Economic, Foreign, Welfare, and Environmental Policy Synthesis

The three-step process to making public policy consists of problem recognition, policy formation, and policy implementation. During problem recognition issues begin to emerge, normally from conditions of society such as employment rate, quality of schools, security of nation, and street safety. Policy formation is the process of actually formulating and enacting policy responses to the problem. Only during policy implementation is the public policy actually carried out. Policy implementation is normally left to the bureaucrats and sometimes even includes policy evaluation in order to determine whether policy has its expected effect.

In order to protect the preexisting order of mother nature, the government holds its authority as a protector of the environment. The government has been involved in land conservation for more than a century, the very first national park being Yellowstone established in 1872. National parks and forests have a “dual use” policy. Although they are nature preserves and recreation areas, they are also rich sources of natural resources and logging companies and ranchers are permitted to come and take these resources every now and then. In addition, global warming, or the “greenhouse effect”, is one of the most famously recognized environmental issues in society. People often believe it is a simple myth since they do not understand the difference between changes in weather and climate and fail to notice the real signs of global warming. Weather change does not equal climate change since the former is a short term change that normally affects a specific section while the latter is a long term change extending over vast regions of the world. Global warming has caused the melting of polar ice caps, rising in ocean levels that threatens low lying coastal areas, and some of the hottest recorded years of the decade. 

Although regulation has it's benefits, such as environmental regulation leading to dramatic improvements in air and water quality, this very regulation can ironically also sometimes be the very cause of environmental issues. Back during the BP Oil in 2010, when the idea of an underground oil pipe was being pursued, a leak in the pipe lead to an overflowing excess of oil getting released into the ocean, both damaging ecological disasters and the native animal species in that area.

Government also acts as a protector and regulator of the economy, a system of production and consumption of goods and services that are allocated through exchange. Economic efficiency is known as the process of gaining the highest possible output of goods and services from the limited given the amount of input (labor and material) used produce them. During competition between two or more very similar companies, producers will cut their production costs in order to keep up with lower priced competitors. In addition, government holds its own job regulatory activities. For example, when railroad companies drove many farmers bankrupt from overcharging short route fees (they didn't have any competition either at the time), Congress enacted the Interstate Commerce Act, which not only created the Interstate Commerce Commission(ICC) but also assigned it the responsibility of regulating railroad practices such as shipping rates. In addition, many federal agencies also look over business competition. The Environmental Protection Agency(EPA), for example, was created to monitor firms and make sure they were implementing federal regulations on air, water quality, and toxic waste disposal. When businesses perform externalities, when businesses or consumers fail to pay the full costs of resources used in production, the government has to right to make that business pay for the indirect costs. The Clean Air Act of 1963 and Water Quality Act of 1965 helped instill this rule by requiring firms to install antipollution devices designed to keep the discharge of air and water pollutants within specified limits. Another unqiue method of regulation is deregulation, the process of annulling of regulations already in force for the purpose of improving efficiency. A perfect example of this was in 1977, when the Airlines Deregulation Act eliminated government set airfares and the requirement for airlines  to provide service to smaller-size cities. Of course, when carried too far, deregulation can possibly lead firms into engaging in reckless or unethical behavior due to believing they can get away with such actions

Often seen to be ineffective at promoting the interests of the people, the government does play an exceptionally essential role in promoting economic interests. For example, the government provides traditional services such as education, transportation, and defense to businesses. Without the professional workforce from universities and transportation from roadways, waterways, and airports, businesses could not function. The government used to be quite hostile toward labor, going to point of using police and soldiers to break up strikes. However, after Great Depression attitude towards labor began to change. The government began to support general privileges and rights including minimum wage, maximum work house guarantees, unemployment benefits, better working conditions, and nondiscriminatory hiring practices. Today, farmers receive billions of dollars of assistance each year from the government. The Homestead Act of 1862 even made government-owned lands accessible for settlement. Often neglected in the past, farmers are now the most heavily subsidized individuals in the world thanks to Congress's five-year $300-billion farm bill that would put farmers in line for hefty government assistance. The bill went through many tests of rejection and approval, but was nonetheless accepted in the end. 

While the U.S has a much stable economy state compared to other nations in the world, poverty is still remain to be very big issues disturbing the U.S. There are two different ways to categorize poverty. Absolute poverty measures poverty through a poverty line, and if certain families or individuals fall below this poverty line, they are considered to lack the resources and basic needs in having a healthy life, along with insufficient income for food, shelter, and clothing. U.S poverty line is about is arguably low at 11670 for a single individual or 23850 for a family of four. Relative poverty deems individuals as poor when they have significantly less income and wealth compared to other people of society, the U.S relative poverty rate being at 24%.

Initially, the U.S social welfare policy had little federal government activity or influence. The commonly held outlook was negative government, where the government governs by staying out of the lives of people. Later on, following the aftermath of the Great Depression, the U.S turn towards more of a positive government model, when the government intervenes in other to enhance personal liberty and security during times of difficulty.

The federal government has helped the U.S economy grow through a variety of social insurance programs. Social security is the means of paying for retired persons through the means of payroll taxes on employees and employers' salaries. Therefore, the amount of retirement money is direct proportional to the amount of money put into the system when working. The long term issue with social security is that as people can now live longer lives, the amount of money made through the workers (young) cannot sufficiently pay for retirees (old). Especially with the baby boomer generation now retiring, it is especially hard for workers to pay for a generation much larger than theirs.

Likewise, there are also a number of public assistance programs, all of which require a means test (test to prove that applicant are poor enough to receive the benefits) in order to be eligible. Supplemental Security Income (SSI) provides public assistance to the blind and disabled. The Food Stamps programs provides an in-kind-benefit (not a cash related benefit), food stamps, that can be spent on grocery items. Head Start, a program of LBJ's Great Society, offers free preschool education to low-income children.

Modern day Americans believe that society can run well without the aid of welfare. The result is a welfare system that is both inefficient (much of the money spent on welfare never reaches the intended recipients) and inequitable (most of the social welfare spending does not go to the ones who need it the most). Eligibility for benefits can be hard to pinpoint since overlapping needs can conflict with each other. A person making $495 a month can be eligible for a certain benefit whereas someone making $500 a month isn't.

