[HammerSandwich]

Not long ago, I stopped at a fast-food joint for lunch. The 6-man kitchen staff couldn't keep up with the lone cashier, and the manager's participation was limited to cursing at his employees. Rule by the people? I think we can do better than that. There are a lot of under-educated, ill-informed, apathetic, short-sighted, and self-interested people who should have no part in setting governmental policy or direction. "But, HS," I already hear, "that's why the USA is a REPRESENTATIVE democracy." So the same people who can't be trusted to run the country can make informed decisions about who should?

In all seriousness, I see two major problems with the US government's direction over the last, well, as long as I've been old enough to watch. Call it since Reagan.

First off, special interests have distorted the whole idea. Representation doesn't work well when only certain people/groups have access to those representing. Throw some honest-to-God corruption into the system, and even the strongest, best-intended leaders have one hell of an uphill struggle.

Second, the two major parties have become so committed to defeating each other that many issues have lost their shades of grey. Progress through compromise is disappearing, and US democracy really is turning into majority rule. When the presidential vote splits 51-48%, fairly representing all the people requires some middle ground. Does a winner-takes-all mentality allow this?

Perhaps if we seriously address some of the problems within our own government, the rest of the world would be more receptive to our form of democracy. And perhaps not. But the USA would be a better place, and that's something we should all support.