"Why is democracy, or representative government as its stand-in, failing?" Excellent question and I do have the answer.
First, there are two kinds of democracy, the inclusive and the exclusive form.
It is the exclusive form that is the wolf in sheep's clothing.
Let me undress it.
In 2006, I researched and found that US Senators were elected by about 60% of the voters. That means that 30% of the voters got their Democratic Senators, and 30% of the voters got their Republican Senators.
The largest group of the three, 40% of the voters, walked home empty-handed.
Our nation is directed by 30% of the voters, and that is if the representatives end up listening to the voters well.
There are other flaws to the exclusive form of democracy: The voters compete with the voters.
That does not happen in the inclusive voters where the entire pie of seats is cut up so a 20% portion of the voters receive a 20% portion of the seats. Hence, pro-portion-al. All voters happy.
By competing with other voters, we have a system that does not have a bottom to stand on because the bottom goes home not-being represented by their own choice. We have competition for competition's sake at the heart of our voting system. It means that there is no blue that cannot get turned into a greener or purplish version, there is no red that cannot get turned into an orangey or purplish version.
There is power at the heart of our system, but the truth does not life there on a regular basis. Spin reigns supreme in the USA.
We hang solidly in the air because we do not have yellow in our voting system. A basic color copier has red, blue, yellow and black ink, and we have just two out of four. Our feet don't touch the ground.
Majority rule is compounded by majority rule.
0.6 x 0.6 = 0.36
The majority of the voters get their pick, and the majority of the winners decide the political direction. That is 36%, and that is minority rule dressed up like majority rule.
So, the wolf is undressed.
What we have isn't a democracy, but a game of representation that leads to a minority leading the nation. That minority is the happy minority, not any of the other minorities.
There are changes in the making. Grassroots movement Local Revolutions is invoking the US Constitution, demanding that cities and counties use Proportional Voting because the Bill of Rights demands it. It is the only spot where that is actually true (the same Invocation is not successful for State or Federal elections). It is a start if we want to see change in our life times.
Baby steps are better than staying in jail with good cop/bad cop, right?
Come join, Mike.
