prohibits repeated trails for the same offence; forbids punishment without
due process of law and provides that an accused person may not be compelled
to testify against himself. The sixth guarantees a speedy public testify
for criminal offences. It requires trial by an unbiased jury, guarantees
the rights to legal counsel for the accused, and provides that witnesses
shall be completed to attend the trial and testify in the presence of the
accused. The seventh assures trial by jury in civil cases involving
anything valued at more than 20 U.S. dollars. The eighth forbids excessive
bail or fines, and cruel or unusual punishment.
The last two of the 10 amendments contain very broad statements of
constitutional authority: The ninth declares that the listing if individual
rights is not meant to be comprehensive; that the people have other rights
not specifically mentioned in the Constitution. The 10th provides that
powers not delegated by the Constitution to the federal government nor
prohibited by it to the states are reserved to the states or the people.
State and local government.
Each of the fifty states of the USA has a constitution patterned after
the national Constitution, with its three divisions of power: legislative,
executive and judicial. The head of each state is the governor, elected
for four or two years. The office of the governor is one of considerable
prestige and political power and has been steadily growing in influence.
The governor is assisted by Secretaries. The state legislatures consist of
two houses (except Nebraska, which has a single-chamber legislature,) and
they collect taxes, elect their officers, approve state government
officials, and pass state laws. No state, however, may pass a law contrary
to the Constitution or the United States’ laws and treaties.
Each state creates of local government. The chief unit of local
government is the county, of which there are more than 3000. The counties
maintain public order through the sheriff and his deputies; in many states
the counties maintain the smaller local highways. The sheriff is the chief
law enforcement officer of the county. He is also officer of the court,
serves papers, enforces orders, maintains the jail, and collects taxes,
with particular functions varying from state to state. The sheriff’s deputy
is appointed by the sheriff. He assists the sheriff in law enforcement, and
in some states may act in place of a sheriff. He is usually paid in fees.
Most large cities have an elected mayor as head of the local government and
an elected council to help him. Some smaller cities have a commission form
of the government. Five men are elected to take care of the city’s services
and its money problems.
The mayor-council system is the most popular kind of local government
and the city manager type is the second most popular. In this kind if
government an elected council hires a professional city manager to
administer and watch over the city’s business. The elected council keeps
the legislative power.
Congressional elections.
The Congress of the United States is composed of two houses, the
Senate and the House of Representatives. The Senate represents the states
and the House represents the population according to its distribution among
the states. Each state is guaranteed at least one representative in the
House. The remainder are apportioned among the states according the
population. There is now, roughly, one representative for every 380000
people, but no two congressional districts have exactly the same
population.
The Senate of the United States is composed of one hundred members,
two being elected from each state. Senators are chosen for six years, one-
third retiring or seeking re-election every two years. Two senators from
the same state never finish their terms at the same time, one of them
called “Senior Senator” and the other — “Junior Senator”. Theoretically all
citizens of both sexes over 21 years of age have the right to vote, but in
fact this is not so.
An estimate of the number of American legally barred from voting by
the residence laws based on 1960 Census figures on population mobility,
indicates that 5.4 million, or five per cent of adult Americans were unable
to vote in 1960 because the residence requirements in some states the
payment of taxes (called “poll-taxes”) is necessary for getting the right
to vote. In some southern states voters are required to give a reasonable
explanation of what they read. In some states the ability to read (usually
an extract from the Constitution) is required. In Alabama the voter must
take an “anti-Communist oath” and fill in a questionnaire to the
satisfaction of the registers. As a result of this millions of people are
deprived the right to vote. At the same time it is well known that
Americans are less disposed to exercise their right to vote than just about
any other nation. The percentage of voters in the potential electorate (the
adult citizenry) is about sixty-five per cent. One of reasons for
nonvoting, is the two-party system. In the United States there are two
major bourgeois political parties, the Democratic and the Republican (also
called G.O.P. — “the Grand Old Party”). Both of them represent the
interests of monopoly capitalists and there is no clear-curt difference
between the two parties, between their policies and their party machines,
but there is a difference between their bosses and their rank and file
members, common people who lacking a third choice have to vote either
Democratic or Republican. For many years, the mainstay of the Republican
Party was a block of industrialists and financiers of the Northeast and
midwestern farmers. The membership of the Democratic Party was no less
curious, for two of its most important components were southern landowners
and northern industrial workers — two factions apparently irreconcilable
because of differing economic and social objectives.
The area in which one lives is still considered an important factor in
determining one’s vote, though sectionalism appears to be of decreasing
importance. Until recent years, the South was “solid” for the Democrats,
while New England was “rock-ribbed” for the Republicans.
The great cities of the United States show a strong tendency to vote
Democratic while suburban areas have become Republican bastions in many
parts of the nation.
Blue-collar workers and racial minority groups are concentrated in
cities. Since this groups tend to vote Democratic, the party they support
has great strength in cities. On other hand, those who belong to the high-
income groups and usually vote Republican are concentrated in suburban
areas.
The party machines of both Republican and Democratic parties are run
by party bosses closely associated with different monopoly groups and these
two main political parties in the USA are parties of the monopoly
capitalists. The Republican and Democratic parties have monopolized
political life in the USA. Their monopoly of political power creates
difficulties in the struggle for democracy. While the reactionary groups
operate easily within each of this two main parties of capitalism,
promoting their interests, the working class and the mass movements are
denied such an opportunity. This is especially felt in the elections. The
American big business and progressive forces in the country and isolate the
Communist Party.
The Communist Party of the USA was denied its rights as a political
party by legal and extralegal means. Anti-Communist “loyalty oaths” by
candidates required by some state laws were used as an additional against
the Communist Party and other progressive organizations. Because of the
bipartisan system of the elections the majority of the nation, its working
class, poor farmers and seasonal workers have no other choice but to vote
either for the Democrats or the Republicans. Though major sections of the
working class, the Black people and other popular forces, still remain in
the political grip of the Democratic Party, there is little doubt that many
voters see nothing to choose between the Tweedledeeism of the Democrats and
the Tweedledeeism of the Republicans. Lacking a third choice, they fail to
choose at all. The central objective towards which all forces of the Left
are striving is an independent electoral policy, and the Communist Party of
the USA calls for united effort of labour membership, civil rights
movement, advocates of peace, so that they could present meaningful
alternatives to labour and minority of their needs and interests.
Страницы: 1, 2
