Why America is not a true Democracy; An Essay.
The Federal Government of America is composed of three branches; legislative, executive, and judicial. Powers are vested by the U.S. Constitution in the Congress (composed of 2 branches), the President (who wields very little power it turns out), and the Federal Court.
Now, on the surface this all seems fine. We The People elect people to hold office in these branches. But let's look closer shall we?
Because it was The Wealthy or People with Resources who initially set up our system; it turns out that it is 'usually' them who hold office.
Now you say, but we get to vote. And, yes we do but we only get to vote on who "they" give us to vote on. A recent study of the wealth of those in Congress (who basically call all the shots in America) finds that more than Half of These People have more than $1 Million Dollars in net worth (not gross; we're talking about money in pocket, after taxes).
Majority of lawmakers in 116th Congress are millionaires
So any person with any sort of intelligence would question what possible motivation millionaires would have in understanding the needs and wants of the Average Working Person. So by default we have to consider that We The People are really not represented in our government; that a 'certain' group of people are in charge and represented. And, sad to announce, that our voting system is actually a sham.
This is especially true now that financial inequality has been spotlighted.
So back when Ronald Regan took office, he passed one of the single largest tax cuts 'only for the wealthy' in history to date. And doubled down with that during his 2nd term. From then (think the 70's) until now I believe every President/Congress has given the wealthy huge tax breaks yearly while the average working class person has received nothing.
U.S. Inequality Has Returned to Gilded Age Levels
As a side note; Robert Reich who I used to really like, has served in 3 Presidential Administrations and also had no authority to enact any change for the better of the average worker. The exception is the implementation of the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA). But here again, we need to address "we the people" not just we who have children.
We could also address the Inequality between Black Citizens and White Citizens; how the Native American Indians have been treated by our military/wealthy, and even how Women are paid less then their male counterparts historically. So really; we've got problems people.
We, meaning the working class poor because the wealthy who actually run this country have gotten most Americans snowed by rhetoric.
So rhetoric is, by definition, the art of effective or persuasive speaking or writing, especially the use of figures of speech and other compositional techniques. (Oxford Dictionary)
So what we've come to find in America is that our government says one thing to us but does something completely different. This can also be called being a hypocrite.
Examples;
The phrase "Public Servant" is such a lie. It's now very clear that our Government is comprised of Rulers and only serve mostly themselves.
The statement, "We have to pay for our deficit!"
This is false for several reasons. First of all, our government (aka Congress) is the only body legally allowed to create the money we use in this country. So think of them as counterfeiters; they make as much money as they want to spend. We, the working people who are 'required to use their money' must earn it and makes ends meet. So when our representatives cry about having to balance the budget; you have to ask yourself, balance it to what? They are not held by the same standards as we are.
Which brings up yet another argument about them vs us. They have given themselves excellent salaries; working conditions; benefits; and extras (via the lobbyists). So if they actually represented us, why do they not live like us? And why do they not allow us to have better?
And so we return to the fact that our system has been set up by those in power (possibly wealthy) and are propagated by themselves (career politicians and political families, the wealthy, etc.) and with that the Average American is never represented; never thought about fully; fully taken advantage of. And yes, while there are a few in our government who are not 'wealthy' by standards; it is also a proven fact that unless there is a majority, the new and few will have no voice.
There is proven fact that humans (some? most? all?) feel the need to strive to be on top; to have more; to be more. While not true for all, it is true that the very wealthy do not wish to give up their power. And unless the average person can be heard and viewed, there is no democracy.
"Democracy is a form of government in which the people have the authority to deliberate and decide legislation, or to choose government officials to do so." (Wikipedia)
We The People have no authority. We are not represented in Congress or in The White House. We are in trouble and it appears there is no good way out of this problem. The first step to fix this is for us to recognize that there is a problem and work from there as a cohesive group.
Had average Americans been treated with the same perks as the wealthy; today would be so very different.
In the 70's the rule of money was that 1/4 of your monthly wages would pay for your home (be it rent or a mortgage). So let's look at those numbers for a moment in today's world, because we've already established that for the last 45 years wages have been behind for the working class American.
Rent/Mortage = $1600 a month
Salary = $6400 a month
Remainder = $4800 a month
So out of the remainder you'll pay for your transportation; food; clothing; insurance (which recently can be easily quoted as much as $3500 a month), and most importantly savings.
So let's say this is a family of 2. They would easily have $9600.00 in their monthly budget to pay for 'things.'
The wealth of families in today's world would be certainly not even, but poverty would be slight in my model. And why shouldn't it? Do any of you honestly think that people want to live like animals? That we want to worry over having enough money to feed our children? Enough money to go to the doctor? Have enough money to pay for heat in our homes when it's butt ass cold? Have enough money for any kind of decent life?
Yet the wealthy (let's call them big business) cares nothing for the actual needs of people and provides them subpar wages with most often terrible working conditions to the benefit of top management. And this is fact because if it wasn't, we currently wouldn't have many industries' workers striking for better wages and working conditions. And with recent articles coming out (as early as 2014) that Walmart and McDonalds corporation workers are the biggest recipients of Government Welfare (food stamps, etc.) is it any wonder that the Working Poor want retribution from the system; aka Congress?
I have no issues with the wealthy being wealthy.
My issues are with how the Working Class and Poor have been treated morally and financially for the last 40+ years. And this circles directly back to who runs our government. And this is why there must be a change or possibly America will head deeply into it's own civil war.
In closing; this is a great article with a look at our past and our possible future and the changes that need to be made in our government.