Christopher M. Smith wrote:
> 
> I know it's hard to beleive in these times, but the government is not some
> etherial power from nowhere out to control our lives. The government is
> the people ... at least the people that bothered to get out and vote. In
> this vein the government REPRESENTS those people who did VOTE. 

Actually...the government is made up of people.  Not people representing
those people who vote but, people elected by a greater number of the
people who vote than the other candidates.  This usually does not
represent a majority of the citizens or the voters for that matter.
        The elected officials representation is seldom of his
constituents on
the whole.  The most likely representation is of special interest
groups, lobbyists, and others with clout and/or money.  Therefore the
likelihood of an elected official voicing the opinion of the majority of
the people (us) is not that great.
-- 
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             _________________ 
            |                 |   Gary Norris:
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           | 0 |           | 0 |   rnorris@wam.umd.edu
           |___|__|_____|__|___|  "Never put off until tomorrow, what
            |__|           |__|     you can get someone else to do."