Introduction
Right from the time the Second World War has ended in the early 1940s, the United States (US) has dominated the world scene. The role of US on the global scene has further improved after the end of the cold war with the erstwhile USSR getting dissolved. It has been considered a beacon of values that are cherished by the country’s founding fathers like liberty, democracy, and secularism. Guiding the country all these days is the country’s political system and politicians. The country’s political system has always put the interests of the citizens at the top and guided the US through some of the most difficult financial and foreign policy related problems. However, over the past two decades, the country’s political system has failed to protect the interests of the country and its citizens and has been criticized for presiding over the decline of the country’s political and economic might. USA has also started to lose its influence in foreign affairs and could not protect its allies from terrorism and aggression from the rogue states. Many political analysts have opined that the politicians and political system of USA have failed to protect the interests of the country. The country is seeing the worst of the political times since the end of the Second World War.
Factors Resulting in the Worst Political Times for USA
Having had many best politicians in the world as its presidents made USA one of the leading powers in the world. The political system of USA that itself was borrowed from UK used to be a role model for many countries in Latin America and Asia that have later transformed themselves into democracies. However, the political system in USA has been undermined by a number of problems in the recent past, which resulted in the worst political times for USA. Some of the reasons that lead to the worst political times for USA are elucidated below.
Less Number of New Laws Passed
The basic function of any law making body (parliament or congress) is to pass new laws depending upon the need. If new laws are not passed periodically and older laws not regularly amended, the democratic system of a country cannot function smoothly. Law making is such an important function of any law making body that its productivity is primarily measured in terms of the number of acts it has passed over its tenure. Barring a few, the past congresses of USA have passed a significant number of laws during each years of their tenure. The 112th congress has passed the lowest number of new laws in the history of USA making it the one with the least productivity (Klien 2012). The difference of opinion between the democrats and republicans made it difficult to pass new laws. Even though the immediate effects of lower number of laws passed is just the reduced productivity and the loss of credibility on the political system among the public, its long-term impact would be the difficulty to solve some of the major problems that the country would face in the future.
Polarization
Unlike the past where the two leading political parties of the country worked together constructively to solve the pressing problems being faced by the country, the current political environment in USA is highly polarized. Democrats and republicans do not agree on a number of contentious issues being faced by the country. Lack of agreement between the leading political parties of the country not only leads to a delay in the passage of the laws in the congress but also in lack of any proper dialogue that will result in the improvement of the policies being followed by the country. Disagreements between the Democrats and Republicans regarding the budget lead to a government shutdown for a few days in the year 2013 (Ball 2014).
Loss of Global Credibility
The invasion of the Iraq during the early 2000s by the Bush administration has led to a severe loss of global credibility for USA. Iraq was invaded under the allegation that it had huge stockpiles of dangerous weapons (popularly called as weapons of mass destruction) that were a threat to the security of USA and the entire world. The invasion resulted in a huge loss of life and property in Iraq. However, no harmful weapons were found in Iraq subsequent to the invasion. The events surrounding the invasion of Iraq resulted in a loss of credibility before other countries. Many American citizens too have criticized the government of USA over its conduct in the middle-east. Loss of credibility limited the scope for the US government to take tough domestic and global decisions.
Weak Foreign Policy
Since the beginning of Obama’s presidency, America started following a weak foreign policy. The hyperactive foreign policy of the Bush administration which involved interference in the internal affairs of other countries has given the US a good control over the global affairs. The weak foreign policy followed by USA prevented the country from playing an active role in the world politics in the recent past. For example, the US government did not initiate any direct action on China and Syria during the times of recent turmoil in Asia. Lack of a strong foreign policy from the US government was a result of lack of any firm conviction to act in the interest of the country and the world. Weak foreign policy resulted in US losing respect and credibility among its allies. Countries like Japan and Saudi Arabia that have relied on USA for their safety starting doubting the commitment of US politicians in guarantying security from their enemies like China and Iran.
Corporate Interference
There is no denying in the fact that businesses can impact a country’s political process. Businesses sponsor political parties and politicians in order to get favours from them. Being one of the major capitalist countries in the world, USA is no exception to this global phenomenon. Many big businesses that operate in USA like Google and Microsoft pay a lot of money to the US political parties in the form of donations and election funds. The sheer size of some of the biggest corporate in USA make them contribute billions of dollars to the leading political parties. Businesses that pay big donations to political parties have the power to influence the government policy in their favour and against the interests of the citizens. The unholy nexus between the country’s political parties and big businesses resulted in a situation where the interests of corporates are given higher importance over the interests of the citizens. Many politicians lend supported policies that were in favour of corporates that have sponsored them.
Incapability to Meet the Domestic Demands
Other than just failing to have a strong foreign policy, the current political system has also failed to meet the domestic challenges in USA. Despite having one of the highest per-capita incomes in the world, the people of America face a number of problems related to health, safety, and jobs. Unemployment levels in USA have remained higher since the global financial crisis of 2008. The health-care reforms that were initiated by the Obama administration have failed to give a quick relief to the American citizens who were not able to access healthcare. Inability of the successive governments in solving these pressing problems being faced by the economy has made the US political system one of the most ineffective in the developed world. Many of the popular polls conducted regarding the popularity of the US political system showed that people were losing confidence in the country’s politics and politicians. In one study conducted by the alumni of Harvard Business Review, it was found that the US political system was broken, and people did not trust it to solve their problems (Moss 2012). The gap between the rich and the poor too has been growing at a great speed over the past few years. Nearly 50 million Americans live below the official poverty line, and the real wages of 80 percent of American workers have not gone up over the last three decades (Alperovitz 2013). Analysts perceive that the current political system has failed to provide appropriate answers to these problems and had instead focused on deficits and fighting expensive wars.
