The evolution of the United States government since the late 1700-1800s until now has been startling! Over the years, our government has gained a great amount of power. An example is the federal government, which has taken an upper hand in governing over the public and its states. This dominance in many ways has created a public that is more accustomed to relying on government assistance. Many refer to this as handout or living in a ‘nanny state’. On the other hand, it has also allowed some relief from many bad situations. Unfortunately, as we can see with hurricane Katrina and super storm sandy, the government can be slow to respond. The public's expectations of government are sometimes much higher than what is actually able to accomplish. Many different elements contribute to the changes in the government including, money, media, communication, and modern living. For instance, the media. Television, internet, and other broadcasting networks all influence our choices and ideas. Especially about candidates. For example, elections. Every four years there are wild attempts on gaining your vote for Election Day. Stories are spun about candidates, personal and background information, scandals, their ideas, hopes and dreams. Everything is thrown at you to convince you that this is whom you should or should not vote for. However, look at elections 150+ years ago. There were no TVs, or electronic media. Commercials had never been heard of. There were barely any forms of media to influence your decisions, except maybe the written word. Candidates personal likes were kept quiet and scandals kept hidden, you rarely even knew anything about them. Even with the coming of television, up until the Reagan era, newscasters were responsible to back up their statements with solid facts. Today opinion TV now dominates the airways with no facts to justify it. Bits and pieces of the truth are put together to create justification of the news organizations opinions and political stand. Another change with in government is the shift of power. Congress was once one of the more powerful forms of the government. The president had limited power and senators were chosen by state legislatures, not voted for by the public. Just the fact that we now have 27 amendments as to the original ten is a compelling factor in how government has changed. Even the voting process is wildly different. With electronic machines counting the votes today, since we have such a huge population difference from first elections until now. Nevertheless, we still have problems with these machines not counting all the votes, and other mistakes as well. One of the biggest voting differences is the fact that both women and