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I'm not arguing direct democracy (though I'd be interested to follow you and roach into a thread about it).
I'm talking about the functionality of the pseudo-democratic constitutional republic that is the USA. Ask yourself this: why do you vote for whomever you vote for? I do because I believe that they agree with me on political, social, and/or economic concerns that I believe that he or she will represent my beliefs in office. How am I supposed to know his or her beliefs? One way is to check up on his or her history. For example, I'm sure you've checked out Obama's voting record just like I have. Then you listen to campaign promises. I would absolutely love to believe everything a politician promises, but history has taught me that many are liars and it's more difficult than one might think to tell the honest politicians from the dishonest.
So on the one hand you have verifiable evidence: the voting record. On the other hand you have campaign promises, which are usually tantamount to meaningless when considering precedence. The issue I'm trying to bring up in this thread: is the campaign promise situation solvable? Or do we just have to sit back and take months (now years) of what may or may not be complete lies, or at the very least empty promises? Do we want our politicians to be entertainers, as Jazz may have been suggesting?
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