h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

While the entry describes the way the system SHOULD work, I believe the reality is more sinister.

"Campaign contributions" are in large part legalized bribes made by large special interests and companies. An example is Charles Keating, convicted during the Savings and Loan scandal a decade ago, and "... known for huge salaries, a high-flying lifestyle and political influence that tarred the reputation of the 'Keating Five' in the U.S. Senate. The unsecured bonds were issued by Lincoln's parent, American Continental Corp. The $3.4 billion collapse of Lincoln in suburban Los Angeles made the bonds worthless and left investors, many of them elderly, out nearly $200 million". When asked if his huge campaign contributions bought him any special favors, he responded, "I certainly hope so."

Even the drawing of voting districts has been perverted to a point that a Supreme Court Justice called "bizarre": "Gerrymandering is a term that describes the deliberate rearrangement of the boundaries of congressional districts to influence the outcome of elections. The purpose of gerrymandering is to either concentrate opposition votes into a few districts to gain more seats for the majority in surrounding districts (called packing), or to diffuse minority strength across many districts (called dilution). In 1967, Congress passed a law requiring all U.S. representatives to be elected from single member districts—the system we use today. Congress in 1982 amended the Voting Rights Act to protect the voting rights of protected racial minorities in redistricting. Within those laws, states have great leeway to draw districts, which often leads to gerrymandering." Indeed. Here in Texas, we just went through THREE special sessions of the state legislature so the majority party in the state legislature (cajoled by powerful national officials of their party) could force through a redistricting plan (replacing the one from just two years ago drawn by a non-partisan panel of judges). So while issues important to the people, like education finance reform, were put on hold, we spent millions of tax dollars building an empire for one party.