the variety of demographics in operation within states and societies as well as universal suffrage in democratic nations meaning that there is the opportunity to participate politically. However, this is undermined by the presence of spoils system, clientelism, pressure groups and fundraising organisations. Spoils systems are when power is allocated to officials due to their connections with elites rather than based purely on their own merits. This may be seen in the US; although technically ended by the Pendleton Act (1883), Presidents are more likely to choose friends or campaign colleagues due to trust having been built such as Sestak or Romanoff with Obama. This weakens pluralism as the President is becoming more dictatorial rather than voters choosing the officials, although it may be argued that this is in fact legitimate as the public votes in the president which gives them a mandate to govern accordingly. But with the presence of flawed electoral systems clearly shown by President Bush winning the minority of popular vote in the 2004 election due to the warped nature of the electoral college this argument that the people vote for the presidents and therefore his actions are representative is diminished.