I’d strongly recommend you look into the damage both of those elements have caused to the democratic process. I fully expected that comment to not sit right with people… it needed to be said though. Nobody likes finding out how the sausage is made. We have the technology to have a popular vote directly drive elections… why doesn’t it? Simple: Control. We could, as a nation, cast 0 votes as a show of no confidence… and I promise you someone would still be elected. This is a broad topic. I wasn’t referring to local- which definitely have their own issues.