The last 3 elections have each gotten more and more depressing.

[SmileyRose]

We NEED a vibrant and workable 2 party system and we do not have that. I don't know if we ever actually did but this just seems like the worst of the worst.

Is it toxic Newt?
Is it hate TV and radio?
Is it basic mass insanity in the electorate?

Why in the blue hell did WhistleAss even have any shot at a 2nd term? That makes no sense at all.
Why in the blue hell would McCain even accept that imbecile Palin as a running mate instead of someone capable?
Willard is the best they got? And half the country is voting for him? WTF?

Thank the stars in the heavens that the Democratic Party continues to push vibrant, educated and capable people to the top. If it wasn't for us this country would be FUBAR.

[GreenPartyVoter]

1. Doesn't have to be 2 party, but certainly does have to be vibrant and workable.

[LWolf]

3. Yes.

The best scenario might be to break the 2-party "either/or" system.

[BeyondGeography]

2. Too many Americans don't do the basic work of citizenry

They are weak-minded, and the perspective-free, profit-minded media finishes off the job.

And it does get worse all the time. Say what you will about President Obama, but he shouldn't be hanging by a thread four years after a Republican wrecked the economy after invading the wrong country and exploding the deficit. Now, he we are, with Romney promising whatever seems to work in the moment and getting away with it. It's right out there for all to see, and yet...

[marions ghost]

4. Oh give em a break...

Why SHOULD people who are just trying to make a living to survive have to hold up half the sky? Why should they have to fight for things that were long ago considered "rights" in a civilized society? Why should they have to help reinvent the wheel every election cycle? Why should they have to research, delve, make yet another job out of sorting out the media lies and spin? Why should people not deserve to have trust that their elected officials are working in their best interests without their keeping a hawk eye on them?

We need help. We need consumer protection, laws to stem corruption and greed, better oversight of industry, trade.

America is suffering because we have no common ground in the face of Corporations as Individuals exploitation. We have no continuity in local, state or national government. We the 47% have very little real power and are disrespected by the controlling elite.

The fact that average middle class people turn away from this political mess is not surprising to me. "Weak-minded"--no just fearful, manipulated and misled.

[BeyondGeography]

5. Let others do your thinking for you

Great idea there, marion. People aren't making a conscious decision to turn away. They are lazy and incurious, and the politicians, the cynical ones at least, take full advantage.

[marions ghost]

6. A lot of working people

don't have the time, energy or inclination to research everything they read, verify it, delve, get beyond the spin. They have little time to consume news and information. I don't blame them for just checking out, and even for choosing the wrong candidates.

I don't think the average American is lazy or incurious. I think they are overwhelmed by the complexity of it all and tend to make quick decisions based on their gut feelings, heavily influenced by TV soundbites. Not all of them are rabid tea-baggers. Many cannot devote more time to holding up the world. They just want to live with some degree of trust in their government and continuity in their lives. For God's sake, you have to do endless research just to make sure you won't get cheated in some product or service you buy. Research Insurance companies, etc and now they want to issue vouchers for healthcare. There are NO consumer protections. Little time left over to Save America--y'know?

You seem to think everybody should be like you, college educated with plenty of time and interest in research. You/we have more of a burden to do something about what we see. We see the big picture. But I don't expect the average working American to follow politics closely. Great if some do, but the majority have to make a living and raise families.

I save my blame for the big fish who are exploiting them.

[BeyondGeography]

7. If you have time for Facebook and reality TV, you have time to understand your place in the world

Here's where I agree with you: America is an exhausting place. Your interests are permanently up for grabs and money is always on the prowl, increasingly unimpeded by the law. We had a serious debate in the 60s and 70s about which way we wanted to go and we stampeded toward individualism, which makes the task if standing up for yourself even more difficult.

My impatience with the average Joe who keeps voting against his/her interests is the unhappiness and anger that so often comes through. If you're miserable, maybe take some personal responsibility, you know, that thing they claim to care about.

I know I sound high-minded, but this is about something very basic, self-defense. It's hard work, as George W. Bush used to say...

[marions ghost]

8. Have a heart

People who work hard and struggle need down time. Facebook and reality TV DO help them understand "their place in the world." It's cheap recreation and keeps them connected. It's social bonding. When people are miserable, they often don't know what to do--they watch TV (or go shopping at Big Lots) to get away from it. I don't blame them. It's their moment of zen, y'know.

Yes you sound preachy, impatient with those not as motivated and disciplined as you.

The better way to go is to figure out how to reach these people on their terms--not ask them to be like us on DU necessarily.

I have faith in the American people --when they're not being shamefully & criminally exploited.

Yes I think we agree on the lack of support for the interests of the 47% (lumping us all in = 99%) in this country. We are pigs at the end of the trough. And to turn the Queen Mary is going to take a LOT of effort. Certainly I get that.

So I share your dismay with average Americans, but not your blame.

[marions ghost]

9. This says it better than I can...

From another post by DeSwiss in the thread about Wal-Mart moms--

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10021610816

-------------------
Meanwhile, the world outside Burt's or Winchester, Virginia doesn't exist. Not really. If you spend your days at a soul-numbing repetitious job with a brain simmering in anti- depressants, a belly stuffed with high fat, supercarb comfort food, and evenings half drunk or recovering on the couch from work . . . well . . . when the heck are you supposed to find time or mind to grasp the implications of global warming even as you contemplate being one payday ahead of homelessness? A while back I watched this bar full of people stare at a game of Afghani dead goat polo in silent, rapt attention. If that isn't brain dead I don't know what is.

The relentless autocratic, blue collar American workplace has ground my people down, smashed 'em right into the couch. There they are force-fed the huckster's hologram of "personal freedom" in advertisements for off road vehicles. Getting a lousy public education, then being played against your fellow workers in Darwinian fashion by the free market economy does not make for optimism or open mindedness. It makes for a kind of bleak meanness nobody is openly talking about in the American political dialogue today.

I seem to remember a time when we weren't so mean, back when most people in Burt's believed in the American dream. A few still do, or at least pay lip service to it, though now they have been reduced to being grateful for having a job, any job. When you're easily replaced and are devalued you no longer pretend to have a choice. To feed your family you work harder and for less and without benefits. You eat shit and you ask for seconds.

Eating shit eventually makes you bitter and resentful of anyone who does not appear to be eating their share of shit. So you feel that anyone else who gets a break, especially a government-assisted leg up is cheating you. From resentment it is only a short skip to hatred and the illogical behavior that comes with hatred. Like voting Republican against your own best interests.

~Joe Bageant, Let's Drink To The Slobbering Classes

R.I.P. - Joe Bageant ~ 1946-2011

[BeyondGeography]

10. Well, there you go

I'm not asking for Enlightenment scholar work by working class people. Unions used to help with the defining self-interests part, but even there, cultural conservatives took over, and that was before private sector unions started to decline.

My scorn is really reserved for older, educated, white middle class office/service industry workers, whom I see first-hand, and who are subject to a more elegant form of abuse. Many of them are going down that same path. They have the time and the wherewithal to try to know better, but they are very often passive (and racist) as hell.