Don’t worry… approximately 75% of American’s feel the same way too when it comes to the US government according to a Marketplace research poll. What fascinates me about this research poll is not only is it non-partisan (members from both party feel the same) but it comes on the heels of a “change election” where Donald Trump is now the President of the United States.  Although Trump only garnered 62.985 million popular votes to Clinton’s 65.854 million popular votes, the Electoral College was what mattered the most on election night.  I wouldn’t be surprised if some of the Clinton supporters believed the Electoral College is a form of voter suppression by the government where democracy and “the voice of the people” are not heard.

But I think the real cause of such deep rooted distrust comes from the lobbyists that directly contribute money to political campaigns.

Let’s do a thought experiment….

If a large sum of money from a particular interest group (say coffee lovers) donated to my campaign and that money helped me win an election into Congress, this interest group could very use the threat of future campaign contributions for the next election cycle to “encourage me” to vote favorably for this coffee interest group….

Is this not too hard to imagine?  I hope not.  Even at a small scale of high school elections, how many times did you vote for a class president on the basis of “what treats did the candidate give out instead of the issues they wanted to set?”  I certainly did.  The issues facing a class is secondary to what the future class president can offer me.

Going back to the lobbyist topic and the feeling of being forgotten, could it be possible to think that the government in it’s ever increasing need to get money to win elections that the government has focused their attention to satisfy the needs of the lobbyists instead of that of the people they represent?

I think so.  I leave you with this Ted Talk.