Today, Americans endorses the idea of equality of opportunity, the idea that people should have a reasonable chance to succeed if they make the effort. This has been demonstrated several times the American education system. In order to ensure proper education opportunity of every student in America, President Bush passed the No Child Left Behind Act, which makes standardized testing mandatory in all schools in order to access the education quality students receive. Schools with less improvement will then therefore receive federal aid. The idea of school choice gives students the option of leaving poor performing schools for better ones. With the growth of charter schools and school vouchers, students can almost “shop around for schools” to find which one suits their needs best.

Ever since World War II, the U.S acquired the position and the world leader, possibly because of it switch over from an isolationist to internationalist (deeply involved in world affairs) country overview. During the cold war, international power was bipolar, with the U.S pitted up against the Soviet Union. Later on as the Soviet Union began to collapse from its heavy expenditures and inefficient centralized economy, with all of its Soviet republics declaring their independence and splitting away, the U.S soon became the unrivaled single international power and initiate a unipolar international structure.

Following the aftermath of the Cold War, President George H.W Bush sought to have a multilateralist society, the idea that major nations should act together in response to problems and crises, leading to the creation of organizations such as the UN and NATO. This was successfully demonstrated during the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, when the U.S intervened and drove the Iraqi tops out of Kuwait, thus ending the war. Later on during President George W. Bush's reign, multilateralism was abandoned, and Bush (jr) instead chose to focus more on a “war on terrorism” approach, which aimed towards making national security the main priority of the nation. Following the transnational terrorism (terrorist attacks on the national borders including attacks on nonmilitary targets) attacks of 9-11, American soon began to narrow it's enemy to al Qaeda.

Just like national security, global trade is also a very important goal of the U.S. The U.S is a supporter of free trade, the idea that barriers to international trade should be kept to a minimum. The World Trade Organization (WTO) was created just for this reason: to promote global free trade through reductions in tariffs and protections for intellectual property. However, there are also many U.S policymakers that disagree with the idea of free trade and instead argued for protectionism, the idea that domestic producers should be protected from foreign competition. Trade with China can be frustrating, as although China still remains to be a frequent trading partner with the U.S, providing it inexpensive goods in return for a marketplace for its goods, America's trade deficit with China has increased up to over $250,000 each year.

Judiciary Synthesis

The Federal Judiciary consists of a few different types of courts. There is not only the Supreme Court but also the U.S District Courts, the U.S Court of Appeals, Special U.S courts, and state courts. Jurisdiction is the court's authority to hear a case of a certain type, with original jurisdiction being the authority to be the first court to hear a case, includes legal disputes involving foreign diplomats and cases in which the opposing parties are state governments and appellate jurisdiction-authority to review cases that have already been heard in lower courts and are appealed to a higher court by the losing party, determine whether a trial court has acted in the accord with applicable law.

When selecting and deciding cases, the Supreme Court has a few powers to aid in its job. Judicial review, established from Marbury v. Madison, gives the Supreme Court the right to deem whether if the actions of Congress and the president are unconstitutional. Such a power is used sparingly, as using it to often would break down the progress of the branches of government. The Supreme Court also has the right to establish precedents, judicial decisions that set the rule for setting subsequent cases of a similar kind. When a party loses in a lower court, it can send the case to Supreme Court with the approval of four justices. The Court issues a writ of certiorari, a request for the lower court to submit a record of the case to the Supreme Court. Although many parties apply or a certiorari each year, they are sparingly granted.

There are a few different types of courts in American politics. U.S District Courts act as the first line to tend to all criminal and civil cases, basically chief trait courts of the federal system. Cases appealed from district court later go to U.S Courts of Appeals, where appellates have the possible chance for reversal of the previous decision made in district courts. However the Supreme Court sees very few cases, less than one percent of all cases being those from appeal courts. There are also a few Special U.S Courts that serve specific purposes. Some example include the U.S Claims Court which looks over cases where the U.S government is being sued for damages and the U.S Court of Military Appeals which looks over appeals of military courts-martial.

The president holds the every right to appoint the court justices he/she feels are suited for the job. For Supreme Court justices, there are many strict criteria to follow. Presidents look for nominees who both share their political philosophy and are easily accepted by others. Nominees are judged by their legal community and interested groups, reported by the media, go through an extensive background check by FBI, and must receive approval of a Senate majority. About 20% of presidential nominees to the SC have been rejected by the Senate on grounds of judicial qualifications, political views, personal ethics, or partisanship. Some of the few things that help guarantee confirmation including having a clean personal record, strong professional record, sharing the same party as the president, and ability to demonstrate temperament and intellect of a Supreme Court justice. For lower court nominees, they are chosen by the attorney general, who in turn takes suggestions from the House and Senate. If a senator from a state with a vacancy arises (and the senator is part of the same party as the president), that senator is a low court nominee. This is the tradition of senatorial courtesy.

There is a common trend in personal background for judicial appointees. Most federal judges already have prior judicial experience, as such individuals would be most preferable for the federal bench. Within the federal bench is a dominating majority of overrepresented white males, but also a gradually growing minority representing group members such as women (appointed by Democrats mainly). Today, three out of the nine supreme court justices are women (Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Sonia Sotomayor, and Elena Kagan). Thurgood Marshall became the first black justice in 1967 while Antonin Scalia became the first one of Italian descent in 1986.

Through the process of judicial decision making, there are many legal restrictions on judicial decision. The facts of a particular case limit judicial action, and they are known as the relevant circumstances of a legal dispute or offense. A judge must treat a murder case with the same accepted definitions and penalties for any murder case. Since the facts set up the general circle of limitations for cases, murder cases, for example, cannot simply be used to promote something completely unrelated to the current circumstances, such as free speech rights. The great limitation courts must follow is law itself, such as the Constitution, legislative statures, and legal precedents. The Constitution itself is known as the “law of the land”, and judges and justices are sworn to uphold it. For example, the Constitution prohibits states from printing their money and if they were to do so anyway, judges would have every right to rule against it. Other than constitutional law, there is also statutory law and administrative law. Statutory is a legislative/written version of the law, while administrative is actually set rules, regulations, and judgments made by the agencies to achieve the goals of the statutory law. In the precedent of the U.S legal system holds that any principles of law established in a previous cases must be applied in later similar cases.

