>Next, apply this same reasoning to governments themselves.
For example, there's practically nothing we can do to make governments better.
Sure there is.
For one, fuck this gerrymandering BS, and use a totally representative of the general population voting system. Encourage the removal of a two-party system.
Second, make voting available to all, remove any obstactles like registration that are made to not let black/poor/etc people vote.
Third, disallow ANY donation over say $100 dollars by any individual entity. So a popular politician can get millions of dollars (by thousands of people), but a not popular cannot get the same amount of money by just one rich backer. And no personal financing of campaings over some small amount (say, $10,000), so that a rich candidate should have no headstart compared to a poor one.
Fourth, make cabinet members electable by the people. With the option to have them thrown out and replaced mid-term.
Fifth, have public referendums for all major new laws, like those SOPA, CISPA etc.
Those are just off of the top of my head. We can come up with much better. Heck, didn't even mention taking advantage of all the internet can offer with regards to e-voting, referendums, transparency, etc.
"Rep vs Dem" and "writing to your senator" is not even politics or democracy. It's a very narrowly defined experience of those, that they have convinced Americans that it's their only option.
You're describing various potential changes to how we're ruled that might make things better. But you see, the problem is that we're ruled at all, not that we're ruled in an unsatisfactory way. This is comparable to thinking that a specific instance of slavery could be "fixed" by getting the slave-master to promise he'll whip his slaves less.
Politicians, and the people in power behind the scenes in particular, aren't responsible to us for anything they decide to do. That's part of why we're all unhappy about the way we're "governed" (=ruled over). Sure, pot was legalized in one state, but meanwhile, the police state kept creeping up just like until now.
Do you think they don't know that people don't want to live in a police state? -Of course they do. But still, they just keep on enacting a police state. Why is that? Either they're somehow not aware of what they're doing, or they simply don't care about what people want (or don't). Now, which do you think is more likely?
Sure there is.
For one, fuck this gerrymandering BS, and use a totally representative of the general population voting system. Encourage the removal of a two-party system.
Second, make voting available to all, remove any obstactles like registration that are made to not let black/poor/etc people vote.
Third, disallow ANY donation over say $100 dollars by any individual entity. So a popular politician can get millions of dollars (by thousands of people), but a not popular cannot get the same amount of money by just one rich backer. And no personal financing of campaings over some small amount (say, $10,000), so that a rich candidate should have no headstart compared to a poor one.
Fourth, make cabinet members electable by the people. With the option to have them thrown out and replaced mid-term.
Fifth, have public referendums for all major new laws, like those SOPA, CISPA etc.
Those are just off of the top of my head. We can come up with much better. Heck, didn't even mention taking advantage of all the internet can offer with regards to e-voting, referendums, transparency, etc.
"Rep vs Dem" and "writing to your senator" is not even politics or democracy. It's a very narrowly defined experience of those, that they have convinced Americans that it's their only option.