Thread: About congress's last debacle

And people wonder why we are always bitching about the U.S. candidates. Outside the U.S. (and even to the more naive U.S. citizens), there seems to be this misconception that our electoral system is one that actually works, or is as simple as; "everyone gets an honest opportunity to see what their candidates are going to be like in their Presidency, so if we take a vote on who should win, we can only blame ourselves if that person fucks things up! It's brilliant!" It doesn't, and it's not. Top candidates are bought; campaign promises are broken; votes are miscounted; machines are rigged; questions are dodged; sincere (if possible), less-wealthy candidates are swept into obscurity; people vote more out of bias and prejudice than with an actual awareness of the issues; lawmakers create laws based on either dogmatic precedence or a need to line their pockets; voters are conditioned by manipulative and polarizing, mainstream media outlets (why do you think FOXNews calls itself the "Most Powerful" name in news?' Anybody ever actually stopped and tried to figure that out?); information is withheld and classified; geo-political events are coordinated in ways that would help to sway popular opinion toward certain goals. etc. etc.

At face-value, the system looks like something that should work. At it's most basic, 'democracy' seems like just that; a way for every voice to be heard, and for everyone to have a God-given chance at changing the course of history, by offering their perspective on things. It's a fairy tale - a rouse - and it's not how our government actually works, I'm afraid.