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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region Forums"Making All the People Unhappy All the Time"--Congress Overall Approval in Gallup Poll
Making All the People Unhappy All the Time
By: Jon Walker Monday December 15, 2014 1:00 pm
Congresss overall approval rating continues to remain extremely bad, but in their terribleness they have managed to achieve something that would be impressive if it wasnt so depressing. Gallup found that disapproval with Congress is basically equal among all political groups. Regular Republicans, Democrats and Independents all have an almost identically bad opinion of Congress. From Gallup:
Divide government doesnt lead to compromise or moving to the middle. It results in crippling gridlock with the only laws being approved are must pass omnibus bills loaded down with corrupt backroom deals.
When your political system is making everyone unhappy it is time you start seriously questioning how your country runs its elections. The dysfunction of the past two years wasnt actually the result of the voting public wanting divided government, but the result of really bad election rules. Democrats actually won the popular vote for the House, but bad election rules let Republicans win a majority of the seats. Being able to win with only a minority of public support has created terrible political incentives that undermine effective governance. There are other election system used in other countries which would eliminate this problem. It is possible to assure that the party with the least votes never ends up wining the most seats.
http://firedoglake.com/
Tierra_y_Libertad
(50,414 posts)Avalux
(35,015 posts)They rig the game, Americans play along and complain, yet don't get involved and pay attention to what's going on. We'd rather watch tv and obsess over celebrities, and boast about how many facebook 'friends' we have.
We deserve what we get.
Dont call me Shirley
(10,998 posts)woo me with science
(32,139 posts)We are incessantly propagandized to make us hate each other and believe that the other side is getting everything it wants.
The truth is that we are all victims of a tiny corporate elite that has purchased both parties.
Change comes when we become the 99 percent and demand corporate money and corporate-purchased politicians out of our elections and government.
Republicans are a sham enemy. Corporatists are the real enemy. And it's an important distinction
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10025910311#post17
in terms of drawing support from current Republicans for a candidate like Bernie and breaking the hyperpartisan con game that corporatists use to keep us divided and unable to unite against what they are doing to us.
We tend to equate Republicans and corporatists because the Republican Party was infiltrated by Wall Street first and has been working for corporate interests for a long time.
But the truth is that traditional Republicanism was corrupted by the corporate monsters just as much as the Democratic Party is being corrupted now. The corporatists lie to Republicans as much as they lie to us. Just as our corporate politicians lie to us about wanting to protect public education, social justice and the social safety nets, unions, and the environment, their politicians lie to them about wanting to stand for small government, limited government interference in private lives, and the defense of civil liberties. Yet no matter which party is elected, we get the same corporate monster agenda of larger, more oppressive and authoritarian government, assaults on and privatization of public services, and more warmongering.
Every poll shows that Republicans are just as angry about what is being done to this country as we are. We drown in corporate propaganda to make us hate and blame each other so we won't realize that that we are ALL victims and so we won't unite to demand our representation back. They want it to be more viscerally repulsive to us to ever think about uniting with a Republican on ANYTHING, even than to defend our Bill of Rights and our democratic representation. Even though we keep getting the same suicidal, predatory agenda under both parties, we are to circle the wagons when it's our guy in office.
I think being clear that corporatists are the enemy is important because we have got to break the con game of hyperpartisanship they use to keep us divided, and teach ALL Americans that we have a stake in getting corporate money out of government. The truth is that we can beat traditional Republicans at the ballot box. But right now, we don't even get the chance to do that. The system has been purchased by Wall street, and they aren't running traditional Republicans *or* traditional Democrats for office anymore. They are running corporatists on both sides.
We need to become the 99 percent to take our representation back. We don't have to agree on everything. Just that our representation has been stolen from ALL of us by corporate corruption of our government and elections. And that we demand corporate money and power out of government and the political system so we can have our representation back.
K&R
fredamae
(4,458 posts)unhappy...Foreign Co's and the 400 or so Ruling Billionaires are just Giddy.
Scuba
(53,475 posts)Bernie is the one worthy of that one percent
madokie
(51,076 posts)when you have a press who equates the three. I have a strong high opinion of my Democratic and Independent congress critters but a lower than dirt opinion of the republiCON scumsuckers