There are two paths; love....and FEAR!
I think the whole two party system cheats us. It reduces every question to either/or, yes or no, when really there are many answers to the questions that plague us as a nation. We basically have a divided country, two groups trying to solve problems within the confines of their party's ideology. When really every individual theoretically has the potential to brainstorm, and this is limited when one has to think inside the proverbial box so as not to alienate the other "conservatives" or "liberals". And we are so conditioned to accept this as an inevitability that it becomes very difficult for other parties to emerge, even supposing enough campaign funding would come their way. We elect a single person for the task of upholding policies that have been designed by one of two types of bureaucrats. Is it possible that we could instead vote on the issues themselves? I dont just mean to vote yes or no on a proposition that a number was assigned to. I imagine instead that we define our major problems and needs, and then several options per each one are examined and put before the public in the form of ballots. Polititions would no longer have to serve as figureheads for predetermined courses of action, but only as direct servants to the public will. We could more or less eliminate the question of whether the president will "do as promised." Naturally, it would involve nearly constant voting, so perhaps this is far too chaotic and idealistic. Or perhaps it would force, at least encourage, a greater number of people to be involved in the nation's welfare. Maybe one day more people will be educated, and my hope wont seem so outlandish. I suppose it would require more people to care about educating themselves, which I think would increase in likelihood if we marketed learning, law, and public policy with as much gusto as we advertise everything else in this country. If watching sesame street and reading rainbow as a child had been similar to the experience I have today of watching the news, I probably wouldn't have cared to learn what the letter A was for. But damn, they made letters look amazing! What they should really do is hire vocalists and songwriters to sing the latest bullitins, and splice subliminal rotating big macs in between. They should drop copies of the latest proposals from planes, with vouchers for an EXCITING FREE GIFT!!! upon completion of questionnaires regarding their components and perceived effectiveness. I'm stretching here, but mock news programs are on the right track. There's probably nothing better than satire when it comes to making people consider issues otherwise too stressful to dwell on. Make everything into something the masses want to watch, something that they cant help but access, and just maybe people will become knowledgeable enough that safety nets such as the electoral college will seem even more outdated and unnecessary than they already are.