What is going wrong with democracy?

Question

I think the old 'checks and balances' are not strong enough to ensure the goverment comes out on top. Lobbyist's backed by huge Corporations have the money to buy politicians. The media in too few hands has the power to control perceptions and votes. In the old days a goverment could look after the peoples interests by breaking up and legislating against monopolies, now they are too scared of being voted out of office on the whim of a media proprietor. Individuals are easilly ignored. We need something bigger than the Corporations - big enough to put them back in their box. It seems to me the internet is a tool that could work for the people. Could I suggest that everyone who reads this and feels the same post on the internet, asking those that read their posts to do the same. LETS CREATE A GROUNDSWELL FOR DEMOCRACY ON THE NET demanding the breaking up of monopoly media, the outlawing of lobbyists, & reform of electoral finance so that people with integrity not just money run.

Answer 1

There is a much easier and efficient solution...term limits. Get rid of these life long politicians and their relationships with special interests and you remove many lobbying problems. Lobbying itself can not be removed because of conflicts with the first amendment. Same thing with the liberal stranglehold on the mainstream media (first amendment). If there were term limits you would get people SERVING instead of making careers out of politics. Lobbyists would not have the types of influence with the politicians because there would be many more people in these positions. Republicans talked about it for awhile but didn't follow through because they are just as interested in their political careers as the Democrats. The Democrats are just special interest whores who would never support term limits. Term limits would fix a lot of our current government corruption.

Answer 2

There is a common confusion of definition demonstrated here. The USA is not technically a democracy (where all citizens of legal age vote on every single issue), it is a republic. We elect people to represent us on issues. It's our own doing when we elect those people for characteristics that do not have anything to do with the job for which we are electing them.
Elections have turned into popularity and image contests. Campaigns should be viewed as job interviews. Nothing more, nothing less. What experience do they bring to the table for the specific office, are they running for a legislative or administrative position? Check the references, and backers. That's where the loyalty will lie. Check the track record. Do they actually have a history of voting as they speak, or do they say one thing and do another? Do they defend their position with popular rhetoric that puts down the other guy, or do they have and logically support a plan?
So many voters are ignorant of the actual job description for the office in question. There, lies a big part of the problem. Some one may make great speeches (especially with enough money to hire the best writers) but we aren't electing them to make speeches, are we? And we certainly should not be electing speech writers.
If voters did their homework, we'ld have far fewer user criminals in office. The situation is our own doing.
Beware of the candidate who is always telling you what you want to hear, all that person wants from you is your vote.

Answer 3

Why Democracies Fail; By Professor Alexander Fraser Tyler, over 200 years ago while our thirteen original states were colonies of Great Britain. At the time he was writing of the decline and fall of the Athena Republic over 2000 years before:
A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover they can vote themselves largess[ the public funds] from the Treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the political candidate who promises the most freebies and benefits from the public treasury. The absolute and irrefutable result is that democracy always collapses over a loose fiscal policy, the mob sentiment and this is always followed by a Dictatorship.
This is why our founding fathers formed the "Republic" of The United States Of America.
I pledge alligiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the" Republic" for which it stands. We were not meant to be a democracy.

Answer 4

From your assessment, there is ABSOLUTELY NOTHING wrong with democracy. It is the PEOPLE that are causing all the problems. Your idea of breaking up monopoly media and outlawing lobbyists is a very good idea but how are you going to get the crooked politicians in Washington to do this. That's like trying to get the fox out of the hen house by asking him to come out.

Answer 5

Democracy is a fine concept, but if the leader of a democratic country thinks he hears God's voice telling him to what to do and acts like he's a king, it won't work.

Answer 6

It won't be a true Democracy until we get rid of all the Republicans.

Answer 7

sounds like you should find yourself a nice socialist or communist country to live in.