A Corrosive Collapse In Confidence
The deep alienation that Americans feel toward their public and private leadership isn't likely to go away when the economy improves.
by Ronald Brownstein
National Journal
Friday, Aug. 13, 2010
The electoral wave threatening congressional Democrats this fall looks at least as big as the breakers that flattened congressional Republicans in 2006 and 2008. But the odds are high that this won't be the last storm surge from an angry sea of American discontent.
Democrats are facing a midterm drenching partly because they have inspired an ideological backlash among small-government voters. But their greatest problem is that they control all of Washington's levers at a time when most Americans are deeply unhappy with the country's direction. Even as voters prepare to send more Republicans to Washington, polls show that Americans are not enthusiastic about the GOP. Indeed, the arc of disillusionment spreads beyond the two parties to virtually every major American institution. If November's election allowed Americans the opportunity to fire not only members of Congress, but also the nation's entire public and private leadership class, they might take it.
This deep, broad, and visceral discontent is a recipe for social and political volatility. As recently as 2004, GOP strategists such as Karl Rove saw in George W. Bush's slim re-election evidence that Republicans were building a "narrow but stable" electoral majority. That was immediately followed by Democratic routs in 2006 and 2008 that reduced the GOP to virtually a rump Southern party and inspired Democrats to dream of their own lasting majority. Two years later, Democrats are struggling to hold even one chamber of Congress.
The severity of these swings testifies to the distance separating many voters from either party. When asked to rate the performance of congressional leaders in a SHRM/National Journal Congressional Connection poll last month, only about one-third of adults gave positive marks to either Republicans or Democrats. Strikingly, nearly three-tenths said they disapproved of the job performance of both Republican and Democratic leaders. That number rose to 41 percent among independents.
(More here.)
by Ronald Brownstein
National Journal
Friday, Aug. 13, 2010
The electoral wave threatening congressional Democrats this fall looks at least as big as the breakers that flattened congressional Republicans in 2006 and 2008. But the odds are high that this won't be the last storm surge from an angry sea of American discontent.
Democrats are facing a midterm drenching partly because they have inspired an ideological backlash among small-government voters. But their greatest problem is that they control all of Washington's levers at a time when most Americans are deeply unhappy with the country's direction. Even as voters prepare to send more Republicans to Washington, polls show that Americans are not enthusiastic about the GOP. Indeed, the arc of disillusionment spreads beyond the two parties to virtually every major American institution. If November's election allowed Americans the opportunity to fire not only members of Congress, but also the nation's entire public and private leadership class, they might take it.
This deep, broad, and visceral discontent is a recipe for social and political volatility. As recently as 2004, GOP strategists such as Karl Rove saw in George W. Bush's slim re-election evidence that Republicans were building a "narrow but stable" electoral majority. That was immediately followed by Democratic routs in 2006 and 2008 that reduced the GOP to virtually a rump Southern party and inspired Democrats to dream of their own lasting majority. Two years later, Democrats are struggling to hold even one chamber of Congress.
The severity of these swings testifies to the distance separating many voters from either party. When asked to rate the performance of congressional leaders in a SHRM/National Journal Congressional Connection poll last month, only about one-third of adults gave positive marks to either Republicans or Democrats. Strikingly, nearly three-tenths said they disapproved of the job performance of both Republican and Democratic leaders. That number rose to 41 percent among independents.
(More here.)
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2 Comments:
It is not too hard to understand. The private sector is being forced to finance (via taxes) a burgeoning government that demands more and more. This is unfortunately leading to a significant fault line in our country, one between government workers with their benefits and pensions and private workers who see their country (and their children's country) sinking further and further into an abyss of debt.
At present there are over 2 million federal workers 20% of whom make 6 figure salaries. Public sector employees now make 45% MORE than their private sector counter parts. Someone tell me how this is sustainable? The only thing the stimulus has stimulated is bigger government and those who are the beneficiares of debt-fueled government largesse.
Here in Carver and Scott County there are two stimulus projects that I have seen. One is a new walking bridge in the Louisville Swamp. The Louisville swamp is a remote refuge managed by the Fish and Wildlife Service. It has a series of walking trails that are meander through the swamp. A new walking bridge was built where there is generally high water in the spring and when there is heavy rain. A walking trail in a remote swamp - would someone please tell me how that will help grow an economy? Don't like that one, well how about this one - remember the old 169 bridge over the Minnesota River in Shakopee. The old 169 used to go through downtown from the southwest, cross the river at downtown and cross over to the other side of the river and follow Flying Cloud drive through Eden Prairie. Well, that old bridge is now a walking bridge where you can walk from downtown Shakopee, across the river and access the archery range on the other side of the river. No one uses this bridge for anything - walking, biking, whatever. But, the bridge is getting a 600K facelift from stimulus funds. The stimulus is a absolute and complete joke. It hasn't done anything to foster economic activity and it never could because government invests for political returns which is to say government will allocate money to where it might help the re-election of an elected official. And, almost always represents a malinvestment.
So, here we are - two brand new walking bridges that NO ONE will EVER use for anything remotely tied to economic growth that cost the taxpayers about $1 million in total.
It's just laughable. And they wonder why no one buys Biden's 'summer of recovery' bullshit and Obama's continued narrative about economic growth.
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