Key Facts : US Politics (R. SCHMITT – Sept. 2013)

(1) US Presidential Election (=executive power) (R)epublicans / (D)emocrats The G.O.P.

‘conservative’ ‘liberal’ [elephant] [donkey]

• 1980-88 : Ronald Reagan (R) • 1988-92 : George Bush (R) • 1992-00 : Bill Clinton (D) • 2000-08 : G. W. Bush (R) • 2008-16 : Barack Obama (D)

• How do Americans vote ? At Election Day, Americans cast their ballot for a presidential ticket

(Ticket = President + Vice-President) o 2008 tickets : (D) Barack Obama / Joe Biden vs. (R) John McCain / Sarah Palin o 2012 tickets : (D) Barack Obama / Joe Biden vs. (R) Mitt Romney / Paul Ryan

• Difference : Popular Vote vs. Electoral Vote :

The ticket that wins a state’s Popular Vote automatically wins all that state’s Electoral Votes The ticket that receives the majority of the Electoral Votes (270 out of 538) wins the Presidency [ Such an electoral system is called a first-past-the-post or winner-take-all system ]

o It is possible for a candidate to win the Popular Vote, but lose the election ! ex. 2000 election : G.W. Bush (47,9%, 271) / Al Gore (48,4%, 266)

o In fact, is possible to win the election without a single vote from 39 states ! (since 12 states =283 ‘high electors’ > 270, more than necessary to win the Presidency)

o States with the most of Electoral Votes: California – 55; Texas – 38; Florida – 29 (2) US Congress (=legislative power)

• House of Representatives (HoR) : 435 (population-based) (2-year term) • US Senate : 100 (2 Senators per state) (6-year term) • Congressional elections : held every 2 years (Election Day + mid-term elections) • Current Speaker of the House 1: (R) John Boehner • Last Nov. 2012 election: House = (R) (233/200) // Senate = (D) (54/46)

= congressional gridlock : Democats having trouble passing reforms without the consent of the Republican House, therefore calling for more bipartisanship

1 Speaker of the House = Président de la Chambre des Représentants

(3) Supreme Court (=judiciary power)

• 9 Supreme Court Justices appointed by the US president for life (life tenure) • Justices’ mission ? Checking whether or not laws or court decisions are constitutional • Obama has nominated 2 female Justices :

2009 Sonia Sotomayor 2010 Elena Kagan

(4) What is the Tea Party Movement ?

• A conservative populist/grassroots movement which emerged in 2009 • Tea Partiers include : Sarah Palin, Glenn Beck, Ron Paul, Michelle Bachman • The name refers back to the 1773 Boston Tea Party (anti-British tea tax protests) • Main catchphrases: ‘less taxes’ / ‘small government’ / ‘state power’ • Generally in favor a strict reading of the US Constitution, esp. of :

1st Amendment : freedom of speech, of the press, freedom of religion 2nd Amendment : ‘the right to keep and bear arms’ (gun ownership) 10th Amendment : the principle of federalism (whereby powers not explicitly granted to the federal government are reserved ‘to the State and the People’)

(5) Religion in the US

• A country built on religious dissension (fleeing European persecution against Protestantism). • Over 50% Protestant / nearly 25% Catholic / one in six declare having no religion • 2012 Stats : 53% would not vote for an otherwise qualified atheist presidential candidate • Bible-belt states : states in which socially conservative evangelicalism influences politics

(6) Racial make-up of the US population

• White Americans make up about two-thirds of the US population • Ethnic minorities account for over a third and are steadily rising

o 63% White Americans o 16 % Hispanic Americans ( the country’s fastest-growing voting block) o 12 % African Americans o 5 % Asian Americans o 1 % Native Americans

• Minorities are expected to outnumber white Americans by 2040. Political parties have started paying extra attention to ethnic minorities (esp. to Latinos).

• At the Nov. 2012 US presidential election, Obama obtained : 93% of African Americans’ ballots 71% of the Latino vote … much to Republicans’ dismay.

• The G.O.P. (Republicans) currently learning from past mistakes, rethinking its ethnic electoral strategy. New party rising stars including Marco Rubio and Paul Ryan have been taking more moderate, welcoming positions on immigration.

(7) Wedge social issues : the three g’s [‘god, guns and gays / gender’] 7.1. Abortion

• Roe v. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court ruling which legalized abortion in the US, has turned 40 last January. The American media is celebrating the landmark decision’s fortieth anniversary by reminding how long a fight is still going on.

• While pro-choice activists maintain that every woman should be able to choose whether or not she wants to abort, pro-life advocates consider life to be sacred and, accordingly, to be protected – regardless of mothers’ opinion.

• Pro-life supporters would like to overturn (/strike down) Roe. At the very least, they bring the fight home (/at a statewide or even grassroots level) and make it locally and technically more difficult to get an abortion. Ex. North Dakota’s only abortion clinic is currently under pressure to shut down.

• 2012 Stats : One in six Americans declare they would not vote for someone sharing a different opinion than theirs on abortion

7.2. Same-sex marriage

• May 2012 : Obama became the first sitting US president to declare support for gay marriage • 13 states so far (Aug. 2013) have legalized gay marriage (California + most of the Northeast) while

29 states still prohibit gay marriage in their state constitutions • June 2013 : DOMA (Defence of the Marriage Act 1996) which prevented the federal government

from recognizing same-sex unions was ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court

7.3. Gun Control

• A wedge issue between the constitutional Second Amendment and government responsibility to cut crime. Massive public shootings have made gun control a hot topic for years.

• The National Rifle Association (NRA) – the US powerful gun lobby and its 4.3 mn members – carries on defending the rights of every American to ‘bear arms’ on the grounds of a strict interpretation of the Second Amendment of the US Constitution (1791), while gun control proponents favor a looser reading of said text.

• The latest Newtown rampage (Dec 2012, Sandy Hook Elementary School, Newtown, Connecticut) has sparked a gun control revival which hasn’t yet abated.

• April 2013 : Obama’s moderate gun bill was rejected by the Senate • Stats : Over 300 mn guns at large throughout the US, more than 1 for every adult

7.4. Immigration reform

• 11 mn illegal (undocumented) immigrants on the US soil • June 2013 : the US Senate approved the Border Security, Economic Opportunity and Immigration

Modernization Act, an immigration reform bill which would make it possible for undocumented immigrants to gain legal status, and eventually citizenship

• The bill is now to be approved by the Republican-packed House of Representatives in the fall of 2013, possibly resulting in a stalemate if the House rejects the bill.