Coltn Benson, cbenson4652, 1.1.5 AP U.S Government and Politics.

8/26/14

There are many theories surrounding how the American political process works.
The theories that are most talked about include the elite theory, pluralism, and hyper
pluralism. I found all of these theories very interesting to gain knowledge about, but one
particular theory seemed more believable than the others. I believe that the Elite Theory
best describes the American political process, because the politicians that tend to be in
charge are people who possess the following qualities, being wealthy, famous,
corporate owners, and militarily involved.

After doing some further research online I found out that the people who have
influence over the way we govern have elitism ideas. John Adams and Alexander
Hamilton has influence over elitism ideals while signing the Declaration of
Independence. They were both active in the political scene. Alexander Hamilton was
the United States Secretary of the Treasury, and John Adams was the second president
of the United States. Both of these men believed that there should be elite politicians in
this world unlike pluralism, having a diverse group of people. Everyone who signed the
Declaration of Independence had a great, and pay friendly job. Some of the men who
signed had the occupations of being Lawyers, Physicians, and Plantation owners. All of
those jobs in that time were desirable to the common people. Abraham Lincoln (16th
president of the United States) was considered famous before he was elected into
office. George Washington (1st president of the United States) is an example of the
military being in power. In the American Revolutionary War he was a military leader for
being a general.

Coltn Benson, cbenson4652, 1.1.5 AP U.S Government and Politics.

8/26/14

The reasons why I think that this political process best described American
politics is because everything now-a-days seem very secretive. C. Wright Mills, page
76 says the truth about the nature and the power of the elite is not some secret which
men of affairs know but will not tell. That quotation means that the people in the elite
know what is going on, but they will not tell the masses because it is all a secret. One
of the elites goals is to divide the nation into classes. In todays society we have the
lower class, the middle class, and the upper class. The upper class seems to clout
America, so that shows that the wealthy are having more influence over the American
government. I dont think that pluralism would work in our nation because the sharing of
powers leads to conflict, and nothing will get done efficiently. I think that there are two
main political parties which are the Democrats and the Republicans. Sometimes you
hear about the other parties, but those two are the elite parties. It also states that we
live in pluralist society and anyone can participate but their level of influence may be
different based on social standing. I believe that with the technology now-a-days we
have the ability to have a huge say in how the government works.

I also do not think

that hyper pluralism is believable because our government is able to work together, but
not always. Hyper pluralism states that the government is has the traits of the inability
to act at all. In todays society we do have the ability to act accordingly to situations.

There are many flaws in all of the theories, but in reality there are flaws in every
system. Sometimes what we find out starts making sense after you research a surplus
amount of times about it. I feel like the elite theory is the best described theory that runs
todays political process. Even though Mills isnt entirely still in the political scene, he

Coltn Benson, cbenson4652, 1.1.5 AP U.S Government and Politics.

8/26/14

may be behind the doors trying to uncover and inform the masses what it really going
on. If you look at it in my standpoint, you will see that the wealthy, famous, corporate
owners, and military personnel are the ones who get all the credit for running this
beautiful nation.

http://www.udel.edu/htr/Psc105/Texts/power.html 8/26/14
http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/print_friendly.html?
page=declaration_signers_factsheet_content.html&title=NARA%20|%20The%20Declaration
%20of%20Independence%3A%20Signers%20Factsheet 8/26/14
http://www.polisci.northwestern.edu/people/documents/
TestingTheoriesOfAmericanPoliticsFINALforProduction6March2014.pdf 8/26/14