Internal American Politics & Interest Groups

The framers of the Constitution ensured that power, on a Federal level, could not be concentrated in the hands of a few. They did this by skewing the elected representation of large populations. A few individuals were thus elected to voice the general opinions of many (Lowi & Ginsburg, 1994). If population increased or dropped, so did representation. The Federal government was divided into three main branches, with the powers within distributed so that no one individual or branch of government had complete command of legislation, political power, or accrued value. Checks and balances were written into the constitution, to reassure the general population that one branch of government had to depend on other branches to accomplish legislative, legal, and fiscal policy. Operating the Federal government was made unwieldy on purpose (Lowi & Ginsburg, 1994). Speed was not of the essence, overall and general service to the populace was.

Still, the possibility exists that large numbers of the populati

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e the sheer numbers of people involved in lobbying has increased. It is difficult to include all who want to be heard without somehow tempting illegality. The most obvious manner in which the structure of the U.S. government helps interest groups in achieving their goals, is by paying heed to the First Amendment to the Constitution. This amendment provides for the right to "petition the Government for a redress of grievances" (Lowi & Ginsburg, 1994, p. 520). Once a common interest is recognized, interest groups can employ all the rights stipulated within the Constitution, in order to get their message across. The inclusion of the pluralist factor in the decision making process of the Federal government is a continuation of the means and methods employed by the framers of the Constitution. In short, allow competition to harness the energy of those in contention, within the public sector. Include everyone possible, and guarantee them the right(s) through which to voice change and opinion. Of course, at certain junctures in our Federal government's history, the concept of a 'divided' government, in which power is rarely concentrated in one branch for long, can conceivably lead to problems (Ginsburg & Shefter, 1990). In an earlier er
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Approximate Word count = 1201
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page)

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