Although judges have their limitations when making decisions and must abide by the law, their job still requires a great deal of personal judgment and belief. All throughout history, courts have exerted their personal insights are various controversial issues, such as when deeming laws enacted by Congress as unconstitutional or on sympathetic cases such as abortion. With more and more social and economic changes emerging, issues such as environmental pollution are starting to become the topic of several court cases.

In order to determine what conclusion to make for cases, judges alternate between four different theory models to follow. The first two, originalism and living constitution apply to how the Constitution should be interpreted. Originalism theory, holds that the Constitution should be interpreted in a way that “any reasonable person would have interpreted it”. Although this theory may sound fair, it is also very hard to determine what exactly the writers of the Constitution themselves were thinking and interpreting when making the Constitution. The living constitution theory on the other hand, interprets the Constitution’s broad language and basic principles to be purposefully used for adapting and accommodating different cases. Even the preamble of the 1787 Constitutional Convention's Committee of Detail states the Constitution “ought to be accommodated to times and events”. The only problem with this theory is that judges can promote personal, preferable views.

The doctrines of judicial restraint and judicial activism describe what a judge should abide to. Judicial restraint states that judges should defer to the precedent and decisions made by legislatures. While the elected lawmakers determine the law, judges really only have the power to apply it. On the other hand, judicial activism states that judges have every right to interpret the Constitution, statues, and precedents in light of fundamental principle.

The judiciary's exact length of authority is hard to determine or approximate. The judiciary is not a final branch of authority checking on political power, but rather, a coequal branch of government with the responsibility to to protect individual rights and constrain political authority. In the end, everything depends on how much courts assert their authority in cases.

Bureaucracy Synthesis

The bureaucracy is a system of organization and control that is baaed on three principles: hierarchical authority, job specialization, and formalized rules. The hierarchical authority is the chain of command where officials at the top have authority over those in the middle, who in turn have more authority than those are at the bottom. This Speeds up action by reducing conflict over the power to make decisions since those high in the organization have authority over those below them. Job specialization explicitly defines the duties for each job position and the precise division of labor within the organization. This is efficient because each individual concentrates on a particular job and becomes proficient in it. The formalized rules are the established procedures and regulations by which a bureaucracy conducts its operations. Workers can make quick judgments because decisions are based on preset rules rather than on a case by case basis.

Within the bureaucracy are branches of agencies. Cabinet/Executive Departments are the leading administrative units that serve the president and excel in a general policy area such as law enforcement or defense, examples including the Department of Justice, Department of State, and Department of Defense. Independent agencies include CIA and NASA, and resemble cabinet departments but are different since they are typically narrower in area of responsibility and can possibly cause symbolic or practical problems when placed in a department. For example, NASA could be placed in the Department of Defense, but doing so would mean that NASA exists only for military purposes and not for civilian purposes such as space exploration and satellite communication. Regulatory agencies are created when Congress recognizes the need for ongoing regulation of a particular economic activity. Such examples include: SEC which oversees the stock and bond markets, CPFB which regulates banks, credit unions, and security firms ,and EPA which regulates industrial pollution. Regulatory agencies can develop law-like regulations and then judge whether individuals or organizations are following with them. For example, the EPA can impose fines and other penalties on business firms that violate environmental regulations. Government corporations are similar to private corporations in that charge clients for their services and are governed by a board of directors, but receive federal funding to help defray operating expenses. Such examples include the FDIC ensuring people's saving accounts from bank failures, Amtrak providing passenger rail service, and the U.S postal service delivering mail. Lastly, are presidential commissions, which provide advice to the presidents. They can be permanent bodies for multiple use such as the Commission on Civil Rights and the Commission on Fine Arts or temporary bodies used for a one time purpose, such as President's Commission to Strengthen Social Security.

There are two basic systems used when hiring administrative officials. The merit system sets the conditions of hiring people only if they score high on a competitive exam (postal service, civil service) or have specialized training (lawyers, engineers, scientists). Neutral competence is the the administrative objective of the merit system. Being “neutral” means that employees are not partisan appointees and are expected to serve everyone) and being “competent” means that employees are hired and retained on the basis of their skills. The patronage system utilizes the practice of filling administrative offices with people who had supported the winning party; however, when this system is used corruptly, a branch call the spoils system forms, where inexperienced, unfit friends/acquaintances of officers are given the job. This was a popular practice used during president Andrew Jackson's term.

The main job of administrative agencies is policy implementation, the process of executing the decisions made by Congress, the president, and the courts. Agencies are limited by the size of their federal budget, which charges for every little item, such as delivery services (delivering mail for example). The budgetary process requires several steps to finalize. Initially the Office of Management an Budget (OMB) establishes the general budget guidelines, one example being the budget ceiling each agency cannot pass. Agencies then create their detailed budget according to the guidelines and submit it back to the OMB for review. The OMB finalizes the budgets and combines them with the president's budget proposal and priorities. About two-thirds of the budget involves mandatory spending (ex: social-security) and the other one-third is used for discreptionary spending (defense, education, foreign aid, national parks, highways), meaning the president essentially has no right to reduce these payments, nonetheless make any big changes to the budget. He/she can only create the margins of the budget, choosing to increase or decrease spending according to the previous years.

Bureaucrats have a few different areas of unique powers, consisting of specialized knowledge, support of interests that benefit from their programs, and the backing of the president and Congress. In order to find a solution to a problem, the power of expertise, or a deep understanding of the issue, is necessary. Congress members only have a basic film of understanding of an issue, and require the specialized expertise of bureaucrats. For example, in order to have a policy change in order to resolve the issue of the US having a trade deficit with China, a deep understanding of basic steps such as the form of the new policy, its probably cost and effectiveness, and America's standing with Asia are also necessary. Most federal agencies were created for the purpose of promoting , protecting, or regulating a particular interest. Every federal agency has clintele groups which lobby Congress and the president on behalf of the federal agency when its programs are being reviewed. The president and Congress may conflict with the bureaucracy, but are also extremely dependent on them. The agency's resources, programs, expertise, and group support, can help elected officials achieve their goals. For example, back when Obama announced his goal of making the US less dependent on foreign oil, he needed the help of the Department of Energy's experts to make programs that would fulfill that goal. Agencies have many allies in Congress, and they are important for funding and programs, as shown with the Department of Agriculture and the congressional agriculture sector.

