American and UK Political Systems Compare and Contrast Essay Example

After watching the clip, U.S. Elections-How Do They Work? please write a two-page response detailing the comparison and contrast of the American and UK political systems. Feel free to cite additional material in APA. If so, please include a separate work cited page. The assignment needs to be written in Times New Roman, 1.5 line spacing and submitted via e-mail in Blackboard.  

After watching the video on the difference between UK and US elections and how each political system runs, I have recognized many similarities and differences. Things such as how many people are in charge, how long a leader is required to stay a leader, how many houses or parliaments there are, and how campaigns operate share differences and similarities alike.  

The first subject the video talks about is voting. When talking about voting, we see that like the United Kingdom parliaments, the United States Congress has 2 houses. The Senate and The House of Representatives. The difference told in the video between the two though, is that unlike the UK, the United States has separate elections. The elections for both the house and the senate, and then the third election of the president.  

Now, in the United States, we have one president. That person has the power to control the state and the government to an extent. For example, when talking about the president's power on states, during times of civil unrest during the summer of 2020, at the time, president Donald Trump used his power to send in the national guard to certain states that were suffering from looting and rioting. Some people may be confused if the president can do those things like that in states because of states basically being their own little country within a country due to the different laws they all have. The states do share some of the power along with the representatives of the state. The United States is given one representative for each district in a state. The video uses the example of how California has 53 districts so that means they have 53 representatives and how Alaska may be big in size just like California, but the population is much lower, only having one district and one representative.  

In the United Kingdom, things are different. There are two people that take charge of state and government, The monic and the prime minister. The monic has authority over the states while the prime minister takes control of the government.  

In the United States, we would have to impeach a president for them to be taken out of office before their term is up, in the United Kingdom, the prime minister can be taken out of office if their party decides they do not want them to lead anymore. Also, even if a president gets impeached, that does not mean they are automatically out of office. For example, Donald Trump was impeached once on the date december 18th, 2019 and another time on January 13, 2021. Both times it seems his charges were acquitted by the senate and he was able to finish his four years as president.  

A big one that differs is the campaigning. In the United States, the two parties set out and go from state to state holding rally’s, telling people their vision for the future of the United States. The party’s campaigns try to reel in millions of dollars for things such as advertisements, merchandise, and charities. These campaigns are known to be privately funded by private companies and businesses. In the UK, the difference is that there are more restrictions in the campaign process. Here in the US, you might see a campaign ad on the television as you scroll through channels. It is prohibited for campaign ads to be televised in the UK. The only exception is that the runner can share their policies on air for a set amount of time. Most of the Campaigning can be seen in newspapers, posters, and on social media. The next restriction the United Kingdom has to do with where and how they receive the money for campaigns. Campaign contributions are known as being “relatively modest,” according to Irish news, 2017, Here Are The Key Differences Between UK and US elections. There are strict laws on where the money goes and even more strict on where it goes in the last 25 days (about 3 and a half weeks).  

After going over the separate ways the United Kingdom and The United States run things politically, I have one observation that I would like to share that I believe is significant. The UK is more fair and rule abiding when it comes to politics and especially elections. I say that because they have two people running the Kingdom which is one more mind in power. Also, the people have the power to get rid of the people in power if they do not feel they are doing a respectable job. Now in the US, I found that even though there may be many rules in effect, there are also many loopholes. Loopholes that allow campaigns to get money, loopholes to avoid payment of things such as taxes, and loopholes in the impeachment process.