The Elements of the American Political System

The American political system has many elements that could either retard it or advance it for the better. Polls are the backbone of what the general public is thinking when it comes to policies and topics concerning the nation. These polls do have the ability to tell politicians what the public thinks regarding national issues. You can tell from the numbers in the poll whether the country is together or divided on an issue. I am afraid that is where the good stops. The first flaw of polls is public opinion polls. A few people regardless of their class stance are interviewed on a topic, their opinion is stated and the people who are in charge of putting the poll together takes these opinions from a few people and put them in a position where it ultimately is stated as the opinion of the general public across all classes and races.

In a way, it is taking the right of people who were not spoken for in the polls and throwing their views out the window and deeming them to be not important. In the future, I think a wise solution may be to go a little more in depth in the process of finding people to interview for the polls and make sure that all classes and types of people across the board as represented. Another problem with polls is man on the street type polls. Whenever you see these polls on the news, they claim to be opinions from all different types of people on the street. The actual reality is not all peoples are represented. Certain locations are used which are of the reporter's discretion (possibly biased). They will choose the location which will be used. All people with all jobs may not be present at the location. A solution to this problem may be to set up a reporter for more than one location where all people with every job will be present and balance it out more instead of having all lawyers and high powered business types for example.

Voting is one of the biggest factors when it comes to politics. The public's right to vote is what causes this democracy of ours to work. Every November 2nd, people line up around the block to go into a booth to pull levers to decide whose in and whose out for political positions. We're lucky in this aspect because in some countries around the world, people aren't able to vote. We as Americans should take advantage of this privilege to the full extent. The good thing is some people do and some don't. People who do use their voting right show that they do care what does go on in politics. The people who choose not to vote are In a way giving the rest of us their rear end. They give excuses such as my vote doesn't count and my opinion won't be heard. The truth is every vote does count and casting your ballot does show that you take the next step in showing that your voice does count. Another problem is people who aren't educated about the people and the issues who are on the ballot up for vote. I say find these people, educate them on the people and the issues on the ballot and make sure that they vote for the good of the country!

The Republican and Democratic Parties are the two big wigs in the political game. The Republican Party has mainly been associated with more conservative issues. The Democratic Party has been seen to be in the ballpark of more liberal issues. There is real no middle ground. You are either with one party or the other. In some eyes, this may be seen as a way to take sides. Also it can show that both parties are uneasy about taking chances with unsafe issues. They don't mention unsafe issues because they don't want to alienate their core audience. The main concern is just keeping their party happy. A main example is the current situation with George W. Bush. His views are very conservative and to the right on the political spectrum. The problem is not everybody in this country agrees with his ultra right conservative views. He is only concerned about pleasing his supporters. Doing this is what has caused alienation with the rest of the country who are liberal and non-conservative.

Bush is unwilling to take other people's views into consideration and make change for the better of the country. To unite this country as claims to be trying to would cause him to veer away from his end of the political spectrum closer to the liberal end to find a successful middle ground where maybe everybody can be pleased. This may include issues such as pulling troops home from Iraq, gay marriage, abortion and social security. I do believe that this will be a challenge for George W. Bush and shall be interesting to see if he can improve on his awful first 4 years and maybe not have a country so divided as it is right now.

Interest groups are a major deciding factory when it comes to a bill passing or falling into oblivion. These groups attempt to influence policy for the general public. They try to get you to take a stance on a certain issue with their influence. The NRA wants you to take a stance on gun ownership issues because they believe it is their God given right to own a firearm. Most times, this does work because the amount of economic power and stature that they possess. However, another group who doesn't have as much economic power and stature or maybe no economics whatsoever won't have this much as an effect on you. You can also look at how much of an influence the NRA has had on Bush during his administration. The amount of money that they have given to him has made sure that all their guns stay in place. The money amount got in the way of showing policy for the general public. A less financially set group who opposes guns completely won't be in Bush's favor because of the lack of dollars that they will be flashing in his eyes to see.

Even though groups who have little or no money involved usually have organization problems, the cold hard truth is more economically powerful groups are more organizationally successful because of the stature of money that Is involved. In the future, I would like to see less wealthy groups have better results with staying organized and having more power and show the more powerful groups that money isn't everything when staying together as an organization and having all the influence and power on the President. Also I would like to see money not come into play when taking too much precedent concerning public policy and let the policy speak for itself without pure profit in mind.

Lobbying is an important action in modern government. It is defined as 'a term that refers broadly to efforts by groups to influence public policy through contact with public officials.' (Ch.9 pg 281) Money has a very powerful deciding impact in Washington. Companies who flaunt their money and spend the necessary funds to maintain an important lobby for their cause are usually the most successful. Lesser companies/interests who don't have as big a budget to work with are more shut out and have a more difficult time surviving with a smaller budget. For Congress members to work with lobbyists, absolute perfection is almost required. They want no bad information at all. All the information has to be near perfect. If something doesn't go in their favor, the judicial route is what they make take. The groups aren't afraid to bring up a lawsuit if they don't get what they want. One prime example of a group who isn't afraid to bring up lawsuits is the ALCU. They will go out of their way to take on wacky causes to gain more progress in their lobbying game.

On the other hand, there are ways to make a change that don't involve the almighty dollar. A prime example is the AARP. If an issue concerning them comes up in Congress that may threaten their members, they get on the horn and let their members know what may happen to their senior oriented rights if someone doesn't say something about it. They are 1600 staff and 30 million member strong. Grassroots influence is not as mainstream noted as a wealthy influence but it actually has almost the same power of results. In my opinion, the whole money issue needs to be addressed. The smaller budgeted lobbyists should come out and try to have more of a say than the higher priced budgeted lobbyists. Also if a Congress member gets bad information from a lobbyist, the connection shouldn't be severed. That is just childish. Bad information sharing is going to happen. It is a part of life.

Congress should learn how to deal with the occasional bad information and not make such a big fuss over it. The judicial route being used should be changed. In a way, it is almost like ass kissing so a better position can be achieved. More general causes should be considered instead of the unusual ones that will always get attention. On the other hand, I am glad to see that grassroots influence can have positive results without having to resort to money as in the case of the AARP to get the job done. This goes to show you that money may not be everything in Washington. Maybe we do have a hope!