The power structure in the United States government is primarily disadvantaged due to the people who fill their roles in the power structure and primarily advantaged by the limits placed on government. A wide disconnect exists between the beliefs of those with power and what is demonstrably true. While elections ensure that politicians accurately represent the views of people in their regions of residence, it also can lead to poor nominations due to the general incompetence of the people, misimpressions by politicians, and the incompetence of politicians. On the other hand, the US can be called "democracy done right" in that it preserves freedom of expression, and while it is possible to say something that it is immoral to say, the exposure to all views will lead rational people to correct points of view.
The right to influence decisions exists only if the decision is moral, and thus defining authority that way makes it impossible to discuss its disadvantages.
In order to discuss the benefits and disadvantages of authority, the source of authority must first be discussed. Mrs. Lindblom, the person who commisioned this essay, states that authority is distinguished from power in that power is the ability to intentionally influence a decision, while authority is the right to do so. Rights, however, only exist as patterns in what is moral to do. Thus it is rational to ask what the sanction of authority is. Since perfection is nearly impossible, nobody has absolute authority. The type of authority suggested by Lindblom exists if and only if a person with power acts morally.
When most people think of authority, what is really being discussed is structural power - that is, the power given by a role in society. Abuse of structural power is certainly possible, and while, by Lindblom's definition, tyrannical kings and abusive parents do not have authority, these persons do have structural power.
It would be useless, then, to discuss the benefits and disadvantages of authority, since authority is by definition beneficial.
The U.S. government distributes power among three largely separate branches of government: the judicial branch, which resolves legal disputes; the executive branch, which carries out directives created in laws, and also approves them; and the legislative branch, consisting of two councils which create and approve laws. Within the executive and legislative branches there is considerable oversight by the people of the United States, who are simultaneously, as Adlai Stevenson puts it, "the rulers and the ruled." In the United States government, those which are not elected are appointed by elected officials. This system of government is fundamentally flawed in that those in power, then, naturally become incompetent.
Every United States election begins with a very long season of campaigning. The first phase of the election is the primary election, in which the nominee for each party is chosen. This means that aspiring politicians must appeal to members of their own party, and may even lie to do so. Citizens must trust the politicians to follow up on their promises, though lies are possible. Ultimately, the primary election is not determined by what the people want, or by competence. It's based on what like-minded persons think of that candidate. Next comes the general election; aspiring politicians must make an appeal to the divided American people. Again, it's not determined by what the people want, or by competence, but by what the people think the best candidate is. So the claim that politicians "represent the people" is only partly true. In every election, the people are asked to make an unqualified judgement based on insufficient and inaccurate information.
Still, this power structure has some advantages. It's very easy to create an unsuccessful democracy. A democracy without strong protections for freedom of expression is not one at all, since exposure to ideas helps a person refine their own. Not only that, but the US government is very good at protecting these rights, even at their own expense. For example, a civilian who pulled his middle finger in front of military personnel had his case dropped, because the protections for freedom of speech made the case hopeless. Without these protections a government could suppress all information that makes a certain candidate look bad, resulting in a false election. Another safeguard in place within the United States is that of complete equality under the law as required by the 14th Amendment, which prevents discimination against political opponents, another thing required for a good democracy.