Questions tagged [united-states]
Questions relating to the government or the politics of the United States of America
3,629
questions
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Why didn't any country complain to the WTO about the car company bailouts by the U.S.?
Why didn't any country complain to the WTO about the car company bailouts by the U.S.? Aren't financial bailouts considered to be illegal subsidies according to the WTO? If so, why didn't any country ...
-5
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3answers
110 views
Why states don't charge head taxes to reduce poverty? [on hold]
Under current system, in most democracy, all people have a right to move anywhere.
People in California have a right to move to Texas and via versa.
We know that poor people are more likely to ...
-1
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1answer
98 views
What does Trump hope to achieve by calling the Swedish prime minister about ASAP Rocky? [on hold]
There has been some media discussion on Trump's recent statement that he is going to call the Swedish prime minister, Stefan Löfven, about the fact that US rapper ASAP Rocky is currently being ...
0
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1answer
26 views
Is it common for candidates for the U.S. House of Representatives to go door-to-door as a campaign activity?
I read that candidates for Congress can knock on doors as a way to campaign. Is this a common practice or something that is rare? I read that AOC knocked on many doors, but I would think this would ...
5
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1answer
113 views
How do Republicans explain their lack of support among minority voters?
From a 2016 Pew Research Study, "The Parties on the Eve of the 2016 Election: Two Coalitions, Moving Further Apart":
Trends in party affiliation among black voters have been largely stable over ...
0
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3answers
94 views
Why did Rand Paul vote in support of the 2017 tax cuts if he's against increasing the deficit?
I've seen lots of media sources calling Sen. Rand Paul a hypocrite for blocking the 9/11 victim compensation fund bill until the cost is offset elsewhere, but not voting against the 2017 tax cut bill ...
2
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0answers
40 views
Are most people who commit financial fraud extradited, or people don't bother and just tend to fine the companies?
This is an excerpt of an article written by Jeffrey Sachs.
Ms. Meng is charged with violating U.S. sanctions on Iran. Yet,
consider her arrest in the context of the large number of companies,
U....
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0answers
95 views
Has any congressperson in office ever been a victim of discrimination? [on hold]
From the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission's web page Immigrants' Employment Rights Under Federal Anti-Discrimination Laws:
Harassment Based on National Origin
Ethnic slurs and other ...
17
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6answers
7k views
Could a US citizen born through “birth tourism” become President?
A few years back, there was a lot of news coverage of the increase in "birth tourism". Basically, people would come to the US very late in their pregnancy to have children with US citizenship, and ...
7
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1answer
311 views
Why did the DNC refuse to hold any debates on Fox News?
Back in March the DNC refused to hold any primary debates on Fox News.
With the second Democratic Presidential Debate coming up in a few weeks on CNN, this question seems especially relevant.
Fox ...
25
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1answer
4k views
Who determines when road center lines are solid or dashed?
A two lane state highway I regularly travel was recently re-paved, and the last step was to paint the center lines. Seeing the freshly painted lines prompts this question:
Who determines when the ...
7
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1answer
438 views
Are there any restrictions on how amendment should be related to original law in US Senate?
As I understand, When US Senate approves some law, there can be amendments, attached to it. But sometimes, such amendments seem to not relate to the parent law at all, for example:
https://...
3
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2answers
2k views
Why are there no polls of Tom Steyer yet?
Tom Steyer, a billionaire, announced he was campaigning for president on July 9 and pledged to spend 100 million dollars of his own fortune to make that happen. Enough for a significant advertisement ...
5
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1answer
201 views
What is the Trump administration planning on doing with migrants denied asylum under the new policy?
As recently reported, the Trump administration is planning on denying asylum to migrants who passed through a third country on the way to the US. In the interim final rule, the government argues that ...
13
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4answers
736 views
How have Republicans defended Trump's “Go Back” tweets?
On July 14th, 2019, President Trump posted series of 3 tweets which targeted Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, Ayanna S. Pressley of Massachusetts and ...
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1answer
90 views
Does anything else happen if the parliamentarian rules a House speech was out of order, but is not stricken by vote?
In the debate over the House resolution condemning President Trump's tweets, Nancy Pelosi characterized them as racist
This sparked an attempt by Republicans to have the speech stricken
“I ask ...
7
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0answers
291 views
Have there been any attempts by the rest of the world to sanction the US in the last years?
