In the United States, to understand politics, one must first understand the theories of pluralism and elitism. Both theories influence the lawmakers that make public policies to benefit specific interests. Both theories also influence the government, though elitism is more influential than pluralism in the implementation of laws and policies that are created by the United States government.
The theory of pluralism requires one to understand the groups that exist within the United States. These groups may be corporations allied together or individuals with the same views and goals grouped together in order for their voices to be represented within the government. The theory of pluralism states that an individuals voice is equivalent to nothing while the voice of a group with similar interests and ideas holds some value. Often, these groups find that on certain issues they are to weak to stand alone and form an alliance with other groups. Since there are tons of issues to be dealt with, two groups may be allied on one issue one day and oppose each other on another issue a different day. Pluralism also allows for more ideas to be seen and for more groups to have a chance for its views to be expressed. With this, no one group always has its views and ideas expressed every time on every issue.
The theory of elitism states that the elites of America, being the wealthy corporate executives to the business owners, runs the government and has their views and interests expressed most frequently over the masses. This theory goes hand and hand with the politico-economics, which is the idea that politics are in fact influenced by economics. The elites of America believe that "change is evolutionary and not revolutionary." By this thinking, it shows an elite's power can change over time and another person could be a replacement. This theory does make sense because it is the business owners and other wealthy individuals that fund politicians so that they can get into office.