Do American people have a government of the people, by the people, for the people?

The short answer is - no, we do not.

For all intents and purposes, the current US government is controlled by special interests. This control is achieved via election campaign contributions. Because elections cost increasingly more and more, the amount of money raised by a political candidate effectively translates into his or her ability to be elected.

Even once in office, the solicitation for donations continues. It is estimated that our elected officials spend about fifty percent of their time for fund raising, accumulating more and more funds for their future election campaigns. Clearly, this is not time spent for productive purposes. More importantly, this creates an atmosphere of corruption, where lobbyists control legislative process, nominations into administrative offices and appointments of judges.

All political parties play this game. Two major political parties - Democrats and Republicans - just do it better, by the mere fact of their presence in the government. Every couple of years, the voters are treated to a political football game between the same two teams. However, regardless of which team wins - the result is mostly the same, as special interests control the purses of both parties.

There is a whole industry created around Washington, DC, that engages in channeling money from various groups to the political machine. One has to be an insider to participate in the political process. Most, if not all, members of the US Congress are career politicians, who grow through the ranks of their parties, and, only after proving their loyalty to the system of special interest, are finally allowed to tap into the money stream for their own election needs. These people are thoroughly disconnected from the lives of ordinary Americans they suppose to represent.

This "pay-for-play" system makes elected officials unaccountable to their electorate, effectively breaking "government of the people" concept. Since the size of politician's election campaign fund determines his or her political future, the only need for this politician is to be responsive to the needs of the people who give them more money.

This leaves a vast majority of their constituents out of the politicians' view. As the result, the US elected officials are not working for the people that elected them. Furthermore, as history shows, the politicians we elect into office - Democrats or Republicans - often vote AGAINST the interests of the American people.