Distribution of Power in the U.S.
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This study will consider the distribution of power in the United States among various groups, including the public, the news media, political parties, interest groups, Congress, the bureaucracy, and the Presidency. The study will consider whether this distribution of power is just, and will address the value premises underlying the definition of justice. It will be argued that the distribution of power which exists in the United States in the last decade of the twentieth century is not just. The definition of justice used is based on the value premise that the public is the most important group in the nation and is the group which has the least power of all the groups mentioned. It is not the argument here that the people should directly decide what public policy should be issue by issue. It is argued that representative democracy should give the people more power in deciding public policy than they have today. Government in a representative democracy should serve the people, should serve their welfare, and should consist of officials who are selected by the people, and who respond to the conscious, informed demands of the people. In fact, the other groups mentioned have most of the power in the country economically, politically and socially. These groups care only about their own interests. The members of these groups are often in more than one of the groups, and they share the same basic interests. They are in the minority of the country---the rich and the powerful who know
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histicated techniques to manipulate the people and Congress: "The new game has made lobbying a boom industry. It takes a lot more money and manpower than it did in the old days to touch all the power bases in Congress, and the campaign techniques of working the grass roots shoot costs up exponentially" (Cigler & Loomis, 1992, 341). Interest groups also wear down the differences between the parties, making it harder for the people to know the different choices on issues and candidates. With less knowledge, the people become confused and vote less. The result is a lessening of the power of the people in the political process, and a lessening of justice in the democratic process. This is not to say that justice in the democratic system depends on the people having most of the power. This would be unrealistic. The political system is pluralistic and is designed so that many groups share the power. However, if the people---the poor and the middle-class---do not have a fair share of the power, then there is little true justice in the system. As we read,
Although pluralists never predicted perfect representation of affected interests, they did assume that representation would be more balanced than it is. What we have instead is a polit
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Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 2763
Approximate Pages = 11 (250 words per page)
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