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Comment by sker | Hacker News Reader

> The US isn't a democratic republic anymore.

I also used to think that my government wasn't a democracy because they don't represent me. But the truth is, they do represent the majority of the population.

If no branch of your government gives a shit about this issue, that's because the majority of your society doesn't either. So long as they have McDonald's and reality TV, who gives a shit about some random terrorists being tortured?

Change the mindset of your society and then, only then, you will see change in your government, but not before.

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Sadly sker people don't want to face this simple reality. It's easier to play the victim card. To want to tear the whole thing down and start again. To say "my vote doesn't count so I'm just going to stand here and complain about how a mystical evil force of the wealthy or neohawks really runs everything" I guess they do because they actually give a shit and work the current system. When your opponent throws up their hands and leaves the court or playing field they can't be too surprised when the score gets run up.

The "I need to roll up my sleeves and work hard to make changes to gerrymandering, primaries and campaign finance reforms so that a much broader pool of American's can have a chance to run for and win" just isn't sexy. Heck one rogue sys admin and fringe blogger are single handily re-defining domestic and international politics. Imagine if every one else did just 5% of what they did to retool the current processes?

    Heck one rogue sys admin and fringe blogger are single handily
    re-defining domestic and international politics.

Gosh, I hope not. As much as I admire Edward Snowden, I sincerely hope the new definition of domestic and international politics isn't "Live in fear of the whistleblower." It's a terribly sad day when doing the right thing by the public is left to one lowly sysadmin in the entire intelligence community. I'd like to think that someday we can get back to asking for less of the totally naked transparency we're now demanding of the intelligence community, because we can trust them to do their job without abusing their power. Others have pontificated on how the NSA can restore that trust. I don't know how, I just hope that someday they DO.

"the truth is, they do represent the majority of the population."

Except that they dictate the choices people have. The majority of people vote on the issues that the major parties declare to be the issues. Gay marriage, not the validity of the war on drugs. Abortion rights, not our constitutional rights. It is a democratic system of sorts I suppose...

But the truth is, they do represent the majority of the population.

They represent a majority of the money. The country's strategic assets are held to ransom by a fraction of 1% of the citizens. We're playing modern Monopoly.

On the other hand.... Adopting the mindset of the majority is not the same thing as representing them. I have a job, kids, a wife with a job, a mortgage, school volunteering, yard work, housework, and on and on. I should be able to vote for people I trust and go on living my life to a reasonable extent. My representatives should represent me and my interests, not mimic my exhausted apathy.

Indeed; the US has recently seen the rise of an effective third party - the Tea Party, who are generally in favour of this kind of evil.

It's not even just the Tea Party. If it were, we'd still see countless non-Tea Partiers taking to the streets everyday to protest NSA surveillance and government corruption. We don't. You can ask a typical American what they think and maybe half will say "Yeah, it's bad!", but they still don't do anything about it.

Americans just don't care enough to do anything. The few that do genuinely care are too afraid to do anything.

At least they exist. I think they are great even though I do not agree with all their positions. If anything, different groups of these don't necessarily agree on all points.

they are great because members from both parties are scared of them. they are great because members from both parties attempt to silence them.

My only concern is, where are the true grassroots groups from the left? OWS was manufactured. Tea Party suffers from attempts by monied interests attempting to take over but for the most part individual groups have shown resilience to that. Don't get me wrong, they have their loons but all political groups do.

We need to unsettle Washington more and more. Washington knows this, evident mostly by the abuses of the IRS, but the FBI and NSA are not far behind.

Responsible budgets, limited government, pure evil.

The recent government shutdown caused significant chaos and economic damage. And over what? Healthcare that didn't even involve vast government expenditure. Wake me up when there's action on that scale against the much larger military budget.

Let's get really real here: the Tea Party as constituted doesn't give a single toss about "responsible budgets, limited government." They are entirely in favor of bloated workfare military programs and governmental intrusion into women's reproductive systems. It's their thing.

But first they need to harm the US as much as possible. Eventually, they'll get around to responsible budgets for the things they want.

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