Matt_C

I believe that democracy is meant to benefit the people, not the special interests of those elected. Today, there is so much red tape and restrictions based in government that it becomes hard for the people to do what they want and exercise the freedom that so many patriots fought and died for. The system is designed so that the people vote and elect who they think will accomplish the goals of the people, and then the elected official does it. I believe that the problem lies in inefficient government do to the formation of political parties. George Washington warned future presidents about forming political parties, and now the system only allows the two major parties a chance to become elected. Many people claim to be a Democrat or Republican, and vote only for the person who bares the same title rather than the person that they think would do the best job. Because of this, voting becomes a loaded process; people do not become informed on political issues and then vote for whoever has the same title, so politicians base their campaigns around getting people to like them, rather than their ideas. If the two party system was eliminated, it would force people to become educated on what it is they were voting for before they checked off their ballot. By forming two parties, many politicians lose what democracy was meant to be: people electing them to do the right thing not for being a popular person. Another way to correct this problem if eliminating political parties is a too drastic measure is to put a cap on the number of terms senators and congressmen can serve. Senators spend six years in the senate. Six years is a lot of time to help the people. If a senator was only allowed six years total to serve, then they would have to do as much to benefit the people as they could once they got in. They would not have to worry about being re-elect as so many are today. That is what I believe democracy should be, what democracy was meant to be.