The Power Structure of the U.S

The first problem with much(prenominal) a conclusion is that politicians pay attention primarily to those who do suffrage, so that non-voters atomic number 18 ignored in such canvass from the viewpoint of those with the real mogul. The second problem is that the world is tho as powerful as its information is accurate and complete. This government agency that the general is dependent on the media for much of its power, because that is where the commonplace gets its information. In this regard, Cummings and impertinent write that the media do "an excellent product line of informing those who atomic number 18 politically aware" (Cummings & Wise 205). However, well-nigh of the universal are non politically aware. They are cynical, apathetic, and vote often in reaction to government. Bush, for example, lost in 1992 because the public wanted a "change," just as the Republicans won in 1994 for the same reason. Cummings and Wise write that

There is null about democracy that guarantees an alert, educated public. Like voting and otherwise forms of political participation, knowledge of public affairs---the basis of intelligent public opinion---is largely up to the individual" (Cummings & Wise 205).

The problem with that eyeshot is that the public increasingly depends on television for its information, and television is nonoriously superficial in its coverage of issues. The media is useful in anomalous areas, such as informing the public in the Cal

However, the media are regulated by the government. The media are gigantic corporations who want to make money, and presenting stories which threaten the interests of the government is not the way for the media to make money or to stay in business. In this context, the mass news media can be seen as unofficial representatives of the government. In addition, polls are given by large corporations with an interest in maintaining the status quo. Therefore, the form and fill of the questions they ask limit the choice of the people. Polls do not give the public the opportunity to express views which are outside(a) mainstream choices.

In that sense, polls ensure the continued power of the cardinal parties, for poll question focus on choices between those parties and their bound policy views. We read in Cigler and Loomis that "polling has made contemporary public opinion less likely to constrain authorities and possibly more subject to government manipulation and control. Rather than responding to public opinion, government may create, distort, or modify it" (Cigler & Loomis 157).

Cummings and Wise take the optimistic position that "Elites do exercise power in and out of government, but competing groups also play an essential role. And the voters retain the ultimate power of replacing elected leaders" (Cummings & Wise 206). The problem with this stand is 2fold. First, it ignores the fact that the majority of those "competing groups" are run by those same "elites." Second, it reduces the people to a right role. All the people can do in nearly every election race is pick between two "competing" elites, often doing so in a state of indignation or cynicism, while the ranks of cynical non-voters grow.

The prognosis does not depend encouraging. . . .Each succeeding election points the way to a future where tough "independent" money plays an ever-more decisive role in large access to the media, and where candidates have every incentive to run as much on their own as po
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