Yes, but... you did not dig deep enough. All you say is true indeed, but you did not write why we are less empowered. There are a number of reasons why we are not empowered (enough), and I mainly write about the one I see is fundamental: our politicians are not controlled well enough by us.

Our voting system puts voters up against voters and ONLY the majority gets the representation, nobody else. So, the representatives only need to please the majority to stay in power. Our politicians need not provide for all. And they don't.

Canada does not have a two-party system, even though they, too, vote in districts with winner-take-all. They lack an empowered president, and that is a good thing (for them) and they have that French speaking population that automatically causes them to have four, five parties. These parties all look for ways to grow and therefore please as many as they can. Good for the Canadians.

Many nations in Europe have full competition among politicians. Parties try to please as many as they can. We do not have that. Over there, the voters are far more empowered than we are.

We have good cop/bad cop, and then several layers of good cop/bad cop to boot.

We can change the local level today into full representation. All we need to do is start voting for candidates that want voting reform of the real kind, and if no one stands up, stand up ourselves. A muted population in the voting arena will not establish change.

Just to make this reply a bit more complete: change at the local level is US Constitution approved; it is even demanded in the 14th Amendment. The state level can get changed today, but the US Constitution does not demand it (or prevent it). The federal level is much more declared in details in the US Constitution, so that means real amendments if we want to change the system. Two senators per state, for instance, will be quite difficult to change. Yet making the Senate play a role of controller (voting up or down only) may be easier to achieve. And who knows, we may loose having a president altogether. Nations without (empowered) presidents are happier nations.

That said, all societies are built from the ground up, so the local level is a perfect place to start.

So, good article, Jessica, and you write with passion which I like.