The American System of Government is Broken
“Yes, we can!” was Barack Obama’s slogan that galvanized American people and gave a rife hope for America’s recovery. The United States has been confronting an economic downturn and the election of the new president in 2008 seemed “that new leadership would put right what had gone wrong with America” (Institute par. 2). Nevertheless, with all good intentions it looks like a more appropriate statement would be “No, we can’t!.” As a matter of fact, the US are facing a governmental logjam which arises from the inherent nature of the system, a form of government which was conceived more than 200 years ago, however, that “was downright altruistic by the standards of that time in history,” as Sparky Hall puts it on BlueRidgeNow.com (par. 5). Indeed, in America policymaking is strikingly difficult and democratic traits are hardly noticeable, which all makes the American system of government broken.

As the first blatant flaw in the system can be considered the lopsided state representation in the Congress resulting from the process of gerrymandering. On the grounds of a decennial census required by the US Constitution the elective districts boundaries must be redrawn in order to reapportion the number of seats in the House of Representatives. However, the party that happens to draw the line may “[exploit] the map-making exercise by weakening the voting strength of some groups to gain partisan advantage” (Giroux par. 15). The most glaring example of map-manipulation was after the 2010 elections, “in which Republicans won the House majority and gained more than 700 state legislative seats across the nation” and conferred upon them the practice of redistricting (Giroux par. 6). According to the statistical election-modeller of the Princeton Election Consortium Samuel Wang, 26 out of the 33 seats Republicans outnumber Democrats in the House are due to gerrymandering and the total number of voters disenfranchised by Republican redistricting was around four ...

-6 .. 1 10 11 13 1342 14 14th 15 16 17 18 19 2 200 2008 2010 2011 2012 2013 226 24 26 27 29 3 30 31 33 4 5 50.7 52.7 6 700 8 9 abl accentu access accompani accord across adam advantag ago agre allow almost also altruist amend america american ami appar appli appropri april argu aris around asymmetr attempt august author back balanc barack basic benefit besid better bill blatant bloomberg blueridgenow.com borrow both-sides-do-it boundari branch broad broader broken build bust calm candid capitol carolina ceil census center challeng check choic circumst cite civil claim classic claus clear cliff clinton cnn cnnmoney coll comparison conceiv conclus confer conflict confront congress connot consequ consid consortium constitut contest continu cornerston could countri crawford cut deadlock debat debt dec decemb decenni decis defector democraci democrat depart descri despit devot differ difficult disenfranchis disobedi disobey district divis document dolan done doubt downright downturn draw due dysfunct econom elect election-model elector emphas employ empow encompass end enough ensur equal eric escal even eventu exacerb exampl execut exercis exist expediti exploit face fact fallaci faq fare farfetch fast fastmov februari first fiscal fix flaw form found foundat four fuse g.o.p gain galvan gave georgetown gerrymand get giroux give glare gone good got govern government greg ground group hall hand hang happen hard hill hindranc histori hit hold hope hostag hous howev identifi ignor impo impos incap increas inde infinit ing inher insist instead institut intensifi intent intern intrins issu jacki jame januari jeann jefferson jonathan juli kept know lack languag law lawmak lead leadership legal legisl legislatur legitimaci let like limit lincoln line liptak logjam longer look loophol lopsid loui made madison major make mandat mani manipul map map-mak map-manipul march margin matter may mean meant michael michigan might million minist mislead model moreov morn mr much must myth narrow nation natur need negoti nevertheless new non non-democrat nonetheless north notic notwithstand number obama obscur obsess one ongo order outnumb overstep par parchment parliamentari part parti partisan partisanship pass pattern payment pennsylvania peopl perfect period person pillar point polar policymak polit popular posit potenti power practic precari present presid prevent prime princeton probabl process professor proven provis public put puzzl quick radic rais rang rawreplay realiti reapport reason receiv recent recoveri redistrict redrawn reduc regard relat relev report repres represent republican requir respond rest result rife right roosevelt saddl sahadi samuel scrap seat section seem seidman sens sent separ shown side sinc slogan smithsonian.com solut sparki specious spend standard standoff state statement statist status stem steve strength strife strike struggl studi sunday support system take teeter thing threshold throughout thus time today togeth total trait treasuri two uncondit unfair union unit univers unstabl unsymmetr upon urg us vote voter w wang want war way weaken weisman well white whole wide wilson win wisconsin withal without won work world would wrong year yes york yorker zakaria