Loser

What I'm saying is not that we failed in that, but that we failed long ago, by allowing the system to be manipulated time and time again in favor of people who really don't give a shit about anyone except themselves and whoever they have to please so they can benefit from everyone else's hard work.

There's really not much we can even do at this point, either. We're pretty much screwed every time, no matter what, unless more than 80% of the country's adult population grows a set of steel balls at the same time and agrees to do government reform, elect new people, get rid of the old ones, and make the system so that people can be easily removed from power if they don't deliver on their policies and promises to the American people.

It's been abused so much in the last fifty years that who even knows who's for the people anymore? Everyone's so deep in self-interest that we can't come to mutual understandings of what our priorities should be as a nation, and so we've been gradually declining more and more, especially recently. We were once the greatest nation, and we may still be a 'great' nation, but I honestly wouldn't say we're 'better' than we were before.

We've made improvements in some places, but fallen far behind in other necessary areas. Well, that's the fault of no one in specific, but it's the fault of our inability to form cohesively as a people - this is also the result of being the wonderful melting pot we are, which is a good thing, but at the same time it makes creating policies and such harder if you want to ensure everyone is pleased.

There are so many issues with our economy that I think elected officials shouldn't make as much money as they do, either. I understand it's a difficult position to be in, but being a politician should mean that you are first and foremost representing the interests of your people. Not saying don't pay them at all, but the amount that elected officials make, especially at higher levels, is ludicrous.

Not to mention the coziness of maximum job security the receive - to my knowledge, only one or two US presidents have been impeached. This doesn't mean that others weren't bad or made bad choices for Americans, but that we just can't really remove elected officials from power. I honestly think that while this system was set up pretty well considering it was crafted by revolutionaries after attaining freedom from a monarchy, it's still almost 250 years old, and in need of a massive overhaul.

I'm not saying to throw away peoples' rights, either - the opposite, in fact. I'm not necessarily saying to weaken the central government, either - but to make the people easily exchangeable. We should have backup plan upon backup plan upon backup plan, just in case things don't pan out with one of the officials and it turns out they do a terrible job.

Well, even my theory has its own problems - there is no perfect system, and no matter how long anyone tries to, one can never be created. Someone is always going to dislike the decisions of another, and disagreements will always exist. People will not always see eye-to-eye, and wars will continue to be fought. People will still be killed, crimes committed, outrage will still occur, etc. No country nor its systems are free from these flaws, and they never will be.