Why do we even bother to vote and elect U.S. Presidents?

Question

When in reality it's the U.S. Senate that holds the key to passing laws and regulations. Asides from Executive Orders, which Bush Jr. did use while in office, Obama has no say in pretty much anything he promised the American people.

When will the American people wake up and tell Capitol Hill enough is enough with the special interest groups, and lobbying?

Does anyone believe the Senate, in it's entirety, should be abolished?

Answer 1

That's right; The Jan 21, 2010 Supreme Court ruling that allows UNLIMITED donations to political campaigns is a HUGE WIN for big business, their CEOs and the mega-wealthy .



It is a definite LOSS for the common American !



Our "elected" officials may now be given unlimited money from lobbyists of industries with a vested interest (pharmaceutical, banks, defense contractors, unions, cigarette, etc.). If they give a large enough amount of money to a Congressman's campaign, don't you think that Congressman will be "inclined" to vote in favor of any bill that will favor that industry ?



With this ruling, which said that corporations have the SAME (free speech) rights as citizens, the entire American political system is now "FOR SALE" ! The problem is that corporations are NOTHING like people; corporations have NO SOULS; NO HEART; their ONLY motivation is $money$ !



If you agree that "pay-to-play" is not fair, write your federal Congressmen*, and the President, and ask them to sponsor a bill to restrict campaign contributions from any single person or company (to maybe $1000) . To enact this, one alternative might be for the government to give anyone who wants to run a set amount of money (say $5 million for a congressional seat and $20 million for President). Then they would all have the same amount of money to spend on advertising, and not be beholden to anyone for votes.



Also, term limits (maybe 12 years) on Congressmen would prevent them from becoming so powerful and potentially corrupt.

Answer 2

While I agree that the Senate is more powerful than the House, I do NOT agree that the U.S. Senate has kept President Obama from keeping many of his promises. Check out the Obameter on politico.com to learn that there are a large number of Promises Kept, quite a few Promises in The Works, some Compromises, and a few Promises Broken. President Obama is way ahead of the game when it comes to keeping promises---he has kept more than 200 of them.



In terms of lobbyists, you have a valid point: We, the people, need to stay apprised of lobbyist activities (opensecrets.org). I've often thought that we should have a complete list of all lobbyists, along with their company affiliations (i.e., for whom or what are they lobbying), and contact telephone numbers for both the company they represent and the lobbyists themselves, so that we can lobby the lobbyists or boycott the companies' products if they are misbehaving. If some of the lobbyists are representing financial institutions or investment firms, we can organize a nationwide movement to tie up their phone lines and their tellers with trivial crappola daily while setting up informational pickets outside executives' homes that outline what we want them to do that best serves the CONSUMERS instead of remaining driven by greed...Sounds like a plan, doesn't it? LOL If we, the people, run interference in this manner, the lobbyists will be told to back off, because the banks and investment firms will lose millions, if not billions, of dollars when we tie up their revenue resources. I used this device to help harassed and mistreated union workers for the city bus company after Reagan fired PATCO and created union-breaking practices that were cruel---the company invested with Price-Waterhouse, so we just organized the aforesaid informational picket (didn't have to strike, since the corrupt union leader allowed a no-strike clause into the previous contract) and kept Price-Waterhouse from conducting business until they called the company and the company then made concessions. POWER TO THE PEOPLE!



Believe it or not, our founders actually designed the process to be slow and contentious. The Senate does need to exist as a system of balance, but the 60-vote requirement needs to be altered somewhat.

Answer 3

Like the UK the USA works on teh 'first past the post ' voting system. This effectively means that any candidate senator or for congress tha gets the most votes gets in. Then the party they represent gets in if enough of their candidates win. Sounds good, yes? Well it doesnt take into account this; if part A gets 38% of teh vote, party B gets 32% and party C gets 30% of teh vote party A forms the government even though 62% of voters didnt vote fo rthat government. Almost all european countries have a system of proportional representation where the voter can select the first and second choice of candidate . This ensures that teh candidates selected are teh ones that most of teh people have voted for get to form the government. Its possible if teh majority of teh people vote for a candidate as a second choice he/she could take a seat rather than a first choice candidate that had most votes but not the support (2nd choice votes) of the majority of voters. This way you have a government that represents the wishes of most of teh people and coalitions may have to be formed between parties if no one party has a majority of seats, thus limiting the power of teh government-you neo cons would like that.

The only way teh American 2 party system will be fixed is to have a law that caps the amount of money allowed to be spent , or give a fixed amount of pblic money for elections to all parties so special interst groups don't back parties to do there bidding.

Americans -realise that what ever party you vote for republican or democrat , only teh small things change. The men with money and the big corporations will be the only winners at the expense of the american people

Answer 4

If you get a bill narrowly passed in the House and Senate it still takes the President to sign it into law.



Even if the President Veto's the bill it takes 2/3 to over ride.



The purpose of the Senate is to slow things down, debate and not be reactionary (that's the job of the house).

Answer 5

Yes that's what i have been saying. but these dumb Americans refuse to listen. their are One hundred senators, 435 congressmen and 1 president. in charge of Congress running our country, any way they feel like it yet all these americans can do is blame Bush- Obama- Obama to Bush sigh. for our nations problems. byebamabye is a clear example of this, she knows nothing of what you are talking about. I don't think America will ever say enough is enough because they are to stupid. ask them who is the Federal reserve what do they actually do for United States of America. most will draw a blank stare why am i acting so harsh on my follow Americans because i'm tired of them. whining about the presidents when the true bastards needs to be stop once and for all.



I would love to kick Congress in the streets make each one of them be homeless. and fend for themselves just like they are doing to Americans. it's so sad most of these Americans on here don't realize how they in peoples in Capitol Hill Hate us. our best interest means nothing to well until when it gets to that time of year when they promise to charge. with our voices being hared by them it makes me sick they play this same song every time. I just wish i was powerful enough to punch one of them in the face a good smack. would make me happy then one of them in congress will learn

Answer 6

The best thing you can do is vote out the parties and install independent politicians. My logic for this is that the political parties are already corrupted and controlled by these lobbyist institutions and with Independents in office it is harder for corporations to control the legislation and the politicians will not be able to hide as well as they do



There are no lefties or righties, just Democrat and Republicans, of course those numbers are shrinking. Independents and other parties are slowly gaining, I figure in 10 years there will only be Independents and minority parities

Answer 7

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Answer 8

Thank God , we have the senate holding obama back. Holy hell I can just see how much more damage he could get away with, if he really had that power.

Answer 9

u can move to england and listen to the queen instead and have no voting rights at all



so stop complaining and do something about it

Answer 10

he is supposed to enforce the Federal Laws but it seems he thinks he can do what he pleases