When democracy fails why not be surprised when politicians bend to the will of those holding the money purse rather than what the voters actually want. Democracy has nothing to do with congress there are two primary reasons 1) Congressional redistricting and 2) Voter suppression.
Recently I had a horrible time getting my sons first learners permit, it took three attempts to get him a valid picture id. Why the strange difficulty in getting a valid picture id, the politicians will tell you preventing identity theft (my sons US passport was not good enough). May be but if you are somebody who does not own a home, get electrical bills etc then your a likely to be poor and vote democratic. Making it hard to get a picture ID with the new voter laws means to suppress the vote.
Both partiers do it but the recent congressional redistricting maps if you seem them on a map looks like a 2 year olds scribble. No sane person would draw a map like that but the districts a rigged into concentrate voters on one party and spread the other parties voters out. Simple to create safe seats for a politician so he does not have to worry about the main vote just the primary.
The primary is how the democracy falls apart since only the real passonate conservatives or liberals tend to vote. So by the time the main election comes along the race is already decided. People in congress are not worried about their electorate but the people who vote in the primaries which is where the fiscal cliff comes into play. The people on the sides in the debate would rather go over the fiscal cliff due to dogma than be rational. So don't be surprised if come January 1st we go right over that cliff.
Even if we don't it not because of the will of the people but maybe in just enough congressional districts democracy still works.
