What Is The Difference Between Political Patronage And Merit

Throughout the rigmarole of political history of the United States of America, the growth of the “fourth branch of government”, the Bureaucracy, has been a prominent, controversial topic. Peter Woll, in his article “Constitutional Democracy and Bureaucratic Power”, and James Q. Wilson, in his article “The Rise of the Bureaucratic State”, discuss this developing administrative branch. The Constitution has no written mention of an “administrative branch”, and today’s Bureaucracy is often tedious, corrupt, and even undemocratic. But such a branch’s development and expansion is necessary in order to keep par with an evolving and changing society.

Before civil service reform, elected officials could easily remove anti-Tammany city employees and replace them with Tammany supporters in return for their work during the campaign. This sort of "spoils system" encouraged young people to get involved with politics and to love their country. According to Plunkitt (and he gives many examples) after civil service examinations young men become anarchists or in the worst case one joins the Spanish army and actually fights against the same men he used to support and love. Not only did this "spoils system" encourage young people, it also helped hold the United States party system together. And that, according to Plunkitt, would all change if supporters were not rewarded with government jobs for their work. However, the Civil Service act of 1883 did more to instigate the merit system in politics than anything else. Plunkitt's arguments against the civil service reforms are amusing but his generalities make his argument difficult to believe. One would assume that Plunkitt's motivation for attacking civil service was because of his personal motivation not the reasons presented in his "Very Plain Talks on Very Practical Politics." Plunkitt clearly was a politician for himself and his supporters, in all he cared very little about the welfare of New York City as a whole.

The early activity of Andrew Jackson and his election of to the presidency in 1828 led to the new changes in the society and politics of the United States. Answer Jackson is known for:

The controversy surrounding political lobbying does not question the act of influencing public officials, but rather the ethics relating to how these public officials are influenced. It is important to distinguish the fine line between bribery and lobbying. It is illegal to bribe a public official in the United States. This would mean that an individual could not provide compensation to a public official for them to behave, or vote, in a specific manner. Lobbyists may donate money to a specific candidate’s political campaign, but they may only do so when there is no expectation that the public official will behave in a favorable way toward the lobbyist or their clients (Mackinder). Lobbyists may bring public officials, their immediate families, and staff on trips or out to dinner. While it is illegal for a lobbyist representing a corporate client from directly bringing, it is not illegal for foreign governments to sponsor for these said trips (Goldmacher). What has begun to happen is lobbyists representing corporate clients may bring public officials on these trips, if the trip is sponsored by a foreign government. The Senate Office of Public Records reported that $3.23 billion was spent on lobbying in 2013, with 12,300 registered lobbyists. Professor James Thurber, who teaches at American University, has studied congressional lobbying for over 30 years, and does not believe these figures are accurate. He believes

Voters are often rewarded with patronage jobs. However, patronage can result in poorer service to the

Although the “Age of Jackson” wasn’t a time era, which brought forth a great political, social, or economic freedom and equality to the U.S., it did in fact put our country through a metamorphosis in our political lives of the nation. The start of a new presidency (Jackson’s presidency) was accompanied by huge numbers of Hickoryites (Jacksonian supporters) and official hopefuls. Many of these hopefuls were granted their desire of holding office, which is one of the changes brought into Washington by Andrew Jackson.

Within the time periods of 1815 to 1840 the United States was faced with a dramatic change and the way the United States ran their political system. When America took away the land requirement to vote and passed a different law many politicians started to appeal to the Common Man. Despite the fact that most of these politicians were classified as the elites many of them started to appeal to the Common Man It created a whole new way of politics which is known as Jacksonian democracy . And men that were running for office started to change the ways of gaining popularity and started to take advantage of the people.

The patronage system is a practice in which a political party who wins an election rewards its campaign workers and other active supporters by appointment to government posts or other favors. Though some would deny it, we continue to have patronage going on today.

James Garfield was the 20th President of the United States, during the Gilded Age, and he did important things to help out the citizens of the U.S. James Garfield was a former Civil War general. Patronage, or, giving government jobs to loyal supporters, was something that was expected of elected officials at this time. The problem with this was that some of the people that were appointed jobs were not qualified. James Garfield wanted to change this. He followed in the footsteps of Rutherford B. Hayes, and helped to reform the spoils system. Garfield only appointed government jobs based on merit, or, in other words, ability. But, later, about seven months into his first year as President, he was assassinated. The murderer was a man named Charles

“President Andrew Johnson decided to replace Edwin Stanton, which was appointed by President Lincoln, with a new secretary of war. Mr. Stanton had become progressively more at odds with President Andrew Johnson and his cabinet, and had been conspiring with Radical Republicans in Congress.” (THE TENURE OF OFFICE ACT OF 1867)

Seniority is not taken note in the matter of promoting judges. Promotions are in the hands of the King or Yang di-Pertuan Agong who acts on the Prime Minister’s advice. The Prime Minister will consult the Chief Justice, the president of the Court of Appeal and the chief judges of the High Courts. Hence, while promoting judges, it is suggested that the seniority of the judge should be taken into consideration and Yang di-Pertuan Agong should not depend solely on the advice of the Prime

     Lastly the media also has a large role in the appointments. They media can often be viewed as a popularity guide. Since it is a very powerful entity, the president does not wish to accumulate bad press and therefore could be found be very choosing the appointment that would be in his best favor. Newspapers (the NY Times) and TV stations (CNN) as well as radio broadcaster (such as Imus) have huge audiences. If they feel that a president made a bad selection they let people know about and what say can have a large impact on how the president is viewed. The president would want to avoid this at all

The presidency of the United Sates of America has been an evolving office since the term of our first president, George Washington. This evolution has occurred because of the changing times and the evolution of society itself, but also because of the actions of the men who have become president. Starting in the 20th century, most have referred to the presidency as the modern presidency due to changes in both a president's power and the way that the office itself is viewed. As the office of the president has evolved so has who can become president evolved. Yet, even today there are certain individuals who because of their gender or race have yet to hold the office of the presidency. The men that

The Civil Service Act of 1883 created the merit system by requiring that appointees to public office be qualified for the job, thereby ending the spoils system.

The merit principle means that appointment and promotion decisions must be made without patronage, favoritism or unjustified discrimination. There is a statutory vacancy advertising arrangements which ensure that all eligible candidates have a reasonable opportunity to apply. Also selection decisions must be made on the basis of a comparative assessment of relative suitability or efficiency.