It’s 2011… Why do politicians have jobs?

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I don’t care what side of the isle you’re on, some things just don’t make sense.

 

When the United States was founded, because we were all spread out over hundreds and hundreds of miles, we had people speaking on our behalf.  You remember grade school, right? “No taxation without representation.”  We gave our input and our representative was supposed to vote how “we, the people” wanted them to vote.

 

Here in 2011, we have a voice of our own.  We can vote from a computer, or a mobile phone, and the results are instantaneous.  Just look at American Idol.  True, more people vote for than that WOULD likely vote for something like H.J. Res 37, but the point is: do we really need someone to “represent” us?  Don’t we have a voice of our own yet?  Anyone can be swayed by lobbyists, it’s obvious.  And it doesn’t take much to sway the American Public (as evidenced, again, by the popularity of American Idol), but I can’t help but think of that law of averages – checks and balances are built in to large sample-groups.  One lobbyist with deep pockets can have a much bigger effect on one congressman or senator who can’t resist a good bottle of scotch, or some fancy new clothes, or whatever other perks they seem to be giving out these days.

 

People are swayed by advertising, it’s true – and elections will continue to be bought and sold for generations to come, no matter what the voting system would happen to be.  But did the framers of our Constitution believe so firmly that the misinformed few should be represented in an electoral college by the easily tainted fewer?  I suppose they have their legitimate reasons: after all, a disturbingly large number of Americans still have no idea what the vetting process consists of and believe that Obama is a Kenyan-born Muslim.

 

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So, some things just don’t make sense…  why don’t we do the voting ourselves, through “vote.gov” or something?  Then again, you can reason your way through it pretty quickly when you realize just how easily misinformation spreads.  But, perhaps someday, the world won’t be filled with as many stupid people, and we’ll be able to answer for ourselves when asked important questions like what to name that new courthouse in Yuma, Arizona.  Voting isn’t pointless, it just seems like it sometimes.