Simple Question: Do YOU Believe We Currrently Have A "Representative" Government ???

[WillyT]

I say, no.

[dchill]

1. Of course we do...

It is just a question of who the representatives represent. OK, there's not really a question, is there...

[WillyT]

3. So... When 60 To 70 Percent Of Americans Support A Gun Background Check...

And yet the Congress cannot approve what they want...

What do YOU call it?

[dchill]

7. Did you miss my point?

I call it minority rule ... Or Corporate Takeover.

[WillyT]

10. Got It...Thanks...

[struggle4progress]

28. I call that a failure to organize

[diabeticman]

2. Here! My wife realized it before I did but we have been thinking that for a while.

[Heather MC]

4. It depends on

Who you think should be represented, v/s who is getting represented.

I think if your want to be heard you need minimum $1 million ea for at least 5 legislators. If you want action you need to triple the money with same five, or spread millions around to more legislators.

But if you think you can get on the docket and be heard, seen, hell even mentioned without gobs of $$$$$$$$
Well i hate to say it, but you will not be represented in this Government.

I recommend Switzerland. Maybe

[Nite Owl]

5. No

The vast majority could care less what we the people want or need.

[villager]

6. I might amend that "hell no."

Alas.

[RKP5637]

8. Yes, we have a representative government, BUT, that government does not

represent "we the people," but rather $$$$$ donations allowing one to join the group, and really, bribery. ... and that connotes power, the rest of us just talk. ... basically, "we the people," today, have no representation in government.

[NuclearDem]

9. Representative of the 1%, absolutely.

The rest of us, barely.

[1000words]

11. We have enough of an illusion of a representative government ...

to allow those under it's spell to scoff and dismiss your opinion as "fringe."

[Warren Stupidity]

12. Nope. We have a plutonomy. It's form of government is a plutocracy.

It retains the facade of a representative government.

[liberal_at_heart]

13. No.

[Rex]

14. Bought and paid for by Big Business.

nt.

[2naSalit]

15. uhhh...

NO!

[NobodyHere]

16. I gotta blame the voters

Last time I checked we still cast votes every other year.

How many people on this board can honestly say that they will NEVER vote for a candidate who accepts corporate money?
I know I can't.

So now we have politicians who have our implicit approval to take corporate cash.

Let's face it, who will turn down money when in return there is so little cost to themselves, and much to gain?

[lunasun]

25. +1

[struggle4progress]

32. Voting is important. So is useful support of candidates. But the rubber really hits the road

between elections: paying attention to what our friends and enemies do, educating the public, and organizing pressure for the outcomes we want

[countryjake]

17. I hate polls.

Is this a poll?

[Jamastiene]

18. I know I don't right now, as far as the state of North Carolina.

None of these jackass Teabaggers that currently run this state represent how I think things should be handled. Their gerrymandering has insured it will be almost impossible for my district to be able to elect a Democratic Representative for ages to come. So, no, I don't really think so at this point, sadly.

[struggle4progress]

34. The bastids have always preached "you can't win" -- but we simply must try to win anyway, cuz

we certainly won't win if we swallow the line "you can't win"

[Jamastiene]

37. Amen to that.

[Pretzel_Warrior]

19. Yes. They are representing those with loudest voice$$$.

When the body politic rises up in resounding majority for a particular direction...the loud voices of voters sending them to early retirement almost always trumps what the lobbyists pay. It's just in our comfortable American leisure we don't rise up enough.

[Zorra]

20. It seems to me that it represents the 1% pretty effectively most of the time. nt

[Blue_In_AK]

21. No.

[Le Taz Hot]

22. Sure we do . . .

they represent the 1%. As for the rest of us . . .

[Egalitarian Thug]

23. Not even a little bit.

As time rolls on I find it more and more frightening/fascinating/surreal to see both political parties flatly walking away from their nominal constituents, and those same constituents just burning up their brains out trying to invent some rationalization for it.

Does anyone really believe that the President, their Congressperson, their Senator, their governor, or even their city councilperson, gives half a shit about their little personal problems?

[Donald Ian Rankin]

24. In terms of political opinions roughly yes, in terms of demographics not even close.

As far as I can tell, on most issues the distribution of opinions in the American government is not far from the American electorate.

But in terms of demographics, the government is obviously much older, richer, more educated and maler, and I think a bit whiter, a bit straighter and a bit more religious than the electorate.

[djean111]

26. No. President and on down through Congress (with a very few exceptions). No no no. n/t

[struggle4progress]

27. I don't think we have "a" government: I vote for city council members, county commissioners,

state senators and representatives, and federal senators and representatives on the legislative side; I vote for a city mayor, a council of state, a state governor and a federal president on the executive side; and on the judicial side, I vote for state judges. Beyond that, there are a variety of city, state, and federal employees who have various regulatory powers and who jobs are protected by various civil service laws; and there are appointed federal judges

It's not "a" government -- it's a patchwork of authorities: they're not all the same

[ProdigalJunkMail]

29. hahahahaha... oh, you were serious?

they represent someone ... just not the people...

sP

[Gothmog]

30. Gerrymandering is a big issue

Many people are not represented due to gerrymandering

[hobbit709]

31. It represents the corporations quite well.

[a kennedy]

33. and ditto to HELL NO!!

[SamKnause]

35. Representation you ask ?

The answer is a resounding NO !!!

The corporations have representation.

The lobbyists have representation.

The global CEO's have representation.

The Christian religion has representation.

[BlueJazz]

36. Poor=No Rich=Yes

[el_bryanto]

38. What do the people want? Because a hell of a lot o them vote for Republicans

Don't they?

Are our representatives supposed to represent their voters interests or their wishes?

Bryant

[bigwillq]

39. No (nt)

[ananda]

40. To a way too large extent, no ..

.. we do not have a representative government.

Well, they do represent certain interests, just not those
of the lower percenters.

[99Forever]

41. No we don't. Not even close.

Washington DC represents their owners, the 1%.

[1awake]

42. Well.. I guess that depends on how you look at it.

The only people ANY of our politicians represent are the lobbyists. I can think of maybe... a handful who this might not cover, but I'd still have some free fingers.

[OLDMDDEM]

43. Answer.

No. We have a Plutocracy. The rich win. The poor lose.

[Autumn]

44. No.

[Shankapotomus]

45. We have a representative government

but an obstructionist one. And I blame that squarely on the Republican and Right Wing political machine.