Recently, Jennifer Lawrence gave a talk to some students in Ohio speaking out against corruption in politics. She’s currently engaged with Represent US, a non partisan organization focused on taking money out of politics.

It’s absolutely commendable, standing up for perceived corruption. Her basic tenant rings true, that campaign costs have grown more and more, and politicians tend to focus more on bigger donors, which allows special interest groups to gain an ear that everyday voters do not have access to. However, there is some oversimplification in the thought. We must look closer at the reality, to move past the surprise of the worldly nature of governing, if anyone hopes that we may feel more represented.

There is truth in the idea of undue influence, that another group not aligned with our own interests is exerting influence and causing undesirable repercussions to us. ‘They’ tend to be more organized, have more resources, have the better relationships with the actual workings of government, and a rift widens in our mind between what we want and what we think we can do.

But did that elect Hilary Clinton?

That’s a loaded question, of course, half the country will stew and chew on that defeat for years to come. And yet, her campaign had the insiders, the entrenched industrialists and tech titans, the financiers, the trade globalists, the social special interests groups. Regardless if anyone had misgivings about her as a politician, she was the perceived heir apparent. And she still lost.

Before one assumes I’m speaking of democracy in action with Hilary’s loss, I just want to leave this thought: We’re focusing on the wrong elections, and we’re skewing our reality with big game scores and not reasoned progress.

Government happens just a few miles from you in your local representatives. They specifically decide how your day to day life is going to go, how the trash is picked up, what homes should look like, what potholes to get repaired. They plan your community, decide if businesses should be in certain areas, and if they should spend more money on a new fire truck, or expanding 911 services. Often, state and federal guidelines and laws require local governments to enact, interpret, and execute.

And we’ve rarely given them the time of day.

We live in a diverse multitude of a country, and decided a long time ago to put individual freedom on a higher platform than most countries have dared. One may share demographics with another, but be a wildly different person.

Presidential elections will never completely satisy. We already have laws and rules on campaign contributions, and even Trump is feeling the authority of the ‘not as cool’ actual governance we have. Behind the loud and the ego, are thousands of hard workers executing the fairness of government. And when they stumble, we pursue the vuoilation of the public trust.

And isn’t Represent US, basically, just another resource group we’re supposed to listen to?

This is not a unique problem with democracy, this country, or even this century; ever since there have been chiefs, presiding officials, representatives, the suspicion that the few are not adequately representing the many has always dwelt in our world view. When we feel represented, or that things are going ok for us, we usually don’t think about the intricacies and goings on of our government. When we feel stressed, put out, trod upon, we pay closer attention to those above us and how the reality is far from our ideal.