> Second, is so they can get re-elected by those same citizens.
American politicians are not elected by voters or citizens, they're elected by contributors. This unhinging is either a root or partial cause to many problems.
Sorry, that's total BS. Complain all you want about "campaign contributions", but the politicians absolutely are elected by voters on Election Day. The only thing contributors can do is try to change opinions by funding campaigns which goes to advertising. The final choice is made by the voters, and they are the ones ultimately to blame for the results.
That's fantastic, are they also to blame for the duopoly of political parties in America? Because the way our system is set up, first past the post, it is almost guaranteed. Are the voters to blame for the structure of our government which was written 250 years ago?
Yes, they absolutely are. If they didn't like it, they would fight to have it changed. They've fought to have many other things changed, and various Constitutional Amendments have been passed as a result. Did you forget the 18th Amendment, which was passed because of a bunch of Temperance activists? (and then the 21st that was passed because the result was a disaster) The system is set up this way because the voters don't want to change it.