> This matters because consumers are the ones that vote. Show me evidence that this matters in the slightest. The policy preferences of 90% of Americans are i

> This matters because consumers are the ones that vote. Show me evidence that this matters in the slightest. The policy preferences of 90% of Americans are irrelevant, i.e have no correlation with implemented policy.[1][2] Sure. Let's say that every green-eyed person gets to vote on what everyone has to eat: a pear or an apple. To the naive onlooker it looks like the green-eyed people have the ultimate power. But they neglect to notice that the two choices are filtered down from thousands of options by the brown-eyed people. > PS: This is not my position-- I believe that drastic action is very urgently required, but I don't think it is some "corporate interests" or "lobbyism conspiracy" that prevents it-- simply democracy in action. Of course. It's just a coincidence that implemented policy tracks better with “corporate interests”—dismissive quotation marks or not—than with the policy preferences of citizens. [1] Media discussion: https://www.vox.com/2014/4/18/5624310/martin-gilens-testing-theories-of-american-politics-explained https://www.vox.com/2014/4/18/5624310/martin-gilens-testing-... [2] Paper: https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/perspectives-on-politics/article/testing-theories-of-american-politics-elites-interest-groups-and-average-citizens/62327F513959D0A304D4893B382B992B https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/perspectives-on-poli...