Blistex said:
Your solution to the problems America faces is what? Not to vote? What is that going to fix? I think it was said yesterday in my local newspaper that only about 50% of Americans actually vote. If people really cared about their life and the state of the country, that number should be way higher. The presidential race has typically always been Democrat or Republican but what stops you from forming your own political party or voting for other parties? Even they don't win, they can gain popularity.
American democracy, or rather democracy itself, is a disappointing system and I think the lack of people that vote testifies to that account.
1. America is (was) a Republic, democratic only in its election system.
2. The disenfranchisement with voting is the result of "First Past the Post" winner-takes-all election system.
It encourages strategic voting (voting Against, rather than voting For) and inevitably results in a Two-Party system.
That two-party system calcifies until you are essentially voting for two different factions of the same Party. The result will be the same because the incumbents/lobbyists play on both sides of the field.
There are better voting systems out there which provide incentive for diversity and voting For rather than Against, but USA does not have that system anymore.
Also remember that the "exceptionalism" of the USA system is that State elections matter more than Federal elections, to that State. That is what separates you from all other nations. If you aren't thrilled about voting Federal, then at least vote in State elections.
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I doubt you will return to that system without a bloody revolution in which the incumbents and lobbyist system is forcibly purged. That is unlikely since they control the strings of power, including the potent mainstream media which shapes the opinions of most citizens.
good luck
