Final answer:
The lawmaking process is compared to making sausages because it is a complex and messy process involving collaboration and negotiation among various stakeholders, with many steps and required consensus. Changing laws typically requires a simple majority, whereas constitutional amendments require a supermajority. Ideas for laws can originate from many sources, and once formalized, these laws can profoundly affect society.
Step-by-step explanation:
Making laws is frequently compared to making sausages because it is a complex and often messy process that involves many steps and stakeholders. Laws are crafted through a system of consensus and negotiation, requiring agreement from various legislators and parties. This includes passing through both the state house and the state senate in identical form, before it can reach the governor's desk for the final signature. Moreover, lawmaking involves collaboration among a large number of people with differing goals, priorities, and solutions, and is shaped by political parties, special interest groups, or individual constituents. The final legislative product is the result of a compendium of compromises, amendments, and strategic decisions, much like the diverse ingredients and processes behind creating a sausage.
Furthermore, the crafting of legislation is a task that balances the need for durable constitutional foundations with the capacity to address current problems through more flexible laws. While changing a constitution generally requires a supermajority, changing laws usually only requires a simple majority. Government and politics interplay throughout the process; government comprises the institutions for creating laws, whereas politics involves the processes by which these institutions function and decisions are made.
The legislative process is also influenced by ideas from constituents, the media, organizations, the executive branch, and the legislators themselves. Once ideas are gathered, a formal text is drafted, circulated, and debated leading to public laws like the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. In some legislative systems, cabinets can craft legislation in a unified way, with the ruling party or coalition ensuring its passage.