It May Not Work in Politics

It May Not Work in Politics
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Congressional Ethics
Unethical conducts are common among the politicians and even the members of the Congress. One member who has been befitted by the problem is Rep Rangel Charlie. He was the founder of the Congressional Black Caucus and a chair of the means Committee ad House Ways. He was convicted of the violation of House ethics policies in 11 accounts. The first was omissions and errors in the disclosure of his financial statements. The second was the use of some rent-controlled residential houses located in Harlem as his campaign office. The third was a failure to pay taxes for the beach villa in the Dominican Republic. Finally, he used his official House letterhead to petition donors for the academic center located in New York and named after him.
Starting from the later, use of an office for personal benefaction and to unlawfully lobby people to support or contribute towards a personal project is a violation of the Congresses code of ethics. According to the section, 3 of rule XXIII of the code of official conduct, “a member of the House may not receive compensation and may not permit compensation to accrue to the beneficial interest of such individual from any source” (“Code of Official Conduct | House Committee on Ethics,” 2016). Angel had violated this policy by accruing funds from others for individual use. By failing to disclosure, his financial statements it means he was not ready for scrutiny meaning his source of wealth and integrity were questionable.

Further, failing to pay taxes was being unjust to the other tax payers and violation of the same policies he was bound to safeguard as a member. I consider him corrupt, unjust, and inefficient to be in a public office. However, I respect the Congress for not tolerating such activities and rather promoting justice and clarity in their processes.
Third Party Candidates
Third parties are doomed in the US. This has been in effect for ages since the two major parties, the Democrats and the Republicans were formed. Then, the contest has always been between the candidates of the two dominant parties. It could be viewed that the constitution has made the third party unviable. This could be retrieved back to the implementation of the Electoral College, an institution that formally elects the presidents. Each state is accorded not less than three votes which are usually an equivalent of the representatives and the senators. However, the candidate must have an absolute majority of the Electoral College for them to be the president. The culture has dictated that one is either for the Democrat or the Republican. It is an ideology that has been passed from generation to the next making the duo the only dominant parties in the US. However, the need for the absolute majority in the College is the primary cause for the diffusion of the third parties in the state. It is practically impossible for the third party to elect a president a process that could only be possible if it was conducted through a popular vote or plurality of the college. The election rules of the member congressional districts and the first-past-the-post notion favor the two-party system. Further, the success of the third parties is restricted by the ballot access laws and barriers erected by the primary parties to safeguard their de facto domination (Nwazota, 2016). If a third party were successful, then it would indicate that the two major parties have fallen out of liking. It would be mean that people would reconsider other parties and the multiparty regime would crawl part. This would force the Republicans and Democrats to find other alliances and hence deviate from to monopolistic ideology. Better democracy may be achieved through a third party.

Federal and State Authority
One of the issues facing the US today is its competitiveness and trade power especially in the transatlantic fairs and around the globe. Over the past, the American economy has experienced major recession with other second world countries like China and Japan taking up the control for manufacturing and sale of cheaper goods especially in the developing countries. The developed nations share a common market in the low economic countries and what matters are the quality, price, timeliness and uniqueness in the products. America is falling short of the qualities with the China solidifying its market share, especially in the African countries. There are various structural weaknesses in the US economy that must be addressed if they were to reclaim their sustainable growth. The issue of the trades is a duty of the federal and state authorities who are supposed to control the international trade policies and corporate tax reforms to lower production costs and increase the countries revenue. The executive branch is obliged to conduct diplomacy with the consumer nations, negotiate for trading terms and sign treaties. However, this must be ratified by the Senate although the federal president can give executive orders to clarify and further the existing laws. Although the president has been given an inherent negotiating authority under the section 2, article II and clause 2 of the Constitution, his power is limited to the advice and consent of the Senate (“Article II”, 2016). This makes the process of entering into treaties harder and time consuming. The states are not allowed to enter into trading agreements until the Senate approves of their plans and deem them in line with the Federal Constitution. This is what makes America’s competitiveness low compared by China’s who do not require lengthy processes and are not held by constitutional policies.
References
Article II. (2016). LII / Legal Information Institute. Retrieved 14 December 2016, from https://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/articleii
Code of Official Conduct | House Committee on Ethics. (2016). Ethics.house.gov. Retrieved 14 December 2016, from http://ethics.house.gov/publication/code-official-conduct
Nwazota, K. (2016). Third Parties in the U.S. Political Process. PBS NewsHour. Retrieved 14 December 2016, from http://www.pbs.org/newshour/updates/politics-july-dec04-third_parties/