The problem with government, especially government by the people, is that people tend to be jerks.  Not intentionally.  They just don't take the time to grasp that just because something isn't important to you that it might not be important to a lot of other people.  It's the limits of our own experience, the inability to see beyond our own doorstep, to villainize and trivialize those who dare to think differently than us, that is the real failing of American democracy.

Enough of that.  Let's ...