U.S. Presidential Race 2

Although it would be easy to think that the upcoming U.S. Presidential election is really a battle between liberals and conservatives, or the right wing vs. the left wing in politics, things really are not this simple.

George Bush cannot be President of the United States again, so he is focusing his energy on trying to make sure that the next American President is also a Republican | foto: Reuters

Angličtina na iDNES.cz
VŠECHNY LEKCE ZDE

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This has to do with the complex nature of American politics, and the fact that most Americans vote for the person, instead of the political party.

Democratic, Yet Republican
Most Americans, if you ask them, will tell you that they are democrats. Yet despite this fact, for the last 12 years, just until the most recent Congressional elections, the Republicans have controlled the U.S. government. How is it possible?

Checks and Balances
The American system of government is loaded with what are called checks and balances. These are deliberate laws, policies and procedures, which are designed to help insure that governments serve the people, stay focused, and ultimately “play fair.”

A good example of three very real checks and balances have to do with how long people can serve in office.

Congressmen are elected every two years. This helps insure fresh turnover, and new faces in government. It also lets those who are doing a great job, get re-elected fairly early.

Senators, by comparison, serve for terms of six years. The President, serves for only four years.

By insuring that none of these three positions can hold office for the same number of years, this helps prevent any single figure from becoming too dominant, or developing what is called a personality cult.

The Upcoming Fight
The upcoming election in America is not about Democrat vs. Republican, it is about what is called centrist or mainstream issues.

Americans have shown that they want a strong defense, but they also want freedom. It’s a fine line to walk.

Joke of the Day

As everyone knows, thousands of years ago God told Noah to build a ship or ark so that all the good people and animals could be saved.

After Noah’s Ark came to rest on Mt. Ararat, Noah came down from the mountain and asked God what to do next.

"Gather everyone so that I can divide them into separate races and nationalities and assign each their own language." God told Noah.

Naturally, Noah obeyed. Standing in pairs, the Germans lined up and God gave them the German language to speak. The Russians got together, and God gave them Russian to speak.

Finally, after everyone was sorted, there were two people left.

"Who are you?" asked God.

"We are Hungarian," replied the men.

"Oh, in that case, speak whatever you want."

Key Article Word in English

liberals - liberálové
conservatives - konzervativci
right wing - pravé křídlo
left wing - levé křídlo
centrist - centristický
mainstream - tradiční/hlavní proud
a ship - loď
Noah’s ark - Noemova archa
Mount Ararat - hora Ararat
came down from - sestoupit/sejít
separate races - oddělené/odělit rasy
nationalities - národnosti

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Najdete ji také v bezplatném deníku Metropolitní expres.

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