text: parliamentary vs. presidential?   parliament (in the u.s., we call it congress) is an assembled group of elected people, who (are supposed) to represent the people from their elected areas.  they usually responsible for distributing money among all the government programs.  presidential (the president) is an elected leader of the people, who actually runs the government.  the president sets national policy (if you live in a kingdom, this person is generally the royal leader & the prime minister wrapped into one.)