Political Science and United States Politics

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America and pluralist democracy

To some extent, America is not a pluralist democracy and to some extent it is. Lowi (1979) affirms that America is not a pluralist democracy because of its adoption of the interest group liberalism ideology. Here, overemphasis is given to processes rather than goals. This implies that public policies are made against a shaky background since no central administration has a say or no standards are followed. This undermines effective politics and democracy because no matter who is elected into power, the devolved agencies will continue having their way. In this light, America is not a pluralist democracy.

Conversely, Birnbaum (2001) believes that pluralist societies are an essential part of modernized states and that they provide the means with which individuals can express themselves and hence find unity in diversity. Grieder also echoes these sentiments claiming that there are several ways in which public interest can be protected in pluralist societies since public authority is placed under devolution. Through the insights of both writers, America is indeed a pluralist democracy.

De Tocquevile (1945) claimed that the organization of Americans into religious, political, and economic interest groups was an essential manner of ensuring that the public was educated about issues that mattered to them. The interest groups were a critical way of creating common identities since they united diverse groups and made them close their respective governments. From this author’s perspective, America was a pluralist democracy.

Congress limitations of the impact of money in political campaigns

Congress has tried to limit the impact of money in political campaigns ever since the late nineteenth century. This was through the Pendleton Act in 1883 which was enacted to make the civil service independent such that campaign contributions by public holders would not count towards their parties. After this legislation, corporations began funding parties thus leading to the 1907 Tillman Act which prevented campaign contributions by corporations.

This did not lead to substantial reform and therefore caused the 1910 publicity Act. At that time, it was stated that post-election disclosures of high amounts contribution to Senatorial elections needed to be disclosed. However, after it was found that some secret financiers were still creeping in then the Federal Corrupt Practices Act was passed in 1925. It limited spending by candidates and stated that disclosures be made within election times. However, because of no enforcement mechanisms, there was a need for firmer controls that caused the Pendleton Act and Hatch Act 1939; it limited the extent of participation of federal employees in political competitions.

The latter legislation was later amended to ban state agency funding through employees. Limitations on national committees’ campaign contributions were stated. The Smith Connally Act of 1943 prohibited labor union contributions and was later solidified by the Taft Hartley Act of 1947. In 1966, the presidential campaign Fund Act allowed for contributions from taxpayers, and the 1971 Revenue Act solidified the latter legislation. In the latter, contributions were expanded to denote anything of value. The Bipartisan campaign Act 2002 minimized contributions made to third parties and directly to candidates (Nicholas, 2009)

Differences between civil rights and civil liberties

Civil liberties are those rights that the government guarantees citizens as outlined in the bill of rights. In other words, the party that can violate civil liberties is the government. These liberties are contained in the constitutions through the Equal protection clause brought out in the fourteenth amendment. Civil liberties are therefore understood as inalienable rights. (Kennedy, 2005) Examples here include the right to privacy, marriage, vote, free speech, and religious practice. Civil rights on the other hand can best be understood as those qualities that cannot be used as grounds for discrimination.

Examples of such qualities include race, gender, disabilities, and others. A civil right can therefore be violated if a person is denied a position at their place of work because of their race or gender. However, if the denial was based on some aspect of their qualification i.e. that there was no indication of discrimination then no civil right was violated. The history of civil rights is more recent than that of civil liberties.

For instance, in 1964, Congress decided to pass the Civil rights Act which was aimed at deterring discrimination in education, employment, and other personal areas. In the past, civil rights were mostly centered on commercial areas and public service providers. This was followed by the local and state civil rights Act that prohibited favoring others on the basis of their race etc. Today, some civil rights laws on gays are still being debated in states like Indiana. (Kennedy, 2005).

Chalmers Johnson’s idea of “blowback” is not always a negative

Chalmers Johnson argues that the US is locked in twentieth-century thinking where it believes that it is the only superpower. This gives it the misguided sole right to maintain its position as a superpower by oppressing other nations that may threaten it. Furthermore, overreliance on military strength is used to advance this cause and hence resulting in a blowback of undermined democratic principles and eventual disasters within US territory. (Johnson, 2004)

However, sometimes the blowback may not necessarily be negative. For instance, through the sacrifices made by the United States in its industrial sector other countries have been able to move from underdevelopment to development and this is a plus on their part as a nation. Obama has agreed to greater cooperation between Asian countries and the United States. Although Chalmers argues that workers in such areas are usually paid very low wages and cannot access the goods they create, it is wrong to ignore the vast majority of citizens in such countries that can actually purchase goods. Many Chinese consumers are buying cars, houses, and the like and this is a positive blowback. (Kreisler, 2010)

Whether America’s historical injury to Black should be considered paid in full

Black people in the United States have been through an immense level of injustice and although the country has advanced in very many levels today, there are still staggering levels of discrimination that are living proof that the injury to Black people is yet to be paid in full. It will be paid in full when black people are perceived to be equal to other members of the US society. In the employment sector, it has been found that employees still prefer admitting a white person with a criminal record to a black man who has never been incarcerated.

