Questions: The US Government
Questions: The US Government
Question One
The US chain of command does not provide a clear structure of control over bureaucracies. Some government agencies such as Internal Revenue Collection enjoy a substantial level of autonomy than other bureaucracies. The functions of a certain body have much say on the level of oversight control needed. Often, for impartiality and efficiency, it is important that a body is left alone to dispense its duties, and the defining line between demand for accountability and over interference is important. The principle of separations of powers is especially difficult to reconcile with the need to hold the agencies accountable. The US did not have many bureaucracies before the events of the cold war. Today, the executive through the president and the Congress take the mantle in holding bureaucracies accountable for their actions and inactions (Henry, 2015). Due to their functions, modern political scientists talk of ‘managerial presidents’ as a regard to oversight roles in bureaucracies. The president restructures and makes important political appointments to head certain departments. Besides, he maintains tools for defining the limits of bureaucratic discretions. On the other hand, the congress’s role emerges in two ways (Clark, Ochs & Frazier, 2013). First, it authorizes appointments, activities, and budgets of organizations. Secondly, it is responsible for funding the agencies. Like the president, it also maintains certain devices for keeping bureaucrats accountable.
Question Two
What legal and political influences can affect the decisions of judges? How does the judiciary play a part in policy making?
For reasons of advancement of the exercise of democracy, the separation of powers is an important principle the US has been struggling to keep. The operation of the dynamics revolving around the management of a government makes it a difficult goal. The judiciary is an essential arm of the government, and its independence is as crucial as its existence. In many ways, political principles use the courts as their shield from external threats. Judges are supposed to use law to make decisions, but the legal and political factors have much say in practice (Newell & Shanks, 2014). From a political perspective, the executive interference through appointment is the most profound influences. Certain political elites such as the president enjoy immunity, and a judge has to factor this before making determinations, notwithstanding the political class that has much control in law making. It defines what laws the judge should use. Often, the Congress has not legal experts and makes vague laws, and a judge has to find a way out of the contradictions. Besides, there are legal influences to the question. The most profound is the role of precedents, and a lower ranking court cannot divert from a valid precedence unless he or she distinguishes the current case. Secondly, public policy introduces contradicting requirements. Often, the Congress takes long to update the law, and the judges have to deal with contemporaneous matters promptly. Lastly, the jurisdictional concerns are important facets. A judge has to make a determination of which law to use between international or local law.
The judiciary plays an important function in defining public policy and this role emerges in two ways. First, the law informs acceptable habits to address a certain mischief and creates a homogenous practice amounting to public policy. Secondly, the law reflects current attitudes and acceptable customs. Often, customs and public policy grow faster than the law. In the event of a legal gap, a judge could make a decision based on homogenous practice. In such cases, the judiciary is indeed buttressing public policy.
Question Three
How does the federal bureaucracy implement policy within the federal government give a specific example? Where does the bureaucracy get its power?
A policy is essentially a statement of intent and a policy constitutes a set of propositions with the intention of informing a practice. The Congress makes the laws, but it has not implementation mechanism of its own other than the use bureaucracies. The primary role of any bureaucratic body is to implement government’s policy and it involves several activities. Firstly, it has a duty to interpret state propositions. Often, the government issues out blanket regulations, and bureaucrats have to contextualize them to fit the practice within a specific agency. Secondly, the agency has to come up with own specific regulations on the same and in most cases, the federal law is the enabling statute. Thirdly, they put the policy into practice and a good example is the government's policy of the Postal Service to balance its income, or even averaging the days it takes to deliver a first class letter within the US. New government policies imply more functions and an agency has to stretch its resources to comply.
The constitution is the main source of bureaucratic power and it defines the scope of duty and functions of an organization. However, there is a tendency to ignore constitutional provisions for personal gain, making the role of oversight bodies important. However, it is not the only source of power as, clientele groups, experts, and high-ranking groups and friends count as well. These groups help the bureaucratic bodies to lobby for more power (May & Williams, 2012).
Question Four
The federal bureaucracy was relatively small with only a few thousand and employees. Describe how the bureaucracy grew from a few thousand employees to the size it is today. Also, discuss how the bureaucracy is organized and how government employees are hired.
The initial bureaucracy constituted only three departments, treasury, state and war. These were relatively few categories with only about three thousand employees. The end of the war marked the growth of bureaucracies as the government could now focus on developing various sectors of the economy. Several factors led to the growth of bureaucracy and the rise of Thomas Jefferson as the president was an important beginning. His reliance on patronage principle led to the hiring of allies and friends to fill government positions. His predecessors move to fasten the principle led to an upsurge of civil wars. As a response, the government created new departments to absorb more employees. The patronage system ended with the enactment of Pendleton Act that introduced merit system. The real growth came between 1933 and 1945 when President Roosevelt expanded the government and consequently more bodies to help with management, which led to significant changes in the hiring process. Today, a person can get employed through appointment or selection, which is a competitive process and it is based on merit. However, state reserves certain seats to certain groups such as physically challenged and minorities. The US hiring policy is comprehensive enough that it allows hiring of foreigners to import crucial expertise when necessary. The US bureaucracy is organized into three, regulatory agencies, state corporations, and cabinet departments.
Question Five
Discuss how government intervention promotes efficiency and equity in the economy. Be sure to include restraint of trade, indirect costs, deregulation, and overregulation.
