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Comment by disposition2 | Hacker News Reader

The US is a constitutional republic in which democratic institutions act according to the wishes of those with the biggest checkbook except for a few limited cases...and even when the populace can defeat that, often the checkbook eventually wins. See CISA as the most recent example.

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CISA, for all its importance, is a niche issue. Most Americans don't care. Some of them are all for it.

The only groups who have a problem with CISA are the technical community and some civil liberties advocates.

CISA is not an example of a law passed in the face of popular opposition.

[citation needed]

Most people will never be aware of every minor or even most major issues. I think the majority of people who were aware of it were against it.

It's too easy to blame the billionaires' checkbooks. US elections can be bought, but only indirectly. Money buys advertising, but the people still have the power not to listen to advertising. Just ask Jeb! Bush. I still blame the individual voters who choose to remain so ignorant.

It is systems that allow for bad results. Blaming the individual is silly. If people are ignorant, there is a system keeping them so.

In the big number game, you have half people dumber than average. In a system where the majority wins, that's self defeating.

> Money buys advertising, but the people still have the power not to listen to advertising.

Quite true. However, considering how the financier of these advertisements can be obfuscated or just not reported period, you're basically asking people to ignore all political advertising and be suspect about just about everything they read, hear or see.

"The people" are sort of a non entity. A person can resist propaganda, but a propagandist does not have to convince a person. A propagandist need only convince enough people to sway an election-- and any subset of people of any age or education will do. If the election is close it might only take a few percent. This indeed places a lot of power in the hands of the media and anyone who can buy it.

Democracy is sort of a plutocratic oligarchy system where ordinary people are recruited to be intermediaries and are therefore given the illusion of power.

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