Government According to the People

Government According to the People

       The United States government is based on the principle of federalism, where power is divided between the federal government and state governments. However how federalism is interpreted and power divided has been up for debate for as long as we've had a government. This ongoing debate prompted website Gallup.com to conduct several surveys as part of a series on Americans' views on the role and performance of government.

      

      Based on a Gallup.com survey, conducted in 2010 and 2011, Americans are pretty much split down the middle on how involved the government should be. With 35% preferring a more involved government and 37% feeling that government should only provide the most basic functions. This was when asked to think more broadly about the purpose of government. According to another survey when asked if the Federal government has too much power by 2011 57% of Americans believe the federal government today has too much power. This particular survey spanned from 2003 – 2011 and it’s worth mentioning that Americans were least likely to be concerned about the government's power in the years immediately after 9/11. Views on government power also fluctuated with who was controlling the government at the time. For example is you were a democrat during the years when George W. Bush was president you most likely felt government had too much power.

       

      The surveys then started to be more specific. Asking if there is too much government regulation of business and industry. This survey spanned from 2002-2011 and in 2011 50% of Americans felt there was too much regulation of business and industry by the government. Numbers did dip drastically in February of 2002 but other graphs based on other surveys in this series proved that post 9/11 and during potential high terrorism times Americans were more trusting of government.  Republicans have been more likely to say there is too much government regulation of business than Democrats, but in Obama years, the difference between Democrat and Republican views on government regulation of business and industry greatly differed. Ironically the last two survey question yielded the same results. Most likely because they were so similar in nature. 56% of Americans feel that the government is trying to do too many things that should be left to individuals and businesses and the same amount said they would be willing to pay less in taxes and accept fewer services. These surveys demonstrate the difference between conservatives and liberals. While conservatives feel that Americans should want to do more for themselves and give less taxes. Liberals feel there is a value to the government taking taxes and doing more. Like providing services and programs not only the impoverished need

       

      Americans find it hard to be confident in our government structure and political leadership because we are so unhappy about the state of the economy.  Just seems like the divide and sometimes straight split demonstrated in many of the surveys pits us against each other. Many of the negatives views of government trickle down to issues we the people have with political issues and leaders. With the United States being such a powerful nation we need to show more of a united front when it comes to domestic matters.