The American government as constipated, and designed to be so.

1. NEGOTIATIONS BETWEEN BRANCHES
Mr. Geib and Mr. Fitz-Patrick
12th Grade Gov. and Econ.
October 26, 2015

2. THE LEGISLATIVE PROCESS
It produces legislation that can be enacted into law.

3. DIVIDED GOVERNMENT
Structurally,
Founding Fathers
designed a
government with
separation of
powers –
adversarial
political parties
soon followed!

4. THE GOVERNMENT IS CONSTIPATED!
Congress, especially, is constipated! And it was
designed to be that way.
"Whenever you have an
efficient government you
have a dictatorship.“
-- Harry S. Truman

5. CONSENSUS NEEDS TO BE
REACHED!
• Congressional
Leadership
– Speaker of House
– Senate Leadership
– THE PRODUCTION
OF PROPOSED
BILLS THROUGH
LEGISLATIVE
PROCESS!
• POTUS
– Has to sign the bill and
make it a law.

6. USA, Republic 1.5
France, on the other hand, is on its fifth republic.
Democracy: Political change via the ballot box, not the bullet.
Compromise is easier talked about
than achieved in REAL LIFE.

7. Separation of Powers Conflict
Failure to pass a budget bill in time for new
fiscal year. Consequences: federal
government “shuts down.”

8. Bare Knuckle Negotiations
Speaker of the House and POTUS need each
other, but are political adversaries in these
“poker” style negotiations.

9. FEDERALISM: DIVIDED GOV’T
Compromise, compromise, compromise: the
system forces this. It ain’t pretty. But everyone
gets something, nobody gets nothing.

10. FEDERALISM
• The divided American
federal system prevents
tyranny and concentrated
power
– Adversarial relationships
between branches of gov’t
– Talk, talk, talk; endless
negotiations; compromise.
• It ain’t pretty!
– But everyone gets
something, nobody gets
nothing.
"Democracy is the worst form of government, except for
all those other forms that have been tried from time to time."
-- Winston Churchill
May 1941