In the past few years the US has implemented or rejected certain international policies which other countries have been critical of. The first that come to mind are:
The Paris climate accord - the US ...
6
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0answers
108 views
What are the reasons why the Federal Reserve won't make public the transcripts of its meetings?
Is there a reason why the Federal Reserve won't make public the transcripts of its meetings? They officially gave the explanation that making the transcripts public would negatively impact troubled ...
10
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2answers
470 views
What are the consequences if the House of Representatives condemns Trump?
The US House of Representatives is preparing to vote to condemn Donald Trump for the tweets he wrote this week regarding several Congresswomen, which have been widely characterized as racist. Are ...
18
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2answers
5k views
If SWIFT is headquartered in Europe, why does the EU need to create a SWIFT alternative to be able to do transactions with Iran?
If SWIFT is headquartered in Europe, why does the EU need to create a SWIFT alternative to be able to do transactions with Iran? It seems that the U.S. has significant control over SWIFT although ...
0
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1answer
166 views
US Party with all time most Presidential votes?
Which US political party has had the most votes for President? Both popularly, and electorally?
Note: given the sometimes radical changes in party platforms over the years, this may seem like apples ...
1
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1answer
126 views
Average win/loss ratio for US Presidents as party nominees?
What's the average win/loss ratio for all elected US Presidents running (but not necessarily while President) as party nominees? For example, Nixon ran in 1960 and lost, won in both 1968 and 1972; ...
8
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2answers
249 views
Are Indian tribal governments subject to the Bill of Rights?
In the US, Indian tribes with official recognition from the federal government are given sovereignty and the right to self-governance. They are not subject to state laws in the state their reservation ...
39
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4answers
6k views
What are the arguments for California’s nonpartisan blanket (jungle) primaries?
California has a system where two candidates, chosen in a nonpartisan primary, are on the ballot in each congressional or statewide race. It's sometimes called a jungle primary.
This makes it so that ...
0
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1answer
37 views
Why did Barry Goldwater change from opposing to supporting the Export Trade Administration Act of 1979?
The House modified the bill after it passed the Senate. Goldwater was among three Senators who voted against the bill. Can someone confirm that the modifications that the House of Representatives ...
2
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1answer
170 views
Can a government be held responsible for the crimes committed by a military contractor?
Can a government be held responsible for the crimes committed by a military contractor? If, for instance, a company like Blackwater Security Consulting contracted by the government commits a crime not ...
48
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10answers
15k views
Why do candidates not quit if they no longer have a realistic chance to win in the 2020 US presidents election
As background, some answers of Why run for president if you have no chance to be elected? are relevant, so I will concentrate on the differences.
There are currently more than 20 candidates for the ...
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1answer
115 views
Is the CIA responsible for overseeing all US military black-ops missions on foreign soil?
Is the CIA responsible for overseeing all US military black-ops missions on foreign soil? I am wondering if it's the CIA that oversees all military black-ops mission on foreign soil, or the Pentagon ...
3
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0answers
54 views
Why didn't the U.S. support the idea of an Asian Monetary Fund?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asian_Monetary_Fund
During the Asian financial crisis, Asian leaders had difficulties in
dealing with both regional and international institutions such as the
...
2
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1answer
45 views
Where could I find the House of Representatives voting record for the Export Administration Act of 1979?
When did the House approve the Export Administration Act described here?
This proposed bill, The Export Administration Act, was rejected by the House on 9/25/79. So there must be another time when ...
38
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2answers
12k views
Why hasn't the U.S. government paid war reparations to any country it attacked?
Why hasn't the U.S. government paid war reparations to any country it attacked?
According to Wikipedia, the U.S. has never paid any war reparations to members of other countries. It has only paid ...
7
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3answers
173 views
If the US government is running deficits valued at 5% of GDP, is the economy really growing?
From the White House Budget Office Deficit records:
The US government is currently running a projected 2019 deficit of 5.1% of GDP (somewhere around $1.05 Trillion).
The Bureau of Economic analysis ...
7
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3answers
374 views
What can the U.S. government do to prevent powerful people to get extremely favorable plea bargain deals like Jeff Epstein?
We know that Jeff Epstein got an extremely favorable plea bargain deal from the chief prosecutor. The media is now questioning if there was due process, or someone powerful got into the way of the due ...
