Originally Posted by
TheOtherDave™
I disagree, just as HL Mencken did.
By and large, Americans vote on autopilot.
And like Mencken said, we get the government we deserve.
The largest part of the problem is the media. Our modern format of political reporting sucks.
Having studied it and worked in it, I know how profitable it is to turn nuanced, important issues into cheap, partisan press releases.
When you start to turn deficit reduction talks into a game of which party is "winning," it's no longer of use to anyone.
And that's just online. On TV, there's simply no time set aside for honest discussion.
In my sophomore year, I was required to take 2000-word press releases and cut them down to less than a minute of teleprompter script.
With the exception of NPR, BBC and PBS NewsHour, it's all bubble-gum for the mind.
I could go on:
Our declining standards of education feed into this mess, as does the blurred line between advertising and editorials.
Worst of all, its the gnat-like attention span we seem to cultivate year after year.
Simply put, we don't need to ban lobbyists. That sounds like something Tito or Ceausescu would do.
We don't need to ban PACs either.
We need smarter voters.
In the end, we're the ones with power.
We have let Government overstep its constitutionally defined boundaries.
It's our responsibility to rein it back in... intelligently.
People vote when there is a line, a red line and blue line. No matter how good or how poor the candidate, it really doesn't matter what candidate each party pushes. Much like celebrities, politicians are polished up, marketed correctly, sold like a product and we eat that shit up.
I don't know where you get the idea that we'll suddenly wake up and have a smarter voting population. This nation has been growing dumber each year as evidenced in global education rankings. The backbone of our society lies in celebrity crazed fans, a beauty/sex/fame obsessed society with corresponding moral values and declining academic power.
I've been living in India for about 3 months and can tell you these people have a society based on respect, strong education system, they are extremely ambitious and have a much stronger work ethic than Americans.
Beyond cultural differences, these are facts as to why we're fucked:
-can't cut interest rates anymore to stimulate economy
-most jobs since the recovery have been in the retail and food sectors. Hiring people at fast food restaurants do not output.
-With all of the layoffs in the public sector, the private sector has to create a large net job creation number to even put a dent into the unemployment rate.
-The majority of new capital is invested in BRIC countries and emerging markets where the real growth is. Jobs are created there, not here where growth is sub 2%.
-our government is broke and our only solution is to deficit finance and print money. This will cause inflation that will destroy the middle/poor class more than it already has.
-crime will increase, even more so if unemployment extensions are not granted.
-Charts show that national home prices are still on a downtrend. The majority of those citizens
-According to Wilbur Ross, the new jobs bill Obama proposed will cost around $230,000 tax dollars in order to create a single $50,000 job for 1 year.
-Too much political turmoil and bickering in between the parties to get any cost effective solution passed.
-Increasing barriers to entry for many small businesses. There are too many patents, laws and restrictions that gives incentive for a small business owner to open shop in the US. Recently I heard a US Citizen starting a business in China, because it would take him 4 months, not 2 years as in the US.
-Taxes. Raising taxes on the rich will just piss them off enough to move their funds overseas and incorporate in European Tax Havens. Most of the extra disposable income created from lowering taxes would just be pocketed and saved.
There are many more reasons. Even if you put the smartest person in the world in the President's seat, they couldn't fix the problems we have. It's not because that person couldn't figure out the solution, but because of entire system. It's rigged.