I think the American people in general need to stop pinning everything on the government.
Being too reliant on the government for change makes it impossible to change the government.
If you expect the elected politicians to change the government themselves, then yes. But within the current rules of the American government, it's perfectly possible for people to push for reform if enough organization is presented.
Yes, they're fucking up on a CONSISTENT basis, but this is a democracy regardless of the inherent flaws in it.
Republic the people have little control over.
As stated above, our current system of government is in no way set up to benefit only the people in power. We have the option to vote for candidates from the level of local government, to the level of national government. We have PLENTY of control, we just choose not to use or enforce it. Again, the system is NOT set up to make it difficult for the average person to get involved, it's very open to general input.
No one wants to, at least a large majority of people don't want to. It's not because of a secret plot to lull the American people into a false-sense of security, or any bullshit like that. The people are supposed to prevent the government from abusing its powers, and we're not fulfilling our end of the bargain.
It doesn't need to be some Illuminati-tier conspiracy. It's rather simple really; all of the media is owned by the few moguls, the moguls benefit from supporting the system that allows them to grow their capital empire. The people are ignorant, materialistic and easily impressionable as long as they hear what they wish to hear. By controlling every bit of information that people seek to hear, no matter who the people support it'll support them.
See, I agree partially with this. I think it IS media moguls trying to serve their best interests, but only to a point. I don't think they intend to make the populace ignorant, but to make more money. They MAY be taking advantage of our self-imposed ignorance, but they're not trying to lull us into some false-sense of security or anything. They're taking advantage of the current situation, and this is by catering to what we want, plain and simple.
People in general like to point fingers at why something is wrong (Much like how I'm doing now). The government is why we aren't changing, the media is why we aren't changing, the American public is why we aren't changing, or a mix of all three. But we can all point fingers all we want, but you can't get someone more interested in something important by yelling at them that they should, because it's important. It's like telling a kid to do his homework because it's important, if he already doesn't give a shit telling him to do it won't make him give any more of a shit.
How I see it, the only way to renew people's interest in politics (Outside of wars, economic depression, and other simple alternatives) is to simply get involved yourself. It sounds cheesy, but it's true. You won't see instant results, but the more people you get organized to actually do something, the higher chance that'll make someone want to do something in turn. Fuck, even if you think that it's the government just taking advantage of it, go out there and tell people about it. Because arguing and taking part in political activism in real life is much more effective than doing it on the internet. A lot of people don't realize that there is a buffer between the national government overstepping its powers, besides our current system of checks and balances amongst the different departments. The people are supposed to serve as a secondary buffer, to put the government in its place if it steps out of its boundaries.
This is why I spent two years on this board trying to push my alternative to the current election system that would have, I think, done quite a lot to fix many of the problems you see with the populace failing to be as effective a balance as they should be. Before realizing that doing so was stupid because it would never happen since the people in charge have no desire for additional checks and balances, but eh.
Regarding election reforms, the one relevant issue I see being the most likely to change in the future is the Electoral College system. It really only is somewhat brought up around election time, but it's a relic of a time when the government didn't trust the average man to vote, and instead gave that right to wealthy, educated, landowners. If we just eliminate that entire system, and leave it up to a general percentage vote, I think the negatives to this system are far more preferable than the negatives to the electoral college.
I'd also like to see more encouragements set in place to alternative third parties forming, and the eventual drift to a system that heavily supports multiple parties forming, but that's unlikely to happen since the two-party system is engrained deep in our politics. But I suppose saying that most third parties are shafted is only partially true. Most people don't realize that the two parties in order to survive, and gain more votes, they often just absorb some of the ideas of other third parties. It's been done before, rather recently with the Republican party taking in some of the ideas and beliefs of the Tea Party.
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Topic: Dissent in the United States (Read 8019 times)