The whole electoral process is so flawed and corrupt that a politician wanting to save their job has little to do with voting, and thus little to do with popular demand.
The whole electoral process is so flawed and corrupt
Again, I don't believe it.
It is flawed? Sure. Can it be improved? Most certainly. But you can't point to a few glaring problems (which I agree, there are) and compare to some hypothetical ideal without acknowledging the many things the political system gets right, as evidenced by America being the richest, most powerful nation in world history.
In any democratic system there will be winners and losers. Just by the sheer number of decisions that are made, you're going to end up on the losing end of many. If you're really unlucky, you might be on the losing side of a ton. From that perspective, I'm sure the process looks terrible. But that doesn't mean it's broken or worthless. In the long-run, things do seem to get done. I think history bears that out. Yes, I'm a long-run optimist on the economy and humanity in general.
"...as evidenced by America being the richest, most powerful nation in world history"
That does not follow. First, if you actually allow that America is the 'richest' and 'most powerful nation', it doesn't prove it's somehow the best democracy, or even a good democracy, or even a democracy at all. It doesn't even prove that it's good at capitalism or corporatism, it just doesn't follow. It's like saying god exists, the prove is in his creation.
The 'glaring problems' are utter failures of democracy; the representatives simply don't represent the will or the interest of the people. Of course the will of the people is bent via media, lack of education, religion, anti-intellectualism and American-History-folklore against their own interests.
But note, some of the systemic issues of the electoral process are, just as examples, the FPTP voting system, the ludicrous campaign financing system, pervasive and completely legal corruption that allows gerry mandering.
The 'hypothetical ideals', i.e. actual democracies, exist in other countries.
America is a great place, with many smart people, and many, many interesting and important contributions to science, technology and culture. But it's governance is a plutocracy at best, and proto-fascism at worst (the original meaning of that word, not the one referring to Nazis). But as long as most rara about the best nation on earth, they'll be happily exploited and nothing changes.
Comments
The whole electoral process is so flawed and corrupt that a politician wanting to save their job has little to do with voting, and thus little to do with popular demand.
Again, I don't believe it.
It is flawed? Sure. Can it be improved? Most certainly. But you can't point to a few glaring problems (which I agree, there are) and compare to some hypothetical ideal without acknowledging the many things the political system gets right, as evidenced by America being the richest, most powerful nation in world history.
In any democratic system there will be winners and losers. Just by the sheer number of decisions that are made, you're going to end up on the losing end of many. If you're really unlucky, you might be on the losing side of a ton. From that perspective, I'm sure the process looks terrible. But that doesn't mean it's broken or worthless. In the long-run, things do seem to get done. I think history bears that out. Yes, I'm a long-run optimist on the economy and humanity in general.
"...as evidenced by America being the richest, most powerful nation in world history"
That does not follow. First, if you actually allow that America is the 'richest' and 'most powerful nation', it doesn't prove it's somehow the best democracy, or even a good democracy, or even a democracy at all. It doesn't even prove that it's good at capitalism or corporatism, it just doesn't follow. It's like saying god exists, the prove is in his creation.
The 'glaring problems' are utter failures of democracy; the representatives simply don't represent the will or the interest of the people. Of course the will of the people is bent via media, lack of education, religion, anti-intellectualism and American-History-folklore against their own interests.
But note, some of the systemic issues of the electoral process are, just as examples, the FPTP voting system, the ludicrous campaign financing system, pervasive and completely legal corruption that allows gerry mandering.
The 'hypothetical ideals', i.e. actual democracies, exist in other countries.
America is a great place, with many smart people, and many, many interesting and important contributions to science, technology and culture. But it's governance is a plutocracy at best, and proto-fascism at worst (the original meaning of that word, not the one referring to Nazis). But as long as most rara about the best nation on earth, they'll be happily exploited and nothing changes.