Explain The Flaws Of The Federal Government
The Government’s Flaws and Normative Solutions America’s government can be defined as a federal republic. Federal meaning that individual states have a certain degree of power, but centrally there is a national government that has authority over them. In a republic, the people have the power to elect leaders who will govern according to the set of laws in the U.S Constitution and the Bill of Rights. Even though we have a set of codes and guidelines to help us run the government, with the recent government shut down it is obvious that the national government is doing something wrong.
The recent government shut down has taken about $24 billion dollars out of America’s economy and people are outraged. $3.1 billion lost in government services, $152 million lost per day in travel spending, $76 million a day lost for shutting down the National Parks, and $217 million per day lost in federal and contractor wages in the metropolitan area of Washington D.C. alone. …show more content…
With so much money lost and with the U.S. national debt at $17,082,481,280,380.79 and rising, is raising the national deficit really the way to go?
According to Jeffrey Dorfman, we shouldn’t believe what the government says about raising the national deficit is the way to go and that the federal government can survive without the increase.
He states that the federal government actually reached the debt ceiling months ago and since then the government has been stealing/borrowing money from other government funds. Dorfman also says that if the government does reach the national deficit, knowing that if they raised taxes all of America would be outraged, then all they would have to do is cut government spending, prioritizing its expenses and keeping the amount of money it spends within the governmental revenue, but both Democrats and Republicans would agree on not wanting to do
that.
America’s government and the running of said government is also particularly flawed, one of those flaws being the fact that America is too involved with other countries’ problems. Instead of using our money to better our environment and help ourselves we are busy playing “Good Samaritan” to other countries to get “allies” or to go around to possibly show off how much “better” America is due to our tendency to “help” and/or interfere with every other country that seems to be in need. Even when those countries don’t seem to want our generosity. For example, Egypt gets $1.5 billion a year from the U.S. but from a survey conducted by the PEW Research Center only 16% of the people in Egypt have a positive view of the U.S. If a country doesn’t like us or want us to help them, why should we help them when we could benefit so much more from helping ourselves?
Another thing flawed about our government, is that the only people who truly have power or a say in politics are those who have money or those who have been there for long. Knowledge does come from experience, but sometimes a new voice can bring forth new ideas into the mix. How can we call ourselves equal when there is such an obvious unequal balance between those who are rich and have power and the average person. For instance, in a political campaign say Kate, a simple supporting citizen, votes for one party and gives a $25.00 donation , but when a senator with money goes to the same party and backs it up, Kate’s $25 dollar donation is drowned out by the loads of money the senator is willing to give. Moreover, if the senator writes a letter to the party voicing his support for what they are doing while Kate sends a letter voicing her concerns, it is most likely that simple little Kate’s letter will never be read, and if it is read her concerns will not be given a thought due to the senator’s approval and all of the money he gives with his approval. Since we do not all have equal political power, the concerns of the many (average citizens) are drowned out by the money of the few (wealthier citizens). To be truly equal and to truly be the democratic country that we say that we are, political power must be distributed relatively equally among all citizens. If we all have the same basic amount of power than the government will be able to respond to what most people want and act in the public’s interest, but as long as the wealthier people are given the most power, this will never happen.
Even though there are flaws with our governmental system, there are still ways to change it for the better. One way to better the government is by not having so many political groups with such different ideas on how things should be ran, which invokes more problems and conflicts. We should have more of a united government that passes bills for the better good and not just to keep the precious Spas and Gyms of the Democrats and Republicans open while all the other people living in Washington couldn’t even get to derive benefit from the peace and tranquility of a national park. Besides, having a government that is united on ideas and what should be done to help our nation is only a normative idea.
Another way is by renewing unemployment benefits for the unemployed and homeless people in this country. This can happen by giving more benefits to the unemployed or monitoring how they spend the benefits that they are given now. If someone is misusing the governmental benefits the government does not necessarily have to take away their benefits, but they would have to do the spending on their behalf, giving them just enough that allows them to live peacefully for another month until we send them more food. When the person on the governmental benefits get back on their feet, the government would slowly start taking away certain benefits that they don’t need until they don’t need anything at all and then the government would be further able to help a different person who needs more than the last.
Furthermore, we can better the government by cutting government spending. We should not be paying a representative of a state, a congressman, or the president of the U.S. tons of money or allow them to buy unnecessary things , that only benefit themselves, on the tax payers money because we wouldn’t know if the person is actually there to run this country or to just reap the benefits of the position that they are in. The people as a whole should be able to determine what their tax money goes to. So there will not be any misuse of or money taken out of what rightfully belongs to the tax payers. In addition, the states would have more trust and security in knowing that their representative is actually there to make a difference and would really try to do something because why would a person go into an average paying job full of pressure without actually being serious about being there. If we paid all those who represent us less than what they earn now for being in their position, then American citizens would easily be able to elect the people who are truly willing to fight for the cause or causes that they were trusted by the voters to change.
