The American Political System

Topic 1 Nominations and Campaigns
Merits of the democratic selection process

Firstly, democracy provides for changes in government without violence, whereby power can, and is, transferred from one party to another through the election process. In this case, the jurisdiction of the nations citizens determines its ruling authority (Manley, 1987).

Secondly, monopoly is prevented by this system, wherein a government is bound by an election term, after which it has to compete with other parties to regain authority, and in so doing, the ruling party has to effectively ensure it works for the people as it cannot remain in authority after completion of its first term, unless re-elected by the people.

Thirdly, the democratic selection process instills a sense of obligation towards the citizens (Kirshner, 2009) this is because the powers-that-be owe their success in the elections to the nations citizens, which more often than not results in a feeling of gratefulness towards the masses, and consequently, serves as their motivation to serve the interests of the general populace.

Fourthly, democracy enables people to gain a sense of participation in the overall process of choosing their government, whereby they voice their opinions via means of electoral votes, thus inculcating a feeling of belongingness in the minds of the people towards their society.

Demerits of democracy
First off, there exists a lack of awareness amongst majority of the populace as regards their right to elect representatives and governing authorities, which also extends to political issues of the day resultantly, people make wrong choices during elections.

In addition, the major focus of most governments is on their short-term survival, whereby they lose sight of long-term objectives which are meant to serve the people and concentrate on ways in which they can win elections (Manley, 1987).

Also, mob influence usually gets the better of the masses, in the sense that citizens may put their weight in favor of a party under the influence of the larger majority the danger here is that a person may vote as (s) he is compelled by the philosophies of those surrounding them, thus not truly reflecting their individual views beliefs.

Last but not least, no government can be said to be so perfect that it does not have its own inherent shortcomings in this light, people have to take both the pros and cons of each regime into account before arriving at any conclusion (Kirshner, 2009).

Improvements to the system
Among the tweaks that can be made to the democratic system to make it more effective and seal the integral loopholes include the use of electronic voting, whereby the voting population is educated regarding the proper ways of carrying this out. Additionally, electronically-assisted voting methods can be employed at polling centres, thus offering a practical and economic solution to facilitate independent voting.

Topic 2 Political Parties
Advantages of the American political party system
To begin with, its loose and open structure offers individuals and groups a better participatory opportunity, in that there are few barriers hindering citizens from taking the reins (Manley, 1987).
In the same breath, room is offered to voters for a wide range of ideas, whereby a variety of viewpoints and opinions are put into consideration. In this light, there is also the element of a differentiated expression of the will of the people and their corresponding interests these are all taken into account so as to serve the common general welfare.

In addition, the issue of protests and or unrest is curbed by way of there being a wide spectrum of opinion within parties.

Disadvantages of the American political party system
External backers, including trade unions and industrial federations, tend to lay a proportionate amount of influence on the workings of a given governmental regime, thus interfering with the proper operations of the same (Kirshner, 2009).

Also, the concept of a political will ends up being forms at differing levels in a party, as opposed to being formed by the party itself, which might end up fueling a number of differences, especially as relates to the main objectives intended.

Additionally, the issue of parties lacking the capacity, or even corresponding ability, to act as necessary, characterized by heterogeneity and the formation of political wings, greatly hinders efficiency of the system.

Worth mentioning also is that generally, there lacks ideas from the official party committees, especially as regards conformity with public opinion, thus ensuring that the political system is grossly undermined.

Topic 3 Interest Groups
A brief backdrop to the issue of interest group politics reveals that different points of view, all with different perspectives, can be discerned as relates to the question of whether or not interest groups are beneficial to for American politics (Learning, 2006), including

The Pluralist Theory
This postulates that interest groups benefit American democracy by way of bringing representation to all, with benefits ranging from the provision of linkage between people and government (which allows peoples views and opinions to be voiced), the regulated system of operation (which ensures groups follow rules), the counterbalancing of power, as facilitated by the existence of many groups, and last but not least, the instance where no group dominates since a weakness in one resource may be countered by a strength in another (Manley, 1987).

The Elitist Theory
This school of thought states that just a few interest groups are bestowed with most of the power, and that although on paper many groups exist, most have no real power per-se (Learning, 2006).

Furthermore, this theory postulates that the government of the day is run by a few big groups which are in the business of preserving their own interests, with an extensive system of interlocking directorates fortifying their control, thus, government decisions end up being controlled by select corporate interests.

The Hyperpluralist theory
This theory holds that too many groups influence the political process, which gives rise to political chaos and contradiction when it comes to governmental policies (Learning, 2006). The general inclination of hyperpluralists is that the political system is spiraled out of control, since the government aims to please a myriad of mostly divergent interests with interest groups trying to protect their self-interest, resultant policies are rather haphazard and ill-conceived.
Thus, it is clear that pluralists carry the day in the American context.

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