Bureaucratic accountability is the degree to which bureaucrats are held responsible for for their power. Bureaucracies are quite big, making it difficult for presidents to coordinate activities and make bureaucracies more responsive. Lack of communication between the FBI and CIA lead to terrorist attacks such as World Trade Center and Pentagon on 9/11. Presidents have tried to make bureaucracies more responsible by reorganizing them, but only small changes have been made. For example, Umar Farouk Abdulmatallab almost detonated plastic explosives on a plane to Amsterdam if it wasn't for the efforts of the other passengers on the plane. Later on,he still managed to escape detection when US intelligence officers failed to put his name on the “no-fly list”, a poor job done by the US's intelligence system.

Congress, as the source of programs and funding for agency's, plays the “power of the purse” role in monitoring bureaucracies. It decides how much money will be spent on agency programs. In addition, through the Congress oversight function, Congress can also monitor the bureaucracy's work to ensure agreement with the original legislative intent and even late legislative action to correct issues. However, Congress's main weakness is that due to having a very limited, short amount of time and expertise, it is unable to thoroughly detail the gears of the programs.

Like the respective legislative and executive branches, the judiciary also has its right to oversee the bureaucracy. If an agency fails to carry out a law properly, the injured party has every right to file a lawsuit against that agency. And through the consent of the court, the agency must therefore change its policy. For example, Of course, courts tend to support the agencies if their actions as least somewhat follow the law they were administering. The Supreme Court states that unless if Congress has specifically established something contrary about the law, the agencies are free to apply any reasonable interpretation of it and have flexibility in order to operate efficiently.

As an extra layer of ensuring the accountability of the bureaucracy, there are mechanisms within the bureaucracy itself that guarantee this, consisting of the Senior Executive Service (SES), administrative law judges, whistle-blowing, and demographic representatives. The SES is the compromise between a president led bureaucracy and an expert one. The SES is composed of seven thousand top level career civil servants who can be assigned by the president to any position within the bureaucracies. In order to decrease the bureaucracy's agency point of view (serves itself more than Congress or the president), these civil servants act as the intermediates between presidential appointees (has the power to limit what agencies do) and agent civil servants. When an individual feel that he or she has been unfairly disadvantaged by a bureaucrat's decision , the administrative law judge handles the dispute. Operating a much more informal means of conducting law hearings, administrative law judges, administrative law judges still devote themselves to protecting individuals from arbitrary, prejudicial, or incorrect agency decisions even they though they themselves are part of that agency. Bureaucratic corruption is battled through the act of whistle-blowing, reporting of instances of official mismanagement. In addition, the Whistle-blowing Protection Act protects whistleblowers from retaliation from their superiors and even gives them financial rewards if their information results in savings for the government. Demographic representatives helps represent the many minorities in society and increase the expressed opinions in the bureaucracy. This has been proven with the improvements in employment and treatment for women, civil servants, and other minorities.

Presidency Synthesis

The president of the United States holds the important job as the being the sole individual in charge of directing the actions of others and planning large scale projects. Because Congress is a slow, divided system, it is important to have a single, authoritarian figure that can respond quickly to big situations, such as World War II, and build relationships with other nations. People look up to the president, not Congress, for leadership in battling terrorism, as shown during Bush's efforts in winning international support for the US military after 9-11. Originally, according to the Whig theory, the president had to act within the limitations of the Constitution when enacting authority, therefore preventing the possible chance of an imperial presidency, when the power of the president is even greater than the Constitution allows. Later on, when T. Roosevelt took office, the Whig Theory was replaced with the stewardship theory, stating that the president is limited only by what is explicitly prohibited, meaning anything not addressed could be interpreted and used to the president's advantage.

The president has many powers, the primary one being the ability to veto. With the veto, the president can choose to refuse a bill into becoming a law. One variation of this is the pocket veto, when the president doesn't sign the bill within ten days and Congress adjourns. The president also has the ability to grant pardons and reprieves and appoint the top officials of the executive branch (ex: Cabinet which holds advisers and attorney general, Executive Office which holds president's closest advisers) or the judicial branch (supreme court justices), which are in turn confirmed by the Senate. If the Senate refuses to comply with the appointments, the president can work his/her way around this obstacle by waiting for the Senate to adjourn for three days or more and using a "recess appointment" which bypasses the Senate for one year. 

However, even as the single head of the nation, the president's power comes with many limits. One, for example, is it's dependence on Congress, the lawmaking body. In order for the president to execute his or her's plans, he or she needs Congress to make the actual law which establishes it. If Congress is dominated by members of the same party as the president, passing favorable laws can be easy. However, as shown through many past Republican presidents such as Eisenhower, Nixon, Ford, Reagan, and Bush, it is very hard to pass laws with a Congress filled with members of the opposing party. When Clinton, a Democratic president, had been backed by a Democratic majority Congress, he was able to pass 85% of the bills he supported. Once Congress majority changed, his legislative success sank below 40%. In addition, although the president is given the title of the commander in chief of armed forces by the Constitution, the War Powers Act prevents the president from engaging in any military activity until there is a declaration of war by Congress.

During campaigns, presidential candidates have to organize a strategy in order to ensure victory. Campaigning for presidential office normally starts two years before the actual election, an action described with the term "invisible primary". This make sense, as primary elections are the process of voters choosing nominees for public office. In this case, the primary is "invisible" since it isn't official, but still influences the decision of the voters. This way when the time actually comes for party candidates to be nominated during open party caucuses, voters who attend will already have a well built foundation of the candidates.The unit rule states that all states, must grant all their electoral votes to the candidate that wins the popular vote, with the exception of Maine and Nebraska which distribute electoral votes by popularity percentage. Because of this, candidates don't need to put in much effort in campaigning in lopsidedly Republican or Democratic states (since they outcome is quite obvious and predictable), and instead target gaining support from the more neutral, persuadable, battleground states.

