The people of America have always thought of their country as a democracy but in reality all we have is a republic. We do not elect the highest official in our land but the presidential office is decided by a handful of people. As seen in the last election Blackwell of Ohio threw all electoral votes to the republican party even though the state went democrat and changed what should have been a democratic victory.
A Houston jury convicted both Ken Lay and Jeff Skilling, despite the fact that Kenny Boy packed his Bible to the courtroom every day.
Since it is a long and noble Texas tradition for the accused to fight all allegations by finding Jesus, this indicates a major degree of guilt. (While on trial for murder, T. Cullen Davis, the Fort Worth millionaire, not only found Jesus but also threw a big party to celebrate at the mansion, with piles of shrimp and BBQ and a soundtrack that announced over and over throughout the grounds that night, “The son of Stinky Davis has found the son of God.") http://www.moveon.orgPublic out cry to change the system to a popular presidential vote has picked up momentem since the 2000 election but the big vote states are afraid of loosing their control. The public has a right to be heard and listened to not ignored by the people that are elected to serve.
Serve is the key word here and the public has to take a stand and make these public servents pay attention to the will of the people not just go off on their own personal money seeking schemes. Voting is the only thing that politicians recognise and if they are taught that the public is sick of being ignored they will stand up and listen.
Here in CT we face the problem of senator Liberman (D) running with the Bush crowd and backing every criminal scheme the Bush regime has come up with. These people that are showing favor for Bush so they can get favors like more funds for Israel or harder stands against Moslem people are not representing the public but their own interests. Liberman and some others hold the record for not showing up for critical votes unless it is voting money for their favorite private cause.
Sadly in America the freeist country in the world is not a democracy and has one of the lowest voting records of any free country. Politics can be very boring for the young but we need to incourage them to take interest in their future which is spelled out by our leaders. We need to convince people that their vote does count and hold public officials at all levels responsible. We can't convict public officials for the lies they tell but we can vote them out of public office which amounts to a death sentence for them.