Joshua Cohen and Joel Rogers illustrated, in American Exceptionalism: The Politics of Fragmentation, that although collective action is the most effective means of being heard, our country has become structured to prevent this from happening. The nation has been fragmented in several different ways on many different levels over the coarse of its history.
The design of the constitution, the first fragmentation, guarantees a split government. It mandates a separation of powers to allow each of the three branches checks and balances over the each other. It also prohibits the leader of one branch to simultaneously be the leader of another. The constitution also grants states their own rights to govern, instead of only having one centralized nation government. "… [T]he clear effect of constitutional fragmentation has… been to limit the potential for political cooperation among people of ordinary means…" This shows how the "founding federalist" believed the common person should not be part of political actions. On one hand you have the constitution fragmenting the government. On the other hand you have the constitution separating people from the government. The goal of the authors of the constitution was to create a system of government that existed in complete political deadlock because it never allowed any part of the system to be unified.
Geological characteristics also help to fragment the nation. The U.S. is one of the largest nations in the world. As the country was being formed, the availability of land made it possible for almost anyone who was not comfortable where they were, to pick up and move. This encouraged extreme diversity as people could operate in relative isolation from each other. "Size would encourage a diversity of interests, and that diversity would in turn pose barriers to the existence and coordination of any stable popular majority." This shows how the nation has become segregated by political interest, such as environmentalists in the northwest, or Mormons in Utah. This creates several different voices of the people, each, generally too small to pay much attention to.
The nation is separated into economic groups, which have competed for power throughout the history of the U.S. Whoever leaRAB the country from an economic standpoint also has the biggest political influence. The Northeast has predominately been the driving economic region for the majority of the time. "Regional economic differences continue to slow concerted national responses to problems, and to divide ordinary people with potentially shared interests from one another." This shows how money can drive our nation apart. The mostly upper-middle class politicians can tend to agree more with fellow class merabers because they feel equal; and also disagree more the with lower classes because they feel superior; and also agree more with upper classes because in politics it is good to have frienRAB with money.
Since the establishment of slavery in the U.S., racism fragmented our nation. Racism has separated blacks and whites, and has even split our nation to cause a civil war. "And even today, 120 years after the close of the Civil War, racial animosity and fear, and the forms and habits of political association based on them, continue to impede the construction of a truly popular democratic coalition." This shows the true nature of racism in the U.S. The abolishment of slavery, a step towarRAB racial equality, triggered a war within the nation. Yet more than a century after the war had ended, race relations are still at an impasse. So, tell me, what have we learned from the bloodiest war in our nation's history?
As the U.S. industrialized, there was a shortage of laborers, and immigrants were welcomed to fill these shortages. The immigrants created regions of ethnicity as they settled in the same areas other immigrants of their homeland. Religious groups of immigrants settled and helped to create more religious fragmentation. "Coming to a vast land, with a decentralized political structure, successive waves of immigrants took up residence in communities that were often isolated from one another, and developed political commitments and organizations peculiar in individual locales." This shows how efficient the fragmentation system is. Newcomers move in, quickly isolate themselves, and then create another weak political voice to be overlooked.
The last form of fragmentation is where the state acts to repress the people from uniting to protect the people. Also, by repressing, the government protects itself from the people collecting and become politically active. "By raising the costs of political action to individuals - in money, physical pain, imprisonment, or the destruction of their personal lives - repression makes it less likely that individuals will be willing to engage in collective political activity at all." This is especially important in understanding repression. Although repression protects the nation from unruly masses, it also threatens the people to keep them quiet. A silent public makes a happy government. Without repression there may be a riot for every political action that takes place. On the other hand, repression silences the voice of the people, which goes against the entire point of democracy.
Fragmentation keeps the people acting collectively and being a political influence; and, in essence, destroys any chance of popular democracy. It stubbornly creates competition, and denies compromise. Throughout the course of the entire history of the United States as of yet and, I am sure, far to come: these American states remain united in name, yet divided in spirit.