The irony with US presidents is that, they are most powerful when they are least experienced. When a US president first enters office, he/she enjoys a “honeymoon period”. During this period of time, the president is making a fresh start and is given a warm, welcome. At this time, presidential approval ratings, polls conducted by Pew Research Center showing the level of satisfactory remarks on the president, are especially high and positive. Congress members are more disposed at the president's service and the media reports more positive news on presidential related matters. Presidents are more likely to pass programs during their first year in office. Later on when they begin to run out of gold ideas or deplete their political resources, they lose their favorable momentum, strong showing that contributes to voter support and opposing feelings emerge. This has been proven, as FDR couldn't duplicate his glorious “Hundred Days” period from his first year in office, and even famous presidents such as Reagan and LBJ had weak records in their final years.

Sometimes certain circumstances can contribute to a president's chances and success with passing legislation. For case with FDR, the dragging weights of the Great Depression were enough for Congress to agree in allowing him to launch his New Deal initiatives which improved the nation's economy. The 1964-1965 period of civil rights movement helped LBJ pass landmark civil right/social welfare legislation. When Reagan entered office, America was stuck in a period of deep unemployment and inflation. In order to help improve America's dire situation, Congress allowed Reagan to tax and spend.

There are a few trends displayed in the line of past presidents. All presidents, with the exception Barrack Obama, have been Caucasian/white men. With the exception of four army generals, every other U.S president has served previously as at least one of the following: vice president, state governor, Congress member, or top federal executive. Although there is no female president yet, one is expected to take office any time in the near future. Surveys show that only less than 5% of all Americans believe that a women cannot become the president. If JFK could break the "no-Catholics" trend by becoming the first Catholic president, a female should be able to do the same as well.

Congress Synthesis

Congress has it's main jobs of making laws, representing the people, and overseeing power. However, even after hundreds of years of operation, Congress still isn't perfect, and centers around the same mistakes. Challengers have a hard time making their mark on the nation, the overall work system of Congress can be quite slow and inefficient, and even the main branches of Congress have their main flaws.

Congress can be seen as a system centered on the incumbents. During midterm elections for House members, incumbents normally have the advantage. Unlike challengers, who have a fresh start and no connections, incumbents already have connections with various interest groups, organizations, lobbyists, etc. They may already have plans set up or to continue on if they win a second term, and therefore already have a worked out idea on what to focus on when reelected, whereas challengers still need to take the time to get used to the new position and figure out how to combat the latest issues. Often what happens during these elections is logrolling, when colleagues make the exchange of "I vote for you and you vote for me" deal.

The constituency are the people living in the incumbent's home state. Incumbents employ the use of the service strategy (tending to the constituency) to make money. For example, the Pork-Barrel spending is the practice of obtaining funds through legislation that favors their home districts (earmarks). Incumbents also benefit from a special tool call redistricting, redrawing the House election districts after a reapportionment, reallocating certain populations of a district before actually making the lines.. When used wrongly to redraw districts in a way that favors candidates of a party, it's known as gerrymandering. Most PAC's prefer donating to incumbents, as going against them (and losing) could mean losing a great deal of praise and precious money. Of course, during an open seat election, where there is no incumbent, the tables can turn either way. Incumbents are most vulnerable after getting exposed by a serious scandal, as shown with Nixon at Watergate and Clinton and his affair.

There are a few important figures in Congress to keep in mind of. In each chamber of Congress, there is a leader. In the House, it is the Speaker of the House whereas in the Senate it's the Senate majority leader (leader of the majority party in the chamber). The Speaker of the House is given many powers, including the ability to choose the chairperson and the majority-party members of the House Rules Committee (controls the scheduling of the bills), assigning bills to committees, and assigning members to conference committees. The House majority leader assists the Speaker by organizing debate on bills and lining up legislative support. The Senate majority leader holds a very similar job to the Speaker of the House, the main difference being that he/she is the not Senate's true chamber presiding officer (that would be the vice president/president pro tempore). The minority leaders of both chambers also hold very similar powers, which would be to head the party's caucus and develop the party's legislative positions.

Within Congress are several committees, all with the responsibility for a certain area of public policy. Standing committees are also known as the permanent committees, handling issues dealing with agriculture, foreign policy, labor, taxation, defense, government spending, and the judiciary. Select committees are created for specific job for a specific time period and purpose. The Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, for example, helps aid overseeing the CIA. Joint committees contain members from both houses and performs advisory functions. The Joint Committee on the Library, for example, helps oversee the Library of Congress, the largest library in the world. Conference committees play an important job in the bill making process, as merging of similar bills occurs here. Committees themselves also have a system of leadership. Every committees has important chairpersons that schedule committee meetings, determine the order bills will be debated on, and overall lead the debate.

Congress's first main job is lawmaking. Bills aren't easy to pass. 90% of them don't even get debated on. Since Congress is a bicameral legislature (two-houses), bills are first either introduced to the House or Senate and then taken to committees for revising. Subcommittees further refine the bills, and send them back to the full committees. Full committees have the ability to mark up, or make revisions, to a bill. If the bill is sent to the HOR, then the bill also has to go through an extra step of getting sent to House Rules Committee so it can define the rules of the debate in the House. The Senate does have this step since it since leadership takes on this job. After getting debated on in either the Senate or house, the bill is sent to the conference committee, which merges that bill with any other similar bill passed in the other chamber. Lastly, the bill is sent to the president, who can either veto or approve of the bill. Sometimes riders are proposed, which are irrelevant amendment to bills. Strangely enough, they aren't allowed in the House, but are allowed in the Senate.

A few problems with the lawmaking process is that it's hard to ever agree on anything. Congress is filled with many lawmakers with varying backgrounds, interests, and constituencies. It's not a surprise that there are many disagreements. For example, the precise definition of free trade is different for all members of Congress, as foreign competition to manufacturers of computer chips would be much different to that of manufacturers of automobiles. In addition, unlike the House which runs on a strict debate time limit, the Senate has "unlimited debate time". What sometimes happens when a party is presenting their proposal or idea that quite feasible, a senator of the opposing party will being a filibuster, when senators talk to take up time until the majority party gives up. A filibuster can be canceled, but only with a three-fifths majority approval among the Senate, known as a cloture.

