The failures of American democracy

As a libertarian, I am a strong advocate for individual freedom. Democracy is perhaps the most efficient form of government in our world today. There are many different forms of democracy.. the United States is technically an indirect constitutional democracy. We elect people to represent us in government. Looking at it from this perspective, one can easily infer that this system is much more fair than oligarchies, monarchies, dictatorships, and socialist states. Our laws are basically agreed on by the majority of the population, right? I had always been taught that democracy is the greatest form of government- and fair to all. So, what could possibly go wrong?

The founders of this great nation actually foresaw the potential blunders of such a drastically different system of government.. Many were naturally skeptical.. And in fact, our forefathers did not trust the average man; It was not intended for all people to participate in the election of government officials. They only wanted the intelligent Americans to vote, and thus devised a clever deceptive system known as the electoral college. Also, certain measures were set in place to discourage some people from voting- taxes, tests, registration, etc.

However, much has changed since then.. the judicial branch now has the power to "interpret" the constitution.. congress can easily pass laws, the electoral college has little affect in the presidential race, there's a two-party political system, corruption, etc.

The most obvious failure of democracy is also its most powerful... the rule of the people. Democracy makes a huge naive assumption- that the people as a whole are intelligent enough to vote and make decisions on their own. Such an assumption, however, is laughable. Most Americans, most people in general, are idiots. The media can easily swing American support on certain issues.. so many people are just so damn gullible. There are all these dumbass Liberal protests of global warming, environmental pollution, etc. which make unsubstantiated claims. Yet, people just gobble that crap up. People are enticed by advertisements or the mainstream media or persuaded to join some "cause" which has obvious political undertones. Face it: the general public is stupid. Can we really trust one another in government? No- not all people have the same capacity to think logically or even make decisions without help from someone else.

Which brings me to my next point.. politicians. What exactly are they? What is a degree in political science? Well, previously we had professionals who ran for president. People who were lawyers, doctors, experts on government and economics, etc. But today.. our presidential candidates are nothing more than celebrities. Barack Obama is the perfect example- he is the media's beloved. We have made a complete mockery of what our founding fathers once considered "democracy"- it is now nothing more than a popularity contest. Democratic elections remind me of cheerleading elections we had back in high school.. The candidates are given very little time to show off their actual talents, and basically no one gave a shit. We all just voted on the prettiest looking girl regardless of her skills.

And with the birth of politics, we have corruption. Most politicians today are scum. We put these people in direct contact with big businesses and corporate agendas which will gladly pay them huge sums of money in return for favors... That's what democracy is today: An oligarchy of the rich since only the rich can afford to pay off politicians. All this pork barrel spending, lobbyists, special interest groups, and "campaign contributions" make corruption extremely tempting and rewarding for most politicians. We must seek finance reform... Candidates which are allocated certain budgets by the federal government can cut out all this bullshit. It should be 100% ILLEGAL for any person, business, or government to contribute freely to specific campaigns. This will free up the politicians time for actually campaigning instead of wasting time trying to raise enough money just to compete with the other guy. This will also completely eliminate most if not all corruption in public office. If candidates are not paid by special interest groups, then they would not feel obligated to vote in the interests of said group. I also believe that we can reduce corruption by making these elected officials more accountable for their actions. At the end of each year, we should be given a list of what the incumbent has accomplished in office and then we vote on a salary (For example either he did poorly and he gets a specified lower salary or he did average and gets a slightly higher salary, etc).

Now on to the media... As I've previously discussed, the mainstream media plays a major role in most people's lives. The news we watch, the movies we see, the papers we read... And today, stories which take on a negative attitude always make the news. We see articles about how global warming is destroying the planet, how economic recession is imminent, and doomsday is only days away. We NEVER see anything regarding how well our military is doing overseas, or how security organizations have stopped terrorist attacks from occurring, or how we've discovered a cure for some ailment. The mainstream media takes on a negative tone, and is responsible for increasing the public's interest in scrupulous new "movements" which seem to fight some nonexistent enemy.

In conclusion, democracy in America has failed because of its people. Democracy dies in the cries of its people, and the people have spoken. America shifts left, and becomes more socialist due to its citizens. Most people are incapable of making coherent, intelligent decisions. Thus, they are subject to the manipulation of the media and others. Democracy fails because it presupposes people are intelligent, but the very contrary is true.