Rampant Corruption
The power wielded by politicians in taking decisions related to the people in the country make them vulnerable to corruption. USA is no exception to this global phenomenon of corruption among the country’s political bosses. The country has a good history of politicians being convicted of corruption. Former mayor of Detroit Mayor Kwame and Illinois congressman Jesse Jackson Jr. were some of the top level politicians who were penalized for corruption. In the year 2014, the mayor of New Orleans Ray Nagin was sent to jail for giving undue favours to a company owned by his family (Kenny 2014). Increasing levels of corruption among the country’s politicians has reduced the credibility of politics among the citizens and reduced the efficiency of the government in solving the issues faced by the citizens.
Tips to Improve the US Political System
The problems that are cited above regarding the political system of USA have made it one of the worst political times in its history. Urgent action is important to improve the credibility of the country’s political system among the people as well as on the world stage. Below are some of the reforms that can be initiated to improve the efficiency of the US political system:
End the Influence of Big Corporates
Ending the influence that the big corporates have on the country’s political system is one of the key reforms to make the country’s politicians free from the influence of money power. Microsoft and Google have contributed US$ 443,748 and US$ 357,382 for Obama’s presidency campaign (Mills 2012). Critics have always opined that these corporates were utilizing the campaign funding to get undue favour in government’s policy decisions. The only way in which the influence of the corporates over the political system could be reduced is by limiting the amount that each corporate house could contribute to a political party. A maximum ceiling in the corporate funding would also cap the influence that businesses can have over the economic and foreign affairs policies of the country.
Increase the Accountability of Politicians
Increasing the accountability of the politicians for their actions is a simple way of increasing the quality of the political process in the USA. Some of the most important policy decisions are opposed and withheld by the politicians for no other reason than politics. The inability to the pass the country’s budget for the year 2013 was one of the best examples where politicians overlook the welfare of the citizens. Making the politicians more accountable for their actions in the form of removing them before they complete their tenures in office and open debates on the decisions they have taken on the television are some of the ways in which the political process of the country could be made more efficient.
Strict Action on Corruption
In view of the serious damage that corruption can have on the citizens of a country, it should be given zero tolerance. Corrupt politicians should be prosecuted in a speedy basis. Exemplary punishments should be awarded to those politicians who were found to be guilty of corruption. Politicians who were found to be involved in major corruption scandals should be banned from active participation in politics for the lifetime. Stringent action on corruption would deter other politicians from acting against the interests of the citizens in the future.
Make the Functioning of Congress More Efficient
The quality of the functioning of the congress should be improved in such a way that it could pass more acts every year for the benefit of the people. Steps like allocation of maximum time for debating a bill and increased working hours in case of necessity are some of the steps that could be taken to improve the efficiency of congress.
More Pragmatic Foreign Policy
There is no denying in the facts that effective management of foreign policy is one of the most important tasks of the federal government. Weaker foreign policy followed by the US government since the time when Obama became the president of the country has reduced the credibility of the country. On the other hand, a hyperactive foreign policy during the times of the Bush administration has damaged the reputation of the country. USA’s politicians should adopt a pragmatic foreign policy that will protect the interests of the country and its allies. Given the deteriorating condition in the middle-east every day, an urgent initiative regarding the development of a pragmatic foreign policy will go a long way in improving the efficiency of the US political system.
Build a Learning Culture
The last but most important tip to increase the political system in USA is by building a learning culture. Taking a cue from the highly efficient corporates in USA, the US politicians and political parties should build a learning culture where constant learning of new skills is given preference. Political parties can start organizing workshops to its members to hone their skills regularly. Political parties that are in power should organize performance appraisals to review their performance periodically. The GPRA law passed in the year 1993 which requires routine strategy reviews be a step in the right direction of improving the performance of the government (Kamesnsky 2013).
A Diverse Pool of Politicians
Most of the politicians in USA have traditionally come from the legal background. These politicians with excellent command over law have built a liberal country with high regard to human rights. However, many of these lawyer politicians fail to understand the requirements of a country which is on the verge of intense competition from countries like China. Most of the Chinese politicians are engineers and understand the demands of the modern world (Friedman 2009). Lack of understanding regarding the requirements of a modern society could result in the inability of providing an efficient government to the citizens. In order to overcome this problem, political parties in USA should recruit more young politicians who are trained in science and technology. This will go a long way in properly understanding the requirements of a changing world.
Conclusion
USA has remained as the world’s only superpower since the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of the Soviet Union. Many intelligent people from all over the world wanted to make USA as their home due to the political freedom and economic prosperity prevailing in the country. The liberal political system of USA was the main force behind the continued success of US on the global arena. However, just like with any good systems in the world, the US political systems too started to have many problems. The inability of the US politicians to come out with answers to a number of problems that were plaguing the country resulted in the political system to lose its credibility. Bad politics has led to bad economics and a lower status to USA in the global arena. All these issues have made for the worst of the political times in the history of USA since the end of the World War II. A quick set of reforms to the country’s political system aimed it more efficient and responsive to the changing needs of the country is the only way to improve the effectiveness of the US political system. The above suggestions can greatly help in correcting the wrongs in the current political system and regain the support of the public.The need to reform the political system of USA is now more pertinent due to the increased competition that the country was facing from some of the fastest growing economies in the world like China and India.
References
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