Political Parties

Political parties are organized group of people who share a set of ideas about how the United States should be governed and who work together to have members of their group elected to influence the governing of the country. The two leading parties are the Democrats and the Republicans. There are no clear differences between the Republican and Democratic Party. In general, the Republicans tend to be more conservative and to have more support among the upper classes, while the Democrats tend to be more liberal and to have more support among the working classes and the poor.

There are other parties besides these two − a Communist Party and several Socialist Parties. Minor parties have occasionally won offices at lower levels of government, but they do not play a role in national politics. In fact, one does not need to be a member of a political party to run in any election at any level of government. Also, people can simply declare themselves to be members of one of the two major parties when they register to vote in a district.

3. Choose the best variant to complete each sentence.

The legislative branch consists of , which has two parts − ________ and (the House of Representatives, Congress, the Senate, the Supreme Court). The chief executive of the United States is ________, who, together with ________ is elected to a four-year term (the Vice President, the President, Senators, Representatives). The Judicial Branch interprets ______ and makes sure that new laws are keeping with _______ (the Constitution, the power, the laws, bills).

4. Match the words.

Supreme	diplomats
elective	parties
foreign	process
leading	bills
propose	Court

5. Find the synonyms in the text.

agreement
prohibition
authority
to have the power
shire

6. Find the opposites in the text.

home policy
to make a treaty
to appoint judges
difference
to cast a vote

7. Find the best variants of the words in the text.

a) The flag of the United States of America consists of __________ horizontal stripes alternately red and white equal in the number of the original states with a blue union marked with white stars equal in number to 50 states today. The red stripes proclaim ________ , the white stripes proclaim ________ , the field of blue stands for _________ (thirteen, twelve, liberty, independence, loyalty, enthusiasm, courage, duty).

b) The Coat of Arms of the US represents ___________ with wings outspread, holding a bundle of rods − the symbol of − _________ in the left claw and an olive twig − the emblem of _________ − in the right claw (administering, submission, love, hate, eagle, hawk).

c) In the Bill of Rights, Americans are guaranteed freedom of ________ , of and of the _________ (choice, speech, press, religion, action).