Representative Republic:Does it really work?

Question

What good is having a Representative Republic when the people keep choosing poor representatives and are unwilling to accept a gov't that says "no" when it needs to?

Isn't the Representative Republic responsible for causing the debt and not addressing urgent issues in medical research and health care?

Do we really need to send more people to the moon when over 1000 kids get HIV every day?

Tell me why you think this works!

Answer 1

Because you can't show me any where in the world that their is a better working system.

Answer 2

It has worked for last couple hundred years or so, but it is time to study and review for sure. Psychologists will tell you that a person involved with politics more than likely is a person who craves power. So collectively the elected governments tend to create laws that will give themselves more power. Our founding fathers tried to establish a government that was purposefully weak in political power, because they did not want the all powerful tyrannical governments they were accustomed to in Europe. If you look at the constitution, you can see where recent(past 50 years) elected officials have increased the power of the government. Here are a few programs that fall in this category.

Social security... This program started out innocent enough. Intent on getting people to plan for their own retirement, the ones who were not already planning for it at least. Since then it has been expanded and pillaged where it does more than originally intended and creates much political power for elected officials. No where in the constitution is it allowed for government to provide social welfare for the country. The idea is great, but should be left in the hands of the people, not the government. Gradually putting social security on some form of private investment/savings plan will greatly reduce the political power generated by this program.

Medicare.... Very similar to social security. A government program that has mushroomed into a monsterous grab for political power. The biggest problem I see with this program is the removal of personal responsibility for our own health. People have no incentive to stay healthy. Again, the intentions of the program are great, but the implementation of it needs lots of overhauling. Concentrated emphasis on health maintenance by the AMA instead of tolerance of the symptoms of health issues will put things on the right track. The best example that I can think of is arthritis. Anyone who has any kind of joint pain is prescribed pain and anti-inflamatory medicines. These do nothing for the root cause of the pain, they only hide it. Providing the body with the nutrients that will eliminate the cause of the pain are the only real CURE... not a mask of the problem. The recent rise in issues concerning Attnetion Deficit Disorder is another issue where the AMA is only feuling the fire to ensure long term gains only for the doctors trying to treat the condition with no possibility for a cure.

Education... As I understand it, Education is a state right, yet again the federal government has stepped in to "rescue" the states. Yes, there may have been in-equality in schools, but can you say recent government programs have done anything to change this? The existance of medical detectors and police patrolling the hallways in some schools tells me government initiatives have failed terribly for our schools. The initiatives to implement school vouchers are a step in the right direction.... a direction that points to private schools. Schools where the 80% of US citizens who beleive in Christain principles can send their children to schools who implement these principles. The other 20% can have private schools without these principles if they so choose.

A few years ago I heard a report where New Zealand, did a form of government review, and eliminated a majority of their government programs, saving taxpayers enormous sums of money. Given, their government might have been worse than we currently are, but why wait until then?

So YES... representative governments can work, but it is up to people to be educated so they can make it so!

Answer 3

Its working just fine.

You'd have even bigger complaints about a "direct democracy". In a direct democracy you have direct majority rule, and no protection to keep minorities from being either A. Ignored, or B. Persecuted.

Remember that 60% of Americans identify themselves as "conservatives" regardless of their stated political affiliation.

Remember also that "Health Care" research is not the responsibility of the US government. Neither is health insurance. Personal responsibility tells me I MUST carry health insurance for myself and my kids, and it is MY responsibility to educate myself and to be "employable" in order to keep my insurance.


Failing that, we Do offer a safety net, which is a good thing, but ought to be a temporary hand-up, instead of an entitled Hand-out.

Its also a matter of personal responsibility not to spread viruses our offspring--no government can jump into bed with people to prevent AIDS from spreading.

Finally, our Space program has resulted in so many benefits that we can't count them all. Do you think computers, cells phones, gps systems, and other personal technology would exist in the form they do if we hadn't explored space?

Answer 4

Only the ones that were wearing a brand new Golden watch left. All others stayed and enjoyed a very thorough speech. I watched the whole thing on the TV. Tommy