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when things go awry; but there are a lot of reasons why we're in the situation we are in...the most obvious being the remarkable ignorance of the political process. Coming in a close second is the fact that in this country, people are essentially lazy and don't get out and vote.
Congress is responsible for legislation, if they fail at legislating the president can do little under the Constitution. Fortunately, we do not have a "king/queen" that has unlimited power to decree what will become the law of the land. However, when congress fails, the country fails and people look for a scape goat, the most obvious being the president.
Ignorance plays a large part in the equation; people have historically voted against their self interests and the interests of the nation in the hopes something will be done, most often, nothing gets done. Take the GOP position on abortion; every election cycle brings about the conservative view that babies are being murdered in vast numbers across the nation, by the time they done with the descriptions, one would think that we'd be slipping on the entrails of the unborn as soon as we walked out the door, the reality is far different and the history of abortion is virtually unknown, but that doesn't stop the single issue voters from coming out in droves to vote, "against abortion". Point of fact, the minute the situation has been used to the advantage of the conservatives and they get voted in, they instantaneously forget about abortion. The entire situation was set up to get votes, nothing else. They are not about to give up this wedge issue to gain seats, as was proven under bush w/an R congress, an R president and a compliant USSC. With all of that, nary a peep about banning abortion via legislation or a Constitutional amendment...until the next cycle. The amazing thing is, people still vote for what are essentially charlatans using people to gain their votes.
The laziness of the American voter is legendary. those of us who vote every election are frustrated by those who, "can't find the time", to vote. This past election is a perfect example of what can happen when people sit out an election, (I don't care of R's sit out an election, it's the D's that bother me). I have found that the loudest complainers are those who don't vote, and from my perspective, once I asked if they voted, (not who they voted for), and I hear, "I didn't vote", I simply tell them that as far as I'm concerned, they gave up their right to complain, at least to me, (caveat: back in my drinking days, this would be a great way to start a bar fight!)
There is another part of the equation as well, I read tons of stuff on DU, some I agree with, some I don't. What I do find though is that a lot of people post on DU, but do not contact their congresscritters about their concerns, and that is a serious problem. While I certainly agree that people have the right to post their views here, (within the rules set forth by the Admins), I find it disparaging that many people don't take the logical step in contacting the very people that are actually legislating, (or lack thereof). I have an R Senator, Johanns (NE), a half-assed D Senator, Ben Nelson and an R Representative, Adrian Smith, (3rd Dist). They hear from me on a near constant basis and I pull no punches. I give credit where credit is do, and condemnation when condemnation is due. I've been told that calling Johanns an asshole will not gain me any friends, but he is an asshole, so he gets a ration of crap from me. Smith gets a look if indignation when I go to a Town Hall meeting as he knows he's going to get called out when he sees me. (I used to have Fortenberry, who is the epitome of an asshole, but I moved and my contact with him is minimal. I was on Nelson's re-election team, but since he went back to the Senate, he's proven to be a complete failure in my view, and I let him know he's little more than slug on many issues. My pint is, I work hard to make sure these people are accountable for their actions...(caveat: I know for a fact many DU'ers do the same thing, but we should all be smacking these goomers upside the head).
After all of this PO get the blame because people need to blame someone for their misery, and through a series of errors and ignorance, add a hefty dose of apathy, the recipe for disaster is guaranteed to bring about said disaster. Rather than blame ourselves, we blame the guy in charge...it's almost hardwired into our psyches.
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