how do separate branches of government ensure liberty for all americans?
461890
The three branches each act as a check on the power of the other two, thus preventing any one branch of the government from growing too powerful, and / or infringing on the rights of the American people.
1181374
"The Constitution nowhere contains an express injunction to preserve the boundaries of the three broad powers it grants, nor does it expressly enjoin maintenance of a system of checks and balances. Yet, it does grant to three separate branches the powers to legislate, to execute, and to adjudicate,"\n\nGo read the rest....
264686
"We the people, in order to form a more perfect Union, establish justice and ensure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty, to ourselves and our posterity do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America"\n\nTranslation:  We're making this constitution for us and our children, in order to: \n1. create a new country \n2. figure out how we're going to pass laws \n3. defend ourselves and create a national army \n4. help people live in safety and health \n5. make sure we all keep certain freedoms\n\n"Freedom" is easy to create.  The problem is how to make it last, and the writers of the constitution did a pretty good job, more or less.
1006665
The Supreme Court is not there to support political leaders and their agendas...that's why it is a separate branch of the government.   The court is there to support the LAW of the land, including the US Constitution...sorry that there are those that seem to think that the incursions against our civil liberties and constitutional rights are justified by the current political climate...guess what...virtually none of those unconstitutional invasions of privacy have yielded anything that could not have been obtained through the already sufficient legal investigative techniques that already yield information leading to persons of interest in anti-terrorist investigations...\n\nPeople, come on...are "terrorists" going to become the new "communists" that were lurking under all of our beds in the 50's and 60's????  Did we not learn the negative lessons about denying civil liberties that the McCarthy era taught us?\n\nOr are so many of us modern Americans so lacking in education about our government and its history that you don't know or remember how important the constitution is, and how dangerous a threat the erosion of its structure and protections really can become?
66898
The following is text of the letter that Jefferson wrote to the Danbury Baptist Association of Connecticut: "I contemplate with solemn reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should 'make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,' thus building a wall of separation between Church and State." It is true that the Constitution never states the phrase "seperation of church and state", but it is hard to play semanitics on such plain language and infer that this is not what the founders had in mind. So there is a legal obligation to seperate church and state. Congress can not choose a favorite nor limit any religion from practicing its beliefs.
474659
I would think it'd be the Balance of Powers between the three branches of government.\n\n[EDIT]  Okay, I'm changing my answer - based only on a tiny paragraph I just read, but I think this is right:  a strong central government can protect the nation from external threats.  [National Defense]  \n\n(Rather than each state or small groups of states defending itself/themselves against outside nations (enemies), the central government joins its forces and protects the nation (all states) as a whole.)
23557
In America, the "separation of church and state" is a concept expressed in the First Amendment to the Constitution:\n"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof..."\n\nAt the most basic level, this means that our government cannot make any law requiring you to belong to a given religion, nor prohibit you from exercising your religious beliefs.  In Europe at the time, people were required to be of a certain religion; to profess another religion could be a death sentence.
809700
people\n\n\n\n\nWe the People of the United States, in order to form a more perfect Union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty, to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.
900273
There are three branches of the government in the U.S.\n1. Executive Branch- this is the president, and his hand- picked cabinet; they usually agree with him on most issues.\n2. Legislative Branch- this is Congress. Congress is The House of Representatives, and The Senate. If the president wants to pass a law, it has to get the majority or 2/3 of the votes in Congress. When the opposite party is in power in Congress, this limits the President's power significantly. Also, if Congress wants to pass a law, the President can veto it if he chooses.\n3. Judicial Branch- this is the courts sytem; The U.S. Supreme Court is the head of this Branch. The Chief Justices decide on many things, but most importantly, they can decide what IS and what ISN'T Constitutional. The President nominates someone for a position in The Supreme Court, but Congress has to approve of his nomination. Of course he usually chooses someone who is sympathetic to his agenda.\nRight now, the Democrats have nearly won control of Congress,\nthis will limit George W. Bush's power, because they will oppose him on most issues. He is a Republican.
36566
Your country can only be free if there are certain rules to ensure your freedom. If everyone were completely free from rules, we would be spending most of our time guarding our property.
9130
Under the AOC there was only one branch of government, congress.  The main weaknesses of the AOC was there was no power to tax and there was no provision to force the states to do anything.  Our constitution provides for 3 branches-executive, judicial, and legislative each sharing power and providing a check and balance against the other branches.  Another concept of the constitution is Federalism-the sharing of power between the federal and state governments.  Finally the constitution has the Bill of Rights which guarantee individual liberties.
