Minority Control

If you live in a country where the decisions on what to do are made by a group that composes about a third of the total population, it is hard to call that a true democracy more of a situation where you have one group dominate the majority.

Now it is of course possible that the ones controlling the Government are in agreement with the majority but its also very possible that they aren't.

Now of course in America we have a fairly apathetic electorate and because of Gerrymandering and voter suppression, the party in control is clearly not the majority.

They weren't even the majority of those who did vote, but because of the way we set up our results were able to win the Presidency, and both houses of the congress.  This will most likely let them dictate the composition of the Supreme Court for a period of decades.

So does the Government as constituted represent the people of the United States?  Well not all of them or even most of them if you can trust polls.  They represented enough voters for certain issues that as I just said they control the Government and it was all done legally.(ethics may be a different issue).

Part of the reason for this is that liberals, or progressives are less pragmatic than conservatives.

For example, evangelicals who probably washed their hands after every handshake with the Republican candidate still voted for him because he took their position on abortion if very little else.

Similarly many republicans looked past his glaring faults but voted for him because of his tax stance, ignoring the fact that they were in bed with the racists and xenophobes.

The statement that a large group of his supporters were in fact deplorable was used by many as a rallying cry, even though it was obvious to almost everyone that he had supporters that you wouldn't tolerate socially.

Now on the other side, every little flaw in the candidate, real or imagined was a reason to shun both her and the election because, well, they are idealists.

The fact that one candidate would clearly better promote liberal and progressive goals was overshadowed by the fact that she had made speeches to wall street firms and banks.

This list goes on and on and simply, until it changes we will live in a country where progressive ideals are ignored despite their popularity.

Sitting out an election because the candidate isn't perfect doesn't get you perfect representation, just he opposite.