Today where does our culture stand on issues of racism and discrimination? what civil rights issues are we currently dealing with? what should be the responsibilities of both whites and blacks?

Everywhere we look, we see differences in wealth, power, and status. Some groups have higher status and greater privilege than others. This inequality in the system is what we call social stratification. In this unequal social system, there is often unfair treatment directed against certain individuals or social groups. This is referred to as discrimination. Discrimination can be based on many different characteristics—age, gender, weight, ethnicity, religion, or even politics.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) updates its strategic plan every four years, and last month invited the public to comment on its draft plan for FY 2018–2022. The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, members of our Health Care Task Force, and other stakeholders submitted comments to the agency with concerns about the draft plan and recommendations to ensure that the opportunity to access quality health care and live a healthy life is equaBlack and white Americans have starkly different views on the appropriate role of government in dealing with civil rights in this country. A majority of blacks (59%) say that the government should play a major role in improving the social and economic position of blacks, while 19% of whites agree. A little over half of blacks (52%) say that new civil rights laws are needed in this country, while 15% of whites agreelly available to all.

separation of powers, therefore, refers to the division of government responsibilities into distinct branches to limit any one branch from exercising the core functions of another.   the intent is to prevent the concentration of power and provide for checks and balances.  

the traditional characterizations of the powers of the branches of american government are:

* the legislative branch is responsible for enacting the laws of the state and appropriating the money necessary to operate the government.

* the executive branch is responsible for implementing and administering the public policy enacted and funded by the legislative branch.

* the judicial branch is responsible for interpreting the constitution and laws and applying their interpretations to controversies brought before it.

forty state constitutions specify that government be divided into three branches:   legislative, executive and judicial.   california illustrates this approach; "the powers of state government are legislative, executive, and judicial.   persons charged with the exercise of one power may not exercise either of the others except as permitted by this constitution."

while separation of powers is key to the workings of american government, no democratic system exists with an absolute separation of powers or an absolute lack of separation of powers. governmental powers and responsibilities intentionally overlap; they are too complex and interrelated to be neatly compartmentalized. as a result, there is an inherent measure of competition and conflict

minnesota:   minnesota house research,   separation of powers: when statutes and court rules conflict, 2005