Political Problems in America

While it is crucial to acknowledge all that is right with American government, we must not turn a blind eye to what is wrong with it. Although government on the whole is good, there are many things wrong with government; things that need to be fixed. And fixing those problems is necessary if we are to revive Americans’ support for government. The better we can make government, the more we can expect citizens to oppose efforts to undermine this vital institution. The first, and one of the most serious problems present in American politics today is the domination of the two party system. In addition to the top two dominating parties, Democrat and Republican, the United States has sixty-three national and regional registered political parties that anyone is free to join. But only the two major parties have the political power to do any real damage. The Democratic Party has been around since 1828 while the Republican Party since 1854, and the two parties have dominated every election since. The lesser parties have fielded candidates without success and even though they have many good ideas to help America, they have been prevented from reaching out to the people on a national scale. Television networks have prevented them from joining in on televised debates because they don't have enough followers and newspapers give them even less coverage in favor of the major parties. We have created political monopolies with these two parties and have limited our choices to two extremes. Its time for this to change and its takes awareness and effort by the American people to make it happen. This has lead us to have an extreme lack of choices for representation in the government and forces most Americans to settle with the candidate they dislike the least. We only truly have two choices for President and each Congress position every election; whoever the Republicans and Democrats each decide to nominate. Both parties are far apart on important issues and refuse to be willing to compromise with each other. They are both too extreme in their views and are drifting even further apart as time goes on. The Left and the Right continue to constantly oppose each other and are stubborn, resisting any change that they see as threatening to their agenda. This prevents productivity and compromise, leading to stalemates and disagreements in Congress over many important legislative issues. Parties are consistently working against each other legislatively to counteract any progress made by the opposing party, making it impossible for any important changes to occur. Things such as filibusters, appeals, etc have aided politicians in resisting change and progress in the white house. Finally, both parties are heavily influenced by corporations and lobbyists. This usually has negative effects on certain political decisions where the interests of these corporations and supporters are put above the wants and needs of the public. Another problem with the American political system is the issue of life long politicians. Being a politician becomes a career for many people instead of a service to the public. This leads to increased chances of corruption and influence by interest groups over time. Politicians who aim to be in office for life are more likely to be influenced by lobbyists and donors who keep their political careers alive instead of focusing on issues important to the American public. Politicians spending long terms in office also leads to an increase in their salaries, which are funded by the taxpayers. It is not always bad for politicians to serve long terms in office, because this sometimes helps important changes to be made over time with persistence. The problem is not all politicians have the best interests of America at heart and many political positions are based on social status and family relations within the government instead of merit. This is preventing change and political progress from being made and also deterring youth from public office and decreasing their voice in the government. Most politicians these days are focused only on re-election to office and not to making changes and progressing forward. Politicians care more about a good image than progress because it will keep them their job, even if they really aren’t doing it well. This causes many politicians to avoid challenging the tough, controversial issues that really matter for the fear that it will hurt their political reputation. Warren Buffet, one of the worlds richest men, has recently brought this issue to public attention. He views politics as a civil service that should be subject to public approval. He is quoted as saying "I could end the deficit in five minutes. You just pass a law that says that anytime there is a deficit of more than 3% of GDP, all sitting members of Congress are ineligible for re-election." Basically, he is placing the responsibility on Congress to handle the country and maintain prosperity. His view is that if our representatives cannot produce positive results, then they should not be re-elected. The American people need to take action against the government and hold them accountable for their actions, and put control of the country back in the hands of the people. Corruption and scandal within the government is becoming more and more present in modern day politics. This is evident by the amount of coverage we see in the media regarding political scandals and misconduct. Politicians are susceptible to all types of corruption such as accepting bribes to make certain political decisions. Interest groups will offer incentives for politicians to vote in their favor or prevent certain legislation that can help give them advantage. Not only does this violate the duty a public official has to the people but it creates unfair advantages for businesses and interest groups that can afford to pay bribes and lobby to politicians. Other corrupt activities that politicians have been recently involved in include evading taxes and spending taxpayer money for personal use, soliciting prostitutes and committing adultery, being involved in business scams and insider trading schemes, etc. Lobbying in the government is also becoming a major political phenomenon that has caused some controversy. Lobbying is the act of attempting to influence decisions made by officials in the government. Lobbyists protect industries or other special interests and negatively affect political progress. The problem is that American government is now increasingly responsive to special interests and not the public interest. This is why many people are frustrated and disappointed with our political system. Instead of a democracy where all citizens have an equal say in the governing process, some organizations and individuals have a disproportionate and unfair influence over what the government does. This prevents social and economic progress and the result is that the power and greed of the few too often