In addition, although Congress holds a main job in representing the various people and beliefs of the nation. Similarly to the lawmaking process, it's quite hard to agree on anything since it's hard to satisfy and represent both the nation and the state interests. For example, there are those members of Congress from more rural areas of the nation that would oppose gun control legislation since whereas those from more urban areas would support it. In the case of conflicting interests, Congress members will normally side with those who align with their part and often have to unwillingly go against constituent interests. For example, when local businesses and labor groups take opposing sides on issues, Republicans will normally support businesses while Democrats will normally support labor.

Congress has a third function of supervising and overseeing “everything” so that power regulated and used properly. However, the task is so large and there is too much to oversee, and as a result, oversight is not pursued vigorously. Only when an agency is found to have acted improperly does Congress place restrictions on the agency and reduce its appropriation. The irony with oversight is that it's normally best to oversee things to prevent any possible mistakes or disasters. However, oversight only actually kicks in when a disaster or mistake like a war happens.

Congress still requires a great deal of improvement. The system is still quite inefficient, has a great deal of gridlock, congress members that don't reflect on the views on constituents and take advantage of their privileges, and fragmented relationships between the executive and legislative branches (especially when two different parties operate them). Possibly through actually imposing more regulations on privileges and operations can the system's conditions at least begin to ameliorate.  

Media Synthesis

The news media is a constantly changing collection of events, mainly composed of timely, dramatic, and compelling stories. The news has to be recent, eye catching, and arouse people's attention in order to gain viewers. The media has four main functions: Signaling, Common Carrier, Watchdog, and Partisan.

The signaling function is the media's responsibility to alert the public of recent, important events. Since U.S news organizations on their own do not have the resources to gather outside news on their own, they do this through wire services, such as the the Associated Press (AP), which station news reporters all around the world to gather news stories and transmit them to news organizations. However, the main goal of the news isn't to inform the public, but rather to attract a big audience and make money. Without ad revenue, US news organizations would go out of business. Because of this, there is a constant need for fresh news, with every day's story being different from the previous day's. Hard events are developments that have taken a clear and definable shape with the past 24hrs. An issue is likely to go unreported if it is not reverted into a hard event. Policy issues and problems do not change on a daily basis, making the undesirable and uninteresting, or simply “old news”.

The common carrier function is a political leader's means of communicating with the public and allowing the people to know of their plans and actions. Many presidents have adopted the Rose Garden strategy, where they announce their speeches in the rose garden by the Oval Office. However, political leaders cannot manage the news for two reasons: journalist's norm of partisan neutrality and the inability to monopolize the news. Journalists tend to report in a “he said she said format”, where when one officials say or does something newsworthy, there will be a contrary statement from the opposing party. In addition, on TV, journalists make use of the “shrinking sound bite” format, where candidates can barely even talk for more than ten seconds. In addition, journalists also make use of framing, the process of selecting certain aspects of reality and making them the most salient part of communication.

The Watchdog function acts as the unofficial 4^th branch of government that exposes corrupt officials and keeps power in check. One example of this has been shown when the Washington Post exposed the Walter Reed Army Hospital's neglect in treating its wounded U.S solders from the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. After interviewing many patients, Washington Post managed to force the Department of Veterans Affairs into changing health care practices at its medical facilities. One area that supports the fairness of the watchdog function is objective journalism, reporting based on the facts rather than opinions (The New York Times is quite famous for this style of reporting). It's the exact opposite of yellow journalism, which tends to over-exaggerate stories and depict them in a negative connotation. In 1934, the Communications Act established the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), which oversaw broadcasting. Broadcasters had to be licensed and give equal time to all candidates, meaning that one could have more time than the other. In addition, the Fairness Doctrine stated that broadcasters were prohibited from using their news coverage to promote one party or issue position at the expense of another. Later on, however, after the Fairness Doctrine was eliminated (due to the increase of TV channels), broadcasters didn't have to air both sides to an issue anymore, and thus partisan talk shows were created.

The partisan function is the process of advocating for a particular viewpoint or interest. Traditional media, such as newspapers and broadcast networks, tend to more neutral when informing. However, rather than a strong partisan bias, traditional media tends to have a negative bias, or preference for bad news. After especially negative events like the Vietnam War and Watergate, the amount of negativity and mistrust in politicians increases. Talk shows tend to be mainly conservative, while the internet is mainly liberal. Republicans tend to favor the conservative Fox news while Democrats avor the centrist CNN and liberal MSNBC.

In recent years, there has been a shrinking audience for News. While literacy rates, urbanization, and radio widened the news audience, it was TV that played the biggest role. During dinner hour, 85% of all Americans in the nation would turn on their TV to the news channels, developing a traditional “news habit”. However, later on with the introduction of cable and Internet, people no longer had to sit and eagerly wait for news. They could simple watch the news at any time, or even record some programs if they really wanted to.

A majority of people today who pay attention and watch news are older adults, those over the age of fifty to be specific. Older adults are more likely to be exposed to news media and be updated with it, through the means of reading newspaper or watching news channels on TV daily. 40% of young adults pay little or no attention to news sources on a daily basis. And although older adults spend much less time on the Internet than young adult, when they do, they have a higher chance of accessing news related material when doing so. In addition, young adults tend to get. Strangely enough, from the 1940's to 1960's, young adults were actually more updated and informed about current news events than older adults, who many at the time had not even graduated from high school. Since the 1980's, the number of informed young adults has decreased, proven when younger adults could only answer 36% of factual politics questions in the ANES survey, as opposed to older adults's 55%.

News media from before and news media today differ quite a bit. Before, the media system was dominated by only a few powerful news organizations that had large audiences. In addition, back then news was reported in a more nonpartisan way, focusing less on patronizing or harming political parties and enhancing their roles in society. On the other hand, today the number of news outlets have increased, fragmenting the public new audience and decreasing traditional news organization's influence and audience. With so many different sources and outlets of news media, political leaders are portrayed differently, different aspects of politics are highlighted, and partisan polarization has become quite common. Some sides are praised and others are ranted on, leading to an increased split between liberals and conservatives. Today, people have less in common when it comes to politics than before. With the growing role of Internet in society, news media has becomes more flexible to access at different times of the day. Since people can easily bypass the news that hold little or no appeal, there is an ever increasing gap between more-attentive and less-attentive citizens.

