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Comment by AdamJacobMuller | Hacker News Reader

While I agree with you in principle, that the friction is "as designed," I still say our system is broken -- even when there are things which a supermajority of people agree on, our legislators are unable to craft solutions which align which the majority of people agree with, without inserting things which are designed to cater to tiny minority special interests, which can effectively "poison pill" a bill so that nobody likes it (even if it's passed).

Alternatively, we pass giant tomes of legislation (esp budgets) which literally nobody can understand let alone agree on.

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If a supermajority of people agree on both the purpose and implementation of anything, then their elected representatives will easily come to an agreement as well. That's literally how laws get passed.

Conversely, not passing laws is a feature, not a bug.

> Alternatively, we pass giant tomes of legislation (esp budgets) which literally nobody can understand let alone agree on.

I agree. These massive laws are rushed through precisely because leadership knows that people won't have enough time for debate, let alone in proper order.

So, so, so many people get caught up in information bubbles and fall victim to thinking everyone agrees with their viewpoint. This leads to the disillusionment with congress and the belief of it being "ineffective" because from their perspective, everyone is in agreement so why are these policies not being passed?

No, instead the system is working as designed. When there is no consensus on a policy, the policy is not passed.

I think you are conveniently ignoring how the Senate representation is now so widely disconnected from the demographic reality in your answer.

> If a supermajority of people agree on both the purpose and implementation of anything, then their elected representatives will easily come to an agreement as well. That's literally how laws get passed.

In a representative democratic system.

The US does not have a representative democratic system.

Does everyone in that supermajority have equal influence on their respective representatives?

That's not even close to how laws get passed. If what you say were true, then why don't we have many laws the vast majority of Americans want and have laws most Americans oppose? Americans are overwhelmingly against gerrymandering, but miraculously there's no law banning the practice. They also disapprove of overturning Roe v Wade and corporations being considered people. They support legalization of marijuana, support free college education, early voting, data privacy legislation, criminal justice reform, and a 4 day work week but again no help there.

> our legislators are unable to craft solutions which align which the majority of people agree with, without inserting things which are designed to cater to tiny minority special interests

"who fund their campaigns" fits at the end, doesn't it?

ref: https://duckduckgo.com/?q=what+are+bills+written+by+lobbyist...

Although "who kept a lucrative job waiting for them, once their term ends" works too.

ref: https://duckduckgo.com/?q=revolving+door+congress&ia=web

What are those things on which a supermajority of people agree, including implementation details and funding sources? Everyone wants more free stuff from the government. No one wants to pay higher taxes.

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