Democracy defined as the, “Rule by the people” is more complex in the real-world as James Madison argued because the men are not angels and the world is not ruled by angels. Humans are imperfect thus governance of humans over other humans must entail two major components, that is power for the government to control its subjects and the rules to control the government from misusing the power afforded to them by the citizens (Hamilton, Madison, Jay, & Emory University. 1996). America may be one of the leaders of democracy in the world after overcoming the challenges of Federalism and Confederacy after independence with the federalist calling for a stronger national government whereas the anti-federalists called for states to be afforded the power rather the national government.
The framers of the constitution were able to ensure that a through the constitutionalism the country would become a federalism democracy promoting separation of power and ensuring that the both the states and the federal government had key roles to ensure the protection of rights and development under one nation. Federalism democracy entails a government formed whereby power is divided into two that is the national/federal government and the States government (Fine, & Levin-Waldman, 2016). The constitution ensured that the rules not delegated to the national government are deferred to the states governments. The progress of the country as a republic has been impressive although not devoid of contentious issues ranging from the constitution, federalism, branches of the government, and the political parties or elections issues. Hence the need to critically analyze the primary features of the American government to determine the aspects of democracy and recommend the changes needed to ease the contentious issues. The four sections discussing the advantages and disadvantages of these primary features will demonstrate the issues that make the federalism democracy employed in the U.S. unique or limit the running of the government.
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U.S. Constitution
The constitution is the supreme power for governance in the country. It sets the rules and guidelines for the nation and states but the greatest advantage of the U.S. constitution is the separation of power into three independent branches. The legislature, executive, and the judiciary are the three branches of government as determined the by the constitution. Following the declaration of independence, the federalist and anti-federalists has strong opposing ideas on the most suitable mode of setting the government. The anti-federalists mainly from the South under the young vigilant Congressman Thomas Jefferson were determined to ensure that power was concentrated in the 13 states (Lacroix, 2010). They argued that the states had the right to have the greatest powers to prevent dictatorship or other negative forms of governance that would limit the rights, liberty and justice for everyone.
The federalists on the other hand argued that empowering the country was the best way to ensure unity and development since a centralized government would be stronger and able to advocate for the rights of the entire country unlike a single state. The compromises made by each party to enable unity entailed formulation of the federalism democracy that would ensure power disparity and with most of the power delegated to the national government, the separation of power into the three arms of government would ensure that no single branch would be too powerful due to each branch acting as check and balance to the other two branches. The first three articles of the U.S. constitution is demonstrate the power separation whereby the legislature makes the laws, the president, who is the head of the executive, has the power to Veto or reject the passed bills into law, and the Judiciary implements, interprets, and enforce the laws (Volden, 2006).
However, the advantage is inhibited by the narrowness of the constitution in different articles for instance, Article III on Judiciary is shallow and does not stipulate the regulation on the power of the Judiciary, number of Supreme Court Judges among other contradicting issues that have left room to either exploit or deny by the government. States and the federal government have fought over the jurisdiction of the each laws or which laws are superior to the others. The understanding of the laws tend to inhibit the formation of the state laws.
Recommended Changes
The legislature has the power to pass laws even after the president rejects the bill by using the two-thirds majority tend to demonstrate that the legislature is way superior to the executive. The constitution has enabled the differentiation of tasks between the branches however the legislature seem to be above the other branches hence the need to ensure independence of each branch. The narrowing down of the constitution will eliminate the complexity existing and the overlapping of the task jurisdiction.
Federalism
A federalism system is whereby the constitution divides power between the central and low-level governments such as states. The American democracy is a federal democracy where power not delegated to the national government by the constitution is referred to the states’ government. The system has various strengths with the major advantages ranging from protecting the citizens from tyranny to encouraging experimentation of laws with limited or smaller risks. However, federal systems are faced with challenges of the complexity and conflict in power or responsibilities.
Advantages
The federal system of the U.S. has transformed from the last 200 years with the federal and states governments sharing responsibilities. Although federalism in the past presented the opportunity for the Southern States to secede rather than end slavery (Nugent, 2009). It demonstrated the weaknesses of the system but ever since the secede notions and the win by the federal government during the Civil War, federalism is associated with freedom. During elections the winning and losing political party are both represented through the opposition parties in the states which enables them to continue to challenge the government which is equivalent to protecting the citizens from tyranny as feared by the Framers of the constitution. The other main advantage entails the issue of law making whereby the national government can use success of some laws in the states to handle or solve a national issue (Volden, 2006). For instance, the Obama Care focus on health insurance to all citizens bases its implementation from the success of the Massachusetts which was the first to create healthcare insurance laws to include all her citizens.
Weaknesses
Federal system greatest issue is on boundaries of power. The need to determine how far the federal government goes towards the influence of state laws and where the power of the state begins is a complex issue. The conflict result in the difficulty for the voters to hold elected officials accountable. The lack of ways to figure out the best mode of eliminating the conflicts. The Supreme Court ruling that the national government laws are supreme in the land (Volden, 2006). The failure to set the stipulations on the laws makes it clear that there need to be changes to enhance the benefits of the federal system. The recent changes in issues such as regulations of guns and licensing.
