Power and Politics

Power is the ability to influence the behavior of others to get what you want. Gerald Salancik and Jeffery Pfeffer concur, noting, “Power is simply the ability to get things done the way one wants them to be done.”Salancik, G., & Pfeffer, J. (1989). Who gets power. In M. Thushman, C. O’Reily, & D. Nadler (Eds.), Management of organizations. New York: Harper & Row. If you want a larger budget to open a new store in a large city and you get the budget increase, you have used your power to influence the decision.

So...

What is Political Power?

Well...

we have two Political Parties:  Democrats and Republicans and each of these parties wants to be in a MASJORITY position so that the IDEOLOGIES of their party can be put into action...   and, in some cases forced upon the American Public whether they like it or not.  

For Example:

• the military draft (suspended in 1973)
• increasing taxes
• reducing services
• raising postage rates
• going to war
• forced lockdowns (COVID)

We have two houses of CONGRESS:  Senate and House of Representatives

In the Senate - 2 Senators from each State for a total of 100

In the House - each state is divided into districts with 1 rep for a total of 432 

Further...

Each State has a GOVERNOR and a State Legislature and these two bodies can influence what is going on politically in each of their districts prior to any National Election.

SO...

in order to achieve political power and control, each party must try to control each State (both Governor and Legislature) and each party must then attempt to control securing majority seats in the Senate and House of Representatives for complete POLITICAL POWER in America.

IN 2021

President - Democrat

Senate - Democratic control

House of Representatives -  Democratic Control

State Governors

Democratic - 24

Republican - 26

CONSEQUENTLY:  for the next 4 years POLITICAL POWER will belong to the Democrats