It seems to me the guys we put in office are mostly rich. Do they really speak for the average American ? They dont know what we stuggle with day to day. They act like they do but they are out of touch. Do the rich just get into politics because they want something to do or is it for the power.
It just seems if one of our own was in office then they would understand more of whats going on with the people. Would a average guy ever stand a chance against a rich slick talking guy ?
money comes from the wealthy, and they aren't going to toss a poster child candidate that doens't have their best intrests at heart
find a grassroots movement that has a well educated, average American qualified to debate with the Dems and Rep's and watch a snowball rolling and getting bigger as support grows for that man
Ross Perot was a man like that, and while independently wealthy he was the great 3rd candidate we as a pissed off country of voters have been looking for.
its a huge opportunity, untapped, ready and ripe for the picking ............. who can assemble it in 2 years and succeed is the question, isn't it ?
Why do rich individuals predominate in elected offices?
-----------------------------------------------------
We are stuck with voting for either a Democrat ora Republican for most offices. The Democratic party decides who gets to run for office as a Democrat, and the Republican party decides who gets to run for office as a Republican. It happens that the people who rise to sufficient levels of authority and power within either party often happen to be rich. They are typically well educated, which has an association with personal wealth. They are often lawyers, which has an association with personal wealth. Thus, the way the political party system works favors the rise of wealthy individuals to elected office.
Are we well represented by the rich?
-------------------------------------
More complicated question. I want my representative to be well educated, not Larry the Cable Guy. Frankly, I have found as an adult that owning property -- even if modest in value -- gives me a stake in how the game plays out that I didn't have before, and my views are accordingly more focused and mature. I think this may be even more the case for the guy who has 10 or 1,000 times as much property as I have. The question becomes are my personal interests antagonistic to the personal interestsof the wealthy elected representative? Perhaps in some cases, yes, but not necessarily in all cases.
Average Joe against a political machine? Improbable, but not impossible. It would take an extremely charismatic individual.
They eixst, and those people can touch average Americans, they speak to our levels and they can hold their own against the professional politicians. What they would need to run is
A) no direct family
B) no real political ties
C) no bad skeletons in closet for the Dem's & Rep's to use
D) a grassroots group with money
E) time and news coverage to get his name out
Was living in WV when John D. Rockefeller IV bought himself a Senate seat for about 14 million dollars. Old John IV and his cronies unmercifully hassled Senator Jennings Randolph to not seek another term. Here we have the offspring of a robber baron representing one of the poorest states in the country.
It takes money to make money. Although, our congressmen arn't exactally the most well paid people on the planet when you realize that they have to spend all of that money to campaign and then more than likely have a home in two different places, and the fact that 200,000 (which I don't think they actually make) is middle class money in DC. I do have to agree with Alsatian on the education issue. I want someone in there that is well educated. I come from a blue collar family and town in WV and there's a lot of people that could go up there and talk about what the average joe wants and needs, but you need someone that can comprehend the whole economic scheme, not just the labor part of it, or the small business part, or the big business part. Throw on top of that the need to have a good deal of learning in International Politics (which is also something that a lot of people think they know about and don't really get all of the intacies that take place) among the many other things that you need to be atleast kind of versed in so you understand what's going on when you talk to your advisors and such. The people who are capable of doing this are almost certain to be capable of making a lot of money in the private sector, I'm sure there are many people in the private sector who would be outstanding presidents and congressmen, but who wants to give up a million dollar job to make 400,000 and have everyone in the country taking pot shots at you. Ex. I have a good friend from my hometown (we're both 23) who is attempting to get into politics and we have slightly different views on somethings so when the discussion comes up he will almost always start saying all this stuff talking to party line (you guys can guess at which one) and then all of a sudden I throw a few opposing figures at him, especially on economic stuff, and he's like. . . oh really, well whatever. Now will my friend be a good politician, yes, but would he be able to really make the decisions when looking at both sides of the issue, not without me hounding his @$$.
Why do we vote them in (the rich)?
