I think most of us here understand that the U.S. is not a true democracy, that we do not vote on every single issue. But there are some out there that either don't understand what a Democratic Republic is, or have never really thought about it before. A Democratic Republic is when the people elect leaders through a Democratic voting process.
it is up to those leaders to make decisions for their constituents.
We need representatives of the people that will act in the best interest of the people, even when the decisions that they make are not popular.
What we got: Populist leaders beholden to special interests.
Why: We value a well marketed product too much
The Washington post ran a story about the lobbying industry back in 2005 that stated that the number of registered lobbyists had more than doubled since 2000 to a total of 34,750 people! With 435 representatives in Congress and another 100 in the Senate that gives us 65 lobbyists per leader!
And now that we have a Democrat in the White House.....And Democrat control of both houses of Congress the new reality is this : Lobbyists, they're not just for rich Republicans anymore!
Lobbyists still provide the fuel for electing these people, and the legislation that has passed thus far during this administration is pure proof of the payback for those election donations.....never in U.S. history have we seen payback on this scale.
I could go on forever in so many different directions with this....so I will try and end it here for now with this one last thought : George Washington was right about political parties, here is what he said:
Political parties did not exist in 1789. Washington despised the idea
of political associations, formed in such a way as to pit one group of
citizens against another. In his farewell speech in 1796 he said:
[While speaking on the subject -- The very idea of the power and the right of the people to establish Government presupposes the duty of every individual to obey the established Government.]
"All obstructions to the execution of the Laws, all combinations and associations, under whatever plausible character, with the real design to direct, control, counteract, or awe the regular deliberation and action of the constituted authorities, are destructive of this fundamental principle, and of fatal tendency. They [political parties] serve to organize faction, to give it an artificial and extraordinary force; to put, in the place of the delegated will of the nation, the will of a party, often a small but artful and enterprising minority of the community; and, according to the alternate triumphs of different parties, to make the public administration the mirror of the ill-concerted and incongruous projects of faction, rather than the organ of consistent and wholesome plans digested by common counsels, and modified by mutual interests.
"However combinations or associations of the
above description may now and then answer popular ends, they are
likely, in the course of time and things, to become potent engines, by
which cunning, ambitious, and unprincipled men will be enabled to
subvert the power of the people, and to usurp for themselves the reins
of government; destroying afterwards the very engines, which have
lifted them to unjust dominion." source
