What exactly is US Politics? US Politics is the process through which power, influence, opportunity, and change are secured and transferred from one political party (the “party system”) to another. In contrast, political power in the US occurs through the US House of Representatives and Senate exercising their power “to control the Upper House,” or to control the Senate. The US President is not the final authority, but instead, holds office as the leader of the executive branch. The US Presidency is largely ceremonial and does not have any role in the process of governance by the people.
There is more to politics than elected officials controlling the political system though, because each political party has leaders who make the laws and set the tone of the system that cannot be changed without changing the whole structure of the political parties and changing the elected officials who represent the voters. For instance, President Obama was elected by the Democratic Party leadership, but he and his staff made the Obama Administration’s policies, as they relate to the US economy, according to their own political philosophy and their personal view of what the US government should do. This is not “policymaking” but philosophy making.
It would not be too much to say that both President Obama and his political lieutenants have set up an unrepresentative government to help them push their agenda regardless of the reality that the policies being pushed are not working for the American people or the elected representatives who control the legislature and executive branch. US Politics is not about leaders determining the will of the people through elected leaders; rather, it is about leaders determining how the people will react and how the elected leaders will react to the will of the people. It is the US system of government and its elected leaders that determine whether the system itself can be changed or not. It is the US political parties and their leaders that control the future course of US Politics.
As noted earlier, the current leadership in the US Government is elected and their political philosophies determine how they are elected. The policies that are being passed by the US Congress are only the policies that have been pushed by the Obama Administration, his political lieutenants, and the Congressional leadership. US Politics is not a system of free-market capitalism, rather it is a system of government control over the economy via policies dictated by the US Government. Therein lays the problem with how US politics works if it is not controlled by elected leaders and policy makers. Allowing this fact to stand is not only a violation of the First Amendment as it guarantees freedom of speech and press but also a violation of the US Constitution as it implies that the US Government is comprised of checks and balances that are supposed to prevent undue partiality and political corruption from overtaking the legislative and executive branches.
Allowing US politicians to decide what the rules are for US Businesses and the US economy is a recipe for disaster. We are seeing this with the health care reform bill passed by the Obama Administration. It is a plan that will hurt big businesses and the middle class but help big corporations which will raise their taxes and make everyone else poor. That is not capitalism as most Americans understand it; rather it is the opposite of capitalism, which is fair and equitable to all Americans regardless of wealth or poverty level. Why allow the government to dictate what business practices should be followed by US Corporations?
I have no answer for why US Politics as a system is as it is today because I do not know why it is. However, I do know how to change it and get it to work the way I would like it to be changed. It is up to me to get the American people to remove their self-interest from US Politics and to start putting their vote into politicians that will represent them instead of corporations and special interest groups. Please consider all this in 2021.