Money!
Uncontrolled amounts of money for current political campaigns as well as uncontrolled amounts placed in the coffers of elected folks at all levels is so anti-democratic it is ludicrous. It defies imagination in its potential for evil.
Buying a candidate or an office-holder really happens. No matter how righteous an individual seeking public office may be, it becomes virtually impossible not to be beholden to money donated to you and your campaign. It’s human nature.
At the conclusion of the 2020 election I hoped for a break in the solicitations for campaign donations would, at least, take a break! Didn't happen.
Even if a candidate has the best of intentions he or she is soon caught in this insidious web.
Once elected, the power of the office itself can capture one and the desire to be re-elected becomes an all-consuming force that takes far more time and energy than serving one’s constituents and doing the job for which this person has been elected.
With enough money, advertising can be developed that paints the worst candidate or incumbent as ideal.
Low and absolute maximums must be established and enforced. Disqualify those who go over the maximum. Where does all of this begin? I don’t know, but it must be done or oligarchy reigns and true democracy is doomed.
Gerrymandering
I doubt that we, the electorate, fully understand the effect that gerrymandering of congressional boundaries has on the make-up of the House of Representatives.
Isn’t it odd that Congress can have a 20% approval rating and still incumbents are re-elected…over and over. Granted, part of that is the strange phenomenon where people have the notion that those other guys are bad but our congressperson is doing fine. But that’s only part of it.
It’s unbelievable the strange shapes of hundreds of districts across the country. They’re carefully drawn that way to capitalize on voter tendencies and serve to keep incumbents in power. You’d think it ought to balance out for the political parties.
All it really does is serve the agendas of those with extreme views and it makes compromise and serving the common good a thing of the past. It also makes it easy to get re-elected.
We’ve got to insist that our state legislatures base lines on population and geography not on income, race, and precise computer-generated voter records.