Governmental system versus our elected officials

I notice that when people talk about our problems, they often blame our elected officials or engage in party-line type arguments. Is it possible that our whole governmental system needs a revamp or replacement?

MusicAdventurer said:

I notice that when people talk about our problems, they often blame our elected officials or engage in party-line type arguments. Is it possible that our whole governmental system needs a revamp or replacement?

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I am just bumping this post up - I feel that this is a very important issue - is it that people do not understand our system enough to comment, or that this question has been over-asked?

Am I the only one who dares to question whether or not our system is to blame for our problems?

Granted there is a human element, but humans are predictable as has been found in thousands of psychological studies. Thus, if we know how humans work, we should be able to devise a half decent system in which humans can live. Somehow, I just don't see this happening right now.

I'm sorry ... when I see people in the US dying of starvation and exposure while politicians and the wealthy complain about paying taxes ... something just doesn't seem right. So what's the problem? Why can't we get it right?

In my opinion, it has to be the system as human behavior is predictable; a predictable thing can be worked with - this means addressing systemic issues

IMO, our political system encourages corruption among government bureaucrats. So both.

When it became evident that individuals could vote for whomever would promise to give them money/benefits/personal favors, the major divergence began in our political system. It's not really the system or the politicians, but the attitude among the voters that they can get something out of their government. It's all about the money, and it's all about what is best for me me me, and not about what serves the best interests of our country's viability and stability.

lizzie said:

When it became evident that individuals could vote for whomever would promise to give them money/benefits/personal favors, the major divergence began in our political system. It's not really the system or the politicians, but the attitude among the voters that they can get something out of their government. It's all about the money, and it's all about what is best for me me me, and not about what serves the best interests of our country's viability and stability.

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I agree that the voters are responsible for most of our current troubles, but I think that most people sincerely believe that the welfare state is the most utilitarian option. Sadly, good intentions aren't sufficient; the problem with large-scale democratic states is that in a country of 300 million people, the probability that one's vote will matter is obscenely low, which discourages anybody from learning enough history or economics to make an informed decision. Democracy essentially becomes a variant on the Prisoner's Dilemma; we'd all be better off if all voters educated themselves, but it's irrational for any individual voter to go to the trouble of doing so because of the obscenely low probability that it will change the status quo.