JUst heard an interesting analogy between democracy and a traffic jam.
Just like in a democracy, you find in a a traffic jam people from all kinds of origins, stuck together, moving slowly, all hoping to reach their respective destinations. In a democracy as in a traffic jam, people have to compose and cope with each other, respect each other, follow the rules, soften their temper. Once in a while, there's that dissatisfied guy who's got to take the safety lane on the extreme right side of the highway, pass everybody as he believes he's got more rights than the rest of us. But he forgets that the reason there is a traffic jam is certainly because there was an accident somewhere ahead and therefore, the chances for a priority vehicle, be it the police, an ambulance or the firemen, to need the rescue lane, are going to be very high.

Often those who used to vote communist are now voting exteme right. That's because they are never satisfied. Perhaps the reason for their dissatisfaction has more to do with themselves but it's always convenient to blame the others. It's also because they think the new guy will solve their problems, assist them.
If farmers vote for Le Pen, they must understand they'll loose 40% of their income as it all depends on the European agriculture policy. If entrepreneurs vote for him, it will be much more difficult to export their products outside of France. If consumers vot for him, they won't be able to buy cheaper and better products from abroad. If all jobs are left only to the french of 3 generations, who will want to work in jobs they'd actually rather leave to immigrants?
That's all the price for freedom from the highway traffic jams.
As I've posted earlier, we as citizens and earthmen, have rights but we also have obligations. We blame the European Union or NASA from having become huge bureaucracies and want to change it all.
But why is this so? Because, when we want something done, we deal with people and those people have rights and obligations and we must be careful not to infringe their rights. So, we have to know what can be done before we attempt something that might be slowed down because we didn't realize how it would influence others.
In insurance, when an insured moves somewhere else without warning the insurance company, he'll be run after by the company because he didn't read the contract carefully enough. By signing an insurance contract, he didn't only engage himself towards the insurance company, but also towards his neighbours, the neighbour's insurance companies and all the brokers involved. He'd think it's a bureaucratic machine chasing after him, but he forgets he's got obligations towards his neighbours too.
Agreed, democracies are huge machineries and frustrate many among us.
2 examples: several years ago, a very popular TV anchorwoman, Frederique Ries, lost her job (because the TV station refused to allow her to do some invsetigating reports) and then, after a while, the leader of the french speaking conservatives approached her and asked her if she wouldn't go into politics. She accepted and got elected at the European elections and now has a seat at the European Parliament. As a journalist, she knew people, the system, the limitations and possibilities and got very well integrated.
Years earlier, Belgium was shocked by a paedophile scandal and a huge white march of protest followed. One of the victim's parents, mr Marchal, wanted to create a white party, a political party (with the aim towards reforming the police and justice). Well, it turned out this party was much too populist and looking like an extrteme right party and the idea was dropped. When a party is created, it must be able to deal with all aspects of life, not just reforming some sectors but also dealing with unions, foreign affairs, environment, regional competences, budget, etc...etc...Very complicated!
That's why there are lawyers, that's why there are political parties, that's why there are bureaucracies.
Understanding the complexities is already a good step towards a being freed from te bottleneck, or at least in one's mind.

Raoul