Given these facts, bettering our government and bettering America seems like a simple thing to do, but it is easier said than done. The ideas given to better the government are mostly normative statements, based off of a person’s beliefs and how they want or would like things to be done. However, when the reality of what’s happening in the economy and the government is all looked upon, is there really hope that America’s ways will change or is America blindly plummeting towards tragedy where the rich stay rich and live lavishly while the poor/ middle class has to fend for themselves.
1. Amy/Professor of Politics at Mount Holyoke College, Douglas J. "Government Is Good."- What Is Really Wrong with Government. Government Is Good, n.d. Web. 4 Oct. 2013.
2. Hall, Ed. "U.S. National Debt Clock." U.S. National Debt Clock. Brillig, n.d. Web. 4 Oct. 2013.
3. 4, 2013, Updated: October. "U.S. Debt Ceiling: Costs and Consequences." Council on Foreign Relations. Council on Foreign Relations, n.d. Web. 6 Oct. 2013.
4. "TEACHERS." Scholastic Teachers. Scholastic, n.d. Web. 7 Oct. 2013.
5. Dorfman, Jeffrey. "Don't Believe The Debt Ceiling Hype: The Federal Government Can Survive Without An Increase." Forbes. Forbes Magazine, 03 Oct. 2013. Web. 7 Oct. 2013.
6. Bommarito, Sal. "8 Of the Biggest Things Hurting America Today." PolicyMic. Policy Mic, 11 Jan. 2013. Web. 7 Oct. 2013.
7. Myre, Greg. "Which Nations Hate The U.S.? Often Those Receiving U.S. Aid." NPR. NPR, 23 July 2013. Web. 8 Oct. 2013.
8. 4, 2013, Updated: October. "U.S. Debt Ceiling: Costs and Consequences." Council on Foreign Relations. Council on Foreign Relations, 4 Oct. 2013. Web. 8 Oct. 2013
9. Johnson, Luke. "Government Shutdown Cost $24 Billion, Standard & Poor's Says." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 16 Oct. 2013. Web. 18 Oct. 2013.
10. Dockterman, Eliana. "Swampland." Swampland Heres How Much The Government Shutdown Cost The Economy Comments. N.p., 17 Oct. 2013. Web. 19 Oct. 2013.
The recent government shut down has taken about $24 billion dollars out of America’s economy and people are outraged. $3.1 billion lost in government services, $152 million lost per day in travel spending, $76 million a day lost for shutting down the National Parks, and $217 million per day lost in federal and contractor wages in the metropolitan area of Washington D.C. alone. …show more content…
With so much money lost and with the U.S. national debt at $17,082,481,280,380.79 and rising, is raising the national deficit really the way to go?
According to Jeffrey Dorfman, we shouldn’t believe what the government says about raising the national deficit is the way to go and that the federal government can survive without the increase.
He states that the federal government actually reached the debt ceiling months ago and since then the government has been stealing/borrowing money from other government funds. Dorfman also says that if the government does reach the national deficit, knowing that if they raised taxes all of America would be outraged, then all they would have to do is cut government spending, prioritizing its expenses and keeping the amount of money it spends within the governmental revenue, but both Democrats and Republicans would agree on not wanting to do
that.
America’s government and the running of said government is also particularly flawed, one of those flaws being the fact that America is too involved with other countries’ problems. Instead of using our money to better our environment and help ourselves we are busy playing “Good Samaritan” to other countries to get “allies” or to go around to possibly show off how much “better” America is due to our tendency to “help” and/or interfere with every other country that seems to be in need. Even when those countries don’t seem to want our generosity. For example, Egypt gets $1.5 billion a year from the U.S. but from a survey conducted by the PEW Research Center only 16% of the people in Egypt have a positive view of the U.S. If a country doesn’t like us or want us to help them, why should we help them when we could benefit so much more from helping ourselves?
