And this one from the boss. Nothing to really add here:
If you don’t vote, you can’t fucking complain
Whining about Washington is pretty much a national pastime these days. Only 41 percent of Americans approve of the job President Barack Obama is doing. Only 14 percent approve of the job Congress is doing. Everyone knows Washington is broken.
And it is. So fix it.
“Washington is broken” is passive-voice bullshit. Politicians in Washington do what they think will win them elections. If Washington is broken, then we voters bear some of the blame for breaking it — and everyone who is sitting back and complaining and not voting bears some of the blame for doing nothing to fix it.
“Washington is broken” is passive-voice bullshitThere’s one really good reason not to vote today: you like how Washington is working. You like how your state government is working. You like how your local government is working. But you also don’t much care if it changes.
Which is to say, if you’re basically satisfied with how things are going, and also don’t think you’ll care much if they sharply reverse direction, then by all means, stay home. But if you care enough to be unhappy, then you need to go vote. Otherwise, “Washington” isn’t the problem. You are.
Sure kids. Sure. Maybe I expected more from “experts” who seem to know something about politics and policy. Maybe it was expecting too much to see an article today observing that half or more of the population doesn’t vote because maybe it doesn’t matter, or maybe because the hacks in politics and policy are not giving people any reason to go vote. Maybe we would expect these “really serious experts” to appreciate the fact that many people view the political process itself as illegitimate, and that the folks who blindly support the type of democracy we have are the “bad people to blame.” Nah, not possible. The kids at Vox are right, the rest of you idiots are wrong. And for those of us who do vote, are the kids at Vox going to look it up, and give us a pass on complaining? Will they support “voter ID” card laws so that they know for sure who has a right to complain or not? And is it conceivable that the LESS that people vote, the better chance our public lives will be better? Can you at least even conceive of the possibility? In any case, the kids are just being so classy, and you just gotta respect how passionate they are, surely.
UPDATE: the kids are also French navel gazing again. The evidence that divided government is “dangerous”? “Go read for yourself.
Washington gives us exctly what we ask them to give us.
In 2006 the democrats took congress on a platform of “Stop Bush.”
In 2008 Obama won the presidency on a platform of “Not Bush.” — okay “Change” but it is effectively the same thing.
In 2010 the Republicans took the house on a platform of “Stop Obama.”
We like gridlock. Gridlock is good. It means that congress is to busy fighting with its self to screw things up too much for the rest of us.
How condescending. I count eight times you use the word “kids.” Would the quality be higher, and would you be more receptive, if all of them were 15 years older?
Washington is still the problem, not the solution.