1090407
Government knows best whats good FOR GOVERNMENT, namely keeping us "teaming masses" in check.  Since government not gonna voluntarily give up its power, YOU must choose your areas of freedom. The man can't be everywhere, all the time.
454103
Common misunderstanding, but laudable that you are asking, because it is theonly way we can become self-governed again. \n\nThe U.S. Constitution only grants one right. The fist 10 Amendments, added twelve years later, are called "The Bill of Rights," and are probably what you're thinking of.\n\nA "right" is something granted by law, something you can take to court and win. A privilege, can be taken away at any time at the whim of those few in power.\n\nLike someone in the military has almost no rights. But they have lots of privileges. An underage child has no rights, but has privileges. \n\nThe one test to find out if you have a right, e.g., the case of a child, is to find out if this person or entity can sue or be sued. If not, then there are no rights. \n\nRead the Constitution on my web site listed below, then read the explanation of the Amendments. You'll find that the one main reason for the Constitution was to set up a Federal Gov't, and at the same time, limit their power. Their greatest fear was that the Fed would become more powerful than a State, and rule the States from afar and dictate their laws, and invade our states at will. But of course, that has happened anyway hasn't it, because nobody is policing the police (the Fed) or enforcing the Constitution.\n\nThey tried to weaken the Fed by breaking them up into 3 branches; Executive, Legislative, and Judiciary. If those three ever came together, we would have a totalitarian dictatorship, similar to a King ruling us dictating our every move. For examply, only Congress can pass new law, which represents each State. But the President (Executive) decrees new laws every day by executive order. The courts (Judicial Branch) interpret and change laws every day. So the inevitible has happened; all three branches are acting as one, and nobody seems to care.
110974
First, the pledge has only said "One nation, under God" since 1954 when it was added by Congress.\n\n"We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal" is the preamble to the Declaration of Independence, an inspired but non-binding governmental document.\n\nYour liberties are judged as determined by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, both at the federal and state level. The government rules by the power granted it by the governed. There have been cases where the governed have made their case known and the government responded, such as granting women the right to vote, granting blacks equal rights in the 60's, or repealing Prohibition. \n\nMy subjective take on law is that it generally restates over and over again a simple premise: do no harm. Criminal laws cover doing harm to another in forms of personal or property damage, or even harm to oneself. Environmental law covers doing harm to the planet, financial laws cover doing harm to clients, etc. I think everyone has an equal stake in ensuring that no harm come to them or those around them and, as a result, have enlisted the aid of the government and the law in that struggle.
611689
To directly answer your question, the U.S. is considered free because most people inside and probably outside of the U.S. are under the impression that Americans have more freedom than anybody else.  This belief is probably not true.  As you point out, Europeans enjoy certain freedoms that Americans do not.  But as someone else pointed out, Americans enjoy other freedoms that Europeans do not.\n\nEvery government is going to impose certain rules, and doing so necessarily infringes some individual freedoms.  The only way to live totally free is to have no government at all, which of course will never happen, at least not in our lifetimes.  The best you can do is decide which freedoms you are willing to sacrifice, and choose a country to call home based on that.\n\nIncidentally, another misconception that most Americans have is that freedom is synonymous with democracy.  This is simply not true.  In a dictatorship, the decision to infringe upon your freedoms is made by one man.  In a democracy, this decision is made by popular vote.  In a republic such as we have, the decision is made by a body of elected officials.  But in all cases, the government does violate your freedoms.  Additionally, any argument that our government is bound by its constitution not to violate certain freedoms is easily refuted by the mere existence of the Patriot Act, hundreds of gun control laws, drug laws, and a plethora of other laws that are clearly unconstitutional.
803469
The federal government is specifically laid out in the constitution of the united states. it has grown through laws passed by congress and through judicial interpretation of these laws, for instants, congress has the right to oversee interstate commerce, judicial review says that they can now shut an  establishment down if they aren't handicapped accessible, and so on. a local government regulates everything else from property tax to speed limits to zoning laws. You have a direct say who runs your local government where as you vote for a representative to voice your opinion in federal matters.  This could literally take weeks to go over but I hope you get the basics, read up some government web sites on US democracy or get the cliff notes on Tocqueville's Democracy in America, an old book but a knowledgeable one written by a Frenchman.
222331
Pro: They each ensure our liberty and civil rights, as well as protecting us from the abuses of the government and those who would abuse governmental powers.\ncon: They make it hard,but not impossible, for the government to do the hell whatever they please.