REVOLUTION NO. 1: The fundamental flaws of our political system

[originalpckelly]

When it comes to "representatives" the fact that the vast majority of individuals in this society have never met, nor will meet their various representatives is the main argument against that particular method of lawmaking. If we assume every representative is completely virtuous, which they are most certainly not, they would still be unable to represent the interests of their constituents. How is someone supposed to know your position on an issue if it mathematically impossible to even have a short conversation with you about it?

This numbers game, the fact that representatives are so outnumbered by their constituents, forbids the possibility of faithful representation in Congress.

However, that is not the only concern. In our nation we have political parties, and the nature of our system prevents faithful representation of all factions in our Congress, even if the issue of the impossibility of representation altogether is put aside. The complete and total lack of proportionality in our system has created an environment where the map of congressional districts is rewritten, not to most faithfully represent people, but to gain seats in Congress for the party drawing the maps. A proportional system of control, where representatives would be elected to Congress from all major political factions in a given district with the power of their votes determined by how many individuals voted for the faction, is impossible to scheme in this manner.

This lack of proportionality does not end with the legislative branch, however, the presidency is also a winner takes all system. This fact has already come to a head before in our history, 2000 simply would not have happened if we had a system of proportional control based upon the popular vote. It is only in a winner takes all situation that mere hundreds of votes may decide the fate of the free world. Democracy is NOT the tyranny of a few hundred people anywhere in this nation, it is the massive collective will of our entire nation, any situation which strays from that should be considered undemocratic.

Even if we put the issue of non-proportionality aside as it concerns the presidency, the fact that the entire executive branch (a couple million people) is supervised by only a single person and that the very highest leadership is mostly appointed by the President is yet another flaw in our system. For the highest staffers of the executive branch, loyalty to the President is not only something done for sentimental reasons, they serve at the pleasure of the President. Some of them are not even subject to review by the Senate, and those who are will not suffer any real scrutiny when the presidency and the Senate is controlled by the same party.

The checks and balances of our system become meaningless in any situation where the legislative or executive branches are controlled by the same party. Our nation's recent history is laid bare as an example of this flaw.

Then of course, we have the issue of money in our political system. Public financing of political campaigns is an unsavory manner to solve this issue, as it is conceivable that the money of a Republican would go to a Democrat to fund his/her campaign and vice versa. About five years ago, our campaign financing laws were updated in an effort to solve this problem, but the system those laws created actually made it more difficult to trace the source of money. It would be much easier to know who is giving money to politicians if large groups and companies were allowed to do it. As it stands, the very same people who would be the source of money given by big corporations are giving money anyway, but because they are not explicitly identified with a cause, it is difficult to trace precisely how much money a politician has received from a particular group.

At the FEC, it appears to me very little analytical work is actually done with these records, as simple inconsistencies appear throughout the FEC's records database. One may review these records at the follow address:

http://fec.gov/disclosure.shtml 

Even a casual review these records shows their inconsistent quality.



REVOLUTION NO. 2: The flawed mindset of America