Government Linkage Institutions

Through linkage institutions that connect the people to the government, political parties, interest groups and the media inform and converge with the public to create the most optimal form of democratic authority. When these institutions fail however, the public becomes increasingly indignant towards those with political roles as the combination of broken promises, misconduct and misinformation create mistrust in the constitutional system. American citizens’ deep dissatisfaction with their own government has resulted in progressive decaying of elements within American’s political culture identity, the cultivation of mistrust towards the government and its linkage systems. Historically an element of American’s political culture identity is

Along with the enforcement of partible inheritance, which required property to be equally partitioned among heirs, the development of any form of hierarchy seemed nearly impossible, as Tocqueville notes “equal division… tends powerfully to the destruction of large fortunes, and especially of large domains.” But with the end of the Civil War and the industrial boom that flourished in United States came the arrival of the robber barons, a group of people who accrued substantially high amounts of money in one lifetime, who soon began to shape the political and geographical landscape of America. By controlling numerous production and transportation industries across the country, these wealthy elites soon began to turn governmental institutions towards their favor through the control of money flowing into politicians hands. This transition towards the accommodation of the elite marked the start of a long progression away from what the founders had originally outlined in the constitution. It was at this time that the nation

blue” talking heads appears, as two people representing their respected party are put together to discuss a central issue. This continued televised discussion of right vs left slowly began polarizing the parties away from each other. Although the past held many heated and caustic fights between parties, the distaste towards another politician tended to derive from their character, not ideology. This is seen through the opinions of the two-party system held by the founding fathers, as they “associated [political parties] with division and strife. (Brooks 243)” Yet now, with the phasing out of the moderate, both sides of the political spectrum have evolved substantially more away from each other, lacking any form of common ground for bipartisanship. Along with the upwelling of ideological-leaning media outlets such as Fox News and MSNBC, as well as contradictory biased coverage over one issue, the continual divide present between political parties considerably is considerably detrimental towards public