what is the political system of the us?
Federal republic
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 In the American federalist system , citizens are usually subject to three levels of government : federal , state , and local . The local government 's duties are commonly split between county and municipal governments . In almost all cases , executive and legislative officials are elected by a plurality vote of citizens by district . There is no proportional representation at the federal level , and it is rare at lower levels . 

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 The United States has operated under a two @-@ party system for most of its history . For elective offices at most levels , state @-@ administered primary elections choose the major party nominees for subsequent general elections . Since the general election of 1856 , the major parties have been the Democratic Party , founded in 1824 , and the Republican Party , founded in 1854 . Since the Civil War , only one third @-@ party presidential candidate — former president Theodore Roosevelt , running as a Progressive in 1912 — has won as much as 20 % of the popular vote . The President and Vice @-@ president are elected through the Electoral College system . 

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 Noting that economic decision making in the United States is highly centralized among a select socio @-@ economic elite who control big business , he argues that this elite play a dominant role in this Imperial Grand Strategy because they consistently maintain a strong influence over successive U.S. governments . As a result , he argues that U.S. foreign policy has focused on gaining and maintaining unrestricted access to markets , energy supplies , and strategic resources across the world . Chomsky goes on to categorize the specific purposes of the doctrine as : 

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 Under the current system , campaign focus – in terms of spending , visits , and attention paid to regional or state issues – is largely limited to the few swing states whose electoral outcomes are competitive , with politically " solid " states mostly ignored by the campaigns . The maps to the right illustrate the amount spent on advertising and the number of visits to each state , relative to population , by the two major @-@ party candidates in the last stretch of the 2004 presidential campaign . Supporters of the compact contend that a national popular vote would encourage candidates to campaign with equal effort for votes in competitive and non @-@ competitive states alike . Critics of the compact argue that candidates would have less incentive to focus on states with smaller populations or fewer urban areas , and would thus be unmotivated to address rural issues . 

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 The foundation of Paul 's political philosophy is the conviction that " the proper role for government in America is to provide national defense , a court system for civil disputes , a criminal justice system for acts of force and fraud , and little else . " He has been nicknamed " Dr. No , " reflecting both his medical degree and his insistence that he will " never vote for legislation unless the proposed measure is expressly authorized by the Constitution . " 