In housing, a recent survey indicates that racial residential segregation is still a harsh reality in most federal states. Furthermore, the education sector offers no solution to this problem as disparities between access to education resources and opportunities to blacks are still quite inferior to that of whites. For instance, a study showed that predominantly minority schools tend to be poorly funded by the federal government. Furthermore, the actual treatment of blacks by law enforcers is biased as they tend to be suspected even before committing any crime. The government’s response to the victims of Hurricane Katrina also solidifies this notion of inequality. (Massey, 2007)

Affirmative action may have two directly opposite effects when analyzed in terms of constitutional implications. In certain instances, it has led to laws that advance the affirmative action agenda and therefore prohibit discrimination. Conversely, affirmative action has led to laws that actually prohibit those agendas since the federal laws are assumed to prevent discrimination. Examples here include the Nebraska Civil rights 2008 initiative and the California proposition of 2009. (Mazrui, 1999)

Interest group

An interest group may be defined as a series of people who come together for the purpose of exerting pressure upon the legal or political systems in their nations. In other words, they are driven by certain values that they feel ought to be promoted in the process of making the country better. Furthermore, people in interest groups usually come together in order to utilize government power so as to enforce certain values.

There are numerous types of interest groups in the US; economic groups are formed with the sole basis of furthering business or trade goals and are usually related to certain sectors or associations for example the National Association of home builders, the national dentists’ board. However, there are also large organizations that do qualify as interest groups through their employees like General motors.

The second type is a public interest group that focuses on specific issues of public interest such as Public citizen, common cause, and consumer watch. The third category is the social policy category that promotes political or social ideologies such as the American Civil liberties union the National Abortion & Reproductive rights league and the Brady campaign for the prevention of Gun violence. Two ways in which they achieve their aims are through contributions to political campaigns (although this is limited by law) and by engaging in lobbying efforts to their Congressmen through emails and other communications.

Major steps in the legislative process for a bill to become law

A bill starts with the submission of a draft; something that is done by a congressman, president, cabinet member, or federal agency. It then goes through committee action where chances of passing are clarified and may be passed off as defeated. In the third step, a subcommittee reviews the bill for hearings and this is followed by the mark-up stage which involves making amendments to the bill. Sometimes the subcommittee may decide not to report the bill to the committee and this bill may therefore be shot down. The fifth stage is the committee action of reporting where the full committee decides on recommendations to be made to Senate.

The sixth stage is the voting stage where members pass it or reject it. After approval in one house, the bill is then taken to Senate or the House of Representatives where they also vote for it. A conference committee action can then come in to reconcile the actions of the separate houses. Final action takes place when the president gives his accent. A bill may also be prevented from becoming law if Congress votes for it and fails to get a majority vote. Conversely it might be rejected by the President when he decides to carry out a veto and congress fails to override the veto by getting a two third majority. (The US constitution, 2010)

Major legislative achievements of the Obama administration

The most notable legislative success in the Obama administration so far are the Affordable Healthcare for America Act and American recovery & reinvestment act. The latter act was identified as the stimulus bill which was needed in order to bailout large corporations like GM, energy projects, transportation and other economic strongholds within the market. This Act was passed because of support from democrats and was done relatively easily owing to the fact that the country was in urgent need of reform at that time. The second legislation which was the healthcare bill took a much longer time.

The president had to engage in intense lobbying but at the end of it, it was support from the Democratic wing that got the legislation to pass. There may be no formula for success of any legislation because this all depends on the dynamics at the time. Obama’s pattern echoes an overreliance on his Democratic party; however, this may have to change in the future. (Page & Hall, 2010)

Constitutional challenges between Congress and the President over the power to start and end wars

The best example of such challenges is the Bush administration with regard to the Invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan. Those who opposed the war felt that it would do the country more harm than good but their wishes were overridden by the majority. In the Obama administration, there was a struggle to deal with the Russian arms issue especially its nuclear warheads. The negotiation by the President and the Russian administration is yet to be ratified by the Senate currently.

References

De Tocqueville, A. (1945). Democracy in America. NY: Vintage books.

Birnbaum, P. (2001). The idea of France. London: Hill and Wang.

Lowi, T. (1979). End of liberalism – 2^nd republic of the US. NY: Norton and Company.

Kennedy, S. (2005). Difference between civil liberties and civil rights, Common place magazine.

Johnson, C. (2004). Blowback- costs & consequences of American empire. N: metropolitan books.

Kreisler, H. (2010). Chalmers on the downward slope of the empire. Deep journal.

Massey, D. (2007). Categorically unequal – American stratification systems. NY: Sage.

Mazrui, K. (1999). Constitutional implication of affirmative action-race neutral actions. Virginal law school working paper, no. 3.

The US constitution (2010). How a bill becomes law.

Page, S. & Hall, M. (2010). Voter anxiety clouds Obama’s historic success. USA today.

Nicholas, P. (2009). Pervasive effects of campaign contribution limits. Pennsylvania: University of Pennsylvania press.

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