Interest Groups Synthesis

An interest groups is a linkage group that connects the public to the government. Like political parties, interest groups are characterized for their group identification and affiliation; however, unlike political parties, interest groups focus on persuading public policy makers to respond to their group perspective instead of nominating officials. Interest groups influence the officeholders, not become them.

Interest groups range from many different types. There are the economic groups, which are joined together by material incentives such as jobs, higher pay, and profits, and citizen groups, which are joined together by a purposive incentive, such as protecting the environment or feeding the poor. Most economic groups are business groups, although there are a few labor and farm groups mixed inside, such examples including The National Farm Association and AFL-CIO. Citizens groups tend to be dedicated to promoting a political ideology or have philosophical or moral position on issues, examples including the NAACP.

On main key component in interest group are political action committees, or PAC's for short. PAC's have the job of raising money for interest groups and make contributions to the political campaign. Contributions from PAC's such as the NRA and BlackPAC have risen greatly over the years, skyrocketing during the years of 1981 to 2012. Because of their ability to raise seemingly infinite amounts of money, PAC's have also played a key role in the electoral process. Interest groups themselves cannot directly give funds such as union dues and corporate profits to candidates. To combat this obstacle, they solicit voluntary contribution money from PAC's members and donate this money to the candidates. PACs are limited in how much money they can give to a candidate; however they can support as many candidates as they want.

Lobbying is one of the most important tools for interest groups; it is the process of inputting effort to influence public policy through contact with public officials. This can be done through mainly two ways: Inside and Outside lobbying. Inside lobbying is when groups efforts to develop and maintain close (inside) contacts with policymakers, as shown with the case of the iron triangle. Outside lobbying is when members of interest groups pressure the government into satisfying their needs. This was shown in the case of the 2000 legislation on trade relations with China, when Boeing Corporation engaged in outside lobbying by asking its employees, subcontractors, and suppliers to contact members of Congress.

In addition, lobbyists aren't passive pushovers. Like many other aspects and processes of American government and politics, lobbyists can be very corrupt in their ways. As shown with the case of famous lobbyist Jack Abramoff, lobbyists can offer huge sums of campaign donations, all for one condition: favorable legislation. In modern day terms, this could be viewed as another example of bribery and conspiracy.

Over the years, interest groups have to shown to have the ability to greatly influence and impact public policy. For example, one major issue rooted in both American society and politics is the question of gun control/gun rights. Unlike many other Western societies, the U.S Constitution upholds and protects the right to gun ownership. Because of this, the U.S falls behind in gun regulation. The National Rifle Association, or NRA, holds great power in American politics and has prevented a number of assault weapon ban legislation. During aftermath of the mass shooting of children and teachers at Sandy Hook Elementary, the public immediately switched to a pro-gun control stance. However, the NRA managed to fight the assault weapon ban and gun trafficking punishment legislation through citing the 2^nd amendment. Congress ultimately failed to pass any new gun control measures, and still struggles to do so even today.

Interest groups play a significant role in American government and politics. In the iron triangle, their main job is to provide electoral support to Congress and congressional support (through lobbying) to bureaucracies. Through lobbying, interest groups can influence the public policy decision making process, whether it be through friendly connections or pressuring the government. Interest groups have gained a great deal of footing in the American political process over the years, and it only continues to grow.

Political Participation Synthesis

Politics is known as the battle that decides who gets what, when, where, and how. Different groups and people fight for the power at the top of ladder, constantly clashing along the way. In order to achieve their goals and come out as victorious, parties must be able to accomplish some of the basic steps:

-raise money

-develop a positive image

-nominate candidates who can develop public policy

-run successful campaigns

-coordinating in the governing process the implementation of the policies they support

-maintaining a watchdog function

-articulating issues into their campaign

All throughout history, America's system of politics has been centered around a two party system, unlike the many multiparty Democracies around the world. From Federalists vs Democratic-Republicans to Whigs vs Democrats to Democrats vs Republicans, there has always been an exchange between mainly two parties only. With a system of mainly only two parties, power constantly shifts. Democrats held a dominating era of power in both presidency and Congress during 1828-1860 and 1932-1968 while Republicans held their from 1869-1932. Currently, the nation experiences a Divided Era, were president party and dominating Congress party are different.

However, between the battle of the Democrats and Republicans, America also has many smaller third parties groups that cannot be completely ignored. These groups tend to have more narrow ideals and goals, the reason why they can never get the majority vote of the public since broader aims apply to a larger/broader public. Such groups in the Greenback Party, Libertarian Party, or Socialist Worker Party. Although these groups have no chance of winning in an election, they do play a considerable role in determining the outcome. In close elections especially, the few votes of the third parties can determine who wins. For example, George Wallace of the American Independent Party managed to receive 46 electoral votes in one election, leaving Hubert Humphrey's short of only a few votes in a close election. In 2010, another party emerged that posed as a threat to the Demcrats. Made up of grassroot Americans and former Republican leaders, the Tea Party favored the Republican side, endorsing many Republican gubernatorial and congressional candidates and earning them victories

Party Realignments occur when there is a sudden shift in public loyalty in a party. This can happen when one party dies/weakens out (like the Whigs or Federalists), when a major issue divides the nation (like slavery), or when a drastic event happens that causes the public to change their views on the party of the very person in office that caused it (like the Great Depression). For example, the Democrats used to make up the “Solid South”. However, after LBJ began supporting civil rights legislation, the South began to slowly become Republicans since white men were again civil rights. Likewise, More northeastern states became Democratic. There are three major realignments in history, all of which have had deep effect on future election since they affected voters' party identification

1. Great Depression Realignment: After Hoover ruined America's economy, the Republican Party was not very popular. People began supporting Democrat FDR and his New Deal policies.
2. Civil War Realignment: The Civil War was a great issue that divided the nation
3. 1896 Realignment: Democrats were not very popular after Cleveland was blamed for crashing the nation bank and putting the nation into an economic depression

In contrast to its counterpart, Party Dealignment is when people begin to shift away from parties to a more neutral and ideological view of party identification and loyalty. This can happen when voters are fed up with both parties and decide. register as independents. Rates of party dealignment have been increasing significantly today, as 1/3 of all voters register as independents.

