SOC 200 Week 14 Blog, Who Holds the "Power" in our political-based society.

In the U.S. and Canada, and many other democratic countries around the world, children are taught in grade school that the country is run for the people by the people.  We elect our officials including mayors, governors, sheriffs, judges, up to the vice president and president himself.  Though officials may seem to have some kind of agenda, and be partly-submissive to a certain political party's guidelines, we assume they have at least, the minimal freedom to make the right decisions, based on the instinct we trusted them to have when we cast our ballots.   However, things arent always how they seem, nothing in life is that cut and dry, theres always invisible ink between the lines, only visible to the elitist blacklight.  Or the wise-eye of the over-educated minority.  It's amazing how in high-school government class, we were taught about democracy in the U.S. and how it compared with other government styles such as Communism, Socialism, and Anarchism.  Yet, they were very short and devoid of substantiated knowledge on the "Electoral College", how it works, the complex and sometimes conflicting rules, and the fundamental dynamics of the whole shenanigan.
http://history.howstuffworks.com/american-history/electoral-college.htm
^^^Check this link for info on the Electoral College

It seems power is not truly in the hands (or pen) of the "elected" official you thought you voted for in november.  The president is actually elected by "electors" who may or may not be appointed by the people of a certain state.  Electors dont all follow the same rules, and have differing levels of authority on the vote for their state.  In fact, some electors arent even on the ballot, and there may or may not be an official record kept of the individual elector.  In fact, there is a huge grey area on actual "knowledge" of how the electoral college truly functions and it honestly does not represent the votes of the majority.  Many times it operates in contradiction with the majority, the middle/working/and lower class majority. 

Where does the actual power lie in our society, theres many viable arguements, I cant really pick a side on the issue.  All I can say is "In God We Trust" is printed on every dollar bill and coin, so I think if you read the (not so) invisible ink between the lines, you can grasp the big picture.  Not a conspiracy theorist, I just know its a fact the majority of Americans are legitimately undereducated, especially on important issues like who has the "power"(The ability to make one's interests count, even when others resist.) in a democracy.