I have seen the same thing. I now firmly believe that most people understand that voting for representatives is a sham, but go along with it either for unstated reasons like tribalism and hero worship, or out of a deep seated misanthropy common to both the left and right wing.
Who is "most people"? Almost 2/3 of voters in midterm congressional elections are over 45--are you really considering a representative pool of people in forming your belief?
The majority of voters have the representatives they want (approval rates for peoples' own Congresspeople are extremely high). If you keep in mind the demographics that bother to vote (my 65 year old mom, but not my 30 year old wife and I), they have the government they want too. My mom is super excited about Hilary and would vote for life imprisonment for drug dealing if anyone put it on a referendum.
We're not nihilists. We see a political process that is broken and throws some peanuts our way to keep the paroles happy. But if you're a potential donor like Lockheed Martin you bill the gov't for a flightless bird
The ACA is less than peanuts, since you have to buy the insurance yourself!
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I have seen the same thing. I now firmly believe that most people understand that voting for representatives is a sham, but go along with it either for unstated reasons like tribalism and hero worship, or out of a deep seated misanthropy common to both the left and right wing.
Who is "most people"? Almost 2/3 of voters in midterm congressional elections are over 45--are you really considering a representative pool of people in forming your belief?
The majority of voters have the representatives they want (approval rates for peoples' own Congresspeople are extremely high). If you keep in mind the demographics that bother to vote (my 65 year old mom, but not my 30 year old wife and I), they have the government they want too. My mom is super excited about Hilary and would vote for life imprisonment for drug dealing if anyone put it on a referendum.
This sort of nihilism is childish. You may not get everything you want from your government but jumping from that to "it's a sham" is absurd.
If McCain had won in 2008 would the US have passed national health care reform?
We're not nihilists. We see a political process that is broken and throws some peanuts our way to keep the paroles happy. But if you're a potential donor like Lockheed Martin you bill the gov't for a flightless bird
The ACA is less than peanuts, since you have to buy the insurance yourself!