Your political opinions don’t matter. What difference did those opinions make today? Yesterday? Last week? Last month? What difference did they make in your city? Your state? America?
One of the great myths in America is that we have a representative democracy. It’s a myth, a lie, that your representatives represent anything about you, except your power. In truth, they don’t know what we want.
Right now, we don’t know what we want. Each of us has ideas about “what I want,” but even those are just ideas. You and I have zero responsibility about an issue. Our desires do not count in politics.
The result? What we want doesn’t matter. Sometimes we’re nearly unanimous in our desire for something. About 90% of Americans want to close the gun background check loopholes and denying gun permits to people with mental health issues. And most want to end the conflicts of interest, a.k.a. corruption, in Congress. But what we want doesn’t matter.
The result? We’re not responsible for our wants. Our political opinions are coarse, unrefined. For instance, some want “free college”, but what about people with existing tuition debt? And will private colleges can get any amount of public money they want for tuition? Does it mean all schools get paid the same? Does “free college” pay for living expenses? How about books? Does it pay more in an area with a higher cost of living? What if the student is a parent? And where does the money come from? If we raise taxes, on what or whom and how much? No one’s opinion need handle these details because our opinions don’t matter.
The result? Our representatives don’t know what we want. They take polls, which ask a few, surprised, mostly uninformed citizens what they think about the most shallow political questions. These people roughly represent the shallow guesses of us all, but they don’t represent the thoughtful, responsible positions of any of us.
The result? We are frustrated. We resort to childish behaviors since we have no adult way to be counted. We try to make our voices louder by shouting or cursing or protesting. We get angry and blame others and call people names. We have tantrums, even resort to shaming others or violence. This childishness is sometimes used to justify police violence.
The result? Politics is not in our control. Politicians instead rely on forming gangs to gain power- they’re called “parties.” The power of parties is in the money they raise so money largely controls them. And rather than having a choice on issues, you only get a choice about which party to vote for. Very rarely, a challenger has a chance of winning a primary and you get a choice between two people in the same party.
The result? Many people don’t participate. Most people care most about issues. Without their political opinions on issues mattering, politics doesn’t matter to them. So lots of people leave the system- they don’t even register to vote. Others are registered and don’t vote.
The result? People have little reason to be informed. To get audiences, magazines, newspapers and news networks try to create pieces that arouse emotions, not inform. One result is anger and divisiveness. Another is less regard for truth, more importance on emotion.
America’s political system is dysfunctional. Most Americans would support anti-corruption legislation, but it’s not even an issue. President Trump lies, breaks laws and says inane, ridiculous things, but his party cares about his power more than morality. While he may not be re-elected, few will blame the senators that refused to hold him accountable or that kept Mitch McConnell, the leader of the obstructionist, do-nothing, support-the-president Senate. That Trump was elected was proof that America’s political system is inadequate. That he wasn’t impeached is proof. That he’s the Republican candidate for president in 2020 is more proof.
In this blog, I’ve written that the root problem of our political system is a lack of accountability. The solution is to build a communication system that creates accountability. Central is making each of our political opinions matter. They will be counted. Your opinion will matter. It will be something to be responsible for. You’ll have a reason to be informed. Side effects include making issues that we agree on of paramount importance. And it will vastly lessen the power of money in political campaigns.
To create it, I need your help. Join my mailing list. Make a donation. Share with friends. If you have time and project management or design skills, offer to join me, or to help. If you have communication or graphic skills, I could use your help with outreach. PeopleCount is currently beginning an effort to raise money to launch next fall (2021), just before the next political campaigns begin. Be part of a real solution.