How did "We the people" turn into electing the lesser evil?

Question

Forgive my ignorance, I am still learning. I do not understand how an official can do anything but what we tell them to do when he or she is in office. From what I have read on these postings, not many people are satisified with the officials. If the majority do not want them in office, why are they still in office? Isn't it time our nation simplifies things? When we ask for something as a majority, shouldn't we get it?

Answer 1

Well, there's really two issues in your post. First, although officials are supposed to be responsive to the will of the people, they do--and have to--have the authority to act independantly. Responsible elected officials try to strike a balance. They don't try to "govern based on polls"--but they do take the input of citizens into account on an ongoing basis as they make decisions. Obviously, that's not what we have in the White House right now.

Which brings me to your second issue--the "lesser of two evils." Many people don't realize these days (thanks in large part to our deplorable educational system) that the Constitution was written with the assumption that our choice of leaders would in fact be just that--a choice of the lesser of evils.

Our Founding Fathers and the Framers of the Constitution were wise enough to understand that the state is first and foremost an instrumet of power--and that handing power over the citizen to officials, however necessary it might be, carries with it an inherant danger to liberty. READ the Constitution--and pay attention to the wording, especially the Bill of Rights. It is all about limiting the power of the government and protecting the rights of the citizen from being infringed on by the government. And--if you want to understand the thinging of the framers of theConstitution further, read the Federallist papers (written as newspaper essays at the time of the Constitutional Convention to explain and promote the new Constitution)--this was the single greatest concern (you can find the Federalist papers at www.house.gove--click on education).

Here --in a nutshell--is the view of the framers of the Constitution:

"Government in its best state is but a necessary evil, in its worst state an intolerable one"
--Thomas Paine

Today--or at any time--we would be wise toremember that the Constitution was written primarily to protect us FROM the government.

Answer 2

We have a "fantasy America" that is like you believe, like we all learn in grammar school. When we grow up we don't want to believe in the reality we see so we pretend that we live in the fansasy USA.

Answer 3

Oh YES. But apathy is where people have the mentality of 'See no evil, hear no evil........They don't want to stand for their rights.