Lack of representation is the fundamental flaw of American democracy and why America has a two-party system that is only superficially two parties. What this means is that after the voting is done, in every place in America where a vote takes place, those whose candidate did not win an election, do not have representation.

This is actually a strange concept to most of the world, and taken for granted by Americans. But the meaning and importance of this fundamental aspect to American politics must be understood because they are vital to understanding and trying to solve long-standing political problems in America.

From the presidential election down to city council, democratic elections in America produce a form of democracy that is socially toxic. In each contest, especially those for representation in government, there are almost always only two choices (one choice is far more common than more than two). A vote takes place and decides the winner. For those elections to select a representative, obviously those whose candidate wins are represented. What isn't so obvious and thus isn't considered, is that those who don't vote and those whose candidate they vote for doesn't win, are not represented in what is supposed to be a democracy, where each and every person can have a say.

The reality is that in a representative republic, as is America per its Constitution though not necessarily in practice, democracy exists in a form that is essentially mob rule. The harshest aspect of this reality though is the ease with which this form of democracy can turn into anything but democracy relative to how difficult it is to maintain anything close to democracy.

Having and maintaining democracy requires an informed voter. This requires a voter be well and properly educated including learning to reason objectively in order to make informed decisions. It also requires a voter that is morally mature(see Kohlberg's Stages of Moral Development, the theory for which also acknowledges the need for a mature and informed voter).

When the media cannot be trusted to provide objective information which the voter can use to make decisions, the democratic process can easily be at the hands of those who control the narrative – the media, and those who control the media. And when the education of a society is such as to keep the people dependent upon the society for everything including their very identity, moral maturity becomes impossible.

Without the ability to understand the decisions they make, people cannot have democracy. Instead, they have the appearance of democracy and literally anything goes as a form of government in reality given the illusion of democracy hides complete dependence and that complete dependence allows for complete control. Thus, in this form of government and with people in the worst possible condition, the form of government in America ranges somewhere between a fascist dictatorship and mob rule with nothing good in between.

Consider how a voter feels if they are a Democrat living in eastern Washington; where the ballot was typically comprised of sometimes more than half of the offices uncontested, that is, only one candidate and always Republican. In every single election there is on a ballot in Eastern Washington, not a single Democrat has representation in their own governance, except if perhaps Congress or the Whitehouse are controlled by Democrats. And it is this incidental representation that is the biggest problem with American politics because it pushes things towards mob rule by encouraging completely artificial solidarity which is more like exclusion than inclusion.

Fortunately, this nature of American politics is not enshrined in the Constitution. Unfortunately however, the nature of the system is the result of the nature of humanity itself. America was supposed to be a noble experiment in the potential for human beings to govern themselves. What it has proven instead is the greatest opportunity to exploit human weakness by those humans who are by their own nature incapable of understanding the harm they cause to the species and thus themselves.

The lesson here though is not how to fix American politics. The lesson here is that it cannot be fixed. America was inevitable as it represents human ideal and the reality of failed potential; a dilemma afflicting the human experience: Human beings, at their potential, are ideally suited to true democracy where none rule over others. But there are some human beings who cannot see human potential and instead see only themselves. To these humans, failure to achieve potential provides opportunity for exploitation of dependency, not to mention the opportunity to convince others of dependency where it need not even exist.

America is a failed experiment representing the failure of human beings everywhere to achieve their potential. America's fall then is inevitable, as is the fall of all modern human society because they are all not based on human beings at their potential. Indeed, if there was such a society, it would truly be a model of human democracy.

What can you do with this information? You can't fix society, but you can understand what's wrong. This gives you the ability to decide how to deal with it, especially if your understanding allows you insight into how well you can do in society and perhaps even where to go and how to be as comfortable as you would like. It also gives you the ability to decide to rise above society and find a way to survive it's inevitable collapse. And of course you also have the choice to simply disbelieve and continue as you are; which most people would do.

Good luck whatever you decide.

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