Re representative democracies, why are opinions on disparate issues like the economy, abortion, climate change, etc. all packaged into one party? At least 99% of people won't find a party that agrees with them on every single issue, so it feels like there should be a better system.

Because the US has first past the post. Sure you could vote for someone who matches every single one of your ideologies, but the chance that they win is zero.

Is there a country that does it better? I can't think of one. Voting on people seems what's being done everywhere, and the source of this problem.

Ergo: need a better system

But first past the post already works...

...for the people who would need to vote to change it.

They ain't gunna change something that will work against them after they change it...

Yea, you nailed it.

I'm not sure you are attacking representative democracy, but instead are attacking the US two party system. I'm def not going to argue against you on that. Just wanted to say that in a representative democracy, one does have a say in policy. I do very much agree that the US tries to give us all as little of a say as possible, as the "adults" (read: billionaires) decide things for us

Unfortunately, in the US, we've allowed our representatives to enact a hard cap on the number of representatives. So the representative you elect decides these thing for an increasingly larger number of citizens as population increases. So while you have a say, the weight of that say on choosing a representative is ever decreasing.

Gerrymander strategy dictates that you want as few urban districts as possible to maintain rural power. Raising the caps would weaken the benefit of packing opposition voters into fewer districts.

Yes removing the limit put on in the early 20th century would have broad ranging consequences, most of them would be to the detrement of the existing representatives.

...and then the person we voted for doesn't win the election and the person who does win the election doesn't listen to the citizens they're supposed to represent.