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0answers
136 views
What information was (and is) Trump looking for, and how would he have gotten that from the proposed decennial question in 2020?
The previous question provided no "Best Answer", as well the answers offered were inconsistant, some answers were "disqualified" b/c the person answering used biased sources. What I am asking here is ...
3
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0answers
78 views
How are Canada and the USA similar and different with regards to immigration?
While reading the NY Post this morning I found this short opinion piece. It states:
While “a politically divisive debate continues to rage” in the United States over a Census question on ...
5
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2answers
277 views
Am I obligated to answer a citizenship question on the U.S. census? [closed]
This question seems to straddle politics/law, but I am going to post it here.
There is a lot in the US news lately about President Trump pushing to have a question on citizenship added to the 2020 US ...
4
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1answer
111 views
In the United States, how large is the political spread of all federal judges in terms of rulings?
Background
I keep hearing about the important role of Federal Judges in the United States and how their rulings as a whole results in them being labeled as a judge with a particular political ...
25
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4answers
5k views
Did any of the founding fathers anticipate Lysander Spooner's criticism of the constitution?
In his 1870 work "No Treason" - Lysander Spooner writes:
“But whether the Constitution really be one thing, or another, this much is certain - that it has either authorized such a government as we ...
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0answers
60 views
Is there any polling that would indicate how minor party voters would vote in a Presidential runoff?
In the 2016 election, neither Donald Trump nor Hillary Clinton achieved 50% of the popular vote. Further, 157 electoral votes were won in states (or NE-02) where the winner failed to achieve 50% of ...
9
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3answers
355 views
What do third party candidates for the US presidency expect to functionally accomplish in terms of voting?
Background
In the history of the United States presidential election, it is exceedingly rare that a third party candidate does anything other than split votes from one (sometimes two) main parties, ...
11
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1answer
166 views
When did the trend of giving U.S. Congressional bills catchy acronyms first start to occur?
According to The Atlantic, there have been 240 bills proposed in 2013 that were represented by an acronym, such as the ROBO COP bill to help curb automated robot calls and the BEER (Brewers Excise and ...
10
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3answers
344 views
Why does the US federal debt increase by more than the US deficit each year?
I was looking through the Historical Tables from the Office of Management and Budget (https://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/historical-tables/). I noticed that each year the debt increases by a different ...
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2answers
327 views
Why haven't Latin American countries condemned the U.S. for its migrant detention centers?
Why won't Latin American countries condemn the U.S. for its migrant detention centers? According to Wikipedia, the detention centers in the U.S. for so-called illegals and asylum seekers are ...
1
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1answer
84 views
Can an inauguration be delayed for any GOOD reason? [duplicate]
I ask this because with the amount of information regarding Trump, and the probability of Russian meddling in the 2016 election (from the FBI, CIA and NSA), dated 6 January 2017....was there a ...
38
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4answers
8k views
Why does the U.S. tolerate foreign influence from Saudi Arabia and Israel on its domestic policies while not tolerating that from China or Russia?
Why does the U.S. tolerate foreign influence from Saudi Arabia and Israel on its domestic policies while not tolerating that from China or Russia? Is there a reason for this? AIPAC is known to be one ...
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3answers
444 views
Why is the term “Jewish Privilege” never used? [closed]
In recent years the term "white privilege" has been used by certain segments of the American political spectrum to describe: (wikipedia)
the societal privilege that in some countries benefits white ...
2
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1answer
299 views
If the U.S. government eliminates private health insurance, how would it deal with the shareholders of private insurance companies? [closed]
If the U.S. government eliminates private health insurance, how would it be going to deal with the shareholders of private insurance companies? Would it reach some form of deal and what kind of deal? ...
5
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3answers
383 views
Could the US President force Britain to recall Ambassador Kim Darroch?
A few days ago, a leak revealed that in cables sent to London, U.K Ambassador to the United States Kim Darroch described Trump's administration as "inept," "insecure" and "incompetent". CNN
Today, ...
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0answers
40 views
What requirements are there on the Senate to process Articles of Impeachment? [duplicate]
If the House passes Articles of Impeachment, can the Senate refuse to accept them for processing or delay them through Senate procedures?
8
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2answers
194 views
Are US Congressional districts required to be connected?
With all the talk of gerrymandering of late, I was looking up North Carolina's past election maps. And man, the 2016 map which caused the court case looks downright normal compared to some of the ones ...
