[nickff]

>"our systems is less like a democracy and more like an oligarchy"

What if the problem is simply that very few voters care about the issue, and that even less would be willing to change their vote over this issue?

[girvo]

Which is possibly (probably?) correct in this case, and many other issues we as tech people care about. But that doesn't dispute the facts in his post; it's merely a tangential thing.

For example, most regular voters care about copyright extensions, but the lobbyists do, and so it gets extended time after time.

[latj]

> Which is possibly (probably?) correct in this case, and many other issues we as tech people care about.

There are plenty of issues that average 'tech people' dont care about that other professions might. I have not seen any evidence that as a whole technical people care more about whats going on in the world.

When voter turn out is low, it is not because people dont care about the issues. It is because they dont believe their vote is being counted, cant distinguish between candidates, or simply dont think any candidate can lead to the kind of governance they would prefer.

[dontmindifido]

There is a disconnect between voting and policy that will need to be addressed before you are able to call it a democracy again.