Introduction to American Politics  

Trust in the American political system. 

 

Introduction

For many years, there has been a decline in the trust of the U.S government. Focusing back in 1964, only three-quarters of the citizens in U.S revealed that they have trust in federal government.  Since then, the number has declined following that in modern America; only quarter of U.S citizens can reveal their trust. Various studies have shown that the cause of distrust is as a result of inefficiency and lack of effective planning on government resources.  Citizens argue that the government is poor in measuring performance and they are dissatisfied with the social outcomes. In order to solve the issue facing federal, local and State government, it is important to understand the federal system play a great role in balancing power.  Since the development of American federalism, the federal government has increased its power and it has shown its responsiveness in the national economy. Generally, federal government should have more power and U.S citizens should have a higher level of trust following that in modern America, cooperative federalism share power and policies and creates a dynamic framework to value the America society.

 Federal system distributes its powers to the central and state government   in the political system.  For example, the central government in federal system exercises authority with full sovereignty. The U.S government has the power over the interstate among other roles. Every State in America is given a unique form of government and the national interest is valued in the national government.  The latter play a great role of solving issues which arise from the different States.  In domestic policy, the overlapping interests lead to conflict between centre and state government and this affects the lives of citizens (Nye, 1).  In order to elimination the conflict in the concurrent powers, the federal courts made the U.S constitution to become the supreme power and state were restricted in exercising the central government powers. In creating nation, the founding fathers faced challenges in trying to separate the power between State and central government. The foundation fathers supported the Bill of Right and restricted the interference of national government to the individual liberties. At this point, federalism was invented and acted as the sovereignty and power to rule (Nye, 5).  Since then, federalism brought significant changes in U.S and the division of power led to dramatic change in law and practice. The U.S constitution under the federal government provided a high level of preparedness to the nation. The federalism operation procedures concentrated on shared costs, shared administration and other national interest programs such as improvement of local infrastructure, highways and airports.  It is important to note that federalism holds important principles such as separation of power which play a role in creating a democratic government (Nye, 8).

Federalism provides decentralized policies which solve all local issues. The important thing to note is that for many years, Americans have faced challenges as a result of centralized power. Thus, the division of power acted as the solution toward issues like liberty (Eder, 34). The decentralizing power solves geographical issues such as ethnic religious, culture, social and economic issues. The principles of federal government are integrated in the politics and government where office-holders get the opportunity to understand the democratic society hence creating government and citizens’ relation (Eder, 38). In addition, federal government includes the interest group in decision making. It creates a health democratic where the government is able to solve with economic and social issues.

 

Pluralism theory clearly explains the federal government and its important role in protecting the citizens and the community. The theory focuses on predominant power in the political arena. Pluralism is associated with free-market ecponomy where voters are given the control and the government becomes neutral in national interest (Domhoff, 1). Public opinion is rooted from citizens and voluntary group or else there is a connection between public opinion and the federal government. Interest groups express their economic interests and shared power. The important thing with this theory is that the immaterial power is distributed to social contract and no one should rule over the social contract. The Pluralism view is based on the ideology that the legislative outcome is determined by the public opinion. The theory presents the notion that U.S requires pluralism democracy where there should be a decentralized power and separation of power (Domhoff, 1). Pluralism theory presents the features of a decentralized democracy which includes federalism, the electoral system, division of power and a bicameral Congress. Other theory which applies in federal system is the state autonomy theory. The theory states that the government is the power center, it is an independent force and it has the military control. The government in this case has a legitimate power, has the power to protect the nation and to regulate taxes. The theory concentrates on the state interests and the state leaders ensures a healthy capitalism. In addition, the autonomy creates a corporate dominance and provides power to the state office hence developing the federal government (Domhoff, 1).

Conclusion

The federal government in U.S play a significantly role in defending the nation and meeting the national interest. It has a decentralized power which controls the state. Focusing on the three branches, each branch plays an important role in ensuring that citizens are controlled with a decentralized power. The important point is that the federal government creates a balanced power and monitors the way in which the state laws solve the issues facing the citizens. The states autonomy theory explains the role of federal government and asserts that community enjoys the security and rights. In other words, autonomy is a political culture where all individuals should live an autonomous life. In addition, the pluralism theory concentrates on the federal government and its role in creating a democracy nation. It asserts that the federal government should have decentralized features through electoral system, separation of powers, bicameralism.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Work cited

Domhoff G. William. Who Rules  America? Sociology Department,. University of California at Santa 

Cruz.2015

 

Eder, Christina, Ingvill C. Mochmann, and Markus Quandt. Political Trust and Disenchantment with

Politics: International Perspectives. , 2015. Internet resource.

 

Nye, Joseph S. Why People Don't Trust Government. Cambridge, Mass. [u.a.: Harvard Univ. Press, 1997.

Print.