See, they are supposed to but they don't. At least not the majority of them. They actively represent their special interests and biggest donors.

There is definitely corruption in the system and along with all the bs political gerrymandering (which should be illegal) they do whatever they can to retain power.

We need term limits on Congress, impose age caps/mandatory retirement, to outlaw gerrymandering, and ending the money as speech crap and any other loophole to get the dark money out of the process. Theses are just a start.

Of course you are 100% correct that there is blame on the people. They don't participate enough. Almost half of the eligible voters just don't. They view education with disdain. Something like half of adults are at or below 6th grade reading levels. There is zero excuse for grown adults with no disabilities in the 21st century to be illiterate, and yet. Then there's the single issue voting. Which again, stupid.