The Disease of American Democracy by Robert Reich

[Crewleader]

Monday, August 18, 2014

Americans are sick of politics. Only 13 percent approve of the job Congress is doing, a near record low. The President’s approval ratings are also in the basement.

A large portion of the public doesn’t even bother voting. Only 57.5 percent of eligible voters cast their ballots in the 2012 presidential election.

Put simply, most Americans feel powerless, and assume the political game is fixed. So why bother?

A new study scheduled to be published in this fall by Princeton’s Martin Gilens and Northwestern University’s Benjamin Page confirms our worst suspicions.

Gilens and Page analyzed 1,799 policy issues in detail, determining the relative influence on them of economic elites, business groups, mass-based interest groups, and average citizens.

http://robertreich.org/post/95109113190

[Warpy]

1. Studies of late have confirmed that the average citizen is powerless

We are also worthless and hopeless. All we need do is look at our paychecks to figure that out.

We're completely uninvested in a system that dived headlong into corruption and cronyism many years ago, enabled by frightened people outside the cities who thought they hated hippies and black people because they didn't know either.

Even I see elections as dog and pony shows, the winners likely presented with dossiers compiled on them and full of enough peccadillos to keep them in line once they take office.

Maybe raising minimum wage to a survival level will get more people invested in the system, giving elected officials a little more confidence about thumbing their noses at the PTB. I honestly don't know any more. The system might be irretrievably broken.

[cantbeserious]

2. The Oligarchs, Corporations And Banks Own And Control The Politicians That Own And Control Us

eom