Can Trust in American Democracy Be Restored?

By Raymond R. Givonetti

There is a documented growing lack of trust in our government, a representative democracy, precipitated by a myriad of convoluted issues. Fortunately, there still is a general acceptance of perceived political wrongdoings because Americans are patriotic and believe their democratic government is the best in the world. The general consensus is that this is the best we can do given the characteristics of human nature and the complexity/inertia of our political system. An unfortunate aspect of this growing lack of trust is the awareness by our young people, who desperately need to believe in their countrys leaders, that they do the right things for the right reasons.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Jul 23, 2016
• ISBN: 9781524620097

Raymond R. Givonetti

Raymond Givonetti was born on November 21, 1936. He has a master’s degree in electrical engineering and is retired from GE Aerospace. Since his retirement, he wrote six patents (all technology independent), and they were all approved. He is also an oil painter and a golfer. Why me? This question never occurred to me until a publisher asked me what unique capabilities, background, and motivation brought me to this point. The bulk of my background was involved with systems analysis, development, and implementation of state-of-the-art test systems in the aerospace industry. Looking at a global picture and performing a top-down systems analysis is key to success and optimization of complex systems. At the outset, I had no idea where this study was headed, but I have felt for years that our political system needed optimization, and there was no mechanism external to the three branches addressing concerns of the public. It soon became apparent that most of these concerns are internal political system issues which are unlikely to be resolved because the changes impact those that are in position to make those changes. Of all the intelligent people in this country, especially those experts in political science, why me? First, the great majority of Americans is apathetic and/or believes that we have the best government in the world. It has problems, but it’s the best that can be done given the characteristics of human nature in politics. When there is an obvious issue, a typical response from the public is the rationalization “That’s politics.” Second, many of the few remaining Americans believe we are in a constant state of evolution and the political system will improve automatically. Third, it is highly improbable that this study would be performed by politicians or other political-science experts. Being immersed in a complex political system and the large number of interrelated complicated issues make it very difficult to look at the system from an outside vantage point. In fact, one publisher made this point to me. Fourth, this leaves a few people that believe that solutions do exist, but they probably will never be articulated or implemented. At the outset, the solutions implied by the study were unknown to me, and now they are obvious. However, the implementation will require the support of the media and many Americans. A necessary personal characteristic for spending close to two thousand hours on this particular work was perseverance. Just prior to this endeavor, I had completed submitting a second patent in the art field; I am an oil painter. In other words, there are many other things to do that are less frustrating than writing a book on this subject. Needless to say, my family and friends did not support working on a futile project destined for disappointment. The last personal attribute to “Why me?” is my ability to intensely focus on problems for long durations, a characteristic of an “A” personality and many migraine headaches. In conclusion, the concern for my children and all the young people of this country has motivated me to utilize these unique abilities.

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© 2016 Raymond R. Givonetti. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked NJB are from The New Jerusalem Bible, copyright © 1985 by Darton, Longman & Todd, Ltd. and Doubleday, a division of Random House, Inc. Reprinted by Permission.

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Published by AuthorHouse 07/22/2016

ISBN: 978-1-5246-2008-0 (sc)

978-1-5246-2009-7 (e)

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Table of Contents

Introduction

Preface

Background

Section 1 The Synopsis

Chapter 1

The Perfect Storm Affecting Our Democracy

The First Anomaly

The Second Anomaly

The Third Anomaly

The Forth Anomaly

Chapter 2

A View From Space

Chapter 3

Our Changing Democracy

Section 2 The Quagmire

Chapter 4

Decline of Public Trust

Specific Public Concerns

Electorate Exploitation

Poor Performance

Government Inefficiency

Shrinking Middle Class

Federal vs. State Government

Partisan Politics

Mortgaging America’s Future

Primary or Root Cause of Most Public Concerns

Chapter 5

American Democratic System Overview

The Political System

Special Interest Groups, PACs, Corps.

Lobbyists

Public Opinion

Media

Polls and Surveys

Chapter 6

Current National Party Organizations

Party Evolution

Party Polarization

Party Functions

Chapter 7

A Hoodwinked Electorate

Articulation and Unification

Public Reaction

Chapter 8

Political Freedom

Political Performance Freedom

Political Office Entry Freedom

Chapter 9

12th Amendment Compliance

Amendment XII

Chapter 10

Goals

Elected Officials Independence

Candidate Equal Opportunity

Public Opinion Support

Election Reform

Section 3 A Philosophical Perspective

Chapter 11

Government and Human Behavior

References

Why Me?

Introduction

Human Nature is challenged to

maintain a Political System that is

primarily focused on the Constitution

Preface

There is a documented growing lack of trust in our government, a representative democracy, precipitated by a number of on-going Public concerns. Some rationalize that this is the best we can do, given the characteristics of human nature, and the complexity/inertia of our Political System. However, the 2016 presidential campaigns have exposed an electorate that is sufficiently frustrated to consider a radical political outsider. Ironically, it will be shown that a desperation change or even any election change will not address the root cause of the declining public trust. An unfortunate aspect of this growing lack of trust is the awareness of our young people, who desperately need to believe in their country’s leaders; that they do the right things for the right reasons.

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The above growing dilemma has inspired a second edition of Can Public Trust In American Democracy Be Restored. The title of the new edition is slightly changed to Can Trust In American Democracy Be Restored. This edition is designed to engage the reader by first discussing the findings, The Synopsis, that provides three perspective views followed by the complicated premises, The Quagmire. The last section is A Psychological Perspective that discusses religion and human behavior as related to this study. To maintain interest, especially through Section 2 (The Quagmire), there are cartoons scattered throughout.

This book is dedicated to the young people in our nation especially our three daughters, Renee, Lori, and Lisa.

Background

The first edition of this book is a direct compilation of a study intended to determine if there is a solution to outstanding Public concerns not addressed by our current System. The study was performed in the same sequence of the book without any preconceived results. The approach selected was a top down system analysis to provide better focus in a myriad of convoluted factors, hoping for an easy to understand distillation that would lead to a minimum number of areas to resolve. It was very gratifying to learn that most Public concerns could be resolved with easy to understand solutions. However, these solutions impact part of our Political System, not mentioned in the Constitution, but large in scope relative to status quo and new policy requirements. At this point in the study it was determined to use the book as part of a strategy to encourage change. A copy of the book was sent to each member of the United States Congress, House and Senate (535). In addition, a website was developed to establish a communication mechanism between Congress and the Electorate to discuss the findings. It was hopeful that a few members of Congress, especially those not concerned about reelection, would participate. There were none, but in retrospect it was naïve to believe that members would want to think outside the box especially when inside there are relationships, IOUs and familiarity with the status quo.

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Section 1 The Synopsis

Chapter 1

The Perfect Storm Affecting Our Democracy

This perfect storm is a natural human behavior phenomenon. This storm has matured for decades, evidenced by the documented long term growing lack of trust the American electorate has for their government. Currently, the growing effect of this perfect storm is a frustrated electorate that