Charles Pierce asks the $64,000 question as to why it is that Americans, even when they overwhelmingly as a majority agree on an issue, fail to hold their elected politicians accountable when those politicians consistently vote against their constituent's interests:
Which brings me to a question to which I do not have a complete answer -- is the country ungovernable right now because the Republicans have made it so, or are the Republicans merely taking advantage of the fact that, through its creaky institutional structures and through an unforgivable lassitude towards the obligations of self-government on the part of the American people, the country has become ungovernable in and of itself. The apparent lack of oversight and preparation in the implementation of the ACA is unforgivable, and the president and the Democratic party will (and should) pay something of a political price for it. But the fact is that the country wanted its massively fractured health-care system fixed, and it had wanted that system fixed since before Bill Clinton tried it back in the early 1990's. A completely ludicrous percentage of the country also wants criminal background checks on gun purchases. Right now, if you believe the polls, it is massively in favor of raising the minimum wage. And, actually, if you go below the surface of the polling on the ACA and health-care reform, you find a substantial portion of the country that doesn't like the embattled law because it doesn't go far enough toward health-care's being a right, not a privilege and, in any case, the country repeatedly stated throughout the last 20 years that the status quo ante was an unacceptable combination of corporate avarice and personal tragedy. And yet, that is where the debate is right now, no matter how much Fred Upton says otherwise from deep in the pockets of the people who make money off human misery.
It has become remarkable how the people of this country, an ostensibly self-governing republic, fail to get what an overwhelming percentage of them say they want from their government, over and over again. You can argue, and I have, about the power of money, increased by an order of magnitude through the egregious Citizens United decision. You can argue, and I have, about the unforgivable vandalism practiced by the Republican party and the modern conservative movement that has been the prion disease in the party's higher functions that has driven it mad. But the fact remains that, dammit, there has to be a political price to pay for actively opposing something 66 percent -- or, in the case of the background checks, 91 percent -- of the people say they want. And the electorate is the only body of citizens empowered to exact these penalties, and it has been shamefully lax in doing so. Parts of the country have contented themselves with electing morons and crazy people. (How in the name of god does a buffoon like Louie Gohmert ever run unopposed?) Great portions of the country can be duped, or frightened, into voting against their own economic interests. And the great undifferentiated apathy that attends most of our elections is a deadweight on the democratic process that grows heavier by the year. If our politicians are not responsive to our needs, then it's time for new politicians, and we're the only ones who can bring that about. And yet, it's easier to complain about an inconvenient website, or a scary letter from an insurance company, or bullshit anecdotes that fall apart under the barest scrutiny. The country is ungovernable because we, The People, have decided not to govern it any more. That, to borrow a phrase from the president, is on us.http://www.esquire.com/blogs/politics/The_Abandonment_Of_Self_Government
That last underlined observation by Charlie Pierce, in the excerpt above, truly is the sum total of what the problem is as to why nothing ever changes, and likely never will, for the better and for the betterment of the American people in our system of government.
"We, The People, have decided not to govern" our nation any more. Pierce's dismal words ought to be distressingly considered and be cause for genuine concern for anyone who fears that their children and grandchildren will not have, in the not to distant future, a free and democratic republic to pursue life, liberty and happiness in.
We, The People, have collectively abdicated the duty to ensure that OUR government is of the people, by the people, and for the people. We have allowed OUR government to be hijacked by the moneyed elites, power and profit hungry national and multi-national corporations and political charlatans who go to Washington solely to serve the interests of those at the top of the elite food chain, while ignoring the wishes and interests of the great unwashed masses whom they are supposedly in government to represent just as equally as anyone else.
We elect demagogic oafs like Louie Gohmert, Ted Cruz, Michele Bachmann and Rand Paul and give them license to adversely impact the lives of millions of Americans via the power of legislative fiat.
It is as if We, The People just simply do not give a damn any more about the outcome of this great experiment of democracy and as long as our overlords continue to ply our consumer addicted society with shiny new gadgets, bombastic media entertainment and shallow, self-immolating social media outlets, we seem content to just submit and blithely accept our roles as life-long indentured servants to a class of people who, without argument, are our economic superiors, but who simultaneously are woefully lacking in the moral, spiritual and honor-based attributes that a decent people are deserving of as their nation's leaders.
Like Mr. Pierce, The Gadfly is mystified as to the answer for this crisis of will that presently afflicts his fellow Americans. Who knows - perhaps the great Oracle of Fate has already preordained that we as a nation must first endure the tribulation of an empire's fall from human grace first before we can learn the noble lessons of how important it is to be a more humble, gracious and wise nation that is infinitely more appreciative of the great freedom, wealth and natural resources that we have all been blessed with.
But none of it will matter if we continue to be complacent and apathetic and disengaged from the process of collectively governing our nation on behalf of ALL OF THE PEOPLE equitably and fairly and with the utmost passion for easing the burden of suffering and economic agony by the most vulnerable in our society.
The Gadfly is willing to do his part. If this plea will get just one of you dear readers to pledge to do your part as well, then that is as good a place as any to commence the renaissance of American Exceptionalism that is due the greatest democracy on the planet.
We the people are the rightful masters of both Congress and the courts, not to overthrow the Constitution but to overthrow the men who pervert the Constitution.
~~~ Abraham Lincoln
----TFG
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