Governmetal Perspectives

Governmental Perspectives
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Abstract
The American governmental structure as it stands today has undergone a series of changes that can be traced back to the founding fathers. A series of amendments have been introduced to the US constitution. These Amendments have made it possible to change government structure or governmental perspectives from time to time. For the changes to be made, a robust discussion that involved different political, economic and legal stakeholders were carried out. Despite the differences in ideologies, these stakeholders will agree on what constituted the best structure or composition of government that yielded the best results for the US citizens. In an administrative state, the role of the government is to deliver services whereas, in twenty-first-century governance, the government coordinates service delivery. Policymaking in an administrative state is effected through government agencies whereas, in twenty-first-century governance, it is through mixed systems. Some of the greatest minds that shaped governance issues in the US include Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton, Woodrow Wilson and James Madison. This paper focuses on governmental perspectives of these great thinkers.
Alexander Hamilton
Alexander Hamilton was considered by many people to be a Federalist. His efforts were majorly aimed at ensuring that the national government had more powers. This is in contrast to Thomas Jefferson who with his followers was largely viewed as Anti-Federalist.

This is because he sought to have political power at a local level and more on an individual rather than an institution. Hamilton’s desire to champion for federalism can be discerned from the Whisky Rebellion. Alexander Hamilton lobbied the Congress to pass a tax that saw a levy being introduced on distilled whiskey. The major aim was not to raise revenue but to provoke the frontiersmen. The frontiersmen refused to pay the levy and revolted, but they were quelled by federal troops. From Hamilton’s argument in Zenger case (1735), it can be concluded that he was accommodative to press freedom rights. Hamilton promoted economic stability by ensuring that there was a national bank that was responsible for stabilizing the US currency. Other measures to ensure economic stability include dealing with the issue of government debt by ensuring that it is fully paid and putting in place Protective Tariffs. Though the protective tariffs helped businesses to grow in America, it contributed to increased prices of imported goods. Hamilton’s ideology revolved around heavy taxation that severely affected small farmers who were the major constituents of Jefferson. Alexander Hamilton understood the shortcomings of the Articles of Confederation which threatened the interests and stability of the new nation. Hamilton played an important role as far as the ratification of the US constitution is concerned. This constitution allocates specific powers to both the state authority and the federal government. Hamilton also shares some similarities with James Madison as far as federalism is concerned. They both wrote some articles which were famously referred to as ‘Publius.’These articles are today known as ‘The Federalist Papers.’ Hamilton in comparison with Jefferson deferred on the powers conferred on either the federal or state governments. Whereas Hamilton was a stronger and powerful federal government, Jefferson supported a stronger and powerful state government. As one of the Slave owners, Jefferson was against the anti-slavery campaign and Hamilton’s plan to free and arm slaves to fight the British. Jefferson found Hamilton’s thoughts about terms limits as ridiculously impractical since there were no way presidents and senators were going to be elected for life as proposed by Hamilton. Alexander Hamilton believed that the government would benefit a lot if it promoted urban manufacturing whereas Thomas Jefferson was inclined towards agriculturally-based economy for a stronger government and the welfare of its citizens. Both Hamilton and Jefferson agreed on the need for America’s independence and freedom (Shafritz, Russell, Borick & Hyde, 2017).
Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson was widely considered be an elitist. Jefferson believed that for a government to be effective, it has to be run by highly trained elites. These elites come from different backgrounds, and it did not discriminate their financial background. What was important is that the person possesses some talent which can be further developed. Though Jefferson valued an elitist driven government, he was against the influence of foreign philosophies and cultures of other countries. He believed that the American system of governance was strongly founded on confidence in its citizens. Jefferson was strongly against the foreign influence that he discouraged young people from seeking education abroad as it might undermine their views on governance. One of the reasons advanced by Thomas Jefferson for a representative government was lack of competence of majority of the people in the masses(Jefferson, 2018). This reality interfered with some functions in the society. Thomas Jefferson believed that government power was supposed to rest with the people and not the government. People have different competencies, and they can perform varied functions in the government (Shafritz, Russell, Borick & Hyde, 2017). Farming was the main occupation during Jefferson’s time, and this gave him insights on how elected representatives protected the interests of the electorate who would correct the representatives through voting. Jefferson believed in having short terms in office for different offices. This was a means to exercise people’s will more directly by different elected representatives. When compared with James Madison, Thomas Jefferson held different views on governmental issues. Despite these differences, both Madison’s and Jefferson’s views were complimentary. Madison aimed to ensure that the new constitution protects the emergence of factions. He believed in suppressing factions by use of constitutional means before they presented some challenges to the government. Jefferson, on the other hand, believed in the need to have the constitution correct the wrongs perpetrated by any faction that emerges. Madison saw how impossible it was to prevent a majority faction from getting their way and interfering with government programs. Since Jefferson believed in the inclusion of competent people in the relevant government functions, He was a bit lenient in suppressing all the factions but instead preferred the constitutional means of dealing with problems associated with factions. Both ideas had positive implication on governance. The representative system promotes greater stability by having competent representatives act on behalf of the citizens. Citizen participation, on the other hand, promotes the safety of people’s rights in addition to ensuring honesty and integrity are promoted and protected.
James Madison
James Madison was a central figure in the drafting of the US constitution in 1789 (“ThisNation.com–The Constitutional Convention,” 2018). Madison was the most outstanding supporter of a strong central government. Part of his arguments for a strong central government was what he termed ‘tyranny of the majority’ which can interfere with individual rights and a strong suspicion of men who are prone to sin. Madison believed that by creating a central government that has strong powers over state legislation, individual rights and people’s interests would be protected from what he termed ‘spiteful’ human interests and other parochial prejudices. By advocating for checks and balances, Madison further ensured that people’s liberty is firmly protected since the checks and balances could responsibly limit government power. Checks and balances are highly effective in a structure where there are three different branches of government. When the government is organized into executive, judiciary, and legislature, it is easy for these branches to check the excesses of each other. The legislature has the potential to make laws on the tax levy. Since the legislature is directly chosen by people, when they pass laws it will be in the best interests of the people they elected them. The judiciary ensures that laws are strictly obeyed by everybody whereas the executive formulates policies and appoint different personnel among other important functions. Thomas Jefferson particularly liked and supported Madison’s thoughts and principles on checks and balances. Thomas Jefferson was opposed to a constitution without the bill of rights, and he got the support of Madison who advocated for the bill of rights to be enshrined in the constitution. As far as the powers conferred to the federal government by the constitution, Madison explained that these powers are expressly few and defined. This is one area that Madison greatly differed with Alexander Hamilton who was a great federalist and a Treasury Secretary in President Washington’s administration. Hamilton, to the shock of James Madison, expanded the powers of the central government. Hamilton appeared to promote the interest of wealthy investors by lining their interests to the central government. Hamilton promoted these interests by issuing bonds and implementing policies and practices that led to the ballooning of the national debt. Despite the lack of a provision for the establishment of a government bank in the constitution, Hamilton convinced the president to establish one, an act which was vehemently opposed by James Madison.
Another central governance issue that generated the diversity of opinion from these leaders is the relationship between increase or decrease in power and people’s liberty. Power and liberty shaped the discussions on various governance issues such as the bill of rights, freedom of the press, the constitution, the extent of the powers of state versus federal government and nationalism versus democracy. In Jefferson’s opinion, the more powers the government has, the more the negative consequences on people’s liberty. Jefferson argued that governments with excessive powers are always oppressive. This view was opposed by Madison who contended that irrespective of the amount of power wielded by the government, people’s liberty can still be threatened. Hamilton and Wilson also disagreed with Thomas Jefferson views concerning power and liberty. The issue of balancing government power and the freedom or liberty of citizens is still relevant today and does not escape contemporary discourse on governance.
