2018 Elections update.

I think ending gerrymandering could help here. As much as constitutionally feasible I'd like to see districts evenly split red/blue so candidates would need to be moderate to win. With gerrymandering they make highly concentrated left and right districts where the left/right wingers win. These are often the people who don't compromise, don't see that the govt. is supposed to work for everyone, and engage in terrible rhetoric.

The status quo works for you, but not for 90% of the people.
It's not in my financial interest to change the status quo, but it just hurts seeing how so many people in our country are deprived of basic human needs.

methinks

You have a gun fetish. There is no need for semi-auto weapons in civilian hands.

Ivanka Trump used a personal email account to send hundreds of emails about government business last year

Insulting someone is always a good strategy... Semi-auto can be very advantageous for hunting and target shooting. Plus they are fun to shoot. I believe in the freedom of law abiding people to own what they want with reasonable restrictions to keep them out of the wrong hands and out of the wrong places and very stiff penalties when they are misused for everyone involved. That's what America is about IMO. Taking a hard line stance one way or the other does nothing to advance any reasonable compromises.

Lituya,

Based on the publications (backed by the polls):

2 out of 3 people want gun control

80% want an immigration reform

78% want our troops back home (stop the wars)

over 80% want healthcare for all

etc.

Since some of those ideas don't overlap, it's easy to see that at least 90% of the population is not satisfied with their representatives.

*Roughly 2 in 3 Americans now say gun control laws should be made more strict in the wake of the murder of 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, according to a number of polls, including a new POLITICO/Morning Consult poll that shows support for stricter gun laws among registered voters at 68 percent, compared with just 25 percent who oppose stricter gun laws.

A vast majority — 70 percent — of Americans in a new poll supports "Medicare for all," also known as a single-payer health-care system.

The Reuters–Ipsos survey found 85 percent of Democrats said they support the policy along with 52 percent of Republicans.

The move to abolish Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) was also opposed by a majority of respondents. Seventy percent of Republicans said they opposed abolishing the 15-year-old agency, while Democrats said they were evenly split on the issue, with roughly 44 percent in favor of abolishing it and 44 percent saying it should remain.

I think the fact they are the preferred choice of mass murderers outweighs that.

I respect your opinion, but I feel that if some idiot does something wrong with something it shouldn't affect my ability to have that thing if I'm going to use it responsibly. Timothy McVeigh used fertilizer to make a bomb to kill hundreds in OKC. They shouldn't stop selling fertilizer, but if they want to put regulations in place that say if you buy over a certain amount you have to get a license by proving you are a farmer I'm fine with that. If we regulate semi-autos to say you have to have a semi-auto license and that requires passing a gun safety course, and an extensive background check including mental health, I think that's a good idea. In California you have to basically do that to get a concealed carry permit. And I think that's a good idea. I think it should be expanded to if you are carrying a gun in a public place, or you have a handgun (which are all pretty much semi-automatic) or a semi-automatic long gun.

A vast majority — 70 percent — of Americans in a new poll supports "Medicare for all," also known as a single-payer health-care system.

Since when does the will of the people override the NRA's gun lobby?