Broken?

What am I trying to say?
The system is broken because of the unwritten way things are done. Earmarks and party lines cloud the ability of a senator or representative to actually represent the people he is supposed to. These public figureheads can't actually have an opinion of what should be done, because

1) if they do, it has to be in alignment with the people he is supposed to represent and
2) if they don't, can they really be fucking human? And
3) Once they are there, the only way to stay there is to make sure enough people like you.

Special lobby groups and financeers must also like you, or they will like someone else more and you won't be able to accomplish anything in your short term. So you have to battle between doing your job, being human, and not playing into any special interests. This is the sytem I'm talking about. Whats written, the constitution, I have issues with as well but thats not what we are talking about. For the sake of this argument, I support that. I'm talking about the environmental system that has been created around politics and the way people have to operate inside of it.

Because of it, AIG gets bailed out and their CEO gets a $3 million a year salary. 145 million was paid in bonuses to the division in AIG that performed the worst. On 65% taxpayer investment. I'm guessing that a majority of Americans did not support bailing out AIG, nor did they support any of the legislature that has been created, or enforced, in the AIG deal. So why did it happen? Does that question really matter if the people aren't being represented? I'm aware that economists know more about the economy than I do, and that there are far smarter people than me. But, again, who cares since I am the one that is supposed to be represented. Maybe I'm wrong on this, but isn't there a problem if my say on the matter isn't important because "dude with a doctorates in xyz says otherwise?" Wasn't our sytem actually created because "dude with a crown says otherwise?"

This is just one example, but how many do you need before you recognize that the system that is supposed to represent you isn't doing so? Thats an honest, open ended question. Answer it, how many? To be fair, counter it with asking yourself how many you need to see that do represent you in order for you to feel like its fair. You can't win em all, thats a democracy issue. For me, I see more that I dissent from than I agree with, and I feel like a large majority of the population, especially our generation, feels the same. We aren't represented, the things that are important to us are not getting funding correctly, the things that are less important to us, are. That simple statement, to me, displays a gap that I am not comfortable with and feel must be spoken about and, over time, changed.

Simple exercise time: I'm going to list 5 things that are important to me about our country. They are obviously broad, and everyone is going to have their own list. Next to each one I'm going to put a Y or an N, a Y indicating I feel like that issue is being represented and handled how I would like it to be, and an N indicates otherwise. Do so yourself, but make sure and list the issues first, THEN go back and do the Y and N thing. Also, I'm not going to rant about each one, just a simple explanation of why I feel this way.


1) Educational Funding
2) Personal Liberties protected from Government control
3) Sustainable economy
4) Sustainable Environment
5)Military presence

1) N - Schools are expected to do more and more with less and less. We are still using educational systems/structures.strategies from the 1920's.
2) N - See the patriot Act, Enemy combatant classification, DNF lists, and "transparency"
3) N - We don't actually produce much here in the U.S., see Derivatives.
5) N - We've created a half system to start going sustainable, but its being dodged legally through "credit trading."
4) Y - Our military does kick ass.

I'd never done that before. I just took a few minutes and picked my top 5. It was hard to come up with a 5th, but I feel that military protection is still on my list. I don't feel that 1/5 is good enough for a country and a system that is supposed to represent me. Again, I could be wrong, or in the minority, in which case my point is proved incorrect. I hope you've actually take a few minutes and thought about each question I asked about, they weren't rhetorical. If you haven't, do so, see how you feel.