(cheerful music) - Ms. House, where are you going?

- Well, Frisbee, it's nice to see you.

I'm going to vote.

- What?

- I'm going to vote.

- I don't understand what that is.

- Well, I am going to vote, which means I get to use my voice to say whether or not I want someone or something to be in office.

- Oh, well, my cousin, Senator Barksdale, says that once you work for the government, you don't have to follow the rules.

- Oh, but that's not quite true.

I think your senator, cousin, uncle, grandpa?

- Oh, he wasn't really a senator.

We called him that.

- I think he's misinformed.

- Oh.

- You do have to follow the rules, even if you work in the government.

- Oh, well.

Oh, what?

- Well, let me tell you, just let me tell you all about it.

- Oh, okay.

- There are three different branches of our government.

- Did you say branches?

- I said branches.

- Oh!

This is the biggest branch I could find.

- Oh, Frisbee, that's a nice little branch.

Thank you for that.

You tried.

- I did.

- Okay, well- - Well tell me about the branches of government, Ms. House.

- The three branches of government each have a very specific and different job.

There's the legislative, the executive and the judicial branches.

And they all have different responsibilities.

- Oh, like what?

- Well, the legislative branch is made up of the House of Representatives and the Senate which together creates our United States Congress.

And the Constitution grants Congress the sole authority of creating laws, declaring war and confirming or rejecting the election of our president.

- Hm.

Wow.

I mean, that sounds like a lot of responsibility.

- I think it's a pretty big deal, don't you?

- Mm hm.

- Well, the executive branch is made up of the president, the vice president, the cabinet and federal agencies.

- Wow.

- And the job of these is to carry out the laws made by the legislative branch.

- Wow, so like one informs the other.

- Exactly.

It's not like you can just do whatever you want.

You kind of have to answer to the other branch.

- Oh.

- And the last branch, that's the judicial branch, it's made up of the Supreme Court and other courts.

- [Frisbee] Wow.

- And their main job is to make sure the laws are fair and constitutional.

So each one of our branches has different members and different jobs.

And they all work together to make sure that our country is running smoothly.

- That sounds like a lot of people doing a lot of things all at the same time.

- It's true, it's true right there.

In fact, I've got another fun fact for you too, Frisbee.

- All right, hit me with it.

- Did you know that our nation's capital, over here in this picture, looks exactly like our state capital?

Look at 'em.

- Ms. House, I may be colorblind, but this looks like same photo.

- It is almost the exact same photo, except for that one's in Washington DC and this one is in Little Rock, Arkansas.

- Are you trying to trick me?

- I'm not trying to trick you.

In fact, Arkansas' state capital was designed as a replica of our nation's capital.

It's the only state to have a replica of the capital in their state.

- [Frisbee] What a fun fact.

- I think it's a fun fact.

And I think that you should understand now that if you work in the government, doesn't mean you just get to do whatever you want to, right?

Because how many branches were there?

- Oh, there was three branches.

- Do you remember what their names were?

- Judicial.

- That's one.

- Ooh, uh, what are the other two?

- Executive.

- Executive.

Yeah, I knew that.

- And the last one is the legislative - Legislative.

- That's right.

- That's right.

I knew it all along.

- And they all three have different jobs, responsibilities and people that make them up.

- Mm hm.

- So, next time you go to vote, think about how your voice matters and how there are people out there working for our country every day.

- Wow, that's great, Ms. House.

Now, get out there and go do your civic duty.

- I'm going right now.

All right, Frisbee, thanks so much.

And I hope you guys come back for more learning with Arkansas Rise and Shine.

♪ It's a blast ♪ ♪ You're a great student so we know ♪ ♪ that you can do it.

Rise and shine.

♪ ♪ Get up off your feet ♪ Ah, ooo, ooo.

♪ It's time to rise and shine.

♪