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Study: You Have 'Near-Zero' Impact on U.S. Policy

Brouwer

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Study: You Have 'Near-Zero' Impact on U.S. Policy - Democratic Underground




Completely unsurprising, but still quite sobering. Wake up America!
 
I would be surprised if anyone needed a study to know this.
 
We are greater than the sum of our parts.
 
Tuppence more and up goes the donkey.
 
ecofarm said:
We are greater than the sum of our parts.
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IF, the People can find enough common ground to use the system to change the system. I would submit that at present the system acts in whatever way it can to protect itself from the People. The nation appears to be divided and a divided nation will never change the system.

Remember the scene from Blazing Saddles with Levon Helm pulling a gun on himself, holding a gun to his own head and pretending to kidnap himself, in an effort to get away from an angry mob of townspeople? Whenever I hear the public talk about asking Congress to make a law concerning term limits I always think of the scene from Blazing Saddles.

The public doesn't need a law requiring term limits. The People already have the power; don't vote for the incumbent after two terms. Nope, won't happen. People are too divided, apathetic or stupid to unify and make it happen. In essence the People hold a gun to its collective head and begs Congress to pass a law that will knock the wheels right of the Congressional gravy train. Congress INDIVIDUALLY usually concurs with public sentiment regarding term limits knowing full well such a bill would never make it out of committee. The People can vote the bastards out of office, but they won't and they don't.
 
Brouwer said:
Completely unsurprising, but still quite sobering. Wake up America!

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I wonder when the apologists for this system will arrive and do ridiculous mental gymnastics to defend the status quo.
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I doubt that many of our members would find this surprising at all. We like to feel like our efforts matter, but overall they probably don't. Of course, in a socialist system, things would likely be worse. We would essentially have little impact as individuals, and we would also have an overbearing state power structure that we would probably have zero choice about.
 
Brouwer said:
Study: You Have 'Near-Zero' Impact on U.S. Policy - Democratic Underground





Completely unsurprising, but still quite sobering. Wake up America!
Click to expand...

Completely unsurprising. We have an oligarchy, and are quickly heading for a kakistocracy. The sheeple are too easily manipulated by slick advertising, which costs a lot of money, and by party loyalty. We seriously need to stage a revolution at the ballot box and vote out all of the incumbents, then turn off the TV every time the special interests play yet another commercial full of half truths and outright lies.

But, alas, the people are still easily manipulated, so nothing much is likely to change.
 
Brouwer said:
Cheers Jango!

I wonder when the apologists for this system will arrive and do ridiculous mental gymnastics to defend the status quo.
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And when they do, I have a feeling that won't be denying the truth of the report; They'll be arguing why it's a good thing
 
Brouwer said:
Study: You Have 'Near-Zero' Impact on U.S. Policy - Democratic Underground





Completely unsurprising, but still quite sobering. Wake up America!
Click to expand...

I'll be alone on this island, I think what we say does have an opinion.

After all, if it were up to Obama, we'd have attacked Syria back when they crossed the red line. That and after Obamacare, you had a big shake up in the balance of power.

Ultimately though, nothing is getting done in Washington, but that has more to do with the deep division we see in politics, and not from some lack of influence the American People have.
 

tacomancer said:
too much entrenched power because somehow money = speech.
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You'd think maybe the 99.99% of us who can't afford to bribe candidates with vast sums of money could get together and do something about the equating of money and speech and keep private money out of our elections. That's a necessary first step before any meaningful change can occur.
 

It bothers me no end that in assessing damn near any candidate's chances in any state or national election their assessment is reported in dollar amounts. Not one person, one vote, but dollars.

Money changes everything ~ C. Lauper
 
Was there a time period in which the average citizen wielded impact that actually rivaled any of the three counterparts? I'm actually struggling to recall a time period in which the average joe's take was given more credence in the political arena.
 

Hey lizzie :2wave:

Socialism is simply common ownership over the means of production. All right-wing dogma aside, that's what it is. Totalitarianism is not the result of socialism. Totalitarianism can exist in socialism, yes, however socialism can also exist in minarchy (minimal/limited government) or even anarchy.
 

Yes, I realize that totalitarianism isn't the expected result. It's that human nature is to have a hierarchy, and in a socialistic society, that historically seems to be what happens.
 
lizzie said:
Yes, I realize that totalitarianism isn't the expected result. It's that human nature is to have a hierarchy, and in a socialistic society, that historically seems to be what happens.
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You mean like the totalitarian govts of Sweden and Norway?

The places that historically have totalitarian govts are those that do not have a history of democracy. Socialism has little to do with it.
 
Brouwer said:
Study ... America!
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Of course we have very little impact.
That's the only reason why so many people subscribe to wacky-ass ideas--there's no cost attached to being irrational about politics and the govt.
Well, no cost to the individual incurred from the outcome of supporting some stupid, wildly impractical, asshat idea.
The only meaningful costs are the ones that impact us and which we have control over such as how out politics affects our peer group and family.
Those meaningful costs are likely the largest factors we use when making decisions "cost-free" decisions.

The lower the private cost, the more agents buy.
A peculiar feature of beliefs about politics, religion, etc. is that the private cost of irrationality is zero.

.
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