win out over the needs of the many. The problem is getting worse and it is increasingly limiting how good government can be in the United States. The less responsive a government is to its citizens, the less liable it is to act in the public interest. The more it favors the interests of the few over the interests of the many, the less likely it is to do all the good things it could do. Because lobbyist groups donate large amounts of money to the political campaigns of both parties, they are given the power to influence the decisions made by politicians on sensitive issues. This creates unfair advantages and affects many important social and economic issues including gay marriage, drug war, green energy, gun control, abortion, etc. The progress of all these issues is being negatively affected by lobbyists who try to prevent change and protect selfish interests. So if we want our government to live up to its potential as a force for good in society, we need it to be as democratic as possible. We need to put the power to make decisions back in the hands of the people and take it away from the lobbyists and corrupt politicians. That is why it is crucial to understand exactly why our democracy is falling short, and what we can do to fix it. The Electoral College is another popular topic of debate in American politics. The system was established in Article II of the Constitution and amended by the 12th amendment in 1804. Under this system, each state gets a number of electors equal to its number of members in the U.S. House of Representatives plus one for each of its two U.S. Senators. The District of Columbia gets three electors. While state laws determine how electors are chosen, they are generally selected by the political party committees within the states. Since Electoral College representation is based on congressional representation, states with larger populations get more Electoral College votes. When you vote for a presidential candidate you are really voting to instruct the electors from your state to cast their votes for the same candidate. For example, if you vote for the Republican candidate, you are really voting for an elector who will be pledged to vote for the Republican candidate. The candidate who wins the popular vote in a state wins all the pledged votes of the state's electors. While the state electors are pledged to vote for the candidate of the party that chose them, nothing in the Constitution requires them to do so. In rare instances, an elector will not vote for his or her party's candidate. Critics of the Electoral College system, of which there are many, point out that the system allows the possibility of a candidate actually losing the nationwide popular vote, but being elected president by the electoral vote. There are 538 total votes in the Electoral College and a presidential candidate must win a majority of 270 electoral votes to be elected. Since their are 11 states that can account for exactly 270 votes, a candidate could win these states, lose the other 39, and still be elected. The Electoral College also gives disproportionate voting power to states, favoring the smaller states with more electoral votes per person. According to the electoral vote system, every citizens vote is not counted equally. For instance, each individual vote in Wyoming counts nearly four times as much as each individual vote in Texas. This is because Wyoming has three electoral votes for a population of 600,000 citizens and Texas has thirty-two electoral votes for a population of almost 25 million. By dividing the population by electoral votes, we can see that Wyoming has one electoral vote for about every 200,000 people and Texas has one vote for about every 700,000. The difference between these two states is the largest in the Electoral College. This outlines the unfair representation that is caused and supported by the Electoral College. How is it that the largest state in the nation essentially has one quarter of the voting power than one of the smallest? Electoral votes are not directly in proportion with population and it ruins the notion that “every vote counts.” The Founding Fathers feared the direct popular election option. There were no organized national political parties yet at the time, and no structure by which to choose and limit the number of candidates. In addition, travel and communication were slow and difficult at that time. A very good candidate could be popular regionally, but remain unknown to the rest of the country. A large number of regionally popular candidates would thus divide the vote and not indicate the wishes of the nation as a whole. Yet, the Founding Fathers' concerns with direct popular elections have mostly vanished. The national political parties have been around for years. Travel and communications are no longer problems. We all have access to every word spoken by every candidate every day. People are more educated and informed than ever before, yet we still rely on representatives to vote for us instead of taking the power into our own hands. The popular vote is more fair and gives better representation of what the American people want. The electoral system is clearly outdated and needs reform as soon as possible. Our national budget is another major issue. Federal spending is on an unsustainable path that risks disaster for America. Excessive spending has increased annual federal budget deficits to unprecedented levels, adding $2.7 trillion to the national debt in the past two years alone. Each year’s huge federal deficit increases the mountain of national debt borrowed from future generations of Americans. Congress needs to cut federal spending sharply and quickly. It’s been acknowledged by many economists that a small debt is okay and actually healthy for a country’s economy, but our current national debt is about $16 Trillion, which is over 100 percent of our National GDP. There are many things to blame for this outrageous national debt including irresponsible spending on social programs, military, incarceration, social security, etc. The major problem is government is outspending its budget, and must focus on eliminating unnecessary spending instead of relying on increases in tax revenue. For a society to be truly democratic, political power must be shared by all; it must be distributed relatively equally among all citizens. All citizens must have a voice in determining government policy. This principle is what lies at the heart of a democracy. Generations of Americans have worked to equalize citizen voice across lines of income, race, and gender. Today, however, the voices of Americans citizens are raised and heard unequally. The privileged participate more than others and are increasingly well organized to press their demands on government. Public officials, in turn, are much more responsive to the privileged than to average citizens and the least affluent. These problems are up to us to address and create change.