> The lack of an immediate change in government policy != people not caring.
How long do we wait before we strike immediate from that statement, and then set the != to ==?
How long do we wait before we strike immediate from that statement, and then set the != to ==?
At some point, a tipping point will be reached. See my comment above about slow change. It's frustrating that things are not happening faster, but that's why we have elections every 2 years. Unless you believe that mechanism is broken too, in which case we have bigger problems to worry about.
Obama was supposed to reverse Bush's policies. Instead he enhanced them. It doesn't matter who you vote for. The gerrymandering, the first past the post voting system, the electoral college, the two-party system, the two-party media, all the special interest groups, the corporations, the bribing, I mean, the campaign contributions... The system is fundamentally broken.
Democracy doesn't scale. I doubt a country as big as the United States will ever be truly democratic.
Now, the reason why the Snowden revelation is significant is because the constitution is directly being violated (namely the 4th amendment, Bill of Rights). It could be argued that some of the problems you listed are also violations of the constitution (namely campaign contributions and corporations being defined as people), and I would probably agree with you, but we can't just throw it all away because it makes us unhappy.
I'm optimistic because the constitution has been violated throughout the history of this country many times before, and the result has always been reversion to the mean (either through a constitutional amendment or the violating act became irrelevant over time). Ironically, two of my favorite presidents - Lincoln and Obama - were two of the biggest violators. Hopefully, we've learned our lesson that the candidate's promises matter less than the era they come into and the system they represent.
Oh, I don't doubt this. I just wonder if the "meant to" part means representing the will of the people and acting with the interest of the general public in mind.
Your statement assumes the people caring will result in change in government policy. I'm doubting those two things are connected anymore.