In a bid for more efficiency and equity in the economy, the federal government employs several strategies that include deregulation, overregulation, indirect costs, and trade restraints. Deregulation involves allowing businesses some level of autonomy to run their affairs. Often, deregulation involves removal of government-induced restrictions on business. It is necessary in areas where government’s interference has proven unviable (Kroszner & Strahan, 2014). The US has, for instance, deregulated airline and electricity. Overregulation is explicit intervention by the government to regulate trade and it is important when the need to protect and create a fair business environment emerges. It involves the imposition of such limitations as the Government may deem fit to regulate economic activities. Besides, the government keeps varying indirect costs from time to time, which may involve among others, varying licensing, rents, utilities, and legal fee. Usually, the government uses indirect costs to regulate the growth of new businesses and raise revenues. The government needs to raise money to sustain other sectors of the economy, and indirect costs present a suitable platform for it to gain necessary revenues. Indirect costs and taxes are good options of enhancing equity and economic stability in a state. The government resort to trade restraints to protect certain industries and products from external and local competitors, which ensures their survival.
Question Six
Discuss the differences that exist between social insurance programs and public assistance programs. What is your opinion regarding how far the government should go in providing assistance to those who need these programs?
The two are major sources of financial assistance in the US. Social Security Insurance can be categorized into three, social security, workers competition, and unemployment cover while public assistance is issued under, Temporary Assistance for Needy People, Supplemental Security Income, and General Assistance. Although the two exhibits some similarities in operation, they exhibit many differences. Firstly, the federal governments runs public assistance while social insurance is an exclusive function of employers. Notably, the US government abolished compulsory entitlement to federal assistance and the target recipients differ greatly. Public assistance focuses on financial support to poor families, while social insurance targets families of once employed persons from exigencies such as death, retirement and loss of a job (Lindner, Loprest & Schwabish, 2016). The criterion for eligibility for public assistance varies from state to the other, while social security depends on one's salary limit and there are not further considerations. Social security insurance targets to meet the needs of extreme cases of needs while in some states assistance can involve help to own a car.
Social security insurance faces a major challenge of sustainability. Much depends on the level of growth of the economy, meaning that in some cases the government faces serious financial limitations and there is a need to create a stable kitty that is not subject to external forces. The lack of a specific law on public assistance is a big flaw as states can opt to stops it, which makes it unpredictable. The government should legislate on it and specifically make public assistance compulsory.
Question Seven
Explain how the federal government promotes business, labor, and agriculture in the United States. Also, describe how the federal government uses its monetary policy as an economic management tool.
The labor market, business, and agriculture are important sectors of the economy, and the government has a role in promoting them. The federal government promotes business in several ways, such as controlling the interest rates to reduce the burden to the borrowers. Secondly, it provides tax incentives in certain areas to stimulate the growth of certain industries, as well as regulating the trade policy that promotes both local and international businesses. Lastly, it offers trade loans to its local citizens.
The role of the state in promoting agriculture emerges in several areas. First, it issues subsidies on certain inputs to make them affordable. Secondly, the government offers agricultural loans through state corporations, as well as financial and technical assistance through several bodies, including, Agricultural Management Assistance, Conservation Stewardship Program, and Conservation Reserve Programs, to promote its sustainability (MacDonald, Korb & Hoppe, 2013).
On the labor market, the government takes an active part in maintaining a friendly policy to facilitate free movement of labor. In practice, a non-American can secure a job within the US as the government has created an enabling environment. Its programs such as social security insurance are a further boost to the labor market. The US uses its monetary policy as economy management tools in two ways, which include stabilizing inputs and outputs to control government spending (Ihrig, Meade & Weinbach, 2015).
Question Eight
Discuss the various ways federal, state, and local governments attempt to promote education as equality of opportunity. What are the negatives and positives you see the involvement of government in the education system?
Although the US is yet to provide free college education, the local governments have made important progress in promoting education as an equality of opportunity. First, it has been instrumental in the development of standardized curriculum (Horn, Nevill & Griffith, 2006). Additionally, the government has provided a kitty for student loans in higher education learning. This program provides an avenue for the needy students wishing to proceed with education to get an opportunity. In the recent future, the government is making much effort to provide open education. To accomplish these governments has had to work with line bodies and department of education to create an online forum for use in research thus supporting learning. Recently, the government launched an online academy. Since its inception, it has created new pathways for learners to acquire degrees and certificates at a more reduced fee. These efforts have been crucial in making education affordable and accessible. The government has more chances of raising necessary funds. Secondly, state-managed programs have higher potency in standardizing education system. For the reasons government’s intervention gains more preference. However, many state’s policies and programs take long to implement. These may occasion delays on effecting necessary programs. Besides, in one way or another, different states have varying educational needs, which a standardized approach may overlook.
References
Clark, R. C., Ochs, H. L., & Frazier, M. (2013). Representative Bureaucracy The Politics
of Access to Policy-Making Positions in the Federal Executive Service. Public
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Henry, N. (2015). Public administration and public affairs. Routledge.
Horn, L., Nevill, S., & Griffith, J. (2006). Profile of Undergraduates in US
Postsecondary Education Institutions, 2003-04: With a Special Analysis of Community
Education Statistics.
Ihrig, J. E., Meade, E. E., & Weinbach, G. C. (2015). Monetary Policy 101: A Primer on
the Fed's Changing Approach to Policy Implementation.
Lindner, S., Loprest, P., & Schwabish, J. (2016). Understanding Social Security
Disability Insurance.
Kroszner, R. S., & Strahan, P. E. (2014). Regulation and deregulation of the US
banking industry: causes, consequences, and implications for the future. In
Economic Regulation and Its Reform: What Have We Learned? (pp. 485-543). University
of Chicago Press.
Newell, B. R., & Shanks, D. R. (2014). Unconscious influences on decision making: A
critical review. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 37(01), 1-19.
MacDonald, J. M., Korb, P., & Hoppe, R. A. (2013). Farm size and the organization of US
crop farming. US Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
May, P. J., & Williams, W. (2012). Disaster policy implementation: Managing programs
under shared governance. Springer Science & Business Media.
