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Richard M. Valelly

Thursday 2nd of October 2025

Bureaucracy In tacitly partnering with bureaucracies, even as they complain about the partnership, politicians and citizens implicitly rely on an efficiency in the economist's sense:  the efficiency of delegation. That efficiency is ubiquitous. Richard M. Valelly, American Politics © 2018 Kwiple.com
The Constitution of the United States The Constitution of 1787 now bears some resemblance, though, to the initial system of government, the Articles of Confederation (1777). The Articles were widely considered a governmental failure because they did not address the evident need for effective national government. Richard M. Valelly, American Politics © 2018 Kwiple.com
Money in politics Money per se is not driving politics and policy. Instead, the fury of political competition draws money in. Richard M. Valelly, American Politics © 2018 Kwiple.com
Political inequality Many people find it odd that voters in small, sparsely populated states seem to have more “voting power” than people in large, densely populated states. As an example, about 553,000 eligible voters in North Dakota get three electoral votes, or one elector per 177,666 voters, roughly, while California's much larger electorate of about 23.6 million eligible voters gets fifty-five electoral votes, or about one for every 429,455 votes. Richard M. Valelly, American Politics [copyrighted 2013] [429,455 / 177,666 = 2.42] [2.42 is criminally beyond “1 man 1 vote”] © 2018 Kwiple.com
Politics Busy with work, child rearing, and managing their households, Americans have little spare time or energy for following what government and politicians do. There are exceptions, especially those who are passionately concerned about global warming or Social Security or any other burning issue. The term for them is “issue publics.” But most people are quite under- standably politically inattentive most of the time. Richard M. Valelly, American Politics © 2018 Kwiple.com
The Senate The Senate is intentionally a very malapportioned legislature. Richard M. Valelly, American Politics © 2018 Kwiple.com
 
Supreme Court  The Court can function as the last word because it has allies who want  it to have the last word. Richard M. Valelly, American Politics © 2018 Kwiple.com