Filibuster Rule and Electoral College, Essay Example

Advantages and disadvantages of the senate filibuster rule.

The filibuster rule gives an upper hand to the senators to create room for an unlimited debate and declines to leave the floor at the time of debating a longer time. The senator may deviate from the topic at hand. A formal provision of the rule does not arise in the constitution but originated from the senate arcane rules as well as traditions. It creates room for the code of the ‘unlimited debate’ (Gregory, 2010). The senators are empowered by the rule to echo their voices without interruption and offer them a precious opportunity for making amendments at the time of the floor debate. This consequently benefits the Americans because they are effectively represented in legislative processes. Without this rule, bills could be moved in haste thus limiting the time that the citizens can peruse thoroughly and understand the meaning of specific legislatures. The time for feedback could also be reduced such that, the voices of the people on controversial bills could be blocked from reaching the elected officials. The filibuster rule therefore are beneficial to individuals as they can participate in legislative processes and also send their opinions to the elected representatives (Alison, & McGranahan, L. M., 2000).

The filibuster rules are currently applicable in the senate for the purpose of serving the minority interests rather than the majority. Apart from the preservation of the role of the senate being the deliberative assembly, rampant individualism as well as obstructionism are being promoted by the filibuster rules, giving rise to unfocussed debates coupled with endless delays. This denies the assembly the legitimacy of deliberating on the most vexious issues that are part of the public policy. The tyranny of minority plays an upper hand in promotion of filibuster and the senators are the major beneficiaries of filibuster. The filibuster rules allows the senator to speak for as long a time as desired and considering the any one legislature is considered at one time, the rule of filibuster is a significant bottleneck. Due to the protection offered to the senators in amending or debating specific legislature, the interests of Americans citizens are therefore protected. The intention of the founder of a bill is recognized and the legislative process is therefore slowed down to give room for sufficient inquiry prior to passing of the bill (Gregory, 2010). The expansion of this rule is faced by some problems as a result of the actions of the majority leader in the senate that can deliberately limit a debate or block certain senators from raising issues of amendments to particular bills at the time of the floor debate by the senator. The solution to the problem could be achieved through limiting the powers of the majority leader in the senate which in turn limits such debates as well as amendments.

The filibuster rule has however been used by the senators for their advantage with regard to debate extension and proposing amendments. They can also counter the leader of majority using the same rule and thwarting passing of legislation. This creates a wastage of time required for negotiation that is needed in resolving issues that affect warring parties. Such negotiations may be detrimental to legislative proposals.

Electoral College

Advantages and disadvantages of the Electoral College

Determination of the president as well as the deputy president in America can be achieved by the system of Electoral College. This entails a process which is made up of the selection of the electors whereby the meet and select their preferred president together with the vice president. The counting of votes by the Congress is also a component of Electoral College (Panagopoulos, 2004).

One of the advantages of Electoral College is deterring victory achievement on the basis of urban regions. These are regions with the highest population and can easily influence the pattern of selection of a preferred candidate. Taking an extensive approach will therefore be demanded from the candidate. Electoral College also helps in maintaining a federal character throughout the entire nation (Best, 2004). Every state is at will of designing their laws that govern the voting process. Amendments to existing laws are also provided for in this system. Electoral College also allows for the maintenance of division of powers. The constitution serves the three branches of government that are charged with deliberation and offering ‘balances and checks’. A directly elected president may undermine some of the branches in government that could translate to tyranny. Electoral College also offers an opportunity for upholding the two party systems that is a source of stability in the government. The interests of the minority groups are also upheld by Electoral College.

However, there are notable disadvantages that are associated with Electoral College. The system offers higher chances to the states that command bigger ‘swing’ to be given the highest attention. The candidate who is able to gather many votes in some of the major states is given all the votes in that particular state. The history of the voting pattern is that some of the states vote the republican or the democrats (Panagopoulos, 2004). A candidate will most likely give less attention to a state with more attention to the big states but lacking a clear favorite. Electoral College also leads to depressing voter turnout. Due to the republican versus democrat’s pattern of voting, some voters who prefer a particular candidate against the wishes of others in the same state may be discouraged to vote as they feel that their votes never count. Electoral College system has no provision for encouraging voters turnout but only in the big ‘swing states’. Electoral College system also has a tendency for favoring the states of smaller size and with lesser populations. This system confers much of the power to these states of smaller size and with lesser populations that gives an unfair edge to the bigger states (Best, 2004). The electoral strength of these smaller states are therefore strengthened and this has always benefited one party, the republican which is a biased situation.

It is therefore prudent to weigh between the advantages and the advantages of the Electoral College as a basis of determining the stand by any citizen.

References

Alison, B. A. & McGranahan, L. M., (2000). Reexamining the Filibuster and Proposal Powers in the Senate. Legislative Studies Quarterly, Vol. 25, No. 2, 259-284.

Best, J. A., (2004). “Presidential Selection: Complex Problems and Simple Solutions.” Political Science Quarterly 119(1): 39-59.

Gregory, K., (2010). Filibustering: A Political History of Obstruction in the House and Senate. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Panagopoulos, C., (2004). “Electoral Reform.” Public Opinion Quarterly 68(4): 623-640.