Just a quick note as to why people at times do not vote

[nadinbrzezinski]

69. See you are thinking about this from the Party POV

moreover, these issues have very little to do with the United States Congress, or for that matter, though they could get some funds form the State Assembly, which is under Democratic control. That is the absolutely first problem you are having. What is happening in many of the poor neighborhoods around the country has very little to do with the Federal government. Or when it does, it is so indirect the face and footprint is not present for local residents. They do not blame the Congress for any of this crap. They blame the CITY COUNCIL. This is a city council that has not been responsive to them for decades, whether they vote or not.

And until people understand why people do not vote, and it has ditkus to do with the US Congress, or the Federal Government, we are going to continue to go around in circles. What I described to you though has all to do with LOCAL GOVERNMENT. It is the LOCAL GOVERNMENT that does not give a damn and it is independent of party.

This is where a lot of the they are the same is coming from as well. Section 8 Housing, a federal program, administered by HUD, does not apply since people own their little WW II era bungalows. School Lunch program, the face of it is NOT the feds, but local officials at the School district. And the bad roads, they will not be fixed by the Feds either. They are fixed by the locals. The tax base is low, so these neighborhoods are far from a priority to get them fixed.

To use a very technical term, from city staff, the city has a deficit of 1.3 billion dollars for infrastructure repair to fix "the stuff" we own, but we are talking of trying to keep an NFL team that none of the residents in that area of town can afford to go watch, but their sidewalks are indeed falling apart. This has none to do with the GOP control of the US Congress, none whatsoever.

Jobs, at the level of where the rubber meets the road, are not created by Congress, sorry to burst that bubble. These are very local issues, and have to be administered, when federal funds are even involved, rarely, by the local officials. Your congressman does not sit down and decide what neighborhood to invest funds. For that matter neither does your state assembly member. This is done at the city level, by city staff.

To use your user name, think about it, because until you do, this disconnect will continue.

Yeah I would prefer they voted, even if they voted as I do. I am am avowed cynic. I do not vote expecting Congress to magically do things for me, or my city council. I vote to remain in practice, because at this point it is all it is. We are living though a very serious crisis of democracy. Many of these neighborhoods are, and have been, the canary in the mine for decades.