American Political System

In a number of ways, it is certainly true that the American system is fragmented, if not necessarily weak. Numerous governmental functions that are performed by the national government as a matter of course in most countries are in the United States relegated to the states. In turn the states pass many of these functions on to local government. The standard form of identification carried by most people is a state driver's license, not a national identification card. Local police perform most law enforcement. They are not directly answerable, in a day-to-day administrative sense, to the national government or even the state government. Local government officials register marriages, property transactions, and much of the other fundamental administration of society.

On the other hand, an observer might ask whether there is an inherent contradiction between t

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the first century of the United States, there was no national regulatory state to speak of. Soldiers and sailors lived in an environment of federal regulatory authority, but businesses and ordinary citizens did not. If they encountered federal authority, it was by specific legislation, and under the direct purview of courts. The regulatory state was brought into being by the growing scope of economic activity, particularly the development of firms that did extensive and regular business across state lines, and therefore could not be effectively regulated by any one state. The railroads were the first group of firms to have this general characteristic, by the late 19th century, and the federal regulation of railroads was the prototype of administrative regulation and the regulatory state. Railroads had enormous economic power over the regions they served. As with the Southern Pacific in California, they often exercised effective regional monopolies. Even the prosperous and influential upper-middle class -- farmers and local business people -- felt themselves to be effectively powerless in dealing with the railroads. The political pressure to constrain them thus became exceedingly strong. Since direct legislative action an
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Approximate Word count = 5755
Approximate Pages = 23 (250 words per page)

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