Preface<br > 1he hi(~，ntenni，fl celebration of the United States has seen an<br >，q~parently endless outpouring of descriptions and praises of the<br >Amerkan political heritage. It would appear that by July 4， 1976， all<br >would ~urelv have been said.-all facets of the American political<br >~，xp，，rien~ ~， ~.plored and even the more unlikely episodes in American<br >p~Hiti~ al hiqory lauded.<br > Yet mu(h has been left unexplored and unsaid. To gain a true<br >understanding of American politics we must move beyond mere<br >descriptions and uncritical acclaim. We must engage in hard analysis<br >and a search for Facts， whether we find those facts and analyses<br >(()nrf()rting and supportive of past ideas or disturbing and contrary to<br >them. ihis book presents the facts of American politics and analyzes<br >them in an allempt to provide the student with a true understanding of<br >the American ~，ay of politics.<br > In presenting these analyses and facts I have incorporated three<br >I)4sk qualilie，， int(， this honk qualitie，~ that dislinguish it from other<br >..m~，~it，m l~()ii!U ~ ~(，x!b{)()k~ and. i h~)pe， h(!tp i! (onv(，v an a~(umt~，<br >under，，tandu~g，， ot the Ameri(:an way of politics. The first it，<br >~.，rg，mizati()nal: the disparate elements of American politics are<br >organized and analyzed in a general framework that draws together<br >(~n~ pt + fr(~m systems analysis， structural-functional analysis， and<br >pu:i~ t，~ !i~ ~ ，mal~，i，， This framework， I believe， serves as a useful<br >me，m-+ (+t ;>r~ ~，~ ++tir!~ t(> qtM(+nts without a strong background the often<br >huwiic!ering ek munts ~1 Ameri( an politics in an organized， integrated<br >and Ih~ refl~r~ un(i，:，rslandab!e way.<br > In thi~， lhir(t e(tili()n I h，n.，e gwml a qronger emphasis to po!i(~，，<br >an，fish， i，， Ih，ul ! did in the tirsl two edilions， finding many elemenls of<br >polk v anah ~，is helpiul lo sludenb， in their efforts to integrate the many<br >