Voting

In America today we have one party that is intent on making voting difficult.  They argue a concern for voter fraud, although very little voter fraud has been found in the current era and impose retrictions that poorer less educated people have trouble meeting.

On the other hand some want to make voting as easy as possible to get more participation and a more democratic outcome.

It has certain racial and economic overtones, and the people who want to impose barriers feel that their supporters are more likely to meet them.  This is very similar to the concept that was behind Jim Crow laws in the south which were set just high enough to allow the "right" people to run things.

The fact that we have a republic and an electoral college reflects the fact that this mind set is as old as America is.  Property owners were worried about the rabble who had no stake in the country and might overrun it.

This is why Democracy is scary.  Realistically we all know people who shouldn't get to decide the country's future.  Who those people are sometimes depends on your viewpoint, but if we are a democracy we have to roll the dice.

One thing that is destructive to the running of a country is the factions that exist.  In other words, having parties that decide things that the party supports instead of what the country needs or the majority support.

For example, the majority of the country is in favor of reasonable gun control, but the gun lobby has a lot of influence.  Similarly, most of the country supports LGBT rights but Evangelical have significant influence in one of the parties.

With the States and the gerrymandering that goes on, the majority opinions and views get way laid by the system.The recent election cycle showed the problems with party politics and in response we see reactions in both parties because the people are frustrated.  Of course different people are frustrated in different ways, but the outcomes we get are ultimately satisfying to no one except the special interests and professional politicians.

In some ways the election of an outsider to be President is a good sign, but his ability to actually influence things is questionable.  What is probably sad about this is that the person elected is likely the least qualified person possible, and unlikely to have much real influence on what happens.

The only real solution would be to put significant policy positions to the public for mandatory voting.  Of course the odds of this happening in this country are remote and the system would need to be well designed to expedite it.   Its a shame that we have instituted a system that has legalized a two party system making every election about party more than issues.

I'll discus this further in the future, but what we have now is now really working for most, just the insiders.