Identify 3 Strengths And 3 Weaknesses Of The US Government From The Given Areas Argumentative Essay Example

Strengths and Weaknesses of the U.S. Constitution
Probably the greatest strength of the U.S. Constitution was the part that was added by popular demand, the first Ten Amendments or the Bill of Rights. It would not have been ratified if there had not been pressure from below to guarantee the basic human rights of the people, including freedom of speech, freedom of religion, trial by jury, freedom of the press, the right to counsel, protections against unreasonable search and seizure, the right to petition, protest and demonstrate against the government. These were what the American Revolution was really fought for and they have protected the rights of the people many times against abuses of power by the state and federal governments.
Another great strength of the Constitution is some of the amendments that have been added since 1789, including the abolition of slavery, the extension of citizenship and voting rights to blacks, the direct election of senators, giving women and young people age eighteen and over the right to vote. These have been the really great amendments in U.S. history that have greatly extended democracy and human rights from the 18th Century, when only white men with property had voting and citizenship rights.
The third great aspect of the Constitution was the limitations on the powers of the executive, such as allowing Congress to override presidential vetoes and giving the legislature the power to raise taxes and declare war. This was a wise decision, given the power that kings and dictators had always had in the past, although because of the world wars, Cold War and the War on Terror of the last 100 years, the powers of the executive have increased greatly while those of the Congress was diminished, especially its war powers.
One of the worst aspects of the Constitution was turned out to be the divided legislature, especially the Senate, which is often corrupt and unrepresentative, and has even been called a ‘millionaire’s club’. Over time, the fact that the small states with tiny populations all get two Senators gives them more power in the national legislature than they would be entitled to by their size. Often these are rural states with conservative white populations that block legislation beneficial to the urban areas, where the majority of the population resides today. At the time the Constitution was written, the U.S. was a rural society of only three million people (including 600,000 slaves) and 95% of the people lived in rural areas. It was not designed for a modern, urban industrial economy, and the two-house legislature elected every two and six years has often been unable to deal with the country’s social and economic problems.
A related issue is the Electoral College, which was originally intended to select the president from among its members, although in reality it never really functioned as planned. Although the Founders did not want the people to elect the president directly, they eventually found a way to do so, though each political party having a slate of electors pledged to its candidates. In that respect the Electoral College is just an obsolete formality today, but three times in U.S. history it has permitted presidents to be elected without a majority of the popular vote, most recently in 2000.
One final problem with the Constitution is that it is extremely difficult to amend, requiring a two-thirds vote in Congress and ratification by three-quarters of the states. Either that or the states have to call a constitutional convention, which has never happened yet, but the difficulty of amending it has meant that many necessary reforms like black citizenship and voting rights for women were delayed for many decades. Nor has it yet been possible to add social and economic rights like many other nations have included in their constitutions. In other words, the Constitution is framed in such a way that conservative minorities can block many needed reforms and changes.