The exact opposite of Party Dealignment is political socialization, the process of developing political beliefs and ideals. The factors that influence a person's developing views are known as the agents of political socialization, which include family, school, friends, coworkers, and media.

Family is the biggest and most influential factor since they are the people we spend around the most. Any strongly held beliefs of our parents will no doubt get passed down to us after frequent and constant exposure.

In school, teachers only tell young students of all the amazing national heroes such as George Washington and Martin Luther King Jr. and emphasize nations greatest moments such as the world wars. These teachings can lead young students to develop a somewhat narrow outlook of America that is more positive than it truly is.

Peer Pressure is a always a trick into making people change beliefs. Some Americans may not like the idea of being the minority in the group who support a certain belief while everyone else in that friend circle supports the opposing one. Following the path of conformity, they simply follow what is the commonly held belief around them.

Mass Media

Media is not only a means of updating the public with news story, but also a tool for influencing people's views on the world. For example, constant exposure to crime on TV can lead to people thinking society is more dangerous than it really is. This is known as the agenda-setting effect,which is the tendency of people to assign importance to topics emphasized by the media

People all the nation have diverse opinions and backgrounds. How does the government and thoses in charge become aware of the present day trends in the public?

Answer: Public Opinion Polls

Individuals are randomly selected and asked simple questions about their background, occupation, or political beliefs. Polls are the most basic method for estimating public sentiment; however, they do have their flaws. Most polls are through telephone calls. Many American either do not own phone or do not have the time and patience for a poll and simply deny answering by hanging up the phone. In addition, many Americans may not be very updated with present day issues, but do not wish to admit it. Because of this, the responses they give may not be very accurate.

People have political ideology if they hold a coherent set of beliefs. However, few Americans can truly accomplish this unless if they have a very strict perspective on something. Farmers for example, are the most likely group of people to oppose government benefit programs for the economically vulnerable. However, they support farm subsidies, and they no longer oppose governmental assistance if its directed at them. In this case, they only oppose governmental assistance if it isn't presented for them. However, it's different for the case of liberals and conservatives. In general terms, liberals tend to be more open to change, while conservatives favor the traditional way of doing things. For example, in the case for social issues such as abortion, cultural liberals tend be pro-choice, while cultural conservatives favor pro-life. When it comes to the purpose of the government, economic liberals believe the government should be the ones dealing with the current problems facing society whereas conservative favor a more lassiez-faire approach.

One of the most simplest ways to participate in politics is through the simple act of voting. However, most American who do have the ability to vote don't. Many factors influence voting, including registration, age, education, income, attitudes.

Registration is the formula to voting. No registration means no voting. Although Americans are all eligible to vote at the age of 18, many also forget to register; therefore, on the day of the election, many people can't vote even if they wanted to. Since people have to register a second time if they move, registration just seems to be hassle. The Motor Voter act made things a bit easier by giving American the chance the register when purchasing a vehicle; however its progress is too small to be considered substantial.

It takes time for political beliefs to firmly develop. As a result, many younger Americans don't vote because they haven't firmly decided in what they believe in. In addition, since young people tend to travel and move more often, it also means having to register multiple times. Middle aged Americans tend to make up the majority of the voter body

Not all Americans have the money to own a car or photo ID (required to vote), meaning that both the Motor Voter act is useless to them, and they cannot vote even if they wanted to. Because of this, people with higher or substantial income tend to make up a majority of the voting body. In addition, a decent level of education is also required, as it has been statistically shown those with a higher level of education tend to vote more often.

Civic attitudes make up general motivation of the public. Some citizens simply feel apathy, lack of interest in politics, when it comes to political participation. Politics is a hobby for some Americans. And like all hobbies, politics is something that can't captivate or entertain every person in the nation. On the other hand, some Americans have a deep sense of civic duty, the belief that they have every right to participate in public affairs, and actively participate in political matters. However, some Americans stand a bit in the bit and feel alienation, the feeling of powerlessness and that the government pays no attention to their interests even if they do vote and participate. Because of that, some Americans don't even bother to put in the effort even if they do genuinely care about politics.

Two extremely important factors in determining who wins an election are M&M, or money and media. Without funding, there are no campaigns, and without media, elections lose their significance.

In the case of Citizens United v. The FEC, the Supreme Court reversed part of the 2002 case, which stated that the 2000 ban on soft money was acceptable. Soft money is essentially unlimited funding from a linkage institution. After it was overused in 1996, candidate had to pledge that they would not spend more than what was given to them or accept other kinds of special donations. However, some interest groups managed to maneuver around the ban by forming “527” independent groups such as moveon.org, which could raise large amounts of soft money but get away with it due to being protected by the tax code. In the end, Citizen United v. The FEC ruled that based on the 1^st amendment, unlimited independent expenditures and political advocacy ads could be used by outside groups including corporations, labor unions, and special interest groups as long as the money was not donated directly to a candidate's campaign and disclosure rules were followed.

Media can play a significant role in the political process. There are legal restraints on extremes such as libel and slander; however messages can still be sent through passively. After analyzing the Obama v. McCain election, Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism found that Obama's coverage initially started out negatively after his nomination, but later much more positive as his poll numbers increased. On the other hand, McCain's coverage became more negative after he suspended his campaign at the start of the economic crisis. It could be seen that although Obama's treatment was somewhat more positive than negative, McCain's was simply unfavorable all in general. However at the end of the day, the media really controlled by the government. During the Gulf War, there were many complaints that the Bush Administration was prevented the press from doing its job. However, when marines landed in Somalia for a humanitarian purpose, the Bush Administration gave full disclosure.

According to the 2010 Census, there are few new growing patterns in politics in the US. Minorities, Hispanics especially, make up a growing share of the U.S population and are the largest ethnic group. And unlike the commonly assumed belief, most U.S population growth has taken place in the suburbs rather than the crowded, populated central cities. Of course, metropolitan areas are still currently the areas with the greatest percentages of voting, fastest rates growth being mostly in the South and West and the fastest rates of decline being in the Midwest and Northeast. In addition, with the growing number of immigrants, they are no doubt changing both the population and the political process. However, the current growth rate in American is the lowest since the Great Depression. Although America is slowly reforming and improving its political system, it still has a long way to go.