Sean, the logic of you and me being responsible for the laws on the books is only slightly true, and breaks down at several points. The first of which is the fact we live in a representative democracy, not a pure democracy. In a pure democracy we would vote on every single bill, yes or no. "Should people be shot for jaywalking?", yes or no. "Should possession of marijuana be punished by life in prison?', yes or no. We would continually be dragging ourselves to the voting booth. So, the system was set up so that we would choose representatives to do this for us.
Unfortunately, this isn't the best deal either for two reasons. First, our choice of representatives having any chance of actually being elected is extremely limited. Second, none of the choices perfectly represents our own viewpoints. So we vote for some guy who promises to ease the concealed-carry laws, but this guy is also just as likely to vote for confiscating the Ferrari of street racers. The guy who promises to hold cops feet to the fire for their misdeeds is also just as likely to vote for taking polluting muscle cars off the road.
So, voting in America is kind of like shopping for groceries in Russia. You gotta do it, but your choices sometimes suck.
