Just a clarification to MB52's comment:

In the Canadian system you don't vote directly for either the premiers (leaders of the provinces) or for the Prime Minister (leader of the federal gov't).  Those positions are determined by the head of the political party that wins the majority of seats in their respective legislatures.  So, each party has their own "convention" where they elect a person to be their leader, and if that party wins the majority of seats in the general election, that leader gets to be either Premier or Prime Minister.  Technically, the Premier/Prime Minister doesn't even have to be an elected representative (via a general election), although that means he can't sit in the legislature and ask/answer questions.

Also interesting to note: in the Canadian system, the Prime Minister can appoint whoever he wants to his cabinet positions - even if they aren't elected representatives (normally the cabinet ministers are all elected members and sit in their respective legislatures to ask/answer questions from the opposition parties).  This is how Pierre Trudeau (who went on to become an elected representative, and later Prime Minister) first got into federal politics.

There are some issues that come to a "referendum" (where the general population votes on a particular issue), however that has become a loaded word in the recent past (provincial issues, mostly regarding Quebec).

Think Lore caught most of the UK thing with the exception of :

REGIONAL PARLIMENTS!

Devolution is the transfer of powers from a central body to subordinate regional bodies. The UK Parliament at Westminster has devolved different powers to three bodies: the Scottish Parliament, The National Assembly for Wales and The Northern Ireland Assembly.

The 1998 Scotland Act provided "for the establishment of a Scottish Parliament". Under the terms of the Act, the Scottish Parliament is able to pass laws affecting Scotland covering a range of issues. The Act also gives the Scottish Parliament the power to raise or lower the basic rate of income tax by up to 3 pence in the pound. Some of the issues devolved to the Scottish Parliament include Education, Health (including the NHS in Scotland), Agriculture and Justice. All the issues on which the Scottish Parliament can pass legislation are known as "devolved matters".

The Scotland Act also specifies certain issues on which the Scottish Parliament cannot pass legislation. These are known as "reserved matters". Reserved matters include Foreign Affairs, Defence and National Security.

Lightening Boy describe the federal government.  There are also lower governments - State, County (in most States) and local.  Each State has its own governmental system, including an executive, legislative, and judicial system.  They vary, but are mostly derivative of the federal model.  On the county and local level, however, it's much different, and varies from region to region.  Too many difference to even start to describe.  The two major political parties still run most lower governments (not all), but the more local you get, the more transparent party identity becomes.  Local issues are a different beast than national.

How it really works in America:

Corporate America lobbys (bribes) politicians to vote with them in mind when voting on bills and certain provisions that may benefit or hurt their company. Bribes are usually done with free dinners, opera nites and political donations for their elections.

Republicans=materialistic, corporate-friendly and the Christian Coalition supports them

Democrats=pleasure seeking (pro-drug/any-kind-of-sex), enviroment-friendly, a little more for the working people but not by much

I consider myself 3rd party. Perot and Nader are brilliant.

I only hope for the day when the 3rd party candidates (non-republican and non-democrats) take over

Wow.  Anyway, LightningBoy, I have a question: you're against all amendments?  So you don't believe that you have the right to say whatever you want, be whatever religion you want, you don't believe women or people of other races have the right to vote, you don't think you should have the right to semi-privacy (FBI needs a warrant to search your stuff, without the amendments, that wouldn't be so), etc.?  Because all those things go out the window when you say that you're against all amendments.  Just saying.

You noticed that too huh

I had a very hard time translating political terms to english. Don't even think I've got it right now. ;)