What's Wrong with the U.S. Political System? Where To Begin….

We in the U.S. suffer under a political machine that systematically ignores the will of the people, as in the article excerpted here:

Here are a few facts that came from a recent presentation that Harvard Law professor Lawrence Lessig gave to a large and earnest audience.

• According to surveys of thousands of Americans, we almost unanimously agree on two things: a) money has too much influence on politics, and b) there is nothing that can be done to change this.

• 5.4 million Americans (a little under 2%) made cash donations to a politician in the last election, but the top 100 gave more than the bottom 4.75 million.

• A study from Princeton University shows an almost 100% correlation between Congressional votes and the interests of these Top 100.

• The same study shows that the decisions that Congress makes on the variety of issues are completely independent of the will of the people. Whether 20%, 40%, 60%, or 80% of the electorate supports a certain subject, this has no statistical bearing whatsoever on how the Senate and the House will vote on the matter.

The graphic above explains part of that.  Americans are force-fed info-tainment that generates high ratings for our news media, regardless of their relevance to the issues at hand.