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Pretty much summarizes the present state of affairs.
What's worse, voter preferences are often contradictory. Polls suggest that the electorate wants political leaders to cut spending, but then also demand no cuts in any government programme that isn't foreign aid. They want Congress to focus more on creating jobs, but recoil at policies, such as the bailout of the US auto industry or the stimulus package, that did just that. One problem is that Americans have been so inundated with anti-government rhetoric over the past 40 years they seem to have trouble identifying any link between government engagement and a robust economy.
Worst of all, Americans may prefer Democratic policies, but they have little confidence in government's ability to fulfil those promises and then blame both parties for inaction. They are so mistrustful of government and shockingly uninformed about its working that, perversely, via the ballot boxes, they directly contribute to the political stalemate they so regularly decry.
Very one sided article IMO. It's all about the Democrats challenge to overcome the Republicans in Congress. And that the American voters don't know what they want.
Surely you jest. How are you gauging the ignorance if the typical American voter. Did you run your own poll? The premise of the OP makes perfect sense.
Yep, it seems to imply the problem with government is that the voters keep getting in the way of government being the savior to all. It almost reads as if they are suggesting that voting is a detriment to the system, which should be removed. These people scare me.
Yep, it seems to imply the problem with government is that the voters keep getting in the way of government being the savior to all. It almost reads as if they are suggesting that voting is a detriment to the system, which should be removed. These people scare me.
I take it as the voters need to be educated instead of feeding on propaganda which only leads them to vote against their own best interests.
I take it as the voters need to be educated instead of feeding on propaganda which only leads them to vote against their own best interests.
Educated how? To appeal to the approval of people like you? You do realize I think many of you are just as ignorant on specific topics as well?
So who will be the judge? Who will determine what is "educated" and that which is "propaganda"?
This article is propaganda itself.
It attempts to blame the failures of government on that of the voters. It is a scapegoat argument, one that ignores the fact that our government was designed to be like this. It was designed to be a bureaucracy that has extreme trouble getting anything done.
The founders believed the people were their own answer, not government and the only reason we are all suffering now is because government violated its purpose by taking on programs it had no authority or business managing leaving the result with a stagnant bureaucratic process that never can achieve anything in a manner to which is consistent or efficient.
The problem is that you, like Obama, advocate a style of government that is not of this country and so it consistently conflict with the function of our system.
Remove government control, release its responsibility to these programs and shrink it to the point where it is simplistic in its duties (as it once was) and you will see these problems go away. Yet, that is not your desire as you wish to change it and then as it fails, tell the people it is their fault for you not being able to play "make a new government".
Sorry, but people are not as "ignorant" as you might think. Don't confuse the refusal to accept your idealistic goals with being ignorant. That would be a fallacious attempt to ignore the problem.
Yep, it seems to imply the problem with government is that the voters keep getting in the way of government being the savior to all. It almost reads as if they are suggesting that voting is a detriment to the system, which should be removed. These people scare me.
Yeah..those pesky American voters keep sending Republicans to DC and that undermines the social goals of the Democrats.
It attempts to blame the failures of government on that of the voters.
I find it more than a bit puzzling that considering that The People, demand certain actions on the part of government, vote into office those who pledge to establish the very laws that the will address those demands are to be considered blameless for the nature and character of the government that they voted for! So to refer to the following sentence as biased propaganda begs the question:
Polls suggest that the electorate wants political leaders to cut spending, but then also demand no cuts in any government programme that isn't foreign aid. They want Congress to focus more on creating jobs, but recoil at policies,
is this or is this not a perfectly correct snap shot of the contradictory feelings of most Americans. Vote the scum out of office, just not my scum!
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The founders believed the people were their own answer,
Yes quite right, that's why they ratified a Constitution with a strong central government. I swear if I hear another reference to what the founders believed without a shred of evidence to support it...
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The problem is that you, like Obama, advocate a style of government that is not of this country and so it consistently conflict with the function of our system.
Oh, here we go... the Un-Real Americans™. Well since this debate has been raging for more than 150 years, far older than either Obama or I, I can only say that you are asa clueless about the founders as you are about American history.
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Remove government control, release its responsibility to these programs and shrink it to the point where it is simplistic in its duties (as it once was) and you will see these problems go away.
Problems such as what? Financial panics, racial and sexual discrimination, lack of real 4th, 5th and 6th Amendment protections, child labor, massive pollution, rural electrification, contagious disease epidemics, unsafe food and water, which problems to you refer to?
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Sorry, but people are not as "ignorant" as you might think.
And all this time I thought the ignorant voter argument cut both ways, is it not the conservative argument that low information voters is the reason for Obama's election in the first place? Must individuals like you change your argument to fit today's talking points? Which is it?
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It is a scapegoat argument, one that ignores the fact that our government was designed to be like this. It was designed to be a bureaucracy that has extreme trouble getting anything done.
Well there is certainly an argument to be made on this account. Republicans (at least of recent vintage) Scuttle the regulatory process, appoint the Brownies, and Elizabeth Birnbaums of the world and then scream that government doesn't work. You demand a stimulus bill that is too small and too filled with tax reductions and then turn around and scream that it didn't bring about full employment. Duh! You appoint to the head of mine safety an industry stooge and when 27 miners are killed, you jump and down and scream about the failure of government. No shiite (religiously speaking of course).
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