Local Government

Types of city governments vary widely across the nation. However, almost all have some kind of central council, elected by the voters, and an executive officer, assisted by various department heads, to manage the city's affairs. The city directly serves the needs of the people, providing everything from police and fire protection to sanitary codes, health regulations, education, public transportation and housing. Cooperation with both state and federal organizations is essential. The county is a subdivision of the state, usually -- but not always -- containing two or more townships and several villages.

Political Parties

Today, there are two major political parties in the United States, the Democratic and the Republican.

The Democratic Party evolved from the party of Thomas Jefferson, formed before 1800. The Republican Party was established in the 1850s by Abraham Lincoln and others who opposed the expansion of slavery.

The Democratic Party is considered to be the more liberal party, and the Republican, the more conservative. Democrats generally believe that government has an obligation to provide social and economic programs for those who need them. Republicans are not necessarily opposed to such programs but believe they are too costly to taxpayers. Republicans put more emphasis on encouraging private enterprise in the belief that a strong private sector makes citizens less dependent on government. Both major parties have supporters among a wide variety of Americans and embrace a wide range of political views.

Vocabulary notes

legislative branch – законодательная власть

executive powers – исполнительная власть

judicial power – судебная власть

ratification - утверждение

undue - несвоевременный

veto - запрет

elect - избирать

amend - дополнять

criminal code – уголовный кодекс

council - совет

obligation - обязательство

Languages

The United States does not have an official language; nevertheless, English (specifically, American English) is the language used for legislation, regulations, executive orders, treaties, federal court rulings, and all other official pronouncements. Additionally, one must demonstrate an ability to read, write, and speak English to become a naturalized citizen. Many individual states and territories have adopted English as their official language.

Although the United States currently has no official language, English has long been the de facto national language, which is spoken by about 82% of the population as a native language. 96% of the population speaks English "well" or "very well".

Spanish is taught in various regions as a second language, especially in areas with large Hispanic populations such as the Southwestern United States along the border with Mexico, as well as Florida, the District of Columbia, Illinois, New Jersey, and New York. In Hispanic communities across the country, bilingual signs in both Spanish and English may be quite common. Furthermore, numerous neighborhoods exist (such as Washington Heights in New York City or Little Havana in Miami) in which entire city blocks will have only Spanish language signs and speaking people.

In addition to Spanish-speaking Hispanic populations, younger generations of non-Hispanics in the United States seem to be learning Spanish in larger numbers due to the growing Hispanic population and increasing popularity of Latin American movies and music performed in the Spanish language. Over 30 million Americans, roughly 12% of the population, speak Spanish as a first or second language, making Spanish easily the country's second-most spoken language.

Chinese, is the third most-spoken language spoken in the United States, almost completely spoken within Chinese American populations and by immigrants or the descendants of immigrants, especially in California. Over 2 million Americans speak some variety of Chinese.

French, the fourth most-common language, is spoken mainly by the native French, Haitian or French-Canadian populations. It is widely spoken in Maine, New Hampshire and in Louisiana, a former colony of France, where it is still used with English as the state's de facto official language.

People of German ancestry make up the largest single ethnic group in the United States and the German language ranks fifth.

Italian, Polish, and Greek are still widely spoken among populations descending from immigrants from those countries in the early 20th century, but the use of these languages is dwindling as older generations die out. Starting in the 1970s and continuing until the mid 1990s, many people from the Soviet Union and later its constituent republics such as Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, and Uzbekistan have immigrated to the United States, causing Russian to become one of the minority languages in the United States.

Tagalog and Vietnamese have over one million speakers in the United States, almost entirely within recent immigrant populations.

There are also a small population of Native Americans who still speak their native languages, but these populations are dropping and the languages are almost never widely used outside of reservations. Hawaiian, although having few native speakers, is still used at the state level in Hawaii along with English. Several states and territories are officially or de facto bi- or trilingual:

• Hawaii (English and Hawaiian)

• Louisiana (English and French legally recognized, although there is no official language)

• New Mexico (English and Spanish de facto)

• American Samoa (Samoan and English)

• Guam (Chamorro and English)

• Northern Mariana Islands (English, Chamorro, and Carolinian)

• Puerto Rico (Spanish and English)