I agree that the people don't have enough say.
Nothing that has been proposed by the left or the right does anything to combat that.
The issue is the US is too large for a democracy/republic to really work.
Alright, you caught me in something I have a heavy interest in, so I can't resist getting all philosophical on you here.
I just don't agree with that... I think we have outgrown and become too diverse our current model, but most people believe it to be so sacred that they are scared to reform it.
Our system was brilliant and changed the world, don't get me wrong, but we are too diverse for it. Also, packing most of the population into two political parties is toxic, divisive, and ineffective as well.
The fix, in my opinion, is a proper system of representation. A diverse society needs proper representation in government.
Norway is always such a good case study for Democracy, because they are so well setup. They are a small country, but they had 8 political parties qualify for representation in their government.
They have 169 seats in their parliament.
The conservative party has 45 seats
The christian democratic party has 8 seats
The labour party has 49 seats
The centre party has 19 seats
The progress party has 26 seats
The socialist party has 11 seats
The green party has a seat
The red party has a seat
Etc....
Their population, though not NEARLY as diverse as ours, has proper political representation in government. This is also true in Canada, Germany, France, Sweden, Italy, etc. Most of the free world has a proper system of representation. We just don't.
If we wanted our government.... OF THE PEOPLE, BY THE PEOPLE, and FOR THE PEOPLE to be properly represented, we would probably have something like this:
The Conservative Party
The Liberal Party
The Progressive Party
The Tea Party
The Green Party
The Libertarian Party
The Moderate Party
Whatever... but one of the keys to a good democracy is proper representation in government. We just don't have that. We are way too big and way too diverse for our current 2 party system. We need an overhaul, badly.
This concept that other countries use to achieve better/proper representation is called "Proportional Representation".. Basically you have a lot of active political parties, and however the votes fall you earn representation. Parties that don't receive enough votes to meet the threshold don't get representation. It's not winner take all like ours. The more votes you get, the more representation in government you have. Ours is... If Ted Cruz wins by 0.1% in Texas, he represents ALL of Texas.
Ted Cruz and John Cornyn are the political representation for Texas. They are both Republicans. The 40% of the population of Texas that voted against John Cornyn has NO political representation in government. The 48% of Texans that voted against Ted Cruz in Texas have NO political representation in government.
Think about that... nearly half the citizens of Texas have zero political representation in government. That's why the rest of the free world does something different.
And, in fact, John Adams was one of the first to suggest it.
"It should be in miniature, an exact portrait of the people at large. It should think, feel, reason, and act like them. That it may be the interest of this Assembly to do strict justice at all times, it should be an equal representation, or in other words equal interest among the people should have equal interest in it"
-John Adams, 1776
"A representative body is to the nation what a chart is for the physical configuration of its soil: in all its parts, and as a whole, the representative body should at all times present a reduced picture of the people, their opinions, aspirations, and wishes, and that presentation should bear the relative proportion to the original precisely."
-Gabriel Riqueti, one of the leaders of the French Revolution