Woodrow Wilson
The governmental perspectives of Woodrow Wilson can be deduced from the arguments in his book titled, “Constitutional Government in the United States.” From this book, it is clear that Wilson favored ‘Darwinian’ constitution. He likens government to a living thing whose organs have to function together in harmony. Wilson argues that like a living thing, a government cannot have different organs that are antagonistic to each other and expect to survive. Woodrow Wilson was a unification of power rather than fragmentation and creating many organs or institutions to check the powers of the government. The expert-driven administration was what convinced Wilson to have confidence in the concentration of power rather than its fragmentation. Today’s administrative state is characterized by similar characteristics that Wilson hold dear during to reign. These characteristics are excessive paternalism and love for power. To ensure that the role of the national government becomes effective, Wilson contends that the constitution has to be progressively interpreted to reflect the reality of changing situations. Aspects of life continually change, and this must be reflected in the constitution since the people who wrote the constitution could not have perfectly anticipated some new realities in the aspect of life.
Though most governments are transforming from ‘Administrative State’ to twenty-first-century governance, there are still positive elements inherent in an administrative state. In an administrative state, the role of the government is to deliver services whereas, in twenty-first-century governance, the government coordinates service delivery. Policymaking in an administrative state is effected through government agencies whereas, in twenty-first-century governance, it is through mixed systems. The role of government leaders in an administrative state is strong and is characterized by hierarchies that emphasize clear accountability structures whereas, in twenty-first-century organizations, the role of leaders is weak with poor accountability models in addition to the inadequate hierarchy to support policy execution (Kettl & Kettl, 2002).
The greatest asset that helped Wilson was his certitude nature. This helped him fight for and achieve what he believed it was right. A major weakness to certitude is the presence of formidable opposition to a person’s views or actions and the person has to compromise his ways to achieving the set objectives. One advantage that Wilson had was the fact that there was little opposition during his time. This helped Wilson put in place tough anti-trust laws and protect his regime from labor unions. Woodrow Wilson believed in the protection of the ordinary Americans, and he did this by ensuring that a Federal Reserve System was put in place to avail credit to average Americans. This system also availed the required resources to the government to control how it generates revenue from big businesses. During Wilson’s first two years in office, there was a big transformation that is still felt today. Wilson put in place measures to protect American citizens from the volatilities that are common in a free market. This is an undertaken that has shaped American politics since then. The eight-hour workday was the brainchild of Wilson Woodrow. He also started laws that made it impossible to employ child labor. In his State of the Union Address of 4th December 1917, Wilson decried the increased inequality and a breach in the law of demand and supply by unscrupulous business who were keen in profiteering at the expense of others. He implored the Congress to pass legislation that will help in price regulation as he sympathized with farmers who were the major victims of unethical trade practices (Wilson, 2018).
Jefferson and Wilson’s attitude and actions with regards to race relations were quite similar. Jefferson spoke against slavery but kept slaves. Jefferson emancipated few slaves and went further to sire a child with Sally Hemings who was a slave. When Jefferson was Virginia’s governor, he openly supported the relocation of Shawnee, Cherokee and Creeks tribes but when he became president, he opposed this move and wish that the tribes could become ‘civilized’ so that they can be assimilated. Some critics have labeled Jefferson as a secretly white supremacist individual. On the other hand, Wilson was labeled as open racist. Wilson’s administration supported segregation which even though legal during his time, led to mistreatment of the blacks and other non-whites. Wilson’s regime was also untroubled by the activities of Ku Klux Klan. When California formulated a law banning Japanese immigration, Wilson supported the law.
Wilson was pro-women rights and equality and supported women’s suffrage. Compared to Jefferson Wilson had imperialistic tendencies. He sent troops to Europe and different parts of the world during his reign. Wilson was the first president to place to secure US/Mexico border by placing armed troops. Thomas Jefferson largely avoided armed conflict and pursued other diplomatic means of solving conflicts.
References
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Kettl, D., & Kettl, D. (2002). The transformation of governance. Baltimore: Johns
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Shafritz, J., Russell, E., Borick, C., & Hyde, A. (2017). Introducing Public
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February 2018, from http://www.thisnation.com/textbook/constitution-convention.htmlWilson, W. (2018). ThisNation.com–Fourteen Points Speech. Thisnation.com. Retrieved
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