by Robert Reich

Congress has recessed until after July 4 holiday and then plans to be back in session only a dozen days before recessing again through the midterm elections. It’s the most do-nothing Congress in history, which is exactly what Republicans want. Not only is their aim to make the federal government so dysfunctional that the states have to take over many responsibilities (guns, abortion, gay marriage, minimum wage, labor laws, voting rights, and so on) but also to fuel doubts about government’s capacity to get anything done. According to a new Pew survey, 62 percent of Americans think the economic system unfairly favors the powerful, and 78 percent think too much power is concentrated in too few companies. Even 69 percent of young conservative-leaning voters agree the system favors the powerful. Republicans know this populist discontent can be neutralized politically if Americans see the federal government as part of that same corrupt system, fundamentally dysfunctional, and incapable of working for the public good. The COP’s fundamental and most potent strategy is public cynicism.

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