Another thing flawed about our government, is that the only people who truly have power or a say in politics are those who have money or those who have been there for long. Knowledge does come from experience, but sometimes a new voice can bring forth new ideas into the mix. How can we call ourselves equal when there is such an obvious unequal balance between those who are rich and have power and the average person. For instance, in a political campaign say Kate, a simple supporting citizen, votes for one party and gives a $25.00 donation , but when a senator with money goes to the same party and backs it up, Kate’s $25 dollar donation is drowned out by the loads of money the senator is willing to give. Moreover, if the senator writes a letter to the party voicing his support for what they are doing while Kate sends a letter voicing her concerns, it is most likely that simple little Kate’s letter will never be read, and if it is read her concerns will not be given a thought due to the senator’s approval and all of the money he gives with his approval. Since we do not all have equal political power, the concerns of the many (average citizens) are drowned out by the money of the few (wealthier citizens). To be truly equal and to truly be the democratic country that we say that we are, political power must be distributed relatively equally among all citizens. If we all have the same basic amount of power than the government will be able to respond to what most people want and act in the public’s interest, but as long as the wealthier people are given the most power, this will never happen.
Even though there are flaws with our governmental system, there are still ways to change it for the better. One way to better the government is by not having so many political groups with such different ideas on how things should be ran, which invokes more problems and conflicts. We should have more of a united government that passes bills for the better good and not just to keep the precious Spas and Gyms of the Democrats and Republicans open while all the other people living in Washington couldn’t even get to derive benefit from the peace and tranquility of a national park. Besides, having a government that is united on ideas and what should be done to help our nation is only a normative idea.
Another way is by renewing unemployment benefits for the unemployed and homeless people in this country. This can happen by giving more benefits to the unemployed or monitoring how they spend the benefits that they are given now. If someone is misusing the governmental benefits the government does not necessarily have to take away their benefits, but they would have to do the spending on their behalf, giving them just enough that allows them to live peacefully for another month until we send them more food. When the person on the governmental benefits get back on their feet, the government would slowly start taking away certain benefits that they don’t need until they don’t need anything at all and then the government would be further able to help a different person who needs more than the last.
Furthermore, we can better the government by cutting government spending. We should not be paying a representative of a state, a congressman, or the president of the U.S. tons of money or allow them to buy unnecessary things , that only benefit themselves, on the tax payers money because we wouldn’t know if the person is actually there to run this country or to just reap the benefits of the position that they are in. The people as a whole should be able to determine what their tax money goes to. So there will not be any misuse of or money taken out of what rightfully belongs to the tax payers. In addition, the states would have more trust and security in knowing that their representative is actually there to make a difference and would really try to do something because why would a person go into an average paying job full of pressure without actually being serious about being there. If we paid all those who represent us less than what they earn now for being in their position, then American citizens would easily be able to elect the people who are truly willing to fight for the cause or causes that they were trusted by the voters to change.
Given these facts, bettering our government and bettering America seems like a simple thing to do, but it is easier said than done. The ideas given to better the government are mostly normative statements, based off of a person’s beliefs and how they want or would like things to be done. However, when the reality of what’s happening in the economy and the government is all looked upon, is there really hope that America’s ways will change or is America blindly plummeting towards tragedy where the rich stay rich and live lavishly while the poor/ middle class has to fend for themselves.
1. Amy/Professor of Politics at Mount Holyoke College, Douglas J. "Government Is Good."- What Is Really Wrong with Government. Government Is Good, n.d. Web. 4 Oct. 2013.
2. Hall, Ed. "U.S. National Debt Clock." U.S. National Debt Clock. Brillig, n.d. Web. 4 Oct. 2013.
3. 4, 2013, Updated: October. "U.S. Debt Ceiling: Costs and Consequences." Council on Foreign Relations. Council on Foreign Relations, n.d. Web. 6 Oct. 2013.
4. "TEACHERS." Scholastic Teachers. Scholastic, n.d. Web. 7 Oct. 2013.
5. Dorfman, Jeffrey. "Don't Believe The Debt Ceiling Hype: The Federal Government Can Survive Without An Increase." Forbes. Forbes Magazine, 03 Oct. 2013. Web. 7 Oct. 2013.
6. Bommarito, Sal. "8 Of the Biggest Things Hurting America Today." PolicyMic. Policy Mic, 11 Jan. 2013. Web. 7 Oct. 2013.
7. Myre, Greg. "Which Nations Hate The U.S.? Often Those Receiving U.S. Aid." NPR. NPR, 23 July 2013. Web. 8 Oct. 2013.
8. 4, 2013, Updated: October. "U.S. Debt Ceiling: Costs and Consequences." Council on Foreign Relations. Council on Foreign Relations, 4 Oct. 2013. Web. 8 Oct. 2013
9. Johnson, Luke. "Government Shutdown Cost $24 Billion, Standard & Poor's Says." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 16 Oct. 2013. Web. 18 Oct. 2013.
10. Dockterman, Eliana. "Swampland." Swampland Heres How Much The Government Shutdown Cost The Economy Comments. N.p., 17 Oct. 2013. Web. 19 Oct. 2013.