Power Distribution Is Built Into

Power distribution is built into the United States Constitution, with a separation of executive, legislative, and judicial branches of government. Such separation continues at the state level, at which power is distributed between executive, legislative, and judicial branches of government. The process by which bills become law, and the nature of the political process ensures that no one person and no one institution can wield a disproportionate amount of power.

Moreover, power is distributed between local, state, and federal institutions. Various bureaucracies in government exhibit and reflect the hierarchical distribution of power in the United States. At the same, time, power is shared among the various branches and levels of government.

A bicameral legislature also reflected the distribution of power in the United States. Each state enjoys equal representation in the senate, with the democratic election of two senators from each. The House of Representatives, on the other hand, ensures that regions with higher population densities enjoy proportionate representation in government. Thus, power is distributed as evenly as possible between and among the fifty states.

The United States political system ensures that the federal government and states governments legislate on different issues, too. To prevent an overly autocratic federal government, the American Constitution ensures Congress a large degree of power at the federal level. Likewise, a robust central government prevents factionalism and fragmentation.

Political power is also distributed in informal ways, usually in relation to wealth and/or social class stratification. As Domhoff (2005) points out, "wealth can be seen as a 'resource' that is very useful in exercising power. " the wealthy can afford such important avenues to acquiring power such as "donations to political parties, payments to lobbyists, and grants to experts who are employed to think up new policies," (Domhoff 2005). For this reason, the wealthy enjoy a disproportionate amount of political power in the United States.

To stimulate economic development and fiscal growth, local, state and federal governments work in tandem with the private sector. Urban planning can therefore be a highly political endeavor. Urban planning involves large-scale land-use projects that involve political decisions. For example, how to zone a metropolitan region is a political issue. Should new schools be built in neighborhoods with higher property taxes because the residents of those neighborhoods can afford them? Or should new schools be built in poorer neighborhoods to mitigate the long-term effects of poverty such as a lack of access to education?