Recommendations
The broad constitution makes it difficult to determine the power division and responsibilities hence the need to narrow down the laws to reduce the contention between the federal and states’ government. The Supreme Court inconsistence has led to the further conflicts in determining the division of power thus the need to have narrow and set boundaries to eliminate uncertainty.
Branches of the Government
The three independent branches of the government enables the performance of different tasks. The president and legislature are more political hence the choice to analyze the judiciary. The Judiciary system is unique since they are appointed for long-term services by the president. The lack of limited time enables the judiciary to be stable and to understand the laws and protection by the constitution enables the judges to make independent decisions. The independence is crucial as it enables justice and implementation of the constitution. The national and states courts depicts the judiciary of the U.S. the conflict in the states and federal laws and their implementation led to the unanimous decision of national supremacy in therefore, arguing that the states do not have the power to tax national instruments (Redish, 2017). The laws made by the national government are supreme in the land based on Constitutional’s Supremacy clause Court have enabled understanding of the constitution and authority.
Weakness
The Federalist Paper: No.78 argues that the judiciary if the weakest branch of the government. The paper argues that the judiciary does not make active resolutions thus limiting the efficacy of the judiciary. The judiciary is dependent on the executive is evidence of its weakness and lack of independence.
Changes Needed
The judiciary dependency can be solved on enabling it to make and execute its judgments. The changes in the constitution should empower the judiciary and limit its dependency on the executive.
Political Parties
The centralization and decentralization of the nation is dependent on the political affiliation of the leaders. The republicans tend to be opposed to the detailed welfare due to favoring the block welfare and ensuring that the states have the power to keep the away the national government. The democrats on the other hand advocate for detailed welfare to ensure improvement of the living standards of everyone. The republicans value for states’ control and the hindrance for investing the resources in the social welfare. The investment by the republicans is based improving the security and economy whereas the democrats are focused on social welfare. The two political parties have dominated the U.S. for more than 200 years and with domination but the constant changes from one party to the other after almost every eight years or two terms of the presidential elections is evidence of the role each political party plays (Simeon, 2001). The diversity of the political parties ensures that when one party forms the government the other party will provide the check and balances for the ruling party. The pressure from the opposition enables the party in power to use their power efficiently.
Weaknesses
The political party are affected by shifts in power depending on the issues dominating the people. It is evident that it is impossible to satisfy the people calling for power concentration towards the national government and those republicans who need the states to be empowered. The shifts from the requirements of the states to handle issues such as crime and social needs such as schools or fast responses result in people calling for the states government. However in the occurrence of war the same individuals cries out for the federal government (Weiss, 2015). The changes demonstrate that power shifts is instable and may hinder development of the states and country. The shifts tend to violate the pendulum too occasionally. The move by most oppositions to limit the progress and tasks by the government for instance, the refusal of Republicans to support the Affordable Care Act because it was proposed by the democrats is negative for the growth of the county.
Recommended Changes
It is challenging to determine the necessary changes for the political parties since they have progressed with the same ideologies for many years. The need to ensure that each party serves the public diligently is dependent on the continued enforcement of ensuring that the ruling party does not abuse power by acting as checks and balances and also support opposing ideologies when the proposed bills are important to the public (Volden, 2006). The failure of the legislature to implement different changes. It will be challenging to eliminate the prejudice dominating the political parties but until they are willing to overcome the challenges the political parties will continue being negative for the development of the country and states.
Conclusion
The American democracy is built on federalism with the constitution providing the bases of the rules and structure of the system. The constitution being the most important document demonstrate empowers diversity and freedom through power separation through the three branches of the government. The second section demonstrated the challenges of sorting out power divide in a federal government which the judiciary has established that the national laws are supreme and eradicating the false notion on the role of the states and federal governments. The last part describes the challenges and benefits of political parties in the U.S. citing the need to unite and protect people from negativity governance. The dominating ideologies have enabled the cut of losses through displacement of the borrowing party such as democrats and economics such as the republicans pay the loans thus balancing the fiscal budgets to eradicate debts.
References
Fine, T. S., & Levin-Waldman, O. M. (2016). Ch. 3: Federalism. In American Government (2 nd Ed.). Bridge point Education, Inc. doi:https://content.ashford.edu/books/AUPOL201.16.1/sections/ch03
Hamilton, A., Madison, J., Jay, J., & Emory University. (1996). The federalist . Atlanta, Ga.: Emory University School of Law.
Lacroix, A., (2010). The Ideological Origins of American Federalism . Harvard University Press.
Nugent, J., (2009). Safeguarding Federalism: How States Protect Their Interests in National Policymaking. University of Oklahoma Press.
Redish, M. H. (2017). Judicial Independence and the American Constitution : A Democratic Paradox. Stanford University Press.
Simeon, R., (2001). Adaptability and Change in Federations. International Social Science Journal 53(167):145–152.
Volden, C., (2006). States as Policy Laboratories: Emulating Success in the Children’s Health Insurance Program. American Journal of Political Science 50(2):294–312.
Weiss, J. W. (2015). 11.5 Managing Conflict. In An Introduction to Leadership (2nd Ed.). Bridge point Education, Inc. doi:https://content.ashford.edu/books/AUMGT380.15.1/sections/ch11sec11.5?search=
